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ARCHIVE THIS BITCH
JULY 2006 - JUNE 2007
(the house building months...)

Tuesday, June 5

Last friday, June 1st of 2007, we closed on the house. Everyone join me in breathing a big sigh of relief. And then join me for a moment of silence. And then rub my shoulders and pour me a drink.

Directly after closing, we loaded up our beloved Heywood-Wakefield dining room table from Adam's mom's garage and into my car and took that up to the house. (its amazing what fits in my scion XB). Adam was particularly anxious to see it in all of its beauty in the new place. It was quite a moment, to sit at that dining room table in our new home. Heck, this is the first dining room table in our 12 year relationship... Serious Business!!! Some of our new neighbors brought food out to us for dinner and joined us in a big champagne toast.

Adam and I kept looking at each other, smiling.

Over the weekend while I was recovering from illness, Adam and his mom (god bless her!!!) put a sealer on our concrete floors, covering the whole house. The floors look rich and finished now.

The actual movers came yesterday, as did our new fridge. Today, Adam moved our clothes and soy milk and such from our apartment. You know what that means, right??? Wherever the soy milk goes, is where WE go. Which MEANS that we will be sleeping in our new home tonight!!!!!!!!! With or without cable TV!!!!!!! HOLY MOLY!!!!!!!!

The contents of 2 storage units and the apartment (which is mainly clothes and a few odds and ends [no furniture]) have just about fulled up our house already and we haven't even unpacked his mom's garage (hello black couch, and hutch/buffet) OR my friend's apartment (hello wingback leather chair that I bought Adam for his 40th birthday back in October). My prediction is that we will be getting rid of many items. This is particularly easy to do when you and your belongings have been seperated for 9 months. Its like this: "Hey Thingy Thing! I haven't seen you for a while, and I didn't miss you at all! This relationship is over. We have grown apart. Please leave my home!"


Hurray for new beginnings.

Tuesday, May 22

Last night was the season finale of 24 and I was happy that they didn't do a big cliffhanger for next season. At the end of that season-long ride, you need just a moment, alone wtih Jack, on a cliff overlooking the ocean, contemplating life with all of its ups and downs.


I saw YEAR OF THE DOG last week and if I had to rename it, i would call it YEAR OF BECOMING PATHETIC. There were some good characters and some funny moments and I enjoy a slow-paced film like that... but that lady went nuts by the end and I got mad at her for wasting my Wednesday evening. That scene with her laying on her bed while 15 dogs are tearing up her apartment, and she's relaxing with her eyes closed? Maybe that was supposed to be funny. I thought it was sad and disturbing.

The worst part about seeing a bad movie is that it makes me never want to see another movie again for a long time. I mean, I can't stand to have my evening wasted! it's an evening that I will never get back.......Fortunately Pirates 3 comes out soon and I can wash that bad cinema right out of my hair!


***in house closing news, we passed our second home inspection yesterday. Right now we are waiting for our loan paperwork to be finalized. We were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hoping to move Memorial Day weekend but that is not in the cards for us.****

Monday, May 14

I found this banana ripening chart on a random google images search, courtesy of the University of California. I love it. Graphically.. i love the look of it and I love the idea of documentation and records. Its something that will probably seep into my work sooner or later in some fashion.

Yesterday, I shut down my art tabletop easel and my paints and everything. It was a big moment. It means that the house we are building might be close to being done. Seriously. Though, we have been close before and I hate to even bring it up, but i can't just wait until THE LAST minute to pack the apartment. I am way too anal for that... Anyway, since the apartment is furnished, there isn't that much to do, but I want to have my game ready for game day. When IS game day???? This week the 2nd inspection is happening and the gas meter goes in. That's it! Our mortgage broker shoudl take about 7-10 days to do the paperwork, which would put us at closing right about when it gets really hot outside (LOL).

I told Adam that we both know that when we finally move it will be the hottest weekend for the year. That's just the kind of luck we have sometimes. When we moved out of our house last year in July, it was 100 degrees. And while we've had a lovely spring here in central Texas this year, there is no way that it can hold out much longer.

Whatever. JUST GET US INTO A HOUSE, ANY HOUSE!!!

Oh, i forgot something about our vacation that I wanted to make note of... and it is food-related. <travel back in time> The morning that we left, we were at the airport grabbing a bite to eat. Fortunately our airport has some local restaurants to choose from, so we hit up the Salt Lick taco stand for some breakfast taco goodness. We each had one taco each and then decided we were still hungry. Adam went up and got us another one to share.... Bacon and Brisket!!!! it was damn good topped off with their sweet and slightly mustardy bbq sauce. The End.

Thursday, May 3

I was checking out my friend Natalie's site, Ornamental Things and came across this little beauty which I have purchased and is on the way to my mail box. Isn't it sweet? Like wearing a little peice of vacation? I love it.

This post is going to be rather random....

As a public service annoucement, did you know that a small amount of acid (lime in this case) can etch your stone floor? I learned the hard way. I spilled a smallish homemade margarita Sunday night and didn't clean it up right away because we were sitting down to eat, and I was hungry and nothing could have gotten in between me and that plate of salmon. Fast forward to tuesday, when I notice that there's a perfect shape of a spill on the travertine floor (of our apartment). I mean, wow. Yikes. There you go.

I recently finished reading ERAGON and yesterday, I bought the sequel, ELDEST. The first book was pretty good and entertaining, if you need your LOTR/Harry Potter, which i frequently do. The advantage of reading books in the teen category is that you never have to worry about dealing with something heavy around the corner. I mean, you're not going to have to read through a kidnap/incest/murder scene in chapter 30, which I find to be relaxing. None of that. It's all straight up, good, clean dragon/sword/horse/elf fun for the whole family.

Last Saturday was a wonderful day of happiness with my husband. The day started with food, the way every great day should start. After a big bowl of pozole at El Sol on their patio, we headed to Dripping Springs to the Pure Luck Goat Cheese Farm to see some cheese and goat babies. We also each took at turn at milking a goat, which turned out to be quite easy. We also sampled some cheese and came back with some extra special Goat Feta (extra creamy and salty). When we came back to town, we made some pit stops and then hit 4 local galleries for our art fix. We bought a couple of small drawings at Okay Mountain--they have a wall of $30 drawings done by staff members. Great idea, artist people. Great t-shirts also. THHEEEnnnN, we stopped at the store for cheeseburger makings. We cooked those up at home, stove-top style, and ate until our hearts and bellies were content. THEN, (this is the good part), we walked a few blocks down to the new crepe trailer shack and had an Austin moment. Here's the scene at twilight: silver trailer in a gravel parking lot, cute girls making crepes, various picnic tables, a few strands of patio lights, dogs, babies, groups of friends drinking bottles of wine and eating crepes... it was too much in a good way. Like a movie! We enjoyed a cinnamon sugar crepe, which was done very honestly and understated. No whipped cream here. It was perfectly situated between too sweet and not sweet enough. Bravo!

Ok, i'm almost done. There's one more item to discuss....

That's right! Happy 5th Birthday Sleepypie! It's pretty amazing... i mean, really. I've never considered myself someone with a whole lot to say. I mean, there's people I know who I would expect to have a blog and I'm not one of those people. But, a friend got me into it when I started it up -- with the intention of posting about my crafty projects. And then, well, i am probably too compulsive to stop. And, most of all, it is so fun to look back and read about what I have been up to at various times.

My first 4 months of posts are missing.... which is sad. Here's August of 2002.

Yay, sleepypie!

Tuesday, April 24



Los Angeles and Palm Springs Trip PART TWO:
5. Before we left town, I picked up a head-to-toe Burt’s Bee starter kit. I wish I could tell you how long I’ve been wanting to try one of these. I can't tell you because it's been too long for me to remember. For $10, it was a cheap and wonderful thrill, especially for vacation. As for the items themselves, I didn’t care for  the lip balm, I liked the cuticle cream and the face wash, but I doubt I would ever buy either of them again. There’s still some soap and foot lotion that are unused. Still, I recommend it.
6. While we were in Palm Springs, we took the Palm Springs Aerial Tram up to the top of Mount San Jacinto (See photo above of the view down). The tram station is at 2,000 ft and the tram takes you up to 8,000 feet in the span of 15minutes. It's shockingly steep. When we got to the tram station at the bottom of the hill, we were looking at the next tram coming in and you could plainly see it coming just about straight down. We had some second thoughts about the trip,especially when we learned that the tram car has a rotating bottom.... COOOL! Motion sickness AND altitude sickness all in one!! But, you know, when you're on vacation you have to do something crazy so that you have a good story when you get back. And truthfully, no one got very sick... nothing that a mexican lunch afterward couldn't cure.
At the top of the mountain it was 45 degrees chilly! In fact, the man who had the idea to build the tram, did so for the very reason that Palm Springs is so hot in the summer, that his vision was to be able to get to the top of the mountain and cool off. And by golly, 30 years later, his dream came true. How about that? Yeah. Kinda neato.
7. I bought some postcards at the tram gift shop but I didn't have any stamps. I told the lady that i bought them from that if she didn't have any stamps to sell me than my postcards were unlikely to ever get sent. She said I should use them for my photo album. I DO think that places shouldn't be allowed to sell postcards unless they sell stamps. I mean, really. Was I really going to take the time to find the post office in Palm Springs and buy stamps? Really, people.
8. On our last day in LA we visited the Armand Hammer museum. It's UCLA's museum and I had never been there. When we were trying to find it, I was typing "Hammer Museum" into the GPS Thing and coming up with nothing. And Adam kept saying, "it's the Arm and Hammer", and I was like, huh? And it didn't really matter cause we were within blocks of finding it, since he knew where it was but I was determined to punch it into the GPS. When we got there, I was laughing because it IS called the Armand Hammer... but, all one work. "Armand." The only bad thing about the GPS, is that it doesn't offer you much flexibility with names. Another time, someone had told us about Melvyn's and we couldn't find it cause we were typing in "Melvin's". Close doesn't count on the GPS.

This is Melvin's at the Ingleside Inn where we had a drink at a very old school Palm Springs bar where everyone knew everyone's names. We met a lovely couple there and the bartender was the way I think a bartender should be. He was in his 60's and wore a suit and tie. I like my drinks served with a suit and tie.
If you're ever in Palm Springs, don't miss this place for a memorable trip back in time. It's a gem!

This concluded our trip! yay for that.

Friday, April 20

 I know you're dying to know all about Los Angeles and Palm Springs. Summarizing trips is always a little daunting to me, and I usually result in a randomly bullets list, in no order, of highlights and this time will be no different.
1. Visited the GETTY for almost one whole day and say Tim Hawkinson's Uberorgan and heard it play twice. The Getty looks funny on the outside, but on the inside, its all class.
2. The first item of note is actuallly, not the uberorgan, but, the GPS system that Adam so brilliantly ordered with our rental car. IT's A MARRIAGE, LIFE and TIME SAVER for vacationing. PEOPLE, are you listening? You just type in your restaurant name, or address and it tells you how to get there. They also have categories, like the yellow pages if you just need the closest gas station. You can spend your vacation sightseeing instead of having your head buried in a map. You can go have a meal at some place you WANT to eat, not just stop at the closest place in sight because you're too tired and hungry to speak. The GPS lady speaks FOR you and says, Turn Here. When you get there, it says, "You Have Arrived." Love, love, love.
3. We went to the LA County too. The most memorable thing there was the goat cheese stuffed date salad that we ate at the cafe, sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and pistachios. I fell in love with some French enamel grey and white plates, like this.
4. Palm Springs! Gay men! Palm trees! Mid-century architecture everywhere! YAY! Desert Mountains! Dust Storms! Adam surprised me and rented us a house with a pool for our stay. Isn't he the best? Being in a house, is quite wonderful in a variety of ways -- a welcome break from our shithole apartment in Austin. We spent much time lounging and driving around, looking at homes, drooling. Mid-century architecture is everywhere. Seriously. I'm not joking. Here's a pretty good post with some nice pics to have a look at.

--->This was Part One. Part Two, to come, later. Bye for now.

Friday, April 4

This is probably my last post for a week or so. I have been posting from work and I'm leaving that job as of tomorrow.

Saturday, Adam and I leave for a trip to Los Angeles and a side trip to Palm Springs. We will come back with our minds full of art, tasty food, visions of the beach, and all things good.

We have our new roof on the house, but it seems there's some some inspections from their end and yada yada yada, we may close at the end of the month, otherwise known as when hell freezes over.

I saw THE HOST this week and I was not as afraid as I was afraid I might be. I think if the film was USA-made, it would have been too scary to see. A foreign film is always refreshingly foreign and I love how they do things in a way we would never do. I recommend it and I enjoyed it, but I won't be buying the DVD and watching it over and over again like LOTR or Pirates or Potter.

Happy Easter Weekend!

Tuesday, April 3



I was browsing the web today looking for some items that might supplement the trip next week. THIS, Warm Whiskers Eye Pillow is puuurrrfect. Adam can have the TV on all night long and the light won't bother me while I sleep!

Should I get the bunny or the polar bear?

Friday, March 30

In the effort of updating on all major fronts of life...
I accepted a job offer yesterday! I am super excited. Things worked out in a way that is hard to believe. I have never found a new job so quickly (by emailing a friend/previous coworker) and have it all seem to happen so effortlessly. Even better, I will have 1 week off in-between and Adam and I are going to take a trip to LA and a side trip to Palm Springs. I've seen and heard so much about the mid-century architecture in Palm Springs.

The house is on hold during this rainy spring season. When the weather clears up, it will take them a few days to put a new roof on and otherwise, I think there may still be a few loose ends for them to tie up. We also hired a lawyer. I think in the end, with all the possible hassles of this house, we are willing to take the good (and there's a lot of it) with all the unknown, potential bad that can come with home-ownership.

I have 2 new paintings to frame and then find a new place to sell them. I haven't been painting much at all. I kinda stopped when I thought we might move and now, I'm just not feeling it, which is sad. I thought I might paint on my week off, but I think a trip for us was overdue. And, that's that.

 

Thursday, March 29



THE HOST
This is the kind of movie that I wish people would make more of--big made-up monsters lurking in the water. Well, i say that and I don't even know if i'm up for it. It looks SCARY... but i want to be able to go see it. I think i'm going to have to wait and see what the reviews are like, from people I know. And, why does every scary movie have to have some little wide-eyed girl in it? I'm over it.

What I'm saying is, we need more movies like SNAKES ON A PLANE! Funny, campy AND scary.

Wednesday, March 28



I slept for complete shit last night. I woke up at 2am coughing/choking. I do this about once a month and its annoying and disruptive. The feeling I get is like a piece of dust has landed in my throat, except that the way I am gasping for air, you would think I was gagging on a ho-ho.
So, I reached beside my bed where I happened to have a 1/2 empty bottled water. I chugged some so that I could stop coughing and then in the next moment, I forgot my hand was holding the water and managed to dump water all over my head, into my ear and hair and onto my body and the bed. It was a startling mess. I didn't know what hit me!
So, I got up, toweled off and put a towel down over the wet spots to sleep.
From there, I couldn't sleep. Probably because I quit my job last Friday and I don't actually have the offer from the new place in my hands. And though we aren't ready to close on the house, we could be kinda soonish and well, I need to have a job to close on the house. It's fun to live on the edge.

Monday, March 26



Saturday morning, we left the apartment close to noon, heading to lunch. As we were walking to the car, we heard some loud jazz music and took it to be someone with a loud stereo-- but quickly realized that it was live. We walked across the street, by the baseball fields packed with miniature players, and followed the sound. The scent of grilled meats soon hit our nostrils as we made our way to a small area inbetween the fields. Grandpa was there manning the grill with hot dogs and hamburgers and there was a live jazz band about 30 feet away, set up on a small stage.

It was one of those moments... you know? The fresh green grass of spring, the grilled burgers, the live music, the amercian flag waving in the breeze, the blue sky with scattered puffs of white clouds, the small kids playing baseball with their parents on the sidelines cheering them on. It was awesome. I think that when you don't have kids, and very little family nearby, you lose touch with all of that and its reassuring to know that everything is still perfect.


Friday, March 16



I can't talk about it anymore and I can't not talk about it. I can't stand to hear myself talk about it. The house we are building. It's turned into a big ugly all-consuming time-sucking energy-wasting nightmare. I have never experienced anything like this in my life.

We might have closed today and been preparing to move in--- but we had an unfortunate inspection on monday and its all been crumbling to a pile of shit ever since. (Well, a bigger pile of shit than it had already been). I can not conceive of ever being able to move in. I see meetings and emails and phone calls and lists in front of me. I see legal council. I see months and weeks and months and hours passing by. I can already see a year that has passed since we signed that contract on April 1.

I have thought that we maybe should walk away and find another house. That sounds easy. Its easy to see though that we are past the point of no return. We've invested too much to walk away now. We are too far.

So, I don't know. I guess I will have to get really cozy with this whole ordeal. I'm certainly used to it being part of the daily conversation. But, its time to get comfortable because nothing is going to be better or normal anytime soon.

Honestly, my biggest goal right now would just be to have what I call the normal life that my husband and I used to enjoy -- none of which can exist in our 1 bedroom apartment. That life includes, having parties, grilling out, a dresser to put all of our clothes in, both of us painting, .....space. I feel trapped in that small apartment and trapped, mentally, with our house. Its like trapped all around.

Ok, well, I think part of me wants to read back on this one day, so sleepypie is a great place for that. Thanks, sleepypie.


Wednesday, March 7

At dinner the other night, a friend who grew up in west Texas was telling us about Vinegaroons. We weren't sure if it was for real, but we were laughing about it.

Sure enough, its this crazy looking bug which is actually harmless but very ugly.They grow to be up to 6 inches long and do you see his tail? It's a whip!!! And you can even keep one as a pet.

Monday, March 5

If my blog posts had titles, this post would be called:
Best Husband Ever!

I was at work today and the girl at the front desk IM'ed me to say I had a package at the front desk. I couldn't remember ordering anything so I went downstairs thinking it must be some promotional thing (junk mail). It was a smallish box and I couldn't wait to get upstairs to open it, so i stood there and laid into it with some scissors. As I pull out the packaging paper, I can see a little peek at the bottom of something small, printed with a cool design.

Then I see the note, which I will keep private, but that revealed the gift to be from my husband. I pull out the box and its a box from FOSSIL!!! A watch-sized box!!!!

Remember that watch I was drooling over the other day..? the one from fossil (scroll down to post Feb. 13 [which shouldn't be too hard since I only post twice a month])

Yay!!!! What's cool is that I was still thinking about that watch and what excuse I could come up with to buy it!!!!


Friday, March 2

Good-bye February. Hello March!

We are inching ever closer to a closing date on the house that is being built. In fact, its entirely possible we could be moving by the end of March -- but i'm not holding my breath. The thought of being in a house -- any house -- is SO exciting. I am ready to return to the beloved weekend routine, that is both me and my husband in our respective corners, painting and painting.

ANNNNDDD, be back to a regular internect connection.

ANNNDDDDDDD, be back to a kitchen that more than one person can stand in.

AANNNDDDDD, have a dresser to put my clothes in.

AAANNNDDDDDDDDD, have all of my stuff!

In the meantime, I am entertained by:

1. 24 (don't die president, don't DIE!)
2. American Idol (let's see how lucid Paula is tonight)
3. Nice weather (can't i sleep outside tonight?)
4. daydreaming about moving

Tuesday, February 13

Crate and Barrel is a little late to the cupcake party, but better late than never! I am loving this 2 dozen carrier for only $19.95.


And speaking of other things of my hearts desire, I just found this lovely watch on Fossil. I have been looking for a watch for a while, and they all seem to be either too feminine, too sports, too glitzy or whatever. All that to say, I probably won't even buy it. Annndddd, check out this cute turtle necklace at Urban Outfitters for like $25.

Monday, February 5

Random Monday:

1. I was home at lunch watching Rachel Ray. I think it was a new-ish one. I know a lot of you hate her but i love to hate her and love to observe her kooky ways. Ok, so, today she referred to her garbage bowl as the "GB".. Oh lordy, her with all her acrynoms! HELP!

2. Is anyone else totally not that impressed with this month's cover of Living? I feel like i've seen it before, like, last year or the year before. Totally uninspired especially for the month of Valentine's day.

3. The home building situation is at its ultimate old/annoying/frustrating state. We are approaching a year total since ground was broken. I truly in my heart can't imagine it ever being finished and us ever moving in. It's not that things right now are that bad - they aren't. They are fine. It's just at its most tiring point to still be dealing with it.

I think what put me over the edge was seeing our glass front and back doors (and some side windows) get scratched up when someone attempted to wash them with a rag of rocks! These are the things that happen, that would would never imagine in a 100 years. And to have to go back to something that was already completed and have to have it redone.. oh my.

After the superbowl was over last night, i thought -- ok, by the time the next football season starts up again, we WILL for real be in the house. I pray.

4. Speaking of the super bowl, I enjoyed seeing Prince perform at halftime. Hooooo-ray for that!!!!

5. Today is monday. 24 comes on tonight! Hooo-ray for that tooo!

 

Wednesday, January 31



This is a cute coin purse from the gap, but i'm really wanting to talk about make up bags. That's what i bought last night from the gap but i didn't see a picture online of the one that i got.

Have you ever tried to replace your old tattered makeup bag and discovered that there's nearly NO makeup bags to be bought? I've been looking, casually, for a while now. I've seen some fussy expensive ones at places like Sephora and other beauty supply stores. I've randomly seen them at Bath and Body works. But where are the cute, stylish, affordable ones? Well, for an unkown period of time, they are AT THE GAP! You better go buy one because once they are gone, it maybe be another 4 years before there's any more.

Thursday, January 24



This is the kind of thing that inspires me to paint. I LOVE crazy real/but unreal animals with plants/fruits/flowers and that 'documentation' feel. Its a fine line with animals between looking real and looking like fantasy. I hope that i will be able to achieve this as i get more comfortable with drawing animals. To date, i've only attempted some birds and they all end up looking a little more realistic than i would like.

I also found Dominic Murphy's map art -- its sooo pirates and lord of the rings-ish, all at once! Great stuff.

Tuesday, January 17



I have a funny story about this hanging tree peice.

A few months ago, my friend Natalie posted that she had bought this at an estate sale.

About a month or more later, my husband was prowling ebay and sent me a link to this peice, which was for sale (except it was painted all one solid color). I told him that I HAD to own it for myself. At this point, i had NO memory of my friend Natalie owning the same peice.

Then, we got it in the mail, i was like, "wow, cool!" and we put in storage. A few days later, i was back at my friend's blog scrolling around when I saw on her old post that she had bought this tree thing!

Maybe this story seems hard to follow, but i was really laughing at the fact that I didn't remember reading her post about it, but then turned around and bought the exact same thing! Very funny. I can't wait for the day when i can hang it up in our new house, which might be finished one day but might not.

(honestly, the house MIGHT be done at the end of February. that's a huge might. we need the weather to clear up so that they can pour some concrete.)

Monday, January 15



My husband (slight bird enthusiast) has been telling me about his various monk parrot sightings in Austin over the years. On Sunday morning, I finally got to see them for my self, across from our apartment, pecking away at the ground among some grackles. There were about 10 of them total. As much as I kept looking at them, i was amazed to see them. They are really a treat to see in the wild.

Thank Goodness It's Friday, January 12



The year 2007 has been off to a unleisurely start, as I have been putting in a lot of overtime. I am not too bothered by this as its not something that's happening on a very regular basis and its something that you expect to do from time to time while working at an agency. Additionally, since the new year kicked off, I am merely passing time until 24 starts up again, which happens to be Sunday night.

*

I am so excited to start a new year of painting. I am working on my second peice on this special paper that Adam had picked up for me called Yupon. its very slick and the watercolor sits right on top of the paper, which means it fantastic for tiny details. The first peice I did was already framed and sold. I was quite proud of myself for picking out a frame that complemented the painting, which is usually easier said than done. A nice frame on a nice painting is a wonderful thing. As usual, i waited until it was framed to get any pictures if it and even then, the pictures didn't come out well. Photographing my work is my big goal for this year. i have to get better at it to be able to update my portfolio site and also, so that i have my own record of my work. ok, enough said.

Speaking of painting, this weekend is the NFL playoffs. This means, that Adam will be sitting on the couching, surfing the web and watching football, while i sit at my painting table about 10 feet away and paint blissfully, watching the game occasionally and talking to Adam. In the new house I will have my very first own real studio, but it already sounds lonely. For all of our complaning about our tiny temporary apartment, and for all the bumping into Adam in the kitchen and bathroom, I have rather enjoyed being around him all the time in our close quarters.

The weather this weekend is supposed to be wintery and I am ready for that. Bring on the comfort food!

Monday, January 2

I didn't miss the computer while I was off for christmas break. You know, its good to take a clean break from email now and then. Today, the routine begins and life resumes as it was before the holidays.

I felt so lucky to be off for so long and to not have to travel. I enjoyed such activities as painting, strolling around the mall (buying new undergarments and drinking dr pepper), going on long walks downtown with Adam (once for happy hour drinks, and another on a sunny day stopping to shop and eat), eating christmas eve tamales and homemade salsa, visiting with friends, going to Ikea, baking black walnut brownies, baking an apple pie and making pancakes with sausage links.

Our New Year's celebration wrapped it all up in a memorable way. Adam and I have rarely ever done anything special to bring in the new year, so this year was an exception. Usually, we make a lovely dinner and sometimes we don't even stay up until midnight, which is just fine with me. New Years is a bit of an optional holiday I think. Anyway, we went to a roller skating party which included drinks, food and a live band playing the fine tunes of Electric Light Orchestra. Ahh to skate in the new year.. is there ANY OTHER WAY?? I didn't drink at all... those long lines for beer/drinks. Well, i just can't be bothered to wait in a line just for a drink. OH, another thing I learned was that it's much easier to stay up late if you're out having fun. Did you know that? Well, I was as suprised as anyone to figure out that i AM capable of staying up until 1:00am if i'm not laying at home, on my couch. Go figure.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. I sure got a lot of cute baby christmas cards this year! and I look forward to more of that next year.

DECEMBER 22



It's the most wonderful time of the year - right now.

The house we are building continues to drag its heels and we continue to live in our small, strangely furnished apartment. We have made it cozier with an humble tree and a few strings of lights.

We are staying in town for Christmas. We have a few relatives coming in but other than that, I am looking forward to a nice long lazy Texas Christmas. I have all next week off. I love not having plans and having a smorgasbord of days in front of me. To me, that moment right before vacation, when all of your time is unspent and unspoiled... THAT is the best moment.

Merry Christmas everyone. May you enjoy a safe and healthy holiday with your friends and families.


DECEMBER 20



This morning on the way to the dentist I was listening to the christmas channel on the radio. Normally, that station plays way too many serious/somber songs for my taste, but they were playing something really upbeat, and so I paused. It was a hilarious christmas song about an italian christmas donkey that i had never heard.

The song is on the album, Rachael Ray: How Cool Is That Christmas and is sung by Lou Monte. (itunes doesn't sell that song a la carte). It's called, Dominick the Donkey.

You can listen here.

DECEMBER 18



Friday night, after a work Christmas party, we impromptu went to see Stranger than Fiction, starring the otherwise annoying Will Ferrell. Ok, so i am unpopular in that i don't find his movies to be very funny. If you're like me in that regard, I am telling you to go see this movie. The story line is original and unpredictable and you will enjoy it.



Last night, a friend and I went to the Secret Fish Girl Sing-a-long.
Not only was the theater packed with other ladies my age, but it was a blast and I would have given anything if my friend Gretchen had been with me. We used to watch the Little Mermaid over and over during college. It would just be on, even if we weren't really watching it. (She was a bit of an animation enthusiast.)

Anyway, the lady I was sitting next to at the theater was saying all the words to the film out loud. Unnerving at first (ok, ok, i was jealous that I had forgotten the words after 12/13 years..), but the overall energy in the place was infectious. We even had little props that were assigned to different parts of the film... like a plastic fork for when Ariel finds the dinglehopper, bubbles to blow during the Under the Sea song and small candles to light during the Kiss the Girl scene.

It seems they are going to do a few more of these next year... Possibly the Secret middle eastern man movie and the Secret girl that falls in love with a half-lion beast movie! Oh. Yes. Sometimes I love this town.

DECEMBER 11



Lots of things that you'll want to buy on this Mid Century Modern site including this owl that is very cute but i wouldn't pay $75 for. Also this King and Queen Tile.

Since we sold our house in July, my husband and I have just about bought more furniture than we did during our entire 6 years of owning a house. This continues to amuse us, as we have run out of places to put these items in our 2 storage units, his mom's place and my friend's place. Our purchases include: 1 dining room table and chairs, 1 hutch, 2 matching living room chairs, his special birthday chair, my new desk, my dumpster chair, 1 leather couch. We should be all set, when our house is finally ready for us.

DECEMBER 04

I love breakfast, despite the fact that we don't cook it very often at home or even go out for it. The reality of eating breakfast is that much of the good stuff isn't healthful, as Rachel Ray would say. I mean, what person that doesn't exercise can afford such luxuries as french toast, pancakes, bacon, muffins, cinnamon rolls and quiche.

Out of that, I am perfecting the art of a good bowl of oatmeal. I am here to tell you that it needn't be boring and that if you're in the mood.. it needn't be healthful either.

It's all in the cooked toppings.

Before I jump ahead, you should make a bowl of oatmeal in the microwave. it takes 3 min if you the McCann's rolled oat. I think they are truly better than Quaker.

For the topping part, its basically whatever you have on hand and any combination that you're in the mood for. Banana, jarred cherries, walnut, apples, pecans, and always butter, brown sugar and a pinch of salt -- it all comes out tasty, sauteed up in a pan.

My newest thing is to toast the nuts seperately in a dry pan. It makes all the difference and the pan doesn't get dirty, so its not like you have to clean an extra pan.

Mmmm... beige, lumpy oatmeal.


NOVEMBER 27



Two photos for you from the Texas gulf coast. YES, that is a real hair salon called "Curl up n Dye"!!!!!!! So funny.

--

Thanksgiving was lovely as lovely can be. Not all of my baking dreams came true.. but sometimes you have to go with the flow.

We got up leisurely that morning and drove out to see our house that is being built, slowly but surely. It was a gorgeous sunny day. On the way out, since i hadn't made breakfast, we stopped at a taco stand. Honestly, i don't fully understand the depths of my love for mexican food, but that taco was better than anything we could have made at home. It was a homemade corn tortilla filled with eggs, onions, tomatoes, tortilla chips and jalapenos all cooked up together. AND we sat out on the patio in the fresh air, enjoying it together and we were thankful.

The house is coming together little by little. We now have kitchen and bathroom cabinets, which seems like a huge milestone. There's still a bunch to do, plus a retaining wall and patio area on the side. Soon we willl get a new closing date. I am hoping for February if not tomorrow.

back to thanksgiving... so, it was me, my husband and his mom. We had been shopping earlier in the week and had the menu planned out. Honestly, his mom did most of the work since we were at her place. It started with a nice cheese, cracker and sausage plate, highlighted by some breadsticks wrapped in bacon. Then, i washed a load of laundry and Adam hung christmas lights outside on the house. Then, onto our main meal -- gosh, what do i call that peice of meat -- it was beef and it was the next best thing to prime rib, and included the bone... Anyway, we had that, corn, roasted carrots with potatoes, crab & artichoke stuffing (we made up -- will definitely do for christmas), yeast rolls, cranberry sauce, asparagus. For dessert, Mrs Smith's pumpkin custard pie, which i thought was damn good. There is truly nothing like a specific dessert that goes with a specific holiday/occasion.

 

NOVEMBER 16

I go back and forth on which cooking blog I love the most, but I think Elise over at Simply Recipes does the most consistent and reliable job.

Most recently, inspired by the upcoming holidays, I am drooling over the Pumpkin Chiffon and Apple Cranberry Pie.

I love to make a tasty breakfast on thanksgiving morning and then move on to baking something new--whatever is that sounds good that particular year. I also love to make a simple homemade cranberry sauce, which I didn't grow up eating, but I discovered it as soon as I could. I could eat the stuff by the gallons!!!

Since our thanksgiving meal will be feeding a small number of people, i don't have to be too nervous about trying something new and risking it not turning out. Maybe it will be something savory this year.. Maybe something sweet. The pumpkin chiffon is mighty tempting.

In other holiday preperation news, I have *already* started making some glittery Christmas cards for a select few family members using a brown (grocery bag color) stock paper for the base. I love the brown stock paper, because there's so many options with it: it has a natural, homey look to it, and colored pencil stands out well against it. I feel great about being slightly ahead of schedule with Christmas homemade goodness.

 

NOVEMBER 03



Everything on Broadway Paper is worth taking some time to look at, including this monkey wrapping paper. I think i'm on the verge of a big order of all things good and made of paper.

I wish I could afford this racoon christmas card to send out to all my friends.

 

OCTOBER 29


This is a photo from Comicon in San Diego, which was in July. And the BEST COSTUME AWARD goes to..... The Burger King/Jack the the BOX people! YAY!!

It was my first visit to Comincon and it and its participants did not disappoint. We only stayed 1 day and there was WAY too much to look at. My favorite is the independent press people. I bought some cool t-shirts from the Poketo people, grabbed some Pea Standing up tatoos, checked out Giant Robot of course, bought a Jeffrey Brown CLUMSY shirt, and much many tons more.



At the Giant Robot table, I was looking around for something to bring back to my friend Laura. When I saw this chihuahua puppy I was so excited.. until Adam reminded me that her mom ran over their chihauhau recently while backing out of the driveway and that it might be in poor taste. WHEW!

 

OCTOBER 27





This root is one of many interesting prints that i would certainly enjoy hanging in my house if i had one. This particular root is only $215.00--which is way cheaper than if Anthropologie were selling it.



OCTOBER 23



I'm in love with KIND fruit and nut bars. They are made of nuts and fruits glued together with honey. FINALLY a granola bar without oats. Haven't we all had enough oats? The taste of the nuts and the honey is amazing---I am hooked on these things. I've bought them at whole foods - not sure how available they are. Based on the name of the company, "Peaceworks", i would say not very.

OCTOBER 22



The remainder of the plans and dreams for my husband's 40th birthday came to reality thursday. This is the chair that I bought for him. (I found an image online to represent it sufficiently). I think buying that chair was a real step toward adulthood for me. It was kind of expensive but I knew that buying it was the right thing to do, even though it made me nervous and I asked the antique dealer lady if i would be able to return it if he didn't like it.

You don't turn 40 all the time and when you do, you probably want a little more than a stack of cds and the new PIRATES dvd. I'm not saying his birthday was all about me.. lol.. but I'm glad I did the right thing and didn't turn up lame, yet again as i have in so many birthdays in the past. Its damn time I show my husband how much I love him, by showering him with expensive gifts!! And I could tell that he appreciated it.

Holy Crap, OCTOBER 17


You see, its like this... The internet connection at home doesn't work anymore. Who knows why? Why? I ask 'why' all of the time. Don't try to answer that question because you will only get more frustrated.

What's been goin on is more urban apartment living until our house is done. Its as if our lives are hanging in the balance over a stupid house. Everything is off. Nothing is as it should be. And that's just how it is for now. When will our house be ready for us to move in? When, I ask? Don't try to answer that question because you'll only get more frustrated. All of the upcoming holidays, really make me want to be living in a house.

In more pleasing news, I threw a surprise birthday party for my husband over the weekend and it was a huge success. Everyone pitched in and played along and he had NO idea what hit him. The set-up was perfect: a movie night. A plain ol regular movie night. Instead of a movie, there was tater tots, friends, alcohol, family, cake and fun times. While I don't recommend planning a party of this kind, cause it DOES work you over a bit on the nerves, I DO think it was well worth it and I'm certain my husband appreciated it. Cause, you don't turn 40 every day.

Last night, we made the trip to target to check out all of the new Halloween gear. Its one of my favorite things to do. There's something magical about the design work on the halloween stuff that you don't see at christmas. We didn't buy anything - we simply enjoyed looking.

saturday, september 23, 5:06pm


My apple pie is out of the oven and cooling on the stovetop. Question; why is it that once a pie crust browns, it won't brown anymore no matter how much longer you leave it in? I swear I could leave it in 45 more minutes and the crust would not be any more cooked. Regardless, i hope the crust is good. We bought it frozen at Whole Foods (cause that's where we happened to be) and its organic and natural. It looks tasty enough, but I was just telling Adam that I would trade that apple pie for a serving of the movie theater blackberry cobbler in a heartbeat. How is it that I get hooked on a dessert that's on the other end of town and completely inconvenient? I mean, i could probably order some cobbler to-go from there, if i was willing endure a weird look from the college students working there.

Adam must have felt sorry for my allergy ridden looks this morning cause as soon as I got out of the shower, he took me out for a breakfast taco which is completely my thing but not so much his thing. I am really into breakfast tacos lately. When i eat one, its like the best food ever. Recently, i'll order potato egg and bacon. I think you can taste the bacon a little more without the competition of the cheese but that's just my opinion.

We've been out to the house a lot lately because the drywall is going up. Drywall is the most exciting thing since the first time we saw the framing.

A wad of storms appears to be headed our way. The last time we had a good thunderstorm or any substantial ran of any kind is far away in a distant memory. Its looking real dark out there but i'll believe it when I see it.

Tonight is movie night and hurray for that!!!

monday, september 18, 9:45pm




Our neighbors, 3 doors down have this $50 Nara ashtray as a permanent fixture right by their front door. It makes me laugh because either it was a gift and they don't know how much it costs or they know how much it costs but figure no one else at this complex does. I am tempted to steal it just to prove a point.

sunday, september 17, 2:49pm



Whenever i go to the mall, I go into the fossil store, buy one $20 t-shirt and swoon over all of their belts and their bags. They have such wonderful lush leathers and suedes with great shapes and plenty of details. One day, I will buy one of these belts or bags---that is, if I were to be able to decide on just one. In any case, i think its fun to enjoy the sight of something nice whose price is just slightly out of reach.

Austin City Limits Festival is this weekend and we've been enjoying a little of that despite the muggy Austin-esque weather. Mostly, we've been cruising around checking out this and that and tonight we're hoping to catch WEEN and/or MATISYHU. I hadn't been in a few years but the biggest improvement I have seen is the hand sanitizer available in front of the porta potties--What a stroke of genius that was!

The house building is going slow. We have now passed the first closing date that we had been given, which was August 31. We are trying not to be impatient while we entertain ourselves in this apartment. I keep setting new dates in my mind based on my own assesment and it seems we would be doing good to get in by Christmas. Its amazing all of the details that have to come together in the construction business and all of the timing and the doing/redoing. Everything you have ever heard about home construction is true. In any case, I can picture myself digging through the storage unit in hopes of finding some winter clothes. When we sold the house, i imagined setting aside some warm clothing, but in the rush of that weekend, it didn't get done.

thursday, september 07, 8:58pm
Tomorrow night, I'm dragging my friend Laura to the old fashioned theater downtown to see Raiders of the Lost Ark. I think every town has one of these old theaters that show movies during the summer. I am looking much forward to it. I'm still deciding where she's taking me to dinner.

Have you seen any of Katie Couric's news broadcast? I watched a small amount when i was home early from work with allergies and I practically didn't recognize her. She had some major work done and she looks weird. I know she's in front of the camera all of the time but its not like she's a movie star trying to get lead roles and has to stay looking young. Doesn't she know how weird she looks? But there's no one that I love to scrutinize more than Rachel Ray. Adam and I often have discussions like this: "Do you think she's pregnant?" "She looks pregnant." "Maybe she was up all night fighting with her husband. She looks tired." "She's definitely on her period." "She looks skinny; this must be an old episode." I need to look up when her new talk show starts. Gotta catch at least one episode of that. AND i need to pick up her magazine again, because I enjoyed the one that I bought a while ago. I finally got tired of Cooking Light - for now at least.

Adam is taking the computer with him out of town... no blogging for a few days. In the meantime, here's a craft blog that I'm new to: OH JOY. AND if that's not enough, you are loving these new pocket mirrors featuring some of your favorite illustrators.

tuesday, september 05, 8:10pm
At the start of the 3-day weekend, we went out friday night with my friend Laura. I broke my 2 drink rule. My 2 drink rule is "Don't have 2 drinks." But it didn't really seem like 2 drinks since they happened at two different places. I think the next day, I was a tad hungover and my allergies were apeshit. It was a wasted (lOl) day with not feeling good and some napping.
We have a semi-new habit on Saturdays. We get up and drive out to the house and then we stop at Cipollina's and order the proscuitto and fresh mozz sandwich and a greek salad. We split all of it and we always get a side of olive oil to dip the sandwich, cause we know how to make things extra tasty.
Sunday night we had MOVIE NIGHT. I love love movie night. It never disappoints.. ok, only sometimes disappoints but not very often. We watched ROCK AND ROLL NIGHTMARE(1987). Quality-wise it was one of the worst we've seen, which i kinda thought might make it totally unwatchable but it continued to shock us with it's badness and we laughed a lot.
Its amazing that I still blog considering the following: the laptop keyboard is wonky, the laptop sits at an awkward angle on the edge of the kitchen counter cause this is where we get the best wireless signal. Nice.

wednesday, august 30, 7:04pm
There's been a lot of 'not coming home from work' lately. It's real easy to find something that's more fun to do instead like shopping, the movies, meals, shopping, errands and the movies. I'm sure you can't blame us for not being eager to come to this fake apartment home that's not full of our beloved trinkets.

Last night we met at the dinner movie theater to see PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: DEAD MAN"S CHEST or CURSE. WOW, how come no one was telling me how good that movie is?? OK, its not the most compelling plot line and sometimes the plot seems unnecessarily confusing and frequently i couldn't understand what the characters were saying because of their extreme dialects.. but gah, that's nothing. I'm a sucker for a movie like this. I LOVE IT. I LOVE the squid head guy and the starfish and barnacles slowly taking over Bootstrap Bill's face and the huge squid trying to eat those boats!!! It was good.. we were a little distracted by a hard-to-eat-in-the-dark-salad and our artichoke pizza... and when our blackberry cobbler came it was even harder to pay attention. In summary, i look forward to watching this film on DVD over and over and over just like I did the first one.

sunday, august 27, 1:27pm
What a busy action-filled weekend its been despite the oppressive heat which forces you to have a lot of dirty clothes and need a lot of showers. Friday night we saw an ELO tribute band downtown and it was soo worth staying up late for, though i had my doubts at 11:15 when we were still waiting for them to come on stage. I'll never understand why bands make you wait so long to hear them play. Good thing I wasn't wearing heels.... Saturday, we did some shopping and then lunch, naturally, which was a fresh mozzarella sandwich with proscuitto and lots of EVOO. I was inhaling that thing like I hadn't eaten in days and then I was stuffed... ugh. Later that evening we went to an art opening at a small gallery. The artist gave an informal Q&A and the room quickly became an art oven and we were all cooking alive. I was trying to be tough but at last I started to feel a little light headed and I made an awkward dash for the door. I'm pretty sure I just barely saved myself from passing out. Even when I got outside, it wasn't much cooler but at least there was a breeze. OH DEAR God, didn't anyone else notice the health hazard that was taking place? Who knows what was going on with the a/c.
We left and drove to the closest major establishment, the huge whole foods. You can sit at any of of their various counters and get whatever you want in the store (you getting up to get it and bringing it back to the counter). Adam and a friend were drinking cold frosty beers and I had a fruit soda (no dr. pepper poison to be had in that place). Then we went to see LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE.... lots of laughing and crying simultaneously.
Whew! I'd say that about does it! Today, I am painting and going to a stuff swap at a friend's house. There could be no better idea than a stuff swap i think, but most of my stuff is packed... but i'm going anyway.

wednesday, august 24, 12:59pm
Saturday was movie nigt and we watched THE NIGHT OF THE COMET, a perfect 80's film with zombies and a shopping spree at the mall. Much fun was had making fun of that and it was all a little sweeter with the chocolate cupcakes that I brought. As I was cooking them up earlier that day, i was kicking myself gently for packing my baking supplies. I can readily recall looking at my muffin pan and icing supplies, and saying out loud, "Don't pack these cause you'll regret it," as I laid them into a cardboard box and taped it shut. No real harm as I was able to get by just fine and look forward to the day when I am reunited with the comforts of a stocked home.

Tuesday evening we saw SNAKES ON A PLANE with an almost roudy audience and i did my part to add to that with some hoots and hollers. I honestly jumped out of my chair with fright a few times and when i got home i was all wound up and on edge, much like after just watching an episode of 24.

I miss pictures on my site.. its so dismal.

In house news, we are moving forward after a period of fixing some things that had to be fixed, which felt a lot like moving backwards. Thrilling that progress is moving along more steadily because we both miss living in a house, cooking on a grill, and having room to move around. The move in date is around end of september/beginning of october.

tuesday, august 15, 9:40pm
If you've never lived some place hot, you may not know that it can be necessary to run the a/c in your car after dark. Its pretty hard to imagine such a thing would ever be needed, but trust me (--me being someone that never leaves the house without a jacket summer spring winter and fall) it BE.

monday, august 14, 9:22pm
It's time for a food review.
1. Have you ever had Dreyer's Dibs? I first had them at a girl's night and immediately decided they were the best cold dessert EVER. THen i had them again around the time of my birthday.. and they were still as good.
2. I recently tried Hagen daas sticky toffee pudding after watching the 2-hour FoodTV special about selecting that as the new flavor. (Would never have watched that, but we were in San Diego while Adam was suffering from a bad case of vertigo and there wasn't much to do besides fill up on bad television). The pudding ice cream was ok.. I can think of better things to spend calories on, like those Dibs.
3. Friday night, we finally tried Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia, which i've heard about for years. I figured, you know, maybe we should give this a spin since we like cherries and chocolate so much. The results were disappointing as it seemed there weren't enough cherry or chocolate peices and be prepared for the color of your cherry ice cream to be a lackluster 'cream' color, not a welcoming artificial pink. What gives?

disclosure: Ice cream is not my favorite dessert... but maybe that makes me a super extra fair judge.

saturday, august 12, 1:46pm
Last night, when we came back home from our friday night adventures, Adam spotted a wooden low-sitting chair sitting beside the apartment dumpster. We went over to take a look at it and were surprised to see that it was such a cool shape. I think Adam didn't really want to mess with it, as storing furniture isn't what we're set up for right now. I insisted that it was worth having and if nothing else that we needed to bring it into the apartment in order to better evaluate it in the light. We tossed the cushions into the dumpster (the cushions weren't original to the chair). There was no question that it was a keeper, once we got it into our apartment. Hard to tell how comfortable it is until we have cushions but it sits low and the seat is nice and deep. Its painted black. I can't wait to buy some fabric and get some cushions made for it.. however that works.

I have never been motivated by the hunt for good deals or sales or shopping at thrift stores. But, i can tell you it was exciting to stumble on that chair and for it to be free is even better. I wish i had a picture of it. We drove it down to storage this morning.

tuesday, august 8, 9:29pm



I have to share the story of my birthday gift that Adam gave me. My birthday was friday (28th) and on saturday, we were out driving around and Adam had said that he wanted to go by the Antique Marketplace to show me some chairs he liked. He has taken me in there before to show me stuff so this wasn't unusual. We are walking through the store and I see a lovely Heywood-Wakefield desk and I say, "Hey check out this desk!" (We had been talking about finding me a desk to paint at, something more substantial than the card table I have been using.) AS soon as those words come out of my mouth, I see that the desk has a red SOLD sign on it and then in the next second, I see the name of the person that bought the desk and then in the next second, I realize that I'm married to that name!!! and then I am all WOOOOOO!!!! That's *my* desk!!! VERY Exciting. Of course I won't be able to use it until we move into our new home, but i am willing to be patient.

After all of the fun, we drove over to another furniture place in the area. There we see a Heywood-Wakefield dining room table with chairs and matching hutch/china cabinet. We didn't debate that much. We knew we had to have it and that if we didn't grab it then, it would be gone by the end of the day. Adam's mom is storing it for us in her garage.

I can't wait to be an adult and eat dinner with friends on our table and paint at a desk like a real artist.

Sunday, august 6, 3:23pm



its that point of the summer when it's been too hot for too long and leaving the house doesn't seem worth the effort. it could either be 110 outside or there could be 4 feet of snow on the ground. its all the same. thing is, when we leave the house to get lunch or keep from being bored, i look around and see people outside running, canoeing, eating. What is with these people-- how do they do it? i guess they are different from me.
Apartment living hasn't changed much. We are still figuring out how to function in the new space. I set up my paints and tried finishing a peice and the only thing i am missing is the chair. I need to go over to sweaty self storage and see if i can find the office chair. Seating is important.
Friday night, we watched INVITATION TO HELL, 1984 with Susan Lucci as the devil lady that ran a health club where she took all of her victims and converted them to robots. In the end, it was love that saved the day. Robert Urich saved his wife from her death vortex by telling her that he loved her.

I'll tell you what my invitation to hell is.. its the white enamel kitchen sink. Does it show dirt and food? Yes. I mean, i can sort of keep it clean but its a losing battle. Maybe I can line it with saran wrap or foil for easy clean up.. think?

august 1



Our new apartment is furnished and there's a few unexpectedly nice things about this place: location, bathroom storage like drawers (gasp) and an over-the-toilet cabinet (egads!), new tile flooring (no cracks!), new kitchen cabinets and granite-looking countertop. I should stop here and talk about the countertops cause we're having a hard time adjusting to the camaflouge like coloring of them. Are they clean? are they dirty? did i leave my keys on them--its anyone's guess. I guess we'll get used to them.

There's a lot of freedom that comes with having our house sold, living in an apartment with no lease. we could leave at any time, take our savings and go anywhere. it doesn't seem like there's many times when you get to enjoy such a feeling. At the moments when i wish i could just go the hell home, back to our home, i try to focus on the 'unlimited options' and you know, the house that's being built that we'll move in to one day (by thanksgiving?).
In some ways, i am reminded of the time when i first moved to texas by myself and how when you move, you have a feeling of 'making it up.' Like, making up where you're going to put your toothbrush, deciding where you're going to crash when you come home from work and how much longer can i tolerate the ugly ass blue and green plaid curtain in the bedroom before I pull it down and cram it into the closet? Stuff like that.

july 31



testing. working. are you there? i'm back & alive. my usual blogging set up has been dismantled so i'm having to figure this out in a different way.... testing. sheesh what a month full of vacations and moving and lots of hotty heatness. whew. the house is old news. we moved out in a frantic flurry and we have crash landed into our new 1bedroom apartment, which is small but has a sweet location. In fact, i am home for lunch and woo hoo for that! more later, now that i've got this figured out.