This is it....

We are moving in on Wednesday!!!!

I am a financial ninja!

The other day I logged in to pay my BOA bill and lo and behold, there was a pending charge on my account for englishtown.com.

I know that my English is flawed, but I haven't enrolled in any sort of Teach-Yourself English courses in quite some time. I called the 1-800 number to see if I could find out any information, if perhaps I just ordered something somewhere and somehow forgot that I wanted to learn slang from a native speaker. Turns out voicemail for the number was completely in Spanish.

Crap.

Interestingly enough, my financial information disappeared last move somewhere in transit. Yes, disappeared. I had a bag full of information that was to be shredded, but it was somehow misplaced and we have yet to find it. I've been patrolling my accounts like a hawk ever since, and I am really glad I did.

This is my first case of fraud.

Thankfully, we caught it in time. The transaction was stopped and my card was shut down.

Julie-1.
Fraud-0.

Sick... again.

Because I didn't suffer enough with the flu last week, I was blessed with a cold this week. Coughing, sneezing, manly voice and all. What a great time! I finally called in sick, there was no way in hell I could function well enough to handle large sums of cash. I slept for the majority of the day and thankfully I feel much better. I have to be 110% this weekend since we have to move.

Speaking of moving- because we are the first people to close on our condo at this site, there has been an issue with the documentation. Because of this, our loan *won't* close on the 28th... The 28th is the last day we can be in the apartment we're living at... So we might just be living out of a U-Haul until things get figured out.

I can't wait until this is over.

Today's News

I was proposed to....



...But not by my boyfriend.

A new home.

We're buying our first place. Pictures can be found here and more info about the location can be found here.

The loan closes on February 28th. We'll have a place to live by March!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

I've been meaning to blog about this since Wednesday, but sometimes life has a habit of getting in the way.

Valentine's Day was too short but really sweet. Val was determined to spoil me (as if I'm not spoiled already) and took time off work to drag me off to my favorite Thai restaurant. He dropped me back home at the apartment and from there I started getting his gifts ready.

His loot: Coach wallet and Rootbeer keg
My Loot: Dozen roses, the sweetest love note ever, and a bottle of Vera Wang's newest perfume.

So 5 rolls around and he abducts me to take me to Sage's, a wonderful Italian restaurant. Salmon picatta and tiramisu later, life is fantastic.

Thanks, Val, for another wonderful day with the one I love!

Sleeping beauty? Not so much.

I hate that the little things will irritate me and prevent me from falling asleep. Even if they're minute, if something is on repeat for more than 3 minutes, my mind locks onto it. If I hear that sound throughout the period of time that I'm trying to sleep, I'll wake up and start getting severely pissy.

I moved out from my dorm in college because the girl sniffled too much. Yes, sniffled. Every morning she'd wake up and refuse to use a kleenex. I'd buy them for her, so she'd have them sitting right next to her while she was typing away on her laptop. Sniiiiiif. I'd roll over and mumble "kleenex!" but she was never bright enough to ever get it. I could handle her being a snotty bitch, but the sniffling was really what killed it for me.

So imagine poor Val. It's the season for cold and flu, and now he's been a victim. I always cuddle right behind him with my face buried in his back. Well, he's got a nasty sore throat with the sniffles. Every 30 seconds (yes, I counted), he'll swallow. After being up for a few hours because of it, I left the bedroom, grabbed some cough drops and tossed them onto his chest.

If little things bother me so much, imagine how I felt last night when Val has the swallows and my cat has the howls. ALL night the two traded off in their annoyance, a delicate balance of how-to-piss-julie-off. I grabbed my sleeping bag and stormed out to the recliner in the living room, where I got repeatedly whacked in the face by the cat.

So, the entire summary of this post: Julie hasn't slept in two days.
Today's mission: Try to be pleasant for V-day & buy earplugs.

The Cat's Meow

So Mochi and Miso have been best buddies since day one. Even when Mochi was a distemper kitty, Miso would always accept him with open arms when he came home every night.

But this time... This time is different.

I don't know if it's the scent of lost dignity, or the thought that HE could be the alpha male of the house, but he was freaked out when he saw Moch. Yowling, throwing up a mean halloween cat stance... I've never seen him act so tough before!

Because I thought i might be the scent of the vets that might have scared him, I put Miso in the same container that Mochi came home in... That way he'd know it was the place that smelled like resident evil, not Mochi himself.

Miso's opinion on the matter? Click below.

Sorry the quality is so crappy, but it's really the sound that matters.

Mochi's Early Valentine's Gift

Mochi is getting his present a little early this year... The bachelor of love is getting what he's had coming to him for a looooong time:

Neutered.

That's right, folks! He's getting micro-chipped, a manicure, and The Operation.

As to why I waited so long- he was rather sickly the first year or so of his life with us, and now that there's the money and his health is good enough to handle the stress... It's time!

The one thing that pisses me off about the whole procedure is how the vets always push annual vaccines. Vaccines aren't always the best thing for your pet... I hate having them shoved on my pets without my permission. I also hate being treated like an idiot because I personally think they're a horrible idea.

Anyway, Mochi is being forced to have yet another rabies vaccine. I understand it's the law, but at the same time rabies is so amazingly rare... The chance that Mochi would get out of the house and a rabid squirrel would be RIGHT there to attack him... I'd have better chances at winning the lotto. And for him, with multiple shots comes the increased risk of cancer. What a prize!

The natural dichotomy of things...

So, I am now the proud owner of a lovely tax return. And of course, this is the weekend that I come down with the flu. You know, complete with headaches, chills, and the absolutely necessary need for pepto-bismol. Nothing better than spending the day in bed with a trusty bottle of that! Hurray!

It's been years since I've had the flu... Just on Friday I was bragging to my coworkers about how healthy I've been feeling. Ugh... Why, why, why?

Words Fail.

I had a lot of stuff I wanted to say today... But when I logged in to check my email my heart sunk to the bottom of my stomach. Turns out that my ex-roomie, Trevor Homer, died yesterday afternoon.

There are no words that I can say to make it okay. He was so innately good... Never drank, never smoked, always optimistic. It breaks my heart to know that a person of that caliber has left this world.

Trevor- I'm so sorry that I was a jerk at times (and a stubborn one at that), a crappy friend and a worse roommate. You deserved so much more from life than what you had- only 26 years! You were there for me whenever I needed someone... but I am ashamed to say that I never was around for you.

Rest in peace, my friend. May heaven be full of light-sabers, jedi, and half-life crowbars. You will be dearly missed.

Introducing Tokidoki... A new love affair.

Sometimes the things I love the most are the things that I initially dislike. When I first saw a LeSportSac Tokidoki print bag online I about vomited. And of course I called Val over to laugh at it with me. But about a week ago, half a year later from the first time I laughed at it, I saw a girl at the bank carrying one.

And I fell in love.

This is nowhere near anything I thought I could like. Bright and dizzying prints with little anime characters thrown in for good measure. It then occured to me: If I can't ever own a Takashi Murakami and Marc Jacob designed Louis Vuitton, I *could* own something in the same crazy-fun vein... a Tokidoki handbag designed by Simone Legno.

And the plus side is, there's a LeSportSac outlet that I discovered actually carries some of the designs... Knocking a good $30 off the retail price. Score!

Let's break it down:

Real Louis Vuitton's Cerises Papillon: ~$2000
LeSportSac Tokidoki Bella Bella Bag #9153 : ~$130

Both crazy fun prints, but one I won't have to lock up at night.

Cargo pants, black shirt, and Tokidoki handbag... I can see one on my arm now!

Ode to Handbags!

My mom, bless her heart, is a purse person. I could never understand why she'd want to go into the purse section of any department store and handle a few choice handbags- checking out the pockets, the zipper construction, the way the bag feels on an arm and on a shoulder. It used to frustrate me to end, and I refused to carry a bag of my own. I resorted to making wallets out of duct tape and throwing them into my cargo pockets.

But now... Oh, how I understand.

Nothing is better (or sweeter) than picking out a new handbag. Fondling the clasps, smelling the leather, examining the stitching. I've run into a few "You paid HOW MUCH for that?!" from my coworkers, most of which do not have a designer handbag of their own. Once you own one though- once you've had a taste- you will be convinced that it is a worthy cause to venture forth and invest in. YES, I said invest. You will be surprised on how much differently you will be treated with a Louis Vuitton on your arm, the envious glances from the person in line at the market, the questions.. "Can I hold your bag? I don't think I've seen a real one before."

But the most important thing about a new purse is quite simply how much better you will feel with it on your arm. To know that your finances, your life, your daily essentials ARE important enough to you to place in such a receptacle. You must understand that it is not an indication of how shallow you are as an individual, but serves as a statement on how well you deserve to be treated.

Remember...
Your purse will always fit, even if you gain 20lbs.
Never carry a fake, unless you want people to treat you as such.
Purses can make good weapons. Arm yourself wisely!