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Yes, I am finally taking a vacation. Allison graciously invited us to her timeshare in Palm Springs for the week!

Ben & I opted to take the cheap route and drive up. We left early Saturday morning and made it down here around 5pm on Saturday evening. Karri joined us later that evening, and the four of us ordered pizza, stayed in, and enjoyed our first day of vacationing :)

Sunday was filled with much relaxing and lounging by the pool. Later that evening, we went out and took a ride on the Palm Springs Aerial Tram . We had gourgeous veiws of the surrounding valley floor, and a surprising variety of plantlife at the top of the mountain. Even though the valley floor is incredibly dry and hot, at 12,000 feet the temperature was much cooler and the plantlife greener.

We went to a restaurant called The Deck for dinner and enjoyed a great view from the outside dining area.

I spent a significant amount of money today. I’m not big on clothes shopping. I have to be in a certain mood to even contemplate it. Even when I know there are great deals out there to be gotten, Still, I waiver before purchasing a shirt that’s been marked down 60% to an amazing $8.

It started out innocently enough. I sought out to purchase a gift for a bridal shower. Starting at a kitchen store, I hoped they would have what I was looking for. Alas, the perfect gift was not there… however, a cheese grater and pseudo “pampered chef” chopper called to me. Kitchen stores, in general, are my weakness. It must be their association with food that draws me in. $30 in, I continued on. At the next kitchen store, it took me a while (and a sales rep) to find the gift I’d been searching for. As soon as I found it, I made my way up to the counter to claim my merchandise and set out for home. $70 in at this point.

I was almost out… almost. Unfortunately, Gap taunted me on the way out. Actually, the 50% off sign taunted me. I stopped in, expecting to find nothing and continue on my merry way. It’s bittersweet for me to look for clothes. Part of me hopes that nothing will appeal, saving me money and time that won’t be spent in the dressing room. The other part of me hopes that something perfect & cheap will throw itself into my arms and I’ll walk away quite happy.

From the moment I walked in, I knew I was in trouble. Immediately found something that was too cute & cheap to resist trying on. That solitary item soon turned into 2… 3…. 4… eventually I walked into the dressing room with 7 items. Still not too bad overall. The dressing room experience went well; I had about a 50% success rate with my selections. I came out and traded a few shirts for their duplicate in varying colors & stood in line. The Gap trip totalled out to $82.95. Gasp.

I walked away from the trip with a few new awesome kitchen items, a gift & 8 new articles of clothing… and a new credit card bill for $150. Visa loves me.

My office chair is armless.

I took the arms off a few years ago. I like sitting cross-legged in it, and the arms just served to get in the way. They also conflicted with the pull out keyboard tray I had once upon a time.

Two years later, and I want my chair arms back. I actually hung onto them for quite a while, thinking during that time that I might fall into “chair dismantler’s remorse” and want to put them back on. But it never happened. I think I finally threw them out maybe 6 months ago. Now… I want them back.

It seems that always happens to me. It’s always a distinct amount of time between throwing something away and wanting it again. Too much to be able to retrieve the item from the top of the garbage can. So now I’m looking for a new office chair. Of course, none are comfy enough for me to want to spend over $100 on one. And the current one isn’t so uncomfortable that I am desperate to get rid of it just yet.