more flantastic stuff

more pics here:
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/320314/index.html
(copy/paste)

**Version en español proximamente! Si no quieres esperar, ve a www.babelfish.altavista.com para traducir.**

Last Friday we finally got all our furniture shopping done (at least the big items, hehe). We rented a van and headed to ikea. We picked up our wardrobes first at another furniture store right next to ikea (the ones we bought like 6 weeks ago but had to be ordered), and we parked the van there (we didn’t think the tall van would fit in ikea’s underground parking). We got a big (nice and comfortable) sofa–bed (it’s a double bed!) so we’re ready for visitors! (who’s going to break it in?). We also got a bunch of other “smaller” stuff, like a desk (we kept our previous desk/table as a dinning table), a bookshelf (with all those books, we ended up needing one), some frames for the great artwork my friend Adrienne sent me for my bare walls (thanks Adri), lamp shades, wine glasses, hangers, among other things. I think we’re set in the furniture department. Getting the sofa off the van and inside the apartment was a bit of a nightmare. It was very heavy, and it almost didn’t fit through the door (that would have been funny. Not really). We ended up removing the little legs (more like plastic bottle capas), and without that half inch they made it in just fine.

Saturday we spent the entire day assembling our newly acquired pieces, and rearranging the layout of our living room (as much rearranging as one can so within limited space). We put curtains up, installed a coat rack on the wall with a shoe trunk under it (we’re a “take-your-shoes-off-at-the-door household now), and FINALLY got our clothes in hangers and in the wardrobes! (can you imagine that we had been living out of a suitcase since we left Bloomington on July 24th??? We had, and it was driving me nuts!). We also stored away our suitcases (we have a bit of basement space in a communal area).

Sunday was a lazy day as well. We went to the main station, to walk around a “holiday market” they have set up. With varied items (food, crafts, jewelry), we were looking for a gift to take to a Christmas Dinner gift exchange today (Monday). More on that below. We walked around and bought something and returned home. We were exhausted! (with bruised and sore muscles from the furniture-carrying ordeal). We talked and chatted with family, and I made a delicious FLAN (Abril’s recipe, of course).
Today we’re going to a Mexican Christmas dinner. We were invited by a person Gera met at a Sept. 16 party, and since we don’t really have other plans and want to meet other people, we’re going. Also, the menu promises to be yummy (corn crème, mushroom-chipotle stuffed turkey, and dessert). I’ll tell you more about that next week.

Books: I finally finished reading “Lost Girls”. I am not too thrilled about it. It was long and depressing, supposedly scary, but not scary enough to make up for the hard-to-follow sequences. I decided a “fresh and funny” story is now needed to make up for the last week and a half of a not-quite-my-taste novel, so I picked up “Simply Divine” by Wendy Holden. Just started reading last night, we’ll see how it goes.

So now that the cat’s out of the bag, I am free to tell you that Abril and Roberto are moving back to Juarez! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the “Gemz” will no longer inhabit the Midwest (“Gemz”: sort of an inside joke, sorry). So if you’re in Btown, make sure you say your goodbyes soon, for they leave before Christmas. And if you’re somewhere else, email them to wish them good luck, as they too (like us and a bunch of our grad-school friends), move on to bigger and better things!
(read about it in Abril's blog: http://www.knitting-en-spanish.blogspot.com/