a little ahead of myself.

whoops ... the post about mila's daydreams was actually supposed to go on the notably noted blog ... but it's so great, i might as well share it here, too. what a precious, precious idea!

mila's daydreams.

copyright (C) Adele Enersen

oh.my.goodness! have you seen mila's daydreams? a definite must-see, it's an entire blog dedicated to the "daydreams" of mila. while mila naps during the day, her mommy quickly creates a scene around her and snaps a photo {like the one posted above: let's play beauty salon}. i love this idea.

denver, colorado.

i'm sitting in denver now. the weather here is beautiful as well ... but i'm not really getting to experience it from the airport gate. it's a sunny and mild 82 degrees. travis said the weather was in the 90s yesterday in tulsa. i'm really not looking forward to that. the mild weather has been wonderful. i'm definitely not ready for winter, but the cooler temperatures have been refreshing.

i enjoyed my trip to san francisco; i think my interview there went really well. i'm excited to get home to my boys, though. i've been missing them.

my flight to tulsa has been delayed by about thirty minutes. if it was running on time, we would have boarded and flying out in about ten minutes. the layover still isn't really that bad, though.

i'll catch up on a little correspondence and will be boarding in no time.

up on the roof top.

as i explained in an earlier post, my trip out here was very last minute, and surprise, i don't have my camera. you're shocked, i know. so once again, i'm relying on my handy-dandy iphone camera. the pictures aren't as great as if i was using my actual camera, but you can still get the idea. these were taken from the rooftop of the flat. look at that gorgeous blue sky. you can't tell by the pics because the lens pushes everything so far out, but the view of the golden gate bridge is incredible. i took pictures looking several different directions while standing on the roof:

this last picture absolutely does not do justice for the view i had. i was walking along {i had been walking for about 45 minutes}. when i topped this hill, it almost looked as if the world dropped off {because on the other side of that stop sign is a super steep hill}, and slid straight down into the water. it. was. breathtaking. i did the whole inhale-deeply-and-smile thing {and said a quick prayer of thanks that i wouldn't find myself walking down that incredibly steep hill}. i want to take so many pictures ... but i also hate looking like a tourist. ha!

i'm also so thankful for the inventions of technology ... such as google maps for the iphone. i would have had no idea how to find my way around the city during the day while everyone is at work.

i'll leave tomorrow pretty early to head back home. it's a little bittersweet. i am enjoying myself immensely here, but am missing my oklahoma boys as well.

sunny san francisco.

i've been away from the blog for the past few days ... because i'm in san francisco! it's lovely here. the weather is a little nippy {because that's how it is this time of year most everyday} but the sun is still shining, and it's perfect weather to be outside and walk around.

i. love. it.

i didn't bring my camera because my trip here was really rushed and decided at the very last minute; i completely forgot it. i have taken a few pictures with my phone, though, and i'll try to share them with you later.

for now, i'm off to get dressed and do a bit of sightseeing while the rest of san francisco is busy working. i think a quick stop at the corner starbucks is in order. mmmm. i'm looking forward to this day.

home sweet home.

we got our new bedroom furniture today. the delivery guys came and assembled it first thing this morning! i couldn't believe they got here so quickly. we spent the morning reassembling it after the delivery men left {it didn't fit right the way they first had it situated} and then getting the room organized and straightened up again. i love it!

l is for love. or leach. or lear.

so after travis put our sofa table together last night and we had situated the furniture like we wanted, we both sat back, read a little, spent a little time online, and just basked in the glorious rays from our beautiful new lamp.

he had been waiting to hear from justin and lindsay, though, because they were going to need a little extra help. it was well after 11:00 p.m. before he heard from them, but they were going to need his help so early in the morning, he decided to just drive down there last night so he would already be there bright and early.

i didn't realize how late it was when he left. i think i was still riding the new-furniture-high and i didn't feel sleepy at all. when we moved out of our last apartment and back to muskogee, travis had put our furniture in storage. the media stand part of our entertainment center {was cheap and} had bowed in the storage building. since he had given away our flat screen tv anyway, we decided to ditch the console piece, keeping the two piers for the time being. the console had two doors on it, though, that i rescued. i always see such cute wall hangings made from old doors. i told travis i would make something. he was skeptical {i may have a slight tendancy to be a packrat}.

the new comfortable feeling, shopping and looking at home decor for the past two days, and the warm lamp light inspired me to finally start my old door wall decor project. i can't buy fun fall decorations, so i decided i would make my own decoration ... even if it wasn't specifically directed at fall.

this is what i came up with ...

aren't they fun?! i love them! i was a little skeptical myself that i could turn them into something i would really love. travis isn't here to help me attach wire or any necessary hardware to the back, so for now, you get to see a picture of them on my carpet and on the kitchen counter. i'll post a pic once i get them on the wall.

lazy on a sunday afternoon.

when travis and i woke up on sunday, he asked if i wanted to go look at the furniture again at rooms today or if we should head over to mathis brother's again to see if they had anything we liked better. another afternoon out of the apartment sounded wonderful to me. i pulled on one of my new pairs of pants {why is it so wonderful to have new clothes?} and a shirt my sister had gotten me a while back. it has gray in it and matches my new {gray} pants perfectly.

we headed out to the shops once again. we really like the saleslady at mathis brother's. she is great to work with us when we want/need her, but she doesn't hover. she's helpful and kind so we wanted to give her the commission from our living room set if at all possible. after spending quite a bit of time in the store {again} we decided there really was nothing there we liked as much as the furniture we found at rooms today.

away we went. when we got there we had our sales guy check on the bedroom furniture, too. it was such a good deal {basically the two pieces for the cost of most of the other beds in the store} that travis thought we should at least check it out. we decided if it was still available, we would buy the bed and then get the living room furniture later.

the sales guy told us someone had held the furniture on the 27th and were supposed to come back in on monday {as in today} to put 10% down. our sales guy really wanted to sell it to us, but his manager said he wanted to do right by the other customer. i was just shocked they would hold a piece of furniture {especially for that long} with no money down. our sales guy went back and forth several times. he was finally able to talk to the sales person who had originally held it for the customer. in was like a 5 second conversation and that sales person told our sales person we could absolutely have it. we decided it was meant to be.

we had talked about buying the bedroom furniture and then getting the living room furniture later, but we have a payment system with them, so we decided to go ahead and get all of it. the whole reason we started seriously looking for furniture was so travis would have tables to sit lamps on so he would have better lighting to study. the bedroom furniture was too good of a deal to pass up, {and we do need a new bed since our mattresses have just been sitting on the floor} but i just felt like lamps and tables were more important.

we got the living room furniture, the bedroom suite, and two beautiful lamps. i'm going to post pictrues of the lamps below, but you can also see them displayed on the dresser from yesterday's post. i was so excited! the only downside? the furniture we really went to get ... it's not in any of the warehouses!! we have to wait four weeks or so to get our coffee table {which apparently is now called a cocktail table} and our end table. they did have our sofa table, and we were able to take it home with us.

we got home and got the car unloaded and travis set to work putting our beautiful piece together.

it's so silly, but just this one piece of furniture and the lamp made such a difference in changing our apartment from a "house to a home." travis and i both thought so. it's hard to describe, but it was such a good feeling to feel like it was a home. i love our piece. i'll try to take better pictures and share. we did a little bit of rearranging, swapping the love seat and the oversized chair and ottoman. the funny thing? we had done that exact same thing a few days ago and hated it. the sofa table really made all the difference. the place just feels comfortable now.

our bedroom furniture will be delivered tomorrow. i'll share more then.

saturdays, how i love you.

this weekend, the weather has been wonderful! it's not quite fall because there is no "crispness" in the air, but the temperature has been perfect. so very beautiful.

we woke up and decided to hit up a few stores for a few new pairs of pants for my job. after last fall and winter i got rid of so many of my clothes. my closet was looking pretty scarce. i picked up a couple pairs of pants, a few camis, and a lightweight v-neck sweater that i can wear now all the way through winter.

we stopped into kirklands and looked around. i wanted to buy everything! i was a good little girl, though, and we walked out without a single purchase.

we hit up barnes and noble for a bit, and we also checked out the mall. {actually, reverse that. we hit up the mall and then headed to kirklands and barnes and noble}. we had lunch at our original date place -- el tequila at 81st and memorial. it was oh so yummy. we hadn't eaten there together in quite some time; i honestly don't remember going there since i was at addison. we used to go all.the.time. we've been spending a lot of our days together, and i have really, really enjoyed it.

after the bookstore, we checked out best buy {again} for a tv. this time travis took notes in his phone and then we headed to mathis brother's. we've been looking for living room table sets and lamps, too. the lighting in our apartment really isn't that great. travis needs better lighting by our furniture when he's reading. we walked around, but mainly looked at tvs. somehow we always get distracted by the flashing lights and moving pictures. we've decided we want to get a really large tv {think 73"} and decided that if we're going to make that kind of purchase we might as well save up and get the one we really want. we walked back through looking at table sets for the living room and then decided to check at rooms today.

we found a set we really liked. we rarely make "impulse" purchases, though, so we both just took pictures of it and continued to look around.

there was a bedroom suite my brother and lindsay had pointed out to us when we were in before. we had just purchased our living room set, so we couldn't afford it at the time, but it was an incredible deal. we moseyed back to the bedroom area and couldn't believe to see it still on the floor. we were told by a salesman other than our sales guy that he was pretty sure it was already sold, but that we should have our guy check. we waited around for a bit, but our guy was tied up with several other people. we took pictures of it, too, and decided that it wasn't meant to be. the bed is actually much more elaborate than either of us would ever pick, but it's still pretty and the dresser and mirror that come with it is right up my alley.

we had to head home to get ready for our rescheduled date night with chris and monica. {and have i mentioned they're getting married in san francisco? so jealous!} actually, scratch that, we didn't have to go home. we just headed over to johnny carinos by the river. chris and monica had an errand that ran a little long, so travis and i enjoyed the weather and sat on a bench outside the restaurant visiting and watching youtube videos on our phone. we're so silly.

dinner was delicious. i'm not really a big italian food person, i enjoy it on occasion, but it's not usually my pick. having just had it with my brother earlier in the week, i wasn't sure i would really be on board, but the sangria, italian nachos, and chocolate cake were delish. my pasta was good too, but i think i enjoyed all the little "extras" the most.

after dinner we crossed the river and spent a little time on riverwalk crossing. we were waiting for our movie the american to start. we actually ran into a former co-worker of chris ... whose wife turned out to be one of my friends from xa in college -- cindy. so weird. we were all just letting chris and ricky visit and then i looked up and realized the girl in front of me was cindy!

we didn't spend a lot of time on the river since our movie was starting, but it was still nice to be outside. the sun had already set, but the temperature was still so comfortable. i could have sat out at the outdoor bar and listened to the live band that was playing, but the american was calling.

i never should have answered that call. the movie was terrible {in my humble opinion}! nothing at all like the previews suggest. there was so much natural noise during the movie because the movie is super slow and super quiet. there was no orchestra soundtrack for most of the movie. maybe i would have liked it more had i been more prepared for the kind of movie it was. travis told me i was like a little kid when we were watching it because i was so. bored. sobored! it probably also didn't help that i had already been tired by dinner time after all our walking around that day.

i think everyone was exhausted. chris had worked until a little after 6:00 and monica had a rough week. we all quickly said goodnight, went to our respective homes, and fell straight to sleep ... i know that's what we did anyway.

all in all, it was a great day well spent.

friday frustrations and a new chapter begins.

fridays are travis's half-days at work. he goes in first thing in the morning and leaves by noon. this particular friday, he ended up staying a little later. jackie cooper was having a cookout and travis's friend chris {of chris and monica, the couple with whom we went to dinner at osaka a few weeks ago} asked him to stay and eat with the jci team. instead of lunch with travis, i put on another load of laundry. =/ i've become quite "domestic" lately ... and i don't mind, for the most part. the other day travis told me i was such a good housewife; i told him housewives don't have jobs ... he wasn't thrilled with that idea {not right now anyway}. i didn't ever think i would really like staying at home, but i think i could get on board with the concept quickly. if we were in a position that one salary would support the lifestyle to which we are/would like to be accustomed to, then i would totally be a stay-at-home woman.

i heard from brad first thing friday morning, well i got a voicemail from him ... since i was once again sleeping in. {and i was doing so well when i first started staying at home}. he just said he would like to make me an offer, that he had a pretty full day, but for me to call any time. so i got up, took a shower, and gave him a call. i had to leave a voicemail, too, and then there was nothing to do but wait. i felt like i had been waiting forever already {even though it had only been six days}.

justin and lindsay needed more help moving -- their move turned into a bit of a nightmare! justin's tahoe wouldn't start that morning. we had loaded it up on thursday so he could take a load first thing in the morning when lindsay left for school, pick up a trailer from his friend in stilwell on the way back and take a couple final loads that afternoon. on friday morning it just wouldn't start, though, so he had to get it into the shop. around 1:00 he told me it would be ready "soon."

when travis got home we piddled around the apartment for a bit waiting to hear from justin. it was taking a while so we headed out to get custard at freckles {i know; i may have a problem}. the sweet and salty just sounded so darn good, and i never did have lunch, so i figured i had saved my calories and could splurge a little. we drove around, enjoyed our custard and then headed to muskogee. by this time it was almost 5:00. i had talked to justin again and he said the tahoe should be ready by the end of the day, but that he would call me. either way, he said he was going to need our help, because he would need to borrow our car if the tahoe didn't get finished in time.

when we got to muskogee there was no one at the house ... lindsay wasn't home yet and justin was with my dad picking up the tahoe. the new renter for their home was at the house having "dish network" installed. we didn't want to chat up a stranger, so we drove around waiting to hear from justin. an hour later he and lindsay still weren't home. i called and he and my dad were picking up a trailer. sheesh. we drove around some more, ran in best buy to look at tvs {and wiis, and the new xbox, and playstation 3s}, and then headed to hastings. we looked at magazines for a bit and then travis visited with our friend danny. it had been almost three hours and we found out lindsay was going to the races to watch their friend eddie since it was his last night to race ... so we headed home. my poor brother. what a crappy, crappy day. we had just gotten on the turnpike and were almost to the toll when he called to tell me he was back at the house. he understood if we didn't help that night since we were well on our way home. since it was 8:00 he was just going to move everything over to my parent's pool hall and move it to arkansas in the morning so the renter could be in the house on saturday. as it turned out, the renter backed out at the last minute. even after having been at the house almost the entire time we were in muskogee. poor leach family. i think anything that could have gone wrong with their move, did.

we were supposed to hang out with chris and monica, but had cancelled with them to help justin and lindsay. by the time we got home the evening was pretty well spent. we watched oceans 11 {love that movie} and then headed to bed.

oh! and i finally heard from brad as we were driving to muskogee. he offered me the position and is working to get me a relocation package ... so it looks like i'll be moving to edmond. i'm not sure how i feel about it to be honest. i don't have a start date yet, since he wants to get all of the details worked out. i do know that i'll be training in stillwater {where i first started} before actually going to edmond. i'm sure the next few weeks will be interesting ...

painting queen.

hmmm ... where to begin? so, i'm pretty sure i ended up staying up late with travis on wednesday night, but i honestly don't remember exactly what we were up to.

on thursday, i made another trip to the 'gee. i think i've said before that justin and lindsay are moving to arkansas. lindsay took a job in pea ridge, so they're moving to bentonville -- it's very close to pea vine. they have a huge house on 9 acres they will be living in there. anyway, they were supposed to be out of their house in muskogee this weekend so their renter could move in. there was still a lot to be done. justin stayed at his job until the 1st of this month, so everything they've done has been in the evenings or weekend. justin asked if i would come spend the day helping him on thursday. i woke up with a horrible headache that morning and slept longer than i intended {i told you these late nights were no good for me}. i didn't get to the house as early as i hoped. when i got to town, my mom actually needed to borrow my car, so she ran me to justin's and then he and i headed to lunch at gino's. justin invited my dad to meet us there and the three of us had a pretty good lunch.

after lunch we had to get straight down to business. justin pulled off the baseboards in all the front rooms and i set to work painting them. we turned on friends while we worked. i forgot just how much i love that show! i laughed the entire time. justin had installed a new floor in his and lindsay's room and it look wonderful. there was still just so much to do! we got most of the clutter out of the living room. my mom showed up later that evening to help out. lindsay seemed pretty stressed when she got back home from arkansas, but she set to work packing up the kitchen and loading her car with clothes from their closets. i worked until pretty late painting trim and doors throughout the house. when it came time for them to settle in for the night {since lindsay has to wake up around 4:30 or so each morning to make it to arkansas on time} i headed back to tulsa. travis had class, so i had gone down by myself. i was exhausted by the time i got home, so i kissed travis hello and goodnight, brushed my teeth, and fell into bed.

a trip to muskogee.

tuesdays are travis's days off, and they are also one of the nights he has class at TU -- did i mention he's going to TU now? i can't remember if i have or not. he's in a program that will give him two federal certifications for computer/information security. very cool. -- anyway, he usually has a lot of reading to do during the day. this past week his laptop crashed, however, and he needed some of the information from it. the only problem? the hardware he needed to get the information off the computer was still at my parents' in muskogee.

i got ready for the day and headed out around noon -- after our late night movie on monday night we both slept in. i have got to stop doing that. -- conor and i headed to muskogee, my first time since leaving magnolia. the drive there wasn't too bad, but on the way home i told travis i was so grateful to not have to make that drive each morning.

i was going to meet up with my sister, but she was with my mom enrolling in school. she's been very sick lately. i picked her up from incredible pizza the weekend before last when she was here with her friends. she was running a fever, had a really bad headache, was "so cold it hurts" while the temperature was 100+, had horrible back and neck aches, and had a really sore throat. my parents picked her up from here and took her to st. francis emergency room. they gave her a full iv drip and a z-pack and then sent her on her way. she was still running a fever on monday, so my mom scheduled an appointment for tuesday with the doctor. the doctor tested her for mono. when that test came back negative, they scheduled her for an MRI and a CT. they still aren't sure what's wrong with her, but she's finally feeling a little better and will start school today.

while i was waiting for them to finish up the enrollment, i headed to the lears'. i visited with dee for a little bit, picked up our mail, and borrowed the carpet shampooer from her. i also ate delicious homemade southwest eggrolls. yum! conor hasn't been going outside because of the stupid flea problem here at the apartment {we've treated him and the apartment, and i think we've kicked the fleas!}. i put him in the backyard and he had the biggest smile on his face! he ran around the yard the entire time! and i mean ran. normally when i open the patio door to go back inside, he runs over to me and wants to go inside. if i refuse, he usually sits there and scratches and barks. this time he just looked up at me and then went back to playing. "i'm good mom!"

after he had his fun and dee and i had loaded everything in the car, conor and i headed to my parents'. they had a new red door {they're trying to sell their house} so my keys didn't work anymore, but my dad was there so i was able to get in. i grabbed a few things that we had left upstairs in the office {and i still have a few more things to grab sometime ... moving stinks}, the hardware travis needed from his old room there, and our vacuum cleaner. so i guess you can see what i'll be up to this afternoon ...

we hung out and visited with the family for a bit before heading back to tulsa. we wanted to beat the rain. i had hoped to make it back before travis left for class, but he was leaving for class as i was leaving for tulsa. when he got home, he immediately hopped onto his laptop and became incredibly ingrossed in it. annoying. i gave him a hard time about it, so he put it away for a bit and we just sat on the couch together, visiting, laughing, and halfway watching television. he had more work to do, so we determined that it was reading time. he went back to his work and i wrapped up my girls' guide to kicking your career into gear. i thought about starting a new book that had come in the mail for me, but when i began the ggtkycig i started using my personal blog to answer the questions and document the goals the book encourages me to answer. i hadn't kept that up throughout the entire book, opting to read through it first instead. i started going back through the chapters and picked up where i left off. it has only been a week or so, but it was already fun to go back and read the answers i had written. i think it will be good for me.

amelia and kate both want to read the book now. amelia is having a hard time finding it in dallas. it's completely sold-out at all of the bookstores in the area and it was checked out at the library. i was a little surprised to hear that because it's not a new release or anything.

anyway, we were both up late working on our own projects and finally went to bed at almost 1:00 ... this is not a good habit i'm falling into ... which means we both slept in this morning. again. tonight, i'll head to bed on time. hopefully. travis has to work until 10:00 p.m. so i don't know if i'll really go to bed on time or if i'll try to stay up and spend time with him tonight.

a date with the boy.

on monday, i didn't feel super great, so i got up for a bit, and then found myself back in bed for a bit reading the girls' guide to kicking your career into gear. i ended up taking a bit of a cat nap before waking up and starting the day again.

i spent time online catching up with andrea via email; catching up on my google reader; and then catching up on dishwashing and laundry. at one point, my dishwasher, washer, and dryer were all going. i could hardly hear myself think. i cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen, too, and kept incessentaly checking my email to see if i had heard from brad yet about my interviews {i hadn't}.

the day sped along pretty quickly since i had slept a bit of the morning away. i was just changing into my new chinos when travis walked in the door, home about an hour early from work. i was thrilled to see him, though, i was disappointed that i hadn't gotten to finish the second small load of dishes i had used that morning.

we spent most of the evening in the apartment reading and working on different projects for our respective clients. i was getting a little bit of cabin fever, though, and suggested we get out of the house for a bit. we headed over to pier 1 to see their latest selection of fall items and then hit up freckles custard for a vanilla shake {travis} and a sweet and salty {me}. we also spent several hours at barnes and noble {we've been spending a lot of time there lately}. we actually decided to go there afer we had gotten our custard because travis decided we should go see the movie takers. we had missed the early showing, though, and had to wait until about 10:00 to catch it. so we ate custard and read books until time to head over to the theater where i spent time closing my eyes during the creepy previews and then snuggling close as we watched the {very good} movie.