The last couple days I've been listening incessantly to Christina Perri. Unfortunately I'm not all kinds of in love with her debut album, but maybe I'll need to do a second listen. Nonetheless, the song 'The Lonely' has a strong place in my heart and I love it to death. When I went to see the latest Twilight film (meh) with my cousin I heard her newest song that was written for the soundtrack and have now fallen head over heels for it. I love the lyrics of both 'The Lonely' and the new song, 'A Thousand Years' intensely and think they will forever be the top played songs on my iPod, next to my love of fun, bumpy Britney songs.

The last couple days I've been losing myself to Phantom fanfic, but also working on getting a job. I've got my fingers crossed, waiting for a phone call and will continue to scan for job postings. 

Tomorrow I need to strip the Christmas tree and take it out. I'd like to get the apartment back in order, especially the bedroom. I tell myself all the time that if I'd just get up and get it done, I could spend the rest of the time doing what I really want to do. As I've been more faithful to my anxiety med, I feel like I'm getting back to the motivated place I was. I shall not make the mistake of going without again. I don't want to go back down the road of depression again if I don't need to.

I've been writing a bit more often in my personal journal and I'd like to get back to my creative writing. I have so many ideas constantly playing about in my head fighting for attention and whenever I dream, something new seems to enter the playpen of jumbling ideas. I just get so frustrated with myself when things don't come out as I want them to. I need to let go and just write! The thought that that silly Twilight author can get a book deal makes me know that I could probably do it too. Sorry Twilight lovers. I admit, I used to fawn over the books too, but it all just got too creepy in the end and now that I've stepped back and really thought about all the stuff in that book, it really isn't a good message for young, impressionable girls. Puts some unhealthy ideas in their heads about what love and romance is. Believe me, I know! Anyhoo, I'm not here to lecture. That's just my little opinion. Take it or leave it. 

Hopefully Katie and I will be resuming our gym meetings tomorrow. I'd really like to get back into the swing of things. Great music with a cardio workout is not something to pass up!

xoxo,

    Gina

Backyard "Farm"

Right after we moved in the hubby and I looked into finding someone to help us start a small veggie garden. We contacted a local company that looked most interesting to us, but never heard back.
The other day I tried again while we were out and got a hold of the main guy and he invited us over to talk about what we wanted to do. They have a great business going on and I was very excited about having them come in until I saw the price. That pretty much choked the excitement out of me.

When we got home I ended up on Costco.com and found this awesome "greenhouse" by GrowCamp.

It's a couple hundred cheaper than the gardening group was asking and it looks so cool and fun to work with. The Hubs wasn't all into the idea, especially as I haven't been able to keep a house plant alive yet, but I am bound and determined to make this work. The thought of going out into my yard and picking my own veggies and fruits for meals makes me so excited! The money and gas saved not going to and buying stuff from the market will make the work and the waiting totally worth it. The possibility of sharing my harvest with family and friends, and of course, the green aspect of it makes it all the more enticing. The GrowCamp may not be ending up in my backyard anytime soon, but if I can prove myself I may see it back there in the future.

Unfortunately 95% of of our yard is made up of concrete and a large pool, but on the left side of the garage, there is a long wide planter that will be perfect for starting up. 

As you can see, it's a nasty mess right now, filled with junk, weeds, rocks and a big ugly plant. On Saturday my friend/Handyman Erik will be joining me bright and early to clean the area out. The dirt out there is not at all conducive to growing plants, I know that without even trying to dig in it. Once we can move on to the next step of constructing a raised bed. I'm thinking we'll go with this cost friendly version at Home Depot by Scenery Solutions.

One of the great things about these kits are that they're expandable. And from reading all the great reviews, it's easy to put together, you just have to be very thorough about it to prevent the center from bowing out. I can buy new soil and put it in there and won't have to deal with the bad soil whatsoever.

Once I do get this garden up, I'll have to make sure to tell my pool man to clean the filter out in front, as I do not want even a drop of pool chemicals to get into my vegetable beds. Same with other chemicals, I plan to use all organic products for growing my plants.

Directly opposite of the carport pad where the growing area will be, is a mess of our trash cans and I plan to move them around the corner, under the deck (see third photo). Plus I gotta figure out where the rest of the junk is going.

In the meantime, to get myself started I picked up a Buzzy herb growing kit from CVS.

After I've been able to produce some veggies, I'm seriously considering getting a few hens for my own eggs! I picked up a great book on raising chickens ( Homemade Living: Keeping Chickens with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Care for a Happy, Healthy Flock by Ashley English ) and have been reading up online about breeds, building a chicken coop and run and anything else that catches my eye.

I treasure the idea of hearing 2 or 3 lovely ladies chirping below and having fresh, delicious and much more nutritious eggs. A lot of responsibility comes with keeping chickens, but I am ready for the challenge. 

I am so excited to begin this adventure and I hope you'll enjoy reading about it and possibly getting the inspiration to do the same for your own home. 

Lastly, after all a hard days work of taking care of my garden, I hope to eventually find myself relaxing in one of these, reading a book/magazine. 

It's called "The Dream Chair" and that's exactly what it is! My birthday is coming up... heehee

edit* Looks like we may have some rain coming this weekend. Fingers crossed that it doesn't mess with our garden clean-up plans.

Plus, here's a few photos of the pool just for fun.

Lazy Daisy

I would show you a picture of my new dining room table, but it's covered in boxes right now.

We've decided to ditch crappy AT&T as our service went to hell and one night I had 7 dropped calls in less than 20 minutes. I almost threw my iPhone at the wall.

Luckily I was done with my contract and got a Spint EVO 4G, which is exactly what I've been wanting and so far I'm REALLY happy. G's phone is basically a piece off poo too, so we decided it's time to get a home phone. We ending up getting the Ooma Telo VoIP with a handset and finally got it up and running today. G's gonne drop AT&T tomorrow. I'm sure that conversation will be as much fun as it was ditching Time Warner for our internet the other day. And as to internet, we're now using Clear 4G network and that's working out well too.

But back to the table, I found a gorgeous round clawfoot table for $100 on craigslist and snatched it right up. It has an aged, antique look and totally fits into our decor and pretty much completes the dining room. All I'm waiting for now is being able to afford a buffet type table to put under the window.

Back in school now and I really wanted to get 3 to 4 classes, but was only able to get two. But I have plenty of homework from those two, but in the summer I hope to get more classes. I want to get through my gen-ed as quick as I can so I can apply to the Rad-Tech program. Might have to apply at another local community college so I can hopefully pick up more classes there so it doesn't take 4 years to get my AA.

Other than that, not much is going on. I got laid off from Macy's, so I'm gonna start looking for a new job. I'd love to work at B&N. I'm a bookworm, so the discounts on books would be really nice!

It is VERY windy here tonight, and was eerily quiet out when I stepped out earlier. They say the strongest winds will be tomorrow morning through the afternoon. Good thing I'll be holed in doing homework.

Happy Fall

I apologize for my absence, things have been quite hectic lately.

A couple positive things have happened though and I have a lot to be grateful for.

On Wednesday, after nine months of dying to have something done with my hair I was finally able to afford to go in and have my hair tended to. After some of the disastrous hair shows (for my hair at least) that I've been through, my hair has become pretty unmanageable. Tangled and curly/wavy, less than a blow dry and a curling iron, my hair looks like hell. A big frizz ball. Think Mia Thermopolis (Princess Diaries) pre princessification. But now it's pretty smooth and sleek, thanks to a Brazilian Blowout. I got a great deal on it, had my hair dyed and trimmed and decided it was time to test out bangs. I absolutely love what I see when I look in the mirror now and it's made my morning readying time so much quicker. And I don't have to blow-dry my hair when I get out of the shower now. I can just run a brush through it and let it do it's own thing. Though I'll admit, it will look a bit sleeker if I run a hot iron over it.

I don't have a good before shot of my hair, but here it is after my salon appointment...

G and I also had a nice lunch in Downtown Claremont this week and had a wonderful brunch in Downtown Upland yesterday. We fall more and more in love with our new home everyday and all the wonderful amenities the location offers. I don't miss LA in the least and am happy to be putting down roots here.

After my lovely morning and afternoon with G, I decided to go spend the evening with my parents and sister. We had a fun dinner at Chili's, did some shopping at Barnes and Noble and a bit of shopping at the local outdoor mall. Let's just say I was very spoiled and got a wonderful early Christmas gift.

At B&N I got 2 large novels...

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Dracula in Love by Karen Essex

Next we went to Anthropologie and my parents bought me this wonderful bag...

Autumn Garden Bag

Quite expensive, an early Christmas gift, and so incredibly beautiful. And it has TONS of storage. I'll be able to fit pretty much everything in this bag. So many different compartments (2 small on the sides, two large and then the large zippered middle with compartments in there too. Makeup bag, wallet, camera, on the go snacks, and my journal will fit easily in here. I will be using this bag for years to come and will always hold it dear. Thank you so much Mom and Dad for all the wonderful gifts you gave me yesterday. I can't wait to gift you guys for your birthday this month, though unfortunately it will have to wait till beginning of next month, but if I'm able to get what I'm hoping to for you guys, you're both gonna LOVE it. 

Today so far has been a cool, rainy day. And G woke up feeling quite ill, though he is feeling better now, but is still feeling physically weak. I hate when he's sick. It worries me so, but hopefully by tomorrow he's well and his usual self.

I had planned to go around turning in job applications today, but with G feeling as weak as he does I don't dare leave him alone. Hopefully by the middle of next week I get myself out to do that, that way I have myself out there and maybe/hopefully hear from someone by the time I get back from visiting my family for my Mom's birthday and the Halloween holiday.

Have a great weekend y'all!