I'm All Moved and Now I am Leaving!

Well, not really. I am just going home to Idaho for the weekend.

Yup, I am all moved into my new place. I have nearly every box unpack, a place for almost everything and I love my new furniture!! I discovered that packing is not the more difficult thing to do in a move--it is the unpacking and trying to find a place for everything and re-purposing plastic drawers, dresser drawers, closets, desk drawers, plastic organization baskets, book shelves, etc. Yuck. But I am mostly done. I have pictures and mirrors to hang and one or two more little boxes to unpack. And then then worst of it: really get organized. The basement is a mess! (I should clarify, mess-my-style, so not really that big of a mess.) Everything is stacked nicely, but what is inside the boxes is what I need to re-organize. And then my pantry shelf needs to be re-organized. Oh the joys. But so far I am really liking it and I love parking in the garage. Although it makes me nervous to open and close the garage door in the morning when I go to the gym bright and early! I hope my roommates are able to sleep through it. :p Pictures and a video tour to come! Check my blog at the beginning of September.

And speaking of the gym . . .. finally! My favorite gym is back open! It was closed for the past several weeks for improvements and renovations. It looks so much better. Truly. I went yesterday and today. They have all new ellipticals, treadmills, and bikes in the main area with flat screen TVs, then all new weight machines. And then . . . . they have a cardio cinema now! We can watch a movie without headphones in a darkened room on a big screen. And they are pretty new movies too! This morning I watched the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean. They have all the classic cardio machines in there. Love it.

And now, as soon as I am off of work today I am on the road for Idaho! My dad and I had plans to hike into our favorite lake near Warren, Idaho, but unfortunately, the forest fires have closed and evacuate Warren and there is no getting into the lake. But I am still going to Idaho. My mom and sisters and I are going to go see Becoming Jane tomorrow afternoon and then we will hook up with my dad and my sisters' kids and go to the Western Idaho Fair. I am going to gorge myself on corn dogs, loaded fries, elephant ears, and fresh squeezed lemonade--and un-do everything I just did yesterday and this morning! I figure I will be officially back on the gym-attending-band-wagon next week. And then Saturday I am hooking up with my best friend from high school and we are headed to McCall for some fun outdoors and general McCall good times. We are living up the good ol' days this weekend. I will post photos and details when I return!

Wordless Wednesday - My Honda's Mileage Today

Packing Time

It's been four and a half years since I moved and I am beginning to see why. I don't like it! Everything about packing is strategic and headache/fatigue inducing.

"What clothes and toiletries do I need to survive over the next few days? When do I start to pack up my kitchen stuff that my roommates rely on? How do I pack things to move just a few blocks? Do I pack carefully and wrap things well or just decently?"

Hmmmm. Much too much thinking for the evening. But either way I've gotta do it because I begin moving this Thursday! Hopefully I will be done by Friday night so I can spend Saturday unpacking, getting situated and gathering loose ends and buying new stuff. And then my friends and I are off to enjoy the Utah Symphony and Tony Bennett for an outdoor concert at Deer Valley Ski Resort. Love it.

Meteor Shower Gazing

This week ended much better than it was! Get this:

1. Slept in late one day and was a bit late for work.
   
2. Put a new (little) hole in the wall by trying to move my bookcase by myself.
   
3. Broke a shell-shaped shelf that belongs to my apartment.
   
4. Dumped balsamic vinaigrette into my book bag all over my purse, planner and a borrowed book.
5. Ran my cell phone under running water because I forgot it was still in my book bag when I was trying to clean it out. So my phone was broken for 36 hours. But thankfully I just had to buy a new battery.
   

Can you believe that? I call that an "Anti-King-Midas" week. Yuck. But it ended much better. Camille, Lindsey and I went star gazing tonight since there is a meteor shower all weekend long. We took along my ice cream balls and made some yummy home-made vanilla ice cream and had some cookies with it! Potter joined us and it was a crack up--he barked at the bag of ice as I tried to break it up, ran laps around us on the grass, snitched bites of our ice cream and cookies, gazed up in the heavens looking for a meteor and chased after people so we had the park all to ourselves. What a good guard-dog.

The evening was highlighted with conversations about boys, gossip and bursts of laughter. Then abruptly ended when the sprinklers came on! We scrambled out of there before the main sprinklers turned on us. This oddly reminds me of the good ol' days sleeping out on the trampoline with my friends. Love it!

Photo Booth Fun!

Camille and I had a hysterical night of fun and laughs as we took the following pictures of ourselves! I'll start mild and get better further down. Must love the iMac Photo Booth. Ha!

Wee Time with Potter

I got to take Potter, my neighbor's Great Dane, on a hike with me to Stewart's Cascade last night. It was a good little hike (3 miles round trip) and Potter sure did have fun. (Except for one time when he got in a fight with a Golden Retriever.)

Potter found a rock at the stream that he decided he needed to carry it back to the car with us. When I was calling for him to come as I was leaving he started crying because he couldn't pick up the rock, but then he got it and he trotted down the trail with this rock in his mouth! I thought for sure he would carry it all the way to the car, but, alas, he got side-tracked and dropped it and never looked back. Fair-weather friend, indeed. :o)

Wordless Wednesday - My Family in 1963