Anyone Need A Roommate?

My apartment complex is awesome. And by awesome, I mean not awesome at all. I called today because my lease is nearing its 60-days-until-it's-over and I wanted to know what my options were. Needless to say, apparently I was supposed to get a "letter" explaining my options two weeks ago so I would have time to decide. No letter has been received and now I have to give my notice by tomorrow if I decide I want to move out at the end of my lease.

If I move out, fine, great, but I will have to be out by the end of February (yikes!) and I'm pretty sure I'm not ready to move yet. If I stay, I have two equally craptastic options: a) sign a 12 month lease along with a rate hike of almost $125/month or b) go month to month with a corresponding rate hike of $300+/month! Given that I'm paying $650, that's at least a 20% increase in my rent for no other reason than we changed management companies! You have to be kidding me!

So needless to say, if anyone wants to pick up a couple hundred bucks and a roommate for a few months while I house hunt, I'm in the market! I swear I'll be a nice roommate and I shouldn't be there long - I just don't want to rush the house hunt because who knows where that would stick me. Ugh. Stupid apartments. Stupid, stupid, stupid apartments.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! I'm sad I haven't gotten to spend the holidays this year with family, but everyone around here has done a very good job of making this a special year.

And extra thanks for all of the super cool presents! I got everything I wanted and then some... I'll post pictures later today - along with my second decorating job for the year. It's pretty sweet. :)

But for now, I'm going to go cuddle with Lillie and enjoy a relaxing day at home! Merry Christmas everybody!

12 Christmas Facts

Let the tagging continue... Dana tagged me for sharing 12 Christmas facts about me. How ever do I narrow them down?? :)

Here they are in no particular order...

12 Christmas Facts

1. My favorite Christmas TV special of all time is "A Claymation Christmas." If you haven't seen it, come talk to me. It's amazingly bad and awesome at the same time. I mean, it has the California Raisins!! How can you not like it??
2. My mom made ornament lists in order to keep us from fighting over who's ornaments were who's at the end of each Christmas season. The lists contain the ornament description and who gave it to us by year... it started when we were born and continues up until she gave us each our boxes upon moving out. (And people wonder where I get it from...)
3. Every year my mom makes us Christmas breakfast (which of course we eat after we open presents). For several years she made this AWFUL dish called a "puff pancake". It was this weird fruit filled pastry and I don't think anyone in our family liked it. Nobody had the heart to tell her so year after year we all suffered through the puff pancake and joked about it when mom left the room. Finally, about 3 years ago someone (I honestly don't remember who, but it was probably me) got up the gumption to ask why, after all these years, we continued to have puff pancake since nobody likes it. Mom had no idea we didn't like it - she didn't even like it and luckily, the puff pancake has never graced our presence since.
4. All of the kids' stockings in my family were sown by (I think...) my mom's aunt. I'm pretty sure they were hand made anyway... Though I'm probably going to have that sweet memory dashed by posting this and getting corrected by mom. :)
5. My mom is the only person I know that has a completely separate set of dishes she uses around Christmas.
6. Colored lights anywhere is a big no-no in my book. Colored lights inside the house should be a criminal offense. It drives me BATTY! (Even though for the first 15 or 16 years of my life our house was filled with colored lights everywhere.)
7. I own three santa hats. Why do I own three? I don't know. Just in case? And for the record - they are awesome.
8. It 100% does not faze me that I had to remove my TV, find a new place for an arm chair, completely rearrange my living room, and ask a friend to house my TV console for the holidays just to fit in my Christmas tree. It's all for the cause...
9. My Christmas music folder comprises almost 35% of the music content on my hard drive. I have everything from A Twisted Christmas to Kenny G. And yes - I listen to all of it. Oh yeah - for me, Christmas music season doesn't start at Thanksgiving. It starts somewhere around early November with pheasant hunting season. Do I hunt pheasant? Nope. But my ex did and we started the tradition then. Even though we aren't together any more, I think it's a good policy so I kept it. :)
10. Every year we get underwear in our stockings. The sad part is, most years it's one of the things I look forward to most! It's a tradition, what can I say. I can't wait until I have nieces and nephews (because, let's admit it - I'm probably not going to join the kiddo band wagon) so I can put underwear in their stockings too!
11. My dad played the Grinch one year in our church Christmas play. We were all Whos who didn't know what to do. It was hilarious. And the biggest thing I miss about being home for Christmas? The candlelight service on Christmas Eve with the handbell choir. I'm still looking for something like that around here.
12. My favorite Christmas candy of all time is my mom's homemade toffee. Each year she makes around 8-10 batches to give to people. And each year I get warned that I'm not allowed to eat it all. And each year I end up eating 3-4 batches on my own, rather handily I might add. I love the stuff. Most people eat it in 1" pieces. I knock off a fourth of a pan (they are about 12" round pans) at a time. It's amazing.

This reminds me - I really need make a batch of toffee. Maybe that's why it hasn't felt like Christmas yet...

Oh yeah - I tag Todd, Josh & Lisa, and Melissa! Quick like a cat - it's almost Christmas!

Finally!!

It's Christmas!! I know, it took me FOREVER to get these posted... but for your Christmas enjoyment, I now present to you (and don't get too excited. I don't think they are as good as last year.) ...

The Decorations!!

Found!

I discovered two things this morning:

1) If I'm not looking for something in my apartment, it's only because I haven't realized it's missing yet.

2) My camera cord was buried in my stack of mail that I need to sort through.

I discovered these things as I was on a frantic hunt for my car keys trying to get out the door in time to make it to my sim. Apparently I was more desperate this morning than I was the other day looking for my camera cord because I was looking in weirder places. But happy day, I found the keys and the cord and now I can post pictures tonight. Yippee!

Note to Self: Get Directions

What was supposed to be a 6 mile run quickly turned into ... well, a bit longer run. Apparently the map I made earlier in the day somewhat stuck in my head and mixed with the 6 mile route I was supposed to run. Needless to say, after about 2.5 miles and reaching an intersection I was never intending to get close to, I realized that my 6 miler was going to take longer than I thought. Turns out it was about 2 miles longer than I thought.

This is the route I thought I was doing...

This is the one I ended up on...

Not only that, but I wasn't aware (for those of you from the area) that El Dorado from Brook Forest to Hickory Knoll does not have sidewalks. Who doesn't have sidewalks?? I was jogging along, all kinds of excited that I was surviving this run, when -- BAM!! No more sidewalk. So after 15 minutes of off-roading for about a quarter mile (man that killed my mile time) I finally made it back to sidewalks and enjoyed the rest of my run.

Best part about it? This was a BIG personal accomplishment for me! Up until now, the longest run I've ever done on my own was about 3 miles. All of my bigger runs have been with Nel or someone else by my side egging my pride to keep going. Today was my first big run by myself! I'm very excited. VERY! Usually on a run like this I would stop about every 1.5 miles to walk... and usually it's just because I'm worried I won't finish if I don't. This time, I only made one stop at my water break for a few minutes. Though I consider my off-roading a break. I wasn't moving very fast and I kept having to stop to let traffic have the right-of-way. Either way, I finished! WOO!!!

I think I might survive this half marathon thing after all...

Insert New Angry Face...

Apparently in the midst of my cleaning frenzy I decided that it wasn't important to know where my camera cable is and hid it from myself. I have a camera full of pictures and no way to get them to my computer. Amazing. Abso-freaking-lutely amazing.

And on the sad face front... I'm not so sure I'm going to be able to get a house as soon as I would've liked. I'm hoping my new pay grade will help out a bit, but we'll see. If not, I guess I'll be renewing my lease for another term. Not exactly what I had wanted to do, but keep your ears to the ground. I really want to get out of renting soon.

Oh yeah. And my Roomba is blinking the red light of death. Apparently this isn't a good sign. This is the point in the bad-day pie when I normally say "Check, please!"

Insert Angry Face Here

Today was a good day. I had a sim. It seemed to go pretty well and I got good, constructive feedback that will help me next time. Good stuff. I was happy.

Then I got a double dose of ... ehhh ... news. Not terrible. Not at all what I wanted to hear. And definitely frustrating. I'm not really willing to comment on either item yet today because I'm angry about them both and I'm 99% sure that my temper is largely due to the late bedtime and early wake up time this morning. I need time to cool off first.

Needless to say, I really hope I wake up from my nap to realize I've blown everything out of proportion and it's not as bad as I feel like it is right now...

The good news for my readers? I clean when I'm angry. I clean a lot. And I am not a happy Erin right now. This means pictures should be a nearly done deal by the end of the night (assuming my camera decides to cooperate).

No Turning Back...

It's official. I'm definitely going to be attempting to run the Houston Aramco Half Marathon in January. Up until this point I had the option to opt out and sell my registration to someone else should I not feel prepared... I've decided to hold onto it and give it a shot. Cross your fingers folks!!

I've also gotten suckered into running the Austin Half with a bunch of friends... That one should be a lot of fun, but man. I never thought I'd be one of those "running people."

On happier news, I am now ~95% complete with Christmas decorations. Another day should do me and today is looking to be that day. My goal is to post pictures by this evening sometime... Keep an eye out!

" "

If I had to dictate this blog, it would look something like the title line... Good thing I can type.

I think it's safe to say that I make a "bad" sick person. There are those people who when they get sick just keep plugging away, don't really complain, and thrive quite well when they get sick. I'm definitely not one of them. I much prefer to curl up in a ball, whimper a little if the situation calls for it, attempt to sleep 20 hours a day, and just all around feel sorry for myself during the other 4 hours.

Yesterday, I forced myself to be the "good" sick person. I took my Theraflu (officially the second greatest medication in my mind - right behind Excedrin), drank my peppermint tea (officially the greatest non-medication make-me-feel-better - right in front of OJ), loaded up the car (officially the third worst part of Thanksgiving - right behind cleaning up from Thanksgiving and re-loading the car at the end of the day), and headed over to start putting things in the oven.

I cooked like a monster, underestimated the turkey time by about an hour (oops), but overall everything seemed to come out on top for the most part. People seemed happy, I was well fed, and I would generally call the day a success - except for one small thing (or does it count for two?). My vocal chords. By the end of dinner I was squeaking all over the place, my voice was cracking when I laughed, and I was absolutely exhausted. After spilling a drink and breaking a glass I decided that I had reached my limits as a good sick person...

So I went home without any of my stuff (I didn't have the energy to mess with it last night), walked the munchkin, and headed off to curl myself up in bed. Then I looked at the clock... Congratulations Erin - you made it only 11 hours as a good sick person. It was only 7:00!! Needless to say, my body didn't care so I quickly reverted back to my usual sick person tendencies, curled up with my meds and tea and called it a night.

This morning, squeaking and cracking has given way to ... well, nothing really. A solid attempt to speak results in nothing more than a whisper (maybe a squeak in the middle if I'm lucky) and my throat glands (don't ask me to be more specific - I don't do that anatomy thing) are about the size of large marshmallows. Amazing.

And today is supposed to be Christmas decorating too!!

I don't have one of those weird little mood trackers at the bottom of this thing, but if I did, it would say "frustrated."

(Random note of the day from www.dictionary.com:

1. only a person can be dissatisfied while an abstract thing can be unsatisfied (hunger)
2. unsatisfied implies that a wish, need, or expectation that previously existed has not been satisfied; dissatisfied implies no such prior existence, but simply registers a failure to be satisfied

Huh... I think I knew that subconciously, but never saw it spelled out. Learn something new every day.)

Good Thing I Like My Couch...

Recipe for a great Thanksgiving:

Start with a small helping of pink eye
Add a dash of sinus congestion
Stir until the congestion irritates the throat
Throw in a pinch of an ear infection for good measure
Incubate for two days until chest congestion takes hold and coughing is inevitable

Once the base has been completed, top off with some cough drops and Theraflu, good friends, and a Thanksgiving dinner the sick girl cooked...

I promise, everyone - I washed my hands about a hundred times. :)

Is it over yet?

Today was just one of those days. Nothing was gonna go my way no matter how hard I tried...

You ever get that feeling when you're about to go to bed that something just doesn't feel right? Your body hurts a little more than usual, you feel a little more depleted than normal, and (in my case) your eyes throb just a bit more than you expect. Fast forward to the next morning and you wake up feeling sick. Maybe not stay-home-from-work sick... And maybe not even stay in bed for an extra 30 minutes sick, but just not 100%. This morning I woke up feeling a little less than ideal. Then I tried to open my eyes and realized why. One eye was so swollen and sticky from last night that it wouldn't really open and the other eye felt like I'd just cried for the last 2 hours. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that I woke up with pink eye.

I don't know where it came from... It doesn't look like it will last long because after my shower and the rest of my day it seems to have cleared up for the most part. There is some residual itching and a lot of pressure and swelling, but otherwise the redness has gone away and the goopiness has not returned.

I decided I wasn't gonna let it get me down, though. I've been looking forward to going to Ikea for the last three weeks, ever since I found my future end tables for my living room. They also have some of the best burning taper candles I have ever found and I wanted to stock up for Christmas.

So Nel and I loaded ourselves into the car and headed for Ikea. While we were there, I verified that yes, indeed, these were my future end tables and headed straight for the basement where all of the pick-ups are done. Nel wanted to get a few things herself so we picked up some lanterns and pillows for her and headed for the candles. I found the candles right away ... in a candelabra on display. Needless to say, the sets of candles were nowhere to be found. I looked high and low (and let me tell you - low makes me feel like my eyeballs are attempting to burst out of my head), far and wide, and alas. No candles. I decided to try the oh-so-helpful Ikea salesperson and after standing around for 10 minutes gave up on him and went to find my end tables. As we were walking away he comes running up to inform me that they are in fact sold out (No way!!!) and they expect a shipment either tomorrow or Tuesday. Seriously??? Really?? I missed it by one day? It's so frustrating.

I chalked the candles up to a loss and figured that the true objective for this Ikea mission was end tables anyway so why get into a huff about it? I headed for the loading bay that houses the magic end tables in question and lo and behold... No end tables. You have to be kidding me, right? I decided I wasn't going to muck around this time - straight to my friendly-neighborhood Ikea salesperson. This particular salesperson didn't even have time to blink before he answered me. My question - "Do you have any more of the Hemnes bedside tables in -" then I was cut off by "Black-brown? No. We won't get any in until afte the first of the year." WHAT?? THE FIRST OF THE YEAR??? This is a joke right? I didn't bother to stick around and find out.

I took my $0.59 mugs to the cash register to check out (I had decided I needed those as well) and gave up. Then I got to the register and my mugs rang up for $2.99 each!! I don't know how many readers out there are familiar with Ikea, but if you are spending that much for anything kitchen-esque in the store, you obviously didn't look around much. Glasses average around $1.00 apiece and pans aren't much more than $10. I wasn't about to spend $2.99 for a mug so I put them on the register and blamed the tear I shed on my eye condition.

Stupid Ikea. You ruined my already crappy day. Oh well... Thanksgiving groceries have been purchased and I'm super excited for a holly jolly holiday week. (I hope.)

Only 4 more days until Christmas decorating!!

Someday...

This past week has been interesting.

I've had the fortunate opportunity of seeing how 83 years can change the hearts of hundreds...
I've seen how 57 years can build the lives of a family...
I've seen how 10 days can make people realize what they've always had but never noticed...
I've seen how 5 minutes can make you wish you had a lifetime back...

I hope someday to be the best friend my grandma was...
I hope someday to be nearly the mother my grandma was...
I hope someday people look back and see me as someone who has touched their hearts...
And I hope someday a little girl will look back, shed a tear, and know she'll never have anyone to take my place again.

I love you Grandma. You own a place in my heart that is yours alone...

Catch Up Post...

It's been pointed out by several people that I'm suffering from a severe case of blog neglect. So here is a summary of the last several months...

Work:
I'm now officially in the Sim Flow!! This is big news because it puts me one step closer to getting certified in time to help support the 1J mission in April. Now I'll be spending about a day a week practicing my flight controller skills in the simulator with a full flight support team.

I'm excited because I'm to the point where I get to apply all of the knowledge I've been studying for the last year and a half... And I'll be honest - I'm super excited to be getting near the end of my studying time! It is notoriously the most painful portion of getting certified and I'm about 3 weeks away from being completed.

Other than that, I'm OJTing this week for the second half of the 10A assembly flight... Keep an eye on Spaceflightnow.com for some detailed info on the progress. There is some concern regarding our Solar Array joints, but I'm sure we'll find a solution like always!

Running:
I just completed one of my first training runs on Sunday... I ran a half-marathon relay race with Nel! Needless to say, it was a hard run because I haven't run that far since the Bolder Boulder. But we finished - and in under 2 hours 20 minutes! My goal time for the half is 2 hours 30 minutes, so that was a good start. Here's a picture from the end of the race - play nice. It was really freaking early and in the middle of my funky flight sleep schedule.


Lillie:
She's still an angel one day and a demon the next... Last night, demon. Right this minute, angel. Hopefully she stays angel for the rest of the night! But I do have a couple of pictures of her in her Halloween costume. It's adorable - and makes me laugh so hard I almost want to pee my pants.

I woke her up to put this on...

Apartment:
I know - I've been promising apartment pics since I moved in in May... I swear, they are coming. I have a new motivation for getting the place all picked up - Thanksgiving is right around the corner! And we all know what that means... CHRISTMAS DECORATING!!!

I can't wait... Only 3 and a half more weeks. :)

The Birthday Present...

I realized that I never said what I got myself for my birthday! (Actually, I was reminded that voting isn't any fun if you don't find out the results...)

And the winner was . . .

None of the above. The occasion arose where I needed a new cell phone so I ended up with this beauty:

It's so pretty...

Nightmare on Best Buy Street

On the way out to the parking lot after work, I decided that 3 weeks was long enough to fix the fan on a laptop... So I gave Best Buy a call to find out exactly what happened to my computer.

I dialed the phone, pressed 5 for the department list, pressed 3 for customer service, and pressed 2 for the Geek Squad. Then I proceeded to listen to the phone ring ... and ring ... and ring. For 2 minutes. Why would I wait that long, you might ask? Because for most companies if someone doesn't answer the phone after a certain length of time you get passed back to the operator! Best Buy? Apparently not.

So I called 1-800-Best-Buy and proceeded to press 2 for customer service, then pressed 5 for whatever else, followed by an obscene number of button presses to get to a live person. Once I finally got to a live body the operator proceeded to inform me that I had to speak to the people at the store where I got the service. Where I was just sitting on ring for 2 minutes...

Once I got to my car I decided that it was time to give Best Buy another call - maybe I just hit them at a bad moment. So I call, press 5, then 3, then 2 (of course) and FINALLY got a live body! Woohoo! And what did that live body say? "Thank you for calling the Best Buy Geek Squad! Can you please hold for a moment?" He didn't even let me get out my "no" before he put me on hold. So I held... and I held... and I held some more. Since the drive home is almost the same as the drive to Best Buy I decided that I would start to drive home and if I hadn't heard anything by the time the routes diverged that I would just go to Best Buy and try to talk to someone in person.

So I drove... and I held... and I continued to hold the whole way to Best Buy. Now one might ask "Erin, how did you know that they hadn't just hung up on you?" Aside from the TERRIBLE jazz-ish-wannabe music, my cell phone continued to tick up the minutes as I sat on hold.

Once I parked, got out of the car, and got in line for the Geek Squad service line I decided it was time to run a social experiment on lower end retail service. So I kept the phone on hold, walked up to the counter and was immediately served by a nice gentleman who was messing with a computer that another customer had clearly left to be backed up.

Now, don't get me wrong. The guy was doing something. The issue I took with the situation was that he was helping the customer who was nowhere in sight - all while leaving another live customer hanging on the phone. I could see my little light blinking on their phone and actually saw one of the service guys walk by, look at the phone blinking, and continue walking straight by. He didn't help another customer... He just walked up to his buddy and started chatting about the day and the other customers they had seen so far.

So I continued to hold on the phone, proceeded to pick up my laptop from the nice gentleman, and walked back out to my car. I held... drove home... and continued to stay on hold. Amazing. They finally answered the phone - 45 minutes later!

The only words out of my mouth? "Thanks for letting me hold, may I speak to a manager, please?"

Jerk heads. I realize that they aren't paid anything and that the majority of the time all they catch is flack, but COME ON!!! 45 minutes on hold without any indication that I'll be helped at all??? No thanks. I'll just take my business elsewhere next time.

Grr.

It's Alive!!!

No, not me. Though that is true too. My laptop is finally back from Best Buy (a blog in and of itself) and operational. I ended up with a lot more crap that I had to reconfigure after this fix, which is upsetting to me, but it's back which means ...

I'M BACK!

I'm probably the most excited of anyone... Without further ado - may I present to you July '07.

... Okay, I'll be honest. I don't remember what was special about July. D'oh. Let's try this again...

Crowd hears a growing drumroll...

Ladies and Jellybeans! May I present to you - August '08!

Cymbal crash!

Okay. That seems like sufficient build-up.

There is one primary and significant addition to my happy home this August. No... not a roommate, and yes... many of you already know. But here she is - the pride (sort of) of my life:

LILLIE!

Lillie

I know, I know. Erin? Dog?!? Wait... Erin, right? And that is a dog, right?!?

Well, there's a bit of a back story to this one. One for another day. I have a midnight sim that I must get to work for... I shall be back soon (much sooner than two months from now - I promise). Try not to miss me too much...

--tap-tap-tap--

*Ahem* ... Is this thing on?

What's this? She's back? No... this must be a mistake. And yet...

I know, I know. I've been silent as of late, and I swear there are good reasons!

Good reason #1: The Laptop
Excuses, excuses - but this one's a doozy. I literally just got my laptop back from the manufacturer. Apparently my motherboard was melting AC adapters at a fairly rapid rate (not to mention my harddrive and the battery) so they sent it in to get the whole schebang replaced. I'm officially on the "buy an extended warranty on your day-to-day electronics" bandwagon... But whatever you do - make sure you remember to have them replace the part your laptop melted in the first place so you don't have to try and get it shipped to you after the fact. Twice. Then a third time when they finally get your correct address.

Good reason #2: The Trip
What's that you say? Wasn't it forever and a day ago that you went to Colorado? Well... yeah. It was a month ago now, and no. I still don't have pictures. Actually - I'll be honest. I haven't missed them since I haven't had a laptop to not post them on, but now that I have it back I'll be pestering Nel to get me the pictures soon.

Good reason #3: The Apartment
Who would've thought that moving, going on vacation, coming back, and then supporting pre-flight operations, flight operations, and post-flight recovery would be such a bad idea? I swear - the apartment is one solid day's (that'd be tomorrow's) work away from being picture perfect and ready to display for all on the web to see. The pillows are sown (thanks Ann!), the furniture is in (thanks guys!), the painting is complete, and all that's left is a good old fashioned cleaning (the worst part).

Good reason #4: The Flight
See... I'm not certified yet. So working the flight shouldn't be as stressful for me, right? Almost right. While no - it's not my immediate neck on the line when the Space Station threatens to come crashing down around our heads, it certainly puts everyone in the hot seat to help as much as possible in coming up with solutions. Did I do a lot? Not compared to the ridiculously talented group of people I work with, but I'd like to think I did my small, uncertified part. I helped certify procedures that had never been run before... I helped replan and rework the flight on a day to day basis (and by that I mean I helped the people who were actually doing it check their work)... and I tried to stay out from underfoot as much as possible.

Overall, the past couple of weeks have been madness and I was glad for a nice relaxing day to recover. I appreciate all of the support everyone has given over the last few stressful weeks, and I promise - after the scrub down this apartment is getting tomorrow, you will all see why I was so excited to be moving in!

(And man... I might have to get upset. My laptop is feeling awfully warm already...)

Voting Time (part Deux)

Okay, so the late great sofa debate was a success! I got the good feedback I was looking for and also got the most comments yet... :)

Next vote: Erin's Birthday Present (for herself)
Option 1: iPod ... the big kind.

I'm thinking about something like this:


Option 2: Pots and Pans ... the nice kind.

I have one of these pots and I l-o-v-e LOVE it!

Option 3: A new car ... the pretty kind.

Am I ready to take the plunge yet?

And the Winner Is...

It's official. I went out and got my couch last weekend and I decided to go with the Petrie. It will be delivered a week from Thursday. Now I'm looking for the fabric I'll use as the accents in my living room/dining room.

Most of my stuff has been moved out and the official moving date is next Saturday! Woo!

Voting time...

I'm pretty sure I've asked just about every one of you out there for an opinion, but I need some help! I've narrowed down my likely couch selections to 4 varieties - and here they are in no particular order:

The Rochelle

The Cannes

The Grace

The Petrie

Now keep in mind, those colors are not exactly what I would select. I'm looking for a creamy white or very light tan. I want to keep it light and neutral. Though I'm starting to fall for the Silvery color that is on the Cannes... If you click the link to each sofa, you'll see that each couch except the Grace has the same fabric - and therefore color options. For those three I'm leaning to either Natural or Silver Sage. The Grace couch is it's own nightmare that I would get in the light celery or oatmeal color.

I'm pretty much in love with all of the above - but I think I've picked my favorite. Can you?

I found it!!

It's perfect. Well... maybe not perfect, but it's perfect for now. I have decided upon a nice little 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment in Seven Palms. If you select the "Floor Plans" option, I'm in the Belize floor plan.

Its a little smaller (the kitchen is a little smaller, the bedroom is a little smaller, and the bathroom doesn't have the big tub), but for the price I can't go wrong. I can still have room for Thanksgiving dinner! Which yes - I've already claimed it amongst my friends. And depending on family plans, Christmas may be there too. :) We'll see. Heaven knows that Dana has a point - what else will I do with all of those Christmas decorations???

And besides ... this way I can buy an expandable dining room table and have hosts (okay, like 8 maybe) of people over for a dinner party which I have been itching to have since I learned that I can fake it with lamb and make it passable. :-P

But I'm super duper excited to be setting out all on my own for the first time in Houston and I'm even more excited to go FURNITURE SHOPPING!! That is quite possibly even more exciting than deciding on a place...

Stay tuned for more Erin Home Updates - I promise. You should be almost a third as excited as I am. It's worth it.

Moving on ... and out!

It's official. I lasted a year in the roommate realm, and we had a lot of good times. But it's time for me to move on. So I'm getting my own place!

I'm very excited. Even though I HATE moving and I'd hoped the next move would be to a place I own, I've come to grips with reality. I'll be finding an apartment that I can live with for at least another year and I can't wait! I'm still looking around a bit, though I think I've narrowed the field to three possibilities. As soon as I settle on my new home, you all will be some of the first to know! :)

So wish me luck, and hopefully I'll be seeing some of you soon at the new place!

Soon - I promise...

A fresh new post will be arriving shortly. I promise. Pinky swear. (And the power plug on my laptop died - I'm totally using that one as my excuse.)

Happy Birthday!

Hooray! It was Nel and Todd's birthdays this past weekend and Jesse's birthday last Tuesday. Needless to say, with Ms. Ciboozer turning that quarter century we had to go nuts. So we did - and happened to drag a few others along for the ride... Let the good times roll!

Nel, Jesse & Todd's Birthday!

Personally, I highly recommend the slide show view with captions on. I put my heart and soul into those captions. :)

Colorado Album!

Hooray! It's all posted and ready to go. Check out the album from the CO trip!

Colorado Ski Trip

I'm working on a sweet little collage and story for you kids, but it would've delayed blogging even further. So no more complaints kids! :)

Why?

I liked him. I really did like him. And the him before that. And the him before that, and for that matter I loved the him before that. I pursued them to a fault. I finally convinced them that maybe I was worth giving a try. They finally gave me a break and I was on cloud nine. I finally got what I wanted and two weeks (or some arbitrary duration) later proceeded to immediately freak, pull back, and in doing so push them away.

One's an event. Two's a coincidence. Three is a trend. By four, you just have a problem.

I apparently have a problem and despite my better judgement, I can't seem to get past it. Why? I've been asking myself that question a lot lately. I guess I have a lot to learn...

Update on the Colorado trip to come soon. I promise. I've been having issues with the laptop.

If you ever wondered...

...why I love and miss Colorado so much - here's the reason:


After a two-and-a-half hour flight delay, forty minutes in the ticket line and another hour in the rental car line - I'm finally here. And despite sustaining winds at 30mph with gusts that sounded like they were blowing our windows off, this was the view I woke up to this morning. And tonight I head up into the mountains! WOOHOO!!

Yeah ... it's noon.

And I'm home. I hate being home sick because I definitely feel like I'm being lazy considering how much I have to do today. But I'm also that person in the office who gets really upset whenever people come in to work sick because dang it! Is whatever they have to do really so important that they have to risk getting everyone sick? Shoot. I'm probably sick because a couple of those people.

So what did I do yesterday? Went to work with the sniffles and a cough because I felt like taking sick time before I go on vacation is somehow worse than just taking sick time on a normal week. I ended up going home early and it was probably a good thing because the health is just going from "meh" to "ewww!" When all is said and done, the crucial stuff can be done from home and everything else can be done when I get back - but why does it always feel so critical to go to work when you aren't feeling well?

I'll post soon about the show on Saturday - but suffice it to say for now that it was absolutely awesome and Todd's band had a great premiere!

Worst TV Show EVER!

It's official. I somehow accidentally stumbled upon the worst television show ever. Or at least what I think is the worst tv show ever. One Tree Hill.


Ever seen it? It's like ... Scream (without any blood or dying) ... 7th Heaven (just sappier - *shudder*) ... Bring It On (with the uniforms) ... and Sex in the City (without any of the humor that makes it decent) all rolled into one sugary, gooey, wish-they-were-edgy mess. It somehow topped Gilmore Girls, which I never thought possible!!

Oish.

But I'm curious - for all you readers out there: What do you consider to be the worst TV show ever? I know everyone has that show they just hate... share!!

Tree Huggers 'R' Us

Today I took part in the Houston Arbor Day volunteer event where 2,700 people came out to plant 20,000 trees. My group was responsible for planting 100 trees, but we ended up planting closer to 150 or 200 trees when all was said and done.

Sadly though, I think we came closer to killing 15,000 trees since it was pouring down rain all morning and only about 1 in 5 volunteers actually knew how to plant a tree. If those poor trees survive the drowning, root chopping, and mulch-less massacre, well - we will have added to the forest that is The Woodlands. :)

I'd post pictures, but with mud up to my knees and mud all over the place I figured it wouldn't be wise to bring the camera. I'll see if I can find pictures of the event later this week!

I Have a Flight!

Hooray! As of now (which who knows how it will go) I am scheduled for a flight! I'm on the team for flight 1J/A which is scheduled for No Earlier Than (NET) December of this year and I'm scheduled for Russian Support on 1J which is NET than February 2008. Both of these missions are bringing up Japanese modules and will be the first two missions coordinating with JAXA - the Japanese Space Agency. I'm quite excited and will keep you all updated on my progress...

She Did It!

I will never cease to be impressed by Branelle (the roommate). She's said for two years that she was going to run a marathon and now, two years, torn ankle ligaments, and a lot of tears later she finished one yesterday! I was impressed, inspired, and just all around proud of my girl.


She started out strong (the girl got lei'ed on her first ever marathon), and the cheers and support from the crowd were definitely encouraging. If you ever get the chance to head up there and see it, cheer them along - even if you don't know the runners it means a lot to see (and hear!) people along the course.


Justin (the other roommate) and I spent 5 hours chasing this girl up, down, and around Houston streets on our bikes trying to provide some moral support and the occasional Gu pack for physical support. Nothing like mountain biking on city streets. It was raining all night, so the ground was quite muddy... 20 some odd miles (we lost her around the Galleria), 2 pounds of mud, a pair of socks, and one bike tire later we got to watch her finish her first ever marathon.


Now my only question is, how is it that she is the one who ran the marathon and I'm the one who is walking like a cripple?? Apparently my calves were still angry at me from Friday's workout and the bike ride just sent them over the edge. One word - awesome.

It's HERE!!

Two and a half weeks and three phone calls later, my camera has ARRIVED! I was so excited. I'm still excited. Celebrate with me in it's glory...


(Okay, I know... I'm a little slow getting on the bandwagon here. But give me some credit - I'm on it now!)