Hey, would you look at that. Today is the three year anniversary of my journal, so I felt like I should do an entry to mark it. We're closing on our house on Thursday, and moving on Thursday and Friday, so God only knows when I'll be able to post another entry, but it definitely won't be until April.
Anyway, I thought it would be interesting (for me and hopefully for you) to think about all of the things that have happened in my life since I started this journal in March 1999.
I graduated from Syracuse University with an MS in Information Resources Management.
I learned how to use HTML and Photoshop (sort of) and Javascript. I learned how to build web pages. Hopefully, if you look back at my early entries, you think that I've improved over the years. I think it looks better now, anyway. Although I do kind of miss that aqua boomerang background.
My friend Molly bought a house. My friend Mary bought a house. And I bought a house. We are all homeowners now (or I will be officially in three days).
I attended my five-year college reunion, which was boring, and my ten-year high school reunion, which was fun.
I went to see the Black Crowes, Journey and Foreigner, and Jethro Tull. I'm kind of a loser, aren't I? I was supposed to go see Pearl Jam as well, but I was in Las Vegas and couldn't go.
I met Tara and Dave for the first time, and then Tara hired me to write for her new site, and we went to Toronto to visit them a bunch of times, and they came to Syracuse to visit us a bunch of times. I also went to Disney World, Las Vegas, and Ann Arbor, and the Adirondacks a couple of times.
I've lost about 25 pounds since I started this journal. I hope to lose some more!
I shook hands with (then) President Clinton and his wife. I saw Kate Hudson and Liv Tyler on a roller coaster. I saw Danny from Real World: New Orleans. I talked to Melissa from Real World: New Orleans on the phone. I had my picture in the paper twice (and people still mention that to me), and on a billboard in town. I was quoted in Time magazine. And I was interviewed for a Real World anniversary special, but my footage ended up on the cutting room floor. Which I'm kind of glad about.
I have won a total of zero Diarist Awards. I used to care about that, but I don't think I really do anymore.
I acquired a new entertainment center, new living room furniture, a new bed, and a dining room set. This is going to make moving later this week interesting.
I was in Gretchen and Bob's wedding. I was in Mary and Terry's wedding. I did a reading in Brenda and Matt's wedding. I got engaged my own self.
Rand and Meg had a baby, and since then they have had another one. My brother and sister-in-law had a baby, too, and he's awful cute. Brenda and Matt had a baby, Alex, in September 2001. Molly and Andy are expecting a baby in July 2002.
My maternal grandmother died. My great-aunt died, and our family's farm was sold. But my paternal grandmother turned 80 in November 2001, and we had a nice family celebration of her life. I've started researching my ancestry. And I'm more grateful than ever for the family that I do have left.
So that seems like a lot to happen in three years, doesn't it! Wow. I kind of want to take a nap. Anyway, next time I post, hopefully I will have house pictures. See you then!
So this is what's going on with me.
My mom came out here a few weeks ago, and we went and bought my wedding dress! I had to ordered it because I got one with no train (even though the lady standing there waiting for her sister to come out of the dressing room liked the one with the train better -- thanks random lady for your opinion that I will now completely disregard!) and they didn't have any in stock in my size. But I've got plenty of time to order something, since the wedding isn't until October.
I also might have made a decision about centerpieces. I've always intended to do something myself because it's both more personal and more cost-effective, I think. Anyway, my mom and I bought supplies to try to make miniature topiaries, for some reason. I'm not sure where I got that idea. So we bought some styrofoam balls and some silk flowers and started pinning them on, and I just didn't like how they looked. It's probably possible to make them look really good, but I'm not that skilled. So then I started thinking about how I could make something that would be both interesting, pretty, and meaningful, and I decided to use photographs. I'm going to take a bunch of photographs of Jim, Jim's family, me, and my family, change them to black and white, and blow them up to about 5x7 or a little bigger. Then, my mom is going to make black mats for them, all the same size. I'm going to take four pictures, put them in the mats, and then attach them at the corners to form a square that stands up. I'll probably put labels on the pictures too, because people from my family won't know who the pictures of Jim's family are and vice versa. Then, I'll probably put something in the middle, like a candle or something. And then after the wedding, I can keep some of them and give some of them away. So I'm excited about that idea.
In house news, in case you haven't figured it out, we're not closing today! Basically, this one woman at our mortgage company sucks big time, and we didn't even get our commitment letter until a week ago. We applied for our mortgage on January 2nd and it took over sixty days to go through! All because this one woman is an idiot. Finally, my realtor called her supervisor and tore him a new one, and things moved VERY quickly after that! But it was all a bit of a moot point (besides my increasing stress level) because the sellers are moving into a new house, and it won't be ready until later in the month. So now they are saying that they can be out by the 28th at 11 AM, but they're willing to toss us some extra money and clean the place for us. Whatever. At this point, as long as we close before we lose our interest rate (which would be April 2nd), I don't care. I just want to move! Jim is doing a great job with packing. We've been taking stuff over to his parents' house so that it will be easier for us to get out of here more quickly, so that our landlords can get in here and paint or whatever they want to do before we leave. Right now the plan is that if we close on the 28th, we'll move all the small stuff on that day, and then rent a truck and move all the furniture on Friday the 29th. So Friday night we will sleep in our new house!
Man, I am so boring and self-absorbed lately. You can see why I haven't been updating! But some of you had e-mailed me and asked me what was going on with the house situation. So now you know! And I'll try to update again before we move. Peace out!