Hello, and welcome back to my online diary. I thought it might be fun to do a more unstructured post that went all over the place. First of all, my fiancé is deployed so if you see me wailing in a corner, please keep your judgments to a minimum. Things are very busy at work, which is kind of nice. There’s only five of us in our IT department supporting a large and in charge company that spans across six states with 13 locations. I’m one of two developers. That means I wear a lot of hats. I get to flex a lot of different skill sets, and learn new things constantly. I’m taking on API development and looking into developing an entire Intranet platform with SharePoint functionality in the next year! Please pretend to care, this stuff is really neat for me. I made some progress on wedding planning and moving. I’m paying down a ton of debt on my student loans and funneling extra money into savings for moving. I still managed to drop another hundred dollars at my favorite local book store anyway.

As for my garden, I planted a few summer squash plants in our yard. I bought them at a plant sale that supports my local library. I’m a big summer squash fan and the blossoms are excellent when you stuff them with meat of your choosing and fry them up. They make a great appetizer. Fingers crossed I get some veggies for summer from it. If not, fifty cents a piece, no harm, no foul. I also purchased a lemongrass tree for my personal garden. I think I have like twenty plants now. Big plant lady.

I’m actually on vacation at the moment in good ole Outer Banks, North Carolina! I’ve been sitting in the sun and reading my books. I look much less like a pale sickly Victorian child now, which is fabulous. I looked like I was dying of cholera, previously. Maybe that’s a bit dramatic.

I’ve now finished 12 books out of my 25 for the year. 25 books in 2025. A nice round number, without taking up too much of my time. I have a lot more time on my hands for reading, especially in the summer when I can read on the porch/deck with an adult beverage. Big fan of that. I’ve purchased some nonfiction books and memoirs recently. I also subscribed to the New York Magazine.

Here’s something fun, I do pottery on the wheel. So, when I see fun little things sometimes, I can recreate them myself. I had a weekend at Rehoboth beach not a few weeks ago with my mom. We like to a do a fun weekend just the two of us. We went to brunch and they had little ceramic teabag holders. I’m a huge tea lady, so I obviously decided to make a few of my own. I’ll show those off when I do a post on my pottery adventures. Look how cute these are! I also have a local tea place that does their own loose leaf tea. I bought out their entire supply of chocolate chai tea and I am not sorry. Check out how cute these are!

I made some progress on wedding planning. I’m being lazy about it. I need to make a website and a registry, blah blah blah. Give me your best suggestions for registry items in the comments. I’m not creative, and I will forget a million things. A salad spinner is at the top of my list.

As for moving to the great state of Tennessee, I’m getting there. Kitchen items are procured. I just need furniture. Send me your furniture. I’m stalking Facebook Marketplace for other people’s used tables, deck furniture, and so on. Moving is a whole nightmare, did you know? I did get in contact with a lovely realtor, and I’m in the process of setting up showings for houses. 5 months till the big move, I am very excited!

Here’s something fun, my AirPods are broken, they have been for about a year and a half. They’re part of that recalled generation of AirPod pro’s that we’re known for the buzzing problem they had. I was about to buy new ones after four long years and I went and left them at the hotel in Rehoboth. Someone snatched them up! My earwax on them and all! YUCK. They got moved an hour north, and I’ve been stalking the dirty little thief ever since. Point is, I bought some JBL earphones, and I have been using headphones way less. The JBL’s are great and have a way longer battery. I had a reset with the olfactory stimulation, I suppose. Less screen time and so on. I wish I could understand why and inform you fine people. Perhaps I’ll figure it out.

I’m so totally listening to Amazed by Lonestar right now while typing this and I’m tearing up because I’m missing my fiancé. Next time, I’ll stick with my podcasts thanks very much. I have some upcoming recipes for key lime pie and orange crushes. In addition, I have a Tech Free Tuesday post I’m working on the rise of AI and it’s implications from my viewpoint as a software engineer. Overall, it’s going quite well for me right now and I’m quite happy with where I’m at. I wish I had more exciting things to report at the moment, but you’ll have to wait a little while longer until I move my life 1000 miles away among other things. The most exciting thing I’ve done lately is purchase a Readers Digest guide to crafts and hobbies. To sum up, dear online diary, YAWN. Until next time, thanks for reading and being apart of my corner of the internet.

Sincerely,

Mayor of Yap City