It felt like Houston today. Oh, the humidity!

In regards to the title, when I told Matt the pun that I was so proud of, he did his usual response: silence, then a slow groan. He's the punster, so I think he should appreciate the bit that's rubbing off on me and my sweet efforts to share terrible puns with him... :P

But really, it was quite humid today and not all that cool. But it rained this evening with a terrific thunderstorm and no damage, so I'm pretty happy about it. I spent all afternoon at The Domain, which was no easy feat. For one, I was hoping to get stuff done at the house. And being in such close proximity to all that great shopping was tough. I wanted to play in the stores and shop shop shop! But I was good and only purchased the new book by the author of The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger. That was one of the best books I've ever read, by the way, so it's an understatement to say I have high hopes. Anyhow, the book was 30% off so I marched it to checkout. As I was literally wondering if I should ask for a teacher discount but deciding against it since I have no paycheck from a school district to prove conventional educator, this woman asks if I'm a teacher. I smiled and said yes and asked if I looked like one. We got to chatting as I filled out an educator application (she didn't seem to care that I had no proof) and when I said I was a teaching artist, she told me her mother had been one in Brooklyn. We only talked for a few minutes, but it was a really lovely conversation and she said her mother would have been proud to hear about teaching artist work in Austin. I left the store with a smile, and an educator discount card that said Teaching Artist for "subject" and All Over for "school." :)

Ah, yes, so you're probably wondering why I was "trapped" at The Domain. Poor me, surrounded by the petite section at Banana Republic, the makeup counter at Neiman Marcus, White House/Black Market, BEBE, Origins, and Cole-Haan, NONE of which--le sigh--I ventured into! My hard drive decided it had better things to do and gave notice of impending doom. Fortunately, I received the memo in time to back up everything and received a bonny new hard drive under warranty. Sadly, however, I couldn't swing getting my laptop back to normal with my backed up files so I was spending Day Two at The Domain and waiting forever for the Apple store to fight the good fight against my laptop. In the end, they won as they always do. Amusing fact about the Apple store: they have a CONCIERGE! You have to check in as you enter the store so they can type your information into the iPod they all carry and get you in their system. Very amusing. And they have scrapbooking SOFTWARE programs, which I never knew of! They look super fun, but I must admit a good chunk of the pleasure of scrapbooking is the tactile part of the hobby. Recreating everything with clicks of the mouse is cheaper than materials, more polished in results, and unlimited in possibilities for the pages, but the traditional scrapbooking with its messiness and hands-on appeal are my go-to.

Time to get back to my new book before I burrow under my comforter and call it a night.