It all started with a tweet. Then there was a blog post. I left a comment that basically said, “I’d like to, but I’m a wimp when it comes to meeting people so I’ll pass.” Adam emailed me to say that I should come. So, I bit the bullet and said I’d be there.

It was fun – once I got past the room-spinning, heart beating in my throat feeling. Bloggers are nice people. Also, bloggers don’t think it’s rude if you whip out your cell phone to tweet. I checked Twitter and followed my new friends, but actually didn’t tweet while I was out.

We had dinner at Yolo’s at Planet Hollywood to celebrate Red Lotus Mama’s 30-something birthday. I met her, Lexi and Marco, Countess Mo, Sarahndipitea, and the famous Avitable. There were other people there – I didn’t get all their names or Twitter handles, but they were all really nice.

After dinner, we went to Avitable’s suite for cupcakes. It was a birthday, and the rules say there must be cake of some sort. Countess Mo came with me since she could get me into the rooms area, which was really nice because I would never have found it on my own. We piled into the room, where everyone sat around eating cupcakes, drinking, chatting, and of course tweeting.

I was worried that people would think I wasn’t having fun, but really, I was. I’m not the most social creature when you meet me in person, so I’m usually content to spend my time listening to everyone else’s conversations. If it’s one on one, I do a lot better conversationally. I did have fun – this was my first time meeting other bloggers, people who get it when it comes to putting your life on the internet, and I enjoyed it. I’d like to meet more bloggers next time they’re in town.

And now, some pictures:

Me & Red Lotus Mama – the birthday girl

Me & Countess Mo

Me & Avitable

Yesterday I went shopping at Tarjay, and some of the new fall decor is out. This is the time of year that always gets me down the most. Being from New England, I am used to fall – it signals new and fresh and cozy more than spring does. It’s the end of summer, the end of don’t-touch-me-it’s-too-hot weather, back to school, new clothes, new haircuts, new everything. The leaves turn from green to all sorts of reds, oranges, and yellows, and there’s a crisp smell in the air. Shorts and bathing suits get packed up in favor of sweaters. I love sweaters. Apple picking, pumpkin carving, baking all sorts of goodies (now that it’s cool enough to actually turn the oven on), even having a fire in the fireplace.

Living in Vegas, I cannot partake in any of these fall rituals. The fall season in Vegas exists only because the calendar says it’s so. September still sees temperatures into the hundreds. Air conditioning is still a necessity well into October. Sweaters are only worn in homes, stores, and offices where the a/c is set too cold. A quart of ice cream has no hope of getting home alive, unless you bring a cooler and buy ice at the store. Baking is still a dream, as is grilling, because it’s too hot outside to stand over hot coals. At night, we’re lucky if temps fall into the upper 70s. *sigh*

I miss New England weather more and more every year. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, they say. I have to keep reminding myself that I moved here after one of the coldest, snowiest winters on record. I have to keep reminding myself that I couldn’t get the temp in my condo above 60 if the temps outside dropped below 20. I have to keep reminding myself that I was cleaning an inch or two of snow off my car every single day. That kind of weather really wears on you. But so does the heat. I can always put on another sweater or some gloves and sip some hot cocoa. There’s only so much clothing I can take off, especially in public. I just don’t have the body for that kind of exposure.

My craving for a real New England fall will be satisfied for a week next month. When I return, I will be filled with visions of decorating for the fall. Setting out decorative items in all sorts of reds, oranges, and rust colors. Pumpkins and leafy knicknacks. A clear, pumpkin shaped jar filled with candy corn. But it doesn’t seem right. It doesn’t fit here in Vegas. The desert can appear to be the same colors as a New England fall, but it’s not the same. It lacks something when one attempts to recreate the feeling here. It’s just not . . . cozy. It’s not the same walking into a house all dressed up for fall when outside still smells like stale summer, not crisp leaves and that cool nip in the air. It needs to be cozy.

Mister and I both agree that we need to move out of Vegas, and we will, when the time is right. Bigger forces keep us here – for now.

Everyone talks about being “green” these days and what we can do to help save the planet. I saw some great suggestions on Blissfully Domestic, but there are a number of reasons why I can’t follow these particular suggestions. Here are the suggestions, followed by my comments (in italics).

1. Plant a garden. The average American meal travels about 1500 miles to get to your table. You will cut out a lot of carbon by growing some of your own food. It will also be fresher and better for you and your wallet. I live in the desert. My backyard “landscaping” as installed by the builder is a bunch of rocks – not even a variety of different rocks. All the same rocks. Oh, and the HOA won’t allow water features or irrigation to be installed.

2. Get a rain barrel. Rain barrels save water that runs off you of roof so that you can use it to water your plants. I could put a barrel in the yard, but it would be filled with dust. And cobwebs. That’s how often it rains here.

3. When spring cleaning use natural cleaning products or better yet make your own! I spotted a bottle of Simple Green under the sink the other day. I’ll have to use some of that. But mostly, to avoid using harsh chemicals when cleaning, I just avoid cleaning.

4. When planting flowers go with native plants. They will do better in your climate. Native plants here are sagebrush, which isn’t much to look at and turns into tumbleweed when it doesn’t rain for a year. I’ll stick with the all rock look, thanks.

5. When feeding your native plants and food garden use TerraCycle’s plant food. It’s all natural and will help your plants thrive. No need to feed tumbleweed. It does just fine on its own.

6. To keep bugs away from your other plants, plant marigolds. See above comments about plants. As for bugs, there’s just a few spiders in the backyard. And one out front by my garage.

7. Spring is a wonderful time to check the farmers markets in your area. You will not only get wonderful fresh local food, you will also be helping to support your local farmers. If there are farmers markets in the area, they won’t be local. Everything will be shipped in from California, just like at the grocery store.

8. To keep your family safe from bug bites use EcoSMART’s organic bug spray. I just avoid the resident spiders, because they can kill.

9. EcoSMART also sells bug sprays to spray around your home to keep the bugs out of your house. I don’t have bugs in the house, but sweeping and vacuuming from time to time helps keep them away.

10. With the weather getting better ditch your car and walk when you can. You will not only reduce your impact but get some good exercise. The good weather came and went. That lasts about 2 weeks here. It’s now summer. Yes, I’d lose weight if I walked, but I’d also be so sweaty and stinky they’d ban me from the office.

Sure, my answers might seem like they are in jest, but there are a lot of suggestions out there that just can’t work for everyone. I would love to plant my own garden or even just be able to shop at a farmers market with real local produce. Back where I grew up, there were farm stands all over the place that people flocked to like flies on poo when anything was in season. I also went to high school in a town that was known for the apple orchards. But that stuff just doesn’t grow with no rain, water restrictions and 110 degree heat (45C to those of you who prefer Celcius).

I also don’t like harsh chemicals. I don’t like things to smell like chemicals, and my hands crack and dry from mild hand soap, so it’s not too great on my skin either. My house *is* clean, though not always as clean as I’d like it to be because I’m busy and don’t always have time for that. But I don’t go for chemically sanitary.

And the car. Everyone has to talk about the car. Take the bus instead, they say. Sure, I wish I could spend less on fuel. Who doesn’t? But I go through about 1 tank of gas about every 2 weeks in my compact car. I drive back and forth to work, go to church, and to Target every few weeks. I grocery shop on my way home from work, at a place that is on the way home. And while my husband has a big old truck, we almost never drive it, because he’s not going out during the day when I’m at work. At most, he has to go out maybe once or twice a week, but that doesn’t happen every week. If he hasn’t been out in awhile, we will take the truck out to ensure that it still runs after sitting out in the blazing hot sun. But there’s another side to this story – while the truck isn’t fuel efficient by any means, it’s cheap. It’s paid for and is in decent shape. It has high mileage but keeps going just fine with routine maintenance, which doesn’t cost any more than my car. But why don’t I take the bus instead? Because it would take me over an hour to get to work, when I can drive there in 10-15 minutes. My time is more valuable than the money I would save on gas or the feel-good feeling I would get by not driving. I would have to leave the house before 6am in order to make it to work on time, instead of 6:45 like now. I wouldn’t get home until 5:30-6pm, and that doesn’t include any shopping I need to do. Today I did grocery shopping and was still home by 5:30. Oh, and in this weather, I’d shower a lot more and have way more laundry to do. In this parched landscape that I live in, it’s not worth it. I choose being frugal over being green here.

So I will continue to drive to work, look at the boring rocks in my backyard, avoid cleaning my house, and staying away from spiders, all in my effort to help save the planet.

I’m not going to do a New Year’s post.  I pretty much posted all that stuff with my Great Christmas Post of 2008, so no need for a duplicate post. Instead, I’m going to post a few pictures from around the house, since the last time anyone saw any pics of my house, we hadn’t moved in yet.

This is the space between our windows in the living room. That’s right, Mommy, we do indeed have 2 windows in the living room, hence the need for 2 SETS of panels. I had the prints that I picked up years ago with some old-fashioned postcard images, and they go pretty good here, don’t you think?

We had this mirror, which was hung vertically in the hallway at the old apartment. We haven’t been able to find a suitable place for it in our new home, until Mister and I both had a brainstorm at practically the same time. We hung it horizontally over the front door to create a transom window effect. Bonus: it reflects the light from that fixture back into the room.

This corner area by the stairs looked empty until we found the perfect piece to put here. A dried floral arrangement and hanging candle holder make an elegant vignette. For Christmas decorating, I removed the candle from the holder and filled the glass about halfway with small red and gold baubles.

I’ve always wanted to make my own Christmas cards, and this year I had a much larger card list than in years past. So, I decided to go for it. With the quantity that I had to send out, I picked out 4 stamps and set about making my cards, assembly-line style. Thanks to my huge lack of knowledge regarding stamping ink, I picked something that just never really seemed to dry, and some of the cards got smudged and left impressions from the wet ink. Still, I forged on and ended up with these cards that people seemed to love. I had fun making the cards, but I don’t think I’ll be doing it again because I don’t have copious amounts of time on my hands to try and figure this stuff out.

Remember the holiday meme I did last year? If you go down to Item #23, I mention my favorite ornament. This is the ornament. And guess what? My mommy sent it to me! It’s mine now, all mine! Thank you Mommy!

When Mister and I were in New England last fall, we spent a bit of time in downtown Newburyport, MA. Fall was in full swing, and as we were walking along doing some window shopping after dinner one night, we happened upon this scarecrow. How fitting for a town with such a deep maritime history!

Mister and had a late lunch today, and as we were eating a number of LVMPD’s traffic officers came in to eat. We saw their bikes lined up in the parking lot as we were leaving and thought it would make a good picture. It would have been a better picture with a real camera, not a cell phone. Anyway, these guys will have a very busy night ahead of them keeping the streets safe for everyone tonite!

So there you have it, some pictures that have been sitting on my camera for awhile. Enjoy, and have a very Happy New Year!

Another bank is under.  Living in Las Vegas, the results of the banking/mortgage crisis are everywhere.  There are lots of homes for sale and not enough buyers.  A lot of these homes are foreclosures.  When Mister and I were looking to buy a home, we looked at some foreclosures but ended up buying new.  We figured that the lower price on a foreclosure wasn’t low enough to make up for all the repairs we’d have to do.  A lot of the homes were nowhere near move-in ready.  We have a newly built home, and while there is some work we want to do to make it ours, everything’s in good working order and we didn’t have to fix anything to move in.  As time goes on and the economic situation in this country plays out, Mister and I are more and more convinced that we bought at just the right time.

We were able to get down payment assistance from the Nehemiah program, which is a federally funded down payment program.  We didn’t even know about it, but the seller’s agent told us about it and it was a great thing for us.  Sadly, it will cease to exist at the end of this month.  That I don’t understand – there are thousands upon thousands of houses sitting vacant, and the federal goverment is taking away the tools to help people become homeowners.  While sale prices have dropped a bit in our community, we’re still happy with our purchase.  We couldn’t have timed it better.

Back to the banking.  I used to have my accounts with WaMu.  I was planning on changing after Mister and I got married, and started hearing about all the losses that WaMu was posting.  Mister banks with a much higher rated bank – one that’s more stable because it’s more conservative in its lending.  I closed all my old accounts about a month ago.  Due to FDIC insurance, I wouldn’t have had anything to worry about, but the involuntary changeover of all sorts of things – direct debits, direct deposits, getting new bankcards and checks, etc – is a huge hassle.  It’s one thing when, like me, you choose to change banks for other reasons, but despite the “seamless” transition that the FDIC mandates, these people will still be inconvenienced in some way.

As everyone is reading in the news, this isn’t over.  I could go on and on about it, but I’d only be another voice in the sea of people who have something to say about it.  I’ve only written about it as it applies to my life.  Mister and I have secure jobs, a home that we didn’t pay too much for, and we’re happy.   No matter what happens, we still have each other, and that’s all that matters to me.