December is here!

Can you believe there are only 30 days left in the year of 2006? Christmas decorations have come out. We got our tree, it's been trimmed, lighted and decorated. We only need a skirt and some presents to go under it now. I'm looking for our stockings and a few other things, but for this year's holiday deco we've pretty much completed what we want to do. It will be more fun to decorate a house, so we'll have that to look forward to next year when we are hopefully in our new house. Which brings me to an update on that. We've decided while it would be nice to buy and build a new home, it might be better if we start out with a cheaper, existing home instead. I'm sure that once we start looking, we can find something we both like in a good area, for a price that we will be able to afford. Then a little further down the road, after we've settled here a little longer, we'll think about whether or not we want to sell our house in exchange for something new. What we need is some time to save money to make things easier when it's time to put in the down payment. Apartment life isn't so bad, and I don't mind doing this for a while longer. Justin is more eager to get out of here and into a house. So we will be in a house by this time next year, it's just more than likely going to be an existing home. I like house hunting, so much that I tivo HGTV's "House Hunters" everyday. I love it! Even when I was younger I can remember riding bikes with my family in the neighborhood. We would stop at model homes and walk through them. Pretending like the house was going to be ours was what my sisters and I did with every house we looked at. We would choose our rooms and of course there was usually a fight. Anyway, I'm anxious and looking forward, however I'm fine with waiting a little while longer to find our new home. Maybe it's because I need a break from moving? ;)
Brooklyn is a lot of fun right now. She keeps me laughing. I'm completely attached..it's been about three weeks and I'm smitten. Getting to know her personality and spend so much time with her has been wonderful. It's going to be tough once I start working and don't get to spend all these hours with her..probably tougher for me than it will be for her. But work has to begin. I'm getting nervous about finding something I enjoy doing for 40 hours a week. I'm not so nervous about finding a job, because I'm confident I can find something. I just don't want to take any job. I'm hoping to connect with the creator of SXSW to see what might be available and/or to see if he has any contacts in the city that might also be helpful in my job search. My friend, Season, is working on getting us in touch with each other. She met him at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this year. By the way, Season has gone out on her own now, professionally. She is officially working independently as a Music Supervisor. I'm really proud of her and can't wait to see her accomplishments.
We are flying to New York in a few weeks to do the NYC Holiday thing. I'm looking forward to seeing the tree, the lights, the cold weather and just being there while all of it is going on around me. It's been a wish of mine to see New York at Christmas time and I'm finally going! We had planned on driving up when we were living in Virginia. But now that we are in Texas, we are flying, obviously. Luckily, this will be somewhat of an inexpensive weekend, thanks to Daphne's hospitality and for cheap air travel. And this will be my 4th trip to NY this year! I am so lucky lucky. Since we are not flying back East this year to spend the holidays with Justin's family, we are also luckily going to see his mom and sister while we're in New York. They are driving up to spend a night and a day with us in the city. Daphne is probably sick of touring the sights, but she is getting a long christmas break in Houston, so she can rest then! Daphne is coming to Houston on the 19th and will be there until the 30th. Justin and I are planning on going to Houston on the 23rd to spend christmas with my family and we are staying until the night of the 26th. We're heading back then so he can go back to work on the 27th, 28th and 29th. But then we are driving back to Houston on the 29th to have a family holiday dinner at Candace and Eric's. Going back to Austin the following day because my friend, Shannon will be in town for New Years. I'm not sure what we are doing yet, but other friends will be in town, as well. Justin's cousins, Aaron and Shane are also going to be in town sometime then, too.
Just after the New Year, Justin's mom is tentatively planning to visit for a long weekend. I would like to spend some time making our second bedroom more of a guest room before she gets here, but I'm not certain that is going to happen in time. Hopefully, little by little we'll get what we need. But with money being spent on paying off our moving debts, our dog, the TV and me not working yet...it might be a little while longer before we can do some furnishing. Which is OK with me, but I hope it is OK with our guests :)
I could go on and keep writing about some really boring and uninteresting things but I'll save us all some time. Happy Holidays!!!!