Thursday Thirteen 2/4/10

I recently transferred from one store to another, so here are

Thirteen things I've learned since I transferred to the new store:

1. I lived across the street from my old store, and now drive 45 mins one way to get there. Apparently having the extra time to wake up and sing along as loudly as I want is a good thing, though. I'm the kind of girl that gets up in the morning just in time to get ready and get to work. No leisurely breakfast or reading the newspaper for me. That is especially true now that I have to commute in the morning and at the same time have to be to work an hour earlier than I did at my old store. I am discovering, however, that all of a sudden I am more productive in my first hour at work since I started having the extra drive. Who knew?

2. 45 min drive vs 2 minute walk = triple the monthly gas bill. Yuck.

3. Sunny Han's is still some of the best Chinese food I've had. Takes some getting used to because it's not a lot of sauces and fried things, but their brown rice and steamed vegetables are just so good.

4. Apparently I am not the only one who doesn't like to throw things away, because there is an astonishing amount of stuff in the back room that was here when I managed here two years ago.

5. Sing along songs are more important to a good driving cd than just a fast beat.

6. Mt. Hood is almost heartbreakingly beautiful at sunrise.

7. I actually am a better manager now than I was two years ago.

8. No matter what city my office is in, it's still the same job.

9. Muscle memory for things like where supplies are and the best path across the parking lot to Quiznos works even after two years away.

10. Change really can reenergize you, even when you aren't unhappy with the way things are.

11. 6:00 is still too dang early to get up in the morning, and I still don't want to have to be in bed by 10:00.

12. I must be developing more of a routine schedule, since Fluffy the cat is usually waiting for me at the window when I pull into the carport.

13. Coffee's On is still a great place to go. They remembered me, which was very nice. They even remembered that I didn't have a favorite drink, but get something different almost every day.

Thursday Thirteen 12/31

It's New Year's Eve, but I find that I'm not quite ready yet to shift my focus to the new year. This day is going to fly by and I'll be thrust into 2010, ready or not, before I know it. But for now, today is just Thursday.

What I was actually thinking about this morning was movies. My new year's celebration will most likely involve a movie fest, and I was remembering all my favorite movie scenes. You know, the one scene that can make even a terrible movie bearable, the scenes that stick with you.

So, here are my 13 of my favorite movie scenes.

1. When Aragorn pushes opens the doors to the throne room at Helms Deep in The Two Towers.

2. Near the end of the most recent Pride and Prejudice when Matthew McFadyen's Darcy struggles to say "I love you" to Elizabeth.

3. When Jason Bourne drives the car off the roof of the parking garage in Bourne Ultimatum.

4. In the newer version, when Edmund comes to take Fanny back to Mansfield Park. I love that carriage ride, where they both acknowledge and avoid their feelings for each other.

5. The first scene with Methos in Highlander End Game. Blah blah Duncan, broody broody blah blah, then ..... METHOS!

6. In P.S. I Love You, when they're reading the letters in Ireland. "Hey, Big Mama" has me bawling every time.

7. The dance party in steerage in Titanic.

8. Any scene with Jeremy Northam in Emma.

9. In 27 Dresses when Jane tells Tess, "Today you're just some b**ch who cut up my mother's wedding dress." Also love "Benny and the Jets."

10. I realize he's like twelve, but the scene with Jacob and Bella on the stairs at the movie theater in New Moon gets me, too. Something about the long hair pulled back in front, and the way he's into her is just yummy.

11. The scene where Jet Li pretends to be the takeout delivery guy at Aaliyah's apartment in Romeo Must Die.

12. In the new Star Trek when Spock tells the council to "Live long, and prosper" after they diss his mom. Love that.

13. In Serenity when they're discussing whether or not Inara's call is a trap. "Did you see us fight?.....No.....Trap."

Have a wonderful, safe celebration tonight. May the new year bring you all good things.

Thursday Thirteen Dec 10

This last weekend was my Christmas tree decorating party, and in the absence of of any other inspiration this week, I thought I would show you all my thirteen favorite Christmas ornaments. They are, in no particular order:


1.

This is a pretty simple ornament, but my friend Shelly painted it for me, and it's had a special place on the tree for close to 20 years now.

2.


This angel is part of the set of ornaments I bought for the very first Christmas tree I had on my own. I collect angels in a small way, especially at Christmas.

3.

For some reason I just love this ornament. The colors remind me of the tree at my dad's parents' house. They only ever had a white flocked tree with red balls. Period. I guess this ornament takes me back there without actually having to have a tree like that myself.

4.


A couple years ago I added snowflakes to my list of things I collect at Christmas. For some reason not a lot of them made it on the tree this year, but this one from Pier 1 is one of my favorites.

5.

This is just one of a set of sparkly pear ornaments we got at Marshalls. They aren't anything fancy, but I love them.

6.

This is a balsa wood angel ornament from the Every Husband's Nightmare Bazaar. Mom and I go every year the weekend before Thanksgiving and always come away with something. This one is from the first year we ever went.

7.

This is a sort of Mardi Gras themed ornament from our trip to New Orleans. My mom had always wanted to go there, and she and my two aunts and I went the Memorial Day before Hurricane Katrina. If I ever needed a reminder not to put off the things that are really important, this is it.

8.

This is a bell hand painted by our church minister's wife when I was in elementary school. We haven't seen her in years, but every time we put the ornaments on the tree we say, "It's a Jo Bunch bell." They're simple and beautiful and still some of my favorites.

9.

LOL - this is one of those ornaments that I both love and hate. It was made by a great grandmother that I don't have a lot of other memories of, so the big purple....rabbit? mouse? ...finds a home on the tree every year.

10.

No one hear wants to actually hear me play the french horn anymore, but I used to. This was a present from a fellow horn player in college. I still love them and always find myself looking for a new horn ornament.

11.

This bell is part of a set my uncle's mom would send him from Denmark. My uncle was a chef who was usually working on Christmas Eve during our family celebration, and he's passed on now, but I'm glad to have these bells so he's with us still.

12.

It's a bell, it's sparkly - pretty much a perfect Nikki Christmas ornament.

13.

This is another one of the ornaments from the tree in my first apartment. I love it because it's actually a bell (her feet dangle in the middle for the chime). It's a heavy ornament so it always has to go at the top, but it's still one of my favorites.

Nikki's Thanksgiving Thursday Thirteen

For a variety of reasons, none of them particularly onerous or challenging on their own, it's been a rough last couple of weeks. I haven't been feeling especially thankful lately, so it really is the perfect time to count my blessings.

Here are 13 things I'm thankful for this year:

1. My family. I am so lucky to have them close, and to have close, loving relationships with so many of them! I'm also going to get to see a little more of them than usual this holiday season, and I'm really looking forward to that.

2. My job. I feel very fortunate to still be working despite store closures nationwide, and to have a crew of people I can enjoy and respect.

3. The Pomme de Sang Forum and Fanfic Archive, the Fiction Writer's Workshop, and Romance Divas. I have met so many wonderful people since I joined them! I have been able to get back into writing again and found a great community to share the experience with. Not to mention just having a ton of great stuff to read and talk about! Thank you everyone.

4. Fluffy the cat. I'm sorry for the unfortunate circumstances that brought him into my home temporarily, but it's been great to see him come out of his shell and find his voice. He's definitely getting the hang of lazy weekend mornings sleeping in, and that's a great thing :)

5. Good friends. I've thoroughly enjoyed meeting new people, but there's nothing like the friendship of women I've grown up with. I'm glad you're still in my life.

6. My apartment. The housing market being what it is, I feel very lucky to have my apartment stay at a rate I can live with so I didn't have to move this year. I hate moving, and am very cozy in my little apartment. (Across the street from work - woohoo!)

7. My muse. I'm so glad it came back! Shame on me for letting it get away. Thank heavens it was willing to come back around once I decided to get off my butt and write again.

8. The new Star Trek Movie. I love movies, and it's been ages since a movie came out that I just had to see over and over again. Hurray for spending a summer at the movies again!.

9. iTunes. I feel sort of ridiculous saying this, but I'm really glad to have been forced to get used to iTunes. I finally feel free to just download the songs I want instead of the whole cd, and I've been able to find a bunch of new music I would never have risked in a store. I need new music almost as much as I need new books to read, and it's great to have a place to get a new bite if I need to.

10. My Blackberry. Hurray for getting email on my phone, and for Pandora radio and an ebook reader on my phone when I get to restaurant before my friends do, or just want to read in bed!

11. Studded tires. I would not have been able to buy Christmas presents for my family in time for the holiday last year, or even made it to Christmas breakfast at my mom's if I hadn't had studded tires on my car. Two solid weeks of snow and ice is more than I ever thought I'd see in the NW. I wasn't sure I'd ever use them again once I moved across the street from work, but got my money's worth out of them again last December.

12. Line dancing. Finally, something that'll get me out of the house on Friday night! I don't even know the names of all the dances I've learned, but I'm having a great time and learning more every week.

13. Elliptical machines in the workout room. They're my favorite cardio to do, and now that they're in the fitness room in my apartment complex I actually visit the place once in a while :)


Happy Thanksgiving and best wishes to all!!