2008 Sleep Goblin Ornament

The new ornaments are going up in the store as we speak! This year's design features little trees made of feathers. Particularly, pheasant feathers, which are just lovely. There are also a few turkey feather designs.

moving plans

First, Happy Thanksgiving! DS and I had a turkey, stuffing, green beans and potatos, cranberry sauce, apple sauce, bourbon pumpkin pie, and sweet potato pie (thanks to Janelle for the recipe on that last one!). We even made most of it ourselves!! We'll be having leftovers for weeks :P

Secondly, we've more or less finalized our move. My last day of work here is December 19th. The moving company will be dropping off our pods (but not Pods, because they're outrageously expensive) that day, and we plan to pack them up that Saturday. Depending on how we feel, we'll head out afterwards, or Sunday. Then we should be spending a few days in Salt Lake City, assuming Mike and Brittany don't mind having us for Christmas. The pods get picked up on Monday, and will take five business days to deliver. Except they don't work on the 24th or 25th or Jan 1. And the don't work weekends, and they don't deliver to Santa Barbara except on Mon, Wed and Fri. So we're looking at a delivery of 12/31 at the earliest. That's a long time to go without a bed.

To get buy, we're also renting a small trailer from u-haul to pull with the car. That should hold the stuff we're not allowed to put in the pods (like plants and other live things), the cat's stuff, the mattress pad from the futon (it's the closest thing we'll have to a bed while the stuff is being transported), and lots of clothes. The cats will be in the car with us, and we're praying they settle down after an hour or so.... Current car training has not been too promising.

Our apartment is larger than we ever thought we could afford, so that's really exciting. It's two bedroom, but since we didn't think that would be possible and now have no spare bedroom furniture, it will be my office/craft room. So exciting! I'm starting to get excited about the move in general. There are a lot of things I'm really going to miss in Madison, my job included. But after six months of talking and planning, I'm ready to go. It's so weird thinking about living near the ocean... I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually seen it, and those were all the Atlantic. There's so much I don't know. For example, did you know it's generally too cold for swimming around Santa Barbara? People wear those surfing suits to get in. Crazy! But they do get in.. DS says the guys in the office where he'll work often have surf boards with them like he has a bike in his office now. And on their lunch break, they go surfing. Since his new work building is literally on the beach, this is a fairly easy thing to get away with. Makes me think of one of the early Private Practice episodes... weird.

In case you were wanting to send out Christmas cards, we'll have mail forwarding on. But if you want to avoid that part, remember, we'll be out of Wisconsin by the 21st, and should arrive in California somewhere around the 27th. If you want the new address, just e-mail me!

oh my god!!!!

DS and I voted this morning. Had to stand in line for an hour and a half, but it was so worth it. Now, we're drinking Reisling (DELICIOUS) and watching the results come in. It's looking pretty good for Obama!!!! So exciting!! We're coloring in an "electoral college map" as it happens :)

And now, because real news sucks, we're going to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Update: 10:12 pm
wow. i'm speechless. this is maybe one of the most important nights of my life so far. i'm so glad i voted.

Trip to Tampa - aka Kim's Wedding

I had a great time in Tampa. I went to Kim's wedding, and the Lowry Park Zoo, and learned to knit, and had dessert in the craziest restaurant I've ever been in. It was an awesome trip. Here are a LOT of photos. Sorry, I'm too lazy to go to the trouble of putting together an actual coherent story/slideshow.