Thank God For Fridays

I mean really. This has just been one of those ridiculous weeks, and I am so glad its coming to an end. Work continues to be just... ugh...work... you know what I mean? I'm dealing with some BS on the home front and then there is the small matter of my car.  Let me tell you the story.

I park my car behind my row house in a small spot. Its "secured" by a gate but I use the term secured very loosely. So Tuesday morning I'm walking out the door to get in the car, turn it on and it wont start. great. my six year old Jetta with 47,000 miles is not starting. Must be the battery right? Okay, fine. I had a hectic morning on the Hill tuesday so I raced off to the metro and to the House side. Wednesday night I called  my roadside assistance to come jump it for me. Nothing. It's not the battery. GREAT. So, called for a tow truck to come take her away to some garage in town. Get a call from the garage yesterday its going to be $375 because there's a hole in the firewall and some frayed wires or something. Okay. fine. That's honestly not as bad as I was expecting. I go walk over to the garage (25 mins away) during my lunch hour to pick it up. Andy, your friendly neighborhood Asian mechanic (it was Chinatown so what else would you expect) promptly notified me I need to find a new place to park my car. RATS have decided to take up residence in my engine.

Let that sink in a minute.

RATS were living in my car. I'm disgusted, furious, and to the point of hysterics that I start laughing. The rats have apparently been eating the wiring in my car.

So I drive away, in shock at the absurdity of all of this. THEN I notice a new light has come on my dashboard. I call Andy and he tells me to come back. They have to do MORE work to fix whatever this other light is.

NOW I'm out $700 because a few rats decided they were hungry. Bitches. I mean really. I hate them. Plus I have to switch my plates and insurance over to DC where its MUCH more expensive than Arkansas (where my car is currently registered) so I can park on the street. Wonderful.

When is that vacation again?

HOPEFULLY all will go well today and the car will be done today, because I plan to get the heck out of dodge and head to visit my bff/grandma and her husband.

I have a fun post scheduled for tomorrow. Hope y'all all had a better week than me! Here's to Friday. I'll post a cocktail recipe soon!

Politics v. Policy

So far in my professional experience I've discovered that there are two kinds of people in the business of politics. There are those who love the game, the strategy, the posturing and the power, and those who love the policy. I love to watch the game, but I'm more concerned with the policy side. As of late the biggest policy issue on peoples minds is Healthcare Reform. March 23, 2010 the House passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) aka healthcare reform aka Obamacare. I hope you all looked at that date, TWO YEARS AGO, and and the same reaction as I often do: health care reform is done, for now. The House repealed it in January 2011, there is no way the Senate will do the same in this Congress or any Congress in the foreseeable future for that matter. So why are we still fussing about it? Can't we focus on policies that need to be tackled NOW. Energy security? Increasing poverty? Tax Reform? that pesky nation debt that keeps getting bigger? Oops. No. Sorry, we still want to keep up this anti- political rhetoric that raises ratings and sells books. It just infuriates me the crap that people are able to get away with these days.

This week in in Washington all eyes are on the Supreme Court as they hear arguments in the Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida, aka the Heath care Reform Law. Today wraps up the final day of arguments and based on the media coverage I've seen the individual mandate part of the law seems to be in jeopardy of being overturned. Now, if the individual mandate is deemed unconstitutional that does not necessarily mean the whole law is nullified, but there is really no point in speculating. A decision will be made in time. However, you just have to flip your TV to the three networks to see the absurd spin going on right now. Just for kicks I started my day with MSNBC this morning. According to them, Justice Kennedy (the so-called swing vote) is going to support the individual mandate and vote to uphold the law. Then I switched to CNN's coverage, without hesitation their reporters are saying the mandate will surely be overturned and the law might go with it. Then I checked out fox. Ohhhh Fox. You bring me endless joy with your blatantly obvious pandering to the right. I mean  COME ON, I know people tune in to hear the rhetoric that they want to hear, but jeez. SO BLATANTLY BIASED. Fox is saying the law is going down in burning flames, this is the end of the President, he will lose horribly in November, and this is the new coming of the Tea Party Republican Movement. I'm not arguing that MSNBC isn't biased towards the left, believe me it is, but Fox's reports are so extreme they boarder on lies. Where is your journalistic integrity? You are supposed to be reporting the truth, not fostering hatred towards Americans of different opinions. I believe that one of the main tenants of the Constitution that makes our country is the fact we have the freedom to disagree. You don't have to like what I believe, but you have to respect that I believe it. Honestly, I'll respect your beliefs. We can agree to disagree, REALLY.

Okay, I've got to reel it back in. I could just get on a political tangent for hours, but back to the topic of the day.  Politics is the gesturing that gets people riled up (see my rant above), its playing a game, its the constant struggle for power, fame and money. Policy is usually what goes on behind the scenes: working with issue experts to try and improve the lives of an effected group through legislation. But all too often politics gets wrapped up in policy negotiations, and in the example of the heathcare reform of 2010 politics ended up muddling the bill and reduced the effectiveness of the policy. If you can take one thing away from this rant I hope its this:

Hate the Game. Not the player.

Oh How Pinteresting

I'm linking up with Michelle from The Vinage Apple for

I love Pinterest FAR too much. It's such an amazing time sucker. Love it, here are some of my favorite finds

Oh to dream.... God I love Pinterest.

Beauty Tuesday: Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter

So, last week I talked about my new favorite lip product: Tarte's LipStain. But I'm all about mixing high end products with drug store ones, because lets be honest who can afford to buy EVERYTHING that you need at Sephora? Not this gal.

If you are in the market for something less expensive, that gives a good pop of color, lots of shine (but not sticky) and makes your lips feel super soft you need to check out Revlon's Lip Butter product.

I was first introduced to this a few months ago by my favorite YouTube Beauty Guru: Emily of Beauty Broadcast. *Side note, if you haven't discovered beauty guru's on YouTube get on it asap, it will become addicting, promise. Emily just RAVED about these and how wonderful all the colors are and how awesome they make your lips feels, so I knew for $5 it was something I needed to try.

One day I was at Target checking out and sitting in the bottom of my cart was a tube of peach parfait Lip Butter. I swear it was fate. I searched the aisles of the beauty department and couldn't find Lip Butters ANYWHERE, but some how this perfect color ended up in my cart. It's been true love ever since.

I've tried several colors now, because as you know I have an obsession with lipstick, but my favorite is Cherry Tart.

Its the perfect red for every day. It's definitely a statement, but as someone who is a little afraid of BRIGHT lip colors this is great.

I'm always on the hunt for new products, do you have any suggestions of things I can try?