clarification

Tim: I would kill for a lobster taco right about now.

Erin: Really? Kill for one?

Tim: Well... I'd kill a small animal for one.

Erin: A small animal...Like a lobster?

Tim: Yes. I would definitely kill a lobster for a lobster taco.

Erin: Okay. Just checking...

I don't need a reason...

When I met Winkorama, I knew I liked her right away. We're friends for a billion reasons that I won't list, but to underscore the theme of our friendship, I'll share a couple choice anecdotes.

Exhibit A:
Scene: Me & She online discussing upcoming photo shoot. I previously uploaded a series of inspiration photos including a few Liza Minnelli Cabaret shots.

She: So, this is why we're friends:
I was able to cobble together a reasonable Cabaret-esque outfit from my closet. :)

(15 minutes of costume planning follow involving various words like: feathers, fishnets, eyelashes, t-Straps, blue eyeshadow, satin dresses, fans, patio chairs, emo wig, black garter belt, sassy panties)

Exhibit B:
Scene: Me & She online discussing getting together tonight for dinner. For the uninformed, I store a large amount of holiday decor/costume paraphernalia at her house for lack of storage in my apartment.

She: Do you need anything from my house?

Me: Gosh I don't think so, I know you have all my Halloween decorations...
Could you please bring the butler to dinner tonight. I need him.
don't worry about why. :P

(exposition: I am totally joking about the animatronic butler...I was just trying to think of the bulkiest holiday item I had stored at her house)

*time passes*

She: I finally found his head, I'm on my way!

ME: OH. MY. GOD. I was totally joking! I'm so sorry! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!

She: I thought it was a little weird, but hey you're clever...Maybe you had something planned for the photo shoot.

*insane laughter follows*

PEOPLE!

She didn't question WHY I would need a 6' tall animatronic butler for a photo shoot, she just went downstairs and dug through a heap of stuff to find him. AND his head.

Are you starting to get it?

I steal other people's ideas

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

In June of 1998, I was settling in to life at Malmstrom Air Force Base. I was 19, broke, isolated from my family, surrounded by single boys, and had low self esteem. You can fill in the rest...

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

Pack more stuff
Figure out outfits for photo shoot on Thursday
Lose 10bs while sleeping
Worry about our future
Wonder if there is something wrong with my ovaries

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Ooogie's Popcorn in White Cheddar
Coke Floats (made with Mexican Coke)
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sammiches
Fresh Pineapple
Grape Tomatoes
Anything potatoey-cheesey-with sour cream &/or ranch. (deep down, I'm just a fat kid tryin' to survive)

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire (in no particular order):

Holy crap. If I were a billionaire, I'm sure my brain would function very differently than it does right now. That last question had me thinking food, so my immediate thought was, "How many 'tater skins can I buy with a billion dollars?" But um... seriously, my second thought was of travel, and this crazy dream that I have where I'd pay to fly all my family and dearest friends to somewhere amazing for a huge vacation, then of course, all the more permanent things (pay off debt, buy giant house, give to charities, build that tree house from Swiss Family Robinson in my own private jungle etc.)

5) Places I have lived:

Denver, CO
Great Falls, MT
Baltimore, MD
San Antonio, TX
Minneapolis, MN
and...
Good Ol' Port Orford, Oregon. Where the trees grow sideways and the kids are born with gills.

6) Jobs I have had:

• Graphic Design for Myself
  
• Graphic Designer for Evergreen Specialty
  
• Graphic Designer for the Air Force
  
• Barista/Juice Girl/Pizza Maker/Sandwich Chef at Katz Juice n' Java
  
• Clerk at Gadzooks
• Fishmonger (no seriously, true story!)

Thanks to HeatherFeather for the non-specific tag. ;)

wall-e; Only the best animated movie EVARRRR

Tim and I took a break from our insane lives to see a matinee of Wall-E, the newest animated offering from Disney-Pixar Studios. I'm not very good at writing reviews, but if you were standing next to me, I'd shake you repeatedly screaming, "Why haven't you seen this movie yet????" It is THAT good. The characters, the style, the story...everything is truly sublime. It's so funny, charming, thought provoking and entertaining. Here is a review by GIZMODO that basically says everything I wanted to say.

Now go...GOOOO! Go see it now...

weeping like a bathtub overflowing

SO much is going on right now. I really shouldn't even be taking the time to blog, but I feel like if I don't get it out, my head might explode, so please bear with me whilst I expound a few things.

First of all, it was unwise to attempt moving/buying our first home/leaving our friends/spending tons of money on a Europe trip knowing all this was coming down the pike resulting in our need to work excessively to build our savings back up for down payment etc./trying for a baby, ALL AT THE SAME TIME. It wasn't just unwise, it was damn near crazy. TOTALLY WACKADOO. But, there isn't anything to be done about it now. We're in the thick of things and there is no turning back.

So, what do we have? An apartment in shambles, a wife who is an emotional equivalent of a mento inside a liter of diet coke away from a breakdown, a husband who has to work 12 hours a day just to help keep this ship afloat, and 3 cats who really don't have any idea what's going on, but enjoy exacerbating the situation by knocking over valuable items and generally being a pain in the butt.

But, we also have the good side of things... Someone please tell me what those are. ;)

In other news, I have always called a low lying table in the middle of a living room, a "coffee" table. In OKC, apparently, they call them "cocktail" tables. Say what you will about Oklahomans, but they know how to party and they call a spade, a spade. When was the last time we had coffee on our coffee table? Who knows? ...and by that method, a desk should really be called a coffee table, but I digress...I will hereby be referring to a low lying table in the middle of a living room, as a "cocktail" table. It's my new thing. I'm practicing being an Oklahoman.

Tape Gun Commando

I'm busy packing this week, mostly in between working and twittering. (If you do not yet know about Twitter, then I hereby laugh at your foolishness. Mwahahahaha! No, seriously, you should be twittering...)

It's been an emotional time for us as well. We're really feeling the squeeze to see friends, and of course that coupled with everything related to buying this house (I swear, I sign a new bit of paper every day!) and attempting to rectify our maternity insurance thing (what a nightmare!) AND our landlord showing the apartment, as well as the contractor tearing up the floor outside our condo with a JACKHAMMER...It's a wonder our heads haven't exploded.

Well, technically, mine has...My skin is broken out like nobody's business. Apparently, life thought it would be funny to throw in acne on top of everything else. Oh life, you are SUCH a kidder. Hahahahahahaha *booohoooo* Anyway, we're just trying to take things one day at a time and that seems to work out pretty well.

The inspection for the new house went relatively well...There are a few minor repairs that they are going to do for us. I am afraid to say for certain that the house is ours, until I get the keys in my hands, but you know...It's looking like things might work out. *knocks on wood/crosses fingers*

That's all for now. I'm sorry these posts aren't more creative, but I promise when things stop being so crazy, I'll get back to writing proper posts.

VLV Redux

So...Where are we at? This week was worky worky worky. I finally took a break last night and went to Joe and Megan's to see their collection of photos from our Viva Las Vegas trip. They gave me a ton, but I can't post them...at least not until they post them on their site. So here's a little taste...this one is one of my favorites. They got some great group shots as well that are definitely going to be framed and hung in my new office.

Joe & Megan also gifted us with a pile of boxes so that we can begin to pack up the apartment. I'll probably be working on a lot of that this weekend. So much to do, so little time. Tonight we are having dinner with Lena & Shivani, Sunday brunch with some of our Westie friends, and Sunday night is the Jazz on the Park (although, we're not sure how long we'll be hanging out there...we still have TONS to do)

That's the forecast, we're here and busier than a one legged man in a butt-kicking contest... OH, and one more thing, my little sister Emily just got ENGAGED! I am thrilled. Her fiance Tyler seems like a great guy and she is just so happy. She asked me to be her maid-of-honor and I am totally swept up in wedding planning. I just LOVE weddings! Wheeeeeee!

That's all for now,
~e

Venting...

As I've mentioned on here a few times, we are under a tremendous amount of pressure right now. All of it because of choices we've made. We are behind in our work because of our trip to Paris. Maintaining our client relationships and keeping our promises are vital to the success of our business, so in between all the stuff that comes with our current life plan (the move etc.) we have to focus on keeping our business afloat. We both work hard, but it's no easy task.

It's a delicate balancing act for all involved. Maintaining our marriage, friendships, financial solvency, and our mental/emotional well being takes a lot of work and energy. Sometimes I fail miserably in one quadrant or several. It's a learning process and an arduous one at that.

Today I feel that I've failed, and that others have failed me. There is a part of me that wishes it was like back in the AF days...People disappoint, people leave, people move on, and you just surgically remove them from your daily life. Swift, clean, and precise. It's easier in a lot of ways than acknowledging that they matter, that you're invested and you care. But, that isn't the way it should be. Your friends disappoint you sometimes, and you disappoint them. I guess we're just supposed to swallow the disappointments and go on. Expect people to be as unfailing as you are. You fall and stumble, and so do they.

It's an imperfect world and it will always be. As my sister-in-law says..."The fair doesn't come until September."

I am barely breathing...

Work is not as bad as I thought it would be. I'm busy, but not unmanageably so. We had a little bit of trouble with our home purchase, but things seem to be straightened out now. Our last big hurdle in the purchase is the home inspection which takes place next Monday. Hopefully nothing changes our minds about the house this late in the game...Especially since we're already in love with it.

I'm mentally furnishing each room, picking our paint colors and planning landscaping. This is the most fun EVER. I just can not wait to have our own home, that we can really make our own. It's going to be awesome! (If everything works out...please fate, don't spite me for being presumptuous!)

We're trying to squeeze in visits with all our dearest friends before we have to leave. I got a surprise invite to a concert at the Botanical Gardens the other night, from my dear Charleigh. We are both super busy career gals, so it's hard to get together very often, but we managed it on Monday night. The Indigo Girls played at the York Street Botanical Garden and it was LOVELY. The whole place was in bloom (flowers and plenty of sapphic sweethearts) and it was just a awesome show, and some good QT with one of my favorite people.

We celebrated our positive information regarding our new home tonight with a trip to the movies to see Prince Caspian. (Great film by the way - if you're into the series - if not, you might not really "get" it...) Anyway, about halfway through the film, the emergency lights start flashing by the entry and exits...they shut the movie down and evacuated the building for some unknown reason. After making us stand outside for what seemed like an eternity, they let us back in the theater (with no explanation) and restarted the movies where they left off. VERY strange.

Well, I'm off to bed...Got a long day of work ahead of me tomorrow.

Our New House

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

We settled on a price! Finally... Anyway, it's a done deal, unless anything major comes up during the appraisal, or god forbid, anything happens with our financing.

We're on our way home tonight, and we have an INSANE amount of work going on this week. If you don't hear much from us, please understand we are in the busiest time we have EVER experienced as a couple. If you want to see us, it will likely have to be on our turf. We are banking on being able to work extra in the evening for the next three weeks in order to get all of our stuff done before the move...

So, see you all on the flip side... Coming soon, photos from the anniversary party!

Where are we again?

We are waiting. Waiting to hear back from the sellers, to see if they accepted our offer.

* paces back and forth *


This is HARD.

OKC updates

I went and looked at several houses yesterday with our REA, and I think we may have found "the one". It's in a super cute neighborhood, it's a historic home, and it's red brick. It's more of a colonial style, which isn't exactly what we were looking for, and the reason it wasn't higher on my list was just because the curb appeal wasn't that exciting. But, I walked into 4 different houses yesterday with great curb appeal, and the inside was VERY disappointing. I mean, we wouldn't mind having to do a FEW improvements, but a complete overhaul is just too big of a commitment for us right now.



Anyway, this house is so perfect for us! It's a little less than 2000 sqft. It's got 3 bedrooms, plus a den (with a door, sooo perfect for Tim's office) and a cute backyard. It's stylish and yet homey with all the details we'd expect from a historic home, plus the kitchen is updated already. AND...it's 15k under our price cap.

We still have 3 more homes to look at on Thursday, but unless we find one that totally blows this one out of the water, I think we'll try to move on it. Tim called last night, he's having a great time out on the river, despite the SIX HOURS of rain they had the first day. :) He sounded happy when we chatted, and told me he wants to buy a kayak now.

I've got a long day of work ahead of me, so I better get started. More to come!