House Decor

Having a new house is exciting. Decorating a new house is exciting and daunting, if you're a girl, boys, however, don't seem to be affected by this. When you move from a 2 bedroom apartment to a 2300 square foot house, you run out of furniture and decor very quickly. And I unfortunately have a phobia of empty walls. I'm finding this to be an expensive phobia.

My boss, wise as she is, gave me some good advice about buying wall art. "Buy what you like, THEN figure out where you're going to put it. You'll eventually find you've covered your house in pieces you love without ever really planning it." Granted she has a collection of real art and I have a hodge podge of art and little things I made myself, but the idea is still the same.

One thing that I like that will eventually end up in my house, is from this site:

I love these!! And I can pick any color to match any room and they're really reasonably priced. I'm super excited. I've decided I want to get the "Oh Happy Day" poster. I have mixed feelings on the cutesy boards/decals that people get for their wedding date. You know, the "Established on Jan 1, 2010" in pretty letters over their last name. I like the concept but felt like it was starting to get cliche and I hate cliche. Another [expensive] phobia of mine. But I love the poster on this site. So be looking for it on my wall in the near future, or at least propped up against a potential wall until I decide where it should go....

Sweeps Week

When did I become this person? I used to follow 2, maybe 3, television shows. Now I need a schedule for premier week and I don't even have cable or a DVR. It simplify things a little that our digital tuner doesn't pick up NBC [necessitating frequent use of Hulu]. It does, however, get an evangelical channel, 4 Spanish channels and doubles of the CW and CBS.

The following are my contenders for the fall season. 

New shows I'm interested in:

Hawaii Five-0- The production value alone on this show looks pretty impressive. And I like Scott Caan and Jin from LOST and I have no competing shows for the 10:00 time slot on Monday nights. I'll at least watch the pilot.

My Generation- Ya know what's depressing, this show could be about me. It's about people that graduated high school in the year 2000 and picking up their stories in present day. This is a huge check in the column of life signs that I am getting older.

Running Wilde- Love Will Arnett. Love Felicity. This could potentially be awesome. 

Outsourced- Slightly interested. Again, I don't get NBC so this would take extra effort to watch it online.

Shows I've watched in the past but am I'm not entirely on board for this season:

The Biggest Loser- Reality shows run their course about 5 seasons before they actually get canceled. This one might be one of them. Plus, I'm getting tired of crying every week.

Parenthood- Watched most of last season but tampered off towards the end. I don't know what happened at the finale so I'm not as hooked to start up on it this season. And, I don't have NBC.

Grey's Anatomy- While I'm glad Izzy is finally gone, I spent the entire season finale from last year saying "Seriously?" over and over. If that wasn't a jump the shark season finale, I don't know what is. I've watched almost the entire series of this one but it's getting a little tired and stale.

Favorites that will remain as my must-see TV:

Bones- Formula crime dramas are as common as Silly Bands these days but Bones will always stand out as superior to them all, in my opinion. I sense that the series is starting to run a little dry but it still delivers plenty of intrigue and dark laughs.

How I Met Your Mother- Love it. Will watch until the very end.

Fringe- Fan-freakin-tastic. We were late to the game on this one and have been watching the past seasons on Netflix. Unfortunately, the most recent season (#2) was JUST released. We are catching up but will try to jump into this season as soon as we can.

Modern Family- Truly deserving of it's Emmy. I will be sticking around to see if Season 2 delivers.

Glee- Since FOX is one of the only stations that has reruns over the summer instead of creating short seasons of really lame dramas, I was able to catch up on Season 1 of Glee. I absolutely love it. Jericho even likes it [his favorite character is Sue Silvester].

Dancing with the Stars- I almost put this in the "maybe" category but it's the final season and lest we forget, David Hasselhoff is among the "stars". How can you pass up The Hoff?

The Office- This was also a tough call, mainly because once I start watching Fringe, there will be a conflict. And, I'll be honest, I'm starting to lose interest.

So what do we think? Am I missing any? Any I should absolutely take off my list and simplify my life? What shows are you looking forward to this season?

Mental Freedom

I love the beach. Not just "I love vacations and relaxing and getting a tan." I love, love, LOVE the beach. I love the ocean. I love the wind and the smells and the food and the warmth. I often fantasize about having a boat or a beach house and finding some cheesy name for it. Like "Island Fantaseas" or "Waves of my heart".

I could live at the beach. I know a lot of people say that but I really think I could.  A slower paced lifestyle is in my nature. No big cities or hustle and bustle. Living a life that allows life to happen instead of being worked away. 

This weekend, I spend four great days with my family at Carolina Beach. I spent a morning on the oceanfront porch, book in hand, yogurt and muesli breakfast and a bottle of water, knowing that I could spend many, many days of my life doing that very thing. Perhaps one day the reading would instead be writing. Or editing pictures. Or talking to my husband and kids.

everyone's happier at the beach. it just happens that way

Life is too complicated. There are too many lists. Too many emails. Too many definitions of success. Too many electronics for when we get tired of thinking for ourselves. Life is meant to be absorbed, not washed quickly away and merely tolerated.

My first day back at work and in front of a computer after four days at the beach, my mind became instantly foggy, like I'd just woken up from a too-long nap. Never really focusing on anything and definitely not really caring about anything. And for what? A job? A paycheck? Being a productive member of society? Maybe it is all relative. Maybe appreciating the dynamic sensory experience of something like the ocean goes away if you live in it long enough. Maybe your senses become dull and in turn yearn for meetings and to-do lists and complicated schedules. Maybe. I'm sure happy to test that theory.