I meant to post some of these earlier this week but was rushing to get things done. We get out of work early today, so I figured the last 15 minutes would be a good time to get this up. I went to one day of a photoshoot for work, and we were shooting in a greenhouse. I got some great pictures and it was nice to be outside while the sun was still up (this doesn't happen on weekdays around here).

( photos! )

I'll be online intermittently over the weekend, but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I'm grateful that I have a job that I don't hate, I've had the opportunity to really get out on my own and explore a new state (even though there's lots left to explore), that I have fabulous friends and family, and that in one month from today, I'll be another year older -- it means I'm not dead. Unless I die between now in then. Which will make this paragraph very awkward.

I'm also thankful that I a) got my expenses check from the above photoshoot today and b) my parents are letting me keep the small overage check that we got from the insurance company (apparently insurance in CO is cheaper than in FL) because this means I will not have to stress out about the $30 ticket to see The Swell Season and Rachel Yamagata on Sunday night. Still looks like I'll be driving myself, but that's okay.

For those of you who know my friends Heather and Rob, they welcomed their baby boy into the world super early this morning. According to Rob's text (which I received at 3 AM but didn't read until I finally got out of bed), mom and baby are both doing very well. :D

Dollhouse: I HAVEN'T SEEN LAST WEEK'S STILL. I procured it, I can watch it at some point, but tonight is knitting night and tomorrow I'm going out with beanpop and her hubs so I'll just have to watch it before I watch tomorrow night's episode... probably this weekend.

Glee: Really, the only reasons I think I keep watching this show are the musical numbers and Jane Lynch. The rest of the story lines are either a) not terribly well written; b) incredibly over the top; c) just plain boring; d) all of the above.

Castle: Freaking awesome as usual. I love this show. I love Nathan Fillion going all grammar nazi on suspects. And Stana's hair is gorgeous. DO WANT.

Criminal Minds: I love hobbly Reid (okay, no one's surprised about that). I'd bake him cookies. Bad Garcia, Bad! those of you who follow my twitter already saw my elation, but Sean Patrick Flanery (looking a bit older but still pretty darned cute and doing a fantastic job) was on last night's episode. YOUNG INDY.

...I watch other shows but I'm either behind or have nothing interesting to say about them, so, ( pictures from the past weekend. )

I have been trying and trying to catch up with you all, and being busy at work and having my parents in town is just making this impossible, so I give up. If, in the last few days, you've said anything mind-blowing, earth-shattering, or just really really funny that you think I'd get a kick out of, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm just going to hope that all of you are having fabulous lives, and start over at some point.

Anyway, what's new. My parents are still in town. On Saturday, we drove up to Poudre Canyon and the Great Stupa at Shambhala Mountain. I'm not sure I was liberated upon seeing but maybe I was and just didn't realize. We also went to dinner with myras_girls and her hubby, during which the aforementioned hilarity ensued. On Sunday, we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park, and there was SNOW. It doesn't count as part of SnowWatch 2009 because it a) wasn't falling and b) was at 12,000 feet instead of right outside my door. We walked around Old Town Fort Collins on Monday and ate at the Silver Grill Cafe. Quite yummy. I took lots of pictures and am in the process of uploading them. I'll be sure to post some here when they're all up.

Yesterday, I went to work, but not before my mother did some slight rearranging in the kitchen EARLY in the morning, meaning I had two minutes of trying to figure out where my electric kettle had gone. They played golf and then she also rearranged my living room. She likes to do these things, what can I say? Oh, and last night, I also showed my dad the episode of Castle from Monday night (because they were watching football on Monday night), and he seemed to greatly enjoy it. Today, the plan was for them to hang around the house while I'm at work, and then we'll probably go to dinner, and then they're leaving tomorrow at the same time I leave for work. This will make them happy, as it's supposed to be rather chilly here tomorrow and they've been giving me grief for sleeping with the windows open. :D

Who wants to fly out here around the end of November to attend the Swell Season at the Ogden in Denver with me? You know you want to... I'm planning to see Vienna Teng on the 21st with Chrysta and Corey, and The Sounds with Sharon (co-worker) and her hubby on Halloween. I will go to the Sounds show by myself if I must, but I'm hoping I can find someone around here who would be willing to go with me (mostly so I wouldn't have to drive back and forth from Denver by myself).

Following up on my last "real" post, I have made a budget for the month of October and if I am able to stick to it, I will come out an eensy-weensy bit ahead. But not much, which is sad, because I would like to be able to put money back into savings. At least I have a plan. Plans are good, yes.

Quick drive-by posting to share this bit of brilliance. This evening, my parents and I ate nommy Mexican food with Chrysta and Corey. During the conversation, Chrysta and I came up with the idea of doing the Lord of the Rings... as CARE BEARS. Gollum bear would have a shiny ring on his belly. Sauron Bear would have a giant eye. Et cetera, et cetera.

I just had to share.

via The Markness (seriously, everyone should have one): Casting for A Song of Ice and Fire. Sean Bean! Lena Headley! Jennifer Ehle! Peter Dinklage! Other people I don't know! I'm so excited! *bounce bounce bounce*

Go about your business; nothing to see here.

I went into the mountains! ( not dial-up friendly )

So I went up to Rocky Mountain National Park on Saturday, drove all around, and decided that I want to hike every single trail in the park. Don't worry, I will be starting with the easy ones. And then I got home and kind of died a slow and mindless death. I could not function to save my life on Saturday night or all day Sunday. I made myself go for a walk Sunday morning, and that went well until I got home and promptly ceased to move. I made myself go out again Sunday afternoon, to Target, to get cleaning supplies, in hopes that moving around and having cleaning supplies would make me actually clean, but no. I meandered around Target, feeling the urge to impulse buy things but completely lacking the energy to actually pick them up. It was strange. I think I needed a day or so to just sort of shut down and avoid the world. I've been goinggoinggoing for a while, and I'm used to my Florida life-style, where I was mostly on my own (even at work) and not being social. The timing kind of sucks, because I missed all of New West Fest, but I tried and tried to get myself psyched up for it and took a nap instead. :\

Next weekend, though, is the Greek Festival, and I definitely plan on going to that, if only for the scientific study to see just how much baklava one person can eat and still survive. MMMMM baklava.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may remember the work computer issues I was having. Namely, that my computer at work was restarting itself. So they brought me another CPU this morning, and it's very slow and I think the poor guys didn't know exactly what stuff I needed on here, so I've been trying to get it up and running for a good part of the day.

I still need to straighten up my living room and kitchen, and finish putting the finishing touches on my bedroom so I can take "after" photos.

Coming at you live from the new apartment. My bed has rarely looked so appealing.

Today was the day where almost nothing went according to schedule.

Exhibit A, 7:45 AM: Waiting in line for the driver's license bureau to open, I got a call from the salon where I was getting my hair cut. My appointment was for 10, but the stylist I was originally going to see called in sick, so the receptionist called to see if I could go in at 9. I was about half an hour away from the salon, and not sure how long the driver's license office, but I told her I'd call her back if I thought I could make the 9:00 appointment.

Exhibit B, 8:45 AM: Driver's license goes quickly and I get finished around 8:20, call the receptionist, start driving to the salon, and get another phone call.
Man: This is so-and-so from the cable company, I finishing up my appointments early and was hoping I could come by a little before 9.
Me: Uh... I'm not at home.
Man: Oh, did you forget about your appointment time from 9 to 11? (not as rudely as this might sound in writing, I just can't remember exactly what he said.)
Me: O RLY? This is the first I've heard about having an appointment.
Man: ...Oh.
Me: Uh, I should be home by 11?
Man: Well, uh, just call me and I'll see if I can work you into the afternoon, or we'll reschedule.

I'm thinking the gal who does the contracts for the apartment complex forgot to call me back when she'd scheduled the appointment. She'd told me she'd call me back, but she probably got busy or something. Anyway.

Exhibit C, 9:45ish AM: Sitting in the stylist's chair (my hair looks FAB by the way, I'm hoping I can get close to replicating it on my own), my phone starts vibrating in my pocket. But as a very nice lady has scissors near my head, I'm not about to answer it and put things in her way. It rings again in a little while, and again I don't answer it. Finally, when the appointment is done, I listen to the message and it's the movers.

Mover: Hi, this is so-and-so, I know you were scheduled for an unload at 11 but we got done with our morning appointment early and were hoping we could start on your stuff, so give me a call.

Please note: I had written down that they were showing up at 12, not 11. Anyway, I call him back, explaining that I'm not at home but that I can be there in half an hour and he's like "no problem, we won't start the clock until we start working."

So I got all my stuff unloaded into my house before I had even figured they'd show up, I have a paper saying I'm getting a driver's license, and my hair looks awesome. I didn't get a chance to get started on my registration, but I figure I can do that after work one Friday while we have the summer hours.

And then amazonsun came over in the afternoon and helped me unpack and she's so awesome you all are so jealous! My living room is pretty much entirely set up, as is my kitchen, and much of it is due in part to Tia's amazingness while I was busy sorting boxes and figuring out what boxes belonged in which room and putting together my new fabulous chair from Ikea. So now the big thing that's left is figuring out what needs to stay in boxes until I can get the bookshelf situation sorted (short version: I have to figure out what new bookshelves I'm getting) and hang up some shelves, which I'm doing tomorrow with the help of myras_girls and Corey.

After the unpacking fun, Tia and I went downtown so I could buy a few birthday cards for my August birthday friends, and wandered around Ace Hardware (this Ace Hardware store is actually pretty awesome) and then grabbed some beers and food at Old Chicago before I decided I wanted ice cream from Cold Stone.

Tia and I parted ways, and then I picked up the Veranator and discussed Chrysta's filthy living situations (none of which were Chrysta's fault, fyi), and now she's checking out the house and I'm sitting on the floor because I haven't found the wireless router yet and the ethernet cord is incredibly short and very soon I'm going to go sleep in my bed and it's going to be awesome. Assuming that I can sleep after all this excitement today.

Definitely just realized today how close August is, and that there's tons of things that I want to do in August.

This weekend is pretty much void of anything classified as "fun" and/or "outdoorsy," as it has been relegated to "unpacking." That's right, I move into my new apartment this weekend. I get the keys tonight, and I've got my camera with me for the "Before Amy's Stuff" photos (and some WIP photos, I've been really bad about keeping up with them). My POD arrives on Thursday, the movers come to unload on Friday (and Friday AM, I have to go get my driver's license and start working on my car registration), and then Saturday and Sunday I want to get as much done and unpacked and settled in as I can.

August 7 is the First Friday Gallery walk in Old Town, which I kind of want to check out but may put off for another month. On August 8, there's the French Nest Market, which amazonsun and I had considered wandering through, and then on that Sunday, there's the Denver Handmade Craft Fair. I really want to go to both (with the idea that maybe, if I get my butt in gear, I could sell stuff at one or both next year), and I haven't gone into Denver yet. The problem with the Denver fair is that it's near the zoo. ZOOOOOOOOOOO. Crafts or zoo, crafts or zoo, aaaah! Sorry.

The next weekend is also potentially busy, as New West Fest will be going on, while at the same time Rocky Mountain National Park (and a slew of others-Mesa Verde! Dinosaur National Monument!) are all free admission that whole weekend.

AND THEN, the Greek Festival is August 22 and I do love me some Greek food, so I'm going to have to go to that.

All of that to do in August and this past weekend it was a chore to get out of bed. Seriously, yesterday I got up around 7:30 to feed Vera, and then I crawled back into bed "for just a little while." Four hours later, I got out of bed, made myself some lunches, putzed around in my jammies, made myself do my laundry, and then around 6, I got back into bed to lay down for a bit. I didn't go to sleep, but just lying down was fabulous.

OH I FORGOT that August 7, (500) Days of Summer is supposed to start airing at the movie theater here. This excites me, because my TV Boyfriend is in it. And if you don't know who my TV Boyfriend is, you have not been paying attention.

HELLO WORLD. Man, it feels weird to not post as frequently as I'm used to. I got a bit out of the habit when I was packing/moving/internet-less, but now it's just kind of weird. The job is going extremely well, keeping me super busy and occupied and I LOVE IT. My brain has been hurting every evening, because I'm literally not used to using it as much (I mean, it was definitely not taxed for a year and a half).

I've been keeping pretty busy still. ( My adventures in Colorado, so far. )

Today was my last day of work at the old job. HOORAY. We all went to Meg O'Malley's, the Irish pub downtown, for lunch, so I got me some macaroni and cheese (it's made with DUBLINER) and even more importantly, I managed to not eat all of it in one sitting (which I can totally do, it's so freaking good) so now I can have more of it tomorrow! Wooo.

Speaking of tomorrow, it's going to be a doozy. I'm going to a WW meeting in the morning (my last one for at least a little while) and then take Vera to the vet. Hopefully the vet will give me a prescription for some sort of kitty Xanax so she will not be so upset while stuck in a car for a while. Then I have to get my tires rotated, and hopefully drive down to Palm Bay to drop off some stuff that a friend lent me, and pack pack pack. Thursday morning, I'm turning in all of my cable and internet stuff, so I will have no more cable or internet at home, but I'm also driving to my parents' house on Thursday (with brief detours for lunching and Ikea shopping in Orlando), so I'll still have access to the interwebs for a few days. Saturday I drive back to Melbourne and have a visit with theemdash planned, and then Sunday is the packing/cleaning party (which I hope will be more cleaning than packing, but we'll have to see) which will be followed by pizza nommage hopefully. Monday my pod arrives, Tuesday morning the movers come to load the the pod, and that evening I drive back to my parents' house so my mom and I can leave bright and early Wednesday morning.

To say that I won't be around much for the next week and a half is an understatement.

I just want to curl up in bed and read more Harry Potter, but I need to get cracking and get some stuff done this evening. It strangely feels like I have so much to do and yet am so close to being done. I can't quite get a handle on the state of things. Oh well.

Jenny Lewis was amazing last night. The whole night was a bit ..., but the actual performance was great, especially when everyone, en masse, decided to eschew the whole seating arrangement (who schedules a rock show in a playhouse?) and bumrushed the stage. Hopefully some of the pictures I took will come out well once I zoom in and crop a bit. My, but that girl can sing.

THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE HAPPY, SUPPORTIVE WORDS. I'm really excited, although right now I'm really just exhausted.

Some details: My title will be Assistant Editor, and I'll be working on a variety of projects in different forms of media (print, TV, electronic). My last day with this company is June 30, and my first day with at the new job is July 13. THAT'S NOT FAR AWAY. I literally have 2 weeks to get everything packed and ready to move before I start driving out there. Of course, in the mean time, I still have to go to work every day for 4 more days--okay, 3 and a half as of this posting--, go to Orlando on Sunday to see some friends who are visiting from out of state, go back to Orlando on Monday night for the Jenny Lewis concert with turalu_21 (a more prudent person than I would skip it, but I need some C-time, I've been looking forward to this show for months, and I've never seen Jenny on her own), take Vera to the vet to get her shots up to date, drive across the state to my parents' house for my grandmother's memorial service and family time, and then drive back and load the pod. All told, I'll have three full days of packing, and that's it. Obviously I have evenings and half days here and there, but whew.

My mother is coming over this Saturday to help with the packing efforts, and I've already started a bit myself, but man. A smidge overwhelmed.

Thankfully I don't have to immediately worry about finding a place to live, because myras_girls and her delightful hubby have volunteered some space at their domicile. The one concern I have with that is the fact that Vera is a diva and she gets riled up around other animals, but hopefully she will either a) learn to coexist peacefully with other beings or b) learn to love being cooped up in one room.

I've been trying to make a mental list of things that are going to have to go in the car with me (and my mom and Vera). I'm torn, because I won't have a lot of room for yarn paraphernalia, but I am also going to have to go at least a few weeks without access to any of the stuff I put in the pod, so... I have to plan that carefully. I'm thinking about taking the yarn and magazine for the next large project I have in mind (the Elemental Boatneck pullover from the Summer IK issue), as well as the yarn for my mom's blanket (note to self: wind yarn) and a couple of skeins for socks (one sock I'm test knitting, one sock I'm "re-designing", whatever is still on the needles at the time). Money will be tight so I can't just buy more yarn until I can get to my stash! Clearly I'm going to need more projects in the project box. Meep.

I also am figuring out the reading material situation. I plan on setting aside whatever Harry Potter books I don't finish before I leave, but as I just finished Chamber of Secrets last night and will likely start on Prisoner of Azkaban today at lunch or dinner before knit night... well, at least Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, and Half-Blood Prince are fairly long.

See, this would be a good time to have a Kindle. They take up much less space.

Please, when I lament about the fact that I have all of this stuff with me, everyone just keep your mouths shut and don't point out the fact that it's really only about 3 and a half days of trading off driving with my mother and I'm packing entertainment items like it's 3 months. The yarn is the important thing, though, I'm sure I can find other entertainment for myself until I can access my boxes.

I'm leaning towards throwing in my Sandman volumes. They're skinny.

( entirely unrelated MGG pics )

So I knew that The Sounds were touring with No Doubt, and I chose to not go to their Tampa show because I didn't really want to pay $80 for tickets to see three bands that I've already seen at least once (Paramore was the other opener, and I've already seen the Sounds twice).

BUT WHAT I APPARENTLY DIDN'T KNOW IS THAT THEY ARE TOURING IN SUPPORT OF THEIR NEW ALBUM. *headdesk*

Hopefully they'll do another tour over here, where they're headlining instead of supporting. I'm listening to the album on MySpace, and it's really good. A little more "mature" than Dying to Say This To You was and with maybe some more staying power? It's out on vinyl, too, but I have no idea if there's any store over here that gets new vinyl (how sad). I may have to call Park Ave to see if they have it on vinyl and then drive over to Orlando to buy it. But I think I'll be stopping at Best Buy this evening to pick up the CD so that I can put it on my iPod (unless anyone feels like *cough* being generous?)

OH, I foresee this becoming the soundtrack to many a Living Room Dance Party.

ETA: Oh, Maja of the Endless Legs.

Star Trek + "I'm On a Boat" = BEST THING EVER (Totally NSFW, but had me rolling on the floor, for serious.) Scroll all the way down to the bottom to watch the fanvid version. My one regret is that there are apparently no flippy-floppies in space.

In related news, I need a new stamp in my Fangirl passport because I am all aboard the Chris Pine Fantrain. I blame lanyon and spoonishly. And by blame, I mean thank.

I'm thinking about seeing The Hangover this weekend. I'm tempted to turn it into a double-header and see Star Trek again. And then I may watch some more Harry Potter movies in anticipation of my re-read of the series. OH, I also borrowed Rise of the Lycans and S. Darko (the latter purely for the Jackson content, as I really do not like Donnie Darko) from Jen.

I finished a pair of socks last night and immediately cast on for another. It's a sickness. And my February Lady Sweater is moving along. For some reason the rows of garter stitch were nothing, but the gull lace is dragging a bit. I think it's the fact that I actually have to pay attention. I can knit all day long with no problems, but knit plus yarn overs and then purling back is a bit more time-consuming? I don't know. Meanwhile, I found the most adorable cardigan yesterday and it totally called out to be knit in the green Ella Rae yarn that I picked up on sale and so now I really want to knit it. One problem: the pattern is in French. Any of my knitter friends read French knitting instructions? I think I can figure most of it out with the help of Babelfish and my own knowledge of French and knitting, but a little support would not be amiss.

So, we had a few days of excitement there, but now it seems that all is back to normal and I'm still an incredible nerd who loves sci-fi/fantasy and knitting.

Or you know, just pictures. The Complete Set of Colorado Pictures is now available on my Flickr.

Why, you ask?

Because I've processed and uploaded all of my pictures from my weekend in Colorado...but you can't see the majority of the photos from the wedding. I HAVE MY REASONS. I will post them as soon as a certain something happens.

( My weekend in Colorado, by The Amy )

Okay, so Chuck. Kind of awesome. Must figure out some way to watch season 2 over the summer. And how could you all hold out on me? As I was watching, I was thinking that Zachary Levi was pretty darn adorable, and then I watched one of the special features, and he had long hair and was all scruffy (this was during the writer's strike, apparently)... Really, I must thank Tia repeatedly for encouraging me to watch this show. :D And now I must go find some icons.

I am not sure that I am emotionally prepared for tonight's Criminal Minds finale. I am terrified that they're going to give us a serious cliffhanger, and unlike seasons 1-3, I can't go find out what happens right away! This worries me.

In unfortunate news, my mom sent me an email this evening, and apparently she doesn't expect that her mother will make it to the end of the week. Obviously we all hope that she will make a miraculous recovery, but being realistic, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers and hope for a relatively pain-free passing, whenever it may happen.

Wow. There's a lot to process here.

I think I've seen all of the Star Trek movies. If I haven't, it wasn't for lack of trying on my dad's part. And I've seen episodes here and there but not enough to really call myself a true fan or anything. But I was super excited to see the new Star Trek movie, and I was not disappointed.

( 10 Somewhat Random Observations About Star Trek-includes spoilers )

Now, I really should get to cleaning. However, this whole not sleeping thing that's been going on for the last couple of days makes me really want to take a nap. I shall strive to stay awake, though, and hopefully sleep tonight.

Because I can't sleep and I lost my original 2009 in review post, I'm starting this one. For anything that happened before mid-April, I'm guessing at approximate times.

( Movies seen )

( books read )

+ Five more working days until I'm on a plane to Colorado.
+ Tomorrow is pay day.
+ I bought a book full of crochet square patterns, despite the fact that the only crochet squares I've made involves a lot of single crochet.
+ Finished knitting myras_girls' shawl and I'm in love with it. Not so in love with it that I'm going to keep it for myself, but I am super proud of it and I hope Chrysta finds many occasions to wear it. Because sparkly, lacy shawls are totally for every day wear. :D
+ New Criminal Minds and CSI: New York tonight. I opted to come upstairs and save them for another day (and avoid commercials).
+ First disc of CSI: New York came in today (along with Alvin and the Chipmunks, shut up). I watched the first two episodes, and I have to say, I'm really glad they abandoned the dark filter they either shot or processed with. Blech.
+ The other skein of yarn that I won came in the mail today, and it's pretty. I'd post a picture but I'm a bit lazy. Maybe tomorrow.
+ Vera is softly snoring at the end of the bed. I tell you, small creatures, like cats, dogs, and babies, are adorable when they snore. Full grown humans, not so much.

I do have to share one negative thing, and that is this: my mother's idea of covering up my knee while wearing pants was a good one, in that it kept my pants from scraping against my wound. However, this needs to be modified somewhat, because pulling off said bandage this afternoon? Not fun.

It seems that many people that I care about are having a really crap time with things right now. Family illnesses, employment troubles, etc. To everyone on my flist, whether you're struggling to stay afloat or not, give yourself a big hug from me.

In completely unrelated news, I do not have a dreamwidth account, nor do I have any immediate plans to get one, so I do hope that those of you heading that way will come back to visit little old me from time to time.

In news that is even more unrelated, I have somehow magically become a magnet for "winning" yarn. First, a gal was having a blogiversary comment contest, and so by leaving a comment to her blog and having the stars align in such a fashion as to favor myself (and a few others), I won yarn. And then another gal who dyes and spins her own yarn was having a Knit/Crochet/SpinAlong contest, in which you entered by knitting or crocheting with one of her yarns, or spinning a roving that she had dyed. I knit up a little scarflet and entered into the competition, and once again the stars aligned and my number was drawn. So now I will be getting more prize yarn. PEOPLE THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN TO ME. I don't win things. I had become content with that fact and now it's out the window. My entire world, it is upside down.

I am so looking forward to the weekend. I'm going to attempt to hie myself to the gym tomorrow after seeing Wolverine at the early bird (read: cheap) showing. And I'm going to clean. And watch the special features of The Life Aquatic. And work on Chrysta's shawl. And maybe work on spinning up some more yarn. And possibly, just possibly, ignore all of that in favor of staying in bed all weekend. All of those options sound good to me.