A glorious day!

It was in the 80s today, apparently the weather is unusually warm this year. I say bring it on! I was almost ready to throw my suit on and go to the pool and work on my tan and then I looked down at my belly and decided to wait, LOL. The holidays are definitely not lounging by the pool time.

I did a little research and Daytona Beach has a big Main street celebration for New Years. Guess who happens to live a couple of blocks from Main St? Guess how strong the chances are that Lina and I will be walking to our NYE party, LOL.

Picked up the latest Kresley Cole, Wicked Deeds on aWinter's Night last night, which would be about 1am. I made myself put it down after 4 chapters. I knew if I didn't I would end up reading all night long. But I did spend my nap time today reading and finished it. That's right, I skipped my nap it was that good. I'm actually trying to spend less time on the internet (gasp!) and more time reading as well as doing other things. At my old place I was on the computer even when watching tv but since I have the desk set up where the living room is I'm sitting there when I'm on the puter and leaving it when I watch tv. Of course, I don't have a couch yet so that could all change very quickly, LOL.

Speaking of my couch, Dao made me a little worried with the whole hot weather and leather thing but I did some research and people who had leather couches said they were comfortable in the winter and summer because leather breathes so no need to cancel my order. Whew!

I tried to screw in a ceiling hook to hang my plant but it wasn't working. Apparently, this ceiling is made of sterner stuff so I have my hanging plant out on the deck but I'm getting nervous, I don't want the leaves to get burned. Hey, it happens! The rest of my plants are doing fabulously. Moving is always difficult on my poor plants, especially when things get piled on top of them but I watered them and now they're getting so much sun, that they are basking in the glow. I'm almost tempted to go buy some more plants but I guess I can wait until I move. As it is, I need to resoil some of my plants. I meant to do it before the move but that so didn't happen so yes, I moved the bag of soil I had, LOL. You know I'm cheap with my money! Well, when I'm not stuffing it down some gstring, LOL.

I'm 97% done!

OK, maybe only 95% LOL but the light is at the end of the tunnel. I spent yesterday unpacking when I wasn't fielding phone calls. Did I mention my new place comes with cable? I haven't had cable in years! So I watched the Bravo Project Runway season 3 marathon. I love how they do reality show marathons. I also steam cleaned my rug, it really needed it, LOL. Anyway, back to the unpacking. I was so busy yesterday I didn't even take a nap! GASP! I know!!! But I hate living out of boxes and like having my stuff around and where it should be so I plugged away at it the last couple of days.

Today I took care of my bedroom and kitchen. I do have one box to unpack in the kitchen which will only take a few minutes and I need to get my office area organized (I threw a bunch of stuff in a drawer I need to go thru) and then I will be done! Woo hoo! I do have a pile of boxes in my bedroom but that's for the stuff I won't need for the next 6 months so I packed as well as unpacked since I had to go thru everything first. Makes things a little more time consuming but it will be worth it in 6 months.

So I went shopping for a couch today. I went to 3 different furniture stores. I was hoping to find one I wanted for around $500, unfortunately the one I wanted was significantly more then that. I consoled myself with the fact that I'm paying less in rent and it came with a chair also. It's italian leather. I never really planned on getting leather furniture but I really liked the way it looked and felt and I can warm up the look of it with a throw and some pillows (courtesy of Aimee) and I mentioned it came with a chair! I'm growing up and getting big girl furniture but it was a little scary. I had to call Nancy and let her know. I was hoping they could deliver it asap but it's not getting delivered until Tue which sucks. I wanted it to be here when Lina got here. Once I get my new couch I'll take pics to share of the couch and my pad.

I haven't lived in a place with sower curtains in awhile. I have sliding doors. So I went to buy a shower curtain and took down the shower rod to put it on and the curtain was too small. That's when I saw the button holes for the curtain rings! D'oh! Went back to Target today to get them and decided to stock up on ornaments and wrapping paper. I haven't had a tree in years, since Jordan moved back home and when he went I sent my ornaments with them (my sis lost them!) and last year I decided I wanted one this year but then I was moving so next year for sure I'm having a tree and might as well get everything while it's on sale. I also finally got my silver tree *G*. Course I still ended up spending a fortune since I was starting from scratch but I'm already looking forward to next Xmas. I did think for a sec about setting it up today but we all know how lazy I am, LOL.
Next Xmas will be soon enough.

Merry Christmas!!!

I'm in Daytona Beach and working on getting settled. Wow, I've forgotten what it's like to not have anyone around, I've had company for so long, LOL. I'm not quite as unpacked as I want to be. I had to run to the store and that took longer then planned, driving around and trying to get acclimated and find the stores I wanted which were all in different directions. I would have preferred to just concentrate on getting unpacked but had zero food, ran out of water and I knew the stores wouldn't be open tomorrow. Plus I wanted to get a steam cleaner for my rug, it really needs it and I wanted it to look good before my new roomie got here. Plus this apartment has a lot more light, LOL.

I'm very happy with the apt. It's a crap shoot when you order anything online and here I was ordering an apt online, LOL. The living room is smaller then I thought, which means the way I mentally planned on decorating had to be adjusted but I think it's turning out pretty good. Since I'm moving in 6 months I'm not unpacking all of my books. I'm just displaying my signed ones and some of my many TBRs, LOL. So that means I still will need to go through my books because my TBRs are mixed in with everything. Kim said when she moved the last time she used those big plastic bins and my brother said it made moving so much easier, since I'll be moving soon I bought 5 of them while at Target, the red ones were only $4 so I'm going to put some stuff in there and I may be back there in a couple of days to buy more.

BTW, my biggest moving tip is to use a shopping cart. My neighbor let me use his and I had a dolly and a flat cart and we ended up using this big shopping cart to load most everything. I live on the 6th floor but thank goodness they have 2 elevators here. It still was time consuming to move everything but I am not sore, woo hoo!

I'm really happy to be here. It's in the 70s this week and as I was driving I had to adjust the temp in my car. The view from our balcony is even better then the pics. We're right on the river. I did notice a river smell on the first floor but being on the 6th floor I get the view without the smell, LOL. Actually we live within walking distance to the beach and where Gennita Low took us to dinner when Lina and I were down here this summer so that is cool. There's restaurants and a movie theater right there. It's going to be fun exploring the hood with Lina.

Speaking of whom, she'll be here on Sat. Originally she was coming in on Thur but plans got changed which I can totally relate to. As excited as I am to see here I'm a little relieved I have a couple more days. Not that I won't be unpacked by Thur I will (after all, I am a professional mover, LOL) but I still need to get us a couch. I wanted to have it before she got here and since tomorrow is a holiday (which is quite inconvenient for me) that takes a day out of furniture shopping for me. Not that Lina expects me to have everything done prior to her getting here but her plan was to get a furnished place and I changed the plans to get unfurnished so I want to make it as cozy as possible before she gets here.

I promise to try and be a better blogger. I had gotten out of the habit but I will get back into it. I have missed blogging.

Here's a holiday greeting from my #1 fan Jan Kees. It takes a minute to load but it's worth the wait.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday with friends and family. Although I don't have friends or family physically close to me you are all in my heart and I feel loved constantly. I am blessed.

Catching up....again!

Every night I think of things I want to post about but having company changes things, even if all we're doing is sitting in bed changing our itunes, LOL. Kim and I have also been swapping pics so I have updated my family album at my myspace page. Check it out, we're a good looking family in my not so humble opinion, LOL. The link is to the right.

So Kimberly has been helping me pack (yay) and she yells at me from the other room. She was using a shoe box to throw some toiletries in. She asked me if there was something wrong with my polka dot Steve Maddens. I had no idea what she was talking about. Turns out I had bought these shoes (soooo cute) when the girls were here back in Sept and then totally forgot about them, what with the excitement of having the girls here, it's understandable, LOL and they were sitting in a shoe box in my closet this whole time. So it's like I got a new pair of shoes, which they are since they've never been worn. I also bought a couple of pair last week while at Nordy's, my new year's goal will be to wear all of the shoes I keep buying! Oh yeah, I also got a pair online last week too, LOL. If I'm not going to wear them I should at least put them on display!

I'm also finding other things while packing. I forgot about this olive tray I bought in Spain with Nes. Such a wonderful memento and I do love olives! I need to entertain just to use that. Of course, not going to entertain before the big move. Speaking of which, I have an appt set up to get my internet set up the 24th. No having to wait 3 weeks again, whew!

Kim and I went to see Santa yesterday. She had never gotten her pic taken with Santa! Of course I had to fix that. The dress was not flattering while sitting so I cropped it, LOL. Santa didn't want to let us off of his lap. He asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told him a man and Kim chimed in a rich man, LOL. That's my girl! I liked this pic better. This was taken while we were waiting in line. Then afterwards we rushed home because we wanted to go to the drive in (we needed to change and grab pillows and blankets) and even though it was after 7 and the movie started at 8 and I had no idea how to get there we were cutting it close but since we didn't have alternate plans we decided to go for it. I thought once we passed the hell that was mall traffic we would be good to go but such was not the case. As soon as we hit the freeway it was bumper to bumper but luckily we pulled up just when the movie was starting. I have been dying to go to the drive in since I found out Atlanta had one. Kim and I used to go back when I lived at home so she was excited to go too. The drive in is huge and plays movies on 6 different screens. You drive in, find your movie and turn in. If you look in the other direction you can watch a different movie. The bad part was we got there when it was dark and we had to turn off the headlights while looking for a spot, that was a bit stressful but other then that it was a lot of fun. We watched I Am Legend. Will Smith kicks ass. He is alone in most of this movie and he does an awesome job of not being boring. *****MINI_SPOILER ALERT****** I was unhappy with the ending but other then that a very enjoyable movie. ************OVER************ The 2nd movie was Fred Claus and while a couple of parts were a bit too slapsticky for me, overall I liked it and it even made me tear up a tad bit a couple of times. What can I say? I'm a sap, LOL.

OK, that's enough catching up for now. Kim and I are watching the Notebook. She thinks if we watch tv I'm not going to make her experience the Karaoke love but she is soooo wrong. She can't leave her without experiencing it! Woot woot!

I'm sitting here waiting to get my pap smear joy oh joy and decided I might as well type up my blog post since I am not connected to the internet. I did bring a book with me to read but I'm trying to be productive. Last night I even packed a few more boxes. One huge box of shoes (with more to pack) and the books I have in my bedroom. My living room is slowly starting to fill up with boxes. I had some empty boxes in front of my plants so it's a good thing I did some packing a couple of those plants were severely lacking in water. One of the gals on Saturday gave me a poinsettia plant. I'm very excited about it since I didn't get a tree this year. I was really planning to but with mess my place is and I didn't want to buy more stuff to move so next year I really will get a tree. Maybe I'll shop for my ornaments and tree after Christmas since I'll be settled then. Of course I planned on doing that last year. You know how lazy I am so I figure it's a 50/50 shot.

Currently my moving plan is (it changes on a daily basis) to move the weekend before Christmas. I would like to try and find a couch before Lina gets there. No guarantee I will but I will try. By searching Craigslist (I love Craigslist) I found a company that will load your truck for you. 2 guys for 2 hours is $80 and that is money well spent! I honestly don't think it will take 2 hours to load my truck but figure better safe then sorry. The nice thing is I won't have to do it! Now I just need to surf CL in Daytona Beach and find some guys to unload. Those guys I will feel bad for, since I'll be living on the 6th floor. It's actually more important to find someone down there. Ana and her hubby have offered to help (well she volunteered her hubby) but if I can pay someone that would be better. That is a lot to ask of people. Not that I wouldn't if I had to, as my brother who helped me move 3 times in 3 months knows, LOL. So you're not off of the hook yet Ana but I'm trying:).

I cooked dinner for Kim last night. She's been none too happy with my lack of cooking. It is fun to cook for someone and since I needed food too I made us a broccoli casserole, a lettuce-less salad and snow crab clusters. Sure there wasn't a lot of cooking with the crab but they were on sale, score! Dinner was fabu!

Kim and I went to see Atonement. Be forewarned, it doesn't have a HEA which is why I didn't want to see it but Kim really wanted to so off we went. It was good but not great. I enjoyed Keira Knightly in this role. Sometimes she really bugs me but she was great here. The acting was great but you know me, I need the HEA. Kim says she liked it but didn't love it. The whole reason she wanted to go was because it's getting so much Oscar buzz so i think she was a little disappointed. She said it wasn't what she was expecting but she couldn't tell me what she was expecting, LOL. I knew it wasn't going to be a feel good movie and I was correct, LOL.

Pics!

Ok, I finally downloaded my pictures. Here are our pictures from the Varsity. People rave about the onion rings but I think they're too greasy. Since I'm low carbing it I just ate the onion part. I did really enjoy my chili cheese dog!
Earlier this week Kim and I went to an all u can eat sushi place. it was just before they were closing for the break between lunch and dinner so they were prepping for later since Kim and I were the only ones in the place. Kim totally over ordered so we had to sneak out before they noticed. She did really try but she was getting to the one bite too many phase. I told her not to order those last 2 handrolls. Yes, I did say I told you so, LOL. I asked if I could take this pic but he didn't hear me so he was surprised when the flash went off. Kim said I was lucky he didn't cut himself. I didn't even think of that! The salmon looked and tasted great!

Kim is someone who will do her makeup everyday before we leave the house, you know I'm not, LOL. But she is also willing to indulge me when I'm being goofy. I couldn't resist putting these hats on in Target and taking pics.
And today we drove to Chattanooga to meet up with a bunch of girls from Karen's board. We had a lot of fun even though I think Kim got bored after 2 hours, lunch ended up being 4 hours, LOL. You know how quickly time flies when you're meeting up in real life with girls you've met on the board. While we were taking group pics Kim and I made sure we took a pic of ourselves, our favorite thing to do when we're not sleeping or eating, LOL.

Food glorious food!

Tonight Kim and I went to eat at a Korean restaurant. She has had Korean food in the past but really doesn't remember it. She liked it. It was hard because I didn't eat the rice but I do love the meats and side dishes.

On Saturday we, along with Dao went to the Varsity. We didn't take into account the Tennessee fans in town for the game and there were tremendous lines but it was fun. We were racing another guy in line, we beat him, LOL. We all got chili cheese dogs I skipped the bun. I have a pic of all of the food but am too lazy to dl it, sorry. My place is a mess as you can imagine.

Kim really hasn't seen much of the ATL. We shop, eat and sleep. What? You didn't think I would change my life for her did you? Actually, she has taken over the nap queen crown. I'm embarrassed I sleep so little in comparison to her, LOL. The good news is she packed a few boxes while I was lounging in my bed yesterday. Hey, just cause I wasn't napping doesn't mean I can hang in my room all day, LOL. I was catching up on my tv shows.

I know that you may find this impossible to believe but...

Kim has less energy then I do! Yes, it's true, I'm not the laziest one in the family. Every time I suggest walking to the store her eyes bug out. That's the only way know she hears because she also has selective hearing, LOL. But we do have fun by the time we are finally motivated enough to leave the house. We've been shopping the last couple of days. Nothing for anyone other then ourselves. Nothing like feeling the pressure of Xmas shopping at the last minute, LOL. It's not even Dec yet, why start early?

I bought some crochet boots from the Gap yesterday and they are pretty comf. I wore them today while shopping. Definitely good knock around shoes for when it's too cold to wear flip flops. I a month hopefully I won't need them LOL. Today I bought 2 more pairs of shoes at the Gap. Some cute keds, thinking of my time in FL and some shoes that look like pumps with the pointy toe but they are flats. Shoes are fun. I figure living with Lina I'll have more reason to wear something other then flip flops, then again, I'll be in FL so it may be ok to wear flip flops out at night. I'll keep my options open, LOL.

I really want to go to the drive in before I leave. Kim shares my love for the drive in. Unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing out right now I want to see. Normally the theaters are chockfull of good movies already. I do want to see the new National Treasure movie. I am hoping it's as good as the first one. I will read the reviews first though because I don't want to be disappointed. I am intrigued by I am Legend. Will see how others feel about it though. Are there any other movies that anyone is interested in? I want to go, just need to have something good to see.