After two days of crap eating, I woke up craving veggies. So now I'm working my way through 2 eggs scrambled with zucchini, mushrooms and onions with a bit of mozzarella thrown in. Got me some veggies in my system AND cleaned out the fridge in the process. Later I will cut up the last mini watermelon and put the remaining grapes in the freezer. And then it will be off to the store today or tomorrow to stock up all over again :)

A couple of weeks ago I read an article about a man who devised a "Vegan Before Six" eating plan to help replace some of his animal protein with veggie nutrients. I've been following a similar plan but don't like using the term vegan since being vegan is an entire lifestyle, not just a food plan. So I've come with "ZAP Before Six" as in Zero Animal Protein. Then just yesterday I read another article endorsing the same plan only they called it Flexitarian. Dumb. I like ZAP much better.

Been on a reading kick lately--just finished Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I couldn't resist the hype any longer, even if it is a guilty pleasure-esque teen drama. Spent a bit too much time today watching trailers and promos for the upcoming movie. Now I'm reading Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay. I bought it awhile back and read the first chapter while on vacation in January. Haven't touched it again til now. I also ordered books 2 and 3 from the Twilight series on Amazon. Those should arrive on Monday so maybe I can finish Ysabel by then?

Isaias is taking me to the Ladie's Night dinner at the Masonic Lodge on Saturday. This will be my third trip there, and the first since Isaias was initiated. One of the guys there is a real estate agent and said he could help us find a house. We just need to set up a time to meet with him. I'm really craving a space that's my own that I can paint and decorate and whatnot. Also on Saturday, we're going to buy tickets for the Mariners/Indians game on the 20th. I am soooo excited! And I have informed all of our friends that there will be no booing of the Indians ;)

Work is going well. I've already gotten two raises in less than four months. I still hate waking up early in the morning but it's nice to be out at five and have the weekends off.

These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you own but have not read.

What I should really do is make a list of every book I own and mark the ones that remain unread ;p

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : A Memoir in Books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : A Novel
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : A Memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

I survived my first week at my first ever office job :) The first two days were rough but the waking up early got a little easier and I'm slowly starting to adjust. I really like leaving work at 5 pm...soooo nice! Even though I've only been there a short time I'm learning SO MUCH about bugs and rodents. And it's actually fun--especially talking to the customers on the phone. I never would have thought that I would be working at a pest control company, but so far, so good.

My birthday was this past Friday and we used the entire weekend to celebrate. On Friday Isaias made me his famous skinless fried chicken for dinner and bought me a cake and sang me Happy Birthday :) On Saturday we went to Applebee's with our friends and then came back to our house for some Rock Band. Sunday was hangover recovery day--we watched lotsa Friends and the March of the Penguins HD Dvd that Isaias gave me as a birthday gift. The weekend after next we're having some friends in for the weekend and hosting a BBQ. And on the 29th is the Ministry show we've been anticipating :) I even bought a new outfit for the occasion--shoes, jacket and corset.

Tonight I made my first ever corned beef and cabbage and it was surprisingly good! And we have enough left over for another dinner later in the week.

Now I have to get ready for bed because 7 am will come way too soon.

I have to make a list of the three songs I really want her to play tonight. After a bit of deliberation, I decided upon:

1. River
2. Goodbye Pisces
3. Father Lucifer (cuz I ALWAYS want her to play this song)

I also made a killer pork roast but that was devoured before pictures could be taken :)

Just got back to Anacortes, WA after taking the ferry to Orcas Island today. And then I bought two tickets to see Tori in Seattle on December 5th--from right here in my hotel room! It doesn't get better than this.

Tomorrow we're taking the ferry to San Juan Island so we can shop in Friday Harbor.

Pics and details coming soon :)

Yesterday and today are the hottest days of the year so far--and they happen to be my two days off for the week. I had planned on painting my bedroom but I'll put it off til it cools down a bit. Yesterday I ran errands and got my hair cut. Today I'm being a hermit and playing video games and reading. I'm re-reading Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End and Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Justice. The new Harry Potter comes out in FIVE DAYS!!!! I'm excited and sad at the same time. I'm also reading The Inner Reaches of Outer Space by Joseph Campbell and Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious by Carl Jung. The Campbell book postulates on what the next mythology will be. I picked up the Jung book because I started working with a Jungian therapist last week. I really like her! I was hesitant to get a new therapist since I had some less-than-stellar experiences with my last one. She said she can help me interpret my dreams and uses a technique called Sandplay Therapy to help find solutions to your problems in your unconscious. Cool stuff!

Work is going well. Nothing to report really...except that I implore each and every one of you to never go to check-out with an item that doesn't have a price on it. It's so annoying. And it doesn't matter if you know it's .99 and I know it's .99 and Jesus comes down from the heavens and proclaims it's .99--the only way I can ring it up is to scan a barcode. I get my first paycheck on Friday which will include a special coupon for a 30% discount on anything in the store--even sale items! I want to get a shitload of candles and a "learn-to-knit" kit.

Isaias and I are going on vacation next month but the destination is yet to be determined. But we both asked for the days off and are looking forward to some much needed time away. And we'll probally really need it after we housesit and stay with Grandma for a week while his folks are in Hawaii for a week at the end of the month.

Now I will commence with my day of laziness :)

The squirrels managed to chew through the plastic hook that kept our bird feeder attached to the deck. It was just a basic $5 feeder from Target. But over the weekend we got a nice metal and glass one that was on sale at the hardware store that even has solar lights that come on at night. But it took a few days for the birds to realize what it was-- even after I had put bits of bread around the top and in the tray. But now, the chow-mongers are out there constantly. The squirrel even tried to knock it around today but he's not chewing through a metal chain LOL I did put some sunflower seeds out there for him and his companion and I've been watching them happily munch away. Yesterday, the female mallard was wandering around our deck so we went out and fed her some bread. I love when she comes around and I'm hoping she has some babies and brings them too. We have birds nesting in our carport that poop so much that we can't park in our space. But it's not so bad. Now if we could only get rid of the lone crow that *never* shuts up ;)

I have an interview at Barnes & Noble this afternoon :)

Think happy thoughts for me!!!! :)

My awesome boyfriend just called me to tell me he's going to get some pink spray paint and gloss and make me a customized faceplate for my xbox 360 :) then i'll get some stickers and snazz it all up. lately, i've been addicted to a game called Crackdown--you play a robocop-esque agent that's trying to rid the city of gangsters. my favorite part of the game is scaling the city buildings and looking for the agility orbs--it's like an easter egg hunt. i also really like Command & Conquer 3 but that's taken a backseat to Crackdown.

Isaias was off the last two days and we just chilled. On Saturday we did venture to Wal-Mart because his folks had given us a very generous gift card as a housewarming gift. We both hate Wal-Mart and there really isn't one nearby--we had to drive over 25 miles to get there, but we made out like bandits ;) We got a bookcase for my piano books, an end table for the living room, a bunch of dvds and cds, a garden hose and tiki torch fuel and wicks. One of the dvds we got was the entire second season of Lost. We've been watching episodes of season one with dinner each night and Isaias is hooked. All we did yesterday was watch Lost--we finished season one and started season two. I hope season three comes out in the next few months so we can continue to feed the addiction.

I've been feeling a bit under the weather the last few days. It seems my stomach is continually upset. So I've cut out my beloved coffee and OJ but it doesn't seem to be helping. Even still, we continue to make our amazing meals. On friday I made parmesan crusted chicken and last night we grilled steak and shrimp kabobs. I've been compiling a grocery list all morning and should get my arse to Albertson's.

Yesterday I drove to Olympia to finally meet my fabulous friend Dusty aka Paris. It took me less than an hour to get here and I'll be going home tomorrow. But I'm having a blast :) And I'll be taking home my first electric guitar. Pics and stories will follow once I get home.

We hosted our second BBQ yesterday. This time we had Isaias' long-time friend Konrad, his girlfriend Julie and their 19 month old son Evan. I had a lot of fun! Julie was super nice and we're planning on getting together to do something sometime soon. And Evan is adorable! They forgot to bring toys for him so I gave him my basket of mini Muppets to play with and that kept him pretty occupied. Isaias made some yummy BBQ chicken and then we played some Guitar Hero and Dead or Alive 4. And then watched Aaron Russo's documentary "America: From Freedom To Facism" which everyone should see. Look it up on video.google.com.

Once our guests left, we picked at the leftover food and watched a few more episodes of "The Sopranos" and didn't get to bed until after 3. Unfortunatley I had to wake up at 7 to get my car to the Toyota dealer by 8. I took their shuttle service back and was home by 8:30 and crawled back into bed with my warm, sleeping boy :) I'm still hella tired though. Luckily for me, I have no plans today other than playing Super Paper Mario on the Wii and making meatloaf for dinner.

I'm typing this from my new HP Pavillion notebook :) The ol' Dell Inspiron has been slowing and down and crashing for the last few months and I was constantly having to restart it, so it was time to upgrade to this shiny black beast. Plus it gives me a chance to learn how to use Windows Vista.

Yesterday we hosted our housewarming barbecue for Isaias' family and it was quite the success. Everyone loved our home and said that we lucked out. In fact, his dad said that it was like "a star came down from heaven and found us." Everyone loved our food and I was elected to make my chocolate covered strawberries for all future family functions. Isaias' parents gave us a blender and a Wal-Mart gift card and Dawn and Mike got us a set of tiki torches--so we're pretty much set! If anyone has a killer frozen margarita recipe, please pass it along. Oh, and before his mom left, she thanked me for taking care of her boy. That made my day :) Dawn, Mike and their daughter Autumn stayed for a while and Mike and I each played a song on piano. He played one of his original songs which was very good. Then Isaias broke out the Wii and we took turns playing tennis, bowling and golf. Dawn and Mike liked it so much that they're gonna get their own Wii. Which of course will mean Wii parties.

We also got the new Xbox 360 Elite yesterday. Isaias traded in his old 360 and a few games and the difference was only $28. With the Elite's 120 gig hard drive we can keep both our xbox live profiles and all of our game saves on one drive. No more switching hard drives! Which means I can play Guitar Hero II on Isaias' profile and access all the songs he's unlocked cuz he's way better at it than I am ;)

This week I will take pictures of our house and post them.

The thing I love most about my new phone is that I can download ringtones. I was thrilled that they had Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape" for my main ringtone. But I was absolutely flippin' ECSTATIC that they had The Pixies' "Here Comes Your Man" for Isaias' ringtone!!! I was hoping they would have it but figured that they wouldn't but they DID! Yay for Verizon :D

CONEBUTT!!!! <3 <3 <3

ikea kicked our asses. when we finally made it to the registers, the checkout girl told us that it's a 1.5 miles from beginning to end. And we did that three times! It would have only been two but when we got to the part where you actually pick out your stuff we realized i left my hoodie on one of the sofas. so it was allllll the way back to the fake living rooms and then back to the bins. oy! we were originally going to get an entertainment center, a sofa and two end tables but when we got to the area where you pick out the boxes all they had were the end tables. grrrrr. so it was allllll the way back where we decided to get a different entertainment center and that's all. we put it together last night and pictures will be forthcoming. we're going to look for a couch on monday and then we'll be pretty much set.

i had my first renter's snafu this morning--i broke the kitchen faucet. it has a button to switch it to sprayer mode and i pressed too hard and the whole damn thing broke off. but i've already talked to my landlord and he assured me these things happen all the time and he'll be out tomorrow to take a look at it. and yes, i feel like a complete idiot but thank the lord for nice landlords :)

today i'm hanging out at home doing laundry and listening to the new stereo. i loooove regina spektor!

oh, and i got a new phone number, so if anyone wants it, reply to this and i'll email it to you.

I went to six stores today! And all by myself. And I didn't get freaked out. I'm so proud of myself. Tomorrow I'm going to venture the highways by myself so I can go to the bank. Next week will be driver's license and car registration. And then the job hunt will begin :)

I talked to the guy who's driving my stuff here and he said he'll be here Saturday between 8am and 9am. Thank the lord!

I've been having fun "playing house". Yesterday I made fajitas for dinner and today I made bacon and eggs for Isaias before he left for work. Tonight I'm making chicken, rice, green beans and corn muffins. I can't wait til my cookware arrives so I can make chicken and dumplings, spaghetti and meatballs, meatloaf and mashed potatoes and my baked pork chops and sauteed apples.

Now I'm gonna practice my Guitar Hero. I've only tried it once so far and I got an Xbox Live achievement for failing a song on easy. Ay yi yi.

The stream in our backyard:



( More here... )

I just kicked my own ass working out! It's my first workout since my last session with Jackie. That woman taught me well :) Before that, I dusted the blades of the ceiling fan, washed the floors in the kitchen and bathrooms, scrubbed more of the baseboards and cut liners for the kitchen drawers and shelves. I'm trying to get a lot of the mundane cleaning done today and tomorrow because the movers are supposed to be here on Friday. They'll call me tomorrow and let me know for sure. And I can't wait! I *need* my piano. There's too much going on for me to not have an instrument to help me work out my stresses. I was even thinking of going to Target and buying a cheapie guitar just so I would have something. But I can wait two more days. Isaias set up the PS2 last night so I could at least sing some Karaoke Revolution but all that did was make me miss my piano even more. So we watched the Tenacious D movie which was high-larious!

Now I'm gonna shower so I can go grocery shopping so we can finally have some food in this house! All we have is leftover pizza that our landlord bought us because the carpets were filthy when we moved in and he felt bad about it. He had carpet cleaners come the same day and everything is clean now :)

I'm transferring some photos from my phone and will post them later today.

After a grueling 11.5 hours of driving today we are home! Well, actually we're at Isaias' house as we don't have keys to the new place yet. But I'm in Bellevue and that's all that matters. We spent last night in Ogden, UT after driving 7.5 hours. So that makes a nineteen hour trip of which I did 9.5 hours of driving. Not too shabby! We hate Utah and we are never going back. Idaho is depressing but we love love loved Oregon!

The trip was largely uneventful until the last hour when we drove through the craziest horizontally-falling snow in Snoqualmie Pass. Luckily Isaias was driving at the time or else I would have been a basketcase.

Seems like I need some new brake pads on my rear brakes though. I *hate* the sound their making but Isaias says it's an easy repair that we should be able to do ourselves. And by ourselves, I mean him LOL

Hopefully we'll be able to get our keys early tomorrow. And then we're borrowing his parents' truck so we can move his stuff over there. For now, all I have is what I brought in my car. It would be nice if the movers deliver my stuff this week but I don't think that's going to be happening.

So much left to do but now the hard stuff is officially over :)