recovering...regrouping

I started eating meat again after being sick to my stomach for the three weeks that I was vegetarian. I was so weak and nauseous that I wasn't able to work out or focus on my dissertation. So, I had a chicken and apple sausage on the 4th and started feeling better, and today I felt fine and was able to focus.

I went in to the office with my binders full of articles and the various versions of my chapters today and I found an earlier version of section 2.2 which was vastly superior to the version I was pounding out this year. I finally feel like it came together and with a bit more proofreading tomorrow, it will be ready to send to my advisor Al Boime at UCLA. Finally.

I also went to the fitness center and walked/ran on the treadmill. Funny thing was that my endurance has actually improved and I was able to run longer than I had before. I also worked with free weights and the pull-up machine.

It's such a relief not to be sick anymore. Especially now that I have only 3 month left to finish the dissertation and get it to Al in time to file in December.

the devil wears prada, but I wear mizrahi

Saturdays are fast becoming regular "girl days" with Missy after the morning WW meeting. This week I slept through the meeting beccause we had been up until 1am last night and I couldn't drag my sorry self out of bead in time. This is partly because the last time I rolled out of bed and just went in sans makeup, I had everyone aasking me if I was okay and being very concerned about me, so now I always put on makeup before I go. And I am currently searching for a treatment for puffy eyes and dark circles that doesn't cost $95.

Anyway, the plan for today was a trip to Target (the hippest store in Winona), shopping downtown, and then to the theater to see The Devil Wears Prada. We ended up spending most of the time at Target, and I did get a cute pair of Mizrahi slingbacks and a ribbon belt, even if we ended up skipping the FABULOUS shopping in downtown Winona.

Missy loaned me her copy of TDWP and while I started reading it, the writing is less than compelling and the characterizations are flat and two-dimensional. Andrea is good, Miranda is evil, and that's pretty much all there is to it. The movie, on the other hand, made Miranda a hell of alot more interesting and complex than she was in the book. There is a scene when Andrea mets her friends after work and she gives one of them a Marc Jacobs bag. I gasped when I saw it, but I think the rest of the audience (except Missy) didn't get it until the recipient said "Wow, this bag is like $1900 dollars!"

The scenes of New York and Paris made me homesick for a real city, with real fashion and food. Even though there was no way I could afford it (or fit into it), I loved being able to go into stores like Barney's or Saks Fifth Avenue and see all the beautiful things. I could go to beauty supply stores that carried every esoteric or hard-to-find bath and beauty products. Now, I have to mail order anything I want. I miss Sephora.