Month of January, 2006

New Rug

Ever since I moved into the house (in August), I've wanted a rug for the living room. The entire downstairs is tiled, which I love because it's so easy to clean and beautiful. However, the tile is a little chilly and when sitting on the couch, it's nice to kick off your shoes and have something nice to put your feet on. Well, the hunt for a rug that I liked and that looked good in the living room was a LONG hunt. I probably looked at hundreds of rugs in stores and actually brought home half a dozen rugs to see how they looked. Each time I was disappointed - horribly disappointed - when I would bring a rug home and it looked completely different in my living room than it did in the store. Anyhow, I finally stumbled along this one (and it was $500 cheaper than any of the other ones I looked at). It came home with me and I immediately knew it was perfect.

Just one more little thing that makes me absolutely love my house. I swear, I am never going to move.

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Last Weekend

I've been really horrible about keeping you all informed about my life. I suppose it's apathy on my part. I'm not really sure why I've been apathetic about my blog, but hopefully it's just a stage.

Last weekend Chris came to visit from Dallas. It was his first time to visit me in Phoenix and Phoenix did not diappoint. The weather was incredible - warm, warm, warm. From what people tell me (people who have been living in Phoenix a lot longer than I have), this has been a very mild winter. All I know is I love the fact I've gotten a coat out of the closet less than a dozen times this season. And I think it's cold when the temperature is below 60 degrees.

So Chris' visit was fantastic. We got to hang out a lot which is really all we wanted to do. Dating long distance means you have to catch up on the hanging out when you're together. We ate long meals, visited the Phoenix Art Museum, relaxed, watched movies, and looked at classic cars at the Barrett-Jackson car auction. We took pictures, but not nearly enough of us together.

View the set.

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Confusing

I had to read this sentence ten times before I understood it. "Joe sent Hung the Sun info from install.pdf." Turns out Hung is the customer who is using a Sun system.

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Delivering Bad News

Over the years, I've gotten better and better at delivering bad news. I think it's a skill. I think I should put this skill on my resume. The question is how exactly do I word it?

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List of Five

Alison's updated List of Five inspired me.

Edward Norton
Kevin Connolly
Brad Pitt
Kevin Spacey
Nicholas Cage

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Dining Room Chairs

I've been wanting to recover the dining room chairs for years. YEARS! Really, ever since we acquired the dining room set at LucciHouse. It's an incredible set that was given to us by friends of the family. Only the upholstery needed some work. Of course with grad school it was work I simply never got around to. I moved the set to Phoenix despite thinking I would be buying a new set in the near future. It was fortunate for me, because it turns out this set looks perfect in my home here. Well, perfect except for the upholstery.

So around the Christmas holidays, I finally got to reupholster the dining room chairs. I wanted to get the project done before the family came to visit, but I missed that goal by a long shot. So I asked for help. Mom and Dad were upholstery angels! They did a huge amount of work (quite possibly more than I did) and finally the chairs were done! Every time I sit down to eat or even walk by my dining room, I smile because the chairs are so beautiful. Don't you think so too?

Before

After

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San Diego and NYC

So I'm back in Phoenix after a whirlwind weekend and early part of the week. As much as I enjoy traveling, I always enjoy coming home. It's nice to have a home, which really feels right.

Friday afternoon at 4:30pm, my boss called a group of us together to inform us that our role changed. It means I now have a new boss, a new department, and an expanded role. It's very similar to what I've been doing but slightly larger. This change was unexpected, but I didn't think I'd hear at the end of the day on a Friday. I suppose good news just can't wait.

A couple hours later, I was getting on a plane to San Diego. I spent Friday night with Kristen and Chris. They have a lovely apartment in Mission Valley. Chris is quite the chef! For dinner, he grilled the most amazing steaks with an Irish marinade. He also grilled apples and pears with a homemade glaze. He rounded out the plate with garlic mashed potatoes. That meal could have been served at any fine restaurant - it was amazing. We didn't stay up too late talking because I planned on getting up early to visit my great aunt.

So on Saturday morning, I drove to Hemet, California, which is about an hour from San Diego. It's been awhile since I've visited my great aunt, Jennie. So we mostly caught up on each other's lives and discussed what she wants done with her things when she dies. She turns 93 next month and is very concerned about her death, despite seeming to be in good health. For the most part, I'm comfortable talking about death, it's just part of the cycle of life. So I made it through any uncomfortable parts of conversation and had a number of very enjoyable moments with Jennie. I really should make an effort to see her more often. She's lived an amazing life and has a lot of fascinating stories.

In the afternoon, I drove back to San Diego to hang out with Kristen and Chris before my flight back to Phoenix. We had a great time talking and hanging out as we always do. Before I knew it, I was on another plane. It's a super short flight between San Diego and Phoenix so I can't complain. I got home later than planned (I had issues finding my car...something I need to work on) and basically just repacked my bags because I was getting on a flight to New York City on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning I spent way too many hours in the airport as my flight was delayed due to weather. Luckily, a number of coworkers were going to the same conference in NY and were around to keep me company. Eventually, we got on our way and it was an entirely full flight. Pet peeve when flying on a full flight is when someone tries to make you feel guilty for having an aisle or window seat when they have the middle seat. There is no way in hell that I'll switch with someone in order to sit in the middle seat and it pisses me off when someone asks me to.

Eventually, I got to the city and time seemed to speed by. The conference went well and I got to know some coworkers better. Mom and Dad came up to NYC to crash in my hotel room. We didn't get to spend too much time together, because I was working, but we did have breakfast both mornings. They enjoyed themselves by seeing a couple Broadway shows and did plenty of sightseeing.

Before I could blink, I was back on a plane Tuesday night. Luckily the flight wasn't so packed as the first one. Plus it was evening so I slept a lot. It sure was nice to get back to where it is warm...I so dislike the cold. Now I'm back into the swing of things at work and home. Chris from Dallas comes to visit this weekend so I've got another exciting weekend ahead of me.

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Quote of the Day

"I'm in love with a lot right now, and that feels pretty lucky."
- Lisa Whiteman, from this post

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Busy

The past few days there just hasn't been much going on here for me to write about. Spending a lot of time thinking about work. LOTS. And I know you don't feel like hearing about that.

For the most part, I had a very relaxing weekend. Friday night I stayed at home and did very little besides lay in bed with Bentley. Saturday I went hiking in South Mountain Park with Gail and Kathy. Our one mile trail turned into at least two miles each way with a very good elevation change. The weather was perfect so we enjoyed ourselves despite it not being quite as easy as we expected.

Saturday night I took myself out on a date. I ate sushi and saw King Kong. The sushi was great, King Kong was OK. I liked all the CG animation, but it was far too long of a movie. The storyline couldn't carry all the extra footage. However, it was an enjoyable 3 hours sitting in a dark theater by myself. I really should see more movies in the theater.

Sunday I finally got to all the cleaning that I've been putting off for the past week. My house is absolutely gleaming right now and it makes me feel good. I also did a little bit of shopping, which was quite successful. I bought a new suitcase and briefcase for travel. (This was my parents' Christmas gift to me. Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

Now I'm looking forward to a very busy week. We're having team meetings at work and coworkers are in from out of town. I suspect I'll be working long hours, but having a lot of fun at the same time. Then I'm off to California for about 24 hours this weekend. Flying to San Diego on Friday to spend time with Kristen and Chris. Then I'll visit my great aunt in Hemet (about an hour away from San Diego) on Saturday. Saturday night I'll be back in Phoenix so I can leave Sunday morning for New York City where I'll stay until Tuesday night. Yep, I'm on the move and the very busy week starts now. So I'd better get to it.

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Dinner with Adam

Tuesday night I had the distinct pleasure of having dinner with Adam, a friend from grad school. Adam was in town for business meetings and had a free night to meet with me. It was so refreshing to hang out with someone from school and talk business matters all evening. I miss those talks, a lot. My school friends were always good for a thought-provoking conversation. I love knowing so many driven and intense people. I really need to keep up with them and talk with them more often.

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Quote of the Day

"I'm retarded around children."
- Kristen, in reference to her babysitting experience

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Happy New Year!

How can it be 2006 already? My how time flies. My parents weren't lying when they told me to just wait to get older and see how fast time goes. Can't someone slow it down, please?

To ring in the new year, Kii and I went to Champagne and Chefs downtown Scottsdale's new years eve celebration. We ate good food, drank, watched a couple celebrity chef's (my favorite being Iron Chef, Cat Cora), danced, and did a ton of people watching. It was a beautiful night in Phoenix and overall very fun.

The only downside was I lost my small camera, the Minolta Dimage X. It must have slipped out of my pocket or someone helped it slip out. That camera was almost four years old, so it's not entirely heartbreaking. Plus, it's just a good reminder that things come and go. The biggest bummer is I don't have any pictures from last night and I had taken some fun ones! That little camera sure captured a lot of great memories for me. I'll miss it. At least I have the Nikon D70s to still take pictures with. It's a heck of a lot larger and not quite as convenient for quick snapshots, but at least I'm not photographically crippled. Plus I always have the camera phone (haha), which I took this picture with before going out.

I didn't write any new years resolutions this year. I'm sticking to the old favorite - live without regrets. Oh, and I'm going to try to be more open and honest about my feelings. It seems I could improve in communicating about how I feel. Did you write any resolutions?

Hope you all had a grand time ringing in the new year! Here's to a fabulous 2006! Remember that stuff is just stuff and not important in the whole scheme of things.

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