Sunday, August 30, 2009

Homestuff

So today I've pretty much been relaxing and working on our housewarming wishlist. I'm having a little trouble separating "things we need for our new place" (swiffer sweeper, new towels for the guest bathroom, new tongs) from "things we want" (crockpot, flowering tea set, an egg timer in the shape of a fat chicken!!!!!!), but it's not like we are putting a Wii on there or something, aside from the fact that we already have one.

What would you put on a new home wishlist??

I travel home to Massachusetts Friday for a long Labor Day weekend to see my mom! Can't wait!!! We are going to go to lots of yummy places to eat, and the Yankee Candle Headquarters store <3 I love fall scented candles!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Awards!

Susan over at Ripples of Kindness has bestowed me with the Splish Splash award! She is truly one of the kindest and most inspirational bloggers I know, so go check her out and leave her some happy comment love. :)



And I've been sitting here for 10 minutes trying to decide who I should give this award out to, but I just can't decide! All of my blogfriends are awesome in their own way, and I just want to thank you for all of your input, comments, and fun times. :) YAY!

So I finished Twilight yesterday and while it was pretty good, I don't know if I'll be running out to get the next one. The Host was just a better book IMO. But they were both good reads! I'd like to see the movie now, and I'm sure I'll read them all eventually. :) (Now I need a new book to read though, LOL... library time!)

And, our house now has real walls and a shingled roof, but I don't have photos yet! Hopefully over the weekend I can post one, we are very excited!!!!! :)

We have been getting some of the outer effects of the passing hurricanes lately - Bill gave us some gloomy weather last weekend, and Danny gave us some really gorgeous thunderstorms last night. Here's hoping one doesn't decide to sit right on us!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Shows and stuff

My 30-day review at my new job is tomorrow! Woohoo! Guess it's not really new anymore, huh? I'm glad :) I have a good time there! AND I get half-days on Wednesday now... get to leave at 1:30! I chose Wednesday because I figured it'd break up the week nicely.

So, there are three primary TV shows in my life right now! They are ...

LOST
I got hooked on LOST in a rather depressing way back in late 2006. My house was robbed and my mom and I were living temorarily out of the hotel she works for (don't feel bad about that part - we were in the Presidential Suite free for a month, it was extremely generous and fancy) when a friend lent me the first two seasons he had. I think I watched them in, oh, three days? I fell off the wagon for a loooong time until, fast-forward to this year, when I started Netflixing season three, because everyone at my temp job was talking about LOST LOST LOST. So I watched Seasons three and four, like wicked fast! I want to be caught up with Season five by the time the final season starts airing in January of 2010. :)

I was a little skeptical that they could keep a show going about people being lost on an island for five seasons, but man, it doesn't dissapoint. I haven't seen season five yet because it's not out on DVD (and I don't think the ABC website streams the entire series) so I'll have to wait until Christmas! ;)


TRUE BLOOD
Now, we don't get HBO. Clearly depraved. So I know season two of this awesome series is running right now, but I'm stuck Netflix'ing season one in the meantime. I'm only on episode four but I LOVE it! It's addicting, and pretty darn sexual. But hey, it's vampires. Go fig. :) I just watched episodes 3 and 4 today!

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Oldie but goodie, anyone?? Once again I never really watched this show in syndication, but became so hooked on reruns that I now own the complete 7 season box set! And I've only seen through season five... so we are sitting down and watching it all from the very start (also because the boyfriend hasn't seen a lick of it, and now after 4 episodes HE is hooked!!!) so it should be fun. :) Spike and Drusilla are my favorites, they play off of each other so well!



There's my post about TV shows. Fascinating!! I really like more than that, like Freaks and Geeks was an AMAZING underrated show, but those are just the ones I'm watching now! What about you? Anything you're watching or are interested to watch? (ABC's new fall show Flash Forward looks interesting!)

Sunday, August 23, 2009

29 on 9.9.09 Birthday Giveaway!!

It's that time!

Time for my birthday giveaway! That's right, on my birthday, I'm going to give someone a gift! Everyone can celebrate :)

I recently won a big giveaway from Carolina Pad and now, I'm going to spread the love by offering up the following of my winnings to you:



From L-R:
Top: 3-ring binder, hard-bound lined notebook with high-quality paper inside and plastic folder for other documents.
Bottom: Organizational folder with paper and 8 plastic pockets for documents/important stuffs :), 3 ring folder (perfect for use with the binder!), 5 tab-dividers with pockets (also awesome for the binder), colorful sticky-notes (50) and stick-on flags (200), and 3 stylin' highlighters.

I've brought nearly all of my CP winnings to the office, where they're helping out big time with organizing my crazy desk, so whether these are for the office or for the new semester, or just organizing around the house, you'll be doing it in total style. :)

I may throw in a few extras, depending on what I can find around this beachy town that would be cool!

So if you're interested in spreading the birthday cheer, fill out the form below - all submissions will count for one entry, but you can double your chances to win by pimping this giveaway on your blog and pasting a link to your pimp-age in the proper spot below. :) I'll announce the winner on my birthday, September 9th!





Happy contesting, folks!! :D

Saturday, August 22, 2009

More book reviews!

Happy weekend, people! :)

I figured it was time to review another couple of books I read recently that were just great.

A Million Little Pieces
by James Frey

I didn't know about all of the controversy surrounding this book until after I read it. This is a memoir of a 23 year old's decent into drugs alcohol and near death, and chronicles his recovery in a rehab center. It was a great read that kept me turning the pages, however it may be too graphic for some, as the beginning withdrawal symptoms weren't too pretty.

So yeah, it was a great read, albeit a bit heavy. It's an Oprah's Book Club book, but the controversy lies in that the book itself wasn't completely true, and that parts of it are fabricated... I'll let you read up more on it yourself. :) Regardless, I enjoyed it. Really makes you realize that your problems aren't that bad compared to what some people are going through.

The Host
by Stephenie Meyer

Okay. Everyone's reading Twilight. I'm on the fence. So I figured I'd pick up one of her other books (described as 'more adult'), read that first, and if I enjoyed it I'd try out Twilight.

I'm going to Barnes and Noble today to buy Twilight.

This book was phenominal. I can't remember the last time I read a book that developed its characters so well, made me really care about all of them, and when the last page was done, hungrily wanted a sequel like RIGHTNOW.

(description yanked from her website, because I had a hard time figuring out how to describe it)

"Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed.

When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Wanderer probes Melanie's thoughts, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the remaining human resistance. Instead, Melanie fills Wanderer's mind with visions of the man Melanie loves—Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she has been tasked with exposing. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love."

AMAZING. Great. I had medium-hopes for it but it excelled all of my expectations by a jillion percent. Barnes and Noble. OMW.



Oh yeah, look at this cool house that has real walls now!!



Will be making my birthday giveaway post later today, so stay tuned!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Songs I Like

I was just adding some new music to my iPod - actually, some old LTJ Bukem music that I'd recently found again - when I was reminded that I wanted to post one of my favorite new songs here!

It's from a singer named Kate Havnevik - she is a Norwegian singer/songwriter (her songs are in English) and her new song Halo is amazing! I originally saw her perform live when I went to an Air concert, and she was the opener, and I was hooked. Check out her album Melankton; you can listen to it for free on imeem.com. (FWIW, I love imeem - it's completely free, and you can listen to all sorts of music streaming for free, and even create your own playlists to share with friends.)

As an aside, I may start posting a new song here every week; just stuff I like and am into. I love music (hey, I work in the industry) and I'm always delighted when I stumble upon something I really enjoy!

Anyway this is her new song Halo off of her second album. The melody is wonderful, and the lyrics are great - I think everyone has felt like this in at least one point of their lives. I hope you like it, and are all having a great week!


Halo - Kate Havnevik

Who do you love, when love is gone?
Who do you hunger in this great unknown?
Memories of me will fade soon
& you'll find someone new

See everyone halo bright in beauty
See everyone arrayed for you to try
You're not alone in being alone
Six billion people – one of them's right for you

Who do you mean when you change your tone?
Who do you dream of when you're half asleep with one eye open?
You'll become your life soon
& I won't be in your way

See everyone halo bright in beauty
See everyone arrayed for you to try
You're not alone in being alone
Six billion people - one of them's right for you

Who do you see when you stare into space?
Who do you seek out in cyberspace?

See everyone halo bright in beauty
See everyone arrayed for you to try
You're not alone in being alone
Six billion humans - one of them's right for you


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Show Me your Tweets

(That sounded dirty in a weird way, didn't it?)

Okay, so Twitter. I've got one, but I'm such a horrible Tweeter. I honestly feel I don't have anything that pressing to announce to my "Tweeples" (that needs to be nominated for the absolute most moronic word ever btw) that I need to Tweet it. Why wouldn't I just blog it?



Twitter kind of fascinates me. It's become absolutely SO unbelievably popular. I just don't understand it. Maybe I'm too old to "get it"? Not only do I feel I have nothing really of importance to say (although today I have to say I did Tweet about a crackhead showing up at work, but that was a rare gem), and I wouldn't want to be absolutely lame by Tweeting things such as -- "Bored today." "Eating my sandwich for lunch." "Work is awesome, I am happy!", I just don't have the -time- to read my Twitter all the time and keep up with it and everyone.

I hear you're not really supposed to, though... and maybe that's where I don't get it. I have Twitter on my BB so I am able to check my friends page whenever, but I don't have many people that I follow/are following me. The people with hundreds of followers... yikes! I'd feel overwhelmed and also feel the need to catch up on what I missed out on, leaving me perpetually bungling back to read hour-old Tweets.

I guess it can be used for networking and stuff too. And business. But I don't know enough about that.

OKAY, enough of my skeptical blar. You tell me; do you Twitter? Do you use it a lot? What do you think of it? Let me know your opinions! Sometimes I feel like a black sheep in feeling that Twitter just isn't really all that cool!

(But that bird is damn cute!)

(By the way, if you do want to follow me, my TweetieName or whatever is 'mufasa'; please just leave me a note in my comments to let me know you're following, and what your TweedlyDeedlyDee name is, because I seem to get a lot of promotional TwitSpam adds!)

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Thanks to my BB for being a piece!

No, really! That isn't sarcasm!

Friday night, as I mentioned, we went to check out our house progress. We usually bring the camera with us, but since we ran out to tapas dinner before, it was forgotten. Wait!, I said. My supercool new Blackberry has a 2mp camera! We're fine!

So we went and took photos with my phone of our foundation.

The next day, I went to put the pictures on my laptop.... uhm, can we say craptastic? Granted it was late at night, but I had some non-night photos on my BB I transferred over and they quality was just crummy. As a girl who's looking into a DSLR, and loves photography in general, this just bummed me out!

Example:


Look at that junk!!! With all of the awesomeness that the Blackberry is, they surely didn't budget for a decent phone. And the more you zoom in, the more your photos look like a Jackson Pollock painting. Weak! They look fabulous on the phone itself, but of course, the screen is small x smaller. I'm sure you can understand why this would dissapoint! I don't want friends & family seeing this streaky, blocky evil.

(For reference, that's me! sitting on our soon to be screened in porch that faces our little wildlife backyard area!)

So yeah, barf-o-rama. Yesterday we grabbed the real camera and headed back out. And much to our surprise and delight...



The frame had been put up!!! We figure since it's been so rainy, they worked some on Saturday morning to catch up (this was taken in the afternoon). WOO HOOOOOO!!!! This is sooo exciting! I can't wait to be in our awesome cozy little house for the holiday season. Seeing this got us so excited that it's really on the way now, and every time we go back it'll be more and more done!

Time to start working on that housewarming registry again, LOL.

Also, I've decided which of the 12 pounds of stationary/organizational stuff from Carolina Pad I'll be using in my Sami Turns 29 on 9-9-09 Giveaway, so watch for a signup post for that soon!! ( I may find a few more cool items to throw in, too ;) ) Check out their website, all of their stuff is GORGEOUS - my mondo box o' samplers are all items from the Eye Candy collection! Yum!

We've had a nice and relaxing weekend - it's been absolutely killer out as far as heat goes, so we've been hanging out inside during the day (I've been doing a lot of PVP in Warcraft... if anyone has a clue what that is, LOL) and venturing out to do stuff at night when it cools down a bit. :) Hope y'all are staying cool!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Please, dress with care.

So tonight we went to an AMAZING tapas-style restaurant for dinner (Yum, Gruyere....) and had the pleasant misfortune of seeing a girl that looked like this:



Wearing something VERY skimpy looking like this: (note-color and frills are VERY accurate)



Needless to say, there weren't enough Arnold Palmers to bludgeon that blasphemy from my mind. It's fine to be big, but when anyone can see your funky thong underwear when you're sitting down, no no no no.

BLAH! Dinner was amazing and lovely otherwise. :)

Also, remember the Carolina Pad giveaway I won? Today arrived a box that weighed TWELVE POUNDS, crammed full of nearly everything on their site! Twelve pounds of stationary and stationary supplies!!! WHOA!!! Well, I think I know what I'm going to use for my giveaway now! ;) I was -SO- excited to open the box! It's all so colorful and awesome and overflowing! So watch for a post for that in the near future.

We also went to check out our house-in-progress, as we do every Friday, and we have an actual poured foundation now!! It was so exciting to actually stand on our foundation, and see where the rooms were gonna be. :) We go to check out the progress every Friday after work. I am SO excited for it to be done, you have no idea!

All right, that's all for me after this long week. Hope everyone is relaxing tonight and will have a fun, work-free weekend!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Give it away, now?

So my birthday is coming up (September), and I was toying with the idea of doing a giveaway on my birthday. I'm not really sure as to what I'd "give away", though. Thoughts? Ideas? I don't have anything really "giveable" here on hand, and although I love y'all dearly, I can't really afford to be spending much right now either. (I can't wait to get on a regular pay schedule again....!!)

I JUST DON'T KNNNOOOWWW!!

OK, there. :) But seriously, if people have any ideas, please dish. The only thing I could think of was something "local" like a piece of the beach or some freeze-dried grouper (LOL, j/k) but while my city is cool and awesomely amazing, we're not really well known for anything super. (Although we have been called the "Hollywood of the East"; lots of stuff is filmed here, including Dawson's Creek! Trivia: Where am I? LOL) And I'm not terribly crafty to the point of making something other people would want.

I think it would be fun if I had a good idea!

In other news: FRIDAAAYYYY TOMORROW!!!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

I'm a weiner!!

Uhh.. I mean.. I'm a winner!!

I won a contest today over at Fantabulously Frugal for a Carolina Pad stationary set, and I'm SO EXCITED! I love stationary!! Wahoo!! :D

If you've never checked out FF, I command you do so now -- there are regular giveaways, and TONS of tips for stuff that's on sale now from places all over the internet (and RL too, LOL).

Fantabulously Frugal

That's two contests I've won so far this year. Maybe I should play the lottery? Or just enter MORE contests? Hmmm...

And speaking of fantabulous, NY&Company is having a BOGO pants sale, so after dinner I'm absolutely going. :)

Monday, August 10, 2009

Random stuff!

Hullo! Long time no post! I've been in a slump thanks to the Red Sox's 6 losses in a row, 3 of which were to the *hack* Yankees. Goodbye, first place in AL East! Hello, wildcard?

WHY CAN'T WE HIT ANYTHING AAAAHHHH!!!

Today was Matt's & my three year anniversary! Hurrah! :) We've been dating for three years now! Went out for a yummy dinner at a local seafood place. Had some yummy fried clam strips & island grouper. He got me a card with a cute bumblebee on it! Awwww~ <3

I really don't have all too much to say! Has it been hot where everyone else is, too? It was in the 90's here today! Yikes!

Friday, August 7, 2009

wowee

I am just posting because now with my TECHNOPHONE I can do it from the car. Mr. C was right! (However I am not driving!) It can be done!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Technology - woof!!!

So I've been a Verizon customer for insert number of years now, and I've had the awesome LG Chocolate special strawberry edition for a few years now ...



So after going without a phone upgrade for a few years I had some credit with Verizon, and after some deliberation between the Blackberry Curve and LG Touch (honestly, after using the iTouch, the LG touch just seems clunky... like going from filet mignon to skirt steak... LOL!) I bit the bullet and this came in the mail today:



Aaaaahhhh! Never before have I felt so OLD while trying to use this phone!!! There are a lot of bells and whistles and trackballs and buttons, and I'm very apprehensive to backing out of a menu I don't want to or something, and where exactly are my ringtones, and how come I can't change the background, and how the hell can I stop the little blinky from blinking every single time some goon on my Facebook updates their status?? (Mind you I haven't read the instruction manual too much... that's how I roll!) Where the hell is the internet? I'm not going to ring up a jillion dollar bill by being on it a lot, even with the Blackberry Doodlydoo Web Mail plan? Can I blog from it??

I guess I'm saying I feel old because my younger self would have figured everything out with this phone like, yesterday. And my 28 year old self is ... ok, I'll admit it, a little intimidated by the metallic pink thingy sitting on my coffee table and blinking at me with some sort of message. I turn 29 next month and fear for my technology-riddled future.

So, I guess while I love technology and new gadgets, it's only to an extent, and to technology, I say ... WOOF!!!!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

It's a nice and refreshingly rainy afternoon, I must say. It's been pretty hot here in the south, as it has been all across the country this week! Nice to cool down. :)

I've been relaxing and reading my book and muddling around on YouTube... so I'm going to post a couple of my favorite videos!

This first one is a crazy Indian song that is insanely catchy, and the video is HILARITY. It's fun to dance around to! Aside, if you're anything familiar with that World of Warcraft game I play, the Draenai male race dance is the dance the guys do during the chorus, with the finger wigglys and the clapping and the small rodeo motions. Good stuff!



The next one is another catchy song by a Canadian (?) band called The Long Division. It's very poppy and fun and will stick in your head for hours! It's also fun to enjoy yourself while doing groceries! Also, I ask you this question - what do YOU think the magic muffin is? (Matt thinks it's drugs, I think it's his dingdong.) The eternal question!



This last one is of Gunther -- he's very Swedish and I think is a big pop star in Europe?? (Confirm/deny?) His songs and videos are very laughable though; broken English in a sultry foreign accent and crazy bizarro imagery. Lots of butts. And who sports a mustache that looks like a wooly bear caterpillar and is confident about it aside from Gunther?? ;) Watch for the naked man on the trampoline at 3:14 with the bananas! (Seriously!) It's a no-no, but you like it...



That's all for that; while I like YouTube, I don't like embedding a jillion videos into a page and making it really slow! Boooo~ :)

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Happy August!!

It lives!!!

*zombie noises*

So my first week of work is done, and if I may say so myself, it was a ROARING success! It was also busy and stressful of course, as any new job is, with learning the ropes and trying to remember the ropes when it's actually your turn to do stuff. I really really think I am going to enjoy it -- I don't want to be -too- explanatory about what I do, but I work in the music industry, and all of my co-workers thus far are great. This job seems right up my alley so I'm very excited to see where it goes!!

Also, check out what I get to see on my way into work every morning...




HOOOO DAWGIE! We sure do have big ol' bugs in NC! Sorry the picture is a bit fuzzy, I didn't want to get TOO close and have jumpy-leg spider jump into my hair (or my eye). I've decided against naming her the usual spider name of Charlotte, and have opted for the shorter, sassier Charmaine instead. She's there every morning!

So if a new job and a spider that looks like it could be able to eat your face isn't exciting enough, I got another hunk of good news yesterday...




They've finally started construction on our house!!!!!!!! YEE HAW, we have a foundation!!!! I am so so excited! :) Gotta get to work on that Amazon housewarming wishlist, LOL...

And one more photo I took last week; this is why i can't wait to get a DSLR and get bigger, better photos of stuff like this...




Rainbow! The end seemed to land right on the grocery store... maybe that's where the pot of gold is?? ;)

I hope everyone had a great week and will have a relaxing, awesome weekend; I'm happy to have my first week over so I can decompress and get back to my normal routine this weekend! Going to try to go to the beach tomorrow morning, today will be library and groceries and maybe perusing a local coffee shop for a drink... we shall see!