Getting settled & helpful Christmas party tips

I have now been in my house for a full week, and I am really enjoying it.  I love having my own place.  It feels like all of the stress, worrying, and headaches over the last few months have ultimately been worth it.

Slowly, I am finding places for things, and I am tarting to feel slightly more settled, too.  I managed to get numerous boxes of books unpacked and put away this weekend, and I even hung some of my art.

Art in the kitchen!

I have been enjoying my trails as well.  My "new" routes take me through a park that I previously only would run to on weekends, so I am getting to know this area better.  The run have been good, however Saturday's run was brutal.  7 degrees when I started out, wind chill of -5.  Yuck!  Winter begins!  But I managed 11 miles, so I will call that a small victory.

Oh, yeah, and I am still enjoying my kitchen very much...

Last week's sesame chicken stir-fry

Tomorrow is the annual Christmas party at work.  I anticipate it being a tame affair, as we are holding it at the office in the afternoon/early evening, and it is being catered by Buca di Beppo. 

Christmas parties do tend to create some memorable moments, however.  And every year, you read helpful news articles advising you of the "do's" and "do not's" of attending your work party.

Years ago at my very first real job in the mid '90's, they held our Christmas party at the Golden Valley Country Club.  The party had a DJ.

If you are familiar with the movie "Pulp Fiction" and its soundtrack, you are probably aware that the soundtrack contains excerpts of dialogue from the movie.  The very first track on the album is the profanity-laced scene where Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer are holding up the diner (there might have been a few "F-words" thrown in there, along with a promise to execute everyone in the diner).

The DJ actually played that track by accident when trying to cue up another song.  And this was during dinner when he was just playing Christmas music to set the mood, long before the dance started! 

I can't imagine a party in the banquet room at the Golden Valley Country Club has ever been rendered silent so quickly. The DJ turned absolutely white and looked like he wanted to die.  This was followed by the hushed murmur of appalled party guests.  I felt really bad for the guy.

On the other hand, I was like, "Hey, this is the 'Pulp Fiction' soundtrack!"  I knew exactly where the dialogue came from, so I am not sure what that says about me! :)  In any case, true story. 

So here is a Christmas party "do not" - make sure the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack is not included in your Christmas party playlist. ;-)

Moved!

I am moved!  My friends showed up with the big vehicles on Saturday morning, and everything is here.

Most of the move went well, and the only hiccup was trying to get my box spring to the upstairs bedroom, which required us to take the railing down in the stairwell.  But after a couple of nicks on the wall and some scraped plaster, things are no worse for wear.

The TV works.  Internet is on.  I'm good to go.  Just need to start putting things away!

And I am very excited about the place.  It is so quiet, much different than the apartment living that I have grown accustomed to with people clunking around above you or in the hallway.  I met one of my neighbors on Sunday as well.  Good guy, and he said there are lots of nice folks living here, so that is wonderful to hear.

The kitchen, as you might have guessed, is my favorite room.  I have so much counter space now, and there is an entire section of the counter that will serve as a pizza making station.  And everything is set up so you never have to move too far to grab something.  It's great.  Made my first batch of sourdough pizza dough in the new place this weekend, too.

My first batch of pizza dough in the new house, ready to rise!

Running has taken a bit of a back seat in the last week.  Don't get me wrong, I have still been running.  I just didn't do the weekend long run because I was a little sore and tired from hauling stuff.  I have to find some new running routes now.

But the good news is that I did not move far at all, so I will still be running on many of my same trails.  The routes will simply be reconfigured!  And I did discover some new trails yesterday, which I am excited about.  So this is going to be very good.

I leave you with a few more shots from around the place:

The wild colored half bath.  Looks like something from the set of "Moulin Rouge." :)

Living room

Another view of the living room

Master bath with double vanity and a strange person in my mirror... :)

View from my bedroom. I can see a long way!

Amazing. I already had some framed art that matches my wild colored bathroom!

My house, in the middle of my street, my house...

Just a quick post to let you know I successfully closed on my house this week!  What an ordeal.  I could bore you with the circus that transpired over the week of Thanksgiving, even up to the day before the closing, but I won't.  Let's just say I can't believe this actually happened, and I now have my very own house!

Here is a peek at the room I am most excited about, the kitchen.

Kitchen, sweet kitchen

A shot of my cool cabinets and custom counter tops

And, I actually made my first meal in the place last night.  Of course, it had to be a pizza!  I still need time to practice with my new oven.  The pizza could have used a couple more minutes to get a little more brown and crispy, but it sure tasted good after a day of hauling things!

A simple pepperoni and four cheese pizza.

Yours truly enjoying the aforementioned pizza!

I am still in the process of moving and hope to be settled my the weekend, at which point the posts should become more frequent.  I am so glad this process is over with, and I'm now officially excited about my house!

Much more to come...