"Andrew don't touch that!" "This store is sooo boooring!"

Daily Brush Cleaner To Go, Sephora, $6

It was supposed to be a quick in-and-out trip to Sephora after a stop at aerie for my monthly free gift while I was home for Easter weekend. But I made the mistake of mentioning aloud that I was going to the mall, and my brother decided he wanted to come. Probably because he thought I was going to buy him something, even though, at the moment (and probably still now) he had more money than me because he had just had a birthday. He did attempt to bring his wallet along, though he forgot it on the shoe stand.

While in the car, I was concentrating on driving (of course!) and he was in the back enthralled in his PSP (or DSi, I'm not quite sure). At one point he called out to me, (it must have been a slow point in his game) and said "Ally?" and I responded, "Yes?". He in turn said, "Know why I came along?" and I said "Noooo" and he said, "Because we're bonding right now". My nine year old brother said this! And my heart melted just a little... but it didn't last all the way through the Sephora trip.

I took him by the hand into the store and said I would only be a minute. First I went to the nail polish section and picked up a nail strengthening nail polish in a shade called milkshake, lord knows I need stronger nails. Then I got two new foundation brushes, which cost an arm and a leg, but have held up beautifully since.

And then I got to the brush cleaner section, and thought I should probably get some of that so I can relieve Courtney of her brush cleaning duties and it's probably a lot more dermatologically sound than Tide, you know the detergent?

I am happy to report that the cleaner is easy to use! Just a little spritz after every use, in my case every day, and you have clean brushes (no more bacteria hiding in those naughty brushes!). I got the travel size to test it out, and would not mind springing for full size next time around.

However, my mall story does not end happily, as just as I was reading the back of the bottle, Andrew, who found Sephora super boring and did not mind mentioning this in front of all the sales associates, discovered that all the brushes were standing up in little beads, not unlike those little silica gel beads you're not supposed to eat in a packet in your purse. Except the ones at Sephora are presumably non-toxic. Anyways, at this exact moment, Andrew decided to plunge his hands into the beads and send many of them cascading to the floor. And that's when I decided it was time to go.

Bang the Doldrums, Tribal Print Trend

Ailee Tribal Print Top, Forever 21, $19.80

This is the top that started it all. I was in Forever 21 rifling through all the tops, trying to find a loosey goosey one that I could actually fit, and this one came up a winner. Forever 21 is notorious for small sizes (until recently, more on that later), but this one looks pretty good on me actually and I love the pattern (it looks better in person). But this top was just one of many tops in a sea of tribal-inspired tops that seem to be really popular lately.

Tribal Embroidered Tunic, Forever 21, $17.80

I also happen to own this shirt (flowy! yet again!) I remember the first time I wore this shirt and I got a lot of compliments in class (it's a pretty striking green in real life). A little callback to my Native American roots? I think yes.

Blurred Ikat Maxi Dress, Forever 21, $22.80

Thanks to Forever 21, I no longer have the motivation to diet because they have introduced a new line of clothing called Faith 21 which caters to plus sized girls. I had specifically went on Forever 21 one night to see how many inches I'd have to lose to fit into the majority of their clothes and what do I see? A sign stating on May 1st they will launch Faith 21. And so I put that on my calendar and diligently wait for the day to come and forget all thoughts of going on a diet. And then the debut day came and I was sort of disappointed with their selection, i.e. sparse and slutty.

But they've since added more of a selection and I sort of like it. Exhibit A, this dress. Because it's tribal. And because Maxi Dress is a trend I'd sort of like to try. But when you are large and in charge it is a fine line to walk between maxi dress and muumuu.

Ikat Printed Plaid Skirt, Forever 21, $15.80
I also like this skirt. I like the length. I like the simplicity. I like the print. Enough said.

I'm Done With This

Party Purple Guitar String Bracelet, Wearyourmusic.org, $9.99

I'm done with witty song lyric titles that is. I got the idea from another blogger (noappropriatebehavior.blogspot.com, gotta give her credit!), but the difference between her and I is that she like knows every song lyric in the free world and I am more of a novice and thus had to struggle to come up with one like every blog posting. Actually, if you know me at all, it'd be easier and more akin to my nature if I did quotes for titles all the time, but that too would probably take a lot of work. So for now you'll all just have to deal with mediocre titles.

Anyways, since we're already talking about music, you can get these really cool bracelets above... They are bracelets made out of guitar strings, in pretty much any color. I also like the pink, gold, black, and silver versions. These are the cheaper versions, but if you want to shell out a couple hundred dollars you can get guitar strings from some famous celebrities like Avril Lavigne, John Mayer, Eric Clapton, etc. If you are not poor like me.

Speaking of poor, a state I will soon no longer be in, which you might very well already know if you are in with shouting distance of my mom's phone frequency. For those of you who don't talk to my mom on a regular basis (i.e. those who are not her sisters or mother), you may or may not know that I am now (finally) employed from now until approximately June 2010, at the earliest. For you see, I interviewed with Costco and got an internship with them for this summer, from mid June to the end of August. Let's see if I can answer all the questions I imagine you all might have to save us all some trouble:

It is at Costco headquarters, i.e. an air conditioned office building. Not the warehouse. No I will not be pushing carts all summer. I will be filing reports, mostly, from what I can tell.
Yes, it is a paid internship (if any of you know me at all I bet you can't imagine me working for free. However, internships have this stigma that they are unpaid, but as a matter of fact most of them are paid internships nowadays. All the good ones anyway) and no I do not know how much per hour as of yet, but I do know it is over minimum wage.
It is in Issaquah, that is a 27 minute drive from my house. But the experience is worth it.
I work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, no weekends. Yes I will be exhausted and yes I will be going to bed around 9 as I will have to get up around 5 so I can be there by 7 or 7:30.
I will be working in the sporting goods department, and no thankfully I do not need a working knowledge of sporting goods to work there. It is a department full of 9 men though. (My interviewer said it is a very simple operation because of this. I am relieved.)
No, I do not know, nor think I will be getting a discount at Costco. BUT the first thing my mom said once I got the job was, "Can you get me a complimentary Costco canvas bag with some free muffins? I saw a kid carrying one when we dropped you off for your interview". Typical.

Not to be upstaged, the next day I got an email stating I was accepted to be a desk assistant for the next school year, hopefully in my residence hall. So, with any luck, now that I am on this winning streak, I will not be unemployed for a while.