Nothing too eventful has been going on around here. Calm weather and nothing crazy happening, I guess that's a good thing.

The gala at work is over, and now they are gearing up for their Festival of Trees event. I am helping to design and decorate the governor's tree, which is pretty exciting! I won't be working at the museum anymore when it comes time to actually decorate the trees and hold the event, but I'm going back to volunteer, so I'll post a picture of "my tree", as I'm calling it, later on! (it's not until November 29th!)

Yesterday Johnny had a day off work (his first weekend-day off work since we moved here!!! aka the first day we could hang out together!!!) and so we drove to Fort Collins and Loveland, CO. We met up with the guy who sold us the Honda Accord, and he gave us snow tires for the car, horray! We wandered around some outlet stores and I bought a few clothes for my new job. I got a pair of Nine West heels, retail $75, for $15! sweet!


I've been cracking down on studying for the GRE this past week, too. I've become more motivated since I have finally received confirmation from 3 people that they will write me letters of recommendation for graduate school. :) A lot of the studying for the GRE is brushing up on middle school math skills and memorizing some very abstract vocabulary, and but the bulk of the studying revolves around learning HOW to take the GRE, and what to look for in questions and in possible answers. I've bought a study book that is very enlightening in this area. I am a bit worried I'll be thrown off because it is a computer test, you only get scratch paper to work out problems, and once you have submitted an answer you cannot go back and change it. Also, you don't get to use a calculator! oh, the horrors!! At any rate, the test is Thursday so we'll see how it goes!

Meghan and Nick arrive in Denver this week, and we are going to see them, meet Nick's family, and see Aunt Sherry & co. (haha) for Thanksgiving!!! I'm so excited! It had BETTER not snow!!!

some photos from the past week.....

here's my little wild child


me yeseterday


a going-away present my boss at the art museum gave me (it's from the art museum's store!)


some fabrics that were used for the gala that the art museum gave me. Johnny, the expert of the two of us, says I have enough to make a quilt, so he is going to help me with that.


and........*drumroll* the inspiration for our Christmas tree. We figured, 1.) Christmas trees in Laramie are apparently very sad and defeated looking, and 2.) we have low ceilings with hot pipes running around = fire, so we've decided to do something sort of funky this year, and get a white tree and decorate it with some colorful balls. Should be fun....


well...until next time!

Long time, no update! :)

This week has been very busy, as the Art Museum prepared for the annual fundraising gala. Friday night my friend Lauren and I worked at the VIP Reception selling raffle tickets for a diamond necklace, and then last night we worked the actual gala! It was really fun, and very hectic, with over 400 people attending. The theme was "Safari".

Here's Lauren and I before the craziness began. (we worked the check-in table and later worked the check-out table, which was even more hectic!!)


the ballroom


tables


Johnny and I (he stopped by for a bit after he got off work)


I bought a raffle ticket for the diamond necklace (but didn't win! :( ) but for each raffle ticket you get a wine glass. I bought one but someone at checkout didn't want his and gave them to me, so now I have four! They were each wrapped in animal print tissue paper, and Atari has claimed them as her hiding places.

I spy a little kitty!




Today I worked some more for the gala, as many people wanted to pick their items up today. There were extra favors, so I was given one! It's a little basket woven with telephone wire by Zulu weavers!

OH how could I forget? I was going to post this earlier, but...anyways I made my mom a purse for her birthday! I think it turned out really neat, here it is..



and while I'm remembering things I forgot in the last post, here is Atari enjoying some Alpaca fur gloves I bought here in Laramie from a local vendor


ummmmmmm yep. She's crazy. :P

Today was sort of a lazy day. Johnny's stomach hurt pretty bad on account of throwing up all day yesterday, so he was pretty sore. Plus he was super worn out and tired. Poor Johnny. But he's better now. We can't quite figure out what was wrong with him, we have been eating all the same things and I never got sick.

Tonight we made an apple crisp, though! And we discovered that Atari has spots, so I am going to call her my little panther from now on, even though she's grey. (she lost some hair due to a food allergy and once her scabs cleared due to her scratching her skin, we noticed the spots.)









a peek at her spots, awwww my little panther. :P


oh, and Atari and Johnny being cute. :P

ah, two updates in one day? But why, Jessica, aren't there things to do in Laramie???

well, if there were things to do, I would have rather been doing them today. Instead, I had to wake up at 5:30am to a sick Johnny, take him to work at 7 but then return to get him around 11 after his coworkers made him go home.

It's all been downhill since then. ick. He's pretty much sick to his stomach. I've pretty much been watching tv or going to the grocery store ever since then, while he slept or threw up. great fun. I've trying to force liquids and bread/crackers/jello down him but he's being pretty stubborn. A threat to go to the emergency room set him straight, though, and he suddenly became willing to give the jello another shot.

Here is a photo of him and Atari sleeping earlier. It was beyond cute.


then she turned away after a few photos, haha


Later, she curled up next to him again, but on her side, too, and it was SOOO CUTE. I didn't get it on camera, though. darn!

Anyway, here's to hoping tomorrow is a better day.

Another update from yours truly.

Well there's two updates to give:

1. Atari has a secret admirer. Well, it's not really a secret considering he comes around to her window every day and pisses her off. And brings her very pretty yellow birds. (picture of said yellow bird - dead - below. You've been warned.)

2. Johnny now has a car. Mom, Dad, Josh, Jason, I think you'll recognize it... some serious deja vu, huh? :) No, we didn't steal the Honda. This one's an automatic. :P


So let's start with the car, since that happened yesterday. We have been looking on craigslist since we got here for a car that would do well out in the snow and get Johnny to and from work and school and the apartment. Johnny's coworkers said that a Honda Accord would do just fine, and when we happened upon this one yesterday, we made an appointment to see it. Where did we travel to, you ask? Denver! It was only a two hour and some odd minute drive, not too bad actually. We went to Chipotle (yum!), a fancy mall called Cherry Creek Shopping Center, where we were greeted by the mall's general manager, then to Target and finally we met the seller and the car. We drove it and talked to the seller a bunch before deciding to get it.

Here are some photos that Johnny took from the drive to Denver.




















And second, kitty's admirer. We knew our neighbors had a boy cat named Angus, who is super cute, friendly and fluffy, but he wasn't a problem until we got Atari her cat tree. Now that she can see out the window, Angus has been stopping by and attempting to woo her. Today I ran to Safeway to get Johnny some juice and whatnot (he's sick) and when I returned I saw Angus run around from the front window to the side of the house. Later, I was walking outside to take some pictures of the new car when I saw Angus scurrying from the side of the house to the front yard with a bright yellow bird in his mouth. I'm pretty sure he was on his way to present it to Atari, who was sitting in her cat tree at the window. ha, anyways, he dropped it by a bush and wanted pets from me, which really set Atari off. poor kitty. Here's the birdie. It's really pretty. I didn't get a photo of Angus, he ran away, maybe to find another bird?


So we've decided we should keep Angus away from stressing out our kitty, and we've been researching some cat repellent methods. One is to put orange rinds around the area you want to keep the cat away from. So the orange rinds are currently out in front of the window and we'll see what happens soon. If that doesn't work, there are some organic and safe cat repellents made of fox and coyote urine. Interesting concept that I hadn't heard of before.


So you want a tour of the apartment??

ah yes, the entryway to our beloved basement. The window on the ground is Atari's window.


you see our dining room when you first walk in


our new dining set and vinyl (woo! Target) tablecloth.


looking to the left of the previous picture you see a desk that came with the place (from a previous renter) and sort of our crafts/work area. I was thinking of hanging one of those long mirrors horizontally along this wall to reflect the light in through kitty's window. You can see our living room and the entrance to the kitchen too.


to the left of the previous picture you can see the front doorway


living room! (don't mind Johnny, he's got a cold and is feeling blah)


wooo living room. This is supposed to be a second bedroom but we thought it would be more comfy as a living room.


so from the first room/dining room you enter into the kitchen. You like the curtain-door thing I created at the end of the kitchen? yeah, totally my idea, thanks.


so once you enter into the kichen, to the right is the fridge. It was turned with its back against the wall with the window but we flipped it. I think it opens up more room for the microwave and toaster area


the main part of the kitchen. Now I know you're thinking, "nice countertops!" don't be jealous


the bathroom is directly across from the kitchen sink (kinda weird but whatever)


so at the end of the kitchen and through my amazing curtain-door is a weird little storage room. We keep our shoes in there. Beyond the storage room is the bedroom


so once you enter the weird little storage room and look left you see what we're using as a little pantry area. It works because it's right next to the kitchen


from the entryway to the little storage room and looking right is kitty's area (like my use of curtains again?)


and to the right of that is a dresser filled with sweaters and winter clothes


here are few more pictures of the car and our street. I think it'll be a good little car. Here are the features listed in the craigslist ad:
1995 Honda Accord LX
origial owner
no accidents
138,000 miles
new tires
new windshield
new battery
regular oil changes
non smoker
automatic transmission
air conditioning
cd player
power windows
power locks
snow tires included




well, those are the major updates! It's insured and we have to figure out the title stuff tomorrow (it sounds pretty difficult to get it titled in Washington from here - but do-able - so I think we are just going to title it in Wyoming and then again in WA next year. We'll see. BUT the exciting part is that we have to have the State Patrol dispatch an officer to us to come check it out. rad. :P )

-Jessica