Was it worth it?

A couple stories of Thanksgiving-time/Black Friday craziness...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/business/29walmart.html?bl&ex=1228107600&en=95e0984e8f92cc7c&ei=5087%0A
Was it worth it to get your $30 digital picture frame, or whatever the big deal this year was? Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the Black Friday shopping - you can definitely find good deals. But I don't know that it's ever worth someone's life. I think the most outrageous part of this whole story is the comments made by shoppers as they left the store. "I've been in line since yesterday morning." First of all, that's nuts. At least enjoy your Thanksgiving. Second, a man died. Let's show a little class.

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/316235
Yes, this happened at the Pier 1 store I worked at. I was "on-call" to work that night, and Thank God I wasn't called in to work. While I don't know specifics on what this was "worth" to the man who did it, let's just say, I'm quite positive it wasn't financially worth it.

Hope your Thanksgiving was restful, and relatively uneventful. But let me know if you got any good deals/finds on your shopping trips!

A big thing happened this weekend....

I went to the library, got a new library card, and even checked two books out.

So you're saying to yourself, what's the big thing that happened this weekend Katrina?

If you've ever visited my place in person, you've likely seen something like this:

(that picture doesn't really do it justice...)

Let's just say I have this thing about buying books and making them my own. In the spirit of putting myself on a bit of a budget, I decided that the book buying fund was one that could get cut. At least until I read all of those sitting double-stacked on those shelves. Until then, to the library I go when I need that "new book" fix!

Hey E - see that black box on the low shelf?! ;)

Can you help a girl out?

I've been given the task/honor/job of hosting Thanksgiving Day appetizers next week (it's coming so fast!), mostly because the family that is coming to town wants to see my new place. Let's just say I have a lot to get done in the next 9 days (cleaning and unpacking in addition to a lot going on at work!), and I'm not much of a cook. Does anyone have any good/easy/ delicious/impressive recipes I could try??? Help me out if you have anything! If I get any recommendations, I promise there will be pictures and a story of the whole process - it should be entertaining! Thanks in advance!

Refrigerator Love

I realize it seems strange that 1) I'm taking pictures of my refrigerator, and 2) that I'm posting them on the blog. But what I see there has made me smile more and more by the day lately.

Those 5 cards you see there are from some pretty special people in my life, and three of them have been added in just the last two days! One is from grandma, one is from Nicole (my best friend in Madison whose made an appearance or two on the blog in both name and picture), one is from Kellie (mentioned in the last post!), and two are from Erin (one of my sisters from Sheboygan who is missed a ton and who deserves a shout-out on the blog because she's a fairly consistent commenter here on FF&TNP). Thanks for the mail girls! Anymore that comes will definitely find a place up there!

(Notice the two other little fun things - a penguin gel-cling thing that T (my "little sister" in Sheboygan will be getting in the mail soon herself) and the Badger Basketball schedule!)

One other note on the lame/strange picture... you know every blog post that has a picture automatically gets a little better than one that doesn't!

Met Baby Langdon

Tonight I spent about an hour over at Kellie and Nate's meeting the first baby to be born to my high school circle of friends. It's always nice to hold a tiny baby (6 days old in this case!), but it was just as nice to be able to catch up with his parents. First off the baby details - Langdon Joseph was born last Monday morning, close to 8 pounds, and perfect in every way. Mom's doing great, even to the point of having him out and about a little. He even went to his first Packer Party today, and saw a good win!

I feel bad saying this, and it isn't meant to take anything away from the miracle that is the baby, but I almost needed the time to catch up with Kellie and Nate more than to see Langdon. Is that completely selfish of me?

Kellie and Nate, despite the fact that I don't see them all that often, are fabulous friends. They know what's going on in your life, and remember and think to ask questions about how specific things are going. They're genuinely interested, and can balance their 6 day old child with caring about friends. It was great to see the cool things happening in their life with their beautiful baby, and really good to have them as friends in my own life.

83 cents of bliss

It's about the little things lately. Slippers, just sitting down on the couch, my fabulous gas fireplace that lights up with a fun little sound the moment I flip the switch, and....

Genuine Diet Faygo Redpop! This little grocery store find has made my night the last few days. It's the little things.

Operation Condo Update

Closing on the condo was October 14th. Today is November 8. Here's the progress that has been made!

Living and Dining room (also where most of the unpacking is happening!)

Green kitchen - I love it! My mom and I found the square art over the sink (that you can't see) today on our marathon shopping trip down in Schaumburg, and I LOVE it in this spot. I'm not sure that the picture does it justice, but it completely ties in the vases and fun colored plates above the cabinets.

Hallway to the bedrooms, just wanted a picture of the fun rug we got at Ikea today.

Spare bedroom - there's a place just waiting for you all to come visit! The room is painted pink and gray, and just feels pretty glam. Still a lot of unpacking to do here, but I love how fun it looks.

My bedroom! So happy to have my own bed again! And the black wrought iron against the blue works.

I'm definitely excited about the whole condo thing, and having a place of my own. But I'm having some mixed emotions about the whole doing it on my own part. I've prided myself on being on my own, and being able to handle things without help (i.e. a man!), and there are days where it's easy to remember that and be ok with it. And there are days where it's so hard. The days when I moved boxes in on my own, making 10 trips down to my car, without someone to help hold the door, or another set of hands to help carry the awkward stuff. Yesterday was one of those days. Today has been better, and I'm thankful that I can lay on my couch, watching trashy tv, having popcorn that I don't have to share!

VOTE
tomorrow (if you haven't already)!

I definitely have my own (strong) political opinions, but I feel even more strongly about exercising my right to vote. Your vote counts. It matters. Get informed. It is your responsibility. Stand in line as long as it takes. Make sure your voice is heard. Get out and vote!