Smells like home?

So, we've had some pretty funny smells in our house lately... I think we forgot to run the disposal or something so it got a little rank. Anyway, I bought some refills for our air fresheners (the plug kind) at the store last night. I know Shane wouldn't like it if I bought any fragrance that looked pink or smelled like flowers, so I settled for one call Fresh Rain (which is clear).

I plugged them in and went about my business. Then, whenever I got a good whiff of it, I got this strange feeling like I was somewhere else. Finally, I stopped right by one of them, closed my eyes, and sat there until I figured it out...my mom uses the exact same air fresheners. It was a nice little moment of nostalgia (and a little sad moment of missing my parents' house). With my eyes closed, it was almost like I was back there, sitting in the basement. (On a random side note, my parents house smelled nothing like this when I was there last thanks to the stain and lacquer). It was nice coming home (to my home) today after work and having it smell like home...

Similarly, whenever I wash my hands with the cocoa butter soap we currently have in my bathroom, I'm transported back to the bathroom in our apartment in Baltimore. Even though we only lived there for a few months, that must have been the first time I'd used that kind of soap so it will forever be the smell of our Baltimore bathroom.

Maybe I'm strange, but my mind (and my memory) apparently pay extra attention to smells. Anyway, I guess that's enough of my very random post about smells. Really, I didn't think anyone would really be interested, but I've been thinking about it all day today. Enough of my randomness...

Hello from (almost) Mexico...and other random updates

I'm in a hotel in Sierra Vista, AZ... I drove for a little over 3 hours last night to get here. I think if I drove straight south of Tucson (instead of the southeastern direction I did travel), I would've ended up in Mexico, but I'm not quite there yet. Apparently the elevation here is almost 4000 feet so the high today was only 87 degrees!

This trip marks the beginning of my travel-full (I know, not a word) busy season. I'll be home for two weeks and then I'm off to Vegas for 4 weeks. Shane might be have to find another hobby to get him through this year's busy season...maybe more seeds.

Anyway, my post about bus rides seemed to entertain some of you. I'm happy to announce that my week of bus rides went so well, it turned into two weeks of bus rides! I'll be back in Phoenix on Tuesday night so I'll be riding the bus the rest of this week too. It's really such a great deal...I don't have to drive, I get to read my book, I don't have to pay to park, and I don't have to pay for gas.

I think the happiest news for me lately was that I passed the CISA exam!!! For those of you not in my world of auditing, that's Certified Information Systems Auditor (I know, super-nerd). I took in on June 14 (a great way to start a birthday weekend), and I really wasn't sure how it went, but apparently I did well enough to pass the test (granted, you only need a 55% to get a passing score)! I can't be certified for two more years, but I guess the exam is really the hardest part of it all. At least now I can say that I might be done with standardized testing forever!!

In other news, we had the Bakers stay with us for a little bit. We're SO excited to have our old friends back in the same valley as us. They only stayed for a few days (we were sad to see them go), but they probably are happier having their own space rather than being crammed into our two extra bedrooms. Either way, it'll be fun to spend some time together like the good old Wymount days...

This is turning out to be a very random post. I guess I just had a bunch of little things to write about and didn't want to make separate posts for each... We have some pictures to post of our new bathroom, but we've been slacking off a bit. Maybe someday soon!

Lean, mean, bus-riding machine

Today I rode the bus to work. When I first considered riding, I thought of the old UTA buses I'd ride downtown to visit my dad at work...but these buses are totally different. All of the seats face forward (like a charter bus) and each seat reclines and has its own light and air vent. It stops right by my house at a park and ride and goes all the way down the freeway to downtown without stopping. Plus, I get to read during my commute! I'm working my way back through the Twilight series in preparation for Breaking Dawn (I read Twilight on Saturday...I couldn't stop). I think I got off a little too early today (I walked about 4 blocks) so I might try the next stop tomorrow.

I got a free pass from work that lasts through 2011, so I decided to try it out. I'm a little wary to ride the bus to any of our client locations because I think I'd be riding the regular buses which may not be as reliable but it's awesome for riding to the office so I don't have to sit in traffic, pay for gas, and pay for parking (which is $5-$10 a day). Plus, it's a good excuse to leave work--most people won't keep you if you say you have to catch a bus.

Anyway, I'm planning to ride all week...it should be a fun, new experience.

Minor clarification...

So, Shane read the last post and wanted me to clarify that we did not name our couch Sinclair. La-z-boy has named the couch "The Sinclair."

I was fine just calling it Sinclair, but Shane said he would NEVER give a couch a guy's name because it would be disgusting to think he was laying around on a guy all day. I don't think I've ever thought of a couch that way...

Meet Sinclair.

Yep, this is Sinclair...the soon-to-be newest member of our family (in 4-6 weeks thanks to the saleslady's misreading of the warehouse stock). The pillows will be more bluish-green but other than that, this is our couch!

We've been wanting to remedy our couch situation for a while now since our two inherited couches just don't match...no matter how hard we try to convince people that blue/orange contemporary and green/red plaid couches were meant to be together.


So, on Saturday Shane asked if I wanted to go look at couches. I agreed, thinking we probably would just wander around and come home without buying anything. However, we were at La-z-boy and Tom showed us the couch he and Ashley almost bought for their house. We both liked it right away, but it took a while to decide that it was worth buying. After sending the saleslady away quite a few times so we could talk (Shane still doesn't understand why I can't express my opinion in front of salespeople), we finally decided that it was the best couch we'd seen and it was exactly what we were picturing for our house. It even fit the measurements we'd decided on exactly!

We were hoping to pick it up this Saturday, but we got a call (and a discount) after we left the store, informing us that the couch wasn't in stock so we'd have to wait a few weeks to get it. We gave away our green couch today so our house is feeling a little empty right now, but we're excited for the new arrival!