new house pics!

click here for pics of the new house!!!

progress

well today started the first day of job searching. not too bad. ive found a couple things here and there and sent off my resume. i tried to tweak my resume to sound super fantastic but soon realized that its difficult when i have heb and the med institute - how different could those be?? but anyways, job searching is tedious and stressful but worth it in the end. at least that's what im telling myself. anything to get out of the not so great place im at now. and i told my boss, or rather my ex boss (the one i like and will miss greatly) that im looking for a new job. dont know if thats unprofessional but we're just as much friends as co-workers so i figured it was ok. plus, i wanted to use her as a reference so i figured i should tell her before she starts getting calls and figures it out herself. not suprisingly she wasn't shocked at all when i told her. she knows that the new changes have turned this job into exactly what i detest and hates that im so unhappy and she cant fix it. so it was actually good to talk to her about it in a way and now she can prepare herself for my inevitable departure. haha..just kidding...i wont be missed that much.

so..onto more exciting things. i am loving my new home. and the fact that it's an actual house makes it even better. we finished up a lot of odds and ends this weekend and im feeling very settled. we get our internet set up on wed so ill have pics posted soon after that...i dont have it in me to do it now at starbucks, sorry. but anyways, things i love about the new house: i have a ceiling fan in my room! yes, i realize this isnt necessarily a luxury but you'd be surprised how many apts and townhomes don't actually have these in bedrooms. it makes a world of a difference. there are tons of windows which provides a plethora of natural light. natural light makes me happy. i felt like i lived in a cave in my last apt. not happy. our living and dining rooms have beautiful hardwood floors. mmm. i have so much storage!!! my last apt. didnt even have a hall closet. i now have a garage, an attic, a laundry room, a hall closet, and shelves everywhere!! yes, im getting excited about shelving. you know the saying, "you dont know what you've got till its gone"? well, this is more like "you dont know what you've missed until you have it!!" theres lots of other great things about the house as well but maybe you can just see that from pics later...or come visit! if i know you, that is ;)

well my computer is about to lose power so im gonna have to finish up. ill be better about this after we get internet in the casa, i promise.

my new job

im officially looking for a new job. and yes, im going to go ahead and call that a job in itself because, well...it is. it's almost as stressful as my current job. but yeah, this week basically affirmed the need to find something else. i'm about 4% happy at my job right now and that's just not a significant percentage. this weekend im going to blow the dust off the old resume and make some revisions to hopefully make me sound like any company couldn't possibly live without me.

up until monday i was actually ok with my job...and on a good day i might actually say i was happy. until monday. now i have a different boss and they've (the important people) have basically given me the ultimatum of do all this stuff that we know you hate and are uncomfortable doing, or see ya later. well, they haven't actually laid out the ultimatum yet...they've tried to dance around those words by saying things like "just think about it and about what you want to do." which is stupid because i and they included know exactly what i dont want to do (what they're asking of me) so it's not like i really have two choices. one choice is right and the other choice is pink slip. and honestly i feel like somewhere it has to be wrong that the job they're asking me to do is not the job i was hired to do and it's not really fair to let me go for a job i wasn't hired for. but obviously that's not really in my hands.

all to say, i think my time here is done. im not going to quit until i find something else (unless im fired before that point) so let's just hope it doesn't take me forever to find a new job. so, if you hear of anything that you think i wouldnt completely suck at, lemme know. ill take it.

oh by the way, it's friday and i could not be ANY happier about that.

im here somewhere..

im writing to you not out of a strong desire but out of obligation..and partly because i dont feel like working. but i keep promising that ill post and have yet to do that, so for the sake of holding true to my promises...here i am.

first off this week at work has kinda been rough. well ive broken down crying on two separate occasions so maybe real rough. i won't bore you with details but im not getting fired. however, there's some changes being made including me having to do more proactive sales (which i detest with every living nerve of my body) and me being moved from being under my current boss (whom i love) to another girl (whom im not a big fan of). and these changes came about in the form of a meeting that was conducted in a very uncool manner. so basically i need to do some job/life evaluation and figure out what im going to do. so if you wanna keep me in your thoughts that would be great bc the place where i spend the majority of my day is now unfortunately a place i really dont want to be or feel like like im wanted in general.

onto other things. so you think you can dance ended last week? and how sad that it's over. but how great that benji won bc he was my favorite from the beginning and was consistently great every week and deserved to win.

i saw the movie step up. loved it. want to marry the lead guy, channing tatum. he's dating the lead girl from the movie though so im not sure how im going to get him. any suggestions are welcome.

went to disney world last week with the fam. i was there from sat. to wed. the rest of the fam was there from wed. to wed. i have no idea how they were there for so long but i learned that im just not a theme park enthusiast. in my four days i was able to go to all the 4 parks or so and do everything i felt i needed to do. went on the rides, saw the shows, ate at the good restaurants. my family members however can go on the same ride like 6 times. my nephew berkeley can go on the buzz lightyear ride literally 15 times in a row and not get tired of it. i dont get that. so im glad my vacation was a shorter version otherwise i think half of my time would have been spent at the resort pool - not that that would be a terrible thing. but it was a good time with the family. i also learned that i am a ways off from wanting to go on vacations with little kids of my own. thats a workout in itself. the weather wasnt as bad as i expected. it was about 10 degrees cooler than the sauna called texas but the humidity was a leetle bit higher. however in the end i think it was still better in orlando surprisingly. orlando is also kinda pretty..or at least the area around disney universe...lots of palm trees, bodies of water, great sunsets.... i have pics but you'll have to wait till next week to see those bc i dont have internet at home yet.

i guess thats about it for my life...but that should hold you over for a while. i cant wait for this weekend which will be spent doing a considerable amount of sleeping.

busy busy busy

this weekend was fantastic but filled to the brim. friday after work i took a carload over to the new house (which i absolutely love already and will devote another post solely to its cuteness and greatness). friday and sat friends came in town and we went to new braunfels to float the river. i think everyone in the entire world was there. well, close to it. but it was still fun. didnt almost die like i did last year so that was a relief. it took longer than expected (probably bc we weren't really moving for some of the time) so we nixed the gristmill which was a little sad. we then attended box's grad party which involved a time of storytelling which, if you know the box, could go on literally for days. sunday after everyone left the movers came and we took the rest of everything to the new house. 8 hrs and 3 loads of laundry later i was all unpacked and moved in. yes, i am an expert unpacker. its almost an art form ive mastered at this point. one day i will get around to telling you about my disney adventures and all that other stuff i said i would discuss. thanks for your patience. in the meantime...check out these great pics!

the river group minus mike and luke...not sure
where they were at that point

yes, parker is wearing low slung purple jeans, and yes, jo is wearing shorts that showed way too much of his thighs...and yes, this was all on purpose

the grad party

me and ck

another group shot. i love this pic.

my apologies

sorry for the lack o blogging upon my arrival back. however, things are a bit crazy right now and blogging isn't necessarily highest on my list of priorities. today was catch up day at work - thus not as much time dedicated to catching up on my blogs, surfing the internet etc. tomorrow is more catch up, moving some stuff into the new house!, and having friends come into town :) sat is tubing down river, eating at gristmill, and going to box's grad party. sunday is saying farewell to my friends :( and then real moving time, cleaning the apt, and bidding farewell to my shoebox apt.

but i promise that once ALL that is over, i will be all yours. i will tell you all about disney, family bonding, my thoughts on so you think you can dance, excitement about new shows starting soon, how cute my new house is, the movie step up and my future husband channing tatum, and an update about my future at work.

i will also provide pics of disney and the cute new house.

stay tuned...

and i'm back!

disney was pretty fun. more about that later. here's a few pics.
more to come of those later as well.

blogging drought

just to warn you..i probably won't be blogging for about a week. im leaving early sat morning for disneyworld, or as my friend ck likes to call it - disney universe. i imagine i will be too busy eating meals with disney characters and riding 'it's a small world' to sit down at a computer and blog. and i will be going there via plane. as you've probably heard by now, there were some terrorist attacks that were stopped today involving international flights from europe to the US. now, i dont really see terrorists planning an attack involving planes going to orlando, fl from austin but let's just say a little prayer in case.

anyways...the end of the week is here which means that im supposed to be packed up and kinda ready for my move next week. i can honestly say that ive made pretty decent progress. im even going to take tomorrow off to finish up. yeah, dont be jealous - my day off will be spent running countless errands, packing for disney, laundry, oil change, and packing my apt. i'd almost rather be at work. but hopefully i can get a lot done so that when i return next week i wont want to pull all my hair out. my reward for all my hard work tomorrow will be seeing the new movie, step up. yeah you know the one. hip hop dancer meets ballerina...they fall in love..the whole schpiel. all the while infused with a cheesy plot and terrible acting but the great dance scenes always make up for it in my mind. oh and did i mention im kinda in love with the lead guy, channing tatum? maybe thats some incentive too.

alright, well, try to make it without me for a bit...im sure you'll do just fine.

why moving is so hard/annoying for/to me...

as you well know i am moving in a couple of weeks. if this is new news to you then im going to question your reading abilities. im in semi panic mode bc i will be galavanting in disneyworld from saturday to wednesday. then thurs happens. then friday when im having a bunch of college friends in town to float the river sat. i move on sunday. so that basically leaves thurs the only open day for packing of next week. which means that i basically need to be ready to move by this friday...which is 3 days from now. EEEEEK.

and maybe im just moving/packing challenged but it always becomes such an ordeal. it starts with me imagining the move...100 degree heat...sweating profusely...carting boxes, clothes, furniture, odds and ends up and down and up and down and up and down the stairs etc. this makes me crabby. so then i think, well if i had less stuff then it wouldn't be as bad. so then i go into consolidation mode, and when i say consolidation i really mean, go through all my stuff and take little journeys down memory lane...become sentimental...think to myself, i definitely cannot get rid of this true gem...resulting in NOTHING being consolidated (minus a pile of clothes that i always manage to get rid of..sometimes still with tags on).

so then my room turns into a war zone with every possession that i own scattered everywhere, boxes half full, piles that are supposed to have a purpose but really don't, etc. it suddenly seems like i have twice as much stuff as when i began.

annoyed/helpless/hopeless/overwhelmed/bedraggled feelings set in...

i lay down on my bed...

i watch 3 episodes of felicity...

and somehow i am no further along than when i began 4 hrs prior.

can you do it?

spin a pencil or pen around your middle finger? you know what im talking about...you've seen people do it in class or in a meeting. im proud to say that during my anatomy and physiology class in 12th grade i mastered this skill...and it's gotten me sooo far in life. anyways, ive posted a couple of these before, these "wikihow" things. they crack me up bc they're semi-serious but can't be completely. my favorite part of this one:

"things you'll need"
A pencil, either mechanical or unsharpened woodcase.
Hand eye coordination.
A middle finger.

read it if you want..it was entertaining to me, although it doesn't take much these days...

shopping around...

...for car insurance. uggh. not the type of shopping i really love to partake in. here's the thing. over the course of a year my semiannual car insurance payment has gone up $200. that doesn't seem right. i called good ole state farm and asked them what the deal was. evidently my cr-v's rating has gone from a 10 to a 15 meaning that more people wanna steal it and the parts cost more to replace. she said this accounted for a good $50 of the increase. im like, so...the other $150 is what exactly? i haven't had any wrecks, any tickets...im basically the worlds best driver ;) she then just kinda didnt have an excuse except that the rates just go up over time. she said i could take defensive driving and it would go down about $50 and the course only costs about $30. neat...saving me $20 big ones.

all to say...im thinking im gonna leave st. farm and get some new car insurance. i went online and got online quotes from geico, esurance, and progressive. i basically got the same quote from all three give or take $20 and it was a good $200 cheaper than what im paying now (close to my original payment a year ago). however, my question is this...are these places legit? of course i hope that i wont be in situations where ill actually need to use my car insurance, but say i do, i dont want some shady insurance that isn't gonna pay up or something.

so im asking that you give me any info you have about car insurance...anything youve heard...good companies, bad companies, what you have etc. don't be afraid to comment, people.

friday schtuffff

my love, allen iverson, will remain a sixer for next season. there was big talk that he was gonna be traded but in the end he remains a sixer for now.

disneyworld = t minus 8 days. moving = t minus 16 days. both equally exciting.

one of my new roommates is asian and on wed. nite we were asked what i see as inevitably being a popular question once we live together and are a lot of places together: "so, are y'all sisters?" to which i replied, "no, we're just both asian." honestly, we look nothing alike apart from the fact that we're asian. however ive heard the statement "all asians look alike" a time or two or fifteen. so i guess i should just get used to people asking us that...and start thinking of creative ways to answer...once it gets old maybe we'll just start saying yes and come up with some huge fabricated story of how we were separated at birth and then reunited and stuff. yeah...

my friend ck and i have both have this ability to eat the same thing for days on end. we both usually bring our lunch to work and it's not uncommon for us to have made something that weekend and to eat it for the whole next week. we'll ive outdone her this time. minus an occasional lunch out, i've literally had the same lunch consisting of a turkey/swiss/sourdough bread/honey mustard sandwich, baked cheetos, and a fruit cup for FIVE WEEKS in a row. honestly i don't even know how it's not old to me yet. i imagine one day i'll break and won't be able to eat that sandwich combo for the rest of my life. but for now...it sure makes grocery shopping a lot easier.

that's all i got. have a super duper stupendous weekend.

winks a lot

ok so i kinda have this thing for guys that wink. not in the dirty, cheesy and shoot-the-gun hand motion type of wink. but the ever so subtle, quick wink at the opportune time. it's just kinda hot to me. haha...did i just say that? ok well anyways, my friends harm and sean know this little fact and sometimes sean will give me a wink for kicks and giggles. they just emailed me this pic of their cat who is evidently a super talented winker kitty. i died laughing. and no, it doesn't really do it for me like the boys do. i prefer my winkers to have two legs...not four.

that guy, donald miller

ive recently made a new friend, hannah, thru the blogging world. we've never met - she lives in new zealand (and im super jealous), but we read each others blogs and thru that we kinda feel like we know each other. anyways, she left a comment asking me if i liked blue like jazz, a book by donald miller. so instead of replying with a forever long comment i decided i would just post.

i know ive given shout outs to good ole don before but im gonna do it again. he quickly became one of my favorite authors after reading a couple of his books. he has four out - blue like jazz, searching for god knows what, through painted deserts, and the recently released to own a dragon. i have read the first 3 and just picked up the fourth last week. it's actually a book directed towards guys who grew up with fathers. a little weird that im reading it since for one, im a girl, and two, i grew up with a dad...and a great one at that. but im such a fan of miller's that i'll read anything by him no matter what the content matter. i guess that determines a good author in a way. and i figure maybe it will give me insight into a life experience i am so unfamiliar with. ill let you know how it goes.

but more on donald miller and why i like him. he's a christian writer but doesn't need a lot of christian fluff and overly churchy words to get his point across. he takes normal, real life situations and applies much deeper meanings. he's got a fantastic sense of humor - very witty, quite sarcastic...just my cup of tea. so if you're looking for some good reads i would pick up any of the aforementioned titles. i have read blue like jazz all the way thru once and re-read many chapters 2 or 3 more times through. searching for god knows what is a little meatier...still good though. through painted deserts is more of a journal about a cross country road trip he takes with his friend paul. extremely entertaining. and then the dragon book...but ive only read two chapters so i cant quite give a review yet. i like it so far though.

so there's your book review for the day, kids.

some stuff

the outlets open in round rock this weekend. pretty exciting stuff. although the san marcos outlets are close, the round rock outlets will be closer! here is a list of all the stores. hopefully they'll keep expanding and get a pottery barn or crate n barrel someday. with me living in austin, my parents living georgetown, and round rock being right in the middle - that very well might result in unnecessary shopping. oh but just so you know...this is opening weekend and it's also tax free weekend...so basically you would have to be slightly insane to actually want to go there this weekend.

speaking of shopping. i think i have some sort of shopping problem. ive realized this as i recently went thru my closet the other nite (the normal ritual everytime i move). i pull out clothes i rarely wear, don't fit anymore, or are just downright ugly and get rid of them. well, i pulled out clothes that STILL HAD TAGS ON IT. what the heck? i buy clothes and don't even wear them once and then want to get rid of them. i am a terrible person...someone help me. so with that, i have a bunch of clothes that i'm getting rid of and would really like to give them to someone that could use them. a lot of them have barely been worn, if at all, and are perfectly fine clothes. i just don't need them. so if you know of any families that might have girls my size that could really use them then i would love to know that they are actually going to be of use rather than hang on a rack in goodwill. or if you know of a good organization that needs clothes...lemme know.

sermon cliffs notes

i don't normally post about previous sermons. mainly because i don't always remember what the sermon was about halfway through the week. hey, im just being honest. shoot..sometimes i dont remember 15 minutes after church but im a really bad aural learner...im much more visual. this probably explains my struggles in college with staying awake in class, staying focused, and being able to retain anything. i dont have ADD but i do think i have the attention span of a 3 yr old....but anyways...

i enjoyed sunday's talk at the stone. it stemmed from a verse that says: (God speaking) "if you love me, you will obey my commands." not too tricky. but i liked what matt had to say about this. he talked about habitual sins - stuff that you might struggle with repeatedly, or even just sin in general. and he went on to say, when you go to your friends or whoever and ask them advice on how to "fix" these things in our lives we generally get the same answers: read your bible more, pray harder, remove those things from your life that are gettin' in your way, etc. and not that these answers are necessarily wrong, but there's another place you can start. LOVE GOD. "if you love me, you will obey my commands." so basically matt was saying your first priority needs to be to love the Lord, and then those other things like praying and reading etc. are going to fall in place easier.

when i was in college station i served as a co-director for a year in one of the age groups of an inner city ministry called youth impact. sidenote - my best memories from college stem from this ministry, the kids i met, and the friends i made through it. but anyways, when i was on staff the 'motto' was, "love God first, serve Him second." first off, i like and need simple truths like that. things that you don't have to sit and ponder for days to understand. but it's so true. God wants so bad that we just love Him and build that relationship first. then we can serve, then we can learn about His teachings etc. if you don't have a solid foundation then you're always going to be struggling to make your world 'work.'

well there's your sermon from pastor kate for the day. it's not rocket science and i'll probably never post on deep theological matters or anything of a real debatable matter...but like that would be any fun anyways, right?

aww...cutest house ever!

this is my new humble abode.

and the cute little kitchen..or rather, big kitchen

and cute big living/dining area..no, the man and little asian boy do not come with the housei will post pics once we actually move in and it's our stuff in there not the people living there now... you like?