These Books Suck

Ari says:

I've been caught. Usually, I revel in the fact that I do not follow the masses. I tend to be fairly independent, keeping to my beliefs, likes and dislikes, regardless of what a celebrity or spokesperson, or even a good friend says. However, I now have to admit that I am one of the throngs who have been swept away on a veritable magic carpet of escapism. I honestly haven't been this captivated by any book since the Harry Potter series. And now, here I sit with just under 36 hours left until the release of "Breaking Dawn" by Stephanie Meyer. This is the fourth and final installment of the Twilight Saga and I couldn't be any more excited. I started the series on a strong recommendation from Conley and from the generous loaning of the books by Mama Bradley and Laura. Once I started, I was hooked. Yes, these are Young Adult books (Harry Potter?). Yes, they are all about vampires and other farcical entities (Anne Rice?). Yes, I am completely, totally and shamefully in love with this series (sticking out tongue at scoffers). The good thing is that I know I'm not alone in my fanaticism. There are many who would stand by me when I say that this is one of the best series of books to come out in a very long while. So, why am I outing myself on my own blog? Well, when I find something that I like, I want to share it with those I love. If you are any sort of reader at all and enjoy some good escapism, it would behoove you to try this series out. They are fast, easy reads with a great story line. I will say that some of the characters tend to chafe the reader, but instead of this being a bad thing, I think it only shows how enthralled the reader is that they are so affected. My only other caution would be that if you aren't thrilled by romance, steer clear; these won't be your cup of tea. Barring those items, though, these books are just great and I know that this weekend I'll be parked with my book, digging to discover just what is going on in Forks, WA.

NOLA Bound

Ari says:
Well, I'm sure the proverbial cat is out of the bag, but for those of you who don't know, I can now reveal that Bart and I are moving to New Orleans in the near future (NOLA= New Orleans, Louisiana; for those of you not "in the know"). This has been a crazy few months with several things up in the air, but Bart ended up getting orders to fly with 4th MAW (Marine Air Wing) for one year and the possibility of those orders being extended to two years. Right now we are just very excited to get to live together. In our one year of marriage we've lived together for about 2 1/2 months total, with visits about every month. So, what all does this mean? Well, Bart will stay out in San Diego until the end of September when his TAD orders are up (Temporary Active Duty). I will stay here in Nashville and work through the end of August (only 24 days left, not that I'm counting down or anything). September will be spent traveling to Lexington and Denver, getting visits in, and then I'll spend the rest of the time here in Nash-Vegas getting rid of junk, finding boxes and getting packed up for the move, on top of continuing my job search. Be proud of me that I've already started collecting boxes and applying for jobs. There are good and band points about this move. Again, the best part is that we'll finally be together. A couple other pluses are that we will be 3 hours from Bradley and only 5 hours from Conley. Bring on the Diva Conventions!! Of course, the hard part will be going further away from Lexington; my once 3 hour drive will now be over 10, and probably not doable all that often. And I have made some wonderful friends here, especially Angela, who I will miss terribly (but know that she will come and visit often because she just loves me that much, right?). However, as with any change, I am starting to feel the rush. Plans are starting to fall into place and I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. This brings me to this past weekend. Angela was my absolute savior this weekend and agreed to trek down to NO with me on a hunting expedition. We got on the road after work on Friday and made it to the Southern Sin City without too much trouble, barring one traffic jam and the "manalog" clock. The "manalog" clock was actually an analog clock that was in the dash of the rental car we had. As Angela was wondering why they put that particular model in if everything else was digital, I began to say that in some luxury cars I had seen they put in an analog clock to be posh. Well, I tried to say "manual" to describe the clock, but immediately knew that it was the wrong word and tried to correct that by saying "analog" at the same time, and thus the birth of the manalog clock. See, I'm human, I make mistakes (not many, though). Anyway, we made it to NO and settled into our hotel room. Saturday dawned hot and muggy and we were out early to start our search. Angela was a genius with the maps and got us through the crazy streets to start the search for living accommodations. We looked at places in the French Quarter and Algiers Point (cute little town across the river) and quickly decided that "The Point" was the place to be. We focused our search there and probably looked at 10 different possibilities through the day. As the thermostat topped 100, we sweltered our way in and out of the car, up and down new streets, but eventually found a couple spots that Bart and I could happily call home. We finally headed back to our hotel to cool off and get ready for dinner. After a brief search of the immediate vicinity of the hotel, we decided on a wonderful little place called Café Orleans and had an amazing dinner full of all kinds of seafood (we split a seafood appetizer and entree) and a couple glasses of much-deserved wine. We then sloshed through the torrential downpour to get back to the hotel and parked ourselves at the bar for a bit before retiring to bed. We were both exhausted, and sleep was not far off. Sunday was the long drive back, but we made it without any trouble and were both home at a decent time. Again, I can't say enough thanks to Angela for all her help this weekend. It would not have been possible without her. As for me, I think I've got a few great ideas for Bart and me, and at least we now know where to focus our search. All in all, the weekend was a success and I feel much better having the wheels starting to get into motion for this new chapter in our lives.

Nervous Nelly

Ari says:

Ok, don't tell Bart, but I'm a bit nervous. Angela and I are heading to New Orleans this weekend for a rather important adventure (I promise I'll tell you next week what all this secrecy has been about). I've rented a car, confirmed the hotel, got my maps (several of them), my contact and appointment information, and my rarely-used camera. I'm not forgetting anything and am as ready as I'll ever be, but there is always the chance that I am going to mess something up. I don't know if you've noticed from other posts or not, but I'm a bit accident prone and Murphy's Law has never quite applied to anyone so forcefully. Bart has assured me that I'll be fine and that there is very little likelihood of me ruining something so completely that he won't talk to me again, so that's reassuring, but there are still a few butterflies. Many details to come next week, so wish me luck and stay tuned!

The Ants Go Marching 1 By 1

Ari says:
TGINM! For those of you not all that excited about word games, that translates to "Thank God It's Not Monday." I figured Bradley would enjoy it, although, after SOGWEAW, I don't think I can compare. Anyway, enough of that. Usually this is the part that I would recap my weekend, however it was exceedingly boring, so I'll save you the mental death and give you a few highlights. I got completely immersed in the Twilight series of books and spent an immense amount of time reading this weekend. It was so miserably hot outside that you just couldn't bring yourself to do anything. I also packed Sherlock up on Sunday and headed to Angela's house. I needed to spray down the carpet and furniture again with flea spray, so that's what we did. The rest of my weekend was spent vacuuming and doing laundry. See? I told you it was boring. On the other hand, last night held a small adventure. Bart and I have a medium size pile of wood out on our porch. It is really well seasoned, but we won't be needing it this winter, so I had decided to get rid of it. Since it was scathingly hot yesterday, I waited until the sun went down before I tackled this project. I moved the truck closer to the apartment and then started moving the logs down. This was an easy enough task, although it was still very warm. Well, I got about 3/4 of the way done with my little project and discovered that I was invading someone's home. Actually, many someones to be exact. After picking up one long in particular, I was greeted by thousands (most likely millions, but I didn't bother to count) of carpenter ants. My immediate, and rather girly, reaction was to drop the wood I was holding and jump back a step. These guys were not happy with me. My second reaction was to get a little ticked off that my project was being impeded. I have to admit, though, that I did feel a twinge of self-loathing. These ants were minding their own business, making a home for themselves and I came along all Godzilla-esq (because that's how I smurf) and destroy it all. Now, let me add to that by saying that if they had been inside my apartment it would have been a very different story and I would have doused the little suckers with anything lethal I could find. After getting Bart's opinion and trying to figure out the best way to handle this mess, I started kicking the logs off the porch and into the grass. I then rolled them all down the hill to get the ants off. By the time I got them to the truck, they were virtually ant-free. I guess my plan worked. Anyway, I finally got it all loaded up, was able to sweep my "guests" and the debris off the porch and didn't have any other problems. I told Bart that I was anticipating some sort of ant uprising, where they would march on the apartment with miniature pitchforks and torches, but nothing of the sort happened. I think I'm safe, for now.

Friday Happiness

Ari says:

Ok, I know this is a bit of a cop-out, but I just couldn't help myself. Enjoy!








See, this just makes Friday that much better.

Randomness Abounds

Ari says:

Today has just been a strange day so far. Now, granted, I'm only about halfway through it, but it has just been weird. First off, Sherlock decided to play "Bite Mommy" at 3 am. Not my favorite at all, and when he discovered that I wasn't going to join in, he went on and started a rousing game of "Howl at the Pictures on the Wall." Again, this wasn't my game of choice, so I decided to remove the cat from the room for the rest of the night. I vaguely remembered on my way into work that today is my brother-in-law, Jim's, birthday today. Happy Birthday Jim... he's a great guy, like all of the Bartolomeas, is very intelligent, confident, talented at the iPod game and has gone to lengths to make me feel so welcome in the family. Anyway, I got to work and was quickly reminded by my boss that we had a Meet & Greet with the band DecembeRadio. Now, I'm sure most of you aren't familiar with this group, but they are releasing their second album and I have several stores that will be doing signings with the group in the next few months (thus making my presence at this event rather necessary). I walked into the room as they started their set and about fell off my chair when I realized that one of the guitarist was the absolute doppelganger for my brother-in-law. Now this guy has longer hair and is a bit more "Nashville" than Jim, but there he was. "Jim" is on the far left in this picture. I was able to talk to Brian (his real name) after the set and he was a great guy. I told him about his resemblance and possible long-lost relative and his only concern was whether or not Jim was a good guy. I reassured him that he was in good company (I had to be nice since it's Jim's birthday). Anyway, after all that, I came back down to my office and was treated to a series of rather unpleasant experiences. Suffice it to say, I'm just thrilled that this all will soon be but a distant memory. Don't get me wrong, I will certainly miss Matt's antics and Angie's wonderful friendship (and lunch demands), but there are several things that I will not be sad to leave. All in all, I'm hoping the rest of this day can turn itself around for the better. If not, I could possibly see inebriation in my future.

Oh the Horror!

If this type of comedy is your thing, head over here for some greatness.