Apartment

Well, I made my decision and called the apartment complex yesterday. I officially have a new place to live! I turned in my deposit, but because they were so busy at the end of the day, I'll go in next weekend to sign all of the paperwork. Then I'll get my keys for my new place. I'm really excited. And I'm especially excited because I'll get the unit that I wanted. Now I just need to figure out when I'm going to move everything...

Current mood: excited and relieved
Current music: iTunes shuffle - Maroon 5 "If I Never See Your Face Again"
Current drink: coffee

Apartments...again...

Today I had an opportunity to take a look at some specific apartments. Right now there are two units that will be available soon. One is on the first floor, and the other is on the third floor. They are both the same plans and have the same square footage. The first floor apartment would be a north-facing apartment, so it would probably get less light. In the winter things would probably be really dark and cold. The third floor apartment, however, would be south-facing, meaning it would get a lot of light. I prefer natural light and it would be nice to have a balcony in a warm, sunny spot. The third floor would be safer--not that Gunbarrel, despite its name, is the hotbed of crime by any means--and it would be more private and have a nicer view. It's also the top floor, so I wouldn't have anyone stomping around above me. The only negative is that it will be more of a pain to move things up three flights of stairs.

These units will be available in June. My lease in my current place doesn't expire until July. However, this new complex is having a special deal right now where the first month's rent would be free. So the apartment would be available to me for the entire month of June, and I could move in gradually which is really appealing. Then I can hire some movers to deal with all of the big furniture.

This is all very tempting, but I need to make a decision quickly so that I can take advantage of the deal for a free month's rent and take advantage of the nicer apartment.

Current mood: on lifted spirits
Current drink: milk
Current music: iTunes shuffling - Dixie Chicks "Lullaby"

This and That Weekend Edition

For the most part this was a quiet weekend. I was sick on Saturday, so I spent most of the day in bed. I never get sick with the cold or flu, but I do get headaches quite frequently. Usually they are stress related. On Saturday I had a doozy of a headache, and I tried to sleep it off, but it didn't really go away. Then, the fact that I didn't eat or drink much, combined with too much Excedrin migraine medicine, made me feel worse.

I was feeling a little better on Sunday but I wasn't feeling great. I was able to at least get out to do some shopping, but when I was home I crawled back into bed. I woke up with a headache again this morning, but it eventually went away. Fortunately we had a holiday and I didn't have to go into work.

Today it has been gray and cloudy and it has been raining for most of the day. I like that, though. It makes things cozy. It's still raining right now and every now and then there is a rumble of thunder. I love the sound of thunder. But it's just too bad that the peaceful moment is ruined by one of my neighbors who is standing in front of my window and trying to clear the phlegm from his throat and spitting it out on the sidewalk. I kind of wish he would keep walking rather than just stand there until he clears the disgusting goo from his throat. There really is no sound more disgusting than that!

Editing...

I hate reading my blog and finding a typo a week or two after I wrote the original post. Sigh... The typos aren't necessarily because I'm an idiot. They're usually because I'm typing and reading too fast...

This and That

Work: This has been a long week for some reason. Things suddenly got busy at work again. New books are coming in, so that's a good thing. Although I often complain when things get crazy and when I work 12 or 14-hour days, it is a lot better than having nothing to do all day. Today also starts the first day of our Friday Summer Hours. Every Friday until Memorial Day, we're allowed to leave at 1:00, which I'm pretty excited about. And we have a long weekend this weekend!

Apartments: I just checked my voicemail and there was a message from the manager of the apartment complex that I'm interested in. She said that they would have an opening in the first week in July, but that the apartment was on the first floor. My preference would be to be on the second floor, because I'd rather have a balcony instead of a closed-in patio because it is generally safer. And I was planning on moving later in July, but I suppose having it available to me earlier would give me time to move in gradually. But I'll call to see if I can at least take a look at the unit. Maybe it will be the "perfect" one. Who knows.

Weather: Anyone who has watched the news recently has probably seen that we've had some horrible weather here in Colorado. There was a huge tornado that did a lot of damage. It wasn't anywhere near Boulder but we were under tornado warnings and watches for most of the day, and we did get a lot of rain and some hail.

Current mood: tired
Current music: random iTunes shuffle. Currently Kelly Clarkson "Sober"
Current drink: New Belgium 1554

Beautiful Brunch

Today I woke up early because I had plans to meet some friends in Denver for brunch. We met at Racines, and we had a wonderful time! We all use to work together at one of our previous jobs and even though we've all moved on to different places, we still keep in touch and still try to get together as often as we can. It is just such a great group of women. They're all so intelligent and brilliant. They're talented and creative. And they're all so incredibly beautiful! It was an absolutely wonderful morning, and I couldn't be happier. I'm so fortunate to be blessed with such wonderful friends! I love them all!

Current mood: very happy
Current music: iTunes is on shuffle. Currently Melissa Etheridge "Message to Myself"
Current drink: New Belgium 1554 "Enlightened Black Ale"

View from the Office

I'm getting better at remembering to bring my camera with me wherever I go. Unfortunately there are some times when I'm still forgetting it! Anyway, yesterday I happened to have it with me at work, and I was lucky because there were some nice clouds forming over the mountains. Here are two shots that I took through my office window:


In this second picture, I intentionally left my camera reflection in the shot. But I also creatively and intentionally kept my face and reflection hidden!

Exquisite Corpse

That might seem like an odd or morbid title, but it is something that is pretty cool. Here is a brief explanation taken from Wikipedia.

Exquisite corpse (also known as "exquisite cadaver" or "rotating corpse") is a method by which a collection of words or images are collectively assembled, the result being known as the exquisite corpse or cadavre exquis in French. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g. "The adjective noun adverb verb the adjective noun") or by being allowed to see the end of what the previous person contributed.
The technique was invented by Surrealists in 1925, and is similar to an old parlour game called Consequences in which players write in turn on a sheet of paper, fold it to conceal part of the writing, and then pass it to the next player for a further contribution. Henry Miller often partook of the game to pass the time in French cafes during the 1930s.
The name is derived from a phrase that resulted when Surrealists first played the game, "Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau." ("The exquisite corpse will drink the new wine.")

One of my co-workers/beautiful and wonderfully talented friend and I decided to try our hands at this type of story. She started out by writing a sentence and e-mailing it to me. I added a sentence, then passed it back to her. So we've been going back and forth and keep adding a sentence or two to whatever the other has written. We're only a few sentences into our story, but it is already getting interesting. I guess the most interesting thing about this whole experiment is how two different people, each with her own creative mind and different backgrounds, experiences, and tastes, can shape one single story. It's really interesting and a lot of fun. Although, I have to admit, when I first started this I was slightly intimidated because my friend has such a strong background with creative writing and because she was just accepted into a graduate program in creative writing. Still, I think that it will be great for me. It will get my creative juices flowing and force me to write prose again. And it will probably challenge me, which I think is a good thing.

So for any of my readers out there who enjoy writing, I suggest you try this little experiment with a friend. So far I've been having a great time! Maybe you will too.

This and That Weekend Edition

This week at work has been, well, odd. I think that everyone is recovering from the hectic few months we have had, and because of that we're all having a hard time staying focused. The weather has also been beautiful, and I think that everyone also has spring fever right now. We're still having lunch outside, and enjoying the weather outside makes it harder to go back inside to get back to work. Fortunately things are still quiet right now.

This has been a pretty good weekend. Once again, I had grand intentions on waking up early yesterday to clean my apartment and run all of my errands. I think I woke up sometime between 10:00 and 11:00. I think that my body was telling me to rest, and I'm not one to argue with my body! In spite of sleeping in, I was able to get a lot accomplished. I cleaned up my apartment...well, sort of. I mostly just moved piles from one spot on the floor to another spot. I did some shopping and I finally took my car in for an oil change. Now that my office is only three miles away from my apartment, I hardly ever put any miles on my car. So I rarely need an oil change these days, and I don't need to fill up with gas as often (thankfully!).

Today I had an appointment to get my hair done, and I decided to go somewhere new. The place that I've been going to is starting to get really expensive--my last cut with highlights cost me well over $100. That's a little too much to spend on hair. I'd rather spend that amount of money on wine and Cognac! Anyway, so I decided to try a little barbershop on Pearl Street. It's not your typical barber shop, though. There was loud (and good) music blaring over the speakers. The walls were plastered with posters. And there were two huge TVs hanging on the wall, and they were showing the Flintstones. Since I'm getting tired of spending the time and money on maintaining highlights, I decided to go back to one color without highlights. And I decided to go back to my natural color, black. And, since summer is right around the corner, I decided to go for a shorter cut. I sort of have the Gena Gershon in Bound cut...at least that's what I'm calling it. Yep, I'm hot and sexy! Anyway, my hair is short, so it will probably be low maintenance and easy to take care of, and that's all I wanted. And it didn't cost $100!

Current music: random shuffle. Currently "True Faith" by New Order
Current drink: Fat Tire

This and That

Work: After the past few hectic months, things have finally quieted down at work. Everyone is thankful, and now we finally have an opportunity to relax and occasionally goof off. We've also been making a habit of getting out of the office for lunch rather than eating our lunch at our desks. We usually just go outside and sit at the picnic tables, but now that it is finally turning into spring, the weather has been beautiful. It's been perfect so far.

Weather: With the one exception of a random snowstorm last week, it is finally turning into spring. Early this morning I was awakened by the sound of rain. At first it was a gentle rain, but then it started to fall harder. I think at one point it might have turned to little drops of hail. But there was also lightning and thunder, and I just love thunderstorms. There is just something passionate and sexy about thunderstorms, if that doesn't sound too strange. And now that spring is here, it won't be long before we'll have beautiful and awesome sunsets. So you can probably expect to see a lot of pictures of clouds and sunsets in the next few months.

Food: I think I finally perfected my turkey chili! For whatever reason, I've been eating less red meat these days. Sure, I still crave (and eat) nice burgers and steaks, but I've just been cooking less red meat these days. I think the motivation was to try to be healthier. Lately I've been using more turkey, which is sort of strange because I always thought I didn't like turkey. Anyway, yesterday I made some turkey chili for myself, and it was so yummy. In the past I usually just browned up some meat, added diced tomatoes, and the little premade spice mixes. I usually never added beans to my chili because I didn't really like beans. Then eventually I discovered that I liked black beans, so I started putting that in my chili. But yesterday, on a whim, I decided to use pinto beans. I'm starting to think that, in chili, I prefer pinto beans. And, also on a whim, I decided to chop up some carrots and onions and add them to the chili, too. Then I topped it with some Pace picante sauce, cheese, and sour cream. And I loved it! And I made a pretty big batch so I had plenty of leftovers for today's lunch and dinner, and I probably have enough for dinner tomorrow.

Current mood: full with turkey chili and happy
Current music: random shuffle. Currently Moby "Lift Me Up" from Hotel
Current drink: Fat Tire

Spring Snow

It is the first day of May, and in Colorado that means that it isn't too late for a nice snowfall. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me at work when the big fat snowflakes were falling. But this evening I went to Chautauqua Park to take some pictures. By that time the snow on the ground had already melted, but there was still a nice dusting of snow on the trees around the Flatirons. I also liked how the clouds started to settle in between the mountains. It was pretty.