Monthly personal update

As frequently as I say that I'm going to try to update this blog more often, you'd think that I would!  However, real life is getting in the way.  When I was married to the most anti-social person in the world, I had plenty of time to blog, but now that I'm doing things with friends and still trying to keep up with the parrots, as well as holding down a much more demanding job, this is something that has fallen by the wayside.  Which makes me sad, as I'd love to have a more complete picture of the past couple years of my life!

But here is a snapshot of the things I did during the month of July:

I went to a baseball game.  I am sponsored by a local running store, and am friends with many of the employees, so they invited me along on their employee outing, which was rather odd, since I was the only non-employee, but they were so welcoming and I have been invited back for next year!

This one was June, but a local street festival was held to celebrate the solstice.  I went with a good friend and her husband.  We met the father of the lead singer of a popular local band (on the verge of signing a national record contract) which meant we met the lead singer and had a memorable evening.

 Supermoon!!!

 Front-row tickets to see three bands from my youth!!!!!

 Boyz II Men (my favorite, and I will get a rhinestone-emblazoned Phillies hat someday):

 Not sure why they look other-worldly, but I love this picture of them singing!

98 Degrees (I am actually a bit too old for them, and I didn't know many of their songs, but they were energetic and fun):

New Kids on the Block -- yes, I should be embarrassed to admit it, but I was there!  And when they went into the crowd for one of their songs, they all brushed past me!  Again, I wasn't huge fans of them, but I knew most of the songs they sang, and they put on a great show.

My sister and I went to a minor-league game that was one of the most exciting games I have ever seen. S he won a pair of VIP tickets.

The celebration after they came from behind in the bottom of the 9th inning with 2 outs, when they hadn't had the lead for the entire game:

I went to dinner with my friend J.  We split a pizza, which meant room for dessert.  This was one of the best things I have ever eaten.  That's caramel sea salt ice cream on top of the brownies.  And candied nuts.  YUM!!!  I showed my friend at work this picture, she made me show a bunch of other people, and quite a few made it over to this restaurant for this piece of deliciousness:

Celebrating Bastille Days (you can see French flags spread out along the street of this very American city.) 

On a date, I went bowling for the first time in over a decade -- and scored over 100 points (that's me on the top row.)

Same guy, different date.  French toast.  With ice cream.  Amazing concept, and one I'm ashamed to have not thought of myself.  This really was made for two to share, so I only ate half of the French toast, but I did eat all of the ice cream (caramel sea salt again.  Delicious!!!)

My parents and I go to a craft brew fest on an annual basis.  This year, four of my friends (two couples) joined us, and we ran into my cousin there.  What a fun time!  After, we walked to a different street festival, then we walked home, and my parents spent the night.  That part will continue to be a tradition, though I'm hoping to pick up a couple of used bikes for people to use when they visit as biking home will be quicker than walking!

It's still very early days, but I am dating an amazing man.  I was abused (verbally and emotionally) for so long, I rather forgot what it was like to be with someone who treats me as nicely as I treat him.  I'm glad I took many months away from dating to work on myself and figure out what I really want, as I'm in a good place to welcome a good man into my life.

He's met the parrots and finds them amusing and interesting.  Being prey animals, they are a little wary, but he'll win them over.  His middle name is Andres, which is usually what I'd use as his pseudonym, but since it's so close to Andreas's name, I'll have to think of something different to avoid confusion.  Though hopefully no one would think that I am dating my lizard!

Anyway, things are good, life is fabulous, and I need to blog more frequently!

Foraging fun

This video isn't the best; to really show what she is capable of, I'd have to tape for about 10 minutes and splice together, but my editing skills are non-existent, so this is what you're getting! She'll go over to the tower and say "want some!" as she fools with the levers, hoping I'll stick a cashew in there for her. Since she is so adorable, I frequently will.

In this case, it was empty, but she was trying her best to be cute enough for a nut to be placed inside:

Instead, I just took pictures.

 Just kidding!  When she gets the nut, she'll always walk over and stand on the edge of the counter to eat it.

She only did this once, but in my head, she climbed the tower to victory:

I think I may need to find some more challenging puzzles for her!

And so does Max!

Max, the bird who is clearly my best flyer, loves our new house! The parrots' cages are in the living room, on the first floor, but Max loves flying up to the second floor to explore.  One of her favorite perches is on the staircase, as shown:

She also likes to fly up to the top of my large stained glass window, seen in the background of this picture.  However, this is not allowed, so I'm not even willing to take a picture of it, for fear it will encourage her.  The first time she flew to the second floor by herself I was so excited and proud of her; now I wish she'd stay on the first level as she is not trustworthy enough to be up there unsupervised!

Her other favorite place to be is the kitchen.  She'll hang out and stare at me through the crack in the door.  She decided to chip at the door hinge once she saw the camera, and I wasn't risking my ancient hardware for a good picture, so this will have to suffice:

Beeps explores the house

The parrots and I are so happy in our new house! We've been here about 7 weeks now, but we're settled in and things are great! They love to fly around and explore different parts of the house. At least Max and Beeps do. Calypso walks around to explore, even though he can fly. Strange guy, that.

The other day, Beeps was flying around, and he landed on one of my front windows.  He was pacing and saying "Babycakes" in his demonic voice; unfortunately, his behavior changed once he knew I was filming him, but if you listen closely, you can hear him say it once at the very beginning of this video:

If you watched the video, you can understand why we named him "Beeps"!!!

Here is a still picture.  He loves looking outside at what's going on.

A different day, he'd flown around the house and it took me a little while to find him.  Just a little while, though, as his ubiquitous beeping gave him away!

And we're in!

I just got the Internet in my house -- finally -- so have quite a few pictures and videos to post over the upcoming days. The parrots love it here! They have adapted really well and love exploring their new place. Here they are, at the apartment, ready to make the trip to their new home:

They were all a bit nervous, but since their cages stayed the same and we're all there together, they were just fine.

Here's a picture of each of them exploring.

Calypso walks around all the time, usually to find me.  Sometimes he's just investigating the house or looking for some excitement.  There is a giant mirror in the entryway that he will occasionally go to:

It took me a while to first find Max here!  She sometimes flies up to the second floor, but is more likely to be found on the rail heading up there:

Beeps like to fly to the mantel of the fireplace in the living room (where the parrots' cages are) and pace in front of the mirror.  I've since put some things there, so he's taken to flying into the dining room instead.  Videos and pictures of that soon -- I think the dining room is the caiques' favorite room in the house!

More updates - no pictures

I had the final walk-through on my new house this evening.  Things are looking good, and I am scheduled to close tomorrow.  The parrots, Andreas, and I are about to own a house again!  Perhaps the most exciting thing about this is that the parrots can be as loud as they'd like, and it won't matter!

In a fun development, the previous owner left some stained glass panels on the 3rd floor for me.  It will be fun to figure out where they were and to see if I can reinstall them.  I love stained glass!

The past few weeks have been filled with studying.  I had to take some securities exams over the past year, and I just passed the third (and hardest) exam this morning.  I wanted to get it done before I moved.  I wasn't sure I would pass, so I was ecstatic to see the results.  Now, on to packing.  Except instead of packing tonight, I am drinking a celebratory beer and posting on my blog!

I'm hoping to move a few things over myself tomorrow (my new house is about half a mile from my current apartment.)  My mom is coming up on Saturday and she'll help me clean things up and we'll move things in our cars.  Then, on Sunday (Father's Day), my dad is coming up with the van he can borrow from work, and we'll move some of the larger stuff, including the animals.

I have hired movers for July 5 to move my bed, the couches, bookshelves, and other heavy things.  My dad is getting older and I didn't want to be responsible for throwing out his back!  One exciting part of this is how many people have offered to help me move.  Even my downstairs neighbors, the college kids, have offered their help.  There are so many good, kind people in this world.

It still amazes me how different my current life is from the one I used to live.  Better.

My house - sneak preview

I am in the process of buying a house. All hurdles have now been cleared, so it's just a matter of waiting (less than two weeks!) for the closing date. It is essentially my dream house. I feel so lucky to have found it. I can't wait for the parrots, Andreas, and I to move in!

I'll post tons of pictures in the upcoming months, as I adjust to being a single homeowner.  I am going to pick up a lot of home improvement skills!  One of my new good friends and coworkers is married to a handyman.  How lucky am I?  I get along really well with him, and the three of us go out to dinner and are forming a real friendship.  He has promised to help me out and show me how to do things myself.

It's an old Victorian, with tons of character and charm.  I didn't take a lot of really good pictures, as I was mostly concerned with the pretty parts!  Luckily, my handyman was there to handle the mundane mechanicals to make sure I wasn't making a huge mistake.

The neighborhood is exactly where I want to live.  It's only a few blocks from where I am now, and I'll still be able to bike to work and walk to most places.  My best friend lives only a few blocks away, and it's by the best scenic running area I've been able to find.  Just amazing how things work out!

It has quite a bit of stained glass; here is what's in the entry way, by my fireplace:

My staircase to the second floor, complete with little room under the stairs.  It's currently coat closet, and I'd hoped to turn it into a bathroom, but it's too small.  All of the people I've shown this to who are Harry Potter fans are particularly delighted with this detail!  It's hard to tell from this picture, but there is more stained glass on the landing:

My butler's pantry.  This place is just so charming; I love it!

In my apartment, the parrots have been living in their own bedroom.  This is not ideal, as they don't get as much attention as they did when they were in the main living area.  However, given the layout of my place, and the fact that I wanted to try to have them in an area where they'd be least likely to generate a noise complaint on my behalf, that's where they went.

But only for two more weeks, as they'll be back in the living room at my new place.  The windows in the living room face east and south.  I can't wait for them to be able to rise with the sun and me not have to worry about their noises irritating the neighbors.

Many more pictures and updates to follow!

Random things in May

I have been so remiss at taking pictures of things that have been happening!  But here is a short selection of things that happened to me in May:

One of Max's favorite artists, Father John Misty, was once again in the area.  I had seen him perform last October, before I knew any of his songs.  I bought the CD then, so this time, I knew them all!  I went with my friend who works at the venue (free tickets and the bartender said we were such fun to talk to that we didn't have to pay for our drinks, either!)

**********
One of my responsibilities at my new job (not so new anymore -- I've been there nearly 14 months) is to help coordinate our large client conference in the fall.  It was a huge success last fall, my first time, and we hope to make every year even better.

Last week, two of my coworkers and I went to the luxury resort where the conference is held.  We walked through everything -- it's almost like planning a wedding where we do tasting of the food, walk-throughs of the event, etc. -- and spent the night.  This place is known for their innovative bathrooms.

I always take a bath when I'm there, and this time, when I turned the water on, I was shocked that it started coming out of the ceiling!  I didn't really like this, so I hope I get a different room when I return in September.

**********
This is a partial view out of my office window.  Last week, the sun hit just right at the building down below.  All of a sudden, my office got so bright that I had to see what was going on outside.  I made the mistake of looking directly at it, and then my eyes saw spots for a few minutes!

It's dandelion season again!

It's Andreas's favorite time of year: dandelion season!  I took these pictures through the glass on his enclosure, so not as clear as they could have been.

I tried to get him mid-bite of the flower, but he was too quick for me.  I am posting this anyway, as you can see the stem and it looks like he's smiling.

Spider surprise

I am trying to be more spider-tolerant. This is not a default reaction for me, but since they are harmless, as long as they aren't on me, I try to let them live. I had a challenging encounter yesterday! After seeing this one on my wall, she found her way here:

I was so careful, going into the kitchen to brush my teeth, and trying to give her enough time to find another place to go.

And then I walked in on Beeps, right after he'd taken a bath in his water dish.  Of course, I had to rinse out and refill his water dish, so I went into the bathroom and flushed out the spider!

She was really wet, but OK.  I managed to get her outside, alive.

I'm not sure that was the right thing to do -- can house spiders survive outside?  At least it is warm out now, and hopefully if she doesn't survive, she was food for someone else.