bardiva

You know you're still in camping mode when you see branches on the side of the road and think they will make good firewood. Lol.

On our way back to Louisville. It was a good camping trip. The rain all last night and this morning sucked, but we rolled with it.

On our way to Daniel Boone National Forest. Just had a hose blow out. Stephen didn't bring his tools, but we had stopped at Walgreens for a few things and luckily he got this little $4 tool kit. It did the job!!!!

It's nice to have a handy bf!
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Food is made. Gear is purchased. Items are laid out. Arrangments made for dogs. Ressies made for kayaking. Let's go camping!!!

I bought my house at the end of April and have been working my butt off to unpack. Everyone kept asking when they were going to get to see it, so I decided to have a Housewarming while I was on my summer break from school.

I still wasn't really prepared, but Stephen, Georgia and Denny helped me out and we pulled it off. I think everything turned out really great!


The front of the house. Stephen and I worked hard weeding and rebuilding the flower beds.
( More pictures after the cut... )

Stephen has been here since last weekend for the housewarming. It went very well. D&G came up to help me. They were amazing. I couldn't have gotten everything done without them. Now I get to relax and enjoy my house. :) Denny took some pics. I'll put them up when he sends them to me.
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Stephen and I are supposed to leave to go camping tomorrow. I procrastinated making our campsite ressies, though, so we are going to be chancing getting a spot. All that is left is walk up sites. I hope we get one. I really want to do some hiking, swimming and kayaking!

I always do that ... put off making ressies for flights, hotels and stuff. I'm not sure why. There were still great spots left when I looked last Thursday. Grrr. When I called yesterday the ranger said to call Thursday morning and tell them we are on our way and ask if they might save a walk up site. *crosses fingers*
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There was a place down the street from my house selling flowers for super cheap b/c they were just trying to get them all gone before they died. So, yesterday we bought 2 flats of flowers, oregano, rosemary, marjoram, lavender, 2 hanging pots and a watering can for $35!!! Awesome deal!! We've got to get them all in the ground before we leave though, so I'm going to try to leave work early today. My boss is out camping, so I don't have much to do anyway.
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I really want to take Stephen to Wax on Wednesday tonight. It's a nice restaurant that normally has a full menu, but on Wednesday nights they bring in a DJ and serve $12 gourmet pizzas and $12 bottles of wine. But we also need to get packed for camping .... so, we'll see. I would hate to do all this packing and then not get to go.

Doing
+ Worked 1/2 day
+ Did research for a paper
+ Went up to school for free dinner
+ Did some research on a possible camping trip for 4th of July weekend
+ Stopped by the fruit market for more fresh veggies
+ Washed and bagged more spring mix

Planning
+ FINISH homework. (This is killing me!)
+ As soon as I get done with finals: yard work, painting, cooking, yoga, pool time, bike rides, hiking, crafts, canning, freezing, sewing, camping ... can't wait to be free for a few weeks!
+ I'm having a housewarming on June 28th. Save the date!
+ azulskies, clarabell1015, and kodakrome are supposed to come visit me in July to see The Black Crows and Phish!
+ Then, nonljpam will be here to celebrate her birthday seeing Chris Isaak!
+ Tons of fun weekends coming up! (Glad I got the 2nd bedroom set up.)
( Read more... )

I just changed the layout and theme of my journal in, like .... SIX years!!!

Last time I changed it, there were about six options.

Crazy.

I guess I like things the way they are.

Do you like the new layout?

So, I lost the digital camera that I got last christmas. Someone had an extra Sony Cybershot laying around and donated it to me. However, it has none of the accessories. I can't get my pictures off the camera and onto my computer!!

I know, I just need to order or go get a cord, but I wanted to check here first. Anybody used to have a Cybershot and still have the accessories for it?

It uses an SD card, but none of my computers have an SD card reader. Why?

So, I got all moved into the house. I'm still unpacking and trying to decide where furniture should go. Some furniture needs to go because I no longer need it and I need some new stuff to make some spaces functional. I got a dining room table off of FreeCycleLouisville. It's huge! 3x6 feet. I would prefer one that has leaves and is expandable, but this one was free and will work for now. Now, I need to go up to the estate store and get some chairs.

I am just so happy to have my house. My realtor told me that it isn't abnormal for first time home buyers to have a bit of buyers remorse after closing. Not me! I love every part of it. I love my hardwood floors, my front porch, my washer and dryer, my kitchen ... it's just great.

Stephen was here last weekend. We did a bunch of home projects, as I mentioned before. I took some pictures with a digital camera that someone gave me, but I still need to go pick up the cord that attaches the camera to the computer from Best Buy so that I can upload the pictures. My Blackberry camera won't work right now. Grrr. Anyway, along with the other projects I mentioned, we also made a compost bin. It makes me so happy to start composting.

My furbabies, Bella and Zoe, got me a perfect belated Mother's Day present** ... a grill!! I have been the grill queen the last few days. I've made veggie burgers, veggie hot dogs, roasted sweet potatoes, golden beets, corn, cauliflower ... Yum! It's so great to not have to heat up the house during the day with the gas stove. I heard the grill can make great pizzas. I want to learn how to do that. (** They had to wait for Stephen to pick it up. ;) )

I got my first CSA share yesterday. It included two small heads of some kind of purple-ish lettuce, a head of bib lettuce, a big bag of spring mix, a bunch of young kale, green onions, cilantro and strawberries. The farmer said I could take as much spring mix as I wanted, but I already knew I was going to have salads coming out my ears. :P Last night I made a salad with one of the small heads of lettuce, green onions, bell pepper, raisins, pine nuts, goat cheese and vinaigrette. It was great! I tried one of the strawberries when I picked them up and ... omg ... they were delicious! I want to get a bunch more strawberries while they are in season because I want to freeze some for strawberry baked goods and daiquiries. :D

Well, that's all for now. Back to work!

Productive weekend. Home projects completed: convert antique tv cabinet into liquour cabinet, lay plastic in the cellar, screens put in, new antena installed!

Yay! I just found a CSA still offering half shares! First pick up - next Tuesday! I'm very excited. :D

Tell me good music for the gym/treadmill.

The weather outside is perfect. It reminds me of sunny,but chilly, mornings camping in the CA desert. Love it.

I just threw a Rainbow Chard and Red Potato Gratin in the oven. Recipe from www.cucinanicolina.com/chard-my-love Yum!

All settled in to watch the season finale of Lost.

Sitting on my front porch enjoying a cup of coffee and some jazz. What a beautiful day!

All house guests are gone. This will be my first night alone in my new house. Hopefully I won't have too many nightmares.

Pesto Tortellini is made for the potluck at work tomorrow.

Now, I'm watching The L Word, drinking a glass of wine, with kitties on my lap.

I can't believe it!

So, I closed on the house yesterday morning. Stephen and I had a celebratory lunch at Mojito's, a tapas restaurant. It was sooooo tasty. We ordered way too much food. And of course, a couple of Mojitos.

After, we stopped at the water reservoir (picture below), which I had never been to before. It's this awesome stone building of, I think, Gothic architecture. And there is a paved walkway around it and people are allowed to walk/run around it. It's about 2/3 mile around. Stephen and I did one loop.



Then, I went into a food coma and had to nap.

Stephen finally made me get up and we went and unloaded a truck full of stuff into the house. A couple of the neighbors came over to introduce themselves. They are quite some characters! There is quite a bit of activity on the street after dark too. People walking around. It seemed a tiny bit sketchy, but I'm sure I'm just being a little over-imaginative. I always get a bit scared when I'm moving into a new place. I feel okay with Stephen being there, but he will have to leave and go back to Hsv for a bit to wrap up everything there. So, I will be on my own. :T Maybe kitties will make it better. :P

Tonight ... more moving.