thoughts on a car-free urban life. daylight savings. hair cut.
So we're coming back to standard time pretty soon, meaning that the sun will set an hour earlier and rise an hour earlier.
I'm really concerned because like I said before, lately Pip's been going to bed at like 7pm, if she doesn't take a nap, and waking up at 7:15am. That means going to bed at 6pm and waking up at 6:15.
I'm thinking maybe I should just roll with it and just wake up/go to bed "earlier" (to our bodies, after all, nothing is changing at all from the 4th to the 5th). If I could do this, then it would certainly make it easier to go out in the mornings and do stuff.
IDK. Things with her sleep are still in flux. She took a brief nap today so she didn't go to sleep until about 8.
---
It's funny how not having a car completely changes your lifestyle.
If we had a car, here's how my errand to pick up dry cleaning would have gone today.
Hypothetical errand, with car:
3 min: get Pip into car
5 min: drive to dry cleaner
3 min: find parking, unpack Pip, walk from parking spot to dry cleaner
3 min: get dry cleaning
4 min: back to car and get Pip in
5 min: drive home
2 min: get Pip out of car
Total time: 25 min.
Total haul: 1 clean suit jacket
How it actually happened, without car:
1 min: get Pip into baby backpack
15 min: walk towards dry cleaner
5 minutes: get distracted by greengrocer, buy two enormous cauliflowers at .99/ea and some bananas
5 min: walk to dry cleaner
1 min: realize dry cleaner is on other side of the street and there's no crosswalk at this intersection, requiring detour
5 min: dawdle/window shop at Sikh butchers while going down to crosswalk intersection and back to dry cleaner
3 min: get dry cleaning
5 min: walk towards home
2 min: get distracted by free cake being given out by TD Bank. The banana frosting was not a lie. And neither was the free chai. Yum.
5 min: walk towards home
8 min: get distracted by local broccoli crowns at .79/lb. Buy some. (Long-ish line.)
2 min: walk towards home
5 minutes: decide to buy frozen pizza for dinner at grocery store. Nice man allows me to cut in front of him. Yay.
10 min: walk home
Total time: 72 minutes
Total haul: 1 clean suit jacket, two cauliflower heads, two broccoli crowns, one pound bananas, 1 small slice banana cake, 1 small cup chai, 40 minutes brisk walking while carrying anywhere from 25 lbs (Pippa) to 35 lbs (with all the stuff).
Most of the time, I like the serendipity of walking and taking public transit places. I do sometimes get envious when I think stuff like "If I had a car, it would take me 20 minutes to drive to this class, instead of an hour on the bus." Or, "If I had a car, I could drive to Superstore and buy a ton of stuff all at once and be done for two weeks with grocery shopping."
Both sides have perks. But I think the car-less lifestyle is probably better for me personally. I get more exercise, I discover new things, and I have time for checking email and stuff on the bus now that I have a smartphone. Plus, especially living in an immigrant neighborhood, I love how friendly people are to Pippa. I mean not that immigrants have a corner on loving babies, but I'm talking about traditions of being pro-family and pro-children in a sense that "the children are our future, all of us, and we all take joy in them and responsibility for them" and not this modern Western "well children are cute but it's YOUR choice to breed and thus YOUR responsibility not MINE and they better not infringe upon my personal space one iota" crap.
Particularly with older immigrants they just radiate this joy towards little children that I find so attractive. Today at the bus stop this elderly Asian lady, who I assume couldn't speak English, came up to us. She told me through elaborate charades that I had an adorable daughter. I thought she was pretty adorable too. That kind of thing really brightens your day, and it happens multiple times a day.
---
I feel like doing something dramatic with my hair. I have asked my SIL who is a hair stylist to do a cut and color for me as my Christmas present. I want to do something DRAMATIC.
I started playing around with this InStyle virtual makeover tool to get some ideas.
I'm not sure about the color, but it honestly looks a lot better than I thought blonde would look on me, so I'm not sure.
Part of me thinks that if I'm going to try a pixie cut, now is the time to do it. Counter-intuitively, shorter hair might actually be BETTER for me in winter, for the following reasons:
1. I don't have a hair dryer, and I need to go out shortly after showering most of the time, and it's too wet and cold to do that already, and it's going to get worse.
2. I usually wear a hat and scarf.
3. If I don't like the hairstyle I can hide it with said hat/scarf until it grows out. lol.
I would looooove to try that Christina Hendricks red color. This wouldn't be dramatically different from what I have now cut wise, and I already know this is a flattering style on me.
This is a similar shag to the first one, only brown with red highlights, so it's not quite as dramatic.
Thoughts? I know you people love to give me thoughts about hair. LOL.
I'm really concerned because like I said before, lately Pip's been going to bed at like 7pm, if she doesn't take a nap, and waking up at 7:15am. That means going to bed at 6pm and waking up at 6:15.
I'm thinking maybe I should just roll with it and just wake up/go to bed "earlier" (to our bodies, after all, nothing is changing at all from the 4th to the 5th). If I could do this, then it would certainly make it easier to go out in the mornings and do stuff.
IDK. Things with her sleep are still in flux. She took a brief nap today so she didn't go to sleep until about 8.
---
It's funny how not having a car completely changes your lifestyle.
If we had a car, here's how my errand to pick up dry cleaning would have gone today.
Hypothetical errand, with car:
3 min: get Pip into car
5 min: drive to dry cleaner
3 min: find parking, unpack Pip, walk from parking spot to dry cleaner
3 min: get dry cleaning
4 min: back to car and get Pip in
5 min: drive home
2 min: get Pip out of car
Total time: 25 min.
Total haul: 1 clean suit jacket
How it actually happened, without car:
1 min: get Pip into baby backpack
15 min: walk towards dry cleaner
5 minutes: get distracted by greengrocer, buy two enormous cauliflowers at .99/ea and some bananas
5 min: walk to dry cleaner
1 min: realize dry cleaner is on other side of the street and there's no crosswalk at this intersection, requiring detour
5 min: dawdle/window shop at Sikh butchers while going down to crosswalk intersection and back to dry cleaner
3 min: get dry cleaning
5 min: walk towards home
2 min: get distracted by free cake being given out by TD Bank. The banana frosting was not a lie. And neither was the free chai. Yum.
5 min: walk towards home
8 min: get distracted by local broccoli crowns at .79/lb. Buy some. (Long-ish line.)
2 min: walk towards home
5 minutes: decide to buy frozen pizza for dinner at grocery store. Nice man allows me to cut in front of him. Yay.
10 min: walk home
Total time: 72 minutes
Total haul: 1 clean suit jacket, two cauliflower heads, two broccoli crowns, one pound bananas, 1 small slice banana cake, 1 small cup chai, 40 minutes brisk walking while carrying anywhere from 25 lbs (Pippa) to 35 lbs (with all the stuff).
Most of the time, I like the serendipity of walking and taking public transit places. I do sometimes get envious when I think stuff like "If I had a car, it would take me 20 minutes to drive to this class, instead of an hour on the bus." Or, "If I had a car, I could drive to Superstore and buy a ton of stuff all at once and be done for two weeks with grocery shopping."
Both sides have perks. But I think the car-less lifestyle is probably better for me personally. I get more exercise, I discover new things, and I have time for checking email and stuff on the bus now that I have a smartphone. Plus, especially living in an immigrant neighborhood, I love how friendly people are to Pippa. I mean not that immigrants have a corner on loving babies, but I'm talking about traditions of being pro-family and pro-children in a sense that "the children are our future, all of us, and we all take joy in them and responsibility for them" and not this modern Western "well children are cute but it's YOUR choice to breed and thus YOUR responsibility not MINE and they better not infringe upon my personal space one iota" crap.
Particularly with older immigrants they just radiate this joy towards little children that I find so attractive. Today at the bus stop this elderly Asian lady, who I assume couldn't speak English, came up to us. She told me through elaborate charades that I had an adorable daughter. I thought she was pretty adorable too. That kind of thing really brightens your day, and it happens multiple times a day.
---
I feel like doing something dramatic with my hair. I have asked my SIL who is a hair stylist to do a cut and color for me as my Christmas present. I want to do something DRAMATIC.
I started playing around with this InStyle virtual makeover tool to get some ideas.
I'm not sure about the color, but it honestly looks a lot better than I thought blonde would look on me, so I'm not sure.
Part of me thinks that if I'm going to try a pixie cut, now is the time to do it. Counter-intuitively, shorter hair might actually be BETTER for me in winter, for the following reasons:
1. I don't have a hair dryer, and I need to go out shortly after showering most of the time, and it's too wet and cold to do that already, and it's going to get worse.
2. I usually wear a hat and scarf.
3. If I don't like the hairstyle I can hide it with said hat/scarf until it grows out. lol.
I would looooove to try that Christina Hendricks red color. This wouldn't be dramatically different from what I have now cut wise, and I already know this is a flattering style on me.
This is a similar shag to the first one, only brown with red highlights, so it's not quite as dramatic.
Thoughts? I know you people love to give me thoughts about hair. LOL.