After being forced into a Tucson move from Portland last year (damn you, husband's job!!), I've learned a great many things. Like what a Gila monster is, and that my skin can actually get dry. I've also seen what can happen in a place that does not embrace a younger population, catering instead to a literally dying…

I'm with you. The neat underlining formatting is a tip-off, along with sticking to Times New Roman font. Not nearly enough wingdings either.

I stopped using conditioner in my hair when I was in middle school because my head was a greasy tar sands land of gross, and it just made it even greasier and heavier. Now that I'm grown up and living in a dry climate, I recently bought a bottle of Yes to Cucumbers Sulfate-Free Conditioner. OMFG. I can't believe how…

Or The Couv! Then you get to be rejected by two states.

Absolutely. I was born and raised in Seattle, and moved to Portland for college. With all the Portlandia love that city gets, I never felt as accepted and welcomed as I did in SEA. There seems to be more breathing room for being the kind of person you actually are instead of a more narrow definition of PDX cool. And…

I had to move out of the Northwest last year, and 'My Oh My' was my emotional cutting anthem. Any time I needed a good homesick cry I'd play it. I remember my dad, grandpa, all the kids at school going nuts in 1995. The guy I had a crush on ran out to Fred Meyer and scored one of the t-shirts with the newspaper…

I so get this. I'm excited that everyone's all of a sudden praising my homeland (just like a couple years ago, when I was excited that chip-on-her-shoulder younger Seattle sis Portland, my adult adopted home, was making an impact). But at the same time, I feel protective of... something... that I don't quite…

ENsure. Another lesson for the Hate Speech and Propaganda Grammar Primer.

Bravo, bravo! And thank you! This is magnificent.

Cruel tease! I was just reaching to grab my debit card to belated Christmas gift this to half a dozen friends.

Ugh. I feel your pain. There's a Vera Bradley retail store at a mall I go to whenever I'm in Seattle, and just being on the corner looking in gives me a migraine.

I don't think that possibility crossed her mind. She'd be horrified. But it's most definitely happening. Maybe I can find an old phone and make it look like a rotary set (I saw a Betsey Johnson purse like that once), or maybe typewriter key message mischief?

Thanks! She was so much fun to tote. I just had to put her away because she was starting to get dirty and I didn't want to wear her out to death.

No one got me any of the Modcloth cat things I had on my list. Did they think I was joking? Too embarrassed to "Continue Checkout" with such items included?
Sounds like a great kitteh haul. Hurray!

I'm an eccentric purse person. I won't carry anything that isn't bizarre. I spent a year carrying a rubber purse shaped like a chicken; I'm currently carrying a vintage leather bag that is fashioned as a miniature horse saddle (we just moved to Tucson so it works). Anyhow, my mother in law got me the most basic,…

I can barely comment, so unspeakably so.

I can barely comment, so unspeakably so.

It was the bed, not the doll, but yes. I understand. I wasn't upset with the woman on the phone (in fact I remember profusely apologizing and felt like an idiot for not having telepathic price-change notification powers), but I was confused and frustrated that it suddenly changed when I'd spent the last 3 years…

It was the bed, not the doll, but yes. I understand. I wasn't upset at the woman on the phone, but I was confused and frustrated that suddenly the price changed on me after 3 years of memorizing the catalog and how long I'd have to save for each little piece. I was kind of over collecting for Kirsten after that.

I had Kirsten because we did look alike and I was an Oregon Trail and Laura Ingalls Wilder addict (ask me about my butter churn!). Anyway, one year I saved all my $2 a week allowance toward buying her the $50 blue Swedish bed. The day my savings rolled over from $48 to $50, I called up Pleasant Company to place my…