Mom was just here for a visit, left this morning.
Had a good visit, some time to talk and catch up with each other on things, do our check-ins.

Watched a lot of movies:
Quinceanera - LOVED IT
Night Listener - alright
Why We Fight - interesting

Watched Inconvenient Truth tonight and still might watch SAW III as well, not sure.

As usual been super busy with work, but kicking ass too.
I really feel like I have been on top of a lot of issues going on at work. Takes a lot of organization keeping up with it all. Thats why sometimes having trouble sleeping, wake up thinking of new questions, areas to look at, follow-up emails to send out.

Not sure where its all going in just the last few days, I think I am making a bigger deal of the issues in my mind, and maybe I need to let it go, and ride it out. Normal advice that I need to follow. But I am looking around for safety net.

Leave for Seattle Tuesday morning. Meetings with a vendor Weds & Thurs, I need to try to feel some things out while I am there.

Been busy with community stuff also. Had Gourmet club last weekend, was really nice. Dressed up a bit and bring fancy food over to someones house and eat together. Something for Brad and I to do together. Then on Tuesday had a monthly blook club meeting. Been contacting all of last years block captains to confirm them up for doing it again this year and had to seek out replacements for a few, revised neighborhood maps, and the welcome packets for new people as they move in. Its been keeping me busy, but I have been enjoying it. Getting to know some new people for me, and I always like to help out.

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Stephen Colbert explains the whole AT&T thing!

Woke up and he was stretched across the foot of the bed.
He thrashes around when he sleeps and has the occasional "night terrors".
As I was getting dressed, he looked very uncomfortable head hanging off the bed like that.





Then he slid down further until his front paws were on the floor but he was too tired ot do anything about it, so he stood there for awhile with his head sloping down.







I picked up his front half and pushed him back up on the bed while I finished dressing.

Brad has today off, so I set up office at Panera today.
So we can snack, surf and work there.
Getting ready to close down and do some grocery shopping.

Later tonight I have my first neighborhood community meeting. I have been elected (if I remember the title correctly....) Welcoming Committee Captain or maybe it was Block Master... They told me the all the block captains report to me, and I will have to give them info that needs to be passed out, as well as new member info.

Last night I went to my first Tastefully Simple buy something party.

These are all part of my efforts to get to know our neighbors and community. We have lived here 5 years and we don't hardly know anyone and would like to be more social. I am still on the sub-list for Bunco, also in the neighborhood book club as well as the gourmet club (but that one is just like 4 times a year)

This will help me break my bad habit of stereotyping people. There are some uptight people, but even then I see them trying to break their habits by joining these clubs and trying to get to know other people and try something new. So props for that!


Yesterday we went on our first "geo-caching adventure".
Brad has a new GPS coming in today and in his GPS excitement, starting looking at geocaching stuff and found out there are TONS of geocaches around us.

So we bundled up and went out to find it.
Brad gave me the GPS and OFF I WENT!! charging through the forest, underbrush and small streams.
It was fun, and good exercise. Some people leave a calling card. One cute card was of a 5 year old dressed in his "adventurer outfit" hat, vest etc, with his online name. It was really cute.
Once you find the cache, you pick something out someone left before and then add something to the cache. I picked out a happy meal toy and we left a candle.

We kept running into the same group of deer a few times.

Ate too much strawberry Kookaburra licorice.
My new favorite.
You really need to find some and try it. I heard people talking it about it last time I went to the candy store to buy some cherry sours.

Watched The Illusionist tonight, loved it. Ed Norton is always so damned cool.

Just found out yesterday I'll be going to Seattle end of this month for just a few days. I'm excited, haven't been there before, have some places I want to see, try some Seattle coffee, visit McLeod Residence, visit a few LJ people and a bunch of work people to try to cram in....and I WILL try to cram it all in.

Also excited about my mom coming for a visit (the weekend before I leave for Seattle). I want her to make me her mac & cheese, my yearly birthday cake (cherry chip!). Told my boyfriends at Starbucks about her visit and they are all excited. She comes in on a Thursday, so I thought we would go to Starbucks for our morning coffee and spend some time with the gang, and then go outlet mall shopping.

Trying to stay on top of things has made me brain dead today.
I go nuts with lists.
But I did schedule a massage spa package for myself next week.
I have had massages before but not a whole package of services, so this will be a real treat. I feel like with the hours I have worked and all the overtime I deserve it. Hot rocks body massage, body wrap, facial, manicure & pedicure. Next Weds!

My work ringtone is Earth, Wind & Fire - Shining Star. It was Sexy Back to be goofy my first few weeks, but it would make me jump too much in the middle of the night. Shining Star is more soothing, but still wakes me up, but then motivational too. I like to think I am a shining star :) or just keep telling myself that.

I got a call from one of the recruiters I was working with, one of the places that interviewed me right before I started my current job are still interested in me. They hired someone after I took my job but it didn't work out, so he called just to let me know for down the road. Nice to know.

I was off the on-call since Sunday morning. So I got to enjoy New Years. We did more of the same, eat and watch a lot of movies.
Yesterday we watched Who Killed the Electric Car, The Scoop, and Cars. Day before we watched Feed (excellent movie!!) Tonight I got Snake on a Plane.

For New Years we ate pepperoni roll, and snow crab legs. Yesterday we had a pork and sauerkraut casserole.





Mitch at his post watching the backyard from behind our sofa