Happy New Year...?

Guess who this stinker is? My dad's so creative. (Didja notice the cloth diaper, huh, Kate?)

I meant to write this 29 days ago, I swear.

I've thought a lot about it, and in recent years I've decided that I'm not a big fan of New Year's resolutions. I mean, it's kind of unrealistic that beginning on Day One you're going to do a total 180 when it comes to your body, your finances, your spiritual life, whatever. (Thank you, Bridget Jones, for so amusingly showing me this in your stream-of-consciousness prose. I love you, even though you're not real.)

I am, however, in support of the symbolism of a new year, of turning over a new leaf, much in the same way that Easter is reminiscent of eggs and rabbits. Okay, maybe not the best metaphor, but bear with me. I'm not a believer in saying, "Starting January 1st I'm going to be 100% better at this, this, and this." I do think, though, that it's a good time to set goals for oneself in the coming year. Do you think, maybe, that goals might keep us going to the gym past mid-February? Maybe...if you haven't set impossible standards for yourself, you're less likely to feel like an utter failure and throw in the towel for the rest of the year, yes?

Our goals for this year include...living in a way that honors our bodies (portion control = good, Krispy Kremes = less so), interacting with our finances on more of a daily basis (including actually sticking to the budget we spend so much time creating), traveling more, and chipping away at some lingering debt.

Now, we're doing fairly well with the first two. Not perfect, no earth-shattering changes, but guess what? I guarantee we'll still be working on them come May. We're making more concrete plans for a Florida trip in May and a Europe trip in August, including money and logistics. (Remind me to apply for my passport!) The debt one, though, is the one I'm going to talk most about today, because I'm really proud of us.

We talked one day last weekend and decided that we need to make some sacrifices toward this one. Not that we have much leeway in our budget, honestly...but we both, uniformly decided to get rid of cable. For our own good. Unilaterally. Oh, how good it felt. We also decided not to join the Y as we'd previously planned...part of the reason being that the "scholarship" they offered us was $74 a month, more than twice what it was this summer. Not affordable right now. But little did we know there was more to the story...that night, a friend of a friend called Josh and basically said, "Hey, my roommate's moving out, I heard you might be looking for a place to live, come live at my house for $200 a month cheaper than what you're paying." Initially, we weren't really about it...we don't know this guy. We don't want to share living space with someone else. No. We're selfish creatures of comfort. The next morning, we both woke up thinking, "Ohhhh, but we could pay off our debt FASTER. We can DEFINITELY go to Europe before we have kids. Hmmm." Josh called the guy, who was on his way home from work. We went over, looked at the place, and talked to him for awhile. Not a red flag to be seen. We felt very comfortable with everything, and after a few days of thinking about it, we decided that we're doing it. It's open-ended - we can decide to move out whenever we want. We'll have the whole 2nd floor (2 bedrooms and a bath) to ourselves...he sleeps in the basement and we'd share the main floor (kitchen, living, dining room) with him. It's a nice, well-cared for house. He said we could paint our rooms if we want. I'm two miles from my office instead of 15 (which I figure will save me alone at least $60 a month in gas). We'll be giving up some things for awhile, yes - the use of all our stuff (some of it will go into storage), total control over our domain, cable (yes, we're sticking to that one!), some privacy, maybe...but it's good. Making steps to improve your life is HARD. You gotta give a little. You've got to be creative and unorthodox sometimes. We're not thrilled about moving in the winter, we're not totally comfortable with everything we'll be giving up. But guess what I tell my clients? The definition of insanity is doing what you've always done and expecting a different result. Change is uncomfortable, but being comfortable isn't really getting us anywhere in this department...so change it is. (Yeah, that's right, I got all therapy on you - THAT JUST HAPPENED!)

We're moving on Feb. 23rd. Wish us luck...and if anyone wants to help paint or help us lug some stuff in or out of a U-Haul, please let me know :) We can't offer you much beyond pizza and love, except we'll get whatever kind of pizza you want and even get you a soda :) Oh, and moving things to and fro burns calories, DID YOU EVEN KNOW THAT? Wow.

Oh, and the newest "Lainey's The Cutest Thing Ever" photo (I made her necklace):

Because everyone's birthday should be a week long...

The photo is grainy and I am regrettably more prominent than The Birthday Girl, but it just captures her essence so well. On Sunday my dear old friend Melissa turned 28...

10. About 5 years ago we realized that we were coming up on our 10-year anniversary of friendship. We talked exhaustively about our big plans for an anniversary date, and (shockingly), that never actually happened. Nor did, for that matter, our 15th Anniversary date.

9. Mel and I have a special relationship...if you see or hear us throwing vicious threats (i.e. "You haven't rented 30 Rock yet? I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!") or, alternately, being a little pseudo-sexual and disturbingly affectionate, don't worry. We both like our boys plenty well. We just have an interesting dynamic that includes a little dirty talk every now and then. Just love us anyway, okay?

8. Speaking of which...Mel has a little habit of talking in her sleep. A few years ago in a hotel room in Anaheim, I was awakened by her mumbling. I said, "What?" She said, "I want to put your butt in my mouth." I said, "WHAT?" (laughing very hard, mind you), and she said, "It's a San Diego thing." Laura: "A SAN DIEGO THING?" Melissa: "Actually, it's a WORLD thing." Best conversation I've ever had with her. The other day I sent her a text message that said, "Happy birthday, Buttmouther."

7. I've called Melissa many nicknames over the years, including Pooky, Sugar, Smelly Melly, Kymmel (which is actually used when referring jointly to her and Kym), and the aforementioned Buttmouther. I think it's a keeper, don't you?

6. In 7th grade we walked home from school together all the time even though she lived just far enough away to ride the bus. Usually our travels took us to DeRosa's Party Store for a Little Debbie and Crystal Pepsi. One day we had gotten only so far as the Crystal Bar when I suddenly turned around and slapped her across the face For No Apparent Reason. She said, "Ow! Why did you do that?" I said, "I don't know, I just felt like it." We both found it incredibly funny at the time...and still do. (I'm so glad that I've learned some basic social norms since.)

5. Melissa has given me some nicknames, too, which include PiPi, Pooky, and Chia Pet. (Ask me about that last one some other time...not for the squeamish.)

4. Melissa and I met in 7th grade...hard to say whether or not it was in band class or in swim club. We competed against each other for first chair clarinet, played Celebration by Kool and the Gang, went to countless swim meets together, spent our summers going for bike rides and runs, got our moms to drive us to the mall for Champion shirts and Bass shoes, went sledding at Dead Man's Hill with trays stolen from Wendy's, watched The Cutting Edge in her basement, ended up college roommates (best time of my life), and I drove with her across the country when she moved to LA 3 1/2 years ago. I never knew that you could have so much fun squished in an overpacked Chevy Cavalier for four days straight. Better vacation than even my honeymoon, I tell you.

3. Back in the day we had another friend named Lisa, who once said that Melissa's sister was actually her mom, her mother was actually her Aunt Frank, and her father was named Larry Bon-Bon. I've been calling Larry that ever since, much to Melissa's chagrin.

2. Have I mentioned that we were WEIRD ADOLESCENTS who ended up surprisingly well-adjusted?

1. Melly now lives in West Hollywood with her boyfriend Ray (who is perfect for her) and her cat Napoleon...she's armed with a fresh Masters in Film and is working on breaking into the film editing industry. I made her promise to take me to the Oscars someday.

I Googled myself...

...would you believe there's several more of me out there? I couldn't believe it.

Well, kids, I've decided to follow Anne's lead and remove all occurrences of my last name from the ol' blog...consequently, this has changed my URL, so I'm sure none of you are even reading this. I'll e-mail ya. Anyway, I'm doing this because it came to my attention that if I were to apply for a new job (IF...not that I would ever do such a thing), someone out there might think to google me, and quite frankly I probably don't censor myself enough on the ol' interweb. Thus, I must go into hiding. I know our last name is our trademark, and it's fun to say and type, but for the sake of being a responsible grown up (blech), I'm going to have to ask you to not use it on this blog. Or, if you must, replace the i with an asterisk or something, as if it were a dirty word (which it sometimes is...let's use it as a verb, no? WITH ASTERISK!)

Sorry, all...

Don't worry...it wasn't us.

I returned home tonight around 8:30, and as I wove my way through the complex, I saw increasingly odd sights. The clubhouse was alit and filled with people ("Okay, not so unusual for someone to rent it out for a party on a weeknight"), then I passed a big ol' Consumers Energy truck sitting alongside the road, doing absolutely nothing ("That's weird, everyone seems to have electricity..."), then I came around the bend...all manner of emergency vehicles in full glory. The building just beyond ours was illuminated with red and white strobes, and a fire truck crane was hovering over the building. A Fox 17 mobile broadcast truck was there, too, satellite dish engaged. I couldn't quite see what was going on (fire? C02 leak? Meth lab?). I went inside, could find nothing on the news, so came back outside with my mom on the phone...still can't tell and don't want to get so close as to be barked at by police officer or similar. Went back inside because it was too cold for other gawkers, who would've been my only source of good information. Finally got the story on the 10:00 news (because at 11, it's history!) Courtesy of WXMI Fox 17 (the only news outlet who cared enough to come all da way out here):

Fire At Gaines Township Apartment Building

January 24, 2008

GAINES TOWNSHIP — About two dozen tentants evacuated a Gaines Township apartment complex Thursday night after a fire broke out in one of the apartments.

The fire started around 7 p.m. at The Crossings apartment complex near the South Beltline and Eastern Avenue.

Firefighters saw flames shooting from the roof when they arrived on scene. They dispatched an aerial truck and knocked down the fire before it could spread.

The fire damaged two apartments, one with smoke and the other from fire damage.

No one was injured, but some residents disregarded the fire alarms that rang through the complex.

"Fire alarms outside activated, some people failed to realize those alarms mean time to get out," said Dutton Fire Chief Russ Jansen.

Fire investigators think the fire may have started on a second floor balcony. It remains under investigation.

Copyright © 2008, WXMI

Thank you, Lord, for yet more affirmation that it is indeed good to be overinsured. Amen.

Happy Birthday, Kym!

Today is my BFF Kym's 28th birthday. Anne beat me to the birthday list, but you can never have too many fun facts about my one-time twin. However, in lieu of the usual facts, I'm going to indulge in some memories:

10. In 9th grade history class, Kym and I convinced Anne that Kym had a cool older sister named Hunter. We kept up this charade for weeks.

9. Kym and I (and our dads) went to tour GVSU's campus together in 12th grade. She'd had some sort of foot issue, and my knee was acting up, so we were both on crutches...we decided to make the most of it by wearing matching outfits. We got a lot of attention from everyone else in the tour group.

8. It has only been in the past two years or so that people have run into me and not said, "So where's Kym?"

7. Kym changes teeth like some people change cell phones. (But that's a sensitive issue, so let's not discuss it any further.)

6. Kym and I encountered each other often in middle school (7th grade Stage Band, 8th grade Honors Algebra) before we finally got acquainted in the aforementioned history class. Thank you, Mr. Spencer, for your marvelous livelong friendship fostering skills. And for teaching us how to make birchbark canoes and rifles.

5. Kym and I decided to be roommates in college despite everyone's warnings that you should NOT! room with your best friend from high school. Boy, did we prove them wrong. We lived together all four years...though our senior year, we decided to "branch out" and not live in the same bedroom...though who were we kidding, our two-bedroom apartment was only so big!

4. Kym and I share a larger than life affinity for Sweetwater's Donuts (one of Kym's favorites is the Sugar Raised), Hunan Gardens Chinese Restaurant, Taco Bell, Target, and the films Evita and Anastasia.

3. Kym eventually plans to have her first name legally changed from Kimberly to Kymberli.

2. I have a notebook FILLED with "notes" from the religion class we took together junior year of college - she and I sat in the back row and played hangman for two hours every Tuesday and Thursday. Many of our hangman messages were related to donuts (i.e. "DONUT FEVER!"), as we always stopped at Sweetwater's on our way home from class.

1. We've both grown and changed over the years, and we now live far apart, but nothing can replace all those years of fantastic memories :) HELLO KITTY! I honestly don't have anywhere near as many inside jokes with anyone as I do with this fine chica. I love you, girl...Happy 28th!