Hillary, look at all the words!!

1. Seriously, you guys...all this working I've been doing all day long has really been harshing my blogging gig. I get to the office, do worky things and then go home. It's exhausting, this "being engaged in my work" crap.

I'm staring to get the hang of things, but I'm also getting to know the people better, which makes me enjoy the 9-5 that much more. The firm I'm working for is very into perception and professionalism and I felt stifled for a long time but YOU CAN'T KEEP ELIZABETH DOWN and I can feel my personality coming out more and more. Plus, they put me in a very high traffic area so DON'T BLAME ME when so many people stop by to say hello and chat.

The chick I work with was like "OMG YOU ARE SUCH A FLIRT" and I was like "OMG WHAT OF IT???"

But for reals, I can't keep it in and I don't think I should. IT'S PART OF MY CHARM, DAMN IT!

2. I never got around to telling the internet about the speed dating thing but since I went to my third one last night, I suppose it's time:

I originally went to the 23-33 year old session because my friend Lara needed a winglady. It was way more fun than I thought it would be but I thought FOR SURE I wouldn't get any matches so I was amazed that so many men "yessed" me. My matches from that first session were all way too young though (and short) so I didn't contact any of them but my interest in attending an age-appropriate speed dating event was piqued.

Nothing really came of the age-appropriate session I went to the next month, but it's interesting how as soon as I broke the seal on the speed dating and reported back that it was actually sorta fun, so many of my single lady friends were interested in joining me.

Last night was speed dating bonanza #3 and the crop of 30-45 year olds was MO BETTA because there was only one reallllllllly bad one (versus three or four last month), but I don't know if it was a fluke. I'll have to go one more time to get an average.

There were some duplicate men from last month, including the one I abruptly ditched when I got the call that my brother's baby was being born and I needed to GO GO GO. Sorry about that, dude.

Speed Dating Tips:

* Bring a friend. I would never want to go alone. If you do go alone, hope that you run into a friendly group of ladies like us because we'll let you join our posse and then we can all compare notes later.

* Leslie doesn't think this is worth mentioning, but Hurry Date shows you who yessed you, even if you didn't yes them. I, for one, wouldn't have been so generous with the yesses if I'd known my non-mutual matches would be told that I yessed them.

* This one is written on the scorecard they give you but I think it's a really, really important point so I'll highlight it here: SMILE!

Lesson Learned:

I've been really, really, really surprised that I get as many yesses as I do. If it were a friendship or a you're-a-cool-person matching event, I wouldn't be so surprised because I do know that I am a good friend and am not awful to be around but because it's a how-attracted-are-yo-to-this-person? event, I AUTOMATICALLY assume the worst. I have SO MUCH TROUBLE believing that anyone would ever find me attractive in a non-platonic way.

I've been told before that my biggest wall is that I make assumptions about who will and will not be romantically interested in me and that I don't leave it up to the other person to make his own decision. This is totally true.

Speed dating has forced me to see that mayyyyybe I'm not always right. I'm not gonna say the speed dating has cured me of this deep-rooted bullshit issue, but it does make it harder for me to continue thinking I know the truth and that all the people who think I'm great just don't know any better.

(And yet, I'm also the incorrigible flirt as described in #1.)

3. I'm going to a lake in the middle of nowhere with 28 women in my extended family next weekend. I'm cool with the lack of cell service but I got an email this morning that makes me reconsider this whole thing:

NO HAIR DRYERS OR ELSE I'LL BREAK THE ELECTRICITY!

You guys, I'm not even kidding when I say that MY HAIR DOESN'T DO AIR-DRY!!!!!!

This means I'll be avoiding cameras all weekend long.

Cousin Molly advises a hat which would be wonderful except that I have my father's giant noggin and hats don't fit me.

4. Here's the next item in that list of 30 things...a photo of me without any makeup:



Oh, was that supposed to be a recent photo? Okay, here:



That was post-laser eye surgery.

And then while I was looking for those, I came across this picture, which makes me REALLY REALLY want this hair color back:



I DO NOT, however, want THIS hair color back: