november 29

@ 4p | 2 cents...

Thanksgiving was tasty and warm this year as we spent the holiday in Florida with my parents, my sister (in from Chicago), my brother (in from LA) and my gram. Eric helped my dad pick out a DLP TV and set up their new iMac. The photo below is of the lanai and pool area and the birds are Saturn (grey) and Phantom (green).

I start my new job tomorrow and our December calendar is filling up with parties and gatherings for the holidays. We bought our christmas tree when we got back home on Saturday and we decorated it yesterday with carols on the radio and the Patriots game on the television!

november 21

@ 11p | 2 cents...

For those of you not on our newsletter list, I have a job! I accepted a position at the Friday Center for Continuing Education at UNC. I start on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. :)

I also joined the North Carolina Pastel Society and will have 2 or 3 paintings shown at their winter show here in town starting next month. And lastly, I finished another painting this weekend, as seen below. Enjoy!

november 17

@ 11a | 2 cents...

If anyone is looking to get me something snazzy for Christmas, I like this!

@ 10a | 2 cents...

Despite a few sneaky cats, piggy squirrels and several collisions with our sliding glass door, we have many varieties of birds visiting our new feeder, including our new friend, the red-bellied woodpecker.

Things have been rather busy around here lately... this weekend we took an Orange Co. studio tour of about 10 artists. I got to meet some fellow artists and see what other folks are up to in the art community here.

I also received a formal offer for the job I interviewed for before Kerri's wedding. And I have a follow-up interview this afternoon for another job I interviewed for last week, so by the end of today I should have an idea of where I will be working next month. :)

november 10

@ 12p | 2 cents...

So I am making dinner last night - mutitasking pasta, pasta sauce, asiago crisps and lighting candles for mood - when both of our smoke alarms go off. These damn things are so sensitive that I could be boiling water and they'll start beeping. Part of the problem is their location... in the same hallway on either side of the kitchen. Interestingly, they have different ear piercing sounds, one is a sharp and fast "bip, bip, bip" while the other a loud and slow "BEEP, BEEP". So far, the only way to shut them off (besides tearing them off the ceiling) is to wave a towel, or in my case what I was holding, an oven mitt, in front of the sensors. After the alarms went off for the second time, I opened the back door to let the imaginary smoke out even though it was about 50 degrees outside. Sensing his moment, a gigantic fly comes speeding past me into the apartment before I could get the screen door closed. Now I had a frantic fly doing laps around the living room and kitchen, several boiling items and intermitten fire alarms to keep me company until Eric got home. Thankfully, opening the deck door prevented the alarms from sounding again, I managed to trap the fly in the spare bathroom until I could deal with it after dinner AND dinner tasted great. So don't ever think cooking dinner every night is easy!

BTW, Eric killed the fly after we split a bottle of champagne. That fly definitely slowed down some.

Because of all the last minute travel last week, I forgot to post the Halloween photos from our trip to Franklin Street in Chapel Hill... here's a few of the better shots.

november 9

@ 4p | 2 cents...

I am never above opening a bottle of champagne to celebrate something. So even though Eric and I have been married for over three years, we have been together for exactly seven years today. Happy anniversary sweetie! And let the seven year itch jokes begin! :)

november 8

@ 9p | 2 cents...

We are back from Long Island... the wake and funeral were sad but I'm really glad we were there. Eric's grandmother really seemed to appreciate us being able to make the trip and when it comes down to it, that's the most important thing.

When we got back there was a phone message about another job possibility at UNC, so I should find out later this week if I have another interview coming up. I filled out a background check authorization form today for that other job, but I still don't know anything for certain.

Amazingly, after our trip to Tampa for Thanksgiving, we will have earned enough credits through Southwest airlines for a round trip ticket voucher for each of us. Only took us 4.5 months. Yikes.

november 3

@ 12p | 2 cents...

The wake and mass will be Friday afternoon and the funeral on Saturday morning. We are leaving first thing tomorrow morning.

I am still waiting to hear back about that job I interviewed for two weeks ago. I do know they are still interested, however, and that can only be a good thing at this point!

november 2

@ 2p | 2 cents...

We will be traveling to Long Island this weekend to attend the funeral of Eric's paternal grandfather who died this afternoon at the age of ninety. We still don't have any information regarding a schedule of events but Eric is rearranging his schedule so we can be in NY tomorrow evening. It will be good to have the whole family there. It really doesn't matter that it was expected soon, it's still a painful thing.