Getting ready to go to work... I am excited because I don't have any Saturdays scheduled yet this month, and the schedule is out until April 18th. :D I love weekends. Been thinking about a lot of different stuff lately... don't really have time to write a lot, plus I kind of want to get some thoughts together before I just start rambling.... life is good though, don't get me wrong.

Taxes and this weekend

We finally got our tax return- being a first time home buyer paid off this year- we got the additional homer buyer's stimulus with our tax return! Which is exactly what we needed. At first we were talking about redoing our kitchen with the money, and then we agreed that we have a few debts we need paid off before we go about spending a bunch of money making our dream kitchen. So we sent a bunch of money at bills and other debts. Mike is hoping to get his motorcycle soon- he has been talking and dreaming about it a lot lately. He has been wanting a motorcycle since he was sixteen- well, before that really, but realistically he has been thinking about getting one for a while. We have been talking about babies lately- when are we going to start trying, you know- and we did come to the agreement that he gets a motorcycle before we start trying. As silly as it sounds, it makes sense- he doesn't want to start the parent thing, and then have all these excuses as to why we shouldn't spend the money on a motorcycle for him. Kids are expensive, and we both know we would be putting their needs first, of course, so I am totally ok with letting Mike spend the money on a motorcycle now (as long as we have the money!) so that we don't put it last later on down the line. 

Here is Mike sitting on the one he wants at the Harley shop.

The trick now is getting him back to work- we have the money thing worked out perfec

tly after the tax return- but only if he goes back to work. If not, his bike money we have set aside, unfortunately, will probably need to pay the bills this month. We both have our fingers crossed that he will be going back to work soon- he has been onshore for 7 weeks now, exactly as long as we have had our house. 

We had a good weekend this last weekend. Saturday was spent grocery shopping, watching movies, cleaning... We bought Twilight, even though I have already seen it, I wanted to watch it again. So Mike was sweet and watched it with me. Then I cleaned the house, which was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. It had been almost 2 weeks since I had cleaned. After that Mike and I watched another movie, called Role Models. It was pretty funny. After that we went to meet up with our friend Matt and played some pool. Then we went to meet with some other friends, a girl I work with named Samantha and her boyfriend Neal and played pool with them. It was a fun day. Yesterday we went to the tattoo shop that Josh has been apprenticing at- he finally got to do his first "professional" tattoo at the shop, and Mike got to be his guinea pig. Josh has been drawing a lot and he got to try tattooing on grapefruits, but this was the first time they let him use the tattoo gun on a person : )

Mike got two coi on his calf, together like a pisces symbol. Josh put some shading on it too but I didn't get a good picture of it. 

I also got my tragus pierced while we were there, and bought some rings for the other ear piercing that I have. 

Before we went to the tattoo shop, I mowed the lawn. I wanted to post some pics of our yard, because we have been slowly but steadily making improvements to it. We planted some geraniums in front of the mailbox after the tulips died, and last week when Mike mowed the lawn he put down some southern lawn weed and feed, so our grass is getting a little greener and a little less weedier. 

About a month ago, Mike planted a little garden- tomatoes in the back, and in the front there is mint, rosemary, cilantro, lavender, and basil. We had some gnarly rain last week, and it really helped our little garden grow! Soon I will be cutting some of the herbs and drying them. And hopefully our little tomato plant gives us some fruit : )

So that's about it for now. Figured I'd update and put some pics up. Things are going pretty good, so not much else to say for now : D

The last few weeks

Been a busy few weeks! I went to Oregon to visit my parents from February 15th-20th. That was fun- actually, relaxing is a better word for it. I slept a lot, and didn't do a whole lot else. We went in to Portland once to go to Powell's book store, and met up with my friend Sarah. And my mom and I went into Tillamook one day to the cheese factory. And we went to Seaside once to see the movie "Slumdog Millionaire." Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera, so no pics to post from that trip : (

After we came back it was Mike's b-day, and some Mardi Gras celebrations! I bought Mike some tulips for his b-day and planted them by our mailbox.

We went out a few times with some friends that week, for Mardi Gras and such- I lucked out and my scheduled day off from work that week was Fat Tuesday, so we went to the parades that day and had lots of fun. 

Here is a picture we took at a friends house before after one of the parades. It's of me and my "roomies": Me, Mike, Josh, Dan, and Doug. This is who officially lives at our house. Of course, we also have two couches that are often slept on, currently by our friends Dustin and Marco. But this picture shows the official crew that lives at 122 Downing.

Mike went to a Flogging Molly concert last night. I am a little jealous- I was invited to go, but can't afford to miss any more work right now, and the concert started at 7 last night (I get off work at 9:15). He is still sleeping this morning, the concert was in New Orleans, so he didn't get home until about 4 AM . I think I am about to get off the computer and go make some breakfast though, I am hungry!