Last night Jason finished the cabling and wiring in the laundry room and music room! Apparently the old electrical wire was wired backwards, so the first pass didn’t work, but after some minor tweaking, Jason got all the outlets to work and the cable was already working on Sunday. I am just so proud of him. He even made it look much cleaner than the handyman we paid to put in a light in there.

Next he is going to put a ceiling light in our reading room. Right now we have to turn on a lamp everytime we come in and it would be so nice to just flip a switch and have the light come on. Since he’s a master electrician now, it should be a cinch.

Oh yea, we had dinner at a mex bus last night. Our friend Katie introduced us to this place, which is usually just one of those buses that serves mexican food, but since its so cold, they have a building you can sit in now. Anyway, it was so good. We hung out with one of Katie’s friends who was delivering the last of my Partylite order to me. She’s really cool and she looks out for Katie. Its always nice to have someone who’s got your back.

If you’ve read Jason’s blog recently, you know that he’s attempting to add two more cable outlets to our house, as well as power outlets. The main purpose of this was to get cable in the laundry room so I can watch TV while I do the elliptical (although we may have found a different place to put it now!). Anyway, so Jason’s never done this before, but in two days of working on it, he now has all the cabling split and neatly routed from outside the house to inside the utility closet, and has both of the outlet boxes installed in the walls, one going to the laundry room and one going to the music room. He cut the holes in the walls himself and I have to say I am very impressed. Sure, its not a professional job, but it is quite amazing for someone who’s never done it before.

So our plan with the elliptical involves a re-organization of the upstairs ‘office/guest room’. Right now it has a futon and a desk where I occasionally do my bills. However, I spend so little time in that room, it really doesn’t make sense to reserve it just for that. SO…we’re going to figure out a way to put all the stuff I have on the desk somewhere else and get rid of the desk. If we move things around a bit, we can easily fit the futon and the elliptical in there together. The major plus is that this means I will have way more ceiling room when I’m using the elliptical. In the basement, I find myself hitting my head a few times each time I get on it. The downside is that this means all the work that Jason just did with the cabling is going to go to waste after we make the move. Although I’m sure we’ll be able to use the outlets somehow. We have big plans for that room too.

We’ve been in a major home decorating/improvement mood lately. We hung up tons of photos and some decorative items and we’ve kinda come to a lull with it now. I really liked having stuff to do, so I’ve been cleaning the house quite regularly, much more regularly than before, and it just feels better. I think my next project is to paint our ‘reading room’/entryway. We have some great red chairs and a nice rug in there, but the walls are so white. We’re thinking of going with a tan or light brown color. I do remember how much I hated painting when we moved in, but there were so many other factors that made it so stressful. I think it will be different this time, since I’ll be able to take my time. I don’t think it would be too ambitious to try to do it before my girlfriends come in for a weekend in February. I think two weeks would be plenty of time. Plus, I don’t want to have the room in limbo for too long.

I guess, in a way, I hadn’t thought of any of this before because I wasn’t used to the idea of owning a house and actually living in it for an extended period of time. I haven’t lived in the same place longer than 16 months in the past 8 years. Wow, that’s really weird to put it like that. But its true. So I guess I still had a sense of impermanence about the house and didn’t want to invest too much time in making it ours. But now I see that’s pretty silly. Keeping it in that state was kind of depressing I think and I can already feel the effects of just a few improvements. Of course, we have to take it slow, do one thing at a time, but its really nice to have plans for the future.

Okay, I’m not really throwing it out, but it just made the most sense in the universal “doggie bag” context. As many of you know, I’ve hosted a dog forum for about a year now, after it crashed and the administrator didn’t have time to redo it. It has about 600 members, which I know isn’t a lot compared to most forums, but it is still a lot to handle. Anyway, last year I was much more into the site because we were just about to get Clementine and I still had ‘puppy’ things to discuss. Well, after I become the administrator, I felt weird posting to ask questions, like I was supposed to know everything, which I certainly do not. So, long story short (too late), I haven’t been as involved as an administrator should be, so I’ve been contemplating handing it off to someone else. I offered it up on Sunday to the advisors of the board, and last night, one of them said she would be glad to take it. Phew. It does make me feel a lot better that someone is excited about doing it. I was feeling guilty about the whole thing anyway, so this takes a load off. I will probably post more when I’m not the admin, but then I don’t have to deal with all the admin stuff. Nice.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to reminisce about being 24. My birthday went very well, even though it was Friday, the 13th. Eh. It happens about once every 5 or 6 years and I’ve never had anything bad happen. Anyway, some friends met Jason and I for dinner at RuSan’s and we had an excellent dinner. Then we went back to our place for some drinks and conversation. It was very nice to just spend time with our friends.

Saturday I went to callbacks for the Actor’s Bridge production of “Metamorphoses” by Mary Zimmerman. Judging by the activity required in the callback, the play is going to be very intense and exhausting. It might be just the thing I need right after finishing school. Ha! I should find out this week how I did.

Saturday night, Jason and I went to see “Memoirs of a Geisha” at the movies. It was such a great movie, the scenes were all beautiful and the story was told very well. I thought it had just enough of every emotion and I’d definitely recommend it. The scenes of Japan were breath-taking at times and it makes me long to go back to Japan soon. Jason and I had discussed going back to Japan for our honeymoon, but we decided we should go somewhere we haven’t been and will likely never have the opportunity to go to again. I guess that means we think we’ll be able to go to Japan again someday. I sure hope so.

Anyway, Sunday was playoffs, but I did some shopping with birthday money and got some decorative items from Target, and some more wedding reception stuff from Pier One. I’m stocking up on all the things they have on sale right now, because they all have a slightly Asian hint to them, and I want to work that into the centerpieces somehow. Our office closet is half full of wedding stuff already, and I have 8 full months to go!

So I just realized I totally digressed on the 24 thing. I was going to talk about how excited I am that 24 is back! I got so addicted to it last year and its already got me hooked after two episodes. That reminds me…its on again tonight, its a two night premiere. Hun, can you set the DVR? I generally don’t get this excited about TV shows, except Grey’s Anatomy, which I will also record if I know I’m going to miss it. Okay, before I start sounding like more of a loser, I better get back to work!

If you’re bored, check out my friend Katie’s blog from her adventures in India
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So today is my birthday, the big 26. I guess there’s nothing monumental about this one, except now I’m in the latter half of my 20’s, which is kinda weird, but not really. I think it helps that Jason is older than me, then I don’t feel like I’m breaking new ground. Sorry hunny.

Tonight we are going to RuSan’s for a festive dinner with friends. I can’t wait! We haven’t been there in a while and it is so much fun. I tried to get my friend Meredith from home to fly out, but, alas, she already had plans.

Just one more month till all my bridesmaids come to Nashville for the weekend. I haven’t seen Heidi or Ashley in such a long time, it will be great! Jason leaves for New Zealand on the 14th and the girls come in on the 17th. It’ll be nice to have some company, at least for a few days.

Anyway, I have to prep for our user group meeting at noon, so I’ll post more later.

And when I say ‘later’, that doesn’t necessarily mean today, just later in general.

Plumgood Food - Home

I am totally addicted to Plumgood. It is a local (Nashville) organic food delivery system that has really impressed me and Jason. We got our first delivery last week, mainly fresh produce and some packaged goods. The prices are reasonable and they have weekly sales. The selection is really astounding and you can order as often as you like, Monday - Friday. They pack everything in crates with little ice packs so it stays fresh, even if it sits on your porch all day. We’ve had two deliveries so far, and the only negative thing I’ve seen, is that the mango we got was not even close to ripe. But I didn’t know it and I cut into it and pretty much mutilated it trying to get it off the pit. I guess that’s not really PG’s fault, but everything was VERY ripe and ready to eat. Anyway, if you sign up, make sure to tell them I referred you.