WEEKEND!

Hooray! The weekend is almost here! I know I have several plans already set in motion and am really excited about them, but I think I am looking forward to Sunday/Monday the most. I will be able to finish unpacking and actually know where my stuff is. Tonight if its not too late I am going to stop by WalMart for a small fish tank and set it up....that way it can run for a day or two before I get some Tetras on monday. As my dad so quaintly put it the other day...fish are easy to get rid of. I think he's thinking about flushing them but I know that if I ever decided I didn't want them anymore I can convince a certain little girl I know to take them on! It'll just make the place a little home-ier to have something else moving around other than me and the mice that I may or may not have....I think the hole is an old one......not sure yet.......

Birthday....birthday....birthday

Well, my plans are now officially set....yesterday Dan told me I had to go to Swiss Days up in Midway so last night while canning pears with my friend Cynthia I asked her if she wanted to go with me. So she, her daughters and I are heading up bright and squirelly Saturday morning. Dad called last night to find out what my plans were and offered to pay for whatever I found up there that catches my eye for my birthday which is sweet, and Jase is taking me out Friday night for dinner. So here's the itinerary:

Friday night...dinner and whatever with Jase

Early early early predawn Saturday morning...watch the meteor shower

7 am Saturday morning...go to Cynthia's,get 'em out of bed and be on the road by 7:30

9 am...watch the parade, wander around the campgrounds and have fun

evening...hmmm...there's supposed to be a birthday cheesecake in here sometime from the Smiths...I found a recipe for Carrot Cake Cheesecake and they offered to bake it for me so at some point I will end up back at their place for dessert

10:15...catch the late show at ComedySportz cause its my birthday and I get in free

12:30 Sunday morning.....PASS OUT!

Found!

Found my make-up and nail polish last night...all is right with the world once again, in fact I could hardly wait to sit down and paint my fingernails a different color!

Found my movies too.....its a good thing since I'll probably spend my birthday weekend finishing up emptying my boxes and vegging out in front of the tv....

little sisters.....

Well, Lucie flew home this afternoon. I drove her to SL airport, walked with her until we reached the security gate....and then watched her go. YES I CRIED A LITTLE! All I can say is thank heavens for sunglasses so no one could see the coupla tears I had leaking out (no I didn't break down sobbing in front of everyone....I saved that for the car!)

Honestly, I cried but it wasn't bad....in fact I was well on the way back to work before she even boarded the plane....and by the time she landed I was hip deep in shipping boxes and packaged orders. I'm a little sad to see her go, but I know she was getting a bit homesick and hanging out with me 24/7 watching me pack and then unpack my boxes could not have been fun! Besides, she plans to move down here after graduation next June and that's only what....9 months away? I think I can survive. Besides, as she pointed out to me today; she'll be calling pretty much every night as it is...who has time for hysterics because she's talking to me from another state?

Moving....eclipses....and where's my kitty?

sigh....someone is telling me most firmly that NO I am not to get a cat (and no, I am not talking about you Jase!) Echo's adoption fell through....I was approved, had the forms, went to the college to set things into motion only to find someone else had already adopted the little stinker and taken him home. Then my friend Ronetta offered me a half-starved abandoned kitten that she would bring down for my birthday this weekend--he's been claimed by the maintenance guy who found him in the first place (never mind the fact that Enrique already has 6 cats!) Obviously there is a higher power stepping forward here...at least that is how I plan to interpret things. Oh well, fish are less hassle anyway...think I will get some tetras this weekend once I clear up some counter space.

The unpacking moves slowly forward...found my cell phone charger but still haven't found the box with my makeup in it. I'd better find it tonight because Lucie flies home today and I won't be able to borrow hers anymore! My desks are in place now in the spare room which will allow me to start unpacking all the stuff that goes on and in it. Little by little it is starting to look as if I actually live there....tho it still smells like the old tennant (what do I expect though...he was there nearly a year and I've just been in for three days).

Woke up at five this morning to see the lunar eclipse and it was beautiful...the moon was a deep rusty red with pale blue around the edges. I went out into the street in my pjs to watch for about fifteen minutes and then I went in the house to try and wake up Lucie. Turns out you could see it pretty good outside my bedroom window so I woke Lucie up to take a peek. One peek was about all she took and then she passed right back out! I sat there for another hour watching the moon slowly pass out of the earth's shadow--the white moon shone brilliantly against the red and the blue became more and more pronounced as the eclipse slowly ended. I missed the final stages though because some clouds got in the way but I was still amazed by all I was able to see.

Isn't packing supposed to be hard?

Last night I had no problem packing up my junk....I popped in "Heroes" on my compy and packed as I kept half an eye on the screen....finished the last 6 episodes that way and got a LOT of stuff boxed up. I thought this was going to be incredibly hard without Lucie being around to help but, so far, not so bad. The worst bit is that I am finding oodles of black spiders in my room as I move stuff around and THAT is just bugging me to no end...just how many spiders have I been sleeping with down there?!?!?! Boxes that have only sat there for two days now have webs and someone trying to create a little home! Can we say Ewwwwwwwwwww?

Now that I've finished with Heroes I will either pop in the first season of Kids in the Hall or the first series of the original Star Trek (no Jase I haven't finished watching Voyager yet....KITH and ST I don't need to really focus on...Voyager I need to be sitting down and paying attention!) So far most of my movies, all of my cds, all of my books and everything in my (VERY BIG) closet are packed. Tonight I'll get the fabric rack, under my bed, the desks, the bathroom and my dresser. Wow....I think I may just be able to do this!

Moving and Marmalade

I fell in love yesterday....with this sweet marmalade cat at the Vet Tech school Lucie is thinking of attending next year. His name is Echo and he's FIV so he has to be an only cat and remain indoors....and I think I am going to adopt him. I need to check with the Humane Society about what it would take but it turns out the timing is good--I am moving this weekend not next (eeps! can anyone say NOT PACKED!) Anyway, by Labor Day weekend I should be unpacked and fairly settled in so I think (with the Humane Society's blessing of course) that I will be driving up after work next Friday and coming home with a fluffy new roommate.

Speaking of the move I am absolutely frantic....I slept maybe two hours last night because I was worrying over how much crap I have to haul around. Looking at it a little more realistically this morning though...the truth is I didn't unpack a ton of my stuff when I moved to Tammy's so a lot of things are still in boxes. The next three nights after work are going to be filled with packing, packing and more packing but I honestly think I can get it done tonight and tomorrow and then Lucie will be back Friday (she's staying with Dan and Lori for a few days). I think we'll spend Friday grabbing last minute stuff and hauling boxes upstairs and into the garage so the free "moving help" will have an easier time getting the stuff loaded.

All-in-all the next few days will be jam packed and interesting.....

MapQuest and our Saturday adventures

Let me just open by saying MapQuest lies....it lies, it lies, it lies. Lucie and I went up to SLC this Saturday to see Hogle Zoo and printed out our driver-friendly map to guide us on the way....only to drive up and down the same road over and over trying to figure out where we had lost our turnoff. There were banners up around the street we were driving on proclaiming "Hogle Zoo" but nothing else. Finally I pulled into a gas station (yes, I admit I was extremely frustrated by that time!) and after filling the tank asked the cashier for directions. Well wouldn't you know it but the street we were looking for ran PARALLEL to the one we were on and the two were several blocks apart (major whoops over there MapBoys!) Re-oriented ourselves, found the Zoo and promptly started wandering around taking photogs of all the wildlife that caught our eyes. Sadly tho I find zoos rather depressing as the animals have very little room to roam and must really be bored out of their skulls. About the most animated creatures we came across were the monkeys (which Lucie and I both don't like). When all was said and done we had a good time, rode the little kiddie train ride, bought our souveniers and then poor Lucie, worn out and probably tired had to deal with me dragging her up to This Is The Place Monument (I didn't know it was right across from the zoo....been wondering where that thing was!) We didn't stay for long as it was past five but I plan to go back at another time and wander through the village. On the way home I turned off so we could drive up to the Squaw Peak lookout (hadn't been up to the top before) and admired the view....and it also gave my poor car a chance to cool off as it DEFINATELY did not like the drive up there! I must have stopped the car 3 or 4 times on the way back down to snap more pics with Lucie rolling her eyes by the end as I pulled over YET AGAIN...but she didn't complain when I then took us a couple miles farther down the road to photograph Bridal Veil Falls. We hung out there for probably 45 minutes and had some guy in a van laughing at us. We were joking about how much child abuse Lucie was going through having to hang around while I took pictures and I was replying how I'd show her child abuse as soon as I was done taking pictures. Definately a fun day, though I'd wished we'd had enough time to go to the aquarium as well....but now that's an adventure for this next Saturday.....lets hope MapQuest gets my directions right this time!

Birthday!

Okay, if anyone really wants to make me happy for my birthday I have stumbled across the PERFECT gift!!!!! The Cure (my favorite band of all time!) is performing at the E Center in West Valley on October 4th (yes, its a Thursday) and I would LOVE (repeat that peps....LOVE!) a ticket to go!!! Don't procrastinate.....tickets are on sale now!

Anything but purple.......

Once again I allowed myself to be seduced by the hair color goddess....the one who says "sure your hair looks nice but why not try something with some kick to it?" sigh. A box of Herbal Essense "Paint the Town" red slips itself gently into my cart among the bagels and cream cheese and I am now $10 poorer than when I first walked into the store.

Cut to late last night---tired, really wanting sleep and yet that magical little box keeps whispering "you really want to use me now"...so I grab an old towel and begin the process of morphing from a brunette to a redhead. (Side note: I have no idea why red is so appealing to me since it really isn't a good hair color for me but dang it I am always tempted by the reds!) Imagine my shock when I put this on and see what looks like carrot juice orange going on my hair.....okay, calm down, as usual its not the shade I am going to end up with. Wait out my 30 minutes impatiently and then step into the shower. Halfway through rinsing this stuff out I glance down and see that it looks like I have stepped in the middle of a bloodbath--eeps! So I quickly finish rinsing my hair out and then spend another five minutes making sure that nothing in the bathroom has been permenantly stained with this crud. By the time I look in the mirror I am too tired to really care what color it ends up being and give it a quick comb and then crawl into bed.

Woke up this morning to find that it LOOKS red.....kewl, I think as I jump back in the shower, make myself up and head out the door for work. I stop floored as I catch a glimpse of myself in the rearview mirror--crap, in the sunlight my hair definately has a purple cast to it! Oh well...the Goddess has slinked off, smirking how once again she has fooled me into thinking I was making some kind of improvement to myself and I am left thinking thank goodness red doesn't stay in my hair for long!

When all the stars were falling.....

That's kind of how it seemed this morning anyway for the Perseid meteor shower. It was a bit of an adventure getting to see it though!

Lucie and I stayed up late last night (won't humiliate myself by telling you what movie she talked me into watching!) and I passed out somewhere around 1 am--poor Lucie had insomnia last night and didn't fall asleep until 3. Brave little trooper she is though, she crawled out of bed when I woke her at 4 in the morning and we drove down Hobble Creek Canyon heading for the Boy Scout campgrounds about 20 miles away. On the way we passed a badger in the road, numerous deer and something white that zipped up the hillside beside us before either one of us could really see it--tho we know it was bigger than a breadbox!

Reached the turnoff, headed up the worlds most rocky road and bumped up that for a couple of miles (praying I wouldn't pop a tire!) only to be stopped by a miniature lake/oversize pond in the road! Backed down (still dark out kids!) and managed to turn around. We ended up parking at the end of someone's driveway (the house was out of sight up and around a hill) and settled in to watch the show. For being a bit cloudy out in the forty minutes we had before the horizon started lighting we counted 20 meteors between the two of us and watch Orion rise from behind the mountain in front of us. Some of the meteors were real dazzlers--I spotted a red streak and one that, in the growing dawn, glowed minty green.

The one bummer was that I borrowed Jase's digital camera and wasn't able to use it for the light show since I had no idea how to set it for a timed exposure, but I got several beautiful shots of the sunrise so it was worth it. We joked about being eaten by mountain lions as we traipsed across the road to a pasture where Lucie had spotted some horses, though she couldn't convince them to come closer and then headed back for the car. No sooner than we got into the car and started it then the property owner drove by, rolled down his window and asked if he could help us. I smiled, said how we'd just watched the meteor shower and were actually off for home but thanks just the same and he drove away.

Got home to a bowl of Life cereal and a shower while Lucie crawled sleepily back into bed, though she did stay awake long enough to watch me off to work at 7:30.

What a beautiful way to spend the morning! I can't wait until the next "light show" on my birthday!!!!!

Dating and Deviants

Boy...bet the title of this one caught you! No, I am not dating a deviant...not dating at all! But at least I worked up the courage to call this guy I really like (YES! Voicemail takes the heat off!) Left my name, number and asked if he wanted to catch the new Bourne movie that I know he was dying to see...which left the ball in his court. Ran home after work and cleaned up (just in case!) and OMG he called me back!!!!! Of course it was to tell me that he was in SLC at the moment and wasn't able to go to the show but that he thought it sounded like fun and was sorry he couldn't make it. Okay, here I am thinking "okay there's some hope here" when he dropped the bomb that he was thinking of buying a place in Salt Lake as he now works up there.....crap! I told him to give me a call whenever and we had a nice chat but damn I looked good yesterday....date-able good! Needless to say my little sister and I went to the show and loved it but I spent a hefty chunk of that time wishing a certain someone could have been in the seat next to me (sorry Lucie!)

Oh...and as for the deviants? I uploaded some of my photography (unphotoshopped) onto deviantart...I plan to keep uploading so check up on me every now and again...