1. I see something...


2. My favorite product EVER is ... because...


3. September reminds me of...


4. My best summer memory is...


5. When I'm grumpy....


6. Hey it's Labor Day weekend! I'm going to...

I've been rather neglectful of my main blog here. I've been spending most of my time on A Girl Must Shop, and having a great time at it, too.

What else have I been up to?

Packing. We're lucky that we did a lot of packing to get the condo ready to go on the market, so we don't have all that much stuff to pack, thought Jimbo will tell you a different story, I'm sure.

My sister Tara and nephew Tyler were kind enough to help me move some of the stuff I had in my parent's garage this weekend.

Tyler: Why do you have so many shoes?
Me: Ha! That's only like a third of them!
Tyler: I have two pair of shoes.
Me: Probably about thirty, but that's on the low end.

You know how much of a geek I am? I'm making color-coded labels for our moving boxes. Yup. that's me.

Friday night Janet came over and we watched When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts documentary by Spike Lee, which was addicting and amazing. Janet will probably blog about it.

Saturday we moved some stuff and then helped move my cousin Tonya into her new (really nice) apartment, then went home and played Sequence with Tara and Tyler.

Sunday I went for walk with my good friend Kristen at the mall then I think we packed most of the day... I did some web work and then Jimbo went to play cards with the boys. Janet stopped by to watch the rest of the documentary, got ice cream (mmm pumpkin ice cream!) and then we had dirty tinis and counted identified the bottles of booze at Unos.

Monday we went for a walk then shopping and then home for a quiet night in.

That's about it. We close on the new house on Friday and move in a week from Friday! It really hasn't sunk in, yet. Eeek!

A Girl Must Shop was featured on The Daily Slurp today:

Yay!

From Krista cuz I'm a slacka

1. Whats your weirdest food combination?


2. whats your strangest habit?


3. are you a morning person?


4. Do you sing in the shower? What song?


5. Whats the stranges behavior youve observed from a friend or loved one?


6. Just what do you intend to do with yourself this weekend?

Today I was up at 3am because Jimbo couldn't sleep.
Then I was up at 5am, had cereal and returned emails.
Went back to sleep and got up at 9am.
Went to the closing.
Signed my name a lot of times.
Had lunch with the sellers.
Had a martini. Chocolate cake. Baileys.
Got a little drunk.
They're great people.

Tonight. I celebrate more. I celebrate all weekend.

We move in next Friday.

It's just hard to believe that it's happening! And it's coming so fast! In just a few days we'll be in our new house!

The weekend was a whirlwind! Friday we closed and had lunch with the sellers who are the absolute nicest, most down-to-earth people. We had so much fun! Then I headed up to Newburyport with Janey where we had drinks and dinner at Aquatini then walked around the town and enjoyed the crisp end-of-summer air.

Saturday we spent most of the day packing and headed out for a nice dinner just the two of us and I got all fuzzy and acted like a cheeseball i.e. "I wuv youuuuuu!" fueled by two of the greatest chocolate raspberry martinis in the entire world.

Sunday I went for a walk with Kristen (gorgeous day!) packed a little more and then headed out to Western Mass for a coworker's wedding. It was lovely!

Yesterday, back at work, I was so darn tired that I even had caffeine! I got through the day at work, though, so that's something. Then our parents met us at our (old) place and we went over to see the (new) place. We brought the previous owners gifts and a card and they both started crying. They are just too sweet. They were so gracious to invite us into their home (well, really our home now :) and show our parents who absolutely loved it. We all had a nice conversation in the kitchen and exchanged hugs before heading off to dinner with our parents. She even sent me off with a gorgeous red rose from "my" garden. I can't even explain how lovely it smells - the cats won't even go near it!

I can't tell you enough how wonderful these people are. They are the kind of people we'd like to be friends with - hang out and have dinner and such and they have grandchildren slightly younger than us. We're so glad to be moving into a house filled with so much love and goodness.

So, we're here. Finally!

Thursday night we walked into our new house for the very first time. The previous owners left a bottle of champagne and who glasses in the fridge (OUR new fridge ;) and we drank that and ate some pizza on the living room floor. We moved some things, too.

Friday morning the movers came at 9am and had us in our new place around 1pm. Sweet! The chickens had a rough time of the move, I'm sorry to say. We had to put them in their crates for a short amount of time and Belle hated it so much that she hurt her paw trying to get out. She's doing must better, now though. It took them a little while, but they're assimilating just fine. I can see buddy across the hall in the master bedroom sitting right on top of my bureau looking at me.

Friday was a blurr, so much unpacking. His mom took us out to dinner to celebrate then my sister Tara helped me unpack my kitchen (my NEW kitchen!).

We didn't sleep all that well that first night - the chickens were all over the place and very unsettled which means that we were unsettled. Up at 6am on Saturday, we got back to unpacking and then the cable guy came and hooked us up with cable! the Internet! and a land line! Yeah, we hadn't expected to need a land line. I can't tell you the last time I had one - it's weird to pick up the phone. But the cell phone service here is absolutely unreliable, so a land line was unfortunately a necessity.

We met up with Janet and her dad for breakyfast then then headed over to our first trip to Home Depot as homeowners. We spend at least an hour there. I circled the entire store twice in the time that it took Jimbo to get through two aisles. And I picked out a new toilet seat, cabinet hardware, a dust pan, and a few other necessities which I wheeled around in our new trash bin.

Mom, Dad and Grammy stopped by afterward with some flowers for my window boxes and a fall wreath for the door. We all hung around the kitchen and while mom and I finished unpacking the kitchen (thank goodness!). Janet came by after dinner to check out the place and we hit the hay early.

It was yet another restless night and we were both up before 7am thanks to our lovely chickens. Let's hope that tonight is a little more restful.

Today our electrician (Jimbo's cuz) came over to help us out with some stuff, and then we headed off to our first (of many, I'm sure) day of shopping. Kohls, Christmas Tree Shop, Building 19 1/15 (I hate the smell and the feel of rugs area rugs - if I never touch another again it will be too soon), Petsmart, Target and finally Home Depot again. I really wanted to go to Home Goods, but after five hours of shopping, we had had enough.

We walked in the door and lugged our purchases in and Jimbo's bro and sis-in-law stop by to see the place. They left not too long ago. I cleaned up a little but and put up my new shabby chic curtains and now I'm writing this. I gotta go to work tomorrow, but that's almost like a rest, so I'm going to go in.

I wish I had pics for y'all, but I haven't had time for that, either.

I got home from work yesterday and immediately got to work on the window boxes which were left by the previous owners with plastic flowers. I don't have an after picture, yet. Then I took pictures of the yard.

There are still many boxes, but we're getting there.

1. Neighbors are all at least 10 feet away.
2. Only four steps to the kitchen with groceries, opposed to 30.
3. Our very own mailbox that opens in the back so we don't have to risk our lives by going out to the street for the mail.
4. The joy that is the icemaker (less work for tinis!)
5. The fireplace (I cannot wait to try it out!)
6. The hardwood floors (so pretty!)
7. The ceramic glass cooktop on our oven
8. The fancy pull out kitchen faucet.
9. The pedestal sink in the bathroom.
10. My very own room & closet.
11. Lots and lots of storage
12. The large well-manicured yard
13. It's ours!

Card to Handle
Originally uploaded by richardmoross.

MOO has joined forces with Flickr, the world’s largest online photo sharing community, to offer members a new way to share their Flickr information and photos offline. Hooray!

Flickr MiniCards use MOO’s revolutionary multipack technology to produce sets of small, customised calling cards: each card featuring a different photo from the last.

MiniCards are ideal for sharing the details of your Flickr photostream, group or image locations, along with email, instant messager, and cellphone info on a high quality card featuring the photos of your choice.

To help spread the word, MOO are giving away 10,000 FREE packs of 10 cards to Flickr Pro Users, as well as offering free international shipping (a saving of $4.99) on all other orders until the end of September. Sign into MOO with your Flickr account here to get your FREE CARDS.

1. 6 things in front of me right now...


2. 5 things I'm good at...


3. 4 things I can't live without...


4. 3 things I'm wearing right now...


5. 2 things I ate yesterday...


6. 1 thing I'm doing this weekend.

Things are quiet here. Still unpacking boxes and looking around in shock that this is our house. Jimbo gave me a present today - his cold. That's ok. We got take-out pho noodle soup and cuddled on the couch with kitties:

Getting used to the new hardwood floors, Jimbo realizes he needs slippers. Here he is wearing mine. They are red with white hearts. They fit him well:

Stopped on the University Ave Bridge in Lowell last week, I just had to take a picture of the lovely bottoms. I have no idea what they were looking at:

Driving to the rehearsal dinner, I saw this. For Loo:

Waiting in the parking lot for Janey (I was early for once!). Here's a picture of my constant driving companion: Chococat:

My parents are on vacation this week and last. Today they visited Rockport. Here's my Daddy

And heres Mom and Dad:

1. Spend more time in the garden
2. Do home-related stuff: remove wallpaper and paint rooms in the new house, replace hardware on kitchen cabinets, remove shower doors...
3. Learn how to knit, sew, and quilt
4. Take a graphic design/art class
5. Learn more about CSS
6. Install Wordpress on one of my web sites
7. Do Janet's photo web site
8. Take yoga
9. Volunteer at the local library
10. Read more
11. Spend time with my nieces and nephews
12. Add my old archives and fix my book list to this blog
13. Cook more

1. Spend more time in the garden
2. Do home-related stuff: remove wallpaper and paint rooms in the new house, replace hardware on kitchen cabinets, remove shower doors...
3. Learn how to knit, sew, and quilt
4. Take a graphic design/art class
5. Learn more about CSS
6. Install Wordpress on one of my web sites
7. Do Janet's photo web site
8. Take yoga
9. Volunteer at the local library
10. Read more
11. Spend time with my nieces and nephews
12. Add my old archives and fix my book list to this blog
13. Cook more

This cold is a really doozy. When I woke up this morning I realized it was going to be impossible to go to work, so I stayed in bed. Belle and Buddy joined me. They were thrilled to have me around. Belle slept at my head (practically ON my head) and buddy was by my side.

I got out of bed at 7am, grabbed my laptop and flipped on some random morning show, and ate my cocoa krispies. I was on-line for a bit, checking blogs and whatnot. I think I might have watched a movie, I can't remember. I did work on a crossword puzzle until I realized it was time for a nap. I felt like one of the chickens - taking naps all day. Belle joined me under the covers (she LOVES to be under the covers) and buddy joined us at some point I think.

I got up, had some lunch and watched some TV until Jimbo came home sick at 1pm and we watched Inside Man. Sick of being cooped up in the house, Jimbo suggested going out for coffee. I love going out for coffee with Jimbo, it's so relaxing. We went to B&N, got our cafe mochas and browsed books and magazines. At one point someone by the cafe register belched reaaaaaaaaly loud and abnoxiously. We rolled out eyes and went on to peruse our selections. A little while later we heard it again and I looked up to see that it was someone behind the counter of the cafe. I had had enough. I searched out the manager and let her know that someone was belching really loudly (more than once) behind the cafe counter. She went and talked to the punks (they WORKED there!) and then came to apologise to me.

I swear, I think I'm turning into an old lady. I'm sure I was once the kind of kid who enjoyed calling attention to herself in unspeakable ways (hell, I'm pretty sure I still do), but as I grow older I tend to lose my patience with people like this.

Anyway, despite the rudeness, we had a lovely time at B&N. I flipped through magazines and got some great ideas for Halloween and fall meals. You know, I never really liked fall. It was always my second favorite season (Spring being the first) and it's still my second favorite (Spring rocks the house - I love the buds and flowers and the green leaves after a long, cold, dead winter) but it's a heck of a lot closer than it used to be. I'm loving the leaves and the sweaters and jeans, and can't wait to make something pumpkin-flavored. I'm already thinking about ideas for decorating my pumpkin.

So it was a good day even though I am feeling like my head is going to pop any section. It's not looking like I'm heading in to work tomorrow, either. We'll see how I feel in the morning.

Wow, I had a lot to say! Long time no talk, eh?

1. When I'm sick I need...


2. I like ... on my pizza


3. I just bought...


4. If I had more time I would...


5. If I were in charge of the world...


6. This weekend I'm gonna....