i need to rant

i'm not really a ranter. i don't get upset or annoyed to the point of ranting very oft. poor ju-dat has borne the brunt of my ranting today. yet i find i need to rant more.

so i follow numerous blogs of people from high school/college. i'm not normally a jealous person. i had friends in junior high that i wanted to dress like, but usually i was ok with the way things were. our current living situation may have something to do with this...

i will follow my rant with an anti-rant so that you don't feel like you have to offer me any pity.

it bugs me that some of these "old friends" i follow would look down on me because we're living in a tiny, old apartment right now. i know they would because they looked down on me in high school for putting packaged lunch meat on my sandwiches instead of "deli meat." i'm serious.

if they still gave a rat's ass about me, they would be sitting on their plush, luxurious leather couch, reading this from their macbook. thinking "bless her little heart...where are her tori burch flats???? her prada bag????? omg is that from f21?!?!?!" trust me.

i'm annoyed that so many people i know have felt content to stay in their safe little arkansas/louisiana bubble (not you, t) and yet i know they would judge me for the decision we made to live in new orleans and now portland. we don't have a microwave right now. we live beside a shooting rage so we hear gunshots constantly. they wouldn't put up with this kind of living situation because they've never had to because they always had their plush, cushy nerf life.

i could have that life too, if i wanted to live in a craphole city with no culture and nothing to offer. that's the trade off. big, beautiful house...suck-face USA city.

i didn't want to make that trade.

i chose to cook with vintage pyrex instead of stainless all-clad. to wear a vintage robert david morton dress to lunch instead of diane von furstenberg. to live in a tiny apartment with no furniture because it's in an awesome city that i love. and i'm not the only one. your $250,000 house would easily cost half a million dollars here...because people WANT to live here. no one wants to live in poopville, arkansas. that's why you got 3500 sq ft for $280,000. not because you're an awesome person with an awesome life.

my life has always veered away from what everyone else was doing and i used to hate it. but the life i've gotten to live in 28+ years more than trumps your perfectly manicured lawn and overpriced car. sometimes i just have to remind myself of that.

cribs: squatters' edition

it's march and we're still squatting in an apartment. it usually doesn't bother me that much, although i am dying to finally unpack these boxes. but tonight i got a little impatient/annoyed because i realized you can get a really super freakin' nice house in arkansas or dallas for what we're paying on a short sale (upside of short sale: crazy good deal). the downside would be having to live in arkansas or dallas and neither suit our personalities whatsoever. the everett's fit no mold!

anywho, i thought blogland should have a better idea of the digs we've lived in since december 26th.

this is the "master" bedroom. if you'll recall, we gave away almost all of our furniture in new orleans and are waiting until we move in a house to buy more. so i sleep on the day bed. matt sleeps on the trundle underneath. ella sleeps in the red velvet bed on the floor. you can see her crap face on the pillows on the bed. being a crap face. ah and yes...our sliding closet doors are mirrored.


this is my tv watchin' view. the day bed doubles as a couch. because we don't have one. that's my pile of clothes on top of the pile of boxes. and i was watching e! news.

the luxurious master bath. it's actually not bad, space-wise. it just has a stand-up shower that makes leg shaving impossible and/or dangerous.

this is the second bedroom. currently our washer/dryer and 50% of our crap are living in it.

check out this high quality washer and dryer. the washer makes interesting seal-like noises whilst agitating. it's agitating.

the kitch. there's nowhere else the trash can go. we do actually have a garbage disposal (silver lining).

dining room. and my font has changed. FOR NO REASON. also, i dig through all those boxes a lot.

living room. you can see our mardi gras wreath along with matt's punkin head. and what 70s apartment is complete without vertical blinds?!?


this is matt's bathroom, complete with jacuzzi tub that only ella has used.


and here's doofy butt dog. looking like she only has one paw.

please pray we can close on our house soon. surely this stirred some sense of sympathy deep in your bowels.

the times they are a-changin'...

i finally put some effort into making my blog not look hoopty.

i am once again gainfully employed. at an architecture firm. not doing anything particularly interesting, but the coffee is good and there's free food most every day.

but the best part...

THE.BEST.PART...

there's a kegerator in the kitchen. so last friday i had a nice glass of deschutes red chair NWPA before i left work.

portland 1. new orleans 0.

also, wednesday was national margarita day so one of the project managers made margaritas. so i drank margaritas at my desk all afternoon. then we all went out for happy hour and the company paid. i'm already spoiled.

HOWEVER...i work downtown. and boora doesn't pay for parking. so matt and i started carpooling, which means i ride with him to his work in the northwest and then hop on the streetcar to downtown. i feel like such a grown up.

i am having a hard time adjusting to working again. i miss ella. i hate getting up at 6am. i hate the traffic. but i don't feel like a worthless, steaming pile of cow dung (figuratively speaking.) {name that movie!!!!} i am once again contributing to the household. and feeding ella's food habit. it's OOC.

Eleven Questions

this came at a good time. i've felt the need to blog, but had nothing to say.

UNTIL NOW!

tanks, judith. tanks.

11 things about me, 11 questions to answer and 11 questions for someone else to answer...although i know less than 11 people in this entire world so i'm not holding my breaf.

Random Crap

1) february 22 will be 6 years since i was diagnosed with MS

2) the only pop tarts i'll eat are unfrosted strawberry

3) i met my husband through xanga

4) i went to a garth brooks concert on january 17, 1993

5) i was lil' miss darbonne range rider rodeo queen in 1993 (it was a big year)

6) my hair was down to my buttocks for much of my pre-adolescence.

7) i used to eat my cereal dry...as in sans milk, but still in a bowl with a spoon

8) i played the flute and piccolo in marching band

9) i also cheered for 6 years and we won state my senior year

10) i have the world's flattest feet so i will always look awkward in heels

11) my obsession with my dog knows no bounds

My Questions from Judith

1) Why did you decide to go to college? Or not go to college?

both of my parents and both of my brothers went to LA Tech, so it was kind of an obligation. i loved it though.

2) How did you pick your children's names? (And, if you don't have kids, do you have the names picked out?)

matt and i discuss our future children's names a lot. and we disagree a lot. if we have a girl, i want to name her lila because that was my best friend's mom's name when i was growing up and she recently passed away from parkinson's. maybe calvin for a boy because it's common but not common. cal for short. like cal ripken. little cal everett.

3) What was your favorite book as a kid?

ramona quimby, age 8

4) Favorite book as an adult?

redeeming love is the only book i've read more than once. but less than 3 times.

5) Is there some food item you hated as a kid but now like as an adult?

cheese. you read that right.

6) What's the best thing about your job?

flexible hours

7) What's the worst thing about your job?

no paycheck

8) Why do you blog?

because i can type faster than i can write. and i have a bad memory.

9) Why do you read my blog? Ha!

because you're my friend and i miss you (awwwwww)

10) Do you do Valentine's Day cards to family members/your significant other?

matt and i aren't big on cards. the only birthday card i ever gave him was a spiderman card that said something about a grandson. the only birthday card he's given me referred to me as a beautiful african sister. so no. we don't do cards.

11) What's your favorite flower?

i like roses which comes in handy when you live in the city of roses.

If You Dare...

1) Who taught you how to drive?

2) What's your dream car?

3) Favorite Bath and Body Works scent?

4) Is there a song/band that you absolutely hate? Like Taylor Swift?

5) Is there a piercing/tattoo that you really want?

6) What's your worst habit?

7) Does that damn ASPCA Sarah McLaughlin commercial ruin your entire day?

8) Name two people that would be on your "Elevator List."

9) Do you have a favorite Vera Bradly pattern?

10) Does the token stop spinning at the end of Inception?

11) Could you ever be vegan/vegetarian?

i need cheering up

i have a case of the moonsdays.

we put an offer on (another) short sale as soon as we moved here. we were hoping to hear from the bank this week, which we did. they accepted our offer. but i forgot there's two lenders that have to approve. and the second lender could take another 30 days. and then a 45 day closing. this house is right down from the first house we put an offer on (and lost) and looks exactly the same, except it's about 200 sq ft smaller. i have a stack of paint swatches on the counter. ready to get this show in the road.

also...i have 3 headhunters but no job. funny how i'm great at attracting headhunters but not employers. *pity party alert* so i sit here alone all day in an apartment full of boxes. and while this apartment is definitely livable, i'm quite certain methuselah was the first tenant of this place. whatever color appliance came before the awesome 70s avocado is what this place is outfitted with. i don't do well in temporary situations. anxiety robs me of sleep. *ends pity party*

we did get lots of pretty snow last week though. thick, fluffy snow. and this is what i get to see when i convince myself to run up the neighboring hill.

just ready to start making portland home.

so this is the new year...

...and i don't feel any different

i start off the first post of each year that way. death cab lives!

it's funny how i'd actually rather sit here and beat myself up about not blogging than actually blog.

masochism.

this is my 11th day living here. we're squatting in an apartment that's very old, but clean and functional. we put an offer on another short sale (why is every house we like a SS?!?!?!), so now we get to wait to hear from the bank(s).

i got crazy spoiled by staying with my parents in dallas for two weeks. big comfy bed, my mom did my laundry and took me shopping every day. spoiled. eden and ella became bff.

then the night before flying here, i decided to go bat shit cray cray. so scared to leave my family and fly to a strange apartment in a strange city.

i'm much better now. i've found a target, a mall and a liquor store. and 283942224922 starbucks. so i'm good.

also, i've been watching "glee" on netflix and reading "the hunger games." i am almost caught up on pop culture.

i was in bed at 11:50pm on NYE. fail.

and running up massive hills in the cold is like a slow death.

soundtrack of 2011

i usually post the songs in chronological order...but since this year was ridicrazy, i didn't get a chance to keep a running list.

civilian - wye oak

so american - portugal. the man

i can never relax - hellogoodbye

pink champagne - lovedrug

monster monster - the almost

terrible world, give me more! - the bigger lights

direction - the starting line

she was raised by a man with a sickness - bradley hathaway

kmag yoyo - hayes carll ( got made fun of for that one)

plath heart - braids

you told the drunks i knew karate - zoey van goey

go outside - cults

abducted - cults

you know what i mean - cults

oh my god - cults

for you - angus & julia stone

down in the valley - the head & the heart

we will all be changed - seryn

simple math - manchester orchestra

unrequited love - lykki li

mr moon - eisley

baby - warpaint

home - edward and the magnetic zeros

your hand in mine - explosions in the sky (theme song to FNL)

i and love and you - the avett brothers

like a fool - lawrence arabia

don't stop (color on the walls) - foster the people

pumped up kicks - foster the people

thin air - aqualung

rox in the box - the decemberists

take your mama - scissor sisters

look at me now - chris brown ft busta and lil wheezy (i WILL know all the words by 2012)

i'm leaving some out. i always do.

"you win, you always do."

- robert goule