:-(

Boo.  When I made the switch to my new domain name, I lost all of my comments... Comments make me happy... And now they are gone.  Oh well...  Not the end of the world, just a momentary unpleasantness.

We had a pretty decent weekend this past weekend...  Went shopping Saturday evening with my friend.  She definitely made up for not finding much when we went to the outlets.  She ended up getting a BIG bag of clothes.  I got a few more things - and then even more as I was waiting for her to try everything on... I couldn't help myself - I noticed a really cute shirt that I had somehow walked right past on my first round through the store.  Then we moved on to shoes - she got some ridiculously feisty red high heels.  I got much more pratical black patent leather Enzo Angiolini heels for work.  I think I scored the best price savings... My pretty new shoes (which are on my feet right now) were originally $186.  I got them for $30! With that kind of savings, I think I was obligated to buy them whether they were needed or not!! I love a good sale!!

Not much has really been going on - I spent most of Thursday and all of Friday curled up on my couch sick... At least I didn't get the stomach bug J had had earlier in the week...  I got low fever, double ear infections, a sore throat, and a killer headache though...  Fun fun.  We had spent all day (until we headed over to our friends' house to hang out and go shopping) Saturday lounging on the couch watching season 4 of Dexter.  Finally finished the season and am DYING for the new season to start up in a couple months!!

Other than that, just trying to keep cool - I am most decidedly not a hot weather person and summer finally decided to show up last week.  It's supposed to be cooler this week and I am hoping that actually happens...  I know, I know... It could be much worse - it could be even hotter, it could be humid... I've lived in hotter and I've lived in humid and I am definitely grateful not to be in that anymore...  I just think that since there is high premium paid to live in Southern California, it should be 72 and sunny with a light, cool breeze 365 days a year... Is that really too much to ask?

That just sparked a random tangent (mental garbage, right?) - I have a serious love/hate relationship with Southern California.  Don't get me wrong, if I have to live in California, I much prefer Orange County to LA or Riverside or something...  LA's too busy, too congested...  Riverside - too hot, too dusty... I like Orange County.  We have the beaches, the mountain, pretty weather most of the time...  But it's so damn expensive here! I know it's not as bad as, say, San Francisco or New York or something, but it's still crazy.  There is no way that my little 3 bedroom, 2 bath house (even though we have a big yard, which is rare in SoCal) should EVER be worth almost $75K more than my parent's gorgeous gigantor house in Texas.  (Seriously, the place is over 3 times the size of my house...)  And it's not just houses... Everything costs more.  Gas is probably around fifty cents to a dollar more...

My husband is a California boy - born and raised - and there is no way I could talk him into leaving here.  And when it comes down to it, most days I wouldn't want to leave either.  But every so often I look at listings in other states (Colorado is usually first on my list) and see what I could have for half the going rate of my home and it's crazy to me... 

Don't get me wrong - I am very grateful for what I have.  We own a home, it's big enough to get by, our yard is more than big enough to facilitate the expansion we would really prefer to do to get more space, we live in a safe area...  And it is 72 and sunny with a cool breeze for a large portion of the year....  So don't mind me...  Just venting....  I will go home tonight and kiss my husband and thank him again for being quick enough to jump on buying the house before the market went crazy and stretch out on my couch and be happy for the roof over our heads, food in the kitchen, jobs that provide enough money to pay for it all and still be able to go shopping with friends, and our ridiculously high-powered air conditioner that keeps me from ever feeling the heat unless I have to go somewhere...

And then I am grateful for the seat coolers in my car.  Seriously - that is one of the best inventions EVER.  Out of the way, sliced bread, no one cares about you when they have cool air blowin' on their butt to help keep them cooler on a hot summer day!