commas and ampersands

Yay, Christmas decorations are up!

There's no tree in the apartment, so I had to get creative. We may get a tree later (after Thanksgiving), and if we do, I still have plenty of ornaments that didn't get put up, but in the meantime, here's what we've got:


( This way for pictures )

There's a garland around the door, which I didn't take a picture of, and I might pick up a few more little things, like a wreath, if I find some good stuff on sale. Mervyn's is going out of business, so I'm going to stop in there on Wednesday and take advantage of their 60% off sale to get some more decorations and hopefully a few gifts.

Today and tomorrow can't possibly go fast enough. Wednesday will be fine; I don't have class, so it'll be a day of laundry, packing, cleaning, shopping, and getting a haircut, but I'm ready for today and tomorrow to be over.

It's that time of year again...

The A/C in our apartment is set up kind of strangely. We can't have both the A/C and the heat at the same time.

Well, of course, you silly girl; who would want the air conditioning and the heat on together?

Okay, no one. But what I mean is, because our system is set up in this weird, funky way, we have to get a technician every winter and summer to switch something in our A/C unit from heat to A/C. This is something that our landlord could have permanently dealt with, but she's chosen not to (yet), so we have to call someone in every few months.

In general, this isn't a bad thing. For most of the year, we don't need both the heat and the A/C at the same time. However, there are a few weeks in November when it would come in handy. See, at night, it's getting down to 50F/10C or so, which, while not freezing cold, is kind of chilly. Without being able to run the heat to take a bit of the edge off, it's hard to be motivated to get out of my cozy, warm, 3-blanketed bed into the cold bedroom.

However, we have days, like this weekend is forecast to be, that are still getting up to 90F/32C. The apartment faces west, and all the windows are on the west side, so in the afternoon, the whole place can get a little bit toasty, and it's handy to have the A/C just to take the edge off. We don't need to run either one a whole lot--in general, the apartment is quite comfortable when it's the temperature that it naturally is at this time of year--but there are moments.

In another week or two, we'll call the technician in and have the system switched over to heat so that we're set for the winter. Once it gets chillier, in January and February, we'll want it, and we won't need the A/C for a few more months at that point.

Still, for right now, it's rather inconvenient, and as much as I love snuggling under lots of blankets in a chilly room (because that's quite a wonderful feeling), it's not so fun when I have to get out of bed in the morning.



In slightly related news, I have a 30% off coupon for Old Navy, Gap, and/or Banana Republic. I might have to use that to get a winter coat, since my older dressy one is getting kind of worn and I've needed a new one since at least last year. I may only need a real winter coat for about 3 weeks of the year (when I'm in Calgary at Christmas), but I still need it for those 3 weeks, and if I'm moving back up there after I graduate next December, I'll definitely need one then.

I saw one that I loved at H&M, but it was about $30 more than I wanted to spend. However, Target has one similar to the one at H&M, and it's almost exactly the same price as the one I'm looking at from Old Navy (with the discount). I'll have to look at them both again and see which one I like better.

I also have a "friends" coupon to forward to as many people as would like it, so if you want 30% off through Sunday for either in-store or online (U.S. only, unfortunately; seems like Canada is always being discriminated against in the good-discount department), let me know (along with your email address if I don't have it), and I'll forward it to you.

( Just to get you onto my page )

Let's see how long this solution to my bathroom storage issue lasts.

In other words, how many nights until it comes crashing down in the middle of the night and scares the bejeebers out of me?


( So, now I've purchased four 'solutions' and returned three. How many more to go? )

So, when I came back from Calgary, one of the things that I really needed was some sort of holder for my hair dryer and straightener, since, with this new haircut, I actually use those two particular appliances and wanted them stored somewhere slightly more accessible than the very back, bottom corner of my bathroom cabinet.

Not too difficult, right? With such a plethora of bathroom organizational products available in this wide, wide world, I should be able to find one that meets my needs, right? Well, so far, I've bought three different "solutions" and returned two of them. Maybe this third one will be what I need, but that still remains to be seen.

The first one I got was this little deal:


( A photographic journey through my bathroom's organizational solutions (or lack thereof) )

Wow--a week since I posted? I guess so. It's been a fairly uneventfully eventful week, in the way that transitions often are.

Last Wednesday night was the first choir practice (which was why we didn't leave until Thursday morning--and why Colin flew back today instead of staying longer), which I went to, just for fun, even though I won't be singing with them. I'll be writing the narration again, so hearing the cantata again is always a good thing--even though I helped Colin put it together, so I've got a pretty good sense of the whole thing. I'll still need to listen to it several more times before I even think about starting to write.

Colin worked Wednesday night, so he got home an hour before we had to leave. Enough time to shower and change, basically, which meant that I drove and he slept for about the first 6 hours of the trip.

The road trip was uneventful, in terms of any major catastrophes. We realized just how much pulling the trailer affected our gas mileage last year. I mean, we'd known that all along, but it doubled the amount of gas that we used. This year, I was thinking that the first shift (we switch off at every tank of gas) felt a lot longer than it had, but I mostly attributed that to the fact that Colin was asleep and there was no one to talk to. We realized, though, that we stopped for our first tank of gas in the same place that we'd stopped for our second tank last year. And it's always a nice change to go to the U.S. and start paying American gas prices, even though they're still high. When we left, gas in Calgary was the equivalent of $5/gallon, give or take (and at its highest point this summer, it'd been around $5.40 or so), so it was a nice change to go to gas that was just under $4. It certainly makes a difference when a full tank is $60 as opposed to $85.

We stopped in Salt Lake City for the night, getting in at around 10. Had some dinner, thought about going to a movie but couldn't find a theatre in time for a show, ended up watching HIMYM on my laptop instead. Low-key, but it was nice to get a good sleep after all the night shifts and weird hours.

The next day, we slept in a bit, had breakfast, and were on the road by about noon. Except for gas and bathroom stops, we drove straight through to L.A.--no stop in Vegas this year. My friend Kim lives there, and we'd tried to see if we could meet her for a late lunch, but it didn't work with her work schedule, so we just kept going and made it back to my apartment by about 9.

I was telling someone just before leaving Calgary that I was having that "moving itch" in that I had all these new things that I wanted to buy, even though I didn't actually move anywhere. Still, on Saturday, we did a little bit of shopping and I got a few little things. One of the biggest things I needed was a new bookcase--mine was sorely lacking in space, and I wanted to go with something bigger (a corner unit and a full-size shelf) rather than getting a second one. However, we couldn't really justify spending the money on the ones we really wanted, even though they're pieces that we'll keep in our house after we get married, so I got a $20 one that's similar to my old one instead, and we bought some spray paint to do it a dark espresso brown.

I still need to get a second one to replace the one I had originally (because they're small enough that I do need two full bookcases, and that's just for some of my books), but I'll do that and paint it in a few weeks, once I'm working again, and I'll get enough paint to do some of the other furniture in my room that needs to be painted as well. Right now, I have about 5 different colors of furniture, because they're all mismatched pieces from all over the place, and while I know that I'm not investing in anything really good because we're going to be putting together a bedroom within the near-ish future, I still want it to match and look good in the meantime. Spray paint is just about the cheapest way to at least make it somewhat match.

Anyway, we also got some hanging lamps and a remote light switch, since my room doesn't have an overhead light and I was tired of banging my shins on my bed when I crossed the room in the dark to turn on a light. And, since my mattress was the most uncomfortable thing my back had ever felt, I got a good-quality (and much cheaper than a new mattress set) air mattress. We'll see how that works, but I've slept on some really good air mattresses lately, so I know it's possible for it to be a decently comfortable bed. Also, it's a full, which means that the extra space on my bedframe (which is 3/4 size) isn't hanging out under the mattress like it was on the old single mattress.

So, I got my fill of new stuff without spending too much on it. It was all necessary--I mean, I could have gone without it all; it wasn't necessary like our computers were necessary earlier this summer, but it wasn't frivolous like new, unnecessary clothes.

Sunday, we went to church... except that when we got there, we realized that there was only one service, which was just ending. Oops. Guess we should have checked to see if there was a summer service schedule. Ah well... we ended up going to the Getty instead. I've been meaning to go there since I moved here (gotta love free art museums), but hadn't made it yet, so it was one more thing checked off my list.

Yesterday was Disneyland, and it was a perfect day for it. After the busyness of Ikea on Saturday and the Getty on Sunday, I was worried that Disneyland would be insane, but I guess being the last day of the long weekend, everyone was on their way back home. We didn't wait more than 30 minutes for any ride, and we had plenty of time to get on everything that we wanted to, so we spent a lot more time on the rides than we did last time we were there. We had better spots for the show and the fireworks, too, so we actually saw them instead of seeing the backstage of them. Heh. I think that next time, we need to go to California Adventure. I've heard that it's not as good as Disneyland, but I'd still like to go, at least once.

Today, we had a pretty lazy morning, just hanging around the apartment until it was time to go to the airport. Colin's flight was at 1:50 this afternoon, so we were at the airport and he was heading to security by about 12:30. I ran a few errands and then came home to finish unpacking and cleaning. It hasn't been the top priority the past few days, which is fine, but the half-unpacked bags and boxes in my room were driving me nuts, and there were things that needed to be rearranged after having them put away to make room for the subletter. It's all done now, though. New bookshelf is up and full, the clothes are all put away, the bathroom medicine cabinet is rearranged, and the storage room has empty boxes (and an old mattress) in it. The only thing I still need is a holder/shelf/hook set for my straightener and blow drier. I've tried two different styles so far and neither has worked, so I've ended up returning them both. I guess it's back to Target tomorrow to see what else I can find.

I haven't transferred back to the Starbucks down here yet. Rather, I haven't heard from the manager since my transfer request was submitted. I tried calling her today, but there was no answer at the store (I must have caught them during a rush when no one could pick up the phone). I'll try again tomorrow, and if I can't get anyone, I'll go in and talk to her in person. I was hoping to start working this week, but I'm not sure that's going to happen, so I'll have a pretty boring week, it looks like. Ah well. Still, though, I feel like I should have used these few days to work so that there's not as much of a gap in my paychecks. Anyone have some freelance work for me for a couple of days? ;o)

I have pictures to post from the last month or so, but this entry is long enough, so I'll get to them in a separate one.

And... that's been my week. We're back into long distance, which sucks in a lot of ways, but at least I'm not moving somewhere completely new this year. I'm coming back to a familiar situation and friends, and we know what to expect this time, at least on some level. And Thanksgiving is only 6 weeks away, give or take. That's not too bad at all.

I'm tired, but now that I've got my computer open and am doing the little online things that I haven't done all day, I'm less ready to fall asleep than I was about half an hour ago, when I was leaning on Colin's shoulder and in grave danger of falling asleep standing up in the kitchen.

I'm settling into the routine at Starbucks... it's not that different, aside from readjusting to being on my feet and figuring out where things in the store are kept. Other than that, it's all pretty much the same old, same old. It seems like it works best for Colin and I to drive to work together, and then I get off work somewhere between half an hour and an hour before he does (depending on how long the close takes), so I go sit either in the 24-hour diner on the bottom floor of his building or in the car until he's off. The past few nights, I've just gone and sat in the car--tonight, I pulled a sleeping bag out of the trunk, curled up in the passenger seat, and fell asleep. It seemed to me to be an acceptable solution.

We're mostly ready for the walk. I think we're going to try and get out for one last training walk tomorrow--hopefully we'll be able to do a long-ish one, but we'll see how the day goes. I think we've bought all the necessary stuff, though... socks, a new bladder for Colin's camel pack, moleskin and other assorted foot care products, pink hair dye, and so on.

Friday morning, we're going to dye hair. I'm doing pink streaks again, and Colin's going to dye his beard pink. Or his stubble. He hasn't been growing it long enough for it to be a full beard (thank goodness), but he'll do the longish stubble. Devin and Lori's wedding is 2 weeks after the walk, and he didn't want to risk still having pink in his hair for that, especially since his hair is so light and the color will stay longer. Mine won't be such a big deal--on my darker hair, the streaks (especially after that long) will likely look more like red streaks, and if they are still pink, they won't be as bright. And if it's really bad, I'll just dye over it.

I need to either get to my parents' house or get a list to my mom sometime in the next few days. There are a few things that I didn't bring with me when I brought a load of clothes and other miscellaneous junk to Colin's parents' house, like my big duffel bag (for the overnight part of the walk), pink nail polish, and... oh, I can't remember now. Hopefully it'll all come to me in time.

It's so tempting just to stay here. It saves so much gas not to be driving back and forth to the farm every day--even if we're already saving gas by driving to work together. The guest room here is basically my room, and I've got about half of my clothes here. Really, it doesn't make much difference in terms of comfort levels. Whether I stay at my parents' place or Colin's parents' place, I'm sleeping in a guest room and I'm not in my own place, and I'm equally comfortable in either house, so the deciding factor tends to be the fact that a) I don't want to drive an extra half hour home when we get home from work at 1 AM, and b) I don't want to use the gas to drive the extra half hour home when I'm just going to turn around and drive the half hour back in the morning.

And finally, before I go to sleep, I think I need to post some pictures:


( Family and wedding pictures )

Mariah and I have my life planned out for the next few years. Well, the apartment part of my life, at least.

Next year (as in, a year from now--or a year from this coming fall, maybe), she's planning to do Teach for America, which means that she'll be moving out. I'd kinda like to stay here, and if I need to, I'll find another roommate (because I'm that sick of moving), but there's a better scenario here:

If Colin and I get engaged this summer and married next summer (which I'm not saying will definitely happen, but it's getting closer and closer, no matter when it happens, and I can always hope, can't I?), that means that we'd be needing a place when she's moving out, and we could just stay here.

I figure that there are a couple of options, and the other one that makes most sense would be for us to move within walking distance of the school, since we're not planning to have two cars for a while. However, that would mean that Colin would always be commuting with rush-hour traffic. If we stayed here, and if he was able to take the Metro (which, depending on where he's working is a very viable possibility), that would mean that I'd be the one driving more often, and I drive against rush hour most of the time anyway. Less time in the car, less money spent on gas, all good.

I like this place. It's a great size, it's within walking distance of everything important (Target, the mall, grocery stores, fast food, parks, the library, a post office, the bank, the big dollar store, and so on), it's decently priced, and most importantly, half my stuff is already here, and we'd only have to move Colin's stuff, the rest of my stuff, and all our wedding-present-y joint stuff. Which is still a lot of stuff, but at least it doesn't involve packing up this apartment and moving it as well.

Like I said, we've got things planned out. ;o)

All semi-kidding aside, though, if I could stay here until I finished school, that'd be the longest I'll have lived in one place since I moved out of my parents' place. Even if I'm just here until the end of next year, it'll be the longest--I think that the longest so far was when Kat and I lived together, and we were in that place for almost a year and a half. It's kind of nice to know that unless something really drastic happens, I'll be here for another year at least.

* * * * *

Aside from planning out Colin's and my future living situation, I spent most of the day yesterday and today getting road trip stuff done--getting the oil changed, vacuuming out the car, packing the trunk (which now has most of the stuff I'm taking with me), packing up a lot of my room, doing laundry, picking up some maps and travel guides at AAA, etc, etc, etc. There's still a bit to do tomorrow, but I'm in good shape for things to basically be finished before Colin gets here, so that Monday morning, there's just the last little bit to pack up.

And then, I went shopping. :o) Cheap shopping. I went to Steve & Barry's, ostensibly to find a dress or skirt for the concert on Sunday night, but instead, I found an awesome pair of black and silver heels, a pair of shorts, a cute t-shirt, and a top for the concert--each under $10. Can't do better than that. Tomorrow, I have to pick up stuff that I promised to bring back to Canada for Jen and Kat from Bath & Body Works and Victoria's Secret, respectively. I have a couple of things to pick up for myself, too, and then I've got my last Starbucks shift (and speaking of, I called the Alberta Partner Resource Manager to further discuss my transfer, and her voicemail said that she's on vacation until May 27, so we'll see how that all gets straightened out).

I also wouldn't mind getting down to the beach tomorrow and getting a good, long walk in, too, if I have time--depending on how the last bit of packing and cleaning goes. I haven't taken advantage of living this close to the beach, and it'd be nice to go once more before I leave for the summer. However, it's hot, and tomorrow's Saturday, and the beach will be incredibly crowded, so maybe it's not really worth it. I'll have to see how I feel tomorrow, but I have a feeling that I won't go.

And now, 36 hours until I pick Colin up from the airport! Yay!

How about some birthday pictures?

( Family silliness )




And then, these aren't birthday presents, but this is the new toy that I bought today. I love it so much (and it put my GST rebate check to good use...):

( My pretty, pretty new toy! )

So my plan this morning was to get up at around 5:30 and go to IKEA, because the one in Burbank was having a renovation re-opening this weekend, and today's first 100 customers got a $50 gift card. I desperately need a new bookcase, but we can't really afford the $80 for the one that I like--but $50 off of that would have been manageable. Alas, I turned off my alarm in my sleep. Guess that's what I get for trying to get up that early after working until 1 a.m.

Someone at work suggested that I just sleep in my car in the IKEA parking lot until people started lining up, and given that I take naps in my car on a fairly regular basis, and it's pretty comfortable, that might have been a better idea.

Oh well--instead, I got a decent sleep, so now I have no excuse not to be productive today. I need to get out and take a decent-length walk, and I have laundry and cleaning to do, so I guess having more than 4 hours of sleep is good for that, but still--I was really hoping for that free $50!

Check it out! My couch is no longer cat-scratched and ugly red!

Before:

( The ugly )


After:

( The not-so-ugly )

One decorating project down, many more to go.

I got new furniture today! Aaron and my dad brought over Kat and Aaron's old entertainment unit, so it's now in my living room, along with my new chair from Ikea that I got last week. Fun. I'm still working on rearranging the furniture and stuff on the walls to my liking, but for the moment, it's good.

I'll also be getting their old TV when they get a new one. The TV I currently have used to be Kat's mom's, and they're going to give that one to another friend and give me their old one (which is a bit bigger), so I'll put that in the living room (in the entertainment unit, which it fills out better than the small one we've got in there now), and take the TV from the living room--which is Kim's TV--into my room for the time being.

I'll have pictures, but not until the living room is finished.

Other than that... today was another Ikea trip with Kat, Aaron, and the kids (and let me tell you, it's a completely different experience going there with Aaron, too, rather than just us!), quite a bit of MI.net writing, and... that's about it. Somehow, far too exciting for what it sounds like. I'm just too brain-dead to try and make it sound more exciting than that!

I leave for California in a week. I'm exciting, but I'm getting more and more nervous about the interview part of it. I think I'm just now beginning to realize how many life-changing decisions I have in the next few months. It'll be big, to say the least.