It's That Time of Year

I love Christmas. It is my favorite holiday, though I often say that about Halloween right around October but Christmas is really truly my favorite. I love the way that people act (excluding those people that get mad thinking that they waited in line longer than the guy currently being helped at the register), the decorations, Secret Santa gift exchanges, silly Santa socks, Christmas music, wrapping gifts while watching movies, etc. I think you get the idea. I love the magic of this time of year. But my absolutely favorite part is the gift giving. I look forward to the hunt for the perfect gift. I feel so accomplished when I've picked out something a bit unique and that the recipient will love.

As you know, Christmas means that I have a lot of hard work to do. That's right, when I bust out my strand of Christmas lights and place them oh so artfully. Bet you thought I was going to mention all those holiday shoppers!

You'll note that I used the very complex method of draping them across my floor lamp and top of the curtains then to my shelving system similar (ok, practically identical) to last year's method.



Yesterday after work I altered my tradition of watching Disney movies while wrapping gifts. This year I watched the two Christmas episodes of Psych (Gus's Dad May Have Killed an Old Guy, and Christmas Joy) while getting all my gifts wrapped, ribboned and bowed. Oh, and Dixie helped.



If you were wondering, that's Dad's. She also really helped me wrap one of Mom's gifts. :) So sweet of her to volunteer.

I Have A Roommate!

As you may or may not be aware, I've had a campaign to adopt a cat pretty much since I've moved into my apartment. Now this campaign was never aimed at the apartment management, but at my co-signer and financier for school: Dad. (Mom was already on team cat.) After a year of lovingly pestering him about all the benefits and how I could afford to pay for her (with just a little bit of help in the pet deposit department) I finally won him over, or he caved just so I'd shut up about it already. Probably the latter.

And so began my mission to find a shelter cat to rescue and love. After looking into the local shelters I began going to their sponsored adoption days and talking to the organizers to find a cat whose needs matched what I could offer. Turns out that most of the adoption days at stores like PetCo or Petsmart feature almost exclusively young cats and kittens because they are the ones who are considered more adoptable. I ended up talking to a woman from The Cat People and she was super helpful and emailed me information and photos about some of the adult cats looking for a home. I decided to adopt an adult rather than a kitten or young cat because I know that they have a harder time finding a home and even though kittens are super cute, I don't have to have one. I'd like to be able to trust my cat to be home alone while I'm at work or school without getting into trouble.

One of the first emails that I received had the photo of a cute tuxedo cat named Dixie Dot. I've always wanted a black and white cat, don't know why really, but when I saw her photo I knew I wanted to know more about her.



After emailing back and forth with the woman from The Cat People I decided that I'd (pre-adoption) foster Dixie. She suggested this to make sure that we'd be a good match. On Black Friday, after work, she brought Dixie over and she's been here ever since. The first day was interesting because Dixie decided that the bathtub would be a good spot to hide from me...yeah, so hard to see you in there! She was a bit overwhelmed from being brought to a new place and being introduced (and left with!) a new person. I let her be for the most part and went about my evening as usual but would go in every so often just to talk to her and offer my hand for her to sniff. I managed to get her out of the tub on her own accord late that night and she began to explore. She even slept on the bed with me when she thought I was asleep and it was "safe".

She's a very sweet and curious cat who loves to play with her little toy mice and my socks. She's now feeling at home and even runs to greet me when I get home from work! (Take that dog owners! hehe) I've even caught her watching tv on occasion.



Reminds me of Lucky from 101 Dalmatians...



It was very funny when I was watching Pixar Short Films the other day and For the Birds came on. She was very interested and wanted to touch the birds. Since I have Tivo I even replayed it for her (and me, I love that one!) when it ended and the second time around the big bird startled her. It was rather entertaining.



Loves!

Really?!?! Or: Why I Now Carry My Camera With Me

Amidst running my errands today I decided to try to locate Lengthwise Brewing Co. I knew approximately where it was, and it turned out to be super easy to find, but when I found it I saw something a bit odd...



Yes, that is a Budweiser van parked in front of Lengthwise...way to park your company vehicle while on your lunch!

You (s)Know I Can't Resist

Here's a little something to get you ready for winter...

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Featuring: Mr. T., Becca, Anthea, Ashley, and myself

Hiatus and Visitors

Ok so I know it has been a very very long time since I've updated and I'm sorry. This semester is just taking up so much time that I don't find that I can easily sit here and type about what's happening with me. I can assure you that all is well, school and work are both taking a lot of hours but I am also managing to keep myself well balanced with fun things too. I just want to tell you that until I don't feel that I am behind in school and needing more hours in a week or day or whatever I won't be posting.

Side note, it's come to my attention that I have had some unexpected site activity. Recently I've had about 9 site visits from all over (Portugal, Columbia University, Boston, Chicago, etc) which is pretty cool. Granted they don't stay long but I find it interesting that it appears that they're all in-clicking to my entry "Get With the Program: It's Spring Not Summer" and the lovely photo of the snapdragons. Kind of curious why but hey, whatever.

Until later.
Loves.

Jury Duty Update

Just wanted to update to let you know that I will be reporting for jury duty tomorrow morning at 8:15. Sigh. That means I have to set my alarm. And get out of bed. And dress nicely. Not that I am saying I don't dress nice, but I like my flip-flops and jeans. Both no-no's according to the bold red font. Such party poopers.

I'll let you know what method gets me out of serving. And I promise to update on the going ons from August sometime this week.

Saturday Surprise

Saturday after work I had a bit of a surprise waiting for me. And it's not the kind of surprise that you get all goofy and excited over. You know, the type of thing where your sentences are all fast and squished together because you're trying to share the excitement with anyone and everyone as fast as you can. Yeah, totally not that type.

It's the type of surprise that makes you want to hide, or move or have any excuse not to deal with it. It's the worst mail (besides a large credit card bill when you're broke) that could arrive at anytime. It's a jury duty summons.

Sigh.

They finally found me. I received a summons for Santa Barbara County earlier in the year and I was excused since I live over here in the gateway to hell* to attend school. Apparently news got out among the summoners that I haven't had to report for a few years and that they needed to find me and summon me now. Mission accomplished. Well played Kern County Superior Court system, well played.

My potential report date is Tuesday, September 8th. Exactly one week before my fall quarter starts. Hopefully they won't even need me to come in, or if I do have to go in then I'll be excused. I don't need to be selected for duty this close to classes starting, especially when superior court handles the bigger (and most likely longer) cases. We pay for me to go to school, not to just buy the expensive text books.

Hopefully this photo will be the closest I get to the juror box**:


Loves.

* I have discovered that B-field is the gateway to hell by simple observation. As everyone and their mother knows, B-field gets hot in the summer. So hot that the temperature reaches (and often exceeds) 113.4 degrees. In fact, the high temp one day was 113.4. And this, as we all know from making words on our calculators, spells "hell" when viewed upside down. Mystery solved.

** Not that I'd mind terribly if I did have to serve in the future, I'd just prefer not to during the school year.