Operation Debt Reduction: Possibly Delayed.

But only by a little.

I returned from my last trip to Europe and did start on my previous resolution to pay down my debt with all "extra" money that I had.
Then I got a travel special email. I think you know where this is going.
Another deal that was too good to pass up... I'm going to Italy in November!
Two of my coworkers and I will be spending a week in Venice and Florence. We are SO excited. Both Venice and Florence are on the list of cities that I want to go to, I just haven't been able to find reasonable airfare to Italy so far.
I am going to ride in a gondola, see The Birth of Venus and David. I just can't wait. November seems so far away now.

Heres a few more of the photos I love from Germany and Paris...

Germany

We arrived in Cologne Germany on a Saturday.
Finding our hostel was NOT easy, so by the time we got checked in we were already tired and grumpy, but still wanted to get out and see a little bit of the city.
First stop, a beer garden for a late lunch/early dinner and then walked to the city center from there. Without a very good map, all we had to use as a point of reference was the peaks of the cathedral.

The Dom Cathedral is beautiful, with incredibly unique architecture, and absolutely massive.
Its as beautiful at night as it is in the day time

We spent Saturday through Tuesday in Cologne and a neighboring town, Aachen.
Tuesday night we went to Paris.
There is not enough I can say about Paris. Its beautiful, and the people are wonderful. That old stereotype that the Parisiens are rude? Completely unfounded from what I experienced. Seriously, I didn't encounter anything like that at all.
I absolutely loved the city and want to go back to visit again and again and again.
I think this is my favorite photo of the entire trip.

I'm home, and...

I'm going to be an auntie

And, I'm Off....

My flight leaves in just a little under 5 hours, so I'll be leaving my house in about 3-1/2 hours. My laundry is done, my toiletries are all together, I just have to throw them all in my bag still, do a couple little chores, and take a shower.
I am excited beyond belief, but its also completely surreal as though I'm not REALLY going to be in NYC tomorrow visiting an old high school friend. I'm not REALLY going to be in Germany on Saturday morning. I'm not REALLY going to be in Paris on Tuesday night. None of this is REALLY happening. But, I can't wait for it to actually happen, to see Germany and Paris and NYC.

I'll take LOTS and LOTS of pics and share some of my favorites when I return.

Au Revoir!!!

Debt and Travels

For over a year now I’ve been saying that I wanted to get my debt paid off.
I guess what started that was when I paid off my old car last January, and how liberating it was to have that big monthly payment go away.
I didn’t immediately set about paying down the debt. First, I went to Ireland.
It was an amazing trip, and well worth the money. Traveling is something that I’ve always wanted to do but something had always held me back. I’m not sure if it was fear, thinking I couldn’t afford it, or what. Something just always held me back.
Last year I decided that I was just going to do it, so I booked my trip to Ireland. Some people thought I was crazy for going by myself, but I think it was one of the best things I’ve ever done.
When I got back I did work more towards paying down my debt, for a while. Then crap happened. I had to make a last minute flight up to Portland, which was rather pricey and threw the budget WAY off track, and I never fully got back on track. Then, I had to buy a new car. Then, I found the airfare special to Germany, which was quickly followed by Christmas. Yes, I could have been more fiscally responsible and passed on the vacation and put that money towards my debts, but I couldn’t. The price was so low that I just could NOT let the opportunity pass. I NEED TO TRAVEL. I LOVE to travel.
On last years trip I had such a wonderful time. It was wonderful to throw myself into another culture, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Hell, I am doing it again tomorrow night.
So, yes the budget has derailed. It has crashed and burned like you would not believe. Not only have I not finished paying it off, but I’ve ran it up even more. Aside from my car loan, I believe I’ve added more than $1,000 to my credit card debt. Yes, things could be worse, but when i was so close to having it all paid off its frustrating to see it climb back up like that.
So, once I return from my trip I’m putting a budget back in place. I want to be debt free by the time Christmas rolls around. I want to get all of that extra weight off my shoulders. There really is no reason for me to be carrying this debt around in the first place. I make enough money and my expenses are low enough that I shouldn’t have any credit card debt. It truly is just irresponsible spending on my part..
So, once I return I’ll be paying off the credit card debt. I should be able to comfortably pay it all of by Halloween, Thanksgiving at the latest. Then I’ll celebrate with a short vacation somewhere. Maybe a long weekend to Canada, or perhaps to visit my birth father in Boston. Returning from that, I’ll take the money that had been going towards the credit card payments, and put it towards the car payment so that I can pay it off that much sooner.
I just want to be debt free.

So, I’m off on vacation. Tomorrow night Erin and I leave for New York where we’ll spend the day Friday before flying out to Germany that evening. We’ll spend a few days in Germany, then a few days in Paris before coming home. I’m so excited, but it’s also so surreal.
Its currently midnight. My plan was to come home after work, do my laundry and pack.
As I'm sure you can guess, that did not happen. I came home from work, and got an email from Erin that a few of our friends were getting together at the pub to see us before we leave tomorrow. I just got home. Still, no laundry is done. Not a thing packed. I'm going to be up all night. I won't have time to get much done tomorrow either considering that I am going in to work for a half day. I was planning on leaving at noon until I found out from a coworker that theres a "suprise" Bon Voyage pot luck for me tomorrow at noon so I'll be sticking around for that and probably won't get home until around 2 pm, then have to leave for the airport around 630. I can't imagine that I'll have much of a problem sleeping on the planes.

Procrastination

I did finally get out of the house Saturday and made it to Walmart and got a good portion of the stuff that I needed, and then made it over to Mervyns where I was able to get some good deals. Once I got home, I got nothing else accomplished.
Sunday I did get out and met Erin, my travel buddy, at Old Navy and Ross where we picked up a couple of tees and sweaters. Once I got home, I got nothing else accomplished.
My plan for yesterday was to stop at Target on my way home to pick up the last few items I need and then to come home and start doing laundry and packing. That plan went down the drain when my dad called and invited me to come over for dinner with him and his girlfriend after work. I didnt get home until 10pm, so once again I got nothing else accomplished.
Tonight I did go to the bank after work to put a travel alert on my account and then stopped off at Target, ULTA, and Walgreens to pick up the last few items on my list. Now, I'm sitting here watching Law & Order.
This is all that is left on my "To Do" list:
1 - cash in my jar of change at that machine in the grocery store
2 - finish some projects at work & set up the "Out of Office" on my email (that will be done thursday morning)
3 - laundry
4 - pack
5 - change the outgoing message on my cell phone so people don't expect a call back anytime soon "Hi, this is Vanessa and I'm in EUROPE!!"
6 - put batteries in the camera, travel alarm clock, cd player, all that stuff
7 - burn a couple of mix cd's for the trip. I'm wanting one with calmer music and one more upbeat. any song suggestions?
8 - finish photoshopping the last of those photos from the wedding I photographed 2 weeks ago
9 - put the photos on cd's and get them to the happy couple
10 - clean my bathroom
11 - return dvd's
12 - I know I'm forgetting something

Right now, I'm TIRED. I still need to take the trash out and get tonights purchases out of my car, but I'm considering just going to bed now and tackling it all tomorrow night and Thursday afternoon. I'm working a full day tomorrow but am leaving work at noon Thursday so that I'll have time to take care of any last minute details before leaving for the airport. My flight leaves at 815 pm, which means I need to be at the airport by 715 so I should leave my house somewhere around 630. Between now and then I have to do all of the above.
I am going to finish photoshopping the wedding photos and copy them to a cd before I go to bed so that I can at the very least cross those things off my list.

I just cant believe that I'm leaving in less than 2 days. Friday we have a VERY long layover in Manhattan, about 9 hours, so we'll be meeting up with an old friend from high school. After that, its on to Koln Germany and Paris France. YIPPEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

NO Motivation Whatsoever

Last night I went over to some friends house for some wine and to hang out with the girls. It was fun, we talked, drank wine, played Cranium. After a while though, the cats got to my allergies so I took a Claritin that my friends had in their bathroom. Wine and Claritin do not mix well for me. It wasn't very long afterwards until I was saying "I really need to sleep. NOW".
I stayed the night, got a decent amount of sleep, came home and thought it was great to be up early on a Saturday and that there was a lot I would be able to get done. I need to go to the store and get some items for my trip - little things like travel sized toiletries - and I'd like to find a sweater at Mervyns with a gift card I got back at Christmas. Part of the errands I wanted to run was to upload some photos I'd taken to Walmart.com so that I could pick them up in store at the 1 hour photo when I went there for the toiletries that I need to get. After uploading them I sat down to watch an hour of crappy Saturday morning TV, and promptly fell back asleep. For 3 hours. Its now 4:30 and I still havent done a single thing that I need to get done. Well, I did take a shower, but I'm still just sitting here not doing any of the following....
laundry
getting a white foam core board for photographing my jewelry
going to Walmart
going to Mervyns
putting gas in my car
packing
cleaning the bathroom

I leave in only FIVE days so I do need to get all of this done this weekend.
I am DETERMINED to not be running around like an idiot Thursday afternoon in the last couple of hours before my flight leaves.

I also have a couple of jewelry projects to complete before Thursday. One is for my mother, she'd found this watch on eBay that she wanted that was a regular watch face with a beaded gemstone band. Its really pretty. So, she bought it, paid for it, and waited for it to show up. And waited, and waited, and waited. The seller hasn't responded to any attempts to communication, and hasn't responded to the complaints that my mom has made directly through eBay. So, she calls me up to make her a replica of it. I think it will turn out nicely, I have some similar gemstones to what the woman used, but not identical. i'll post a photo of it when I'm done. Considering my lack of motivation, I should be able to get it done tonight while I sit watching movies and not doing the chores that I need to get done.

Amazing!

I LOVE The Amazing Race.
Considering how much I love to travel and how much of the world I want to see, it is the perfect show for me - 28 days of racing around the world.
My lovely cousin Erin is a fan of the show as well, and for the past year or two she and I have jokingly said that we thought we'd make a great team. I'm a bit more practical, can navigate well, find the cheapest and quickest routes between locations, stuff like that. Erin is the one who would handle the cultural issues better, she's GREAT with languages, speaks German, a bit of French, and a smidge of Arabic. We would balance each other out fairly well.
We've been saying that we'd be this great team purely in jest, never with any intentions of ACTUALLY auditioning for it. I have my job, and she has school, it really would take some fancy footwork to coordinate our lives to match the filming schedule and all.
Tonight we were at the pub, talking about our trip to Germany and Paris next week.
Out of nowhere 3 or 4 of our friends say that they think we'd be a great team for The Amazing Race. I take this as a sign that we need to apply.
So, I just have to find out when the next round of auditions are - if the auditions are in person or via videotape.
Sooooo, any suggestions on how to make an audition that grabs the attention of the casting directors?

Erin and I on my 30th birthday... I think we'd make a killer team.

10 days and counting

yep, only 10 days until the big Germany/Paris trip.
Just like last year with my trip to Ireland, the closer it gets the less real it seems.

The past week my Grandpa from Oregon has been in town visiting. Its been a good visit. Wednesday night we went to the Pub for a pint, some shepards pie and bangers and mash. It was fun, he got to meet some of my friends and understands why I like to hang out there. Then Friday night we had dinner at my cousins other grandparents house, and then Saturday night I hosted a big family dinner at my moms house. I made a great chicken and pasta dish. I'd seen two recipes online recently that I liked, but of course I couldn't find them when I needed them. So, I did the next best thing and threw together what I could remember from the two. I started out by cooking bacon, onion, garlic, and chicken in a sauce pan, then removed all of that and used the remaining bacon grease to make a roux, and thinned it out with some milk, marsala wine, and threw in a bunch of mozzarella cheese. Definitely not the healthiest dish, but damn it was good. To add some bit of nutrition to it, when I was cooking the pasta I tossed in some broccoli florets for the last minute or so.

Since he leaves early Monday morning, we got together for a family brunch this morning in Folsom and I was able to get some pictures of the family together. Looking at these photos this afternoon it struck me that he is my last surviving grandfather. Even though I'm sure that we'll have countless opportunities for more photos like this, I'm going to treasure these photos forever. The last few years have been very hard for him, starting with my grandmother being diagnosed with lung cancer and then watching him care for her while she was sick, and seeing how sad he was during those 2 years, and how devastated he was when she passed away last year, its so good to see him smiling like this again, and looking genuinely happy.

Me and Grandpa

Me, Grandpa, and my little brother, Ryan

Ryan, me, Dad, Grandpa

Grandpa

As it turns out, I'm alive and well after all

I am well on the road to recovery. Today was the first day in over a week that I've felt like an actual human being for the entire day. Even after a full day at work, I felt well enough to stop off at the pub for a while.
Saturday, I started out feeling fairly normal. Then I photographed the wedding and by the end of the ceremony I just wanted to crawl back into bed, but still had the ceremony to go. After a seven and a half hour day I stopped at a friends house on the way home so I could relax for a bit. It was great, we visited for a few hours, had a couple glasses of wine, and snuggled her puppy before I continued on home.
Sunday I was supposed to go pick my grandpa up from the airport along with my dad, brother and sister. I was so completely and utterly exhausted that I completely slept through it and ended up spending almost the entire day back in bed.
But, now that I'm back amongst the living I'll be taking Grandpa down to the pub one night this week for a pasty and a pinto and to meet all of my friends.

I'm Dieing

I used to look forward to sick days. In high school I actually liked it when I was sick and could spend the day on the couch, watching TV, taking long bubble baths, and sleeping.
Now, I hate it.
I have some nasty version of the flu and have been lingering somewhere between wellness and death for the past 3 days. During the night, I'm freezing cold and can't get enough blankets on me, but during the day I'm sweating hot. Each day the symptoms are fewer, yet I feel worse. I left work early Wednesday, stayed home today and will most likely be staying home tomorrow. This is not good news. I have to get better. I have to try on bridesmaid dresses tomorrow evening, photograph a wedding Saturday afternoon, and pick my Grandpa up from the airport Sunday morning then go to breakfast with him and the siblings, then on to my dad & his girlfriends Superbowl party.
I've been taking Airborne and its not helping one bit. It did help at first before this flu really set in, but now it does nothing.
I've finally resorted to my Grandmas old remedy. Hot Toddies. Hot tea, lemon, honey, and a fair amount of brandy. I don't know if its working, but it does seem to be helping with the headache a little bit.


On a completely different note, does anyone have any recommendations for good walking shoes?
Its only 3 weeks until my trip and I'd like to find a good pair of walking shoes that don't look completely dorky and won't tear my feet up (most shoes cut into the back of my ankles).

And to go even more off topic, I can't decide what to do with my hair.
My hair is a medium to dark brown, and back in October I had some blond streaks done.
Its time to do something more with my hair and I can't decide between putting more blond in, going back to brown, or red. Opinions?

I'm Home

I'm home. The trip was great. Very relaxing, and of course it was wonderful to see Grandpa and all of my relatives.
The scenery at my Grandfathers is absolutely amazing. From his deck there is a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood...


and you wake up to things like a herd of 25 elk in the driveway



and theres all kinds of old crap to take cool pictures of.
This is the windmill on my Grandpas deck

This is the wheel on an old 1919 tractor on the farm where my uncle rents a garage for his welding business

and this is said uncle, busy at work


I'm glad to be home, have bridesmaid duties this week, a wedding to photograph Saturday, and my Grandpa (yes, the same one I just got back from visiting) is flying in on Sunday.

Only 23 days until the big trip.

A Little Late to the Game

I'm supposed to be at the airport in about 4 hours, and I'm just now about to put my clothes in the wash. I have yet to pack a single thing. I always do this - wait until the very last minute to pack for my trips. I'm going up to visit my Grandpa and Uncle, only a short trip - a 4 day weekend. I'll be back Monday night so I don't need to pack (or wash) much.



Its only 4 weeks until my trip to Germany. Its coming up so fast that I almost can't believe that I'm actually going. Last night I went shoe shopping for the trip, figuring that I need a decent pair of boots for the trip. I went to Marshalls and they had a pair that looked like they would be perfect - ankle height, brown leather, Nikes with that little air cushion thingy in the heel, and they were on clearance for only $25!! HOWEVER, they didn't have them in my size. None of the 3 Marshalls I went to had them in my size. I'm hoping that the Marshalls in Oregon will have them.
While at Marshalls I spied some Converse on clearance for only $10. Now, this may come as a shock to most of you, but I have never owned a pair of Converse before.
Sorry, didn't mean to make you fall out of your seats like that, hope you're not hurt too bad.
Its true, I've never owned a pair of Converse. Even though they've been around for decades and were extremely popular when I was in elementary school and junior high, I've never even tried them on - I was raised on cheap-o Payless/K-Mart/Walmart shoes. If I'm going to spend $40 on a pair of shoes they'd better be pretty cute, and Converse never looked that cute for $40. But, since they were only $10, I tried some on. OH, the comfort! It was almost as though I had slipped my feet into a stick of butter. I grabbed 2 pairs. Because I was getting what was left of the clearance rack pickings, there wasn't a whole lot. I ended up with a grass green pair and these. They almost look like a faux Burberry plaid, don'tcha think? I don't know that these would be ideal for walking all over Germany and Paris, but I am now an official fan. Theyre definitely worth the $40, but I'll still be on the lookout for deals at Marshalls of course.

Just a bit of a repeat from my last post - be on the lookout for the announcement of the grand opening of my ETSY store. If you're not familiar with ETSY, head on over to WWW.ETSY.COM, "Your place to buy and sell all things handmade". I'll be launching the site soon, beginning with my jewelry and hopefully will get some of my photography on there as well. I've been busy making items to post and so far I have:
2 cell phone charms
5 zipper pulls
15 sets of knitting stitch markers
90 pairs of earrings
50 necklaces
1 bracelet (I should probably make a few more of these)
1 eye glass chain (only a little dorky)

Yes, there are 164 items for me to post. I won't post them all at once - that would take me FOREVER. Once I have the first 20 or so items uploaded, I'll announce the grand opening - my goal is to launch by Monday, February 5th. Be on alert.

Numbers..... and some rambling.

Days since last post - 18
Days until trip to Oregon - 7
Days until trip to NYC/Germany/Paris - 34
Skeins of yarn purchased since new "budget" was declared - 2
Knitting projects completed - 0
Beads purchased - about eleventy bazillion and one, give or take.
Pairs of earrings made - 77
Sets of stitch markers made - 5
Cell phone charms made - 3
Bookmarks made - 1
Necklaces made - 39
Bracelets made - 1
Number of all of these beaded projects that I've uploaded to ETSY - 0
Cameras purchased - 1
Pounds lost since 01/03/07 - 14.08
Rolling duffel/backpack purchased - 1
Hours of overtime I will have worked at the end of this pay period - 10
Times I've been asked to be a bridesmaid - 1

I haven't been up to a whole lot since the New Year.
I have started a new health plan, not a diet per se since I'm not doing Weight Watchers or Atkins or anything prescripted like that. I'm just trying to make logical changes in my eating habits - no fast food, more fruits and veggies, less carbs and more whole grains. Really just the logical more healthy choices, and so far its working. I've lost 14.8 lbs since January 3rd. Ideally, I would like to lose another 15 lbs before I leave for Germany, which is only 5 weeks away so it really shouldn't be that far out of reach.
I am really looking forward to the trips coming up. Next Friday morning I'll be going up to Portland to visit my Grandpa and Uncle. I'm not going for too long, just a 4 day weekend, so I'll be home Monday night. I'm really looking forward to the trip. Its so quiet and relaxing up there. I'm also dreading it a little. It will be my first trip up there since Grandma passed away last July and I'm not looking forward to seeing how different it is without her there.

The real countdown begins. The trip to Europe. Erin and I are too excited for words and we have a great itinerary in the works. We'll be leaving Sacramento on a Thursday evening and taking the red eye in to La Guardia Friday morning where we will spend the first part of the day. We're hoping to meet up with an old high school friend of mine for lunch, however she just had her book published so she may be off doing fabulously exciting (and well deserved) publicity appearances. Friday afternoon we'll head on over to Newark where we will depart for Cologne Germany and arrive Saturday morning.
We're thinking that we'll spend 4 days in Germany then 3 days in Paris before coming back home the following Saturday.

I'm so excited about my trip that I bought a new bag. I stopped off at Ross this evening with the intentions of looking for a coat. I was there New Years Eve weekend and they had a fabulous red wool peacoat for only $40 that I didnt get because I was trying to be budget conscious but its been in the back of my mind ever since. I was hoping that it would still be there, but of course it was gone. However, I wandered over to the luggage section. I really don't need another suitcase, but I've never really loved the one that I have. I was able to find a bag that seems like it will be near perfect. Its a rolling duffle that also fits well as a backpack. Yes, I did try it on as a backpack in the middle of Ross. Bonus? It was only $30.

I also got a new digital camera this evening. Theres one I've had my eye on for a couple of months, and was thinking of doing some comparison shopping before my Germany trip, went to Best Buys website and it was on sale for $110 off the normal price. SCORE. I should have it by next Thursday at the latest, so I'll have it in time for the Oregon trip as well. YAY!!

Last Sunday my oldest friend Caren called. Caren and I have been friends since 7th grade and aside from my cousin Erin, she is my closest friend. The type that you know you can call at any time for anything. When my Grandpa died I called her and all I said was "Its Grandpa. Can you meet me at Kaiser?". She raced straight over and I didn't even process until well after the fact that she was in the shower when I called and still had her hair in a towel when she pulled up to the Emergency Room. She is a beautiful person all of the way through and I am so grateful to have her as a friend.
Anyways, she calls Sunday morning and asks me to meet her at Cal Expo for the bridal fair because her and her boyfriend are engaged, and would I mind being a bridesmaid this August? Of course my crafty side kicked in as we're walking around the fair. We're looking at invitations, centerpieces, and as she's cringing over the prices of everything I'm reminding her just how crafty I am so it appears as though I may be making the centerpieces, favors, invitations, bridal party jewelry, and if the wedding is in San Francisco I may be doing the flowers as well. Also, the part I'm really looking forward to... I'll be taking their engagement photos. YAY! Maybe Dad will let me borrow his Nikon D100 again....

The ETSY site... ugh. I have been making quite a bit of product to post on the site, but am in need of a camera to get some decent photos to upload. Problem solved. Perhaps I'll take my jewelry up to Oregon with me and will be able to get the photos taken while I'm there. I'm aiming to have the site launched by the first Monday in February.

Greetings 2007

New Years Eve was a blast. I went out with Erin, Kelly & Stephanie for dinner at Tapa the World where we shared some tapas and had a couple rounds of Mojitos. Afterwards we adjourned to our favorite pub, Bonn Lair, where we rang in the new year. It was great, many drinks were consumed, and we all had a great time.

Now, some resolutions. first, I'd like to review my resolutions from last year:
1. QUIT SMOKING
Well, that didn't exactly work out. Back in early September I did give it a shot, but there was only one completely smoke free day.
2. LOSE WEIGHT
Yeah, didn't get that one done either.
3. COMPLETE THE AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION TOUR DE CURE BIKE RIDE
I'm 0 for 3 so far.
4. BLOG MORE FREQUENTLY
I did accomplish this one. I went from blogging once a week to about twice a week on average. Sometimes more, sometimes less (like the past couple of weeks).
5. TAKE A FABULOUS VACATION
Check! Ireland this past May was amazing. It was definitely one of the best things I've ever done and has inspired me to make travel a higher priority in my life.
6. START A ROTH IRA
Nope. Didn't do that either. Thankfully I do have other retirement investments.
7. PAY OFF MY DEBTS
I came so incredibly close. I was down to about $200 total debt when I bought my new car.
8. GET ORGANIZED
Nope.
9. BE MORE ACTIVE
Nope again.
10. GO SOMEPLACE I'VE NEVER BEEN BEFORE
Yep. Ireland, baby!
11. WORK ON MY "100 THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE" LIST.
I crossed out an item or two, but am not sure whether or not I added anything to it.
12. KNIT SOMETHING OTHER THAN A SCARF.
Done. I've made more than a few purses, a couple of ponchos, a top for Janae, some hats, and I am still working on my Viveka sweater.
13. DATE.
Nope.
14. READ MORE.
I did read more in 2006 than in 2005, but still not as much as I would have liked.

So, I was only able to complete 6 out of 14 items. Not good. I'm hoping to do better in 2007....

1. BECOME MORE FINANCIALLY AWARE.
I will be the first to admit that I don't know where the hell most of my money goes. I know that I have a considerable amount taken out of each check for my 401k and other investments, but even after that my take home pay seems to disappear way too quickly. I should be able to account for it in some way, but I generally can't.
2. LOSE SOME WEIGHT
I'd like to lose 20 lbs before my trip to Germany.
3. TAKE A FABULOUS VACATION
I'm thinking this will be an annual resolution.
4. GET OUT MORE
Its so easy for me to stay in and be a homebody.
5. GET ORGANIZED
I need to give this one another shot.

In addition to these, I think I may have to implement some weekly and/or monthly goals.
My goal for this week, to launch my ETSY site.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

I hope all of you are enjoying your holdiays with those that mean the most to you.

One thing about the holidays is that you often see family members that you don't have the pleasure of visiting with during other times of the year.

Last night I celebrated Christmas with my birth fathers side of the family. I only get to see some of these relatives once or twice a year. That can be a good thing. I had the following conversation with my aunt "C" (the wife of my youngest uncle) last night.

C: So, Vanessa, how old are you now?

Me: I just turned 30 this past August.

C: Ohhhhhhhhh. Thats not young.

The Countdown is ON!

Ideally, I'd like to have all of my Christmas shopping done by the 22nd. That only gives me 9 days.
I choose this date because I am of a unique family situation (mom, step-dad I grew up with thinking was my father, and a birth father). Anytime you have a family situation where some family members are here, some are there, and some are way the heck over there. My birth fathers family (grandma, her husband, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc - but not the birth father, he's on the other coast) all celebrate Christmas on the 23rd so I have to have all of their shopping done by then and if I'm going to have that half of the family done, I may as well have it all done so that I don't have to run around like an idiot dealing with the masses on the 24th.

At this point, I have less than half of my shopping done.

And NONE of my holiday crafts completed.

On the shopping list:
Grandma
Mom
Dad
Father (since he lives in Boston, I'd like to get his gift shipped off by this Friday to avoid paying FedEx prices)
Lindsay (21 y.o. sister)
Ryan (17 y.o. brother)
Erin (cousin)
Jeremy (cousins husband)
6 cousins (ages range from 8 to 17)

On the craft list:
Janae's afghan (6 y.o. cousin) - thankfully, this is about 1/2 way done and shouldn't take long once I actually sit down to work on it.
And there are a handful of friends and coworkers that I will be making or baking token gifts for.

I'm sure I'll get everything done in time, it's just going to be a bit of a challenge.

I do this every year. About a week or two before Thanksgiving I start thinking "I should start working on my Christmas shopping NOW so that I don't have it all to do at the last minute" I never actually start.

There is one slight reprieve though. I'll have Friday afternoon off from work, possibly the whole day if I can get my work done ahead of time.

In other countdown news, only 22 days until Erin and I leave for GERMANY AND PARIS!!!

Dear Santa,

I've been good this year. Really, I have.
Many great things have happened this year. I went to Ireland, I was able to go visit my grandmother a few times before she passed and was able to be with her during her last days, I managed to sell some of my jewelry (and one of these days, hopefully very soon, I will launch my ETSY site), I got a new position at work, I saw friends marry, my cousin Erin and her husband Jeremy moved back to Sacramento, I was able to test knit a pattern for Stefanie Japel, and I got a new car. I am generally happy with my life. On top of all of that, a friends mother who has had breast cancer for the past 5 years has gone into remission - something the doctors have been saying would never happen. I am very grateful for all of this.

However, I've also had to deal with a lot of crap this year. I got rear ended. THREE TIMES. My mom had to have angioplasty for the 2nd time in 3 years. My iPod was stolen. My youngest aunt and her 3 kids (ages 15, 14, and 6) were living with us for the past 3+ months (they just moved out last weekend. Thank God). My father increased the frequency of the "when are you giving me grandkids?" pressure. My knee problems seem to have increased in both pain and frequency. And, I've managed to break my digital camera.

Apparently I've dropped it a time too many and now the picture is slightly off from what is seen through the viewfinder. To get the picture I want, I have to go up and to the left a bit from my intended subject. Fun.
So, Santa, I really wouldn't mind it if you left a digital camera under the tree for me this year. Really, I don't need a lot of bells and whistles. I'm not asking for the Nikon D100 of my dreams. Something with 6 megapixels or higher, video capability, decent zoom, and macro settings would be GREAT! Something I can carry in my tote bag to Europe with me and take pretty pictures of the Eiffel Tower, the Cologne Cathedral, and Notre Dame.

Something like this:



Its the Kodak EasyShare Z612 and it has everything I'm looking for. 6.1 megapixels, 12x optical/4.2x digita/50x total zoom, equivalent to a 35-420mm lens focal length, 32 MB internal memory, rechargable battery and pictbridge compatible if I later decide to get a photo printer.
If thats not enough, it can take macro shots like this:



Thats a user photo from Amazon.com. Customer reviews on Amazon give it 4-1/2 out of 5 stars.
So, Santa, do you think theres room in your bag for something like this?

Mwah!
Love,
Ness

Something to look forward to...

I was having a rough week at work, and decided to distract myself with looking at possible vacations for next year.
I asked to two guys that I work with if they had any suggestions on where I should go. Their responses??
"Iraq" and, "North Korea".
When I told them that I would prefer to go someplace that was more hospitable to both Americans AND women, they said:
"Well, now you're just being difficult."
I looked at airfare to my top choice of destinations - Italy was ranging about $1,200 and up. Paris was about $800 or more.
Then I got the weekly Top 20 travel deals email from TravelZoo.com and one special caught my eye - Newark NJ to Cologne Germany for $198 roundtrip.
While Germany may not have been my top 2 or 3 choices, it is definitely on the list of places I'd like to visit eventually and at that price, there is no way I could pass it up. There are a couple of drawbacks:
1. I had to purchase the tickets by 12/12 so this does cut into my holiday budget ever so slightly.
2. I now have to find cheap airfare from Sacramento to Newark
3. I have to go the last week of February, so it will be COLD.

However, none of these are enough to stop me from going.

One of the best parts? My lovely cousin Erin will be going with me. This is going to be GREAT! As close as Erin and I are, we've never traveled together other than day trips around Northern California. What will be especially helpful is that she speaks some German.
Our flight will leave Newark at 7 pm, so we're considering taking a red eye into New York the night before so that we can spend the day in Manhattan prior to leaving for Germany.

We are SO SO SO excited!

update....

I'm still here, haven't disappeared or anything.

Thanksgiving was great.
I got up early and made my caramel apple pie. It was.... okay. Just okay. I didn't buy the brown sugar until Wednesday evening, so all that was left was dark brown so it had a bit more of a molasses type flavor, and I think I put too much brown sugar in the pie. It's definitely a recipe I'd like to work on perfecting.
Dinner at my aunts house was great. After dinner I was able to prevent myself from lapsing into food coma by knitting while watching the first season of Desparate Housewives with Erin & Jeremy.
The rest of my weekend, i did NOTHING. I was the perfect example of laziness. I just laid around and knit and watched television and movies. I was a sloth and it was great.

I may be planning my next international travel, nothing definite yet... I'm undecided.
For now, I'll just say Auf Wiedersehen