Live and learn

So, I learned something quite valuable about Goal #1 (Getting better and more regular sleep) last night. A lamplight alarm clock does NOT work if you go to bed with a sleeping mask over your eyes. Common sense, right? In an effort to block out light coming from outside my window right next to my bed, I put it on to help me sleep. In the morning my alarm went off and I was not as awake or as apt to get out of my bed as I usually am. Note to self: Only use the sleeping mask when I'm sleeping in, and find other ways to block out external light at night.

I'm somewhat back on my way to getting back into the habit of Goal #1. My sleep is more solid now, I'm usually awake by 7 a.m. again (6:30 is what I was getting up at before my pattern was interrupted by life) and I'm generally tired by at least 11 p.m. Of course, two things don't help the good sleep process:

- The Detroit Red Wings absolutely KICKING ASS last night in Game 4. (By the time I remembered and had turned on the game, it was 3 minutes into the second period and it was already 5 to 0, Wings. For those of you who don't follow hockey, that is kind of ridiculous!)

- Your next-door neighbor waking up at 3:45 a.m. to yell at his barking dog to "Shut up, Shut up! GOD-Damnit!" Although he succeeded in his goal, he also succeeded in waking me the hell up too. Meh.

As the weather begins to warm (and I crave a mostly-cool room to fall asleep in) I've taken to putting a box fan in my bedside window on low each night. It creates white noise, a habit I've developed since moving from my parent's house in BFE back into the city to block out street noises. I've only recently begun using this window, however; and I'm less than ecstatic about the results. My neighbors don't seem to have the same ardor for good (and early) sleep that I do - two nights ago they parked their clunker car running just below my window and I got the fragrant smell of car exhaust wafting into my room as I was trying to sleep. Then with the yelling last night - I might just have to find a different window to put my fan in; or break down and just put my air conditioner back in the window for the summer.

Anyway as promised last time, a little bit of fashion. I was invited to crash a wedding (Honestly: The invite said to show up at 9:00 p.m. for cocktails). And upon looking in my fiance's closet where I keep some of my clothes at 7:30 p.m., I realized I had nothing to wear. No skirts, no acceptable dresses. So an emergency trip to Target was made, and for $30 I bought both this dress and this purse:

Though it was kind of a frantic trip around the store, I was definitely pleased with this find. And it is going to STAY in Dan's closet so I don't have to make an emergency dash to Target or Meijer for something like this again!