Worries

Josh and I had to renew our lease this morning. We decided to go the month-to-month route, in hopes that we will be moving soon. I'm regretting it a little bit, as it increased our rent considerably. One more chunk of money not being saved each month. Blarg. We'll be attempting to tighten our belts even more now. This weekend we'll be working on the following things:

-Return shoes I didn't need to Dillard's
-Sort LPs and books to take to Half-Price Books for resale
-Call AT&T: cancel phone & long distance service and switch to DSL Direct
-Go over all our appliances and power strips to cut back on standby power use
-Drop off Goodwill donation
-See how much money I can cut off the satellite bill, possibly cancel altogether
-Put extra video games and perfume on eBay
-Return extra bikini bottom to Target
-Work on more budget friendly menus and recipes

And on top of all the bad money thoughts floating around in my head, I'm going to the dentist tomorrow morning for a diagnostic visit. Think good thoughts for me, as I seem to be incapable of that.

Good, Better, Best

Buying pretty things: Good

Buying pretty things made by individuals: Better

Buying pretty things made by local individuals: Best

Definitive Proof

Of robo-boogieing going on in our apartments. Found this in the dumpster after work one day. When I showed it to Josh he said that he had seen a girl carrying it into her apartment a few weeks prior. Guess she got all the fun out of it she could. Sorry it took me so long to post them Holly. :)

New Suit

Got a new bathing suit for the cruise. You know, that cruise that is about 10 or so weeks away. Excited much? But then again, it's not like I'll be able to walk into any store and pick one up in September. If only that waist came with the suit. But it doesn't, so it's hanging quite visibly in the closet as a workout reminder.

Weekend Roundup

Friday:
-Work, blech
-Leave early, yay
-Shower
-Research cruise excursions
-Head to John & Ann's
-Carb-filled dinner for Grandma Dorothy's birthday
-Play with nephew Griffin
-Head home
-Hit the hay

Saturday:
-Up early
-Pretty much just research excursions and plan menu while watching TV all day
-Make mac & cheese and chicken tenders
-Eat and watch Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit
-A bit more TV
-Bedtime

Sunday:
-Up early again
-Some TV and finish grocery list
-Wake Josh up
-Shower
-Grocery shopping
-Start laundry
-Angie stops by fill me in on her trip to Peru, and hear about our NYC trip
-Grab some Chipotle
-Share vacation pictures
-Watch Pride & Prejudice Part 1 while cleaning out my closet
-1 garbage bag of clothes & shoes, 1 shopping bag of books and miscellany for Goodwill
-Start Pride & Prejudice Part 2 and climb in bed
-Fall asleep

Cruisin'

I got everything booked this morning. Josh and I will be going on a cruise in October with his mom, stepdad and brother. Fun, fun, fun! It took about 30 minutes to get everything squared away over the phone and make sure we could get my Past Guest discount and upgrade. They had to book it under my maiden name, and then they will be changing it into my married name once Carnival finalizes the change to my Past Guest account. But it's more or less all done and my itinerary and reservations were almost instantly available on Expedia and Carnival's websites. Next step- begin planning cruise wardrobe. Oh, and start back with the pilates! And most importantly, get my passport. You don't need a passport yet, but otherwise I would need my ID , birth certificate and our marriage certificate. Can we say hassle? Easier to get me a passport and be done with it. I think I'll watch Gentlemen Prefer Blondes tonight to get me in the spirit!

Weekend Roundup

Friday:
-Work, yuck
-Home to tidy up
-Discuss dance moves with Josh
-Make dinner & eat
-Veg out while the Fate Lions boys practice in the living room
-Send the boys off
-Watch What Not to Wear and Most Haunted episodes while entering 6 months of bank transactions into Money
-Josh comes home
-Hit the hay

Saturday:
-Rise & shine
-Coffee & toast
-Balance all accounts in Money while watching Take the Money and Run
-Watch a couple episodes of American Experience while tearing articles to keep out of Real Simples and having lunch
-Shower
-Get ready
-Rod & Steph come by to hang out before dinner
-Dinner at Fuzzy's
-Deedle's show at The Moon
-Back to apartment for more hanging out, including Holly
-Bedtime

Sunday:
-Up early
-Get ready
-Head to Movie Tavern for first showing of The Dark Knight
-Followed by Mamma Mia!- I want to see it again already!
-Grocery shopping right after movies
-Unload and put everything up
-Veg on the couch for 30 minutes
-See Josh off to recording studio
-Clean and prep two heads of lettuce, 2.5 lbs. of carrots, and lunch for today
-Clean kitchen
-Shower
-Dinner of chips & salsa while watching part 2 of Pride & Prejudice
-Sort socks and tidy bookshelf cubbies
-Finish rest of movie laying on bed
-Josh home
-Read a little bit
-Night-night

Phew!

It was a long weekend, but I managed to survive! The wedding was lovely and a lot of fun, and I'll share pictures as soon as I've had a chance to show the bride & groom. Tuesday I spent the afternoon at the hospital with my mom and aunt while my uncle had a heart catheter to put two stints in. They had to do some angio work too. Yuck, definitely giving some more thought to my health after that. Anywho, I'm around, just starting to recoup after several busy days.

Celebrating

Tonight after work we'll be heading to the rehearsal for Spencer & Deb's wedding. I am super excited for them. Spencer is one of our bestest, closest, longest friends and Deb is a very sweet woman who he loves very much. I'm so proud of Spencer for getting to this point, after some rougher times in the past. Spencer was best man at our wedding, and Josh will be his groomsman. They're also getting married at the YWCA Building, like us, so I've been looking at our wedding pictures and reminiscing. Yay for Spencer & Deb and for love!

Mean Reds

I have got a serious case of the mean reds lately. Blech.

Weekend Roundup

Friday:
-Rise and shine
-Cereal and coffee
-A lot of TV
-Get ready
-Head to Matt & Ashley's in Lewisville
-Grab a bite to eat at BJ's- yummy!
-Back to their place to watch the firework
-Long overdue hang out time, talking late into the night
-Home super late, straight to bed

Saturday:
-Oversleep, big time
-Toast and coffee breakfast (lunch?)
-Finish up Newsweek
-Make menu plan and grocery list
-Grocery shopping
-50's music downloading binge
-Clean & prep produce and clean kitchen while jamming to Fats Domino, Little Richard and Eddie Cochran
-Make dinner and eat
-Bit more reading
-Hit the hay

Sunday:
-Sleep in a bit
-Make muffins
-Coffee and muffin breakfast
-Shower
-Shoe shopping for the wedding
-Lunch at Baker Bros.
-Home to chill out to Ricky Nelson and Roy Orbison
-Head to Spencer & Deb's for brauts dinner and hanging out
-Home and bed
-Insomnia, cured by a lot of Newsweek reading

Holiday Weekend

Ah, a nice holiday weekend is just what Josh and I need. I have a few things on my to-do list that I am looking forward to marking off. Hopefully I/we will:

-Spend some time with Matt & Ashley
-Make graham crackers
-Get some big time cleaning done
-Formulate a plan of action for the next few months
-Find shoes for Spencer & Deb's wedding
-Do some other baking
-Grocery shop

I hope that everyone has a great Independence Day!

Flowers!

I just got a delightful delivery from Josh! They're even more cheerful in person. Thanks awesome hubby. I heart you!

What Would Audrey Do?

I mentioned before that I got a dress for Spencer & Deb's wedding on my shopping trip with Holly. I picked it up at the J. Crew outlet, and I heart it. It's one of those embossed beach dresses. But I need to find shoes for it. I'm hoping for flats or very low heels, as I'll be on my feet for a good part of the day. Something comfortable for wandering around and taking lots of pictures. Anywho, this is the dress I got, but mine is a lovely powder blue hue. It strikes me very Audrey-Hepburn-in-Sabrina mixed with a dash of Meg-Ryan-in-French-Kiss. So, any (reasonably priced) shoe suggestions? I did some image googling for Audrey Hepburn pics, looking for shoe inspiration. But mostly I just fell more in love with Audrey, ha. And found pics so lovely that I just had to share.

Changes

Warning- ramblings of a crazy lady to follow....

Josh and I were talking last night about our plans for the future. We had been thinking that it was time to start the house-buying process. Now we're not so sure. I think we're putting things on hold for a little bit longer. I guess the better way to look at it is we're going to get a few things taken care of before we saddle ourselves with a mortgage. Josh will be gone for 2 weeks in August, which makes us both uneasy about taking on a big house payment right at the same time. We can only estimate at this point how much that's going to affect our financial situation for that month.

I need some dental work. Some being a whole lot. Like I still have my wisdom teeth, and need at least 2 root canals. And that's just the start of it. Doesn't help that I am completely and totally terrified of the dentist. We're talking panic-inducing fear. I mean, Josh is going to have to call for my appointments, because I just can't make myself do it. Even when I had an abscess a couple of years ago I didn't call the dentist. They just so happened to call to confirm an appointment for my brother and I took advantage of having them on the phone. Anyway, we don't have insurance, so as you can imagine this dental work is going to cost a whole heck of a lot.

Our car is in need of some repairs too. And new tires. Again, usually not cheap, especially when you have a foreign car. Although one of Josh's coworkers apparently wants to buy our car for his daughter next year. That could be a good thing, although not having our little Beetle is sort of hard to imagine.

I can't tell how I feel about anything. On one hand, I'm getting nervous about the whole home-buying process and want to spend all our savings on a trip to Paris. On the other hand, I can't stand being in an apartment one more day. The outcome will be somewhere in the middle- more waiting while we spend money on unexciting things that must be done.

This will sound ridiculous, but sometimes being crazy is just more than I can handle. I know, that sounds like an obvious understatement. Most the time I can manage my neuroses fine, but when these stressful things start weighing on me I just want to turn everything over to someone, anyone, else. I hate making decisions. Anyone in the business of running other people's lives? Cause I could use that right about now. In the meantime I just try to make sure I get time to vegetate and ask Josh for help right before I crack.

They're Back!

One of my favorite summer shows has returned! The History Detectives were back in action last night with some great mysteries to solve. The one about the WWII pilot's war diary was especially good- I cried! Check your local PBS listing to see if it airs on your public television station. And if it does, you've got some good TV to watch this summer. I think I might even submit a little mystery of my own.

Weekend Roundup

Oh boy, work has not been good lately. And in fact I do believe I lost my mind for a time yesterday. But hopefully Scarlett is right, and it is in fact another day (I hate that ending, by the way). Anyway I didn't even have the opportunity to update yesterday, and I had no interest in touching a computer when I got home, except to play some tunes while I cleaned and prepped my produce for the week. But Josh got out of lessons, thanks to an exploding transformer, and we ordered pizza and watched TV together. That helped turn the day around a bit. :)

Friday:
-Work, blech
-Have worst work afternoon ever
-Run away home
-Make pizza for dinner
-Eat and watch TV
-Goodbye Josh, hello laundry
-Finish laundry and watch The Bandwagon
-Josh gets home
-Hit the hay

Saturday:
-Shower
-Get hair cut
-Grab some donuts, mmm
-Watch dvr'd What Not To Wear
-Work on budget stuffs while watching some Fred & Ginger
-Finish off my ice cream
-Get ready
-Dinner at Fuzzy's with Niki and Tim
-Fate Lions and BAcksliders at The Moon
-Visit with Kerrie and Emerson, Taylor
-Head home
-Chomp a few pretzels and fall asleep on the couch
-Move to bed in the early morning light

Sunday:
-Oversleep
-Recuperate
-Watch dvr'd SNL with George Carlin
-Finish grocery list
-Shower
-Catch some random television
-Grocery shopping
-Make a small pre-dinner snack
-Get ready
-Dinner at J&J Oyster Bar with Carrie and Casey
-Pick their brains about house buying process
-Head home
-Clean up and hit the hay