But time has changed nothing at all -You're still the only one that feels like home. *

Until this weekend, I had a mess in the study, but every other room was basically unpacked and put away and not messy.  Ha!  Now, every single room in the house is a DISASTER!  I kind of want to hire a dumpster to come and just throw out everything in the house.  Argh.

The Ikea furniture showed up, and so far I've constructed my dresser and hall table, and constructed, then deconstructed (I was so pissed, I got all the way to the end before realizing I put the sides on wrong...sucked), so, I then reconstructed my TV stand.  Stupid.  In the process I managed to crush my finger (OMG hurt SOOOO bad).  My nail is bruised and ugly :-(  

My TV also showed up.  Unfortunately, the TV showed up on Saturday, BEFORE the TV stand arrived.  And I don't trust myself to pick up the TV on my own...so, the TV is chilling on the floor, next to the TV stand.  It looks great.  

Sigh, why am I not unpacked yet?

*Missy Higgins - LOVE this song

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks*

• I love that I'm not the only nerd out there and other people liked my awesome shower curtain :-)
• I have plans to be painting old furniture and building new Ikea furniture this weekend. Not to mention the cleaning and laundry. Oh joy. I really miss having housekeeping...I am still REALLY thinking about finding someone to come twice a month to do my floors and bathroom and kitchen, and I'll just do light cleaning in between. Is that ridiculous?
• The mosquitos around here are INSANE.  I don't know if it's just bad everywhere, but I swear, everytime I walk outside I get 5 new bites.  Not to mention I let about 10 in to the house to bite me randomly through out the night.  I'm pretty much just one big bite right now. 
• My fantasy football is pretty much the stuff of nightmares.  Sigh.  I am not a fan. (Also, I'm not exactly spending much time on it like I used to, so I don't foresee it getting any better).
• I have been sick pretty much all week.  And by sick, I mean pretty much coming straight home and curling up in bed after dinner.  (I dont think I stayed awake past 8:15 until last night when I made it all the way to 9:30).  This means no running.  This means I haven't gone running SINCE CHICAGO (moving pretty much screwed me up for about two weeks there...).  So that's like THREE weeks, no running.  Not only do I feel like shit, my half marathon training is not exactly progressing as it should.  Sigh.  This half marathon is going to suck big time.  Hopefully this weekend, I'll feel up to running.  I've been feeling so sick...I don't even miss running.  That's unheard of. 

Anyways, hope everyone has a great weekend.  I'm going to go take a nap I think. 

*Foster the People - meh, not really feeling clever when it comes to music lately...

Tell me to run and I'll race, If you want me to stop I'll freeze*

Wells Fargo is completely ridiculous. 

I went shopping last night and bought a new TV (I caved) and toaster oven at hhgregg, and a shelving unit thing from Bed Bath and Beyond for my bathroom last night on my debit card.  Then, I went to the ATM and tried to withdraw $20 in cash.  It got denied. 

I then get a phone call from the fraud prevention hotline at Wells Fargo.  They don't question if I authorized the charge to hhgregg, or the charge to BB&B.  However, they DID question if I authorized the $20 withdrawal.  My money feels very safe from those fraudulent $20 withdrawals....

**********

I am almost finished my bathroom. 

All I really needed was a shelf unit for my towels, however, I still don't have a bathmat.  I can't decide if I still NEED or a bathmat, or if it is not necessary.  What do YOU think?  I also have two pictures I eventually plan to hang, but hanging pictures is not high on my list of priorities right now.

I love the brightness of the room (I know, the above photo is kind of dim...but I swear it's bright!).  It's a pretty light blue with BRIGHT yellow towels and bathroom acessories. 

Then, if you walk in further, you can see the bright yellow part of my shower curtain and start to get a glimpse of what a nerd I am. 

Why yes, I DO have a shower curtain with the periodic table of elements on it...

I love my bathroom. 
*Adele



I've had enough of so-so, for the rest of my life*

Hi, I'm still alive!

I finally got cable and internet hooked up to my house yesterday, and I come home from work today, sit on the couch, all excited to watch TV.  And...my TV broke.  Argh.

I have plans to buy a new TV, but I've spent SO MUCH MONEY this past month that I was really trying to hold off until November/December time frame before buying it.  Blargh, I may be buying a new TV this weekend.  Along with some new tires (yeah, I still haven't bought those either).  

However, I did buy a shit ton of furniture this weekend (and spent a shit ton of money doing it).  That all gets delivered this Sunday.  And then I get to spend the rest of my life building it (I bought it from Ikea, I'm cheap like that...and seriously, furnishing almost an entire apartment isn't easy on the budget).

I feel like I'm in this awkard settling stage where, I'm not in a huge rush to finish unpacking anything else.  The house is livable, and the only room still not unpacked is my study (and my clothing is not unpacked, but I'm waiting for my dresser, and I have to paint the other).  However, the study still drives me insane every time I walk by (I have solved this by keeping the door shut at all times...).  

I also find that I'm having to buy a bunch of stuff that I used to own, and yet got misplaced when I moved into the hotel (like a broom, and trash cans, and things like that).  It has not been a cheap process.   

Oscar is also not settling in as well as I had hoped.  Oddly enough, he is not barking too excessively (don't get me wrong, he has his moments), but I was DREADING leaving him the first day here alone.  Yeah, he slept all day.  No worries there.  Ugh, however, the BATHROOM use is KILLING me.  

He has a backyard that he basically refuses to go in.  He will practically cross his legs and do the pee-pee dance and NOT GO. At night, after a few attempts, he will finally give in and go, but I don't really have time to deal with this in the morning, so I put his leash on and take him out front and he will go RIGHT AWAY.  Argh.  What does he have against freedom and going to the bathroom off leash????  I even tried taking him out back with his leash on, still no go.  He is the most ridiculous dog ever.

I'm trying to get a little more decorated in the upcoming weeks, but I'll do the big reveal soon.  (I hope to show my Nerdish-ly awesome bathroom in the next few days, I just need to find a shelf unit of some sort to hold my towels.)

So, yes, moved in and sort of settled.  In need of a new TV.  In need of a new personality for my dog.  In need of someone to unpack my study. That'd be great!

*Sugarland (this song makes me think of summers in Virginia)

I used to want you so bad, I'm so over that*

I finally moved.  I have my own place again!

Is it wrong to be so in love with my new headboard and comforter?  And the blue walls?  (The picture does not do this justice.  It looks AMAZING in person).

The place is pretty much a disaster area, but I unpacked a decent amount last night.  The living room is at least livable now.  Only one box still to be unpacked there. 

My goal for tonight is to unpack the kitchen and dining room, and MAYBE some of the boxes in the bedroom.  Tomorrow will be for organizing the bedroom closet and study, but I can't really unpack anything in there until I get new furniture this weekend. 

Yay my own stuff!

*Beyonce - again with this song stuck in my head.

When you lose yourself, you find the key to paradise*

• I'm in the process of moving.  It's not making me happy.  Stupid rain. 
• I am almost entirely out of the hotel.  I have a lot of stuff.  Even after donating, I have too many items of clothing (especially since it feels like I wear the same five shirts all the time...).  Maybe I will go through and donate some more.
• I am exhausted.  It's only Wednesday.  I need more sleep. 
• I saw RR last night.  I couldn't make it all the way to Richmond in one trip.  I was too tired.
• The drive down to RR isn't too bad.  Hopefully, I will get to see her more now. 
• I am down in the Richmond area today and tomorrow.  I can't wait for this move to be over.
• I am so tired, I started to cry at a Salvation Army campaign being discussed on the radio this morning (poor children with no shoes!). 
• I donated to the poor children with no shoes. 
• I really need sleep. 
• I can't decide what cable package to get.  Too many choices! 
• This move is stressing me out a bit.  However, I keep telling myself...yay new place (and oven!). 

I have no more words to share.  Hope everyone is having a lovely week.  Even with this awful rain. 

*Zac Brown Band (I love this song.  Makes me happy everytime I hear it.  Seems like a good day to listen it...)

The Trip

First off, thank you everybody for all the happy birthday phone calls, texts, emails, facebook messages, whatever you sent. It was really nice to get so many.  :-)

Secondly, Chicago is soooo much fun. I always forget exactly HOW MUCH I love this city, until I go again. Every trip is so much fun, and it’s still on my list of cities to possibly live. (The winter is kind of crappy though, pretty much the only thing holding me back…).

I went with Spazzoid (she agreed to this name…) this time. We are not so good at the whole self portrait thing, however, I still think this is a pretty adorable picture of the two of us. We look amused and confused, which is pretty much how we probably looked the entire time here.

Well, maybe not amused the ENTIRE time. The Spazzoid wanted to kill me a few times with the whole walking thing. I am normally very anti-walking. I prefer to run or drive most places…EXCEPT when I’m on vacation in a new city. Then, I want to walk EVERYWHERE. Spazzoid does not. Compromises had to be made.

We also jam packed as much tourist-y things as possible into our two days in the city.

The very first thing we did was get pizza. Yummm…deep dish pizza that I’ve been craving for about 5 years now. (I’m contemplating having a frozen one delivered to my place as a welcome to your new home/yay oven gift to myself).

Why yes, I DID take a picture of my pizza...

We went to Navy Pier and rode the Ferris wheel and swings (the swings were awesome), and ate at Harry Caray’s. I still think the man was kind of weird looking, and the bronzed version is just creepy. I also got distracted walking back from the bathroom (I SWEAR I saw someone I knew) and wasn’t paying close attention and tried to sit down at some random people’s table. Ooops, my bad.

We went to the Sears Tower (Or, the Willis Tower I suppose now) and stood out on the little glass sky deck thing (slightly disconcerting when you first step out). Went to Millenium Park and took pictures of the bridge and the bean and the amphitheater thing. I actually really like that park. I apparently like weird metal sculpture type things.  Yeah, Blogger is pissing me off with picture lay outs and I'm not going to bother fixing it...sorry.

The Bean

The Amphitheater at Millenium Park

View from the Sears Tower

Sad attempt at a self portrait at the Sears Tower

Our hotel was conveniently located a block from Michigan Ave, so we obviously explored the shops (including the American Girl doll store). Saw this hilarious statue of Marilyn Monroe (who is beautiful even as a 30ish foot Amazon). The men were just excited to stand under her skirt.

We were also only about 4 blocks from the waterfront, so I got to go on my run along the Lakefront path. And it was absolutely beautiful and fun and I want to run along this path like every day of my life. It is awesome.

In fact, that’s pretty much the only word I can use to describe Chicago. It’s just awesome and I’m so glad I got to go for my birthday.

Now, let the week of moving commence. I’m almost in my new place!