Relocate?

Once upon a time, my apartment was very clean and I took pictures of it so that I could remember how nice it can look.

It no longer looks this nice. The plan for this weekend: Spring Cleaning, in the winter. Also, my lease runs out at the end of next month. I am once again at the point where I ask myself:
a) Where on earth did the past year go? Have I really been living here that long?!
b) What to do... renew or move out?
c) Potential roommate.. are you out there?

I hate making these decisions.

Pack Your Kleenex

Last night Mark and I went to see I am Legend. Has anyone else seen it? I wanted to see Juno, but he was really pulling for Legend, so I gave in and off we went. I had heard that I am Legend is a little scary (try A LOT), but I was ready for that.

Now I've cried at movies before. I've teared up, maybe had a drop or two run down my face, but nothing like this time. From about the midpoint on, I was sobbing. OMG, it was so sad. I felt like an idiot, especially since there were maybe 6 people total in the theatre, including us, but I just could not stop the tears! I was having to hold in the actual sobs so that people wouldn't hear me weeping. I was wearing a white fleece sweatshirt and kept wiping my eyes on my sleeves and I just knew that I was going to walk out of there with eye makeup all over me. Please tell me someone out there has seen it. If not, go see it. Even though I will never ever watch it again (because its scary and sad), I do highly recommend it. Will Smith is amazing. And I fell in love with Sam.

On a happier note, I am trying to organize and back up all the pictures on my laptop. There are hundreds and its pretty much causing my computer to nearly crash every time I try to use it. The error message "Not enough memory on Drive C" never sounds good. Here are some recent pictures that I finally got off my camera from the holiday.

The kiddos before we went to see "A Christmas Carol"

Why hello there.

Number 1 and Number 2, the Amanda's (flashing our gang sign)

Wrapping Up

Last night I finally took my Christmas tree down, so the holidays are officially over. My apartment now looks very empty and sad, to the point that I'm wondering how I lived with such a large empty hole in my dining area before. See, I don't have an actual table on which to eat food, so my "dining room" was the perfect spot for a Christmas tree. Now that said tree is gone, I've got a gaping stretch of carpet that serves no purpose other than to provide Gus with some extra running space. Maybe I should get a table, or at least a bookshelf....

I found the following on another blog and stole it. It's a good way to recap the year and I thought it would allow me to start fresh in 2008. Feel free to steal it from me now. In fact, I hope you do.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
Went to Vegas. Adopted a cat. Started a blog. Told a boy I loved him and really, truly, genuinely, 100% meant it for sure.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I resolved to do three things last year: exercise more, save money and clean out my closet/throw out the clothes I don’t wear anymore. The latter I completed within the first four days of 2007, although I don’t think I did a very good job. My closet is still jam packed with clothes I don’t wear, probably won’t wear, but cannot throw out for fear that someday I will need them. Oh that Hawaiian print spaghetti strap dress that I bought when I was 18 and no longer fit in? I might get back to that size! There might be a luau to go to! I must keep it!

I did fairly well on the working out this year. I can now run for a decent amount of time (okay, 20 minutes) before getting totally winded. I’m pretty good at the kickboxing class at the gym and sometime I’ll do some lunges across my apartment before bed. And I did actually start putting some money into my savings account every month. It’s not much and my total saved would be at a much higher level if I hadn’t had to dive into it for a little trip to Vegas, but hey. How often does my best friend have her Bachelorette Party in Sin City?

I will make new resolutions this year. I just haven’t put a lot of thought into it yet. Maybe I’ll just do the same three again?

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nooooo. I am finally used to my friends all tying the knot but when they start having babies. No. Not ready for that!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My uncle died this past June. It was one of the toughest weekends of my life. It still continues to leave a mark on my family that was especially felt through the holidays.

5. What countries did you visit?
None.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
A wardrobe that reflects the fact that I graduated from college over two years ago. So that means no more sorority tshirt and jeans every day. This year I’m trying to dress like a grown up and throw out the 2002 Date Dash T’s. I plan to stock up on more casual clothes that don’t necessarily come from a football game or formal dance. Which means more shopping at Target and the Gap.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
March 4 - after much pressing from LJ, Mark and I had the DTR and then celebrated with lunch at McDonalds.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I’m proud of myself for losing some weight this year. I really don’t know how much, but I know that my clothes fit better and I feel great about myself. I used to be that girl who had never once stepped foot in a gym. If I can get my bootie in there and run on a treadmill, anyone can.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I don’t know if I really failed at anything, but I did have some slipups. Two times at work come to mind. I learned that everyone makes mistakes and that you just have to keep your head up, apologize only once and then get over it. Everyone else will have forgotten about it by the next day and so should you. Fix it, then move on!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope. I got the occasional cold and had to go see the doctor a handful of times, but nothing too out of the ordinary.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I didn’t do a whole lot of buying for myself this year, unless you count two very snazzy bridesmaid dresses. However, I did have the best thing bought ­for me when Super Boyfriend took me to Nordstrom and let me pick out any jeans I wanted. It wasn’t even my birthday. I picked up some hot Seven's and my back side has never looked better.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Mary Beth! She took a bold step and was offered a job in the UK. In a few months she’s moving away to a place where she knows no one and where they drive on the wrong side of the road. I admire her strong desire to try anything and truly chase her dreams.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Is it lame to use Britney Spears here? She has gone so far down the drain that surely Morgan Ash doesn’t even look up to her anymore, right?

14. Where did most of your money go?
I was in two weddings this year. That’s two bridesmaid dresses, two engagement parties, way more than two bridal showers and two out of town bachelorette parties. Not jump in the car and drive to Austin, but “get on a plane and stay in a hotel for a long weekend” out of town. Don’t get me wrong though, those were some of the best times this year and I was honored to stand up for my friends on their big days.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My birthday. Christmas. New Year’s Eve. Going to Vegas with my best friends from college. Going to NYC with my best friends from high school. Watching two friends get married and celebrating with two others after they got engaged. Everyone coming up to Dallas for OU weekend. Having a real Valentine’s Day for the first time in a long time. Meredith’s wedding. Virginia’s wedding. The RRE 2K7. I had a lot to get excited about this year.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
“Cupid’s Chokehold” by Gym Class Heroes

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:? a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? Happier and thinner, but also poorer. Oh well. Two out of three ain’t bad huh? And I’ll get back up to the richer phase. Just as soon as everyone is done getting married.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Corresponding. Phone calls, emails, letters, cards, anything. I let too much time pass between communicating with some of the most important people in my life. I know its easy to get caught up in what’s going on here and then I forget about my best friends scattered around the country, my sister in Stillwater or my brother in Portland. Too many times I said oh I’ll call her this weekend.. and then never got around to it.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Freaking out. I let too many things stress me out to the max, which often results in any combination of the following: tears, headaches, sheer anger, annoyance, silent treatments sleepless nights and heartache. This year I aspire to go with the flow and not sweat the small stuff nearly as much.

Also, I could have done with a little less of eating the candy at work. My place of employment must have an entire item line in our budget for candy to replenish the little bowls on everyone’s desk. Every few weeks, someone goes to Sam’s and comes back with dozens of the jumbo size bags of every miniature sized candy there is. It’s my biggest weakness during the work week.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Christmas this year was spent in three different places. First, I had a “Fake Christmas” on the 20th with Mark at his house. The plan was to each exchange one gift before we went home to our respective parents’ houses for actual Christmas. But when I got to Mark’s house and saw that he had sixteen presents for me under the tree, he let me open four. From there, I was in Muenster from the 21st through Christmas with my family and grandparents. Mark came up to Muenster for a few days and we had Christmas # 2 with my family before he and I headed to Bartlesville on the 29th to have a belated holiday with his parents. Whew! That’s three different times of opening presents. It worked out really well.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Yes :)

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Friday Night Lights all the way. Even if it is more about murders and meth labs than high school football this year, I still can’t resist the coach’s witty remarks and QB1’s goofy grins.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Hmm. Not that I can think of.

24. What was the best book you read?
I read a lot this year! I joined a book club at work and then a girlfriend started up our own book club with five other girls, so I’m usually reading at least two books a month. Some that I’ve really enjoyed this year are The Time Traveler’s Wife, My Sister’s Keepe,. Harry Potter 7, and The Pact. I want to start the year out by reading PS I Love You but the darn thing is sold out all over town! Seems I’m not the only one who wants to read the book before seeing the movie.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I didn’t exactly “discover” a lot of music this year. It’s more like I heard a song on the radio and started liking it, thus I illegally downloaded it on Limewire and then listened to it a hundred times. A group who I haven’t heard a lot of publicly but do like a lot is Secondhand Serenade. Check ‘em out.

26. What did you want and get?
A Nintendo Wii. Watch your inboxes for a Wii-vite. Just as soon as I get really good at all the games myself, I’ll invite everyone over for a friendly boxing match.

27. What did you want and not get?
An apartment where I don’t hear every step my neighbors take, every song they play on their stereo and every shower they ever take. And also Justin Timberlake tickets.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Superbad

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned the big 25 this year. On my birthday I was in Stillwater, OK watching the Longhorns make their usual comeback and beat OSU in the second half. This was a great birthday gift, even if I was with all of Mark’s college friends and the only UT fan of the weekend. I kept quiet about our victory and they more or less left me alone, since it was my birthday and all.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If I could afford it, a nicer apartment. I live in a decent place with reasonable rent. But I think if I was living in some trendy high rise with stainless steel appliances and hardwood floors, I would be much more satisfied at the end of every day. I just have to keep telling myself that I won't live here forever and I just have to suffer through these renting an apartment days before I reach the blissful life of what's to come.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Swooping bangs, sparkly sunglasses, cute jeans and flip flops.

32. What kept you sane?
Mark. My friends. My family.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
JT. I tried and tried to get tickets to his concert. I watched ebay like a hawk the day before. It could be my biggest regret of this year, not coughing up the 75 bucks to go see him live.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
I’m sad to say that political issues do not typically “stir” me. But I'm working on watching all this election coverage!

35. Who did you miss?
My girls in Austin and Morgan in Houston. I just didn’t see enough of them and when I did, it was always for a too short weekend with too much already going on. My year was extremely busy and I had to spread myself thin to see everyone. I wish I could have spent more time with these great friends.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Early this year, Mark took me to Tulsa to meet his friends that I had heard so much about. I was more nervous about meeting them than I was about meeting his parents! Winning the friends over is vital and Mark has such a close-knit group of college friends that I was worried I would always be that new girlfriend who never really knew that they were talking about when they started laughing at all their old college stories. However, this group of people quickly became not just his friends, but my friends too. I love going up to visit them and spend weekends with the whole group who was so kindly welcomed and included me.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
Take chances. Take every opportunity you’re given. If someone invites you to out to do something and you don't have other plans, do it. Keep in touch with those far away. Write emails when work gets slow. Put other's before you. Don't whine a whole lot... like I always do. If you are carving pumpkins, make a boy scrape out all the gross insides.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
When you figure out love is all that matters after all,
It sure makes everything else seem so small.

Christmas Birthdays

I made it to Muenster on Friday, then came right back to Dallas last night to celebrate Katherine's birthday. Her family always gets crazy huge Christmas Tree so we snapped a photo in front of it before I left.


After dinner, my mom and I went to pick up my brother at the airport. His flight came in at 12:23 AM. Yes, AM. As in Sunday morning. He waited for his luggage for 30 minutes, so we got back to my parents' house at 2:15 AM. I was beyond tired. Today we are in full panic mode as my grandparents have decided to come in one day early. Mom's running around in a frenzy trying to wrap the rest of the presents, thaw out the turkey and clean all the bathrooms. It's probably going to be a hectic day!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve.

Luck of the Season

I am lucky. I always have been. I win things all the time. Drawings, contests, trivia, slot machines, lottery scratch offs, door prizes. You name it, I win it. Just to give you an idea, here’s a running list of things I’ve won in the past:

- all expense paid cruise for two on Carnival Cruise lines
- cell phone
- $200 Blockbuster gift card
- $190 in a quarter slot machine.. on one quarter!
- SAT prep book (in high school, awesome)
- designer handbag
- concert tickets from calling in on the radio
- countless bridal shower games… usually just the luck of the draw

I know there’s more. I just can’t think of it all right now. I will add to the list as I remember more, so check back if you are so intrigued. My most recent victory really came in handy this holiday season. Every year my school puts up a great big Christmas tree in our commons area. The tree is a ten foot tall pre-lit monster of a tree that is always completely decorated in red ornaments. This year, someone in the higher up offices decided that ten feet is just not tall enough for our school. We needed a twelve foot tree. And all those red ornaments just aren’t cutting it anymore. We needed new ones! So someone made a trip to Home Depot and bought all brand new stuff. In early November, an email was sent out to all the employees saying they were going to give away the old tree and all its ornaments and to let them know if we wanted to be included in the drawing.

I’m sure you know where this is going.

I of course responded to the email to get into the drawing. I almost added a line at the end of the email. I know I am going to win this tree. Don’t bother having the drawing, just give it to me! But I didn’t. I do believe in jinxing my luck.

So two weeks before Thanksgiving I came home with the world’s largest Christmas tree and three plastic tubs of red ornaments. They did indeed draw my name. There was no way that tree was going to fit in my apartment, so I traded trees with Mark. He took the ten foot monster, and I took his little skinny five footer. Mine took about ten minutes to put up and decorate, his took about two weeks. Here it is in all his glory, as Mark squishes the star on top.

Have you all put your trees up? If so, post a picture on your blog! I hope you have a little Christmas spirit at home! If not, go to the mall for some Christmas shopping. The parking garage lines, crowded stores and cold rainy weather will surely put you in the mood! Oh wait, its 72 degrees today. In December. Less than one week from Christmas. That'll get you in the spirit!

Bruised, Yet Festive

Last night I went over to Mark's to finally start watching this season's episodes of Friday Night Lights. It is my absolute favorite show on TV and really the only one I still watch religiously. Mark and I started watching it together last year when we first started dating, so last night as we sat huddled in his living room, me freezing under a huge blanket, it really reminded me of one year ago when we barely even knew each other. So much has happened since then, but.. I am getting off topic.

The only difference with last night's viewing of FNL was that it was in front of Mark's computer screen. Somewhere in the depths of his DVR, we missed the first episode of the season and didn't get it recorded. The following weeks nine are safely sitting in his DVR list, but we could not watch them without seeing the season premiere! Which would have been a lot easier if Mark's computer hadn't been broken for the past four months! I was quite excited Tuesday night when he told me he had actually called Dell and his PC was up and running again. So alas, last night we finally got the season started off.

After watching the first episode courtesy of Amazon.com, we settled down to watch the rest. My cell phone happened to be across the room from me and Mark happened to be walking right past it, so I asked him if he would check to see if I had any missed calls. He looked and said I had a message. I asked him who it was from, since it displays it right on the screen. Instead of telling me, he opts to "toss" the phone over to me to check. Only it wasn't a toss, it was a throw. An MLB pitcher, bottom of the ninth, two strikes down throw. Right. At. My. Face. I wasn't expecting this and had zero time to react, so it smacked me right above my left eye.

Ouch.

The tears streamed down my face and I was reminded of being a kid and getting hurt and just wanting to CRY really loud. My face was throbbing. Mark runs over, pleading his sorries, swearing he didn't mean to, trying to look at my face that I now have shoved down on the pillow. I know it was an accident. Surely he did not intend to smack me in the face with a hard chunk of plastic. Five minutes later I have a bump on my head the size of an egg and I am imagining waking up the next morning with a black eye and having to explain to everyone at work that my boyfriend? Yeah, he throws things at me. However today, there's nothing more to show other than a small red dot and a great big knot. Sadly, it actually looks more like a pimple than a domestic abuse wound. I have the headache to prove its still there though. And my boyfriend just might be feeling guilty enough to stick another present under the tree this Christmas...

Speaking of, I totally have the Christmas itch! I cannot wait for it to get here. I've got exactly one week left of work and only a few more gifts to buy. I haven't sent out any cards yet and I really still want to, especially after checking my mail yesterday and getting a stack of cards from friends, including the cutest card(s) ever from Sadie! (I am wearing my new kitty bracelet today!! Thank you!!). So those might still go out, if I have the time to get creative enough and send out something cute and festive. Watch the mail, but don't hold your breath yet!

The Great Flood

This weekend I had a lot of downtime, which lately has been pretty unusual. I used this time to clean up my apartment, but pretty soon my place was spotless and I still had all this time on my hands. So I wrapped some Christmas presents, but quickly ran out of gift boxes, so that hit a dead-end as well. I decided I would get ahead of laundry for once, which almost never happens. I am more of an uh oh I am out of underwear, I guess I better do some laundry kind of gal. So I started a load. Then I took it one step further and even began to hand wash all the sweaters and delicate tops that usually just sit in the pile month after month and never get worn again. So I poured some Woolite into the sink, popped the sweater in and turned the faucet on to let it fill with water.

And then, for whatever reason, I left.

I took the trash out, turned the Christmas tree lights on, lit some candles and basked in my oh-so-clean and festive apartment. I turned on the TV and did some crunches (man I was on a role!). I did a couple sets of lunges. I sat there and thought to myself hmm what I am forgetting. Gus was walking around meowing kind of weird so I followed him into the bedroom to see if he wanted to play. Then I heard a strange sound and glanced into the bathroom. It sounded like flowing water. My first thought was CRAP my toilet is overflowing! But no. Then it hit me. I never turned the water off to fill the sink up.

The sink was beyond full. It must have been running for at least ten or fifteen minutes. There was water running down the cabinets and spilling onto the floor. The entire bathroom floor was covered in water, about a half inch thick. I went into full blown panic mode. Is the water going to spill through and flood the apartment below me?? Will I get mold damage?? How will I ever get all this water out?? Will I have to call the maintenance people, who will in turn come to clean up and find the illegal cat that I am hiding without paying my $300 pet deposit?!?! My heart was racing and my hands were shaking as a frantically grabbed every towel I owned and threw them onto the floor. They all quickly soaked up full of water, so I threw them into the bathtub and did the next most logical thing I could think of to control the mess… I reached into the laundry hamper and started throwing dirty clothes all over the puddles of water. So I got all the water mopped up, but was left with a tub full of soaking wet towels and clothes. So much for getting ahead of the laundry.

I spent the rest of the day and most of the next doing laundry and trying to get all those towels dry again. My little washer/dryer in my apartment is not only tiny, but its not the strongest machine out there, so towels take 2-3 cycles in the dryer before really drying out. But the good news is that since my bathroom floor was all wet and slippery, I went ahead and grabbed the mop to give it a good scrubbing. That hasn’t happened in… oh four or five months.