My first love

I started reading Twilight Monday night and yeah, it's really good! And I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it, too. However, before this young adult series came along, I - along with the rest of the world - first fell in love with the children's series of Mr. Harry Potter.

It's getting closer to that time of year again. Time for a new HP movie. Entertainment Weekly has the trailer posted as of today, which you can view here. Looks sooo good!

Obviously, if you haven't read the books (and if you haven't, I shake my head at you), there are spoilers, so watch at your own risk.

Such a bandwagoner

Ya'll (and you know who "ya'll" are) won't stop talking about this book and I couldn't stand it any longer. I'm going to start Twilight tonight. And I'm planning to get a little sleep. I can hear some of you cackling all the way up here in Los Angeles ;)

Still not back to "normal"

While the house is coming along, I'm still not back in my normal routine and it's starting to drive me a bit crazy. I think it's almost entirely due to my personality as my husband seems to be just fine with everything. I'm really hoping over the next week or two things will calm down, but if I'm being totally honest, I think the rest of the summer is going to just busy and by fall everything should be good to go.

Btw, if I know you IRL, you'll be receiving a gallery of house pictures soon. If all goes well, as in tonight soon. For the lurkers, sorry, still feel a bit uneasy of posting the full gallery of pics.

Now, while we've been busy getting the casa together, life keeps happening and there is actually a lot of other fun stuff going on. Such as:

* Paper Source Girl's Night Out. Wan, Cee and I went to their annual event Thursday night from 8-10pm. We got to try out some new techniques, find a bunch of new stuff that we want and just hang out. So fun! Can't wait to go next year.

*Vino's wedding prep! Blondie and I met up on Friday with Crafty to work on the shower and bachelorette party invites which will get popped in the mail on Monday. I think the invites turned out great and the actual parties should be even better. Dressing Queen has a great menu planned for the shower and then we're putting together a fun night for her bachelorette party.
* Food! I'm finally starting to cook more in the new kitchen and good lord, LOVE is not a strong enough word to describe my feelings towards it. Since it's been 8 billion degrees lately, my cooking has revolved around oven-less meals, but I've still managed to whip up seviche-style shrimp tacos, grilled veggie sandwiches with green olive-artichoke tapenade, cheeseburgers and a breakfast scramble.
And I'm making an exception with the house pictures here, but you gotta see this kitchen!! <3 <3 <3

More good stuff soon, but right now I gotta run to make dinner ;)

Why I love Fridays

* Wearing jeans to the office. So comfy and casual.
* Lighter traffic. The freeway was moving at a nice 65mph this morning. Made it into work in 22 minutes.
* Leaving early. That extra hour of me time feels so decadent.
* Thinking about all the fun stuff I'll cram into the weekend. Okay, so maybe it's not fun in the traditional sense of the word, but it's fun to me. :)

Happy Friday everyone!


p.s. The pool is finally back from it's swampy beginnings and we took our first dip last night. So great. I could seriously get used to this!

Crazy busy

The short version:

* Moved on Friday. 7am - 11pm. I've never had my feet throb like they did that night. Inlaws came over to help, which was a godsend. And they brought pastries (I'll pause while some of you stop giggling), a PB giftcard and champagne. Love them lots.

* Saturday got up super early, went to hang out with Sporty and Blondie while they got ready for Sporty's wedding. Yup, she got married that night. Beautiful ceremony and a kickass reception. Crapload of alcohol consumed. Loads of awesome pictures taken. Around 12:30am, Blondie's husband, Links and Jim decided to show us their crumping routine. I'm not allowed to post it, but it's effing hysterical! Rallying cry of the night "I love you Dick!"

* Drove home Sunday afternoon after rehashing the night over breakfast with my besties and the husbands. Finished cleaning the kitchen that night. Kitchen looks great, rest of the house looks like a tornado hit it. Ironic thing is that I have no time to cook.

* Monday Direct TV came, all installed. Coordinated with gardener. Pool man came to make our pool look less like a swamp and more like, well, a pool. Bought paint supplies and prepped/painted our master bedroom. Such hard work. Very happy we have a small bedroom. Slept like a baby.

Longer, more involved updates (especially in regards to the wedding) coming soon!

It's Official!

We're homeowners!

eeeeeee!

hmmm, I guess I better get crackin' on setting up water, gas, electric, etc so we're not living in some dark, non-air conditioned hovel come Friday....

Bob'n around

I haven't had a haircut in over 3 months and even then, it was only a trim. This morning I woke up and had had it with my hair. My regular stylist is a very part-time schedule since having a baby late last year, so I opted to sneak in for an appointment with another girl at the salon this afternoon.

I originally thought I'd just want a couple of inches off the bottom, but asked in passing if maybe it could be closer to shoulder length. She advised that just above the shoulders would look better. Hmmm.... After a brief moment I told her to go for it. It's summer, it's hot and well, I could use a change.

For some reason, I thought it was just going to be above my shoulders with some soft layers in the front and in the back. Welllll, it was a little different than I expected. She actually cut my hair into a long-ish bob with soft layers up front. By the time I realized what what going on I couldn't do much to stop it. But suprisingly, I LOVE it! Even though it's the shortest I've ever had my hair, it's still not uncomfortably short or anything.

I walked out of the salon feeling so chic and polished. It was exactly what I needed even though I didn't know it at the time. Although, I must admit, this is usually how I wind up with a new hairstyle. I tell the stylist what I want in very vague terms, they do something that fits my vague description, but is totally different from what I envisioned it and I wind up loving it. :)

Here are a couple of pics from tonight after dinner:

There's a first for everything

I've taken dance classes since I was 6 years old. Various styles and from a variety of instructors. There is an etiquette that governs dance classes in which I am well-versed. I won't go through it all here, but a biggie is that you don't leave in the middle of class unless you're seriously injured or sick... and even then, depending on the instructor, you might still think about sticking around. When I started taking fitness classes at the gym, I stuck to these same rules. And I'm proud to say I've never left in the middle of a dance or fitness class in my life.

Until tonight.

I headed out to my usual Monday night hip hop class at the gym, a bit sad because it was the last time I'd be able to take this particular class since we're moving this week. However, instead of our regular amazing instructor, there is a sub. We exchange pleasantries and then head into the studio. I was the only student there tonight, which I love because you usually wind up with a private lesson for free. The sub informs me that she's going to do a "hiphop style" workout, basically moves that you'd do to prep your body to do hiphop. M'kay.

The music choice is slow and well, sorta boring. We start with some stretching which seems kinda long, but whatever. Then we move to a series of center squats that go...on...for...ever.... Then we switch to another set of squats. Same thing. Then leg lifts. Same damn thing.

The whole time she is setting and checking a stopwatch that is hanging around her neck. Thus, the sets aren't based on the music or basic 8 counts, it's more like, just go til the stopwatch bings. Oh, and did I mention that she is never on beat. Like, ever. Hell, I know I'm Whitey McWhite, but even I've got more rhythm and musicality than this chick.

15 minutes in I'm bored stiff, annoyed beyond belief and ready to tear my hair out. Normally, I would have just sucked it up and stayed, seething the entire time. Instead, I stopped her and said I was really looking for a dance class tonight, but even more importantly a cardio class and that I needed to get going.

Please remember that I was the only one there when I decided to up and leave just a few minutes into class. :/

I shocked myself that I actually had the cajones to bow out early, but I'm also really bummed out that not only did I not get my normal hip hop class, but I didn't even get a good workout in tonight. Ugh! She was seriously the worst fitness/dance instructor that I've ever encountered. Really, really makes me appreciate all the great teachers I have/had the pleasure of working with throughout the years.

T minus 4 days and counting....

Loan should fund today, we should close tomorrow. We hit one last minute snag about 2hours ago, but hopefully it's all figured out. I'm keeping everything crossed -- eyes, fingers, legs, you name it.

The long weekend felt soooo long. We were busy little bees, but it was still nice to have 3 days off.

Thursday:
Since we had our final walk-through in the morning, we carpooled into work (fun!) and when we finally left for the evening around 5pm, we quickly drove home and made a last minute reservation at Mr. Marcel for one last steak dinner before the big move. On our walk over, we figured that we've shared at least a dozen or so dinners, celebrating various occasions, entertaining friends or just because. We're really gonna miss this place.

While Jim ventured out and ordered the NY steak, I stuck to my tried and true filet mignon and gratin potatoes. In fact, I don't think I've ever ordered anything else there. Ha! So good, as always. After polishing off a bottle of wine, we made it back to the apartment and watched the results show for SYTYCD. The right couples were in the bottom three this week. I'm sorta sad to see Kourtini and Matt go, but they weren't going to win in the long run.

Friday:
Our 4th of July started off pretty well. We both woke up early-ish and walked over to The Farm for breakfast outside. The huevos rancheros totally hit the spot, even if it was about a billion degrees outside already.

After breakfast, I managed to convince Jim that driving to an even hotter city was a good idea. Our destination - Restoration Hardware Outlet in Camarillo. I had read online that their outlet stores are full of good stuff and everything in the store was an additional 20% off in honor of the holiday, so I thought it was a good time to check it out.

An hour later we arrived at the outlet sprawl and made our way to RH. Not a huge store, but it was jam-packed with all sorts of furniture, linens, lighting, hardware, etc. Right there in the front of the store was the outdoor chaise lounges I had been drooling over online. Granted, they were a different color, but they were heavily discounted and had no discernible flaws. We weighed the pros and cons of the color change, but ultimately decided that it would work out well in the backyard, so we snatched them up. They were delivered that afternoon and are now sitting all wrapped in plastic in our apartment living room. We can only imagine what the delivery guys were thinking dropping off outdoor lounge furniture to a place devoid of any outdoor living space. ;)

I also found the coverlet that matches the bedding set I have my eye on in the correct color/size for more than 60% off. I can't recommend this place highly enough. Sure, some stuff has flaws, but there is a whole lot there that is in beautiful condition for a pretty decent discount.

The rest of the day was spent packing. So exciting, I know. We opted for good 'ol Baja Fresh for dinner washed down with Framboise for me and Stella for him. By the time dinner was done, neither one of us had enough energy to walk outside and watch the fireworks across the street. Ah well, we heard them, which was plenty.

Saturday/Sunday:
Frankly, these 2 days blurred together for me. Jim had to go into the office and I spent the time at home deep-cleaning the second bathroom and the kitchen -- we really want to recoup as much of the security deposit as possible -- doing miscellaneous packing/organizing to break up the cleaning and several loads of laundry. Fun. I also managed to fit a 3 mile walk on Sunday and downloaded some new music to my ipod throughout the weekend. A marathon of Law and Order: CI and SVU episodes on USA as well as Center Stage (I love this movie!) kept me company as I puttered around the apartment.

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!