I write this as I sit in our new living room, under pretty Christmas lights, my sunshiney batik on the wall. Our new place is finally clean and complete, minus a few sheets, towels, and curtains in the wash. We moved all our stuff in today and are actually really pleased with the result--it may still be essentially a shack, but it's pretty darn cute. I never thought of myself as a nester, but I love setting up a new place. I was finally ready to pull everything out of my suitcases and put pictures and decorations up. I will take pictures tomorrow. Haha, we even have a couple surf posters up; we are the hugest wannabes in the world.

In addition to the joy of moving in, we had some other pleasant surprises today. First, we got paid for the one week we worked after we had finished our deposit but before we moved in (by the way, I'm supposed to keep that on the d.l., so..... oops). Then we got a $40 tip in a room we cleaned. We used it to eat out at Cafe Mambo, our favorite little lunch place in town--they have the BEST fish sandwiches on focaccia bread! Mmmm. And then we got gift certificates to the gelato place from Rick for Christmas.

I've become a little obsessed with collecting change. If we find coins in the places we're cleaning, I'll keep 'em, even the pennies. I'm saving up empty bottles to take to the recycling redemption center--5c a pop, woohoo! I think it all started when Retha told us she's saved up $200 in coins since she started cleaning here three years ago. Actually, I think it all started when I was born. I'm a miser.