D and I have been doing a little registry stalking as the wedding gets closer. We realized we had too many wine glasses and not enough appliances like an electric grill and a toaster. Someone has already bought the toaster! Woot woot. I just wish we could put some more of our hobby stuff on there rather than just sheets and kitchen ware. If I could add anything I wanted, I’d add a kindle and an outdoor firepit. Maybe for Christmas…

I was watching Clean House on the Style Network the other day, and it amazes me how bad people can let their clutter get. How do people live that way? Now both D and I have a bit of OCD, so our place is by no means messy, but the closet spaces are starting to get out of hand. We moved from a fairly spacious 1 bedroom apartment that had a garage to a 2 bedroom duplex with a small shed. There is a lot more closet space in our duplex, but we lost the garage. When we first moved in, we sort of threw everything into the second room to go through later. Now that we’ve organized the other rooms, I’m finally tackling that spare room. It started out as the dumping ground for all of our junk, from spare flash drives, computer parts, and old clothes, to our exercise equipment and craft stuff.

A huge help in the battle of organizing was getting a desk. I finally got this great desk with lots of storage drawers. We also picked a function for the room. Instead of the “junk room” it is now the office/workout room. We even have an exercise ball that doubles as the desk chair. I’m not all the way finished organizing, but I’ve made a big dent in the mess. The only issue I have now is parting with old clothes. Do I really need a dress that I wore once, in 2006? I think it’s time to get a goodwill bag ready. I guess I do have something in common with those messy Clean House people after all!

I listened to the audiocd of the first Queen of Babble book by Meg Cabot and I thought it was kind of cute. It’s been a long time since I listened to it so I couldn’t quite remember. My friend A told me that the Queen of Babble is actually the first in a series, so I decided to check out #2, Queen of Babble in the Big City.

The main character is Lizzie, who is the Queen of Babble herself. She’s got a big mouth that’s always getting her in trouble. The story opens up with her waking up in a luxurious apartment with porcelain tile and priceless works of art above the bed. It’s her boyfriend’s apartment, who just happens to be ridiculously rich, handsome, and generally perfect.

The plot of the story is fairly predictable, with Lizzie getting too clingy and pressuring her boyfriend to marry her. It’s absurd because they’ve only been together 6 months. I’ll confess that I had to return this book early to the library, so I just skimmed through the last few chapters. I can tell you I didn’t like it at all, and I don’t recommend the series, unless maybe you’re a teenage girl, or don’t get easily annoyed by obnoxious main characters who are far too ditzy to be taken seriously. It reminded me a lot of The Shopaholic in some ways. Definitely a thumbs down from me!

So I finally read Confessions of a Shopaholic. I know, it took me forever.
While it was written cute and funny, I just couldn’t identify with the protagonist at all. I’ve never been a big spender. I guess that’s why I just wasn’t that into the story. The whole time I just kept thinking in my head, this girl is a complete moron! She writes for a finance magazine, but she knows nothing about budgeting her money. How can anyone be that dumb? I also think considering the tough economic times we’re in, I identify with her even less. Perhaps if I hadn’t read this book while we were in a recession I might think differently about it.

Still, there were parts that were cute, and I love Sophie Kinsella as a writer, so I won’t say it was a waste. It was such a quick read that even though it wasn’t my favorite, I don’t feel like I wasted my time with it. I still think her book, Can You Keep a Secret was far better than Shopaholic. I still might check out her other books in the series, and see if our main character has grown at all. If she hasn’t matured I think the books will get downright annoying, but if she’s learned something along the way, then it might make for a better read.

I will say that I don’t have any plans to run out and rent the movie adaptation of the book either, despite how adorable Isla Fischer is. I’m afraid the character she plays just might make me hate my beloved actress!

Make my sideways face because it always makes you laugh.

The first thing that attracted me to you was your smile. When I saw your picture, I thought you had the nicest smile, and you looked like you had a great sense of humor.

Turns out I was right, you have the same goofy sense of humor as me, which brings me to the second that that attracted me to you: your ability to make the most convincing monkey face.

Now that we’re together, I’m more attracted to you every day. I love that we can be goofy together, and you make me smile every day.

Well I’m still sick, and I’m bored out of my mind. I’m at least working today, but thankfully work is slow. I don’t have much of a voice, so I don’t think I’d be any good on the phone. I’ve just been watching horrible daytime tv and surfing the net. What is up with daytime televison? 4 different channels were airing 4 different episodes of Roseanne. Couldn’t they at least show reruns of Friends or something good?
So I’ve been searching the web and daydreaming about what my dream home is going to be like. The thing I want the most is a backyard. I can’t wait till I have a nice yard that I can start gardening in. I want a lot of trees and plants in my backyard, like those beautiful Flowering Japanese Magnolia trees. Those might be a little out of budget but wouldn’t they be nice to have?

This past Christmas, the boy’s parents got us two roundtrip tickets to Seattle. We just needed to get away from our busy lives for a little while. We have been so busy with the move, with the boy’s fire academy, and with work that we just couldn’t wait to get out of town for awhile. So we ended up grabbing our Rimowa luggage and heading out for four days in the Emerald City.

Seattle was a beautiful city, and it was fun going somewhere neither of us has been. Still, I don’t think we’ll be visiting a city again anytime soon. We’re not huge fans of big cities, and I think we both prefer small towns and nature to big bustling cities. We did have fun, until my poor boy got sick with the body flu. We spent our last night in the hotel bundled up and trying to reduce his fever. It was actually kind of fun to just literally do nothing. I managed to stay fairly healthy for most of the trip, but it hit me today. I spent the day with body aches and chills, and I’m pretty sure I’ve got the flu now too. I guess sometimes you almost need a vacation from your vacation eh?

Did you have sex today???
What a scandalous question, and no, not today. But the day is still young! Maybe I should take out the sexy lingerie and surprise the boy with it when I get home!

If you were in the hospital would your best friend come and see you?
Um he better! Unless he was there too…in which case, sad for us!

What are you listening to?
Classical music that my coworker is playing.

Are you currently reading a book?
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kid. She should have stopped with The Secret Life of Bees, it was way better.

Can you make brownies without looking at the instructions?
I could probably muddle my way through it, but they’d come out all wrong.

Do you usually tell people when they hurt your feelings?
Yes if it’s important enough. If it’s just me getting butt hurt over something small, I’ll just let it slide.

Will you be in bed in the next 20 minutes?
No, I’ll still be ahem..working. That’s what I’m doing right now, sure.

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I think it’s fun how some blogs have certain days where they do certain things. For instance, the boy has his Random Thought Wednesdays on his blog. So I thought I’d make my own blog day, and I’ve decided it’s going to be Random Survey Friday. We’ll see how long this actually lasts, but I figured it’ might be interesting for at least a little while.

So here goes… (more…)