humid bliss, straight ahead?

Ah the joys of winter. Along comes winter, and then certain joys enter into life. It's that one time of year when you actually seek out to create humidity. Gee. In the midst of summer, who would have ever remembered those days would be just around the corner?

So yes, I'm soon to be on my THIRD attempt of the season to buy a humidifier. Should it really be this hard? I mean, really? In case any of you are waiting on the edge of your seat to get a quick synopsis of what to remember when making this potentially life-altering decision, I thought I'd share my encounters thus far with the wonderful product offerings at the wonderful little renter's oasis, Bed Bath and Beyond (or Linens and Things, since we all know they might as well be the same store).

The first purchase seemed to have it all... for the record, it's Bionaire's Filter Free Warm Moisture Humidifier. Doesn't that just sound swell? No filter, long run time before needing a refill, but yet didn't come with the $100ish pricetag its neighbors did. I snatched that one up and thought I was set. Wrong. Set it up that night, ready for heated humid bliss (another benefit... heated steam!). It wasn't even five short minutes later that I started to hear some loud glub glub noises coming from my purchase's direction. Argh. It didn't take me more than five additional minutes of trying (unsuccessfully) to fall asleep to realize that:

• I now had a pounding headache. Ugh.
• This humidifier managed somehow to accomplish two things I didn't think possible... it was both more annoying and louder than the obnoxious child(ren?) on the other side of my blessed wall... and was louder than the constant traffic from the noisey road outside my door.
• I was really wishing that my tendency to want to clean and expunge anything unnecessary out of my room ASAP wasn't quite so strong, as I'd already broken down the box it came in. No refund for me. Craigslist? (If anyone wants to give it a home and sleeps like a brick, let me know).

Before I go on to humidifier numero dos, must say much props to Mr. Rio for kindly assisting in toting the darn thing all around Friendship Heights. Much appreciated, whether it was successful in performing the intended function or not!

Purchase number two should have been it. I managed to scrounge up yet another 20% coupon since no self-respecting consumer goes to BB&B/LNT without them. This time I was going to buy a Crane Adorable Ultrasonic Humidifier. The DG had already purchased one of her own (an elephant). Worked like a charm. So I should be set, right? Wrong.

I purchased a cow... it was cute but not too obnoxious. It was also kinda funny considering the magazine Tam's been working at. Moo?

I came home and set it up, ready for some success. But to no avail. The fact that it's a child's humidifier does ensure it's not loud (so thumbs up on that front), but in this case the "adorableness" inhibited the vapors from escaping out of the darn thing's ears. Argh! I'm now letting it dry out since this smart cookie learned one thing from the first time around, keep the blasted box!

So tomorrow I'm going in for round three... if I bomb out, I just give up. The humidifiers just might win at that point. I'd feel pretty defeated if that's the case. To be continued...

But what I have won is the dry battle on some different turf... so every winter, my hair gets a mind of it's own. Midway through the day, it just becomes statically charged and begins to drift towards whatever happens to be around it... your jacket, a scarf, my office chair, etc. So annoying. Nothing fixes it. Brush it, and you'll hear crackle, crackle. I've even seen sparks. Sort of the time of year when my hair can be it's own 4th of July. Pretty spectacular.

This year though I've figured out how to win - haha! I've started carrying this hair stick stuff TIGI puts out called Bed Head Stick. I must say, it's pretty magical stuff. The slogan though is that it's a hair stick for cool people, so guess you have to judge yourself on that pre-purchase. Anyhow, I've found it to be such a winter blessing, I had to share it here. Kind of like a stocking stuffer for myself. Nothing wrong with that.

So, while any male who's made it to the end is slowly drifting into a lull over their keyboard, I promise next post will be a little more exciting... hah.

Martha, Martha, Martha...

On a more exciting note, SW and I headed over to Ms. LH's for a wonderful Saturday morning brunch. I still absolutely love that the brunch had to be moved due to LH's apartment scheduling a mass power outage for the greater part of Sunday. Granted, Sunday was unseasonally warm, but did any of us know that would be the case? Precisely. Logic present? Not so much.

Anyhow, the change of date worked perfectly, and SW and I were off to brunchly bliss. LH went all out... from citrus french toast to turkey sausage to a strata (which even I, the egg-eating-challenged-one, enjoyed), to her family's sinful, once a year indulgence -- an amaretto coffee cake of sorts. She'd even prepared cranberry mimosas and her lovely place was accented by a beautiful tree. S and I were saying we'd have to do a brunch sometime at our place... it really was the perfect way to catch up with the girls. Something we'll definitely have to do again, post-holiday craziness.