Goodbye, DC!

We did some last minute sight seeing today in DC. Justin's mom came over early this morning and we took the metro one last time into our nation's capitol. We had breakfast at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel's restaurant, toured the Holocaust museum, walked the mall, saw the White House, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument. Here are a few photos from the day. I've also included a photo of my new Chanel glasses and another of our progress here at the apartment. The pic is of our living room at the moment--packing has to be done tomorrow! Were going to Delaware on Saturday and will be back Sunday night...just in time for our move Monday morning.

If the rain must fall

let's hope it doesn't fall next Monday or Tuesday, on our moving days!

So far the packing is coming along...coming along a little slowly. That's my fault. I just get trapped on this computer for too long during the day. I start looking for jobs and apartments/houses and then if I turn on my i-chat, I'm really on here for too long! I've pretty much managed it all in my head numerous time though, so if I just start it and don't stop until I'm finished, I could have everything packed today. That doesn't need to happen because I have the rest of the week to pack, so I'll just try to keep doing a little more at times, instead of sitting on this computer all day!

Over the weekend we went to Christiana Hospital in Northern Delaware to see little Christopher (I think he's now being called "Chris" because everyone else is calling him that). He is doing really well right now. He's had a few setbacks but with each one that has occurred he's pulled through, so we're all very happy for that. We drove down to Bridgeville (where Justin is from) after our trip to the hospital. We went to Justin's mom's house, hung out with Skip and Blake while watching TV, ate some chinese food and went to bed pretty early. Sunday was his Mom's birthday. She cooked her own birthday lunch and had everyone over to the house to eat, open presents and visit. We had shrimp pasta salad, lasagna, broccoli and cauliflower, and garlic bread. It was all very good! She even made her own birthday cake which was sort of like a strawberry shortcake, but I can't remember the name of it now. It was also delicious. We got her a Coach purse and she loved it. I was so glad because it was extremely hard to shop for her. Justin and I walked the mall 3 or 4 times on Friday night and Saturday morning trying to find a gift for her. Finally, Coach became our answer. After lunch we watched football, and Nathan and Tyler showed me how to play a few of their videogames on the the gamecube system. We are going back one more time (next weekend) to visit with everyone once more before we leave. I imagine it will be kind of sad because we're not sure when the next time is that we'll be back, but they aren't a very emotional family so I'm sure some hugs will be exchanged and then we'll be on our way. Next weekend, we'll be celebrating his Gramma's birthday, as well as his brother, Blake's birthday. Hopefully we will drive to the hospital first like we did this past weekend to see Chris once more, too. I can't beleieve we are moving in a week! If you saw this apartment right now, you wouldn't think so. But you might think we were slobs! There is stuff everywhere.
We've decided it's kind of pointless to rent a furnished apartment because it's so much more expensive to do so (just because it's furnished), so we are going to look for a small house to rent. This way, we will have a yard and we can get that puppy that I've wanted for a very long time now! We'll bring what we haven't sold, which is a coffee table, side table and dining set, along with our bed. We will then only need to buy a couch and chair and some other bedroom furniture, like a nightstand and a dresser. This will be much less expensive and still not a difficult move, as this furniture that we are taking with us is all pretty light. We sold the heavy stuff already..my dresser and the TV. Justin bought a hitch for his truck and installed it himself, so we just need to reserve our uhaul trailer now. Things are coming along nicely.

Oh yeah, I forgot to post it, although I've already announced it to everyone...Justin got the job he interviewed for. We're both very happy and I do hope it works out for him. His first day is Novemeber 6th, so it all worked out wonderfully..our plan.

We are tentatively planning a European vacation for next fall. Justin, his mom and I. They've not been but are narrowing down where they'd like to go first. It's impossible to try to see so much in a week or two, so I'm voting we choose 2 or 3 places and tour them as in-depth as possible. I want to see at least one place that I've not seen, maybe Germany or Spain this trip. I've seen London and other parts of England numerous times and am thrilled to go back, but I really want to see something new, as well. I'll update more on that as we continue to plan.

Halloween is approaching..unfortunately we won't be anywhere in particular to celebrate, but hopefully everyone else will go all out and I'll get to see some pictures of all of the costumes. I love to see what people think of!

Tomorrow, the 24th, is our 11-month anniversary. :) I can't wait for next month...Thansgiving and our one year anniversary! It just sounds cool, but it feels like it's been a lot longer. This is my favorite time of year, I'm so happy we are moving right now, too. Things couldn't be better. I'll update again later in the week...G'bye for now.

Moving....

I just noticed that in my last post I said it was raining. Funny, it's raining again now.

We are reaching the end of our stay in Virginia. We're leaving on October 30th! I'm finished with work...it's a long story about why I didn't stay through my last week and a half, a long story I'd rather not get into (I've told it numerous times now). But it's for the best that I'm no longer working there. So here I am organizing for our move. I've made a spreadsheet with google docs to document every box's contents. It's going to be a great feeling when I've accomplished this task. So far I've only created the spreadsheet. I have to begin the actual packing. I'm going to buy the plastic totes this time, instead of packing them in the disposable packing boxes. It will make for better organization and will be easy to store them this way. I won't have to worry about my things being damaged, or at least I won't have to worry as much ;). We are moving with only boxed items, no furniture this time. I've listed everything on Craigslist for sale and hope to be sitting in a fairly empty apartment by the end of next week, if not sooner. Right now we're planning to rent a furnished apartment, but it depends on what's available. Eventually we want to buy a house. Once this happens we'd like to purchase the furniture we want then. I'd like to be married before we own anything, so it's possible we'll be renting for a while. Renting sucks but at least our rent will likely be half of what it is now. Justin flew to Texas last week for an interview. He's hoping to hear some good news this week, as am I. This position sounds like a good thing for him.
Yesterday I had an eye exam and picked out some new glasses. My eyes are getting worse with the aging...I need these glasses NOW. I think they are pretty cute too, and hopefully everyone else will think so. After I pick them up this afternoon, maybe I will post a photo of them! I'm going to target today to buy my totes. After that I need to be home for my potential buyers. I've got three different people coming to look at the furniture I'm selling later today.
This weekend we are planning to drive over to Delaware again to visit with Justin's family and friends. Last weekend we went over for a night and day. We celebrated Justin's youngest cousin, Nathan's 5th birthday with him and his family. It was fun and I'm glad we went-it will probably be a while before we're back on the East coast after we move. This weekend we will be celebrating another birthday, it's Justin's mom's birthday. AND the following weekend is his brother, Blake's birthday. Lots of October birthdays. Krista's baby, Christopher is doing OK. He's had surgery once already and has had some troubles due to adjusting to the surgery, but as far as everyone knows, he's doing good. This will be a difficult time for them, just taking things day by day, but hopefully with each day that passes, he'll progress in the most healthy way! Krista and Eric finally got to hold him - which must have been amazing for them.
I just got a call ...someone's coming to look at the bed we're selling in 30 minutes. I need to go get ready!

It's raining

and it's getting colder. I love it!

I love the TV show, "The Office," too. It's the funniest show on TV right now, I think. I don't watch a lot of TV, but I do have my favs. I'm into The Office, Greys Anatomy, Lost and that's pretty much it. I watch a few other shows because Justin does and I'm here..but those are the only shows I'm really into this season. The premiere of Lost was last night. It was good...but I've never watched the show during the actual season, so it's going to be hard to have to wait every week to find out what's going on. I'm used to popping in the DVD and there being what seems like endless amounts of episodes because I'm always behind. We have two Tivos because my boyfriend watches everything! He got another one so we can record my shows on "my tivo" and his shows on "his tivo", except he also records shows on "my tivo" because he watches so much. There are shows that are bound to conflict in the scheduling of one man's Tivo. His and Hers Tivos...cute, huh?

Justin's little sister, Krista, had a very shocking and somewhat scary day this week. She was 26 weeks pregnant on Tuesday, October 3rd. I say 'was' because that afternoon her water broke and the doctors performed an emergency delivery. She is not pregnant anymore. Her son, Christopher Eric Patchett, the third, was delivered about 15 weeks early. He weighs just over a pound and will stay in the NICU for the next three months or so until he is healthy and able to go home. Justin went to see them on Wednesday this week and said everyone is doing well. I couldn't get off of work to go with him, but we are going to the hospital on Saturday and I will get to see the little guy then. I hope and pray that the next three months, he does nothing but grow and develop into a healthy baby! I wish the family nothing but the best, as well. And Justin's an uncle now!

Work is just getting crazier. I'm stressed and exhausted almost everyday. It's depressing when I leave work and feel good that I've just finished working only a 9 hour day, instead of my usual 11 or 12 hour day. I originally gave my notice to stay until the end of the month, but I'm thinking now that the 15th is going to be my last official day. My boss is a little sad, but she's just as unhappy as I am. No one wants to work like this and not feel rewarded. Justin and I also think there's a good chance we'll be leaving soon, too, because he has some good leads with various jobs. I've just started to apply for some administrative positions to hopefully get myself started as soon as I get out there. Gotta get that paycheck rolling in as soon as possible. But I have no idea what I really want to do.....AGAIN. I don't think catering is going to be in my future. I'm not cut out for these kinds of hours, nor do I think anyone should have to work like this. So I'll be looking forward to the 9 to 5 thing, if I can find it.

Well, it's bed time. It's actually time for Greys Anatomy, but I'm tired and well since it's being tivo'd, I'll watch it on Monday when we're back from New York. I anticipate that I'll be at work until late tomorrow night. And I've got to pack when I get home because I'm working Saturday morning. Then Justin is picking me up straight from work on our way out of town. Gotta love having two Tivos!

Sunday

My most dreaded day of the week.....even more so because I have to go into work in a little while. Yesterday, our new work stations were delivered and so today I have to go in to set up our desks and computers so that work can be done on Monday.
Yesterday we saw "The Last Kiss" and it sucked! I was very dissapointed and wish we had seen something else instead. Don't waste your time or your money on this one. The soundtrack is good, though.
We are selling most of our furniture and today someone is coming to look at the kicthen table and chairs that we bought less than 2 months ago. Luckily most of our furniture is sold because my boss is going to buy a lot of it to help furnish her nephew's new apartment. We have a only a few things left to sell! The move will only consist of a few bulky things, our clothes and many boxes. We still don't know exactly when we are moving but it will be sometime after thanksgiving most likely, depending on our new job status. I've already given notice at my current job that the 1st of November will be my last day...one more month.
Next weekend we are driving up to New York to visit my sister for a few nights. Justin's cousin, Aaron is flying into town for the long weekend and he's going with us. It will be his first time to New York. Not sure what we plan to do yet, but something fun will be done. I'm hoping it will feel like Fall, unlike the last time I was there, when it was 100 degrees. I'm going to miss the real winter by moving so soon. I was looking forward to living in snow. I've never lived anywhere where a real winter season exists. Oh well, most people who are here tell me I'm crazy for wanting to live in it and that I should be glad I'll be leaving before the snow.
This post is going to be cut short...I need to start getting ready for work. :(