1. Brian got a new car.
2. Dad got sick and was hospitalized for 2 weeks.
3. We got puppy Leah.
4. I traveled to Richmond for work.
5. Both my parents health has been stabilized.
6. We went to San Diego for vacation.
7. My maternal grandmother passed away. Click here to see neat a mausoleom my mom’s family built in Cambodia.
8. We bought a dining set (my half of the deal since Brian got the new Macbook). Only one more room to fill – formal dining room.
9. We threw a holiday party.
10. Took a much needed vacation where I did absolutely nothing.

So here’s my personal resolution for 2009. I know it’s silly to make resolutions especially when they’re broken in about 2 months, but hopefully, just maybe I keep these resolutions.

1. Workout 4-5 times a week
2. Learn how to meditate
3. Read at least 1 book a quarter
4. Eat more veggies
5. Eat out no more than once a week at work
6. Cook more
7. Blog more
8. Wake up earlier and begin a morning routine (ie. do chores, walk the dogs, eat breakfast, chill, then get ready)
9. Organize our closet
10. Do more gardening
11. Read the news more
12. Organize the stuff in our cabinets
13. Fix the hole in the ceiling of our dining room
14. GO TO EUROPE

I think all of these are attainable, with the exception of the last one. We’re hoping to plan a big trip for the fall, but I haven’t even begun to do my research. I was hoping I was going to get some that research done during my holiday vacation, and I suppose I still have a couple days left, but the task seems to be overly daunting. Maybe I should just call the travel agent that a friend recommended.

Happy New Year everyone!

Even worse, according to people at work, calling and canceling the Dallas Briefing accomplishes nothing. It just keeps being delivered. Even after three phone calls it keeps showing up everyday.

Why would anyone want this garbage? It’s called the Internet people, look you’ve even got your own site there. Let the print newspaper die already. DIE!

UPDATE: I checked the begonias I planted last Friday in the backyard and those too are being eaten. Brian thinks it’s the grub worms. Whatever they are, we’re making a trip to Home Depot to get something to zap them. I am sad. My flowers look pathetic!

I hope last night was the end of it. Although I doubt it because we’ve got about a month to go before tornado season ends. We’ve had to wake up at 2-4 am every early morning since Monday because of the bad thunderstorms. Last night was the worst of it. Brian got up and looked up the radar and all surrounding counties including ours had a Tornado Warning. Luckily though it was just straight wind, I think up to 87mph. Still bad, and bad enough to do lots of damages in our neighborhood. Both neighbors on either side had their fences blown down. There are roof remnants everywhere. Trees were blown down. There was one house down the street that had a trompoline sitting in the front yard. The street behind us took the worst hit I think, or at least it was the worst that I saw. My commute to work was also tricky but luckily traffic wasn’t so bad. The main route that I take was closed because the power lines were down. In fact I even drove by a power line that was sitting on the street. Luckily though, our house survived. At least it seems that way. The only thing that happened was that the patio chairs moved a bit, one of the solar lights was uprooted, and worst of all the little trees in our back yard looks like the wind is still blowing. I think we should still check out the roof to make sure there isn’t any damages, especially from the hail we got the other night.

Click here to see some photos Brian took.

Commercials were boring, although I did like the Corolla one. I didn’t pay much attention to the game other than the end which apparently was the best part. Of course I missed half time. I was actually asleep. After spending much of the day with my parents, I was exhausted.

The day prior, Brian and I went over to World Market and got some furniture. I was only interested in an accent table they had on sale that would fit perfectly in the foyer area. I took pictures, but of course they’re at home. Here’s one from the website.

But while looking at this particular table, we also found an end table that was the perfect size for our game room. So we bought two of those. Brian spent most of Saturday putting the tables together. What a pain in the butt they were.

We also got a pretty iron piece from Pier 1 for our bedroom. The bedroom is almost complete, other than the end table for my side of the bed. I really want one that match, perhaps when we go down to NB next weekend, we can stop by the furniture store and get one, if they still have it in stock.

So much furniture. We still need to fill the other two rooms downstairs. I think we have to wait another year before we can do that.

I’ve been searching for this type of clock everywhere.

To credit this person, here’s her nestie bio with more pictures:Bio

Soo…”everynight” when I cook dinner, I should also prepare lunch for the next day.

Dishwashers should be unloaded in the mornings, which means when the alarm goes out the first time, I should get my ass up.

Secondly, when brushing my teeth at night, I should straighten up the bathroom counter and wipe things down so we both can wake up to a clean bathroom counter.

We should start a load of laundry in the mornings when we wake up, and dry the clothes when we get home and do the folding while watching tv.

I always lose my watch and sometimes keys, we to keep those things in one spot.

Online BillPay is a Godsend, and Brian takes care of all the bills, I sure hope he’s not late with any of them, since I don’t know what the bills we are paying…

Workout bag should also be packed the night before because I’m always scrambling to get out the door the next morning.

I think if we at least attempt these things, morning routines wouldn’t feel so rushed, and Sunday afternoons aren’t all about laundry.

This is rather random or early, but I’m in search of a good Christmas Tree. And yes I’m all for the fake stuff, why chop down real trees that end up being in the trash later on?? Stupid people. Anyway, I’m not sure where we can find the best deal on one. I known we can wait until after Christmas, but I want a good one now! I’m thinking a 9 ft tree would be ok (YIPES, it’s 199 bucks at Home Depot). Maybe that’s too tall? I can settle with a 7.5 foot one. I also need a good tree skirt. Or maybe we just stick to the current one and wait for the after Christmas sale…

So I was thinking of a new vacation, perhaps around New Years. Then I realized, that’s probably the busiest time here at work, so maybe around February. We get Washington’s Bday off which is February 18th. That’s perfect timing since it’s right around Valentine’s day. Hmmm. I’ve always wanted to go skiing. Brian thinks it’s silly because “we don’t ski”. I think there’s an opportunity to do stuff at least once. Who knows, we could be pros (or not). Anyway, I guess we’ll have to think about it a little more.

Brian’s been working hard and late so he hasn’t had time to do any yardwork. I haven’t touched a lawnmower in years. I did attempt to weed a couple weeks ago, but of course those pesky things just keep coming back. Where is it coming from????

Even if we get maid and lawn service once a month I would be ok with that. Unfortunately I can’t really justify it. There’s only two of us!! But then again, which would you rather have? Free time, or cleaning time?

Anyway, I am ready for our vacation. Originally we planned on going to Lake Tahoe. But then I started looking at other places, such as Hot Springs, Arkansas, San Francisco, Napa Valley, Colorado Springs, Savannah, GA. We want something that’s low key and not too touristy. That sorta ruled out San Francisco, but someday I’d still like to go there. Whether we go somewhere or not, I’m still going to take a couple days off Labor Day weekend. Not only do I need a friggin break, but it will be our one year anniversary. Strange how time flies.

I think Brian and I are working too much or at least are too consumed with work. I have to admit that in looking at some of the facebook pictures, I’m missing out on a lot of group stuff that old friends are doing. HEY, INVITE ME TOO! In lieu of that, I’m throwing a game night with some friends at work this weekend at our house. It should be fun. The plan is dominoes and Wii Party games. At some point, I need to invite other people over. That in itself is probably enough to get our minds off work related stuff.

In other news, I was preapproved by work to take the PMP course at UTD. Soon I will be project management certified, woohoo!

Anyway, in other news, Brian’s 27th bday was yesterday. I cooked him a steak and shrimp dinner last night since I felt bad for not getting him a “real” gift. It’s so difficult buying for him and I was going to get him the expensive stuff, but he keeps changing his mind. I guess I’ll have to make it up for him at Christmas time. Besides, it’s not like he hasn’t missed my birthdays either.

Ok back to the Monday work grind.

It’s odd having a holiday smack in the middle of the week. But I guess I’ll take whatever we can get. I have no urge to go back to work tomorrow though. At least it’s Thursday! The past week has been rather uneventful. We did spend time with the Neidig side of the family at the Hyatt Regency Resort in Bastrop two weekends ago. That was fun and a much needed break. We spent 4 days lounging around, sleeping, at the pool, doing absolutely nothing.

The house is a slow work-in-progress. It’ll be awhile before we can fill it entirely, and probably be a year or so before we’ll get real furniture for the formals. However, we did finally buy chairs for the kitchen table. It doesn’t exactly match, but oh well.

My herbs are sprouting and I can actually see cilantro leaves. My next goal is to plant some real plants, maybe not this summer, but since it’s been a mild summer I just may. I want to plant a pepper plant and some lemongrass. Those are the two easiest. Although I may not be using as much lemongrass as much, it’ll at least be aesthetically pleasing in the garden. We’ll see if Brian would let me. Speaking of gardening, the previous owners left a bird bath on the side of the house. I want to put that in the front lawn, lay some of the leftover bricks around it, and plant some flowers inside the bricks. We’ll see.