Housing Market

So glad my ass is already in a house, otherwise I might be living in Ohio or something (nothing against Ohio, I just prefer California). I am looking forward to getting our house appraised again after our kitchen remodel is done to see how our investment has grown. It's definitely worth keeping on top of since it's the largest investment a person makes in their life. Thanks Mom for the good financial savvy you've passed on to me! :)

http://biz.yahoo.com/brn/050113/14985_1.html

one more interesting blog I found

http://wardomatic.blogspot.com/

this guy is an artist and his blog revolves around that. Be sure to read the adorable post dated 1/04/05.

searching for blog purpose

Hello blog-world! So I have abandoned my site for several weeks. I've concluded that a big reason for it is that the purpose of this blog feels a little aimless. I have maybe two friends that read it. And although I'd like to think that other people out there in the world may be reading, I'm a bit of a realist and I am doubtful of that. I was hoping to revive my interest in keeping my blog up by reading some other people's blogs to get ideas and/or inspiration. I found a couple that seem interesting (although I haven't read them in depth), but I'm not quite sure what it is about them that I find appealing. Probably they seem quite communal in topic, and yet there is a common theme within it. Here they are, and if anyone out there reading has tips on how to beat the "blahgs", I'm listening!

Oh, and Happy New Year! :)

http://blogsisters.blogspot.com/
http://carnivalofthecats.com/
http://dunkindonutstalk.com/

Dress Success!

Don'tcha just love it when you're shopping and you find what your looking for, and when you get to the register you get a surprise 50% off?! Well it happened to me last night. And I scored on accessories, too, to go with it.

The shopping Goddesses were with me! Om Namah Shopaya! ;)

Now I feel like Cinderella who was visited by her Fairy Godmother, and now I'm going to "The Ball" all dressed up. Hooray! And this little black silk number that I found I can wear to all of the other holiday parties I'm going to this year. And any other party/event I'm going to next year!

"All hail the Little Black Dress!"

(Can you tell it's been a while since I've bought myself a nice and worthy dress and actually had accessories to go with it? There's some kind of sense of completion here.)

update on the haps this week

So this week has been revolving around getting ready for this weekend' s company holiday party. Deciding what to wear is always an event in and of itself. I have two formal gowns, one wine and one a somewhat cobalt blue, both were once my bridesmaid's gowns for friends' weddings. They're nice dresses both of them, but somewhat understated, and well my accessory selection just sucks! The wine dress is about seven years old by now, and the blue one is around four years old. So I'm going to go to Macy's tonight after work and either find a new dress and accessories to go with it, or come home disappointed but not without a "doable" alternative. I just want to find something that I really like and am happy with. Shopping is fun when I find stuff, and such a pain in my arse if I don't. We'll see what happens! I know we'll have lots of fun at the party regardless of old dress or new dress.

ta!

My Weekend

On Saturday at 10:30am we met our photographing friend at Berkeley Marina (his good suggestion) and we took photos for about an hour and a half there. The sun couldn't make up it's mind and it was playing hide-and-seek with the high clouds. I didn't wear my glasses, which also act as sunglasses when I'm outside, and so both hubby and I were kinda squinty. It was also hazy, but we still got some nice shots out there. And the camera is a high-powered digital camera with a huge ol' lens on it, and digital pictures are very truthful and unforgiving. I look as old as I am and not as I perceive myself. ;) Then we went to Pyramid Brewing Company for lunch in Berkeley, and then back to our friend's house in Castro Valley. We did nice shots of hubby and I in black turtle-necks with a black background and so the images are very striking, and he played with the lighting also like illuminating only half of our faces for some of the shots. Then we had one more change of clothes, I had on a sweater with different shades of blue and hubby had on a button up shirt in a pale shade of blue. They came out good too, but I'm not sure about the black background for those pictures in blue. Then they (friend and his wife) fed us a lovely dinner and we left around 8:30pm, a long day but a good visit with some great friends. :) Oh, and since they're digital photos we got to see them all within minutes on his computer. He printed us out a proof sheet so we can pick out the ones we like so he can get them properly printed for us. And he's doing this free of charge, and as advertising for his photography company which is fine by us!

Then Sunday, we got our butts in Christmas gear and went shopping for gifts for folks and made sure to pick out some Christmas cards to send to people. Now I have to get my Christmas card list going and get them out! But of course first I have to get some Christmas stamps from the post office (I need stamps anyways ;). At least it's still early in the season. I have more gifts to buy, but yesterday at least jogged some ideas around in my head for people's gifts. Then this weekend is our company Christmas Party at the San Francisco Concourse where it was last year and the theme is "Boardwalk" so who knows what they'll come up with! They seem to have a pretty fat budget for the party every year and it's always a great time. We're splurging on a hotel this year so we don't have to leave early to catch the BART home. Here's where we're staying, and we get a company discount with them too! http://www.hoteltriton.com/

That's all for now, gotta git to work... bye!

Hi again world

Geez, it's been almost two weeks since I've last blogged. I have been busy though. I had a nice Thanksgiving over at my sister's house. I don't get to see them enough, but they rarely make the trip to come see me and I'm always the one to drive into their town. It doesn't really matter in the larger scheme of things, the point is to be together :).

So now it's all about Christmas, and we're making our lists of what and for whom. I'm happy to see the decorations go up all around, and people a little more sentimental. This time of year is hard to beat. I have the urge to get up into the snow and see some sparkling white peaks against a crystal clear blue sky, not to mention the refreshing cold clean air. I don't know if we'll be splurging on a overnight trip to Tahoe though this year, as we've got major expenses coming up. I'm surprised I'm even doing Christmas, but I can't seriously think of not doing Christmas!

We go to get pictures taken on this Saturday by one of our friends who does photography on the side. It should be fun, but gosh, I just don't have much to wear since most of my wardrobe is jeans and t-shirts with a few sweaters thrown in. I don't have money to spend on something that will only be useful for taking pictures in right now. And it's not like this is the only chance we have to get our pictures taken, so it will probably be a short and sweet session.

Gotta get ready for work now...