Lunch with somebody new

Two of my coworkers sat a table over from me today so it was pretty necessary to have lunch with them. I had lunch with one of the young girls I never would have had lunch with normally. She seems sweet even if she has a penchant for musicals [nose wrinkle]. Oh, I'm such a snob.

So here's where we stand: BC, BE, CM, DM, DG, HB, FR, JH, JR, KM, KW, KB, LA, LN, LM, MG, MK, MG, NL, NS, PH, PM, PN, SS, SS, TM. People keep leaving so the attrition isn't entirely due to my "efforts"--and really, what efforts have I made? I keep getting dragged into these things...

#57 Holiday Comfort Lunch

On Wednesday, the boss took the team for Christmas lunch, and included our AA, NB, with whom I've never lunched. We went to Jones where the others guilted me into getting a sandwich. I had the tuna melt which was very good and talked the others into campfire craving for dessert. No one was dissatisfied; that dessert rocked.

More Wreaths, #48

Here it is the cheapest wreath yet! $2 for the form and $2 for the small metallic boxes. (I didn't use all of them.) The bows are either recycled or ribbon I had on hand, and the paper is what I am wrapping with this season, so I'm calling it a wash. The boxes are out of the recycling bin. They look a whole lot better on the door than they do piled by the curb!

Actually, the cheapest wreath is hanging on the lamppost, but since it's not a door wreath, I'm not counting it toward my goal. That one was $2.69 for the faux evergreen and $1 for the poinsettia stem. It looks perfect, and I avoided having to make a bow. You're going to sense a theme there...

I also wrote to my grandmothers last month. Oh, she's a goody two shoes.

#14 Read 16 Works of Fiction

1. How to Be Good by Nick Hornby. I don't think this book is quite as bad as people on Amazon are making out to be. It's probably not Hornby's best, but I really liked the idea of it. I kept thinking of that Chris Rock bit where he says you haven't been in love if you haven't planned your spouse's death...if you haven't brought the rat poison...if you haven't bought the rug to roll up the dead body in. I think if you don't like that joke, you won't get this book. I think so many people have thought about their spouse changing--not in truly substantial ways, but what would happen if, say, your husband started cleaning? It sounds good but we haven't thought it through to it's logical conclusion. I do believe this book reaches the logical conclusion, even if there's not that much logic sometimes. Anyway, it made me want to read more Hornby.

2. Motor Mouth by Janet Evanovich I read this in one go to take my mind off the pain (I just had bunion surgery). It's funny, but I just had the feeling that I was missing too much because I hadn't read the first book. I think there might be more of a character sketch in that book. As a series lover, I enjoy not having to read those few paragraphs where the characters are set up so that people who don't read the series can catch on. Selfish. Evanovich is a funny one so it wasn't just the percoset that made me laugh out loud while I read this one. It was a light bit of fluff, and I do think I meant books not like this when I set out to read 16 works of fiction.

#57 Part Six, Wherein, More Eatin'

I have just returned from lunch at Rangoon (Burmese) with LW, MM, LN, and NL. That's only two new people, but still it was fun. I had the North Burmese Noodles. It was supposed to be spicy, but it wasn't. I think I just don't like it there. 2 more down, 29 more to go...

#31 Write to my grandmothers monthly

I wrote to both my grandmothers in October to thank them for my birthday gifts. It shouldn't be difficult to keep this up for the next couple of months--I'll send a Thanksgiving card this month and a Christmas card in December. Maybe I should make a few cards to send them over the course of the next year. That will keep me on track!

#58 Have Lunch with 3 People Outside My Department

Yesterday I had lunch with someone from outside my department! We work together on a one of the colleges' publications. We went for dim sum. She wasn't picky. I might be on to #27 Make two new friends!

#46 Make 8 more wreaths

Here are two wreaths I have made.

The lighting is crap because, well, the days are shorter, but those flowers are purply-black, you can hardly tell. I need to take a bow-making class, clearly.

After Halloween, this one will take it's place. I also made a sunflower wreath which I forgot to photograph. It's in a box in the basement now. I have an idea for a Christmas wreath and I bought the parts for my winter wreath for January.

So far, I've spent about $25 on three wreaths. I may exceed my budget.

#57 Have lunch with each co-worker, Parts 3, 4 & 5

After my new boss started, she took the team to lunch, that's me and MM. While we were feasting at Cosi, JH plopped herself down and asked if it was okay to join us. I like her; she hates the decorating job in the bathroom too. And she's willing to say it, unlike the other girly-girls.

And did I mention that I went out with CP for salad? Well, there you go...three more down.

Today, I'm having lunch with my boss's boss. I wonder if I have to go for salad again...

The list shrinketh: BC, BE, CD, CM,DM, DG, PM, EG, FR, HB, JH, JR, KM, KW, KB, LA, LN, LM, MG, MK, MG, MG, NB, NL, NS, PH, PN, SS, SS, TM, TA. (Moved on: SS and DC, so no lunch with them.)

#61 Slovenia: From the Alps to the Mediterranean

Slovenia is a beautiful country. Here is a brief snapshot from the 200 photos we took.

Day One

Centromerkur (1903). Department store, Ljubljana.

In order to eliminate jet lag, we kept ourselves awake by taking a walking tour of the Secessionist (Art Nouveau) Buildings of Ljubljana (the capital).

Day Two

View from the grad (castle), Ljubljana.

More of Ljubljana. Today we visited the castle and the history museum in a beautiful park.

Day Three

Lake Bohinj, view of Ukanc.

We drove up to Lake Bohinj, in the Julian Alps. Hiked around the lake.

Day Four

Farmer scything grass, near Lake Bonhinj.

Hiked around Lake Bled, then took a boat tour of Lake Bohinj before riding a gondola to the top of Mt. Vogel.

Day Five

Boats in the Adriatic, the view from our hotel, Strunjan.

Started the day with a hike to Slap Savica (waterfall) before getting in the car and driving over crazy mountain passes so we could eat one of the particularly national foods, zlikrofi, in Idrija. Ended the day in Strunjan.

Day Six

Boats in Piran, view from the Maritime Museum.

Hiked from our hotel to Piran along a treacherous ocean-side path strewn with rocks and boulders. Basked in the Mediterranean glow of Piran.

Day Seven

Lipizzaner horses doing "light carriage work."

After a stop to see the Skocjan caves, we drove to Lipica to see the horses. Treated to a bunch of young women hoping to become Miss Hawaiian Tropics. They had to dress like that to show off their tans. Wondered that I was old enough to be their mother. Considered giving them a talking to about projecting the right kind of image.

Day Eight

Peppers for sale at the market in Vodnik Square, Ljubljana

Drove back to Ljubljana. Shopped. Had my 40th birthday dinner.

#92 Buy filing cabinet and file patterns in craft room

I've been neglecting you over here. I have been doing things on my list but I have been keeping them secret...

I have created a database and filed my patterns in the new filing cabinet for the craft room. I also put my scrapbooking scraps in there, organized by color.

Why Slovenia?

Cheryl asked.

The long and weird answer is that when I was five, I told my parents I wanted to ride the bus for my birthday. I was fascinated by the city buses but had never ridden one. This was my big chance. My parents, completely perplexed by my desire to ride a bus, thought big. My dad took me on a Greyhound bus to Boston so I could see the Lipizzaner horses.

Well, the Lipizzaner horses are from Lipica, Slovenia. So, it's like going home again. Except I get to ride in a big plane.

Other reasons include: it is the size of New Jersey, so we can see most of it in the week we have to travel. It has beaches, mountains, and an incredible cave system (karst). And I know a woman who keeps going back to Ljubljana because she's so in love with the place. She has me swayed.

You gotta love a city whose every "L" has it's own "j." I'm a woman of simple pleasures.

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

We bought tickets! We are going to Slovenia for my 40th birthday (pause here so you can argue that I am not really 40. Go ahead, everyone else does.) We go October 6 and return October 15.

I'm too excited to sleep!

#76 Remove carpeting downstairs

Well, we put the whole gang to work! On Sunday, my sister, cousin and her husband and two kids, came and helped the dude and I rip up carpet. We decided to cut the job in half, just taking the carpet out of the living room and dining room. I thought we could do more, but it turns out the dude knew exactly how much of this we could take.When we pulled up the carpet in the living room, the pad had stuck and left color and crap everywhere. We developed an elaborate system of swiffering and scrubbing on our hands and knees to get the stuff up. Fortunately, the job was a lot easier in the dining room which had the better quality mat.

The dining room also got the treatment from my cousin. While she was occupying the kids in the dining room so we could work in the living room (the one with the TV) she painted the window trim and then hung the blinds! So that's another thing off the list, but I didn't do it. Does that mean it doesn't count??? (photo missing)

Sunday we all went to Hershey Park. I rode the carousel and nearly barfed. I haven't been on rides in ages--I think almost ten years. Then I went on the SooperDooperLooper, the Great Bear, and the Claw. So I was back on form. Before we left, I painted the trim in the living room so we can put up the drapes tonight. It's like I got a new house.And aren't the neighbors glad it's trash day. We're bringing down the property values--that pile of crap has been in front of our house since Sunday. And it's not even all of it!

#84 Paint guest room, including trim

Shakes fist at self, why "including trim?" Well because I know if we don't do it soon it will never get done. Three walls are painted. We're wallpapering the fourth wall. But it's painted. Ralph Lauren "Arrow Wood" Suede. I'd show you a picture, but it just looks like this paint sample. Because the furniture isn't going back until we've completed the wallpaper.

#86 Buy chairs for dining room

I wanted to take a picture of the new chairs in the dining room because they look so great. These came in way under budget, and the dude only had to spend a couple of hours putting them together. Even better news, my job was to break down the boxes and get them ready for recycling, which was today. So it was like the chairs have always been there. No mess waiting for trash day.

We also got the new drapes for the living room. This weekend we are painting the guest room and picking up the paint for the living room and hallways. See, the dude promised me the carpet would be out by the end of summer. And he thinks we should paint before we pull up the rug. And summer's almost over. We have a very strict schedule so that the carpet comes up over labor day weekend. And suddenly, our house is our house

#88 Hang Maps in Guest Room

I know I've done this one ass-backwards. I want to paint this room, and I went and hung the pictures first. Here's the thing. It's hot as fuck in the master bedroom (even with central a/c) so we're sleeping in the guest room. And I hate the plain white walls staring at me. So I put up the maps. And curtains (#87). It's better, but it will really be improved when we get the walls painted.

Sorry for the poor picture.

I also went crazy online yesterday and bought blinds and a filing cabinet (#79, #81, #92). Now we're cooking with gas.

#30 Catalog books

I've started a catalog at Library Thing. Cataloging would go a lot faster if we had internet access at home. Maybe I should work on that.

Making Progress on the Home Front

This weekend I ran around to Ikea, JC Penney, Lowe's, and Joann's to start some of the projects from this list. At Ikea, I bought some curtain hardware and thought about getting something like this for the living room. We have this huge picture window which is currently dressed with vertical blinds. I hate them, but I haven't found anything I love yet. Something easy to open so that we do open them and something that will attain the level of privacy the dude is after. Penney's is having a huge sale, including the dining room chairs we so desperately need (#86). They didn't have the furniture on display, but we got a lamp and a giant picture frame. I mean giant--it holds 4x6 pictures 7 across and 5 down. This will replace the shelving we were going to get (#89). We only needed the shelving because we have a giant wall that we can't put any furniture on--it's in the traffic pattern. The only trouble was it's not the right color. At Lowe's I got spraypaint for the shutters (#97) and the giant picture frame. On to Joann's where I bought six 12x12 frames for the maps we have to hang in the guest room. We've chosen the maps and put them in the frames, but we haven't managed to put them on the wall (#88).

I've scheduled myself to complete a few of these projects during the week. We'll see...