Nice Husband

My husband is just the best. He took me out of town for the weekend to South Carolina and we cruised around the islands, played some mini-golf in Hilton Head and just enjoyed a nice long weekend together. The marshlands down there are cool and how the islands are seperated by marshes and rivers. Pretty fun trip.

When we got back, he got me a new car. How cool is that? I was very impressed with his negotiating skills. Neither of us are good at bartering and we know it but i think he's been practicing and reading up on how to negotiate because he negotiated a great deal. The salesguy even sent an application with our final offer saying that he was doing a better job negotiating than the salesperson and they would love to hire him. Funny. He did do a great job though. Maybe we'll do okay when we go to Pakistan after all. :-) Funny how when we left the salespeople weren't smiling, grudgingly handed over the car, and really didn't make much of a profit.

Not much else is going on over here. I'm afraid my blog has gotten boring. Been busy working and living. I just don't spend much time online these days. Trying to live more in the here and now and have been. Married life definately changes things and keeps a girl busy.

close up of hydranga

close up of hydranga
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

hydranga

hydranga
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

yard trees

front tree
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

I love this tree. I thought it was just a leafy tree and liked it that way but then the other day a flower bloomed on it and now there's a ton even after days of rain!

Tomatos are doing awesome too. I can't believe I already have tomatos on the vine!

The next two pictures will be of another tree in our yard...so beautiful. I love this one too. It's unbelievable the flowers on it. I like the leaves too. I was shocked when the beautiful flowers came in.

Books

Been reading quite a bit lately. Some for work and some for fun but quite a few good ones lately. I recently finished a few by Jhumpa Lahiri... The Namesake was awesome. I also read Interpreter of Maladies by her which i found a bit depressing as a newlywed. I should say I listen to books more than read them since i'm often reading so much for work etc. Right now I'm listening to The Broker by John Grisham which is quite good. Also, Hunter S. Thompson's Hey Rube, and one on language - Ballyhoo Buckaroo and Spuds. I'm also reading two books that i'm reviewing that aren't yet published and want to start Salt and Saffron by Kamila Shamsie since i just reviewed her new book and soon i should get The Kite Runner by Khaled someone on cd from the library.

My husband thinks i'm crazy reading so much at one time but i don't find it hard unless the books are similar in thought or if there are too many fiction ones at a time. How about you guys? Do you read multiple things at once or jump around? Maybe i'm just that schitzo - who knows. What are you reading now and what good books have you read lately?

Love thy neighbor...

Ever since i got a wireless laptop (about a year and a half ago i guess) I've wanted to get it set up with a wireless router at home etc but haven't had the time or energy or was just plain lazy. While visiting my brother i got to use it and loved it. I don't understand the speed difference since i'm also using his speed but when i got home i still had it set to picking up all in range wireless connections and well ta da, i have a connection close so it has to be one of my neighbors and i'm using their fast connection and wifi - it rocks. I used to use dial up but haven't since getting back home. I figure if they didn't want people to use it they'd have it blocked or not a open connection right? So for now, i'm just considering it the sharing nature of my wonderful neighbors and loving thy neighbor. How can i ever go back to dial up or non wifi ever again? Can't do it. I'm hooked.

Good recipe!

Cooked this last night and it was gooooooood.

Easy Tilapia

2 tilapia
4 tablespoons oil
1 onion diced
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon red chili pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 medium to large green chili
1/2 cup water
1 small tomato diced up or 1/2 tin of crushed tomato
cilantro/corriander for garnish

In a frying pan add oil, onion, green chili, turmeric and chili powder. Cook until the spices are pasty and onions are between golden and brown. Add the fish and water. Cook until fish is done...about 10 or 15 minutes. Remove fish but leave everything else. Add the tomato. Add a teaspoon or two of water but you probably don't need it...add only if it's dry. Cook until tomato is coated with onions and spices. Put fish on a plate and top with the sauce. Add cilantro/corriander for garnish. Delish!

Maybe, just maybe I really am a writer...

While writing articles and stuff I always had a "real" job too and I always considered it what i did, and writing was considered something i did cause it's what i really love but i was always afraid to call myself a writer thinking that i was really a fraud and not really a writer.

Since moving here and giving up the finance career in exchange for a wonderful husband and insh'Allah family, I've only written and not had a "real" job and I've been calling myself a writer but still I felt somewhat of a fraud even if i was getting paid to do it.

Well lately, a couple of really good things have happened that make me feel like I really am a writer. One was getting the cover of one section of a big newspaper and i thought it was really cool to get the feature size slot especially when i didn't think the article was all that good. I wrote it while visiting my inlaws and it wasn't exactly easy to focus away from my normal writing zone - i.e. pajamas, coffee, tv going with a movie in it, and my laptop on the coffee table. I typically write with my favorite coffee mug which my hubby got me. It's a cool cup! I'll blog a photo soon of it.

Anyhow, the second thing that just happened was i wrote an article for a local magazine here and the business i wrote the article about - won't say too much except that it's a great business and something i really support - called me and thanked me for an exceptional an amazingly written article. Their words, not mine. Then I was asked to come in and meet the owners. I did and they thanked me personally and then asked me what it would take for me to write that well for them. Money came up and well like i said i feel like a fraud as a writer for lack of self confidence and so i always give a low amount. Well, they doubled my offer and offered me a summer project job and then some jobs throughout the year.

I couldn't believe it. I really need to have more faith in myself and believe in myself because obviously other people do. Maybe, just maybe I really am a real writer. It's my dream so I don't want to fool myself but when people ask me what i do I'm just going to say "I'm a writer." Period. No add on's to make it sound legit. I have officially reached one goal so now the follow up goal must be obtained. I must get a book published in the next three years.

weed

weed
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Look at the size of this weed!

mint

mint
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

look at the fresh mint! It smells sooooo good! The cilantro/corriander has been good too. I love not having to buy it anymore. :-)

tomato plants

tomato plants
Originally uploaded by wayfarer.

Look at these tomato plants! They were only a foot - maybe a foot and a half when we left and now they are close to four feet...all in a week and a half!

Home

Got back home last week after a long and bumpy ride in the most miserable of Uhauls. We had some issues with the move:

1. Uhaul says "we don't have a truck for you - you didn't reserve one." When i show the email with proof they don't "believe" me. Frustration for two days trying to get one...finally do and it's a junker.

(was hoping to at least listen to a book or two on tape but nooooo...bonding with dh was entertainment...not sure for who...poor guy never gets a break from my blabbing...)

2. Storage unit where my belongings have lived for exactly one year. Well DH says he has the keys for the locks after he showed me keys one day and i casually said "those are for the storage" without really looking at them. Anyhow, the storage place can't cut the locks but refer DH and my brother to rent a saw and cut them themselves. Yeah right...that didn't work it. They had to call a locksmith to cut the locks.

SIL and I show up after picking up the kids to watch the guys sweat. :-) The guy is there and DH is paying him and I grumble... "i can't believe we just destroyed two beautiful perfect locks (they really were the cadillacs of locks...after all every thing i owned but two suitcases of clothes and two boxes of books were in that storage). The nice guy gave us a lock...i think out of sympathy for my husband as he probably assumed that he would have to hear from me about not bringing the keys. What a guy. It really was my fault....i do admit.

3. Do these trucks have shocks? Sheesh! Not. We took no detours, no scenic route, no state parks nothing unfortunately.

Anyhow, got back to Atlanta and began the joy of unpacking once again but it felt sort of like Christmas or some gift giving holiday since i hadn't seen this stuff for a year and forgot what i had. My brother did have a good point and now i agree...if i lived without this stuff for a year, i probably didn't really need it. Kinda true but also some stuff i truly did need. The whole reason we went back was for two pieces of paper that i should have brought with me but didn't because i was stubborn.

I got to see some friends and my neices and new nephew which was awesome cuddling with them all (the kids). I wish i coulda saw more of my friends but it just didn't work out. Too much went astray the day we were supposed to leave and we had such a late start i missed out on some but i did have a great time with the others. I really need to visit more often.

This is the shocking thing...i thought i was going "home" but what's weird is that i finally started calling Atlanta home. It really is. Colorado is home in a way to a previous me...the unmarried me. Georgia is home now...my adult life. Even if i don't have as many friends here and don't think it's a hundredth as pretty as Colorado, my home, my dh, my future is all right here...humidity and all.

As I right this the sky is grumbling with thunder too close for comfort and impending rain (it's been rainy, hot and humid for days now) and i hate it but there is a little part of me that revels in the excitement and uniqueness of this place. I am officially a damn southerner. They got me. Time to go eat a peach.