Just a side note...

So this morning I had to get up at 6am. I woke Travis up a little later and he was like, "UGH! Why did you have to wake me up? I was having a really good dream."

I walked away to finish getting ready and I hear Travis talking... "I was hanging out with Heidi and Spencer and I was making fun of them soooo bad! We were going shopping or something and I just kept ripping on them..."

Really I was shocked. Travis hates The Hills. But I'm pretty sure after this incident that he secretly loves it.

I'm watching him sleep on the couch right now and can't help but wonder what is going on in that head. Maybe he and Lauren are having drinks at Les Deux...

Sorry Travis. You're too cute. XOXO

Happy Holidays

Although the "holidays" are pretty much over, it's still appropriate. New Years Eve is tomorrow night and for the sake of nice wishes it will count as a Holiday.

Luckily (and uninterestingly) this year was void of drama. My family life is relatively drama-free, with exceptions here and there, but last Christmas was kind of ridic. Let's just say a member of not my family (or Travis's) decided to indulge their addiction in a suburban bathroom thus somewhat making Christmas dinner awkward for everyone. Not to mention the not-my-Uncle who made my whole evening awkward and sort of helped ruin the Christmas experience.

This Christmas was easy. We spend the Eve at Travis's parents' house which always holds the promise of delicious food, cute kids, and smiling faces. We also went to Bert's annual record store Christmas party, which always holds the promise of good beer and tasty Italian food. Not to mention wonderful music purchases.

The ride to my parents' house was filled with my drunken Christmas caroling and Travis joining in on the choruses. We did almost hit a deer (I think) but made it home safely. My Egyptian dad Zaki was waiting for me with open arms. My Dad was waiting for me with an open beer. They know me so well!

Christmas Day was business as usual. Opening wonderful gifts, including an iPod Touch from Travis to me. Besides my insanely luxorious new mattress that came from my parents, the Touch was my favorite present. Today when I got home from work I took an extra long nap in my bed then woke up and browsed Etsy on my iPod. Ahhh heaven.

I've been so tired lately. I feel like when I get a day off all I want to do is sleep. Luckily I have a new mattress and fabulous bed frame to indulge my greatest pleasure.

I have some cute pictures to randomly show you. My sister's pup Dolce just turned one and had a fabulous birthday party. All of her little dog friends came and they ate a special doggy carrot cake.

Dolce as a little foxy baby stealing treats

She's all grown up next her her little cake!

Stanley and Dolce are dating. She like to hump him and Stanley doesn't mind at all!

So tomorrow might actually be the best New Year's Eve I've ever had. I don't want to put too much pressure on it, but I'm pretty sure it can't fail. Travis and I are going to my friends Kim and Steve's apartment in Old City for dinner and drinking. AND my fav boss ever Lou (and I'm not just saying that because I know she's going to read this!) and her husband will be there. Plus maybe some others! I just know that I will not be in a shitty club, overcrowded bar, or feeling claustrophobic in Times Square. And I will sleep in my own amazing bed. Maybe I should think of a New Year's resolution... like running two miles a day. How long do you think that would last? haha I'll start taking bets.

Rude awakenings

When I tell people that I live in an old factory that has been converted into a loft they think it's pretty cool. I thought it was cool until like the 3rd day. It's a huge space in a pretty nice neighborhood. Travis and I thought it was exactly what we were looking for. I still think Travis feels pretty good about it, but I am much more sensitive than he is. I hate hearing other people's noises (unless it's some sort of crazy, juicy conversation), smelling other people's smells, and dealing with other people's laziness (read: messes left in public places). I know this is all part of the apartment living experience, but in my last dwelling all of the people living in my "building" (a house converted into 3 apartments) were awesome.

I bring this up because I really hate my building this morning. I didn't go to bed until 2am. I had worked a late shift at the Retail Job, and I wasn't exactly tired when I came home. I didn't expect to be woken up at 8am by hammers and saws and workmen talking. But it happened. The apartment next to mine has been vacant for a while, so I guess they decided to move the door from one end of the apartment to the other (Travis later talked to the men and they're converting the apartment to a two bedroom). So instead of having my nice little lonely door at the end of the hall where I never have to talk to anyone and can just sneak in quickly before having to make conversation, I now have a door about 1 foot away from mine. So you can imagine the noise. My loft has 14 ft ceilings and no substantial furniture to absorb sound. Every little thing echos. So I had a nice time listening to echoing hammers and saws and the freight elevator going up and down.

Somehow I went back to sleep! I amazed myself. I must've been exhausted.

Well I was sleeping soundly until Stanley made a sneak attack on Miso, who had decided to cuddle with Travis at the computer desk. That woke me up, but I went back to sleep. Some Travis noises (computer, walking, shower, quiet music, etc.) made me stir, but I managed to sleep.

That is until I was abruptly woken up by the musical stylings of Bobby Vinton. WHAT?! At first I thought it was some cheesey old Christmas music, but then I listened a little harder. It was so loud and strange, so I just thought it was coming from the construction workers. I mean that would be weird, but whatever. And then I realized it was actually coming from my really strange upstairs neighbors. Oh boy.

I haven't had much luck with upstairs neighbors in this building. The first set decided it was cool if their dog peed all over their apartment, and it was even cooler that the pee dripped through their floor and into my apartment (no insulation or anything between their floor and my ceiling. Just wood floor boards and wood ceiling beams). They also thought it would be cool to blast kind of shitty R&B from 11pm to 3am. Whatever. They left at the end of July and we were ecstatic.

In comparison our new neighbors are great. They are pretty quiet most of the time. Their dog doesn't pee everywhere. But they listen to the most awful music. And they sing along. AND THEY CAN'T SING. Most of us can't, but I don't think most people crank up the Bobby Vinton at 10am on a Friday and really belt it out. Both the guy and the girl are equally awful singers and sing equally loud. Usually not together though (thank goodness). Now it only lasted about two hours, but still. Imagine living in a place where the music of your neighbors sounds like it's coming from your own stereo. And getting their lovely sing-a-long redition of top of it.

To add to their weirdness... Travis thinks that they are into acting. When he's working from home they like run lines and stuff. They also sing sans music, and then I kind of wish I were deaf. They also have these parties (I think it's a party) like once a month where a bunch of people come over, stay for an hour, leave for about 2 hours, and then come back for one or two more hours. And the whole time it sounds like they are walking around. I can hear them talk, but more than anything I can hear all of their footsteps. And it doesn't stop the whole time they're up there. What kind of party is this? Have you ever been to a party where you just walked around the whole time? I'm so confused.

But I really don't want to complain about them. I could still be living under the crazy lesbians with two bad dogs and a penchant for shitty R&B and using their crazy karate muscles to intimidate me.

Anyway. Here are some pictures of my loft because I forgot to post them before. It's so cute. I just wish I didn't have neighbors. And they put more money into nice fixtures.

Busy Beez.

Oh goodness. Things have been hectic again. A combination of work, home duties, and a new dog have totally wiped me out. Lately I've been feeling like I'm working every minute of the day. Although you probably couldn't tell yesterday as I decided to spend most of the day in bed. It was a treat I definitely earned.

Oh so yes. Travis and I adopted a pup a few weeks ago. His name is Stanley and he's a crazy bundle of energy. He'll be 3 years old in April. We think that he's a French Bulldog/Staffordshire Bull Terrier mix. But who really knows! He's cute either way.

That's him sleeping in Miso's chair. Lately the cats have been hanging out on top of the kitchen cabinets. They seem pretty happy up there, but I miss seeing them run around. I guess eventually everyone will get along ok and they can resume their romping. Miso and Nori actually kind of cuddle together. I guess Miso realized that Nori was the lesser of two evils and could tolerate her attention.

The recent cold weather has also kept me from doing anything too exciting. If I can walk there in 10 minutes, or if I can be driven there I will do it. Otherwise I've been pretty reluctant to go out. I really should be using all of this inside time for productive things, but old habits die hard.

Obviously things have been pretty boring around here. Maybe something more exciting will happen next week!