Hot New Camera

'aint she a beauty?
[Photo source & reviews]

Mj finally decided to buy another camera.  Do you know what this means?  It means that when we go places together and look back on our pictures you will actually be able to tell that I was there too.  Normally, I can barely even get him to take a picture of me but I have a feeling he'll want to use this one.  Anyone ever hear of a Canon Rebel T3i?  I hadn't.  This sucker is big and it 'aint cheap.  He bought an extra lens to go with it too that zooms in really close. 

So what suddenly made him decide to spend hundreds on a camera after four years of not owning a one at all or barely taking any pictures?  Europe that's what.  He wants us to have a really good camera while we're on vacation which is pretty cool but then I got sort of sad.  I'm the picture taker not him.  I'm the unofficial historian in this marriage and I'm the blogger.  I take pictures of EVERYTHING yet he has a really nice camera and I don't?  Since I was looking all pathetic and sad he said it'll be ours, which is sweet, but then he jetted off to Germany with it and I haven't seen it since.  As soon as that camera and I are in the same country again and I figure out how to use it you might see some better pictures around these parts.  Our vacation pictures should be awesome and maybe I can finally get my food pics to look as good as they taste. 

A Novel Idea

Sept 2009:  6,800 words, 27 pages

Jan  2012:  10,131 words, 42 pages

Feb 2012:  0

Mar 2012:  0

Apr 2012:  13,513 words, 53 pages

May 2012: 19,282 words, 80 pages

June 2012:  23,056 words, 95 pages

July 2012:  29,517 words, 123 pages

Aug 2012:  35,058 words, 146 pages

I started this in 2009, put it down and didn't look at it again for three whole years.  I never even said it out loud to anyone that writing a book was something I wanted to do until this year even though it's been floating around in the back of my mind for a really long time. I mean, you can't just casually say, "Oh, yeah I want to write a book."  It seems so impossible.

Who am I to think I am actually capable of such a thing?

I love to read and to write. I used to sign up for Summer reading programs at the library when I was a kid. I've been writing in journals since I was 9.  I used to write stories and enter writing contests in elementary school. I've always loved writing, but I have no clue if I'm any good at it. If I'd been true to my heart in college I probably would have majored in creative writing or journalism or anything to do with writing.  In retrospect I wish I had. Sociology may have seemed more practical at the time but I've never even come close to working in that field so I could have gotten a degree in anything based on where I'm at now.

Writing a book has always been a dream of mine, but I put it off for so long because I was afraid. I didn't know where to begin and I was afraid of finding out that I wasn't capable of it. Eventually, I put some words on paper in 2009 and got a nice start. Then I got stumped. Then life happened. I was too busy with house hunting, wedding planning and post wedded bliss. There was always some excuse.

Sneak Peak

Every  now and then I'd get this burning desire to write a book and instead of ignoring it this year I dusted off the old manuscript and got to working on it again. It's going to be Fiction.  I had to re read everything and figure out where I was and then where I wanted to go, but once I got started again I wrote 20 pages in one day making me think....okay maybe I can do this. I need to get to about 60,000-80,000 words which is about 225 pages for it to be novel length, so I made it one of my new year's resolutions to write 15 pages per month. I'm a little bit behind. I skipped Feb and March altogether because I was taking a few college classes, and I'll be gone for half of next month so I'm not sure how I'll do then. I'm okay with that as long as I do my best to write every month.

Sometimes I hit a wall.  I don't know what I want my characters to do, or it feels boring and don't know what to do to liven things up. When that happens I get a little discouraged, and put it aside but at some point I force myself to pull it out and keep writing. Write something. Anything. I keep telling myself that if I just make myself keep going, eventually the story will unfold. I keep notes about the characters and a timeline of events as I go so I can keep track of what's going on. With every page I write, I gain more confidence in myself that I might actually be able to finish it. 

Even now that I've decided I'm doing this the words "my book" still feel very strange coming out of my mouth.  It's something that a lot of people say they want to do, but only a handful ever actually do it. I really want to be one of the ones that do. I'm not even worried about whether or not I would get it published or not.  I just want to be able to say that it was something big I wanted to do and that I did it.

Too Short Long Weekend

I spent most of the long weekend with my mom.  I got to her house Saturday afternoon and we went to Moonlight Amphitheater to watch the musical Anything Goes.  It's an outdoor theater with lawn seating so we were sitting in lawn chairs outside while watching the show.  We brought Subway, chips, cookies and candy to eat.   It's been years since the last time we went and we liked it so much we decided we're going to try to go every summer. 

Mom on the grill

Outside in the sun, w/frizzy air dried hair

Sunday morning my mom and I went to the gym together.  When we got back she fired up the grill.  My parents were planning to spend Labor Day at my sister's house where it's 105 degrees which is way too hot for grilling so she did it at home instead and this way I got to take some food home with me.  We sat outside in the back yard and drank wine and talked.  The weather was perfect.  It's been in the 80's for the last couple of weeks.  Over the course of the weekend we watched three movies and talked and talked and talked some more.  I wasn't even planning to spend two nights.  There is really nothing to rush home to since the husband is gone and I was enjoying myself so I stayed.  I always have a great time with my mom and I love it that we are so close.

I came home Monday morning, went straight to the gym and then had the rest of the day to myself.  I got to see and talk to Mj on face time.  I watched TV and took a nap and just relaxed.  Wow, is it really 10 o'clock already?  Time for bed.  The weekend went way too fast as always. 

More Confessions

Link up with Leslie @A Blonde Ambition

I confess that I spent the majority of  last weekend laying on the couch watching movies and catching up on DVR.  Oh, I did laundry and ran some errands too but that was probably only about 20% actual productivity.

I confess that I am annoyed that I felt guilty for taking a nap in the middle of the day and lazing about the house all last weekend.  Why should I feel guilty for relaxing?  I spend 5 days 50 hours a week including lunch hour dedicated to work.  Why can't the other 2 days and 48 hours be all mine for whatever I want even if whatever I want is NOTHING?

I confess that I got a little depressed when I read above confession.  My 5 day work week equals the same amount of hours as my 2 day weekend but it sure doesn't feel like it.  That 5 days feels like forever and those 2 days are gone within the blink of an eye.

I confess that I hate Captcha.  It's one thing to make us type letters into a box to ward off auto bot spammers but why do they have to try to confuse us too?  Do they WANT us to fail?  Why not just make the damn letters legible so I can read them and don't have to try five times just to get two words I can actually read.

I confess that there have been times when I went to comment on a post and just gave up when I saw the lovely Captcha box pop up.  Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for deciphering code.

I confess that I just added Gallery Girls to my TV watching line up.  If they were all rich NYC trust fund babies that I could never in a million years relate to then forget it!  But only 3 of the 7 are living off of mommy and daddy so I decided to give it a chance.  I did get rid of Locked up Abroad to compensate.

I confess that I spent way too much money this month.  One pair of shoes, two pairs of Capri pants, four sweaters (yes 4!!) an area rug and a new pair of Rx glasses really did me in.  I am on total spending lock down for the month of September so I can spend money on my vacation.

I confess that at 5:01pm happy hour is ON and I'm gonna go have a drinky drink or two with some girlfriends.  Pay day, happy hour and a three day weekend!  Can't wait. 

You Call This a Tote?

The Gold one is tote size; tiny two on the right-not so much

Glamour is running this promotion where if you subscribe to Glamour Magazine for 1 year you get a free tote set.  I have been subscribing to Glamour off and on for years.  After I grew out of Seventeen I found it to be a perfect mix of fashion, healthy and beauty tips and some good reading.  The fact that I would receive a tote set didn't motivate me to order it any more or less.  I've got plenty of bags at home.  I don't need anymore but if it's free,  I'll gladly take it.  

Don't they look nice and full in the pic?

So imagine my surprise when I get this package in the mail about the size of a magazine.  I hadn't ordered anything.  What could it be?  I open it to find my free totes but they are not quite what I expected.  No where on the free tote add did it mention size or material.  I looked.  But I did not expect them to be this tiny!!  If you are getting a tote you kind of imagine that it will be sizable enough to actually tote things around.  Especially when the post card says it will carry "all of your essentials."  A tote is big right?  Guess not.  It's either a classic case of product misrepresentation or just my fault for assuming but I can't be the only one who assumed they would be bigger.  I'm okay with it because they have come in handy for other things.  I just found it hilarious that I thought they were going to be the size of an actual tote and they weren't.  Maybe it's the word tote.  A better word would be mini tote, purse, or make up bag considering that's what size they are.   They were free so hey; can't complain too much. 

Well, if anyone else want's a free MINI tote set, you can get it at here at Glamour.   And when you see how small they are you can't say I didn't warn you!

More Money? Area Rugs Edition

When you buy a house and/or try to decorate a home you learn about all kinds of  things that you didn't realize were expensive but are.   I guess that is true of everything; because when I was planning our wedding there were all kinds of things along the way that I was shocked to find out the price of.  Some things I knew were going to be expensive like a closet organization system, hardwoods and granite but other things surprised me.  When we did our back yard I was surprised to learn that a pile of rocks could cost hundreds of dollars.  When we had our blinds and curtains put in I couldn't believe how much those were.  Mirrors are shockingly expensive too.  And lamps.  The price tags on decorative pillows is outrageous.  I mean, pillows?  Then  I couldn't believe how expensive a King size comforter set could be, then I was shocked that an average household kitchen sink could be $400 dollars and the faucet runs $200.

Damask Trellis Navy Blue Rug @RugsUSA

Am I just cheap?  Maybe, but now I'm shocked again and this time it's by how much area rugs cost.  If you want a really big one it can cost thousands of dollars which seems to be as expensive as having actual carpet installed in which case it's like paying for flooring twice.  So as with everything else I have to walk the fine line between not wanting to get the cheapest thing out there and not wanting to spend more then I can afford yet still ending up with a quality product that I will love.  It makes no sense to spend a dime on something you don't even like.  I love saving money but I'm not the thrifter, craigslist shopper type.  I wish I was.  The selections are random and limited so it could take forever to find what you want.  I just don't have the patience or the eye to find that diamond in the rough, bring it home, clean it up and make it look all shiny and new.  I will run all over town looking for the best deal though.  I comparison shop and look for coupons and research the hell out of everything.  I don't stop until I find the best deal around.  I probably wouldn't feel comfortable buying something like a couch or rugs pre-owned but I know that if I had been willing to hunt down things like our dining room set at on craigslist I could have spent a lot less money.  So, what did my latest bargain hunt yield?

Hand Tufted Alexa Pino Floral Red Rug @Overstock.com

Right after we got our hardwoods put in I saw a Groupon for Rugs USA.  I'll say it again.  I love Groupon!  For $95 I got $235 in merchandise so I spent $149 with free shipping on a 5 X 8 area rug for our living room.  The original price was $289.  It was on sale for 35% off and they wouldn't let me double dip on the sale price which is lame if you asked me but I still saved $39 more using the Groupon so whatever.  They had the red one too but I found a better price on Overstock.com.  It was 15% off which brought it from $284 to $242.  I found a $15.00 off promo code on their site for a total of $227 for a 7'6" X 9'6" rug and only $2.95 for shipping because Overstock is cool like that.  That one will go in the dining area.  I am shocked by how much we spend on things.  Things that we don't even REALLY need.  $376 for rugs on top of what we paid for flooring.  Really?  Oh well.  Maybe I could have done better but I feel pretty good about how much we spent considering how much these rugs can cost.  It's so hard to tell colors online but hopefully we like them.  We'd better.  Chances are we're stuck with them because I am not returning them and starting all over again.