Our neighbor was telling us how she and her husband recently went to their friend’s house and barbequed with him and his new(ish) girlfriend.

The friend, who was busy at the grill, asked the girlfriend if she could make a salad.

“Uh, I don’t really cook,” she replied.

Huh? Cook?

I’m sure my neighbor’s jaw hit the ground for several reasons.

1. What adult doesn’t know how to make a salad?
2. Since when is making a salad cooking?
3. The ingredients for said salad: two bags of ready-to-eat lettuce and a box of grape tomatoes.

A few months ago, my mom was telling me about a conference my dad would be attending in Florida. The conference was at a convention center in a Disney World hotel, and she was going to join him.

When my dad was in meetings, she planned on renting a car and driving to visit her aunt (my great aunt) one day.

I thought it might be nice to join them. Our aunt is 98 years old, and I haven’t seen her in a few years. Not sure how many more opportunities I’ll have!

(She’s doing great. You wouldn’t believe she’s really that old!)

Anyway, the trip was this weekend. I flew down to Florida on Sunday.

Since I haven’t been to Disney since I was a kid, I wondered if maybe it wouldn’t be as much fun as I remembered …

But yes, it is!

Sunday evening we went to Epcot Center and went on Test Track, Soarin’, Mission Space (less intense version, because my Dad doesn’t like spinning!) and the Norway and Mexico boat rides.

We just squeezed into the last Soarin’ slot before the park closed!

Then we went over to the Magic Kingdom — they were open until 2 a.m. Sunday for guests of their hotels. After dodging the fireworks crowd, we went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain (which I wanted to ride again, except the line was really long, even at 12:30 at night!)

Monday we went to Animal Kingdom, which I hadn’t been to before. Their new coaster, Expedition Everest, was quite a ride!

I’m impressed with the attention to detail that went into creating this.

Can you believe this is in Disney World?

As you walk through the line for the ride, you go through what looks like a gear shop to help you prepare for your journey. As you wind through rooms, there are exhibits to view.

Dinosaur was also museum-like.

They probably figured it would be good to entertain the people as they wait for hours for the most popular rides!

We fortunately didn’t have to wait too long since we were there during the extended hours (only 11 p.m. this night, but we were able to see everything we wanted to in just a few hours). The safari wasn’t open at night, though, the animals go to sleep!

Fun, but exhausting. We crammed a lot into a short amount of time!

What, you couldn’t tell that this is Wilco performing?

I guess that’s what you get when you go with the phone that’s $20 with contract renewal.

Anyway … we saw them last night in an outdoor venue. We always buy pavilion seats, which was a good thing since it poured before the show began!

The opener, Low, is possibly the worst band ever. Slow, dragging, oftentimes just making noise. Surprisingly, some people seemed to be enjoying them. I just didn’t get it.

The Wilco portion of the show was good, but there was a period of time where they were also just making noise. I’d rather hear songs — not the band playing around with feedback and extending the ending of a song for fifteen minutes.

They kind of lost me during the first encore, but did play songs normally again for the second one, starting with one of my favorites (“Heavy Metal Drummer”). Prior to that, I was actually hoping the show would just end. I was glad to hear some good stuff again before heading home.

Since there were some low points of the show, we’re a little disappointed our local radio station doesn’t announce their summer concert series ahead of time — they only announce the next show.

We had already purchased our Wilco tickets and invited some friends to join us when we found out about this date conflict — one of my favorite bands, Winterpills, performed last night on a boat! (And just today, they announced the next show, which is in two weeks. How can people plan for that?)

We’ve been waiting for years for a good show, but we’ve never been interested in the bands they’ve booked for their “Rock ‘N River” cruises.

I’m predicting that the next one actually will be a good band, and we’ll be on vacation again in the Outer Banks, N.C.

(Did I mention I’ve already planned another vacation? In August. Yay!)

I’ve always wondered about the claims of haircare products.

“85% more shine!”

“Makes hair five times stronger!”

“90% less breakage!”

Where do these numbers come from? What kind of test measures the shininess/strength/frizziness of hair?

Still, I try just about every reasonably priced (a.k.a. drugstore) brand that states it will help my particular hair issues: curls that fall apart and get frizzy.

I have never noticed a difference.

Until now.

Lately, my hair has seemed well-behaved and less fluffy — despite the oppressive humidity!

I recently started using Vive Pro Nutri Gloss (for medium to long hair that’s curly / wavy) — could it be that it’s actually working?

Or did I finally guess the right cocktail of hair products?

Or maybe my new stylist figured out my hair on her first try (nearly three months ago) and it’s just growing out nicely?

I guess I’ll find out after I run out and switch to the next brand on sale!

I work in a very casual office. Not even business casual.

Jeans and T-shirts are the norm. No problem with shorts. (Though, last I checked the employee handbook, no cut-offs. Even we have some limits!)

The only footwear requirement is that employees must wear shoes. Flip-flops abound!

It seems to come up frequently at FridayStyle that one should not wear flip-flops to work — and this is a rule I agree with.

Even a dressy flip-flop seems inappropriate, too much visible foot!

Yet while I’m opposed to the actual flip-flop/thong sandal in the office, I am often guilty of traipsing the hallways making a flippity-floppity sound.

In fact just today, I was wearing a rather dressy pair of strappy sandals. But with each step, the shoe slapped away from my foot.

Flip. Flop. Flip. Flop.

Not just those sandals, I often wear slides as well.

Flip. Flop. Flip. Flop.

I feel terribly annoying. People look up as I walk past their offices.

Oh, the sacrifices we make for fashion!