Victory over losers

So, today Jade and I had to go return a lost ID card to the ID office, where my horrible ex works. I generally avoid the office like the plague, but I've since started feeling much better about myself and the bad decisions I made (I still wish I hadn't made them, but I've stopped beating myself up for it) and I decided it was time to go do this. I have no reason to be afraid of going there or of giving him the satisfaction of knowing that he somehow has the upper hand. He doesn't. So, I went there. He hid his face like the coward that he was and forced someone else to help us and then he hid in his computer until I left. And you know what? I felt fine. Great, really. I mean, I used to see him and just start sobbing, and I literally have not felt bad about seeing him for even a second today. Which is pretty awesome. It looks like it took me two years to get over him, but now here I stand and I'm feeling pretty good. He's a loser, I'm not and he and his "fiancee" will be very happy together (until they divorce because he won't stop sleeping with other people, which he won't).

In other news, fall has... fallen. (Ok, so is there some sort of "spring has sprung" equivalent for fall that doesn't suck?) It was a chilly 60 degrees when I left work last night and damp. It got down into the upper-40s last night and it should be there again tonight. I'm absolutely a warm-weather person, but I love the season when it's still warm (70-80 degrees) but there's a crispness in the air and you can wear a light sweater/cardigan. I'm feeling very autumnal. I have a sudden urge to go out to a field and pick a pumpkin, sit on a hay bale, and wear a plaid shirt. I'm not sure why "autumnal" to me means Farmer Jane, but to each their own. I also am interested in sitting around in cable knit sweaters in front of a fire, drinking a hot toddy, and doing something else equally appropriate. I imagine I will be clutching my mug with both hands and have my elbows resting gently on the arm of the couch, with my feet curled up under me in large woolen socks. (Ok, it was like 75 degrees today, so maybe we're not quite there yet, but come December, this is what I want to be doing.) Also, I don't know what a hot toddy tastes like, but I've decided I want one. Cold Weather Project #1: Use Jack Daniels from Nashville trip to make hot toddy.

As it gets colder, my office will inevitably turn into the Arctic wasteland that it devolves into during the winter months. I have an adorable little space heater purchased on the company dime, but last year they told us we couldn't have them because they "fixed the heat." I'm not sure where exactly they did that, but it wasn't at Ice Station Zebra, as I have taken to calling my office.

Anyway, I will likely continue to use my illegal space heater, but in an effort to be somewhat more environmentally conscious (and help the university save a few bucks that they'll pay to a needy employee... what? That won't happen? Oh.) I think that I will get myself an office Snuggie. I already have a regular Snuggie. It is beautiful and leopard print and it is, after all, the blanket with sleeves, so there's nothing that could ever be wrong with it. But my friend Olivia has her office Snuggie and I think it's an awesome idea. Her's is UMD (vomit) so I think I might get a UVA one. I mean, how awesome would it be to look like this in my office:

Answer: SO awesome.

Though I'm not entirely sure how I'll afford to buy my Snuggie (or my new shoes, or anything ever) because we had a Fidelity at-work education presentation today and I decided to up my retirement contributions. I'll now be putting 10% into my 403(b), which I was already doing, and an additional 5% into a Roth IRA. (God, is this the most boring thing I could ever talk about? Possibly.) So I guess we'll see how I make-do with less money. I don't have a lot of it now, but I think I'd rather have a lot of it later. Speaking of which, I finally am getting a real paycheck again because they will no longer be taxing me on my tuition and taking it out of my measly paycheck. Yay for money! Now I can pay down my CC bill that built up while they were taxing me like crazy. Oh wait, now my money is gone. *sigh* 

Busy week, man.

And here we are again. Whoops about the no blogging, but things have been busy this week. I finished my final project a couple hours ago for my class so now I'm done with school work for three weeks, which is a nice vacation. The final project actually came together really well because each piece of the research proposal we had to draft had been required of us earlier in the semester, so I basically just had to do the same thing on a different topic. I guess the professor knew what he was doing after all. Whomp whomp.

But yes, this week was busy what with school and work and softball and doctor's appointments, but now I get a bit of a break. The students aren't in class anymore until the first week of September and I don't even have to work next Saturday. Of course, I've basically used this free time to cram in every possible thing I need to do for the rest of my life, so there's that. I have PT and softball tomorrow and an exercise class scheduled every day from Tuesday through the following Tuesday. Yikes! I guess we'll see what happens. My Google calendar looks a little crazyface.

Ugh, craziness going on with my paycheck, though, which may keep me from doing anything fun for a while. Basically, I'm getting taxed on my tuition because GWU views it as income, which wouldn't be a problem, except that instead of adding $150 to my taxes, it's adding $400+ to my taxes, and since I'm not actually making any more money, all that money is coming out of what was already too small of a paycheck. So I guess real personal training is out for the foreseeable future. Good thing I have some Groupons. (Also, saving for a down payment is out, paying my credit card bill, paying my phone bill, storage unit rental, car insurance, gas money....) Yeah, I'm really not sure how this is going to work.

I was featured in my company's newsletter this week. There's a picture and everything. Several of my coworkers commented on it. I found it awkward.

But I also get to hang out with my awesome coworkers at softball tomorrow night! It's our last game of the season and we've done pretty well. I, personally, have done very well the last couple of games, including the game-winning RBI in the rain in our last game. We're having an after-party post-game tomorrow night so that should be fun. I actually really like my coworkers. It would be cool to, you know, be work friends with them and maybe go out for happy hour like a normal 20-something and not go immediately home to my parents' house every night where I watch NCIS and go to bed.

And, because Sarah specifically requested more nail polish pictures, China Glaze Pink Voltage.

My camera could only seem to capture this as a regular pink, but my cell phone got the full neon effect, so I'm putting up the lower quality picture. Gorgeous.

Oh, and I promise I don't take pictures of my nail polish while I'm driving. I was sitting in my car waiting for softball to start so I decided to take a picture. Just to reassure everyone.