Oh the Things I've seen...

Everyone is unique and everyone has a right to be who they are. But sometimes who you are just does not make a lot of sense to other people. I work in Houston, which is the 4th largest city in the US or something like that. So I get the opportunity to see lots of interesting people. This morning I passed by a person who truly made me laugh out loud. I think you would have laughed too.

Picture for me if you can that you have just driven into work and parked your car in the lot.

To get to your building you must cross the street at an intersection which looks not unlike this.

So you are waiting patiently for the walk signal which looks something like this,

and you hear a car drive up on your left and stop for the red light. Now seeing as cars are not unusual at intersections there has to be something different about this car to make you notice it. Now it is not something like this,
though to be fair I have seen a few like that in downtown Houston.

No, it is something more like this, which is to be expected in downtown Houston.

So there obviously had to be something else that made this particular Porsche Cayenne stand out. Well first let me say it was a pretty pearl blue color. And also that it had all the windows down. One would expect windows down and music blaring in the afternoon, but not this early in the morning. Yet here is a car with the windows down and music blaring at 7am. Let me say that before I recognized the music I was expecting to see a young male behind the wheel. Once I recognized the music I just had to see who was driving. And I saw an older man with white hair. It just made me laugh out loud. I mean who would ever expect an older gentleman to be proudly blasting this from from his Porsche at 7 am. And gosh I hope that link works for you. Once I realized what the music was, I was expecting to see something a little more like this.

Though he may very well dress like this on the weekends. And who am I to judge him. I am not judging, I am appreciating his uniqueness. I am appreciating it by laughing, but still I am appreciating...

Happy Friday Everyone!

I Like Shopping, Sometimes

I do like shopping, I really do. But only sometimes. Normally I am content to just go shopping. I like looking at things, picking up a few, putting most of it back, and buying what I really want/need/have to have. I am actually kind of frugal and like to wait for things to go on sale before I buy them. The reasoning behind that being that if I really like a shirt but it is $50 I will come back to the store later and if they still have my size on the sale rack then it was meant to be and I get it, Yay! If they no longer have my size on sale, oh well, no great loss. This generally works pretty well and I am not a very impulsive buyer. I am an impulsive want-er, and often see things and think, Ooo I want one of those! But then I stop to think do I really need that and will I really use that, or do I need that much of that? And usually this stops me from ever putting the item in my shopping basket. Then near the end of my shopping trip I do a mental tally of what I would be spending if I bought everything in my basket and if I do in fact really need everything in there. Inevitably I always pull a few items out and leave them behind. Usually this works just fine. Sometimes though I will get home and a few days later start looking for what I think I bought, only to remember I never actually bought it.

And I don't mind shopping as long as I am happy. If I am happy and rested, I love shopping. Let me stay in one store too long though and I will get bored and tired and just want to leave. This happens often in large stores like home improvement stores and malls and whatnot. I just start to get tired and my back hurts or my feet hurt and all I want to do is sit down. Or I get hungry because we have been there too long. Or my head just starts to hurt form thinking about things too much and I don't want to talk about ideas and potential uses for such and such anymore. Some stores are better when you take them in small doses. But those stores are also some of the best because almost everything you could ask for is already there in that one store. I like going to stores like that alone so I can take my time to look at what I want and then leave when I get tired of the whole charade.

Well this past weekend I discovered a new humungo store that I can have a love/hate relationship with. It is one of those stores that is a warehouse store. It is so big that they have more states in the U.S. than they do stores, and I just moved to a city that has one. It is a European company. People take trucks on day trips to other states just to visit this store and be able to carry home all the stuff they will buy. They have everything you could think of that you might ever need to furnish your home. They have fairly good prices and are all about the space saving capabilities and versatility of their products. Have you guessed it yet?

Well here it is!
Dun Dun Dun! Yes I have discovered IKEA and I love it. I spent 3 hours there this past weekend! We walked around until we were exhausted. We really only saw everything on the top floor in the showroom. I will have to go back to look around the ground floor which held kitchen and bath accessories and other nick knacks. We were so tired we just kind of glazed over everything downstairs on our way out. I was silently happy that my boyfriend actually got tired of a store too, and before I ever asked to leave! So yes, I am declaring my love/hate relationship with IKEA official. It is one of those stores that I will have to take in small doses but that I know I cannot help but patronize. I love it and all its great design. If you have the opportunity I suggest a trip here. They even have a cafe with super cheap prices like Sam's Club and an awesome playland where you can leave the kids. So when you have a few hours, or a day to spend, make a trip to your "local" IKEA. I promise you will be overwhelmed and satisfied!

Hands and Feet and Body Parts

I like mysteries. Most specifically crime mysteries. And crime mysteries seem to be pretty synonymous with murder mysteries. I like to read about them and I like to watch them. Now murder usually means some blood and guts but not a lot of gore. I do not like horror movies because they use the gore as a simple shock factor and it is gross. But I do like crime shows and movies because the crime is integral to the plot and is usually more tactfully described and displayed. I like trying to figure things out and the dark nature of the subject really does not bother me that much. I suppose it is because I am separated from the subject and can only imagine what happens. If I had to experience it I know I would not like it. But reading about something or watching a show where it happens to other people I am not involved with is pretty darn interesting to me. I guess you could look at it as creepy. But I think I just like the crime stories because it engages my intellect. I mean when you think about it, a criminal has to be pretty smart to get away with something. Sure luck plays a part, but there is some skill and intelligence involved. I relate well to the smart criminals in the plots. I love that some authors are skilled enough to have me completely in the dark as to the identity of the killer right until the end. I also like when I can figure it out early though, as long as it was not too obvious. So I guess my whole point is that I like crime dramas and I like the criminals to be smart in the stories. Therefore it is really easy for me to see why I like this so much

I really like the Showtime Series, Dexter. It is all about a serial killer with a twist. He is a good killer if that can really be true. He only kills other killers. He was raised by a cop who taught him that if he had to kill he needed to be really careful not to get caught and also that he should only kill those people who deserved it. He grew up to be a forensic blood specialist and uses his connections with the ops to get to the serial killers before they can be arrested. It is pretty interesting because he is not really this madman, he just doesn't feel anything and wishes he could be more normal. He wants to be able to blend in so he can continue to kill. I suppose you could get all technical and say that he should not be killing people even though they are bad. Because if you really think about it when you kill a person you kill everything about them, not just the bad parts, you kill everything they will ever become. That is why Dexter only kills those he is sure deserve to die and have evaded justice. In a way he protects more people from getting hurt. So it is easy to justify why you can root for the killer, because he is actually a good guy in a way. Regardless, I find this series very interesting. I watched the whole first season on my netflix in just 1 week. It may help that the plot is awesome and somehow you feel for Dexter and don't want him to get caught. I think it also really helps that he is pretty hot. It is a little strange because the actor, Michael C. Hall, has such a versatile face. One minute you look at him and you can see that he is empty inside with cold eyes and no emotion and then the next he is playful and quite sexy. Of course I much prefer to watch him smirk and be sexy. But I have to admit that his yumminess factor is a big reason I think a lot of women watch this show. The actress who plays Dexter's sister, Jennifer Carpenter, provides some eye candy for the guys too, even though she can be quite annoying. Overall I really liked this show and felt the need to share. I believe the show is in its third season and I plan to watch all I can get my hands on. SO if you are looking for a crime show with a twist and a pretty hot main character I think you should check out Dexter.

Happy viewing!