Whirlwind of a week

I almost have to go backwards to remember everything. I'll start with today and the 3 hours we spent in IKEA!! I thought Ryan would die, we came out with $240 worth of stuff and not a ton to show for it. Ryan is maddeningly trying to put together a file cabinet, so far has been 3 hours into the project. Why does furniture assembly have to take so long? Something tells me we won't be going back there anytime soon.... At least we ate Swedish meatballs!

Although I only was called in twice to work this week--once as a diet tech, the time just flow with stuff going on every night. I haven't been this busy socially since, well, I can't remember. I went to a book club which was held at a bookstore in a quirky area called Queen Anne. It was only an hour and unlike any other book club experience I've ever had--it actually stayed on topic. Ok, but that might have been its downfall as well. No time to get to know the others or talk of other books. The oddest thing was there were 2 dogs in attendance!! Am I living in Europe or the US??!!

On to some dangerous notes: I went to 2 DiscoverU classes: one on travel writing and the other on supporting your wanderlust. Which as you all know, I have been majorly bitten by the traveling bug and cannot and do not wish to get it out of my system. In fact, the more I travel, the more I want, it's truly an insatiable quest for me. So am thinking what better way to include this love than to try to make it happen as a career. More on this as I figure it out..... My research has begun!

The house has been given a facelift with much-needed curtains and furniture rearrangement! We've made the step tansu/entertainment center into a half-wall which opens up the living room tremendously, it's amazing what a few well-placed items can do for the space. Next up: getting rid of the beloved comfy couch and recliner!!!

Another close call

I have to find a new hobby! The Texas Longhorns are about to kill me!! Another too close game, with us down by 21 points most of it. They only played well in the 4th quarter, this is 2 weeks in a row. I don't know how they managed to win the game with a field goal as time expired. I screamed so loud and my face got so red, I have a headache from it all! Twice I had to go to my room I couldn't stand to watch. Please no more close games!!! My heart can't take it.

I am beginning to find a life (aside from college football) here. Have you ever heard of meet-ups? Check out http://www.meetup.com/ if you want to meet people that share your interest in anything in any city. There's a group here that gets together to try out different ethnic restaurants, that's next on my list to check out:-). So I've started doing The Artist's Way and I met with a group today going through the exercises from Julia Cameron's book. I am attempting to unleash my inner writer. So I find out it is national novel writing month (NaNoWriMo). The goal is to complete a novel by November 30th with at least 50,000 words!! That's only 1,667 words per day with the goal of quantity over quality. I figure I'm only 3,334 words behind if I begin tonight. So I'm going for it! What do I have to lose?!

Today has been full of plumbing fun in our house. We came home from dinner (Polynesian!) to find a stream of water coming from the kitchen sink. What a lovely smell it emitted. So everything under the sink is wet and Ryan seems to think it's been this way for a week. Oh, the joy of being a homeowner! And earlier this morning, he disassembled the washer and dryer the sellers left to see if our washer and dryer work. So far so good. So now we have to decide which set to sell on craigslist..... The best is our breakfast nook has finally emerged from behind the appliances! About time we've reclaimed this space....

Dia de los Muertos

Hope you all had a spooky Halloween! We had a much different one than last year....we actually got some kids who dressed up and said trick or treat! Well...only 4 of them before we went out. The kids we did get were cute. I asked them what their names were and one kid said: I don't know how to say it but I can spell it. Of course, I had to urge him on further: C-A-R-T-E-R. Oh, Carter, what a good speller you are, I say! Too precious!!

Bought tickets to the Rodrigo y Gabriela concert that day on Craigslist. Our seats were standing room only but right up front. Which was awesome to literally see their fingers flying across their guitars using them as drums as well. If you haven't heard them, they are great and if you get the chance to see them live...DO IT! They're strictly instrumental with a slight heavy metal edge...every now and then they'll thrown in strains from Stairway to Heaven. Heavy on the Spanish accent....but oh so funny when they do talk, dropping F-bombs quite frequently.

Happy Day of the Dead!!