Moving!

Well Seth and I are finally getting out of our ghetto apartment in Alexandria and moving up into Falls Church (yay!) next month, with our move in date on the 15th and our move out date here at Tower 2000 by March 1. So we'll have a nice leisurely two weeks to get it done completely. Fairfax Towers is where we're going to and we went and looked at the place and filled out the application today. It's really nice and we're getting a two bedroom for $1600/month. There's even free aerobics classes held downstairs three times a week, a convenience store in the building, hair salon, and dentist. And hey, we just got dental insurance. Go us. Won't that be convenient. I'm also really excited about the move because we're going to buy new furniture. :D And that'll be a first for me that I'm looking forward to. I'm rather tired of hand me downs that aren't that nice anymore. Oh, and we're also going to get our snake when we move in too. ^^ We dropped by the pet store to visit him and an employee was around so I even got to hold the little guy we're planning on getting. He was very friendly and liked to curl around my hand and crawl up my arm to explore. And soft. I hadn't realized how soft their scaly skin actually is.

LOTS of pics up!

Hey guys! I know you don't hear much from me on here, but I finally go around to uploading about 250 pictures off my camera up onto Michael's website! There are a bunch from Williamsburg, some of Christmas up in PA with Seth's parents, and some from Dave and Melissa's wedding out in Utah! Then there are a couple of my latest sewing project pics up: the pluderhosen doublet pics, a couple of the green charmeuse skirt I made for the wedding, and the beginnings of my Steampunk Eowyn costume. I just finished the bustle tonight. Total it only took about 15 hours to make. Those ruffles were a killer though. Ugh. And buying the boning for it pre-cut to the appropriate lengths and pre-tipped? Pure Win and well worth the rather high price the patterns from Truly Victorian compared to the regular commercial Big 4 patterns. ($11 pattern + $18 for the pre cut and tipped boning) The entire pattern went together very well and easily. Would have been *easier* if I'd had a ruffler foot instead of doing them all by hand, but ah well. C'est la vie.



Next up: Finish sewing the drawers this weekend, order the silk and other fabrics I need, then the underskirt, regular skirt, bodice, train... It goes on and on. Less than four months to finish it though, so I've really got to kick it into gear!

Silly little email forward

Bucket List Hit forward and place an X by all the things you've
Done and remove the X from the ones you have not, and send it to your friends
(including me). This is for your entire Life!

( ) Gone on a blind date.

( )Skipped school

( ) Watched someone die

(x) Been to Canada
( ) Been to Mexico

( ) Been to Florida
(X) Been on a plane

(x) Been lost

( ) Been on the opposite side of the country

(x) Gone to Washington , DC

(x) Swam in the ocean

(x) Cried yourself to sleep

(X ) Played cops and robber

(x) Recently colored with crayons

( ) Sang Karaoke;

( ) Paid for a meal with coins only

(x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?

(x) Made prank phone calls

(x) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose

(x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue

(x) Danced in the rain or run through summer puddles

(x) Held a baby long after it fell asleep because it felt so good?

(x) Watched the sunrise with someone

(x) Blown bubbles

(X) Gone ice-skating

( ) Been skinny dipping outdoors

(x) Gone to the movies

Any nicknames? Not really

Favorite Drink? Root Beer

Body Piercing? nope

How much do you love your job? A lot

Birthplace? Alexandria, VA

Favorite vacation spot? London

Ever been to Africa? No

Ever eaten just cookies for dinner? Sort of, but I don't think it counts as dinner then

Ever been on TV? No

Ever steal any traffic signs? No

Ever been in a car accident? Yes

Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 2-door

Favorite pie? strawberry rhubarb

Favorite number? 25

Favorite movie? It changes depending on my mood

Favorite dessert? Chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream

Favorite food? Steak

Favorite day of the week? Saturday

Favorite brand of body wash? People have a favorite?

Favorite toothpaste? Crest Whitening

Favorite smell? Lilacs

How do you relax? Playing geeky games

How do you see yourself in 10 years? Somewhere with a house, lots of geeky friends, and kids

Furthest place you will send this message? Japan

Yes, Abbey, I am a terrible blogger

But that's because nothing happens! I despise blathering on when I haven't got anything to say- and sure sometimes what I have to say doesn't even seem like something to say to you guys, but hey. Anyways, no, we haven't gotten our pet yet. We decided to get him after we move this December/January to make that little chore easier. I still really want to get him though... :\ And while I know not everywhere is as politically charged as the DC area, I'm sure you all heard about the election of the country's favorite socialist. We all saw it coming when they nominated McCain to run again him. Hope you all went out and voted at least, or else you won't have any right to complain when it comes time for those of us that did to say 'I told you so.' And while taxes are going to go up and things might suck for a while, I only hope that it'll just be another Carter before a Reagan. For now though, I'm going to go quietly stew in annoyance than Virginia ended up going socialist in spite of my vote and just be grateful that while the economy might be spiraling downward in a trend that will inevitably get worse with him in office, Seth's job as a government employee is more secure than ever.

Aaaaand then the car

Well our plans to get a pet have been pushed back a bit as on Tuesday morning as Seth had one of his rare days driving to a work thing in the morning and the car broke. The water pump or something or other went poof and the car died. It was very frustrating. And expensive. We're being set back a good $1000 by this little incident and all I can say is that I'm glad it didn't happen yesterday when I was driving to work. Seth's so much better about handling these things and knowing what to do to get them fixed than I am. So small blessings, right? So getting Kat is going to have to wait a bit until after we look at the finances again. Or at least until after the car shop bills and Seth's travel bills from work get paid off and reimbursed respectively and our credit card isn't at some obscene balance again. *sighs* I was really looking forward to getting Kat this week too...

Getting a pet!

So Seth and I went out on a date last night after I picked him up from work. And after going out to dinner we decided to stop in at PetCo just to have fun and see all the cute little guys. We actually found a little guy I really wanted to take home too. And Seth liked him as well. Just a cute little baby, but it'd grow huge, almost as big as me. Gorgeous coloring too. So once we got home I looked up care requirements and all that, and it's not too bad all considered. I think next week we're going to try and get everything and then go buy Kat. Yep, we already picked out a name. Katamari would be the full name, in deference to its species. *Grins* But calling it Kat would be too funny. When we get a house with a yard and can buy a dog then it'll go along nicely with naming the dog "Mouse" after the dog in Dresden Files. Anyways, I'll reveal what type of pet we're getting once we get it! In the meantime, any guesses? heheh.

Ok, I've been guilt tripped

First off, Abbey, you've successessfully guilt tripped me into writing more on here. Congratulations. And to start this shindig off, I have to say that I agree with your classmates in Japan. You are soooooo cute!

So let's see, things that are happening here... this past weekend we had a hurricane hit us! That was almost exciting. Seth and I cancelled our plans to hang out with friends since we didn't want to be driving in it. When we woke up that seemed like the right move as the rain was moving sideways to the apartment. Then, instead of intensifying the way they told us it would throughout the day, it just got weaker and slightly pathetic until it was just a drizzle by afternoon. >.> Guess we could have gone out just fine anyways.

Williamsburg was a lot of fun. Seth and I had a blast going down there. We've got some pictures I'll get up eventually. Seemed to have misplaced the battery charger somewhere between unpacking and the wall outlet where we usually keep it... Anyways. Seth and I got a family summer vacation package that came with a hotel for four nights, passes to the historic area, and best of all, a $200 gift card. We spent most of our days down in the historic area going to all the speaches and reenactments of events and stuff. Let me tell you, Patrick Henry really knew how to write a stirring speech and it's more than just the 'give me liberty or give me death' line. Wish we still had politicians today who spoke that passionately and honestly about what they believe. The funny thing was after we listened the actor recite this speech, Seth and I heard a kid about Benjamin or Abbey's age ask his mom about it and what he had meant by some of the things that had been said. The mother then actually told the kid that Patrick Henery had been wrong and that he shouldn't have defended the country by force of arms but rather gone the Ghandi-route and tried for a peaceful resistance. Am I the only one that that really annoys?

Anyways. The week was a lot of fun, we went to all the shops and got to see all the tradecrafts, bought a few things, and all that fun stuff. Got Benjamin a present, actually. I'll send it up soon. Seth got me a beautiful silver chain with a charm shaped like a spool of thread with a needle in it :) We also ate out at all the awesome little historical dining establishments, and even though the nicest of them - the King's Arms Tavern was completely booked up in reservations the week we were there, one of the waiters snuck us in on my birthday. It was amazing. As well it should be too, considering the price tag on the meal. We spent over $100 on dinner there, but it was worth it. I still wish I had gotten more of that pickled watermelon rind though, that was so good in spite of how it sounds. Strangely enough, after spending our gift card on that beast of a meal, we decided to forgo the spa...

Our last day in Williamsburg, Seth and I went over to Busch Gardens- the roller coaster part. It was drizzly, and we were afraid we were going to get rained out for a bit, but the weather only served to keep most of the people away. The park was mostly empty and there weren't any lines. It was awesome. Seth and I got on all the roller coasters, and took our favorite ones two or three times too. :) There is one there that has a 90 degree drop. Yes, straight down. It gets to the top and then inches forward until you're literally hanging over the edge, holds you there a minute so you can well and truely freak out, and then drops you down it at 70mph. Fun eh?