this is from moving day. phil, joseph and me. this is a picture of the front of the house. check out the cute blue shutters. they match the cute blue door.

kimy and i got together for dinner. reasons i adore kimy: a list.
1. she is smart.
2. she is a hard worker.
3. she is a good listener.
4. she has red hair.
5. she understand when i talk business.
6. she was a great roommate.
7. she says things like "do you want to go get some godiva?"
plus tons of others reasons.

today brianna and nate came in for lunch. it was the best lunch i've had in ages. we talked about our jobs and our opinions on things like health care and NASA and whether or not it's ever safe to stand on a ladder on top of a desk. it was nice to have a break from talking about 3 year olds' birthday parties and explaining how power cards work and what the phrases 'revenue minimum' and 'prior to tax and gratuity' mean.

hobbies make me happy. i have spent so much time letting work define who i am and i'm just done with being that person. i suppose to people outside my brain (which would be everybody, except me... in case you were confused) that probably didn't ever seem like it was the case. or maybe i'm lying to myself about how much i let on about how my job controlled me. and to a large extent it still does. my work can greatly affect my mood and happiness level but i'm in a better place with it now.

lastly this picture of my hair:

laurel sent me these satin roses in the mail! they're really great. they also have a ribbon and two more roses. they can be used as a belt or necklace or on your lapel or... in your hair!

i'm going to extend the same offer on my blog. the first five people to comment on this entry will receive a handmade gift from me.

books is good

curse you hot tub time machine for being rated r. universe, you know i am a sucker for anything having to do with the space time continuum. it just isn't right. ::sigh:: thems the brakes i suppose.

so we're pretty much settled into the new house. a couple of my walls are still lacking in the art department but i'm getting there.

tonight i really feel like i need to paint but it's not going to happen. it probably won't happen until this weekend and that makes me a little sad. painting is such a wonderful stress reliever for me. maybe saturday afternoon i will have time to do the second layer of the painting i started a month ago. i'm really pleased with how it has turned out so far. it's a dark gray background, with a brown branching across it. now i just have to add pink / white cherry blossom flowers. maybe i will just make time tomorrow night.

last week i bought photography for dummies. i'm hoping to get out and start taking some pictures soon now that the weather is a little warmer and it's becoming spring. spring... it's like a dream come true, isn't it? the thing i look most forward to is when the fireflies come back. favorite thing in the entire world. i also look forward to going for bike rides again. maybe a picnic. feeling warm from the outside in.

bill comes to visit on saturday! yay! i've taken the entire week off work. it's going to be so nice to not have to go in for a while. i really need some away time. ::sigh:: but even better... i get to hang out with bill! i've been looking forward to this for a year! i feel the need to stock up on john wayne movies, vanilla ice cream and bananas.

i'm feeling kind of blue. some days you just can't get rid of a bomb.

a final story to make me happy. i spent one night while i was in ca up at laurel's house. amber text messaged me the next morning to tell me that felicity woke up and ran into the room where i had been staying, didn't find me there and ran back and said 'mom, where's my best friend?' i miss her. here is a picture of me and my bff. :)

movin' day

my lease is up on sunday... which means MOVING TIME! brianna and i spent the evening moving just up every box over to the new house. we're pretty much amazing. my back is like, what the what? highlight: moving the bookcase. so brianna grabs the side of the bookcase and the top half starts to fall in slow motion towards me. after swearing a bit out of shock of thinking a bookcase was about to land on my head, i recovered and we decided to try to move the top half. as i grabbed the shelf they all just came apart in my hands. it was like one of those bad dreams where you're falling and you're trying to grab things but they just keep slipping through your fingers. it was like that but a bookcase. i don't know if the bookcase was made out of giant wooden legos or maybe some jenga pieces but that bookcase was crazy. it wound up making it to the dumpster in about 80 tiny pieces.

last night when i was falling asleep my brain decided to make a list of things i love. this is how it went:
1. dinosaurs
2. outer space
and then i fell asleep. i woke up and remembered this list and was cracking up. sometimes my brain makes awesome all by itself.

so tonight the missionaries came over. they started the evening by saying we have a great surprise for you... a rap song. the lesson was on having a positive attitude. anyway we get to end of the lesson and they say now we have an object lesson and this will work out really well if you have a positive attitude. at this point i'm practically boucing out of my seat b/c this is when the rap song is coming. so they pull out a bible and turn to a scripture and say ok, now rap this scripture for us! WHAT THE WHAT? they had no plan of rapping for me... i was been forced to rap for them... and worse of all it had to be improvised on the spot. after a few minutes of saying things like is this a joke? are you serious? is this for reals? i attempted to rap the scripture. good times. hopefully it provided the entertainment they were looking for.

vacation updates coming soon

ride sally ride

my camera arrived. i bought some film for it. now i just have to wait for it to not be freezing outside so i can go take some pictures. i need to get a good book on taking pictures. maybe i'll pick one up while i'm in california. i can't wait until the trees start to get leaves again and it's colorful and wonderful. it's like waiting for your friend to come home.

we went to the ballet on saturday. i'd never been to the ballet before. it was quite an experience. i wasn't totally sure i would like it but i was willing to try. turns out... i LOVE it! we saw romeo and juliet so the story was easy to follow and the music was beautiful. rva has a new theater complex that was built in the last year or so. the theater is just absolutely beautiful. if you're a richmonder and you haven't been to the center stage, what are you waiting for?! what i love about rva is that there is a ridiculous amount of arts and festivals and activities sponsored by the city. it's pretty crazy. if you're looking for stuff to do it's every where.

i gave blood on saturday. it was a lot less traumatic than the last time i tried to give blood. they stuck me in the right arm, missed, adjusted and then moved on to the other arm. i was thankful they didn't just keep trying and butchering my arm like last time. any who, they moved to the left arm, got plenty of blood and caused no bruising on that arm. i think most of the bruising on my right arm is actually from the crazy tape they put on that arm. after giving blood we went to jimmy john's.

jimmy john's. this isn't some thing they have in california. they have delicious bread. YUM. they also don't have o'charley's in ca. o'charley's is my favorite virginia restaurant. i used to love the sugar buns they have there. it seems like they have changed them in the last month or so. and now they aren't nearly as awesome. sad day.

reason number 249 why i enjoy the teeth: word games. this evening he asked what my peak of the week was and i said that sunday was a really good day. church was good (we missed two weeks b/c of the snow) and then dinner at brianna's was really nice (good company and good food... what more do you need?). he then asked what the best of yesterday was. i told him it was washing the dishes with joseph. it's little moments like that, that i treasure the most. moments when i don't feel like i have to entertain someone, when i'm just me... when i can just listen to someone and just be there. those moments stay with me. i wish it happened more often.

i bought a little mp3 player the other day. it was like $30 and holds like 300 songs. perfect for taking on the plane. i'm pretty excited about it. tomorrow i have a lay over in o'hare. i've never gone through that airport before so i'm a little worried but i'm sure it will be fine. i'm like a professional traveler at this point. i'm trying to pack light this trip. i mean, i always p light but i'm constantly refining my packing skills. at this point i can go on a week long vacation and i pack a small roller bag and half a backpack. i don't believe in checking baggage and i usually wind up wearing the same jeans and tshirt the entire vacation anyway. my main concern is that it's really cold here and so i have the desire to pack things to keep me warm but it's like 75 in ca... but i can't seem to remember what 75 feels like anymore!

ok so this has turned out to be a post about the most mundane things. ha. i suppose that's life though.

i'm very excited to go to ca and to get to meet the new baby. it will be good to visit the family and the friends. to have some fun and get away from work. to smell the pacific. to enjoy the company of felicity. to get destroyed at settlers of catan by the stones. to make some new memories. eat some pea soup. to be with the ones who make me love california.

i'll never tell you what i do on saturdays

so i just had this really random dream. i was in new york and was going to make a special guest appearance in a local improv show. why i get to make guest appearances anywhere is beyond me. anyway the preshow ritual was to ride this ridiculously fast, ridiculously tall elevator up and down until you couldn't even walk straight. (why in the world is that a good way to get ready for doing improv? but it sure was fun... and super scary). when we do finally get out of the elevator the theater looks like a construction zone and i have to wear this absurd tie dye shirt. in the lobby they are selling these necklaces that hold a tiny bottle of water and i think, wow those are awesome i need to get one of those when i'm done! and hey now that i think about of it, i've never seen a bottle of water that small in real life (not that it matters in dream world). so they do the opening act which is just tons of people running out of the theater and nearly killing me as i wait in the lobby. then it turns out that this show is also a rehearsal dinner (thanks work!) and they show this video of the couple being interviewed and they start talking about the best man. interesting facts about him: 1. the couple is getting married on the 12th... that's the same as the number of bodies that he has found in nyc. 2. he has scalene. in regular life that's a kind of triangle. in dream world it's a disorder that when you touch his skin a bunch of scales come off him. 3. whenever he sees someone propose he projectile vomits. and then only the good die young started playing... b/c my phone was ringing... and i woke up. so that was weird. and i still feel dizzy from that elevator.

this is a picture of me being touristy with the beginning stages of our snowman. please note the cool stuff you get to wear when you have cold weather: 1. pink scarf 2. green coat 3. blue and green plaid rain boots.



ok so maybe not everyone would make those color choices but all of those items are appropriate to wear for weather related and not fashion reasons. so i guess the snow does have some perks after all. i really like that picture just b/c i think i look really happy. and i was! this was a really fun day! i really loved that snow man.


waive us out ladies!

snow updates coming soon. but for now enjoy this picture of me with the most awesome gift ever... an autographed picture of john travolta for my bathroom!