Beautiful

We let the balloons from my grandfather's birthday party go. He had talked about letting them go last week.

My little cousin Gracie had the honor.




And this is my brother..


That pendant is a silver turtle. My mom gave it to me Saturday. My grandfather loved turtles sooooooo much.

March 10, 1920 - March 13, 2008

My grandfather passed away Thursday evening and I'm still trying to process everything that has happened over the past week.

I was right by his side when he died and it's the most amazing story. It's refreshing to know that you can live a long, amazing, adventurous life and die peacefully with those you love most right by your side.

I will never be able to honor my grandfather enough. When he died, I think that everyone was so perfectly placed. It seemed like everyone was in the right spot, at the right moment. He was content, told my mom and her sisters that he loved them, and even said goodbye. The only problem I am having over this is that I have begun to realize that someday I am going to have to say goodbye to my parents and other special people as well. He always seemed so invincible to me. I honestly thought that he would be here forever... and see me graduate, and get married, and have kids. He was the strongest, most amazing person I knew, and that is an understatement.

I don't know if it has all sunk in just yet, becuase like I said, I'm still processing.

Stage IV

Sunday was the birthday party and that was fine. But now he's in the ICU. It all happened so fast.

Maintenance

I want nice eyebrows. Like, a little bit of an arch would be hot. Right now I am doing the eyebrow maintenance myself and I know I couldn’t accomplish a somewhat-arch on my own. That would definitely have to be done by the hands of a professional. But I get so nervous! I knew this girl in high school that had really tiny thin eyebrows and it scared me forever. And then I knew a lady who painted hers on. And another girl who once plucked so much that they were only one inch long. Those three bad eyebrows just kind of haunt me. I need to have a serious discussion about this and maybe photographic examples need to be involved. I like my dark, thick, normal person eyebrows. I just want more shape. Is this something that can be created or are the girls with the nice eyebrows just lucky and were born like that? I don’t think so.

My hair was turning weird golden brown again so I applied some more of the $6 brown hair color and I am so pleased. I have very dark, healthy looking brown hair now. I think I’m going to have to keep with this re-coloring upkeep for a while. I was annoyed by the length because I can’t afford a special haircut right now but lately I have been using a hair straightener to make it wavy, not pageant queen curly, but wavy and it looks nice.

Mascara love

I woke up to snow-covered grounds this morning. It was so pretty and nice and by noon it had all melted. I like the snow, for no particular reason other than the fact that it's pretty and it used to get me out of school when I was younger. Now I'm happy with snowy mornings that last only a few hours. I've come to realize that snow that lasts longer than that is just a pain in my ass. These days I still have to go to school/work so unless there is going to be a blizzard, I hope that Mother Nature keeps providing us with this momentary snow. It makes me smile and doesn't cause any significant difficulties for me.

I have two little part time jobs that that I could not even BEGIN to complain about. They are wonderful, but not equally wonderful. At Job#2, where I only dedicate about 10 hours of my life each week, I had to make a little card of shit that I like/represents me to go up on the board with everyone else's cards. I had taken a Benefit catalog with me to work this evening to look at when I got bored. After going through it and circling things that I want, and then coming to the realization that I cannot currently afford any of them, I used the catalog to create my little card. I love Benefit products. They're my favorite, mainly because I love the packaging. This is my little card that I wasted a ton of tape and two hours of my life making. Glamorous Gabi (bottom right) is so cute and the older makeup bags are so much cuter than the new ones. She's not really daydreaming about those love birds.. I made it that way. I was really, REALLY bored.. Obviously.



I love that BAD gal lash mascara. It's my #2 favorite behind Dior Blackout that Julie introduced me to. Here's to irony, big eyelashes, and Valentine's evening spent captive at my workplace...

What's been up

About two weeks ago I decided that the blond hair needed to go. It was just getting TOO blond. I had been contemplating this for a couple of months actually, because once I start throwing the brown dye on it, going back to the blondness would be such a big, expensive ordeal. But it had gotten to the point where it wasn't really highlights anymore. I don't know, I just didn't like it anymore. So I went to Target and $6 and 45 minutes later I had brown hair. It lasted for about three days and then my hair turned this sort of olive green as the dye started fading out and the blond began to be exposed. Tonight I purchased TWO boxes and I feel so happy with the results. I spent more time saturating every little inch and I feel like it might stay brown longer. We'll see. I'll post a picture later.

This weekend I went ice skating. I've been a couple of times and I have a terrible fear of someone chopping off my fingers with their skates. Therefore, if I fall, I would risk busting my head (or ass) open on the ice before I ever throw my hands out to protect myself.

Mr. Jinnah's grave and the zoo

Mohammed Ali Jinnah was the founder of Pakistan. He is also referred to as Quaid-i-azam, which means "great leader". He was really fancy with Cadillacs and 3-piece suits (in the museum). This big tomb was GIGANTIC and you couldn't wear your shoes.




I'm surprised the guards let me take a picture here. I asked first.


This big chandelier was a gift from China.


And then we went to the zoo and saw this tiger:

And these flamingoes:

And this baby stork:

Bizarre Bazaars

You can’t be in Pakistan and not go to a bazaar!

Transportation

Milk and those that produce it

In Pakistan, you can't purchase a gallon of cold milk from the refrigerated section at the local grocery store. You can, however, buy one of these tiny little milk boxes from a food mart in a crowded bazaar.


Since milk at home isn't that great, everyone gets really excited to go out for milk. There are little milk stands throughout the city where you can purchase flavored milk and cold milk bottles. A cold milk bottle is some really sweet milk with nuts in it that has been steamed and then cooled. I think this is a milk shop with their delivery.


Look at these cows just roaming the streets untethered and free! You could be sitting at McDonalds eating some ice cream only to look out the window and see a herd of cattle making it's way through traffic. That blew my mind.

Stink Shield

Last night I went to the Found vs. PostSecret Charity event at the Man Bites Dog Theatre in downtown Durham. I had only purchased one ticket so when I arrived and saw that it was a lounge-type thing I started to not go in. How could I possibly survive the evening all alone? After circling the block I came to my senses, parked my car, and went inside. I had been looking forward to this for a while. The lounge turned out to just be a waiting area and we sat in an actual theatre. I wasn't as familiar with FOUND magazine, but now I am very interested.

Here are some of the things that I enjoyed at the PostSecret vs. Found event...

Seat 29E

and

Kowabunga!

I was a last-minute, home made Donatello from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for Halloween! I visited the family and then went to Franklin St. with Jessica.




Gracie was a fairy!


Jamie started out being a cat but I thought she looked more like a long-eared rabbit so I determined that she was a cat/rabbit hybrid


Ghostbusters on Franklin St.


These guys were my favorite. They would not shut up talking about their respective cell phone plans.


There were a lot of dick-in-a-box costumes. There were also a lot of ipods


Cavemen


Everyone was chasing after McLovin from Superbad