My day off was so nice!  I slept in until 7:00am, had a big breakfast and left around 8:30 or 8:45am to drive to the Arcadia AAA to get all my car registration nonsense taken care of.  My name has been spelled wrong since I got the car (I never bothered to fix it), plus I noticed that although I paid my car off three years ago, the credit company was still listed as the leinholder, so I had to get them taken off.  I also had to pay my registration.  Bah.  The only good thing is, since our state budget wasn't passed in a timely manner, if your car registration is due any time after July, you have an extra few weeks to pay it without penalty.  Mine was due 9/14 (never buy a car the day before you get paid if you're going to have a car payment), but I actually had until 10/12 to pay it with no late fees.  It was so cool, the lady who helped me made a production out of crediting me the fees.  I think she really enjoyed doing it!  I was in and out of there in under 30 minutes, much better than going to the DMV.

One observation I have about being out and about mid-morning...... I would kill myself if I had to sit in morning rush hour traffic every day.  Luckily I was going East and I know a few tricks, so I was able to avoid the worst of it, but man, I feel bad for those people!  I could see the freeway most of the time I was avoiding it and the cars were stopped!  I'm sure there has to be a better way for those people to get to downtown.  For instance, they could have gotten off at Lankershim, driven south to Ventura Blvd, made a left and gone straight down to Wilshire (Ventura turns into Highland) and then made a left to get to downtown.  I've gone that way when I've heard there were accidents and while it may take a little bit of time, it's got to be faster than sitting on a freeway for 14 miles not moving. 

Anyway, since I avoided the worst of the traffic, I made it to Arcadia in about 40 minutes, which isn't bad at all.

If you don't already think I'm a freak, you will after this:  After AAA, I headed over to my favorite Target ("Fedco" Target in Pasadena).  I spent nearly two hours wandering around with my list and coupons.  Did you know that Target lets you use up to five coupons for an item?  As long as they're not the same coupon and as long as the coupon doesn't say that you can only use one, you're good.  I did some planning and I saved about $30, and everything I bought was something I needed (razors, laundry detergent, etc.).  PLUS I got a $5 gift card for buying two razors, razors that just happened to be on sale that I also had a coupon for.  So, instead of $20+ for two Venus razors (my much preferred razor), I paid around $10.  After Target I went to CVS to get my hair color (since you asked - John Frieda Precision Professional Foam hair color in 4N - Dark Brown... but looks black unless I'm out in the sun, which is weird, but ok), normally around $13.99, it was on sale for $11.99, I had CVS Extra Bucks, a CVS coupon for $4 off the color and regular John Frieda coupon.  I ended up paying $.99 plus tax for it, but then got $3.50 in CVS Extra Bucks back on my receipt, so they paid me to get my hair color.  :-)  

See, if you do a little strategizing, you too can feel the triumphant feeling I get when I'm at the checkout counter and end-up making money on a transaction.  Once or twice a week I put something good on TV then sit at my kitchen table with the weekly circulars, my coupons and my shopping lists.  The only two rules I have are: 1) Only buy things I need / use and 2) Don't drive out of my way just to get something.  For instance, if I see a good deal at Walgreens, I will only take advantage of it if I know I'm going to be near a Walgreens.  I don't have one near my house, so I almost never shop there (plus most of them seem really dirty).  Same thing with Wal Mart.  I don't have one near me, but if I'm going out to Monrovia or Arcadia for something else, I'll swing by the one over there.  I've gone once.  Again, like Walgreens, they always seem dirty.

I'll admit something though.  I do kind of break rule number 1, but only for one product.  Even though I don't need it, I've been buying up foam hair color whenever I see it on sale and if I have a coupon.  I've gone online and checked out the customer reviews for the different brands and they're pretty mixed.  John Frieda usually has the best reviews though, so I've only used that brand so far........ but I have six boxes of other brands in my cupboard (Clairol, L'Oreal and Samy Fat Foam).  This is in addition to the two boxes of John Frieda that I have in there.  I'll eventually use them (as far as I know hair color doesn't expire), but I'm getting them now while they're so cheap.  Seriously, good hair color is expensive and once a product is popular, it doesn't go on sale that often.  For instance, I used to use Feria, which was really expensive.  Once it became popular, I hardly ever saw it on sale for more than $1 off and rarely saw coupons for it.  Sometimes there would be coupons in the Sunday paper and sometimes they would be in the box, but that was only a couple of times a year.  I had to buy two to three boxes of the stuff to cover all of my hair (depending on the length), so it got really pricey to keep my hair up when the lowest price I ever saw was $10.99 a box.  The sale prices for these new foams have been $3 and $4 off PLUS coupons, etc.  With the recent promotions, I've spent, maybe, $25 total for 8 boxes of hair color, which will keep my roots under control for 8 months (for some reason, you use way less foam than regular hair color).  In essence, for what I paid for two boxes of hair color that would do the job for one month, I got 8 months worth.

If you're on the fence about using foam hair color: Personally, I really like it.  What do I like?  Well, and I can only say this about the Frieda color I've been using, the "pros" of it are: you use less (with my hair being a little past my shoulder and being really thick), I have problems using the entire bottle (which is strange since there seems to be less product than most colors), since it's a shampoo-like foam it doesn't run or drip, you don't need a cap, the gloves are great (no food service quality here), it doesn't smell bad, it doesn't burn and it has a great conditioner to use afterwards so your hair doesn't get as jacked-up from the chemicals. 

The only "cons" I've experienced so far are that the color is quite a bit darker than what's on the box.  This is okay for me since I've been told I can pull it off.  This may not be the case with a lot of people out there.  Also, the first time I did my roots I followed the instructions on the box and it didn't work out.  It was much better this last time where I broke the rules and applied the foam directly to my roots from the bottle and cut out the part where they say to put it on my hands and apply it from there.  It was much easier that way and I felt like it was more accurate and the hair color wasn't sitting on the hair that had already been colored longer than necessary (that really damages your hair).  I'm not sure about gray coverage when it comes to roots yet.  When I did them the first time (following the instructions on the box), I saw gray within a week.  I just did my roots Saturday, so I think it's too soon to give a verdict.  I hope they don't show, I really like this product and want to continue using it. 

I  may go to a lighter color in the future, but I will have to go through the whole "color correction" process first, which is a pain in the ass, smells bad and takes a while.  So if I decide to get rid of the brown / black, I'll have to spend a weekend getting rid of the color that's currently on my hair first.  Last time I did that I still lived in Monrovia with my uncle and I did it at Sam's apartment in Arcadia.  I've moved once and she's moved twice since then!  I also bleached my hair last New Years Eve (no "loser" judgements please), so I really don't know if I want to remove the color that's on there now.  That orangy blond was frightening!  I don't want to see it again!

Anywho, after I ran my errands I picked up lunch and went home.  I watched some old re-runs of TV shows, then I saw that "Al Franken: And God Spoke" was on, so I switched over to that.  I really like that documentary, but since I'd seen it before, I could do other things while it was on.  In this case I made brownies.  I'm not sure why, but it was something to do.  My apartment smelled AMAZING for hours afterwards.  Then I watched TV and stuff until it was time shower and go to bed. 

All and all, not a bad day.  Nothing to boast about, but ok nonetheless.

Hey, should I go to Camikaze Expo since I can't go to LBCC (and I'm still really sad about that and I still have no plans in it's place)?