Almost done waiting!

It's been a solid month-and-a-half of waiting!! I am SO tired of waiting but now our moving date is right around the corner and the excitement is at the utmost high!! Craig picked up the keys to our new rental home in Milwaulkie, Oregon (just south of Portland, but still so close we're going to say we live in Portland!). He's planning on staying there tonight and then on Thursday after work he'll be flying back to So Cal so that Friday we can load up the moving truck, have a small dinner with close friends and family and then start our 17-18 hour drive on Saturday. We're hoping to make it HOME by Sunday afternoon. It's going to be a hectic 4th of July weekend for us!!

I do plan on enjoying a bottle of wine that my boss gave me as a going away/housewarming gift on the 4th. He is a big wine person so it's bound to be a good bottle. Hopefully the truck will be unloaded enough to be able to enjoy it and relax a bit. If not then, then I will definitely be opening it up when I begin to unpack everything. My last week at work went by SO quickly. The other designer in our office was on vacation that week and we had three projects that needed to be worked on. I managed to get two of them ready for the bidding process and did a little bit of work on the third. Needless to say I was so busy I was forgetting what the days were and suddenly it was Friday - my  last day. I've enjoyed working for JG Stouse - they are the first (and only) company I've worked for in my professional career and I have learned a lot from them. I will definitely miss my coworkers.

I am so surprised that I found the time to update this right now. I feel like I have been running in circles getting everything done for this move. I finished packing a few hours ago and occasionally find myself walking in circles (literally) looking for anything I may have missed packing. I see boxes, furniture and then the things I'll be using up until we move and  then I turn around and repeat the process in another room (out of three rooms). I think now that I have moved things into organized piles it's helped the circle-walking though. Not as much clutter to look at as it's all confined to certain areas. I have the "doggy bag" read to go - water, dish, food and leashes all sitting next to the dog beds that will eventually go in my car (yes, our dogs get to enjoy the 17 hour drive too). I have my bag with clothing that will last me a week - the rest is all packed up. I have the "human bag" complete with treats (jolly ranchers, cookies, crackers) and lastly the "human cooler" with water, monsters and sodas.

I think I am ready to go.

Oregon

So, Craig left for Oregon today. It was bitter sweet, I was able to hold my composure until I saw his Dads eyes get glossy and then I kinda lost it. I know this will sound ridiculous but I missed Craig before he was even gone! I told him that about a week ago and proclaimed my own pitifulness (that's not a word, I know). I guess it's just knowing that we're not physically together for an indefinite period of time is what made me miss him prematurely. The anticipation of being without him made me want to be with him the second he got home from work each day. But now he's actually gone and started this big adventure. I am hopeful that he will find us a place shortly after getting there. We're hoping we can move during the 4th of July weekend, it's at least something to look forward to. I plan on working for three more weeks at my job and then having that extra week to visit with my family and friends in San Diego. I know a zoo trip is planned and I'd like to make a Hollywood trip sometime then too!!

Ahh...exciting times filled with lots of anticipation...

I miss him.

:-)

Moving...

This past week has been an interesting one. Last Thursday (5/13) Craig got a message from his friend Justin regarding a programming position at his company in Oregon that they have had a problem trying to fill. He said that they have a few remote programmers that work out of Southern California but they would prefer to find someone local and if Craig would be willing to move, he would more thank likely have the position. Craig was immediately excited about this opportunity and I was naturally hesitant about such a drastic change. Leave my friends? My family? I don't know anyone in Oregon! What the heck is IN Oregon?! But in the end I decided that Craig should take this opportunity. I wouldn't want to be the person holding him back (could you imagine the guilt?!) and I think it will do good things for our relationship. The pros definitely out weigh the cons, I mean really - no sales tax (compare to nearly 10% in CA), cost of living is much less, the houses in OR are way larger and on much more land, a new culture, new people, and I hear it's just beautiful there. Craig has always wanted to move to a more "urban" environment and he also loves the beauty of green landscapes and Portland fits in with both. In the past we've talked about moving to another state, I was always joking about it but if California is falling apart at the seams then why not move to a place that has it's sh*t together (well, more so than CA)?

So when is all of this going to take place? Well, I intend on working as long as I can where I am at. The "extra" money will come in handy and as it is now there isn't too much of a shortage of work for me to do. It's been slow but I feel there will be enough work to last until the move. Plus if my boss agrees to it I could do some remote working to wrap anything up or on an as needed basis in the future. Craig put in his two-weeks at his current job earlier today (5/21) and then he'll drive to Portland to begin working and looking for a place to live and then we'll arrange a moving truck and coordinate how we'll get everything up to OR. With that said we have no idea when we'll actually be moving but I estimate around the end of June and early July. 
I am hoping to have a farewell party on the Friday night of our moving weekend so for now just keep your Friday nights toward the end of June, early July open. :-)  We will need some volunteers on the following Saturday morning to help us load the moving truck, everything is packed (as it is currently stored in the garage at the condo) but I think a few extra helpers for the heavy stuff would be nice to help us get the truck loaded up faster so we can start our seventeen-hour drive to Portland sooner. That should be an interesting drive with two dogs.

The past week has been bittersweet. Thinking about missing my friends and family immensely has brought me to tears a few times, the thought of being in a foreign place and not knowing anyone but my husband has made me nervous, but the excitement for things to come has made me optimistic and I can't wait to get this adventure started!

Much love to all of our friends and family, we will miss you!! 

P.S.
You will visit us in Portland, won't you?

Slacking Off

So, I have this tendency to slack off on finishing projects (is this even news to anyone?). Its caused me to have way too many unfinished projects lying around, leaving areas of the house messy and taking up storage space. I spend money I shouldn't be spending on new projects because I get bored with the "old" (even though I really want to finish the old projects) or I'm spending more money on various things to finish the old projects without actually working on them more than a day or so. I have several years of scrap booking projects that I should finish before I forget what was going on in the pictures. I think that is the most important of the projects I'd like to complete (at least up until the end of 2009 - so that would mean I have 3 1/2 to 4 years of pictures to get into books, plus a few vacations). I also bought a various amount of beading supplies because I wanted to make this ring that a co-worker of mine wore (her friend made it for her). $35 in beads, another $40-60 in tools, and various donated supplies from my Mom later...it sits in a craft box waiting for me to have the patience to figure out how to make the thing. One of the wives of Craig's co-workers made me a little diagram of how to make the ring, I tried and realized I didn't have the correct beads for part of it. Got frustrated and quit. I will go back to it again, but I think I need to clear my head of ALL of the other projects I have running through it, sort of a "start fresh" sort of thing. Yet another project - a few years ago I made 3 pieces of art out of laminate flooring samples I got from work -they turned out really nice and my sister in law requested I make her one. I have everything I need for it except a tube of liquid nails and this simple thing is the only reason why this project has sat in my to-do for over a year.
I guess the whole purpose of this post is to get me thinking about which projects I have and which order to complete them in. This sort of goes along with my 101 Things in 1001 Days list too, if I can get these projects complete it will take care of about 5 items on that list. I am determined to finish these projects THIS year (at least that is my frame of mind at this moment in time). Now the question is: Which project do I take on first?
I am thinking of taking on the scrapbooks first as that project is the most far behind but it is definitely an overwhelming one to take on. The reason I want to do this one first is because Craig and I have been discussing a trip to Ireland and I know without a doubt there will be much to scrap-about. I wouldn't want to get even further behind after the potential trip so if I can get caught up before hand, then I'd be more apt to get that vacation book knocked out in a jiffy upon our return!! At the same time I could work on the art project for my sister in law - the glue takes a day or so to set-up and I would have to have the laminate pieces weighted down to the foam-core as it dries. It took me a good week to get the first 3 pieces done because of this. Just need to hit up the home improvement store now.

My goal in the next two weeks: At least begin the art project (hopefully finish it) and get to the next port on my cruise scrapbook (baby steps). I'll try to update.

Quickie

A quick update.

#37 - Well I think this month I've made up for the 24 pictures per month that I missed doing the past few months mostly because of completing #90.

#54 - Work in progress. Planning the Owens family reunion and intend on sending out invitations in the next month. Yippie!

#56 Well, a possible Vegas trip is being planned, I don't have many details of it yet - everyone who's involved in the pre-talk of it is checking financing to even see if it's possible this year.

#90 Bought a Canon Rebel T2i and LOVE it. Can't wait to figure out all of the little features it's got and get creative with my picture taking. I have been trying to go out and take pictures about once a week (either at an event or just around the neighborhood) to practice different techniques.

That's all for now.

Ok, Ok... I'll update already!!

Well, it's been a while since I've given any updates on my listy-loo. I blame my job (yay that I have one, still!) for taking up all of my time. I began working at my previous company again with the understanding that there would be about four months worth of work for me at about three days a week. Well, I'm at three months back at the job and only worked three days a week for the first month - been at 8 hours/5 days since then. It's SO great that I am working this much and I am so thankful that things are still seeming to pick up! The paycheck sure is nice!!! I will admit though, that it was nice being on "vacation" for nine months (I just had no money to have any fun!).

So now I am taking the time out to update my list. I did change a few items on the list to things that were a bit less on-going and more substantial to me. So check out the new version of My List. Hopefully I didn't switch up the numbering too much so it'll still work with my previous posts.

Here goes the update:

5. I finally purchased a book on financing and investing - yes, it's one of those "Idiots Guides" but it's easy to follow along and understand in non-financial mumbo-jumbo. It was my book for the plane when we went to Oklahoma for Kendel's wedding. I got about half way through it and now it sits on my bookshelf with the bookmark we got as a wedding favor. I do intend on finishing it. I also got a book about retirement planning. Work in progress.
30. This one is a new one that I had already added to my list, prior to officially making the changes. In the time it took me to finally update the list, I managed to get it partially crossed off. I've got all of my discs moved over to paper sleeves, got rid of those pesky, bulky cases and have all of my 600-something movies into 2 decorative boxes. Now I just need to purchase the storage unit I have been eye-ing. Yay for less clutter!!
55. We're going to have a pain-in-the-arse problem on 2010's taxes because of the foreclosure of our house (it went through on 3/16/10), so we're trying to keep track of every-single penny we can use to offset the big tax implications we'll face. Federally speaking we'll be just fine due to the debt-relief-act of 2007, which was extended until 2012, but lovely California will still be taxing us on the "profit" we "got" when the house was foreclosed (ie: we'll owe state taxes on the full amount of our loan because it's looked at as income, even though we have not a penny of that in our pocket). I am not looking forward to next years tax season. Ick.

Well, not much updated. I still only have 8 items completely crossed off and won't be counting half's anymore (more motivation!). 

Until next time.

Scrapbooks

I find that I get the urge to start working on another scrapbook before I've managed to finish the last one I started - this is a really bad habit that needs to go away. I will say I am one of the few people I know who has finished their wedding album. Although, I'd be lying because I have a few pages somewhere in the middle left undone and some writing that needs to be added here and there, but it is presentable as-is so I am telling everyone it's done. I also have our first year (the dating year) book done - with the exception of some things I want to change, some text I need to add, and a few things from about 2 months before our wedding. Ok, so that wouldn't qualify as "done"....it's just so close to it that I often forget that one isn't done. I have ONE page and possibly some text left for our honeymoon album and that book is fairly skinny so I am wondering if I should finish off the calendar year in that book or start a new one? It's a bit confusing to me where I should start and end my books. I think that's what causes me to stop working on them. It's not an excuse though because I could work on the pages and move them around later. I think it'd be silly to use an entire album for the last 3 months of the year just so that I can actually have "year books" after then. Oh decisions, decisions. I have a lot of books I need to get done so hopefully I can force myself to sit down and work on them. The only issue with that is that when I force myself to do it, they tend to not look as good. It's a mood thing I guess.

Here is what I have left to get done:
1) 1st year book - modify a few pages, add events in last few months before wedding.
2) Wedding - Finish/add remaining pictures/pages to middle of album, finish text.
3) Honeymoon - Waterfall pictures/page and text
4) End of 2006??? (maybe I'll tack this on to the 1st year book??? honeymoon book?)
5) Puerto Vallarta - start album
6) Cruise - Travel day and 1st cruising days are done, next: Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and home)
7) Cabo - DONE (this one is a digital book, which I am still not sure I like)
8) 2007 - do
9) 2008 - do
10) 2009 - do
11) 2010 -do

Well.. lots to do. I don't like the digital albums for vacations and bigger events, but I am thinking about doing the 12x12 digital albums for the yearbooks - they are a lot skinnier and I can add to them as I take the pictures - no need to print anything until I get the entire book printed.. plus I can do individual pages and put them in a fancy album if I want to... we'll see. I want to get the vacation books done before the year books though - I have a TON of bright, tropical etc papers, stickers etc. so the sooner I get those books done, the sooner I have less scrap-booking supplies lying around.

Just whats on my mind. Maybe reading this later will push me to work on these.