Where the cable is, there the wrights will be also

Moving sucks.  There's just nothing else to say.  However long you think it will take, it will take longer.  However much patience you think you need, you will need more.  However much crap you think you have downsized, you have not.

But what really matters is that the furniture is at the house and cable is at the house and therefore we are at the house.  Home sweet home.

Cable!

Today was rough.  I'm glad it's over and that's pretty much all I can say.

What is wrong with this picture?

And what is wrong with THIS picture?

Lucifer is so spastic that this is the only way we could think to transport her to the house.  She handled it pretty well in the backseat but I have a feeling that the next couple of days will be quite the adjustment for her; she's going from her "own" room to the main room with us.  It's a sacrifice she's just going to have to make because I'm the bunny mama that's why, etc.

We were going to cap off the night by going to Home Depot.

{Pause for laughter.}

Instead I'm now in my pj's; Lucy is in hers; and we are camped out on the furniture (that is not arranged) in front of the TV.  We were too tired to put all the cushions on, so I'm sitting on a single cushion on the love seat and G is sitting on a single cushion on the couch.

Nite nite.

TGIF, people!

Like Riding a Bike (Except Not at All)

You know the move to the house is official when...

The Keurig has a space on the counter!

We're getting there with the move.  Slowly our apartment is emptying and I find myself daydreaming about Saturday when other people will show up and move some of our stuff for us.  This is a magical concept.  I want to be all, here's my credit card, charge whatever you want just take care of this crap for me. 

In other boring news I have been working feverishly on my grad school admissions essay.  This has been a complete buzzkill because I've been operating under the assumption that since I majored in English and used to write long papers all the time, as soon as I sat down to do this, it would all come back to me.  No.  I think somewhere around 2005 I hit my statute of limitations and all my writing skillz expired.  So it has been painful.

Plus, math starts tonight HELP ME LORD.

One of the reasons I have pushed a bit to get all my admissions stuff together (and hopefully submitted) by mid-July is so that then I'll have an entire month to devote to studying for the test.  I have this fear that I will have put in all this work on the papers, and my references will have put in all this work for my letters of recommendation...and it all will come down to a TEST I CAN'T PASS.  So I need to give myself time to get over the anxiety of it all.

I was griping about it to my coworker, C, and she suggested I take a Xanax before the test!  I was like, Um, that's probably not a good idea.  We'll leave it at that.

The highlight of my day yesterday.

But I see a glimmer of hope!  The smallest little light at the end of the tunnel!  Because THIS ONE is starting to come around!

She has let us love on her a whole three days in a row without freaking out and acting like she wants to run away and never see us again.  This is TRUE PROGRESS.  I'm having to refrain from squeezing her little mug all day long.  Is she the cutest thing or what?!

And also?  Tomorrow's Friday!

Email Convo

This happened in my inbox today:

Dear B,
Hello!  Up until now your GRE prep classes have been taught by Ms. X.  Now that the verbal classes are finishing, I want to introduce myself, since I will begin teaching the math classes on Thursday night.  Feel free to email me if you have any questions.  I look forward to preparing the class for the quantitative reasoning portion of the GRE.

Signed,
Mr. Y

-------------------

Dear Mr. Y,
It is nice to meet you.  I am incredibly nervous about the math portion and will be the one in the back of the room cowering under the desk on Thursday.

Signed,
B

**THIS** is how you do book club

Actually, the subject line is inaccurate.  We decided as of last week that we are now a Literary Society.  Yes, capitalized and everything.  G asked if we could be a society made up of only two people and I was all, hush, no one asked you.  Luckily for him, we are reading a book about marriage next.  I'm sure he's biding his time and secretly planning to highlight key passages for me.

Imagine my great surprise and delight at being wined and dined during our Society meeting!  By Chef Campo himself!  (Check out the chef jacket and everything.  It was like totally legit.)

We ooh'd and ahh'd over the food, and occasionally one of us would mention something in passing about the book (more on that at the end of this post - it's a good one!). 

For starters, we had homemade guacamole served with lime-and-salt coated jicama.  They were the perfect "chip" to enjoy outside; light, crispy and refreshing, served alongside tortilla chips and fresh salsa.

A GARNISH!  Let's take a moment to appreciate the magnitude of this.

Then - THEN THEN THEN! - we had shrimp cocktail, Mexican style.  The sauce is actually more like a fresh tomato gazpacho, mixed with herbs, other vegetables, and a heavy serving of avocado (um, yes to the please).  I had never eaten this before and let me tell you I am hooked.  As in, hooked on shrimpies works for me!

When dessert rolled around I was practically prostrate on the deck (picture a beached whale), muttering praises to the chef.  Book?  What book?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, yeah, the book:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Lesson #1:  Do not judge a book by its title.  Repeat, do not judge.

When I first saw this, I was like, no.  The title reeks of southern down-home chick lit gone wrong:  Maybell and the Great Quilt Heist of 2008!  Nooooooo.

But I was wrong.  Really, really wrong.  This book is actually a series of letters between a London writer, Juliet, and the inhabitants of a London colony on the English Channel Island of Guernsey.  The book takes place just a few years after WWII, at a time when the islanders are just starting to reconnect with mainlanders and are still inquiring about one of their own, a pivotal character named Elizabeth.

The dialogue is witty, the characters are endearing, their stories are uplifting (and heartbreaking, and real), and the plot is addictive.  I had such low expectations for this book and then I couldn't put it down.  You will find yourself rooting for the characters and for love.  All types of love, even love for a good book.  Maybe that should have been in the title somewhere...

The part they fast forward

We are supposed to be doing an 8.8 mile hike up a mountain right now, somewhere in the heart of Rocky Mountain National Park.

But when the alarm went off at 6:00 this morning, we looked at each other and said, "no."  Then promptly slept in until 10:00 which is unheard of around here.  Unheard of, I tell you.

The manual labor is getting to me, people.  I thought that gradually taking loads over to the house by car would be the way to go, slow and steady wins the race and all that.  Instead, though, it's making me feel like we're dragging out this process and it will never end.  Once again I find myself sick and tired of my own stuff, grumbling, "Didn't we just downsize?!  Where is all this stuff coming from?!"

The front room is going to be the library.

The books are awaiting their shelves.

You know those home renovation shows?  Where they show you the "Before" pictures, then fast forward through days of work, and then pop right into the beautiful "After" pictures?  We're in that fast forward - inglorious - part right now.

Lucy is no help.  On the bright side, she is getting more comfortable with us.  On the not-so-bright side, this is not to say that she likes us.  We are nothing but a meal ticket to her and she is only in this for number one.

Look at those feet.  Could you die or what?

Check out this awesome sunset - no filters!

Ok, enough procrastinating.  Time to pack up the kitchen.

Celebrity Sighting!

We interrupt your regularly-scheduled TGIF message to let you know that we saw famous people last night!  In Denver!

After a hard day of manual labor, we were classic Americans and went to a baseball game.  The Rockies do a special (GREAT) fireworks show on July 4, so it was packed, and we got seats up in the nosebleed section (that phrase takes on a whole new meaning in the mile high city, hardy har).

Low and behold, guess who was sitting a few rows in front of us?  Frances Mcdormand and Joel Coen!  No joke!

I had to try to take pics with my phone on the DL; this was the best I could do.

An extremely grainy Frances Mcdormand

A side view of Joel Coen (blue shirt & glasses)

We thought we might be making it up, but the guy behind us finally broke down and went to talk to her.  It was them for sure, and they asked him to stay quiet, and they refused to take pics with him.  Apparently they were trying to enjoy the game with their son.  I wanted to yell I LOVE TRUE GRIT AND RAISING ARIZONA! but I didn't.

It was a great game, a beautiful night, and a wonderful fireworks display.

They let people down on the field to watch.

OK, enough excitement.  Time to pack and move, chop chop!