The Dog

About two weeks ago James and I decided to go for it and get a dog!
 Meet Max!!  He looks sweet in these pictures...but trust me, there is a spaz in there.  

Good sit.

Likes to walk with sticks. 

Chillin' in the back seat for 5 hours like a champ.

Getting to know his new friend, Champ. 

Relaxing in the sun.

Caught in the act of destroying his monkey.

The aftermath.

James Turns 27

Morning starts with surprise cupcake breakfast.

And some Turtle Beaches, which he has been wanting for a while.

Hubs giving the Turtle Beaches a test run.  He seems pleased.

At lunch time we had some German chocolate cake. 

After work we went out for a fancy shmancy dinner.

Happy birthday, hubs!

Fall Crafting

In preparation for fall and in response to the sudden chilly weather we are experiencing here in New York I have begun crafting.  Since I'm not a very crafty or inventive person, my creations have been limited.  But at least I'm accomplishing something while I sit on my booty all day...right??

First things first, my usual: Scarves.  So far I've only made two, but here is the first one.  It's called a basket weave, and I really like it!  Since I don't have any friends here I think I just might keep it for myself.  So there, people who don't want to be my friend.  You are missing out on a cozy scarf.  

Here is the pattern for all my fellow crocheters.

It's cold and I don't know how to turn on the heater! Agh!

My next creation is a bit of a stretch for me, but anyone who can cut fabric and tie knots can do this one.  Sometimes when I look at it I really like it and other times it just looks like a giant mess, so I'm still undecided.  It was fun to make though!  I am dumb and haven't yet figured out how to hang an S from the middle and actually have it hang straight with the wreath hook thingy also in the middle.  Eh, whatevs.  Here are the instructions for this bad boy. 

The Dark Lurker

As you may know (especially if you read this post) I'm a big scaredy cat.  I'm afraid to be home alone.  I'm afraid of the dark.  I'm afraid of shadows.  I'm just plain afraid. 

Things have actually gotten better since I stopped watching true crime shows, but I had a real awakening the other night about the true helplessness one feels when their death is imminent. 

Here's what happened:

I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.  James was sleeping peacefully beside me.  I walked down the hallway, did my business, turned off the bathroom light, and started feeling my way back towards the bedroom.  The room was dark with a bit of light coming from the window on the other side of the bed.  I could see outlines of the bed, the furniture, and....a large man lurking at the end of our bed. 

It really is amazing the huge number of thoughts that can run through you head in a millisecond.  My first thought was It's James.  I looked to the bed, but couldn't tell if he was in there or not because it was so dark.  Once the huge man didn't move or say anything to me, I realized it couldn't be James because obviously he would have no reason to stand there creepily and not acknowledge me with a "Hello dear."  Next thought was James is dead and I'm next.  I embarrassingly let out the most pathetic whimper you can imagine and started backing towards the bathroom again, which luckily  has two doors so I might have had a chance to escape that way.  I turned to run (probably still whimpering...kind of disheartening that I couldn't get a good scream to come out) when the lurker started to move towards me and spoke these words, "Hey babe, it's me, I want to show you something." 

So...it was James after all...wanting to show me something so interesting that it couldn't wait till the morning light.  It turns out that when I got out of bed he had woken up and decided to adjust the AC.  It makes all sorts of weird rattling noises and is really annoying.  Apparently on this occasion James had noticed that when he stood (lurked) at one spot at the end of the bed, the rattling stopped.  And when he moved anywhere else in the room, it rattled again.  Fascinating stuff, really.  Needless to say, I wasn't impressed or pleased.  I had one of those I-just-escaped-death sobbing sessions, and about an hour later was able to fall asleep again. 

Next time I'm taking my bat to the bathroom with me, then we'll see who wants to lurk in the dark.

Procrastination

It should come as no surprise that my boss back in California is totally and utterly lost without me.  Well...that may be an overstatement, but he has asked me to do some work for him remotely to help lighten his load.  It's nice to have a little bit of a sense of purpose...now instead of giving myself a pat on the back for getting off the couch three times in one day, I give myself a high five for finishing a quarterly review.  Good stuff. 

I told myself I was going to start working on the second quarter review today...but now I'm procrastinating.  My laziness is your entertainment for the next few minutes.  Here are some pics from our visit this past weekend by my sister's fam!  All of these pics are from our hike in Watkins Glen State Park.  So pretty!!  Come visit us and we'll take you :) 

Sammie and Reese using me as a jungle gym.

Jim and Violet :)

Looks like a heart!

One of the waterfalls.

That's me!

Me and my sis.  Go Navy!

Pretty.

Hubs :)

We make each other laugh.

If you look closely it almost looks like I have a calf muscle in this one!

The Starling fam.

Pretty view.

James' artsy photo.  I think it's pretty good!

The Starlings again!

Small Town Karma

So I didn't get Job A.  Or Job B actually.  Job A really liked me though so they had me come in this morning to interview for another position.

Other information you need to know:  James mentioned the other day that there was a woman in his department at his current job who transferred out because she was upset that her husband did not get hired for James' position...because they hired James.  Instead her husband got hired at Job A.

Guess who interviewed me today?

At least I can blame not getting the job on James this time!

Small Town Living

Corning is a pretty small town.  Sure there are two Walmarts, but that's only because there is nothing else.  It started to hit me how really small it is though this past week:

- James and I went shopping at Old Navy.  I bought a shirt.  The woman in front of us in line bought the same shirt in another color.  The next day we ran into her.  We were both wearing the same new shirt.  Meh.

-I applied for two jobs.  At Job A, I would be the bookkeeper for a real estate company.  At Job B I would be one of many bookkeepers at a large accounting firm.  I got an interview at Job A.  I went to said interview, and was asked to come for a second one.  The point of the second interview was to meet with the accounting firm that is currently doing the bookkeeping...the accounting firm that I would be replacing if I got hired...just to make sure everyone agreed I was up to the task.  Turns out that the accounting firm doing the bookkeeping for Job A is Job B.  Awkward.  Not only that, but the person I interviewed with for Job A is the exact person I sent my resume to for Job B.  I realize this is confusing...but just take my word for it...this could only happen in a small town.

I'm sure there will be many other cases like this in the future...maybe it will be a good thing...I'm not quite sure yet.  All I know is that it sure is different from what I'm used to.

Where We Live

Stumbled upon this video about the Corning area today.  Thought some of you might find it interesting.

James Goes to Ithaca

Today we took a 45 minute drive to Ithaca to check out the nearest "big" town and to explore the farmers market that has been recommended to us several times in the short time since we've been here.  It was small, but so cute!!

The market.

I felt obligated to take this photo because the sign said Cherry.

Live music.

James not happy about being forced to pose for photos.

Still not happy...but about to order an apple cider donut so that should help.

Yum! All better!

The best part of the whole day was finally finding a place with frozen yogurt which is a staple in our diets.  We will definitely be heading back up to Ithaca again soon!

Aaaah sooo happyyyyy.

Randoms

I finally went to the gym today.  I've been attempting to go every day this week and today was the first time I actually got my butt out of the door.  However, when I got to the gym to sign up for a membership, the cost was absurd and I refused to pay.  So now here I am at home...blogging.  Typing must burn soooome calories right??

Lately, every night James and I have found ourselves on our own ends of the couch, playing each other in Words With Friends, not talking.  We realized it would probably be much more fun to interact with each other while playing so we busted out the dictionary and bought a Scrabble board.  So fun!! Are we nerdy??

 

I am getting close to finalizing my resume which is kind of making me freak out.  I hate interviewing!  And I really like sleeping in...but it will be nice to feel useful again and not have to worry so much about counting pennies. 

I went downtown by myself yesterday, met some shop owners, bought some candles, and made a hair appointment for next week.  Hairdressers always know the cool stuff to do in town so hopefully I'll get some good info.

Pretty walkway to a bridge.

Kids playing in a fountain.

View from the bridge...if I had known the view would be this ugly I wouldn't have walked all the way out there!

The center of downtown.

Downtown!  So cute.

The Corning Inc., summer picnic is tomorrow afternoon and spouses are NOT invited!! How lame is that??? However, James has been assigned a "sponsor" who is taking us out to dinner next week and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that his wife and I hit it off.

I bought some new sandals when we were in Virginia last weekend and now I'm obsessed.  Now to find a new nail salon...I'm in need of a pedi!  Who wants to join me??

Twice since we've lived in this apartment we have found strange things in our kitchen sink...they look like giant boogers...or soggy mushrooms...We are assuming it is something coming up from the drain because we can't figure out where else it could possibly be coming from.  Aggh!

That's all for now.  Time to work on my latest baby afghan!

Housewife

My first day as a housewife:

7:08 Wake up

7:15 Make James breakfast

7:45 Get back in bed

8:15 Get up again

8:17 Do dishes

8:45 Rearrange furniture

9:00 Vacuum

9:15 Watch the news

10:30 Research local gyms online (that's almost as good as actually going to the gym right?)

10:45 Take photos for blog

11:00 Call from bestie over coffee

12:00 Make James a sandwich

12:30 James comes home.  Eat lunch.

 1:45 Get dressed

2:00 Go for a walk around the apartment complex

3:15 Shower

3:50 Go to Walmart (ugh, never again)

4:15 Cook dinner

Here's proof.

5:05 James comes home!!!


I'd say I was pretty housewifey yesterday...but today is SVU marathon day so all bets are off!

After

Here's our apartment with furniture.  We put most of our pictures and decorations in storage so this is as good as it's going to get :)

Walking through the front door.

Living area to the right.

Eating area to the left.

Ack!  Where did the counter go??

Looking back towards our bedroom.

Bedroom...not very exciting really.

View from our balcony looking to the right.

View to the left from our balcony.  You can kind of see the lake from here.

Bonus photo! James came home for lunch today! Woo!