My Nutshell

Seeing Red No More

2011-06-30T11:48:00.013-06:00

For a while now I've been planning on re-covering my couch. The red suede just isn't doing it for me anymore. I want a crisp, clean, looking front room and red has proven to be my adversary in finding harmony in that design.

I initially wanted to cover it in something very textural. Like a large weave linen or tweed in a grey or very pale blue. However, I need about 20-25 yds of fabric and finding something that was sturdy enough, cheap enough, and that I liked proved to be much harder than I'd hoped.

After dozens of swatches later (as well as falling in love with a select few then having to heart-wrenchingly break up with them after realizing there was no way I could justify spending $250+ on fabric alone, ew) I was pretty frustrated.

The thought of keeping red so central in the room really bugged me and I could not come to terms with keeping it as is. Finally, I was struck with inspiration as I remembered a current "trend" right now of using canvas drop cloths as rugs, curtains, slipcovers, etc. Though it wasn't an original idea of my own, I still felt pretty clever (and re-motivated) heading down this avenue.

I went to Lowes to see what they had and to determine if they would, indeed, be sturdy enough (and un-ugly enough) to work as my material. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was just about the best option all around I was likely to find.

They have a slew of different options as far as size goes and I found one that is 9 feet wide by 12 feet long. I ended up buying 3 of them to start off with, figuring I can always buy another if I end up needing it. Total cost for these suckers? 55 dollahs. Done.
The color is pretty light. Lighter than I had wanted, practically blending into the color of my walls, but with the way I'll decorate around it it should work just fine. At least it will be a significant improvement from the red.

(Notice: Charlie has his socks close, just in case he gets bored destroying things.)

Last night I started cutting out the pieces. Since I want it to look as if its been upholstered (without having to actually rip off the existing fabric and re-upholster it) and I don't want it to look sloppy as if an, ahem, drop cloth had just been thrown over it, I decided to make a pattern of sorts. I used newspaper pages and pinned and cut them to fit the couch and then laid them out on the fabric and cut around them (adding an inch or so to allow for the seams).

Charlie, always having to be involved in whatever I'm doing, even if it means occasionally being stepped on (oops) because he is always underfoot, decided he was going to help. A few half-eaten patterns, flinging fabric scraps around the room, and dumping out all my pins from their container later though, I decided it was time for bed. For the both of us.

The rest of the couch will have to wait for another day.

(Next time I may also find a bunny babysitter... any takers?).

*I used a lot of ( )s this post (also commas). That's probably somehow bad grammar. April? Can you look into that for me? You're a pal.

Its the Little Things

2011-06-28T08:55:00.011-06:00

Last night, as I was crashed out on the couch and trying to keep myself awake until it was a more decent time to fall asleep for the night, I occupied myself with watching Charlie explore my living room. After the usual series of jumps and multiple attempts to chew my carpet without me catching him (naughty rabbit!), he flopped himself down on his belly and laid there, searching the room for something else to get into.

Not very long after that, he discovered a rogue, balled up, pair of socks that, unbeknownst to me, had tumbled off my laundry pile earlier that week. I was curious to see what damage he planned to inflict on the innocent cottons, would he chew it to shreds? Dig at it and scratch holes in it? As I watched him evaluate the black blob of socks, probably asking himself the same questions I just had, I was surprised at the relatively calm approach he decided to take.

He pushed it. With his nose. Over and over again. For almost an hour.

He just nudged it in circles, around the room, so intent and focused the entire time on pushing, and pushing, and pushing. Whodda thought? I guess I shouldn't bother spending money on buying toys for him anymore. He always prefers the more simple things anyway.

Like chewing/eating/shredding phone books or anything else lying around that's paper.
Should I be concerned?

*Again, all pictures courtesy of my cell phone... I should get my real camera charged eh?
**Also, Charlie's favorite activity is NOT holding still so most of them are blurry. Take it up with the bunny.

*** And he is not evil, even though his eyes are red in most of the pictures.

****Ha. Just kidding. There's not another note. Thank you and class dismissed.

Sir Squishy

2011-06-21T08:37:00.022-06:00

Before Bradford left to Alabama for a 28 day long (22 more days to go!) field training for the Air Force, he gave me a pitcher of cream topped raw milk. I won't say he "bought" it, because according to Sir Padre (no relation to Sir Squishy) the selling of raw milk is illegal in some states. Dumb I say. But that is leading into an entirely different topic for an entirely different day...

Anyway, however Bradford acquired this milk, he left it with me and said, "be sure to use it before it goes bad." Oops.

Yesterday morning I sniffed it. Is that the raw milk smell or the raw milk beginning to go sour smell? Still not sure, I tasted it. It doesn't taste THAT bad. But do I want to pour this on a bowl full of cereal? I did not.

I decided that since it was just barely on the cusp of being bad, and raw milk is a rare treat, and also Bradford stared at me real hard and in all seriousness said "DON'T let this milk go to waste," and I already decided I did not want it touching any of my other food, I quickly found ways to make cheese.

After skimming a few recipes, I concluded that ricotta cheese seemed the most fool proof and I settled on one from one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen, which also just so happened to be her most recent post. Coincidence?

Every recipe I've tried from her has been fantastic so I figured I couldn't go wrong. I tweaked it a little, I almost doubled her recipe and I only had lime juice, no lemons, and I went off of memory when I made it so I didn't put as much salt as I probably should have. Also, I didn't use heavy cream since the milk had a fairly thick layer of cream on it already. It turned out pretty darn good, regardless. Something I'll definitely try again. I'm excited to make some crostini with it later this week.

See Bradford? Not a drop wasted.

*All pictures were taken on my cell phone. Don't judge. *

"I cannot live without books." -Thomas Jefferson

2011-06-13T09:01:00.009-06:00

I love to read. I love when what I am reading impresses me and makes me feel enlightened. I've read things that make me stop and really think, things that express something I've been feeling in a much more eloquent way than I've ever been able to.

I am currently reading The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. Now, while it is overall a very lighthearted book, and by no means meant to be deep or philosophical, I was struck by a phrase that I stopped and re-read a few times. I loved the way the words flow and how simply they illustrate a common observation I myself have had:

"...It is only when we are very happy, that we can bear to gaze merrily upon the vast limitless expanse of water, rolling on and on with such persistent, irritating monotony, to the accompaniment of our thoughts, whether grave or gay. When they are gay, the waves echo their gaiety; but when they are sad, then every breaker, as it rolls, seems to bring additional sadness, and to speak to us of hopelessness and of the pettiness of all our joys."

This phrase isn't incredibly profound or even earth-shattering in its meaning, but I love it just the same.

*I'm about two chapters away from finishing the book and I already highly recommend it to anyone looking for an easy, entertaining read.

Fast and Furious

2011-06-06T09:06:00.004-06:00

Sunday, during fast and testimony meeting, out of the corner of my eye, I see a rogue, blonde headed toddler zooming up the aisle toward the pulpit. All the while pushing a stolen walker in front of him.

I guess when the spirit really moves you, it moves you and helps you with the getaway car.

The Living is Easy

2011-06-03T14:09:00.007-06:00

Ooo Yum I say to myself, driving down the road, with my windows rolled down, sunglasses on, and Billy Joel jamming away on the radio. Lemonade!

There is something refreshingly idyllic about a jauntily set up lemonade stand set on the corner of a residential street on a warm summer(ish) day. Add a scraggly, handwritten Lemonade 50¢ sign, held by a juice stained 8 year old boy, and I am sold.

Kool-aid never tasted so good.

Osama Been

2011-05-04T14:34:00.008-06:00

The recent event involving the death of Osama Bin Laden has had me thinking.

Let me preface a little: I've been thinking a LOT about charity lately and what that type of Christlike love really entails. How it applies to me in my life, how I should be treating others and feeling about others, how God feels about me and everyone around me and what that all means, etc.

I have to say that my resonating feeling on the matter is one of sorrow. Not a hopeless sorrow, because I believe that Heavenly Father rewards and protects and has plans of His own that none of us can even begin to imagine, but sorrow in the fallen expectations I've held in mankind. Those aren't the exact words I mean, but maybe I can explain a little better. After my initial shock on hearing about Osama's death, my second reaction was sorrow. My heart went out to all those familes that lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks. To all the soldiers and soldiers' families that have given up their time here in the homeland to be abroad and help fight against the terror that has enveloped our world. My heart was full. But it seemed that many others felt differently.

I was saddened to quickly see the boisterous hatred of my fellow countrymen toward this man. Fellow Christians even, who are loud and almost giddy in their contempt and make no attempts to filter their bitter, often crass, opinions. I understand that what Osama Bin Laden condoned and led were greivous and highly inhumane. I understand that our world is still under heavy attack from similar bands of people with similar ideas. What I don't understand is why we don't leave it up to God to decide how to sentence this man? It's out of our hands now anyway. Why continue to abuse and rejoice in slandering? Lest anyone think I am defending Osama, or even sympathizing with him, please understand I am in no way intending to.

Perhaps my feelings on the matter are naive. Maybe we are perfectly justified in glorifying over the end of a man. But I don't feel confident in myself to make that judgement. For me, it is easier to love. I feel that our time and energy would be better spent on remembering those fallen Americans. To take a moment to let the reality of the world we live in sink in for a moment. Allow ourselves to spirutually leave ourseleves for a moment and travel to those lands that aren't as priveleged as we are and pray for them. Hope that things might become better for them soon. our time would be better spent, I feel, in thanking our dear Father in Heaven for the many, many blessings we have pouring into our lives each day.

I am a selfish person. I don't believe I am that way naturally, but I feel that I have let myself, through lazy habits become so. I know that I am of God and that I am at my core good. This experience has helped me see how destructive that selfish tendency can become and has helped me resolve to be better, and truer to that nature in me.

I know God is a loving God. On an incomprehensible level. I trust that whatever judgement may come to Osama Bin Laden and his sins will be just and true and done according to that love. That is just how it should be. Osama has been and now is completly in God's hands. I am glad that I do not have to make those decisions. Decisions that are so everlastingly heavy and complex. I find joy in the simplicity of love. I find relief in not having to feel badly toward this man any longer.

I know that there are bad things and bad people in this world. But when I think of them I don't feel hatred. I feel sorrow that they have sacrificed the most wonderful blessings that come from being good because of their selfishness and that they have mercilessly hurt innocents in their wake.

My thoughts are trailing now and leading into more abstract planes away from my focus of this post, I just wanted to clear my mind of these jumbled thoughts and explore how I'm feeling on this matter. I pray God will forgive me of my sins and help us all to find focus in our lives.

Broadway Schmodway

2011-04-15T09:37:00.012-06:00

This article, regarding the Broadway musical "The Book of Mormon," was a refreshing read. Empowering, too. It made me want to be a better individual so that I may live up to the acclaim that the article's author seems to have for us Mormons.

It is inspiring to see that there are people that can see the truth despite the misconceptions, and can state them so matter of factly and without combativeness. I am humbled by this and hope that someday I too can be defined by the same measure the church was defined in Michael's article.

Castle on a Cloud

2011-01-05T09:45:00.005-07:00

I was thinking the other day about my life. Who I am/want to be. Where I am/want to be. What I do, what I say, and how all of it affects me and my goals. Then I started thinking about my goals. What are my goals in life? Do I even have goals?!

Hmm.

I'm not so sure I do. Sure there are things I want to eventually happen with my life, but I don't really have solid goals. At least not the typical goals that people have who are my age and demographic- school, career, family, etc.

As I was thinking about this I realized- I fear.

I fear trying, even planning, to attain goals. Not because I'm afraid of failing, I usually expect to fail. I'm used to failing. What I'm not used to is success. What do I do if I succeed? What do I do once I reach those goals? When failing has been such a constant in your life, even, in part, who you are- its a big thing to change that. Anyone who's ever tried to change can attest to that.

I'm sure some of you may be shaking your heads, wondering what the sam hill is wrong with me, "Not want to succeed? Who is this joker?" but I think this fear has been crippling any effort I may have half-heartedly thrown at those lofty goals I keep conveniently in the clouds.

This fear stems from other areas of my life as well, which I realized upon pondering this dilemma a bit more. However, I have recently made a few, even bold (for me), changes in my life that have shown promise of sticking which I think will help me on this new quest of mine- to conquer the fear in me.

It's a long road but it's the only road.

Friendship is Unnecessary

2010-10-05T09:42:00.012-06:00

Sunday night I got a phone call from a good friend. A friend I've known for almost a decade. Despite our distance in logistics, and the fact that we only talk about every other month (at best) for an hour or two at a time, I consider him one of my absolute best friends.

As we were talking, I had an overwhelming sense of gratitude. It was such a refreshing conversation, it all felt so natural. What's more wonderful than the ease in which we fell into discussion was the undeniable connection I felt to him. I realized, from our conversation, that there are very few people in this world that I have a true soul-to-soul connection with and I am so grateful for those few souls.

One of my favorite quotes is from Robert E. Lee and says, "Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away." I particularly like this quote because I've always struggled with opening up and showing my true colors to any and all who meet me. When I do it usually comes out in a muddle, imperfect and somewhat discombobulated, not expressed as purely as I feel it. Its something I've long wished to conquer but unfortunately have done little to actively overcome. The handful of people throughout my life that have somehow found a way to break through are some of my most cherished treasures. I attribute it mostly to their pure sense of self and large hearts.

I'm so lucky to have them, though few, in my life. They are the ones I can be just as confidant as ever around even if its been years since we last saw each other or spoke. Its hard to describe the ease and comfort I feel around them, its something I rarely have with most people. I often feel guarded and unsure about what is expected or how to act and since that is more often than not the case I appreciate these soul mates all the more.

It is amazing to love and be loved completely.

------

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival." - C.S. Lewis

Falling Hard

2010-09-22T09:41:00.003-06:00

I adore Autumn.

Absolutely love it.

Please, please, PLEASE Utah let us have a decent fall this year. One lasting longer than the length of a sneeze would be ideal.

Cross your fingers for me.

Seattle Vegas

2010-09-03T09:23:00.007-06:00

April and I decided we were going to go on a spontaneous trip on this holiday weekend to Seattle. We looked up hotels and attractions... then Thursday we realized, Seattle is not a very good last minute vaction spot for a holiday weekend (read: expensive). So, we decided to take a much more budget friendly jaunt down to Las Vegas instead. I have never really been to Vegas for any amount of time other than a quick night-time rest on a road trip.

A weekend of shopping, laying by a pool, and sleeping in a big comfy bed sounded just right to me.

Seattle suddenly looks a lot like Vegas.

Bradford Strikes Again!

2010-08-18T11:24:00.003-06:00

Bradford came to my work today for a brief moment. Brought me these:

He completely ruined my day. I mean, I was all armed and ready to hate the world today. I even had the perfect glower set. Then he had to traipse in here, all gallant like, and ruin it all.

Dang.

How can I be mad now with these things staring at me?

Thanks Mr. Bradford.

Begin Again

2010-08-12T12:43:00.011-06:00

(Yes world, I am still alive. Thanks for asking.)

I have recently been revamping my apartment. Shocking, I know. Some of you may ask yourselves, "Self, hasn't Julie been 'revamping' her apartment since she moved into it a year ago?" The answer my friends would be yes. Yes she has been.

Little did I know at the time, but in hindsight, I had no idea what I wanted to do in my very little space I call home when I moved into it last August. I thought I had an idea or two, I even went so far as to custom paint some fabric for a chair I recovered. Finally, about a month or so ago, I realized that everything wasn't coming together like I wanted and I wasn't satisfied with the way any individual element was headed in. Add in the frustration of an unfinished apartment, still, after almost a year, and you have a complete redo of the partially done place. (Question- can you technically 'redo' anything if you never finished 'do-ing' in the first place? Hmm.)

Since I've re-evaluated and set up a different game plan, things have moved along much more swimmingly. Projects have come together quicker, rooms are no longer looking mismatched, and I am finally seeing an end in sight. Soon, the money I've been spending on decorating can be spent on more practical things... like clothes... or maybe shoes...*cough.* Anyway, the point is, I am thrilled to see my vision taking form so nicely and smoothly.

For my kitchen, I have gone with a more vintage/shabby chic feel, I have quite a few projects I've done already and a few I'm finishing up in there, but today's post is more about my living room/bedroom/study/movie room/dance studio (hey why not?). To keep things simple we'll from here on out refer to it as my 'Main Room.'

Now, in my main room, I have stepped a little bit outside of my comfort zone and have adapted a more modern theme to the space. I would say it's still a very mild modern, and probably would be rejected as such by connoisseurs of that sort of thing, but it is the best label that I can come up with right now. I have always had an appreciation for modern styles but never really felt like it was my ideal for my own house. I have found though, that it has been a lot of fun to decorate. I feel like I've been able to take a few more risks and play with things a bit more than I normally would have. Its allowed me to see how I can have a little more creativity in my style too and that adapting modern styles doesn't have to be sterile. I've also noticed that it's even fairly easy to combine certain styles to make it my own (ie-a few modern elements with a generally traditional style room, or vintage with a modern twist...) I have found the whole process so far very refreshing. Once I realized that the only rules are the ones I make, I felt much more confident in my decisions and thusly, my creativity took wing and has created a much more livable space.

So, without further ado (sidenote- anyone else realize how ironic the name of my blog is? Since when do I ever write the nutshell version of things? Wishful thinking I guess...) Anyway, without any further, further ado, here are some projects I have under way in my main room:

First up, a frame collage. I happen to be a bit of a picture frame collector. I love picture frames. So, I pulled out my stash of frames and set about arranging some of them into a collage. I laid them out first on my floor, then painted them, then laid them out again on a large sheet of paper (newspapers taped together, actually) marked where each one was on the paper, taped the paper to the wall, nailed nails, took the paper off and then hung the frames. I was a little excited about getting the project done so I didn't stop to take too many pictures in process. Also, my only working camera right now is my EVO and I didn't think that handling it with painty fingers was really the smartest thing to do. Also, the only working camera I have right now is my EVO so picture quality below is less than ideal. Just squint and they won't seem so blurry...

Before:

After:
I painted the frames white, light grey, and one or two dark grey. I wanted them to blend in fairly well to the wall, to keep the room looking as open as possible. I felt that if the frames were too dark, it would close up the already small room too much. I'm really happy with the way it looks. I just need to get some art in them and it will be done-done.

I picked up the lamp below at TJMaxx. When I found it, it had a glorious clearance tag on it knocking the price from $65 to $13. Despite it's ugly, clear, orange and brown color I knew it would be perfect in my space. It came with a shade too but it's too ugly to be photographed just yet. I spray painted the base a metallic silver. Looks muuuuch bettah. PS- WHY in Sam Hill are lamps so expensive? I'd like a 500 word, double spaced answer on my non-existent desk by Monday. Thanks.

This next picture is a close up of the "A" in my collage. I initially painted it a dark glossy grey but then had an idea to jazz it up a bit. I used one of those paper doily things that usually go under sheet cakes, laid the lacy edge across the long sides of the A and then sprayed on a lighter grey paint through the holes and it left the lace pattern when I removed the doily. I could have executed it a little better but it was an experiement after all. Overall it turned out pretty cool.

Stay tuned for other news in my redo/do. I've still got a few things up my sleeve. Perhaps even some more fabric painting in my future? I think the chances are likely.

*For those of you who read this whole thing: Bless you. I shall try to nutshell more. Maybe. No solid promises.

Keep in Mind

2010-06-09T09:52:00.002-06:00

I love words. Specific combinations of words, individual words, fun to say words. Some words stick out to me more than others. Some resonate with a world of meaning and seem to say more than a whole novel of words could.

It may seem strange that I like words so much. Especially since I have a hard time always finding the right ones to accurately express the thoughts and feelings rolling around in my intracranial cavity. I have often said that I don't always think in words. A lot of the time I feel that there are no words in existence to portray verbally what I experience in the recesses of my soul.

That being said, there are words I love and find endless significance in. One in particular is "Remember." I don't know exactly why this word stands out to me so much more than many others, but it has always impacted me. It carries so much within its 8 letters. Remember to wash the dishes. Remember to feed Charlie. Remember to write Grandpa. Remember that time when you literally felt your heart break? Remember what it feels like to be utterly and completely happy in the universe? Remember the feel of sand between your toes? Remember how loved you felt? Remember that everything isn't always sunshine and roses. Remember that there is a greater purpose and you are an integral part of it. Remember to stretch before a run. Remember who you are. Remember to laugh. Remember to breathe. Remember, remember.

Whenever this word is used, I know that something meaningful is going to be said. Something wonderful is going to be reminisced. Something consequential is going to be discussed. It's a powerful word. It encompasses more than just reflecting the past, it covers responsibility for the future and reminds us that we are fully equipped for it.

Even though everything there is to be remembered isn't necessarily warm and fuzzy, I feel hopefully empowered when I think on this word "remember."

And maybe that's why I like it so much.

In the Sun He Melted

2010-05-24T08:53:00.006-06:00

OK, I know that you're jealous of my time this weekend and in recent weekends past. You weren't invited and I undeniably didn't want you around. I'm sorry if that hurts your feelings but this is uncalled for.

You had your chance. Heck you even stayed around longer than normal and we dealt with it. All of us. We put up with it knowing that you'd be gone before too long. Why are you being so unreasonable?

It is over. I'm not joking. I can't even stand to look at you. We could have been fine, happy even, if you'd just learned when to let go.

This:

Is the last straw.

"Hi. It's Me."

2010-05-20T11:07:00.004-06:00

I called up an old friend the other day. And I mean old. This person has known me forever. They know everything I've ever done, everything I've ever said, everything I've ever felt or thought or pretended not to feel or think... Everything.

As we were talking I wondered why I had let so much time pass since I had last checked in. Admittedly, I kind of thought that since it had been so long and so much had happened it might be a little awkward at first to get conversation going. Heaven knows I'm awful at conversations, especially on the phone. But she knows all that.

I was relieved to find that the conversation was easy. Of course it was. Isn't it always? Don't I always feel comfortable talking to her? Isn't she always the best listener, the best advisor? I instantly felt that long, worn, intangible thread that was tying our existences together, tighten and pump life-giving energy into my psyche.

One of the things I like most about her is her ability to be perfectly honest and clear with me. No minced words. No cushioned cirticisms. She says it like it is. But never once has she offended me. Sometimes I don't ask her things because I'm afraid of what she'll say. Not because I think it will be hurtful or anything. It's because I know she'll be right, and maybe the answer isn't something I'm ready to act on yet.

She's also wonderful at appreciating me and telling me the good things about me without making me feel weird. I never know what to say when someone says something nice to/about me. She's always been so good at that. I still am not quite sure how she does it. She also seems to value my in-put and my spin on things. It's nice feeling like I mean as much to her as she does to me.

My biggest goal in life is to be like her. Honestly, everything about her I admire. She's patient, kind, funny, intelligent, humble, adventurous, brave, diligent, genuine. But mostly I admire her because she reminds me more of God than any one I've ever known.

The best part is, she's only a few words away. I should remember that more.

I Love Lucy

2010-05-10T14:05:00.012-06:00

I love Lucy.

Or... I love I Love Lucy.

Either way you say it, it's true.

I am a bit of an insomniac. Especially on Sunday nights for some reason. Maybe it has something to do with the dread and anxiety of another Monday unavoidably dawning, but Sunday nights are brutal. That's where Lucy comes in.

On those nights, when no matter how sleepy I am I cannot for the life of me fall/stay asleep, I turn on some Lucy (thanks to Bradford's nifty media server that houses an abundance of movies, tv shows, and music).

Lucy keeps me company and lulls me to sleep when I would otherwise be staring at the ceiling for hours on end painstakingly listening to the clock tick.

I guess if I am having a hard time falling asleep I could always read my old Biology textbook too. I swear that thing had sleeping powder in between the pages because without fail I would fall asleep just about any time I opened the dang thing to read it.

I like science. However, Lucy soothes me just a little bit better than the dynamics of a cell's structure.

So thank you Lucy and Ricky for your marital woes, your sometimes all too predictable plots, and your inevitable reconciliations with the Mertz's. You are the best thing about my insomnia.

Heeeeeeeere's Charlie!

2010-04-30T11:53:00.021-06:00

I decided it's time for you all to meet Charlie.

Charlie is a bundle of the sofest black and gray fur, a spunky, fearless, personality, and the cutest (albeit seemingly useless) little tail ever. Charlie is my bunny.

Bradford said he had been wanting to get me a bunny for a while and he figured that since he was leaving to the Philippines for two months it would be the perfect time to get me a bunny companion to keep me company while he was gone.

One Friday night, Bradford and I were driving from dinner to go look at some motorcycle pants that Bradford saw on the local classifieds for his upcoming trip (to the Philippines). We came upon this cute little house, got out of the car, and met the owner on the driveway. We started walking to a building behind the house (which I thought was a little odd, but whatever, maybe he keeps the pants in a garage). I immediately noticed all these animals! He had goats and birds and a dog and when we walked into the building there was a whole wall of cages, filled with the cutest bunnies ever.

I, still not catching on to the whole thing, said something along the lines of "Well, while you're checking out those pants I'm going to entertain myself with these cute fluffies." I remember the owner looking at me weird as if saying "what is she talking about" and then Bradford said, "Well, actually, this is the reason why we're here." I looked at him, still not really getting it, and he said, "I spoke with Renee (my landlady) and OKed it with her already. I wanted to surprise you." Boy was I ever! I was still processing it and trying to adjust the reality of not being there for pants but being there for me to pick out a rabbit friend, so the whole thing felt a little surreal at first. Let me just say, I am not very easily surprised, even if I can't guess what the surprise is, I can usually tell that something is up (makes for very anti-climactic surprise birthday parties...). So the fact that Bradford completely and utterly surprised me like I've never been surprised before was almost as good as what the surprise was!
Since that blissful Friday evening Charlie has been a pleasant addition to my household.

He is very playful but kind of picky about his toys. His favorites right now are the plastic grocery sack and old phone book. The grocery sack will keep him entertained for hours while he hops on it, flings it around, burrows in it... I think he likes the way it sounds, and how easy it is for him to move it.

The phone book he has had for a while but liked it better as a bed to sleep on than an actual toy. Recently, however, he has discovered that it is much more fun to shred it into little tiny pieces. When I come home from work the bathroom floor is usually strewn with little bits of recycled paper everywhere. I don't mind though because I like that he has something to do. A bored bunny= a naughty bunny.

I can sit and watch Charlie tirelessly. He is so funny. My favorite thing to watch him do is run and pounce all over the place. Its almost like he thinks something is chasing him the way he runs and ducks and hops around in circles and takes off at any given moment. He is a hoot.

He is also a good snuggler. Even though he is really active, he knows that every now and then a good snuggle is called for. He will cuddle up into my lap, close his eyes (sometimes even nudging my hand if I'm not taking the hint) and sit there contentedly as I pet him and rub his back.

I've had Charlie for a month now and I couldn't be happier. He has grown so much! I especially notice it in his feet and ears. He is currently being litter trained and is doing a pretty good job at it. I love bunnies, and Charlie has been everything I hoped for and more.

Yes, he is sitting in the trash can. Apparently he found out that if he jumped from the phone book he could get to the trash can and then to the toilet seat. One morning I found him sitting in the toilet bowl, absolutely soaked. It was so sad (although he didn't really seem to mind). I guess I forgot to close the lid the night before. I make sure to not leave it open now. I also invested in a lidded trash can because sitting in the trash? That's just gross Charlie.

*Most of the pictures were taken on my cell phone, hence the quality

Smell the Bacon

2010-04-21T16:21:00.004-06:00

Is it wrong that this makes me hungry?

I know what I'm having for dinner.

Time to Retire

2010-04-19T16:14:00.007-06:00

I'm picky when it comes to purses. I have a hard time finding purses I absolutely LOVE that aren't hundreds of dollars. I'm really good at falling in love with purses, but its usually quickly crushed by shock once I turn over the price tag. I don't like expensive things. Okay, I like expensive things, but I don't like paying for expensive things, nor do I believe that those expensive things justifiably cost what their staggering price tags scream they do.

Back to the point- once upon a time I was in the market for a purse. I searched high and low and couldn't find anything I was satisfied with. My purse at the time had suffered a severe handle fracture and therefore I was in dire need of something to carry around all my chapstick and receipts and gum wrappers in (STAT!) so I decided to find a "go between" (read: a-cheapie-$6-purse-from-Ross-that-I-embellished-with-silk-flowers-I-made-into-pins-to-hide-its-plainess-so-I-had-something-to-cart-around-my-belongings-in-until-I-found-something-I-loved).

It has been 10 months and I still have my go between. Now I need a go between for my go between. I've been doing some projects for my apartment and am apparently just living up to my klutzy tendencies because I got some of the paint I was using onto my purse's flower pins. That, and the fact that the petals are starting to fray and they're looking kinda dingy anyway. *Sigh*

I guess it's time to start the purse hunt again. Wish me luck.

P.S.

I also need to start looking for a new everyday coat... I just discovered a strikingly similar smudge of blue on the elbow of my current one. At least for this I have until it's winter time again.

P.P.S.

Which by the way the weather's been lately means next week.

My "New" Car

2010-04-14T09:44:00.012-06:00

Ok, in the world of bloghood I have severely slacked on the postings as of late. Its been over a month, actually since my last post. Sad.

I have much to blog about though, so stay tuned for some exciting tales from my corner of the world.

First off, the long awaited car reveal! The pictures are the only ones I have of my car and were taken courtesy of my blackberry on the day I bought the car. I was so excited and wanted to send pictures of it to everyone in my address book so hooray for excitment or you would only have text and no pictures. I think the car looks kinda funny in the pictures, but, since they are the only pictures I have, they will have to suffice until I take more. If I take more...

After much deliberation, comparing, drooling, refocusing, and deep breaths, I finally decided that the car I wanted, the car I would be happy in, the car I imagined I would still be happy in until I or it died, was a Toyota Rav 4. The trouble with that, however, is that I didn't want to get anything older than a 2006. That meant I'd be skirting up in the high end of my budget, if not beyond, in most cases.

Bradford was very helpful through the entire process and even drove to and back from L.A. within a 24 hour time period to go look at a 2006 Rav 4 he found on eBay for a steal.

Unfortunately, the car in CA was not what we had expected. However, it opened up the door of searching again and through that searching we found a little credit union that had a lot of repos, one of them was a beautiful, silver, 2007 Rav 4, with barely 44,000 miles on it, 4wd, and a free roadside assistant kit that the previous owner forgot about in the trunk :)! After test driving and thinking it over for a day or so, I knew it was the car I wanted.

The nice thing about buying the car was that since it was a credit union, I didn't have to pay any of the ridiculous fees that come with buying at a dealership, and since they'd had the car for so long and wanted to get it off their hands, we talked him down to giving it to me for the blue book trade in value which was $2,500 less than what they had listed it for in the classifieds, and by far WAY less than I could get a Rav 4 for anywhere else. Especially for the year and condition it was in. I was very happy with the purchase and am still thrilled about it. I really like the car.

The only cons I can think of are: the transmission- I would have loved a manual transmission but I was having a hard enough time finding Rav 4s for sale let alone a manual transmission Rav 4. It was weird adjusting to driving an automatic after having driven a manual for so long, but it really isn't that big of a deal, it was just a preference more than anything. I also would have liked a different color. Again, a very minor, relatively irrelevant, detail but if I could have chosen any color it probably wouldn't have been the silver. I also find myself wishing it had some of the fancy gadgets and gizmos that come from newer cars these days like heated seats, navigation systems, and so on but those aren't necessities and if I really wanted to, I could get those things put in.

So, after all is said and done, I love my car, the awful and painful process of finding and buying a car is over and I am pleased as punch with my purchase.

Or rather... the bank's purchase. Ew.

DMV

2010-03-09T09:24:00.004-07:00

I went to the DMV this morning. It took a less than ten minutes from walking in to walking out. The lady helping me was pleasant. I was the only person there beside the dozen or so employees. The registration fee ended up being a LOT cheaper than I was told it might be. I got my license plates right there- not temps, the real deal yo. And I left happy.

But then, as I was walking to my car, I had this horrible feeling that it couldn't possibly have been that easy. It couldn't possibly have been such a simple process. What did I do wrong? Is this just the calm before the storm? Are they going to lose my title before my bank gets it back from them?! Is my license plate number somehow registered mistakenly to two vehicles?! Will by debit card be charged again for some strange hidden fees that I somehow unknowingly signed to? What did I even sign anyway? Why didn't I read it all?! WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?!?!?

Breathe... maybe Utah Gov has stepped up their game? Maybe... Hopefully.

Pictures of my lovely are still pending. Life is... intense... right now. If I ever think to nab some pictures despite the mayhem I'll be sure to post them.

Goodie

2010-03-04T08:54:00.003-07:00

I have my car. I love it. I will have pictures soon.

Thank goodness that whole process is over... almost. Still have to make it to the DMV. Wish me luck!

Wheels Keep on Turning

2010-02-09T11:44:00.011-07:00

I am in the market for a car.

I'm also in the market for a new purse. But that's beside the point...

I decided that since I am now debt free, what better way to celebrate than by diving headfirst into the pool of debt again?! Yay...

But really, it is kind of yay. Bradford has been awesome and has all but given up use of his car for the past year for me to use to drive all over Utah for work. I figured that now its time to join the rest of the grown-ups in this world and purchase my own car.

Initially, Bradford convinced me to just keep using his car for a while longer, save up a bunch of money, and then pay what I could in cash for a car and take a smaller loan out for the remainder if I had too. Smart fellow that Bradford. However, recent developments have changed the game plan a little. Blackie, Bradford's car, has started to have a few... hiccups lately. Bradford has decided that instead of dealing with the inevitable hundreds of dollars these new hiccups will cost in the near future, that he will sell Blackie and buy a motorcycle. For those days when a motorcycle just won't cut it (ie- 7.786 months out of the year when Utah is covered in white stuff and is a constant freezing-degrees-faranheit) then I will repay my debt to him by letting him use my car when necessary.

I am excited. But not. I will have a lovely car that will have more than two doors (making shopping MUCH more convenient... however that may make the whole "debt free" thing even more a thing of the past... OK, I'm kidding), transporting furniture will be less of a pain in my behindular (I am still perfecting my apartment and have more furnitures that need to be brought in), and it will be more reliable and comfy and a myriad of other things. But then there's the "but." I hate debt. I don't want to be in any more debt. I can easily make a car payment each month, no sweat, but that means less money stowed away into my savings every paycheck. That makes me :(. Besides, cars are pure money pits. I mean, all they do is take money from you. They hardly do anything in return to compensate... besides that whole transporting-my-being-in-comfort-and-safety bit of course...

But, I guess the fact that I can own a car, pay for my own apartment AND still plug away a few hundred bucks into savings each month should be enough to make me :) right? Right.

I feel like all I have been looking at is cars. My head is spinning. The wheels inside my head are spinning with wheels. Wheels, and MPGs, and reliability ratings, and interior specs, and dollar signs... The other day as I was leaving work I had to stop for a minute and think really hard as to which car I was walking to because I had been picturing myself in so many different cars all day that I couldn't remember what car I actually had. Good gravy.

I hope I can make a decision soon. I just want to get it done all ready. Car shopping is tiresome! This little guy has been a good help though:

Wish me luck!

He's Hot

2010-01-27T09:30:00.008-07:00

I just wanted to share with you all a tried and tested method for cooling off after a grueling workout.
Yesterday when I got home from work, Bradford was at my apartment doing a P90X routine with Tony and crew sweating away on the 50" TV we recently purchased for my place. I started on dinner while he was finishing up. Once he finished however, the wide open window letting in the crisp winter air still wasn't enough to cool him off. He quickly ran outside, and barely mentioned his plan to me before I was able to snatch my camera and run to stand in my bath tub to take pictures out the window of his adventure down below.

I'm still not sure if sweaty man covered in snow is better than just sweaty man, but he sure seemed to like it. And apparently it was quite effective in cooling him down. Feel free to use this method if you so desire.

(Please ignore the poor picture quality. My flash reflected off the window screen so I turned it off, and I didn't have time to make it any better since I would have missed the opportunity if I hadn't hurried. We wouldn't have wanted to miss this now would we?)

In other news, Bradford and I are working on getting Claire, his cockatiel, moved out of Bradford's parents' house and into my apartment. Her current cage is gargantuan and since my apartment is not, we purchased a more reasonably sized cage for my place. It is darling, and perfect for her since she loves to sit on top of her cage. I'm really looking forward to having her with me!

Helpful Hint

2010-01-21T10:18:00.004-07:00

If you just so happen to be dressing up some plain old picture frames by gluing wooden decorations to them, and your adhesive of choice just so happens to be Gorilla Glue, and when gluing said wooden things you happen to get Gorilla glue on your fingers do not continue your project thinking you'll just wash up later. In addition, do not proceed to paint the aforementioned picture frames while the Gorilla glue is still lingering (and yes, drying) onto your poor little fingers, black paint and all.

Unfortunately, just about any home remedy you can think of at this point will be in vain. You are now stuck with black paint smudges glued to your fingers until your skin cells decide to cycle out. And yes, it will still be just as bad the next morning while you are frantically scrubbing trying to improve them before work. Shoulda washed your hands at the first sign of contact, genius.

Please learn from my mistakes. I think I'm going to invest in some disposable gloves...

(PS- wearing your brand new, silk, J Crew shirt while carrying out this project is probably not advisable either. Thankfully, that was one casualty averted.)

Full of Fluff

2010-01-12T08:31:00.010-07:00

This weekend I finally sat down and made my long overdue couch pillows. After struggling with the large amount of red in my living room, I finally settled on my complimentary color(s). I chose a range of blues that I felt would play well with the red but not seem too overbearing or out of place. I'm pretty happy with the end result.

I had a bunch of random throw pillows that I've kept around with this project in mind so I used those for my pillow forms instead of going out and buying some. They worked really well and were virtually free since I've had them for so long. To make the covers I used the same simple pattern I used on the last pillow I made, a simple envelope type idea so the pillow forms can be removed easily if I ever want them to be.

For one of the pillows I made I used the same linen fabric I used on my stockings (you'll be seeing this fabric elsewhere in other upcoming projects also- I really love the look and feel of it and its super cheap). I had the idea of stenciling some kind of pattern onto the front and I decided on a crown (don't ask me why... I think I remember seeing something similar in a Pottery Barn catalog).

I searched online for an image of a crown, found one I liked, printed it out, and used my x-acto knife to cut out the parts of the crown I wanted to use for my design. Then, I used a sponge brush to paint on the pattern with some dark blue acrylic paint.

After the image dried, I stuffed it and finished sewing up the two side ends (I'd sewn the top and bottom together before I painted) while adding a blue ruffle trim into the seam. Ta-da! I didn't end up absolutely loving the end result of the pattern but I think it'll do just fine for now. The next day I had the idea of doing an antique key stencil instead of a crown, so maybe on the pillow I'm going to make for my chair I'll go that route.

I think the pillows look pretty good, and its pulling together my color scheme nicely. I still have lots of projects to go until I feel I can call my place "done" but I'm really enjoying the progress I'm making.

I still have some pillows to make for my ottoman/window seat. Luckily this is one of the easiest and fastest projects so I can probably whip those out one of these nights after work.

Stay tuned for this weekend's project: wall art for my kitchen!

It Isn't Christmas Anymore

2010-01-07T09:12:00.009-07:00

I know that Christmas was SO last year (har har...) but I am a slacker and the only post I have for the whole month of December was on the 31st. And I didn't even write it. And it definitely wasn't for lack of material to blog about, I just never made the time to sit down and actually do it. So, though this post is a bit late, I am going to post it anyway.

A few weeks before Christmas, Bradford's mom let me know that she would no longer be stuffing his stocking for him and that if I didn't want his Christmas to be ruined I'd better pick it up this year. Or, something like that... Anyway, since Bradford no longer had a stocking to call his own and mine (and my family) are hundreds of miles away, I decided that to stuff a stocking there must first be a stocking to stuff! Ergo, I had a project on my hands. I guess I could have just gone out and bought a couple stockings and called it good, that would have been the easy (and sane) thing to do, but apparently I relish a challenge (and am not sane, but we all knew that didn't we?).

Having never made a stocking, or even thought of making a stocking, I only had a general idea of what I wanted it to look like. I went to the fabric store, picked out some fabrics I liked and that complemented each other, brought them home, scratched my head a few times, stared at them, scratched my head again, and then held my breath and started cutting. I did have the idea of drawing out on tissue paper what I wanted the final shape of the stocking to look like and I used that as my pattern. I laid it on the fabric and used a crayon to trace around it about an inch from the egde of the tissue pattern like so:

I had linen fabric for both stockings and then a red striped fabric for one and a green fabric for the other. I cut out four shapes of the linen and then two each from the red and green fabrics.

After they were cut, I laid two of each piece together, marked with my crayon where I wanted the stitch to be, pinned them and then sewed them, leaving the top open.

Next, I grabbed one of the linen stockings and one of the colored stockings, turned them both inside out, sewed the openings together with a bit of lace in the seam, then turned them back right side out and the result was a lovely stocking that was reversible to be either red/green with a linen cuff or linen with a red/green cuff. And I must say, they turned out MUCH better than I expected them to. My seams were clean and straight, the shape turned out well, and they looked pretty close to what I imagined.

I decided to dress them up a bit by making pins for each of them. One had a bow and snowflake (the bow I made and the snowflake was an ornament I found at the dollar store) and the other was a rose that I made from ribbon (which was surprisingly easy to make and turned out pretty). I made them pins so that if I wanted to reverse the stocking I could unpin and re-pin them interchangeably.
I really enjoyed making these and it re-boosted my desire to get cracking on the ever growing list of other projects I have brewing up my sleeve. Hopefully I'll be getting one or two of them knocked out this weekend. Wish me luck!

P.S. Yes, one of those projects is to fix my blog background. Promise.

San Pedro and Going Home

2009-12-31T11:53:00.005-07:00

This is part 4 of a 4 part blog about Julie and Bradford’s trip to Belize. Posts 1 and 3 will be written by Julie, while posts 2 and 4 will be written by Bradford.

The delay in finishing up this travelogue has more to do with me wanting to forget the worst part of our Belize trip than simple procrastination. In fact, it was such a sad leg that we realized on our way out that we hadn't taken any photos on Ambergris Caye! And that is a shame since it really is beautiful, despite all the development due to tourism.

On day 6 we woke up very early in the morning in order to catch the early bus to Belize City. Ian happily gave us a ride to the bus stop even though the sun had not yet risen. Hickatee and its hosts Ian and Kate were the highlight of our Belize trip. We will definitely return and would urge any other travelers in southern Belize to visit them as well (a perfect rating with 80 reviews says a lot!).

The bus ride to Belize City was better than our other buses since this time we were lucky to grab a seat on a charter-style bus, not the regular school bus style we were used to. It was a good thing too, since the bus ride was very long.

Finally arriving in Belize City at the bus terminal, we stopped at our favorite food shack and shared a light lunch of chicken and rice made in the Belizean way. We then continued our walk out to the docks, only about 1/2 to 1 mile away from the terminal. Arriving there, we paid for our tickets and waited to board. The sea was beautiful on the way out to San Pedro and about an hour later we disembarked the ferry and rode a cab out to Pedro's Inn. Pedro's Inn is really a hostel with a bar on the ground level. We didn’t mind staying in a hostel since it was inexpensive and we planned on spending very little time there. Our agenda was full and we couldn't wait to get started!

Since it was too late to do any snorkeling, we decided to have a walk about town. After we returned we ordered a pizza at Pedro's Inn. Soon after, however, my gut started protesting (if not the pizza, then something else). I quickly realized a horrible case of TRAVELER'S DIARRHEA. We only had a few days on San Pedro and I was to be shackled to the toilet for the entirety of it. Talk about terrible timing!

I feel so bad for Julie who was forced to share my fate - at least the fate of being confined to our tiny two-bed box that was our room. Julie, I promise we will return! I have to make up for denying her the opportunity to snorkel in such a beautiful turquoise sea.

As we were getting a taxi to leave Pedro's Inn I noticed a worker at the hostel cleaning out a pipe to the septic tank. Later, I recalled small signs (which I ignored in my abject misery) around the bathroom warning not to flush the toilet paper. I will definitely tip the guys at the hostel well when we return! I can’t help but laugh however at the mental image of the poor guy cursing in his Belizean accent at the septic tank trying to unclog it.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We rode the ferry back to Belize City, caught a taxi to the airport, faced a profoundly irate airport worker, flew home, and went to sleep.

This trip was wonderful – it was (relatively) cheap and we had MUCH more fun than if we had bummed around a resort. In the famous words of General Douglas MacArthur,

[WE] SHALL RETURN!

PS- Side note from Julie- please ignore the ill-fitting background on my blog. It is under construction... :)

Its Done!

2009-11-17T08:56:00.009-07:00

I've finally finished my chair! After painstakingly hunting down a fabric, and then modifying it to fit my decor perfectly, this weekend was the crux of the whole operation.

I've made covers for this chair before (I decorated the living room in the house Bradford used to live in and his beloved bright red and black trimmed chairs did not make the cut for the color scheme). So this time around I knew better what not to do and what would work well. They ended up being a nice snug fit and looking pretty darn good.

They were super easy to make. All I did was pin and sew the fabric around the cushions to get a tailored fit and then I added a zipper to the back sides so I can take them off and recover them again if I ever feel like it. The hardest part was getting the zipper on, but even that was more or less a cinch.

Above is the twin to my chair. Its currently residing in Bradford's bedroom. He loves them. And I love them too. They are super comfortable. But I like them best when they are covered :) ... they're just so... RED. And my very red couch is PLENTY red for this room.

I was nervous that I might not have enough fabric for both cushions but- wonder of wonders- not only did I have enough fabric for both cushions, I had enough to make a pillow cover too! I haven't decided where I'm actually going to put the pillow yet, I have some other ideas in mind for the pillows on my couch, but for now that's where it sits. Side note- I've never understood why throw pillows or even just pillow covers cost so much to buy from the store. Seriously, they are so easy to make that I have a really hard time buying pillows from the store. Unless they are on clearance at TJ Maxx or something... Anyway, to make this I basically just made an envelope with the fabric and had the two ends overlap eachother in the back so I can slip the pillow in and out if I want to change the cover or something. Easy peasy.

Also, on another home operation note- I recently purchased and recieved from Amazon a little vacuum for my place! I couldn't afford a normal vacuum, plus I only have about a 12' x 15' space of carpet, the rest is wood flooring and tile, so I don't really need a full size vac. And this guy is perfect. He was only $46, I can use it on my wood, tile, and carpet floors, and it actually has a pretty powerful suction so it does a great job. Its also easy to store in my limited closet space since its compact. And its red, I love red... just not red chairs obviously... strange. And the cherry on top- its called a Hoover "Flair". How cute is that? I can't take the credit for this find though, Bradford, with his astute deal finding skills, did some research and found this one after comparing reviews and products. Gosh I like having him around.

Update from the Home Front

2009-10-26T10:57:00.006-06:00

I am still in the process of finishing all the nooks and crannies of my apartment. (Moving and situating a new place is expensive- both monetarily and time wise.) The most recent thing I have been working on is getting my fabric ready to cover my chair and ottoman. The material I found for my chair was a great price, but it was missing any red to tie in the big red couch sitting in the same room with it. So, what I decided to do was to paint some of the flowers on the material red myself. This is what it looked like before:

And this is what it looks like now after my handiwork:

I was pretty satisfied with how well the red ended up matching the red of my couch. And I think it livens up the fabric quite a bit too.

All that is left now is to sew the covers! That is my project for today after work.

Slowly but surely, I am getting this apartment looking snazzy.

P.S.
Stay tuned for pictures of the kitchen buffet Bradford built for me. It is lovely and now I can actually cook without pulling out my hair or having to sit down with a cutting board on my lap in the living room... Bless him.

I Glove You

2009-10-19T09:41:00.005-06:00

As mentioned before, I love a good deal. I can't help it. I don't just like inexpensive things-I like expensive things that I can get for way cheaper than normal.

Exhibit A: 100% leather gloves with 100% silk lining
Lord and Taylor brand
Beautiful dark pink
Retail price: $100
My price? Oh yeah, $19.99.
I've been wanting some nice leather gloves for these cold seasons upon us and I happened to stop by Ross and found these beauties. Can you love a glove? Because I think I do...

I also bought these soft, plum purple gloves, Fossil brand, retail $35, which I got for $5. Because you can't wear pink leather gloves with a hoodie right? I can justify anything...

Another reason I love these gloves (both pairs) is because they are longer so I won't have any exposed wrists to suffer the cold. I hate being cold. So I love that idea.

Also, if you'll take a gander with me at Exhibit B:

Eco friendly
Real bamboo handles
Soft, supple, cruelty free bristles
Oh and don't forget the generously portioned 4 free sample jars of mineral based face powder you can get with any purchase

I bought 5 brushes, my grand total after shipping, etc: $28.59. Uhm, have any of you out there shopped for make-up brushes? They is dang expensive. So the fact that I got 5 lovely brushes for the price of one in any normal shop is enough to tickle my budget-minded fancy. LOVE these. What's even better about the price? I was fully prepared to pay the $33 (before tax) for these brushes but for some reason (not one that I'm complaing for mind you) the total showed a "Discount" line that took off almost $9 of that price! I hadn't entered a promo code or anything. They apparently just sensed how wonderful I was and wanted to honor me with a discount... or so I can keep telling myself.

Some might be skeptical, buying make-up brushes so cheap, but I have been using brushes by eco tools which you can buy at target, ulta, and online at just about at any beauty store, and I love them. They've held up really well and stayed super soft and applied evenly- I love them. They range from $4-$10 and when I first got them I was sure they'd be cheap and I'd just have to end up getting newer ones soon so they were my temporary stand in until I found better ones. But I never did. Mostly because the price tags on any others quickly deterred me, but also because they seemed pretty on par with my eco tools. Maybe these don't compare to high-end brushes- I couldn't tell ya, I've never used anything else- but they sure have worked great for me.

I have a feeling these brushes from everyday minerals will be just as good as my eco tools. I'm excited to try their make-up too. Its pretty reasonably priced and if I like my free samples, I might just come back to try some more!

Anyway, have a lovely day all and I hope everyone is making the most of this autumn season. I personally plan to be scared out of my wits at things popping out of a cornfield at me all night, among other activities planned for the coming up weeks.

Frugally yours,
Julie

Time for Change

2009-10-09T09:13:00.003-06:00

I've recently been in the market for a new blog background. I've had my blog for about a year and a half now and I think its time to try out a new background.

I've meandered the usual haunts and nothing is particularly sticking out to me.

Does anyone have a site for free backgrounds that they like? I've checked out a handful but let me know what ones you love and maybe I'll find some inspiration.

Class dismissed.

Must be Fall

2009-10-01T14:00:00.003-06:00

I have officially hung up my "spooky" sign on my apartment door.

I am ready for October.

The Red

2009-09-17T09:00:00.004-06:00

Here is a picture of my red couch that I promised some of you I would post. The picture is grainy, and makes the couch look more orange than red, but trust me, this sucker is red. Very red.

Soon I will have the pillows recovered and my decorations will be going up, so stay tuned for the final results!

I Love Tomatoes

2009-09-15T10:19:00.008-06:00

Hey look! I wrote another post!

I don't really have a good excuse for how long its been, other than I moved last month and most of my time has been spent getting my new apartment put together. I don't have any pictures of the place right now but once everything is all up and finished I will gladly share with you my cute little studio apartment that I've really come to love.

My most recent addition to the place is a big red sofa bed. Since I don't have a bedroom (its a studio, remember?) I had to decide if I'd rather have a bed or a couch. The space isn't big enough to have both so I flirted around with a lot of ideas. At first I was going to get one of those loft beds. Basically a bunkbed without the bottom bunk, so there would be room for a desk or couch or whatever underneath it. But then I couldn't find any that were really worth spending a couple hundred bucks on and I then went to the idea of a futon. Not your traditional futon. Because I hate the way those ones look. I wanted something that looked like a couch but also flattened out into a sleeping space. There are "click-clack" sofas that are basically futons but they look like a couch. I spent a lot of time tracking down ones I liked and almost bought a few on seperate occasions. I was never really impressed with the reviews though, and never did find one I LOVED. They also made them out to be pretty cheaply manufactured and I wanted something that was going to last. An investment really. Plus the idea of spending $500 on a cheap sofa that I didn't love wasn't very intriguing.

I was just about to resign myself to sleeping on an air mattress for the rest of my time here when on a whim Bradford and I stopped at the RC Willey outlet Saturday morning. He had orginally suggested, back when I first rented the place, that I just get a sofa bed. His point was that it would be sturdier than a click-clack and probably last longer, which I agreed with, but for some reason I was really turned off to the idea of a sofa bed. I just thought I would find it a huge hassle to pull out and unfold my bed every night as opposed to just laying it flat. I really didn't even consider it. Plus, I figured the only ones I would be able to afford would be used ones bought on the local classifieds and that just screams "gross" to me. But, after all my other options seemed to fall flat on their faces I came around to the idea of getting a sofa bed. I even got excited about finding one in the classifieds because then I could recover it in whatever fabric I wanted and so it wouldn't matter how ugly it was! I liked that idea. I found a few that were reasonably priced but after going to look at them in person and watching a guy fall through the mattress to the ground (after he sat on it proclaiming, "its really sturdy too,") I was starting to feel a little discouraged again (after a good chuckle of course).

Back to RC Willey- We asked a sales associate what sofa beds they had and he showed us the first of three that he had. It was a red micro-fiber classic styled sofa bed that was deliciously priced at $419. Clearanced, since the style has been discontinued. After sitting on it, and seeing the price tag, what little hesitation I may have had over the tomato red fabric was gone. I loved it. "I'll take it!" I said, whole-heartedly, even after only 5 minutes of being in the store (that factor alone about knocked Bradford over with relief). The sales person then told us that if we came back to pick it up the same day we would get 20% off! That means I could get this sucker for $358 TOTAL. Tax included. I could have cried.

Even the smashed up toe and ridiculous frustration it took getting the blasted thing up the stairs to my apartment was so worth it.

Pictures forthcoming.

One in a Million

2009-08-11T19:57:00.004-06:00

Today I'm not going to blog about any of the million blogable topics I surprisingly have on hold up in my gray matter. Because lately I have been much too occupied with this:

to even think clearly enough about anything else.

Number one thing I want to do when I get home from work: sleep. Until I couldn't possibly sleep anymore.

Number one thing I actually do when I get home from work: not sleep. I try as hard as I can to keep myself far away from my bed or anything else remotely comfortable so I can stay awake and pack some more, possibly take another load to the new apartment, and then try to scrounge up something not too entirely random to eat for dinner.

I hope that once I am settled in my lovely new place I will find more energy to be productive. Blogwise and otherwise.

Moving is not my favorite.

Bye Bye

2009-08-02T21:05:00.005-06:00

I am not ashamed to admit I have a blankie.

I am sad to inform you that I have now decided to bid farewell to said blankie.

I think he has had one too many stitch-ups and it is time to finally go.

Bye Blankie. You’ve served me well. You’ve protected me from spooky monsters in the closet. You made the best princess skirt ever with the help of a few safety pins and dad’s belt. You dutifully caught many tears shed from an emotional Julie on more than a few occasions. And you kept me warm and safe when all I needed was a good night’s sleep or a Sunday afternoon nap.

I’ll miss you Blankie, but I’ll keep part of you to remember you by.

Thanks for the snuggles.

Blessed Day!

2009-07-31T15:29:00.000-06:00

FYI:
I will no longer be homeless in a few weeks. I've found a darling little studio apartment at the low end of my budget.

I'm just a teensy bit thrilled.

Lovely day to you all.

He's Done it Again

2009-07-22T10:10:00.011-06:00

That boy, he's gone and done it again! I came in to work today and what should I find waiting for me on my desk? A beautiful bouquet of roses, that's what.

Bradford is so sweet. I don't care what people say about flowers being a waste of money, yaddy yaddy yadda... I think they are wonderful and they make me blissfully happy. Especially when they smell so delicious.

I am kinda a dummy though. Once I got to work and bubbled over my gift for a little bit, I looked online to find the snowboarding helmet Bradford told me to look at so I could order it, and I called him to ask him a question about it and I didn't even say a single word about the flowers!!! I felt like a jerk. I then proceeded to text him and tell him I was sorry for being so daft and that I loved him and his beautiful flowers (Thanks again Bradford! You're a gem).

Anyway, everyone should have a bouquet of fresh flowers by their desk. Especially from a loved one. You just can't have a bad day with them sitting next to you.

*And here's a picture of my helmet. Its lovely too.

And still stay tuned for Savannah/Charleston stuff. I know you all are just DYING to know all about it ;)

Vacation...

2009-07-20T12:23:00.003-06:00

...was good.

Just what the doctor ordered.

At least, they would have if I was seeing a doctor.

Stay tuned for pictures.

REJUlieVENATION

2009-07-09T08:58:00.008-06:00

Do you ever feel like all you need in life is an escape? That everything in the world will be set back upright if you could just stop time for a little while, and do something-anything- that doesn't reek of responsibility and "must-do?" Yeah. I figured you did.

I've been feeling that way a lot lately. More often than normal. I can usually expect to feel that way a few times in the year, but the past month or so its almost been an every other day thing. Now, it could be due in part to the fact that I have been living here in Provo for 4 1/2 years (longer than I've ever lived ANYwhere mind you, by about a year and a half), and I'm feeling antsy because everything about my biological time clock says its time to uproot and head to a new place. I never thought I would feel inclined to do that. I hated moving around as a kid. Now, in retrospect, I can see how much good it did for me. Back to the point though: I need to get out.

Maybe labeling it as an "escape" latches a too negative connotation onto things. I like my life. I've got it pretty good: Good job. Great boyfriend. Learning new things everyday. Feeling more and more comfortable with myself and who I am... So its not like I feel this desire to run away from everything and shut things out of my head because they're too exhausting or whatever to bear. I do however think that I do need a spontaneous South Carolinan adventure or an unexpected trip to Belize every now and then to keep my head on straight. To re-focus me to who I am and what I want and need from life. Rejuvenation. What a beautiful idea! And so essential to sanity...

On a smaller scale, even just treating myself to a $100 shopping "spree" is sometimes all I need to get that little extra boost. No, I'm not a shopaholic... I'm much too practical. The desire is there, the guts however, are not. Every now and then though its healthy for me to be a little irresponsible (just a little). Helps keep me loose and not so high strung... just ask my sisteritas about the asparagus basil ravioli incident of '09...

I have also learned that it is harmful to my psyche to ignore these urgings. If I do, these feelings turn into ugly facades that my life is unpleasant and that my life has all these problems and it would be better if I just dropped this old life, moved to New Mexico (where I think part of my heart will always live) and become a new me and start a new phase. These thoughts I know are false and completely distorted. If you remember, my life is great. And if there really were so many issues in my life, they'd find me again, no matter where I plop down. And life goes by fast enough without me rushing it along. I need to enjoy it. All these feelings do is make me a cynical grouch, even if just temporarily.

Ergo, its much better to listen to those desires for adventure, satisfy them, then return with a smile (and decreased stress level) to the life I love.

Charleston, you never looked so good.

Fireflife

2009-06-23T23:07:00.006-06:00

A recent blog post by my friend Shanna has set me to thinking. I absolutely LOVE fireflies. They are a wondrous miracle. Sometimes I think God created them just to bring sheer joy to our lives. There really is something magical about the soft blinking in the serene dusk of a cooling summer day...

My first memory of seeing a firefly was when I was in kindergarten. We were living in Ohio at the time and I remember feeling like I was experiencing something akin to a real life fairytale. Amazingly, when I was older and again lived in places that I was lucky enough to be around fireflies, I felt the same way I did as a 5 year old. I love that. Sometimes I feel a lot of the magic I found in life when I was a kid has disappeared. Its wonderful to realize that I haven't lost all of it.

I also remember going "firefly hunting." I couldn't help but smile and feel energized during these hunts, no matter how ridiculous I might've looked. I spent countless evenings outside chasing around the blinking lights, earnestly trying to capture one little bug to marvel over in the cup of my hand, without even realizing how much time had passed. Even if I was outside all evening and I didn't catch a single one, I'd still come home thrilled from the experience.

Firefly evenings left me feeling invigorated and happy, all while pursuing my mission: getting me an up close and personal view of one of those lightin' bugs. I didn't always. Sometimes all I caught was the smile on a grown man's face as he jumped around the yard like a child. I guess accomplishment can have many faces. There's probably fewer disappointments to be found with that realization, even in the event of not catching a desired firefly.

Even if I don't actually catch a firefly every time I chase after one I hope that I can come away, glad to have tried anyway. Although I may not have caught a firefly, despite all that running around, I at least learned how cool grass feels between bare toes. Success can look different at one end from the other.

One thing I have learned from these many hunts is that there is a magic hour of twilight when all the world seems to be twinkling aglow with fireflies- but they don't stay out all night. After a few hours you'd be lucky to still find one flickering around. Sometimes though I need to just get out there and watch, even if I don't feel like catching a firefly right away. At least I would be where I needed to be if I ever decided to go after one. Its a few steps closer than sitting inside watching TV and then deciding I might like to look at one, only to realize that by the time I make it out the door it may be too late...

I guess what I mean by all this is that these days I'd rather be out on the porch, ready with my hole punched lid and jar. Just in case.

Maximize my Maximus

2009-06-12T11:40:00.003-06:00

I am on a mission to work out 5 days a week for 90 days. I am also limiting my treats and sweets intake as well as eating three well balanced meals every day. So far so good. Its only the second week but I feel great!

It was surprisingly easy, too, to start waking up at 5:45 every morning to go to the gym with Bradford. Especially since I am not a morning person. I don't function well before the sun comes up. I think because its summer time though and the sun rises a little earlier than the rest of the year, I've been able to make the transition fairly well. There have been a few mornings when we've copped out and instead went to the gym after work, but for the most part we've been pretty diligent.

I'm excited to be in a new workout routine. As I've mentioned before on here, I tend to go in phases, as I'm sure most people do, with working out like a dream for a month or two and then all of a sudden it stops. Don't know what makes me do that but it almost always happens. I'm hoping this phase will last a lot longer.

Wish me luck!!!

P.S.
You can look at my nifty little calendar over yonder -> to make sure I'm keeping on track :)

Up

2009-06-08T09:12:00.006-06:00

Bradford and I saw "Up" on Saturday night. It is probably one of the best movies I have ever seen. Not only was it entertaining but I was amazed at the skill of the animation. Incredible!

I cried a little and laughed a lot. One of the best parts of the whole thing was that it wasn't overly predictable. Which I loved. Its probably more of an adult movie than a kids movie in that the humor would probably be lost on most kids, but I definitely recommend seeing it!

We watched it in 3D. This is us in our cool glasses.

Don't Be Chicken

2009-06-03T08:39:00.002-06:00

I have to share another recipe. It just so happens to be from Better Homes and Garden again, this time from their website. This particular one caught my eye a week ago. Ready for it? It may seem a little strange but seriously I'm on the verge of drooling just thinking about it now that I've partaken of its deliciousness. OK, here it is: Parmesan-Stuffed Chicken and Melted Strawberries. Ack, I can hardly type it without wanting to eat a plate full of it right now...

Uh. May. Zing. This recipe was incredibly easy. Easy to make, easy on the eyes, easy on the tastebuds. No, I take they back. They were incredibly cruel to the tastebuds. It leaves them unhappy when you finish eating and you realize that there is no more left. I made the mistake of only making two chicken breasts worth. I only had two chicken breasts, but if I had known how good it would be I would have run to the store first.

Mind you, I was a bit skeptical. And the only reason I printed the recipe off and decided to make it was because I happened to have a surplus of strawberries in my freezer (due to a tragically failed attempt at a strawberry shortcake recipe) so I was looking for a reason to use them. When I saw that the recipe called for fresh basil, chicken, strawberries, fresh parmesan cheese, and balsamic vinegar... I thought I must be crazy to try this. Then I realized that I love all of those things, so who's to say they wouldn't be amazing all together? I was very pleasantly surprised.

The only alterations I made, other than decreasing the amount of chicken breasts, were that I used fresh Parmesan cheese that was already shredded instead of slices since that's all I had. Oh, and I didn't have white wine vinegar or white balsamic vinegar so I used a little more than half regular white distilled vinegar (that isn't the same thing as white balsamic vinegar is it?...), and then made up the difference with regular balsamic vinegar.

You'll see in my picture that I made garlic bread again. Apparently whenever I make something that is "special" or "fancy," fancier than normal anyway, I feel the need to make garlic bread with it... I should try out some new bread sides. Any suggestions are welcome!

Also, there is fresh basil in this recipe. Have I mentioned I love fresh basil?

Dear Green Thumb:

2009-06-01T10:53:00.004-06:00

I love Fresh Basil. Love it down to my toes. So much so that I have really been wanting to start my own herb garden just so I can eat it whenever I darn well feel like it. Now, I live in an apartment, with barely a blade of grass to speak of, and I am wondering: has anyone ever had an indoor herb garden? And if so, do you have any tips? Otherwise, I might just buy some plants, plop 'em in some dirt, stick them in my window and hope for the best!

Kenya Kookies!

2009-05-28T12:57:00.008-06:00

The other day I was perusing the isles of our local grocery store, Maceys, looking for some ingredients to some dishes I'm wanting to try out, and around the foreign foods section I saw it. Right there in all its glory. Marias cookies! When I was in Kenya, Aimee and I would hop into town every now and then, and we always had to wait FOREVER for the matatu (a bus/van type form of transportation) to leave back to our village. So, while we were waiting, there were a bunch of vendors walking around with their wares selling them to the tired passengers and Aimee and I always bought a package of cookies/crackers called Marias. And we loved them. They taste like animal crackers and were a welcome treat to our hungry bellies there in Machakos town waiting on the matatus.

The packaging is completely different from what it was in Kenya but the cookies were the same beloved morsels of goodness. I was so excited that I'd stumbled upon them! I couldn't believe it. I did a double take, snatched up a package of them and blurted out something along the lines of, "Holy heck I LOVE these!" The guy in the aisle next to me made a weird face and then slowly started inching away from me... OK, I was a mite exuberant. Simple things excite me...

What makes them even better is that they were only 50 cents. It can't get much better than that.

Harmonious Flavors

2009-05-24T21:53:00.015-06:00

About a week ago I had that urge again to cook something out of the mundane, so I looked to some trusty resources (in this case The Pioneer Woman and Better Homes and Gardens magazine, June '09 edition) and found some recipes that make my taste buds dance.

First on the menu is this delicious looking, sounding, and tasting, Baked Lemon Pasta, via The Pioneer Woman. Not only is she hilarious but she has some pretty awesome recipes. For those of you who haven't already discovered her, take a look. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Here is my picture of the pasta: (Don't judge my photography. I'm still using my trusty exilim while I save up to splurge on a nice SLR...)

Oh, I also added shrimp to the pasta before I baked it. And I used whole wheat spaghetti which some how got kinda smushy. I plan to try it again with "regular" pasta to see if that makes a difference. Maybe I just over cooked the stuff. :S But seriously, try this recipe!

As I was about to leave to the grocery store I thought, what am I going to serve with this? Salad and garlic bread is easy, I'll do that. Then I thought, heck, I'm in the groove so I might as well do a "fancy" salad while I'm at it. I retrieved my BHG magazine that arrived earlier that day, flipped to the recipes section, found the first salad recipe (I was in a hurry to get to the store), and jotted down the ingredients I'd need. Later I realized how perfect the salad "choice" had been because it includes a lemon garlic dressing and the pasta was a lemon garlic pasta! Perfect!

This picture doesn't make it look spectacular, but Oh, don't you be deceived!

Here is the recipe for the Basil-Tomato Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette:
Dressing-
1/2 c. olive oil
1 tsp shredded lemon peel
1/3 c. lemon juice (or the juice from 1-2 lemons, I used two. I also added some of the lemon pulp)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
In a small screwtop jar (I used an empty olive oil bottle I'd set aside a few weeks ago), combine all ingredients, tighten lid, and shake well.

Salad-
1 small head of green leaf lettuce, aprx. 6 cups (I actually used red leaf lettuce and I just eyeballed the amount I used)
3 c fresh basil (again, just eyeballed the amount)
2 c grape tomatoes, halved (yep, eyeballed! I don't like to mess with measurements if I don't have to... maybe thats why I have yet to successfully bake a cake. More on that later. Maybe.)
1/2 c toasted pine nuts (pine nuts were like, $8 a pound, crazy, so I opted for the more pocket friendly, $3/lb, toasted soy nuts instead.)
2 oz. parmesean cheese (I had a block of fresh parmesean from my roommate which was a treat)
In a large bowl combine ingredients. Drizzle with dressing before serving (I think I can handle that).

All I have to say about this salad is: MORE PLEASE! I mean, hello? fresh basil and fresh parmesean, with an awesome dressing? Can you say Yum? I sure did. In between just about every forkful of the stuff.

I've made this salad a few times, since I had everything I need for it, and I've tried a few variations. Tonight for example I added paprikaed/basiled grilled chicken and some dried cherries, another time I ate it with some left over tilapia, but no matter what you do to it, its going to be good.

I also made garlic bread. I'm sure just about everyone knows how to make it in some way or another, but in case you don't I just softened some butter, mixed it with garlic powder and dried parsley, slathered it on sliced pieces of french bread, laid it out on a cookie sheet and baked it for about 5-7 minutes with the pasta so it could get toasty. In hindsight I would have squeezed a bit of lemon juice over the bread to coincide with my dinner's theme. Ooo! I should've also made mint lemonade for the drink... I'll have to remember that for next time.

Seeing Blue

2009-05-13T15:26:00.012-06:00

I love a good deal. And I find it incredibly hard to resist a really awesome deal. Bradford sent me a link earlier today for a website that is selling some Pyrex bakeware for $1.99. Yep, you read that right. I got two loaf pans, a pie dish, a 13x9 casserole dish, and a measuring cup all for only $16.90. Including shipping.

Maybe they're selling it so cheap because its blue glass and Pyrex purchasing people generally only want the clear stuff? So now they have an overflow of the blue in stock? Don't know and don't care. As long as I can get me a Pyrex bread pan, blue or not, at $1.99. Now that I have more than one loaf pan it will no longer take me 4 hours to make two loaves of bread... Blessed day!

They also have some darling little custard bowls (that are absolutely perfect for personal sized pizookies). I would have bought some too, if I didn't already have 4. I'm kind of resenting the logical part of me that talked me out of it though.

Here's the link if any of you are interested (hope they still have some left!). Go ahead and look, I promise it won't hurt:
http://www.shopworldkitchen.com/index.asp?pageID=10&searchstring=cobalt%20blue

(Its also linked on slickdeals for those of you who know)

Punta Gorda

2009-05-06T23:19:00.002-06:00

This is part 3 of a 4 part blog about Julie and Bradford’s trip to Belize. Posts 1 and 3 will be written by Julie, while posts 2 and 4 will be written by Bradford.

Day 4: We woke up early, packed together all our things, and left the cabana at about 7:00 for the bus station. We were running a little late, and at the terminal we discovered that we had missed the express bus to Punta Gorda. We checked the schedule and saw the next one would be in an hour. We took the time to get some breakfast which ended up being a pretty poor excuse for a burrito. I still don't know what it was made of but it looked and tasted a lot like something that had been eaten already... The one good thing about it was that it ended up being the only gross thing we ate on our trip... thank goodness. We also still had a jug full of the saril that we bought from Betty but upon opening it we found that it was already in the early stages of fermentation. Bradford wanted to keep it, the stinker, but I convinced him to throw it away. One less thing to lug around and no drunken Bradfords to contend with (I kid)!

Before we got onto our bus we saw our friends the missionaries again, talked for a bit, and then we were off. The drive down to Punta Gorda was gorgeous. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was perfect. I was reminded a little bit of Kenya again when we kept stopping and stuffing more and more people onto the recycled school bus. Bradford and I took a video before it got too full to move our elbows.

Punta Gorda is a quaint coastal town and the last 15 minutes or so of our drive was right on the shoreline. It was gorgeous! We were the last ones to get off of the bus and our driver was kind enough to go beyond the normal route and drop us off as close as he could to our destination (Hickatee Cottages).

He let us off at the end of a dirt road on the edge of town with directions the rest of the way. Bradford and I quickly learned, however, that when given directions in Belize they're only good for a little way, then you have to stop and ask for more. After about 4 miles of walking (in the hot sun with ALL of our bags mind you... yes I whined a little...) and three installments of directions from friendly natives (one of whom was the only of two people we met on our whole trip that didn't speak English), we arrived to the refreshing, rainforesty acreage that was Hickatee. I was never happier.

Hickatee is a wonderful retreat that has multitudes of plant and animal species, nature walks ranging from 15-90 minutes through natural rainforest, three darling cottages, a "dipping pool", a lodge, Oscar the cat, and a very hospitable British couple. When we arrived we walked up the gravel path to the seemingly deserted main lodge. We wandered a bit, trying to figure out what to do when a fellow guest who had been laying by the pool came and told us that our hosts had just laid down for a nap but that he was sure they wouldn't mind checking us in first. I tried to stop him from doing said waking, but to no avail. Kate soon greeted us in her charming way and very warmly introduced us to Hickatee, our cabin, and Oscar. We soon released Kate back to her nap and we immediately took turns in the shower to cleanse ourselves of the day's bus ride and "walk". Afterward, I explored our little cottage and was instantly smitten. Our cottage is their "deluxe cottage". It used to be Kate and Ian's home until they moved closer to the lodge. Needless to say, the ONLY reason we stayed in the deluxe cottage was because Kate cut us a screaming deal. I adore Kate. Without her our whole Belize trip may not have worked out as well as it did. She was my pen pal during the planning stages of our trip and proved herself as a priceless resource of information.

Anyway, our cottage: it had a glorious bathroom with a very nice shower, a nice sitting room, a back patio, a front porch with a hammock, and a bedroom. It had tons of windows, the most beautiful wood floors I have ever seen (seriously, I wanted to ship them home with me) made from native trees, a large luxurious bathroom (did I say that already?), and comfy furniture. I wanted to take up permanent residence. We had a few hours to relax and snooze a little before we recruited Ian to drive us into town for dinner (it was Valentine's Day so we decided to go out instead of staying in and having Kate cook us something).

He dropped us off at a restaurant that was complete with chairs made from logs, a stage set up for a live reggae band, and little geckos singing and scuttling on the walls. I loved it. We got there at about 7:00 and there was no one there but us. We wanted to stay until 11:00 when the music started but we were so tired from the day that we decided to just call it a night. We walked to the main part of town and grabbed some ice cream from a little grocery store. After we finished we found a friendly cab driver to take us back to Hickatee. At night there's a generator that runs for a few hours so Bradford and I picked out a movie from our cottage's little library and watched a movie until the generator turned off. Then, we set up the hammock on the porch for Bradford to sleep in and I snuggled into the wonderful queen sized bed and fell into a blissful sleep.

Day 5: When I woke up I was surprised to see Bradford asleep on the floor in the main room. I found out that he had come in halfway through the night because the hammock was uncomfortable. I think he was scared from the eerie monkey noises or Oscar pouncing on him but he denies it ;). Soon after we woke up, Ian brought us a tray of ginger tea that we took out onto the patio to enjoy in the cool morning air. After tea we dressed and headed to the lodge for breakfast. Kate is an excellent cook and breakfast was quite a treat of fresh fruit, eggs, sausage, bacon, and delicious homemade bread with local jams and honey. We also had the opportunity to chat with the other five guests that were staying there. After breakfast we all went our separate ways. Bradford and I took advantage of the free bike rentals, provided by Kate and Ian, to ride into town and found a spot on a bench by the beach. We sat and enjoyed the beautiful weather and sea breeze. We were soon joined by a native teenager. I think Bradford and I were both holding our breath for a minute, waiting for him to finally ask us for money or something but we were pleasantly surprised to find that he really did just want to visit with us.

After a few hours of enjoying the beach and our new friend's company, we rode around town again and found a shop so we could purchase some delicious hot sauce. I think I ended up with 5 bottles at the end of the trip, plus three for Bradford's dad... Its good stuff. And all different flavors. After we made our purchases we went back to Hickatee and enjoyed a nice sit in the pool and conversation with one of the other guests. We, read, talked, snoozed, and enjoyed being outside until the bugs became too much of an annoyance. We went to the cabin for a nap and then went on one of the nature trails before dinner. We'd wanted to catch a glimpse of all the animals but we started a little later than we'd hoped and we ended up stumbling around in the dark. It was kind of eerie, especially with the occasional spider web in the face, but it was really neat to see and hear the rainforest at night. Once we finally found our way out of the trees we met the rest of the group on the lodge porch for dinner at our respective tables. I had swordfish and a salad and Bradford had soup and chicken. I don't love fish, but Kate can make just about anything taste great. After dinner we had fresh ginger tea and a plate of chocolate made by a local Mayan woman in the Toledo district. She grows all the ingredients herself and the result is some deliciously earthy tasting chocolate that can easily become an addiction... We bought 6 bars to take home with us. It was all they had or else I would've gladly bought more.

After dinner we sat and talked with Ian and Kate about the ways they try to live green and support the local businesses, not the larger resort type places and business that are squelching some of the native charm. Something that I found absolutely fascinating. We also played with Oscar, the orange tabby cat that roams the premises. He has a stick with a toy bug attached by some fishing line and he chased it all over the lodge. It was really entertaining.

After our enjoyable visit with Ian and Kate we went to our lodge to watch another movie and then showered, got our things put together for our early morning departure the next day, and settled in for a few hours of sleep.

Go with the Flow

2009-04-27T11:11:00.009-06:00

(No Bradford, this isn't a Belize edition post... I'm such a bum! I don't know why its such a chore for me to get those written but I promise in the next couple days it will be done. Promise.)

I have noticed lately that things are different. A lot of things. Things that I've gotten so used to being around and a part of my life that I've hardly stepped back to really look at them and take them in. Its funny to see how those things, or my relation to those things, can change so much in any amount of time without me even realizing it. I'm speaking in fairly vague terms not to be mysterious but because there have been so many things lately I have been discovering this for that its hard to be more specific. Especially in the new stages of this discovery.

Change isn't bad. Its when I refuse to adapt or don't want to ride with the flow of those changes that it harms me the most. Change is also unavoidable, natural, so it doesn't make sense to stand still and never do anything or think anything differently from what I always have thought and done. Change is liberating. I've found that my mind has been opened and new opportunites and possibilities have been brought to my attention because of some of these changes. I've also discovered desires that I didn't realize I had until I took the time to look at myself more closely.

One thing that has been reiterated to me from all of this is that happiness is a choice. Anything and everything I do is a choice. I can choose to let life pass me by, or I can choose to embrace change and go where it takes me.

I have also learned that I need to get to know myself better. Its shocking how little I know about myself and how hard it is for me to be alone sometimes. Me, a fairly shy, introverted person has a hard time being with myself. You'd think if I'd had a hard time feeling perfectly comfortable around other people I would at least be able to find refuge in myself. But I found out recently that even with myself I felt like a stranger. Its not because I don't like myself, I just haven't taken the time to get to know myself better through all this change happening. I didn't realize how much I had changed. So much so that I became estranged from myself. I don't even know how long its been. I've learned that its important for everyone to find time to hang out with themselves. Otherwise we risk losing some of our substance and foundation.

You are Loved

2009-03-30T09:16:00.006-06:00

Yesterday I had the precious opportunity to hold a 3 day old baby boy. It wasn't just a beautiful experience because he was so soft and warm and smelled the sweet way only a newborn baby can, it was also beautiful because I found it touched my soul. Here is this pint sized human being who is the most innocent and pure person out of anyone I've been in contact with for a long time and I couldn't help but love him. Not only did I feel overwhelmed with love for him, but I felt very loved myself. Not necessarily by my little friend, but by someone who saw me and my worth in the way that I saw the baby in that moment. I couldn't help but get teary, and I tried to stifle my sniffles as best I could in fear that his mother would think I had a cold or something and retrieve her darling son from my euphoric moment. Luckily, I was able to disguise it and I had the most wonderful few minutes sitting with him.

Dangriga and Cockscomb Jaguar Reserve

2009-03-26T16:19:00.003-06:00

This is part 2 of a 4 part blog about Julie and Bradford’s trip to Belize. Posts 1 and 3 will be written by Julie, while posts 2 and 4 will be written by Bradford.

Day 2: On our first day in Dangriga we decided to take it easy. We slept in our cabana until about 10am. The sound of the surf and the cool breeze made it easy to sleep late. We woke up to Ruthie, our hostess, shouting to us through our window whether we wanted breakfast. We were served a simple breakfast of homemade bread, jam and juice.

After breakfast we got our gear together and took a walk around Dangriga. We headed in the direction of the market hoping to pick up some souvenirs. Walking about town was a fun experience; the streets were full of friendly Garufina, Creole, and Mayan people. We browsed the market and found ripe, inexpensive pineapple and papaya for sale. We continued exploring, walking the quieter roads off of the bustling main street. We walked past a few schools, an LDS church house, and were even offered some “green stuff” which we politely declined. On our way home we waxed hungry so we stopped at a random roadside eatery and ordered the usual: beans, rice, chicken (or fish or beef) with some delicious sauce over all of it. We also drank some saril, a tasty Jamaican tea made from the saril flower and ginger.

Ruthie helped us prepare the pineapple and papaya and we sat in the shade on the beach, reading our books and eating our fruits. It was very relaxing. Ruthie had her son get down some coconuts from the tree and we drank the juice, after which Ruthie then told me how much to tip her son. That was kind of annoying – we ended up avoiding the helpful Belizeans because for the most part when they were helpful they expected a tip. I blame tourists for creating that false economy.

In the evening we ate dinner at Ruthie’s with an Irish couple staying in the next cabana, then went to bed.

Day 3: We woke up early and walked out to the bus terminal to catch a bus heading south. After a short ride (maybe 25 minutes) we arrived at the Mayan Village outside the Cockscomb Jaguar Reserve.

The reserve is located about 7 miles from the main road and there are taxis that take people up to the reserve, however they are $20 USD ONE WAY. We were on a tight budget so we stubbornly decided to walk. It was a beautiful day, not more than 85 degrees (F) and the road was lined with bushes of big beautiful flowers. We found some “12 o’clock”, the local name for a plant that will fold itself up when touched. And just before reaching the park, we saw a sign that cryptically said “Plane Wreck 500m” so we investigated.

Soon, however, the walk started losing its charm: we were wearing our new Tevas without socks (read: blisters). About halfway up we realized we were doomed, and when we finally made it to the reserve I could barely walk.

We looked at a map with a helpful park guide and decided a tubing trip down the river would do our feet some good. The tubes were only $5 USD for two. We walked the short trip to the entry point, and it was at this moment that I remembered my fear of rivers and lakes. The park guide’s affirmation of snakes in the river didn’t help. I grabbed a big stick and gingerly started floating.

The jungle was beautiful. The birds were singing and the sun was shining and I was on the lookout for snakes. Julie thought it was hilarious that her big strong bad boy was petrified by an unseen terror slithering toward him in the clear, cool water. At one point we made a wrong turn and found ourselves in a smaller river running parallel to the main river, full of branches and scary spiders. Fortunately our little terror tunnel met back up with the main stream.

In order to get out of the river we were supposed to look out for a rope running across the river, grab it, and pull ourselves to shore. After that, we were warned, there are dangerous rapids. When we finally saw the rope we did manage to grab it and start pulling ourselves to shore, however it was at that moment that I saw a spider on my leg. It wasn’t particularly big or scary, but it did take all of my attention to fling it off. When I finally rid myself of the spider, I looked up and saw that I had drifted beyond the rope’s safety! I jumped off my tube, threw my pack to Julie (who barely caught it), and forged my way back up river. I nearly died.

Being out of the river, we decided to leave our tubes on the trail and make the small hike to the waterfall near Ben’s Bluff. The waterfall was cool and dark and made for a great place to relax. We contemplated swimming under the waterfall but eventually we both lost our nerve. It was dark and scary, and I couldn’t help but imagine huge tentacles grabbing me when I got close. Julie was braver than me though, and made a valiant effort.

We relaxed at the falls for a while and even made a friend with an indigenous crab named Crab Cake. We remembered seeing that Ben’s Bluff appeared to be somewhat close to the falls when we looked at the map earlier, so we decided to once again abuse our feet and go to one last place before heading back for the day.

The trail to Ben’s Bluff looked bad to begin with. I thought “Ben’s Bluff… bluff… aren’t bluffs above everything…?” 45 minutes and nearly as many “lets rest here for a minute”s, we made it to the top. What a beautiful view!

The hike down to the park visitors center seemed longer than it was because our feet and legs had reached their limits. Arriving at the visitor center we realized that we did NOT want to hike down to the road to catch our bus. We found another American couple from Colorado who were going down as well so we split the $20 USD cab.

While waiting for the cab we were attacked by small, biting flies. I looked at my legs and saw tiny pools of blood and realized that they were eating me!! This was when we realized that I shouldn’t have convinced Julie to not bring the bug repellant (“ah there’s no bugs in Belize…”).

Arriving at the road we quickly surmised that we missed our bus. We waited, hoping another bus would come, but it started getting quite dark. I remembered the times in the Philippines where my companion and I would hitchhike our way home when it was too late for public transportation, so I ‘nonchalantly’ started poking my thumb in the air. The problem with trying to hitchhike without letting anyone know is that no one knows you’re doing it. So, at the approach of a big tanker truck I blasted my thumb out with such force that he couldn’t do anything BUT stop.

Our friend Hugo was trucking gasoline all over Guatemala (where he was born) and Belize (where he lives). We were so grateful, even though Julie had to sit on my lap and he wasn’t passing by Dangriga directly (we would be dropped off a few miles from Dangriga). We even invited him to dinner (somewhat of a ploy on my part to get him to take us all the way to Dangriga, but mostly because we were so grateful) but he looked at us, shrugged sheepishly, and said “I’m late…”. Next time Hugo, next time!

After he dropped us off at the junction, we found a good spot to hitchhike the remaining distance. After just a minute or so, a couple in a pickup truck stopped and gave us a ride to our cabana in Dangriga. As we rode, we spoke through the window and found out that they were Jehovah's Witnesses from Spain on a mission. Hugo and the JW’s were like angels to us.

We were on such a high after that – what a perfect day! And to top it off, while we were walking to the eatery to grab some dinner we met two LDS missionaries who were assigned in Dangriga. It was fun talking with them about the work in Dangriga and the branch they had there.

After dinner we fell asleep almost immediately to the soothing sound of the surf just 20 feet away.

Blooming Tuesday

2009-03-24T08:44:00.004-06:00

Bradford is the sweetest thing ever. As he was driving me to his house this morning so I could borrow his car for work, the whole way I was groaning about how much I did not want to go into work today, and how great it would be if I could just stay home all day. I even voiced some of the more extravagant excuses I dreamed of calling in to my boss. Bradford, of course, was understanding and empathetic and everything that my ridiculous mood needed. When we got to his house he said to me, "You'll feel better once you get to work. I promise. Just get there and the day won't seem so bad." He seemed so convinced that I couldn't help but believe him. And what do you know? When I walked into the office and noticed that my computer was blocked by a bursting bouquet of beautiful spring flowers, I couldn't help but smile and think that I was the luckiest girl. Today WILL be a good day. Bradford made sure of it.

Landing and Getting to Dangriga

2009-03-12T14:59:00.009-06:00

This is part 1 of a 4 part blog about Julie and Bradford’s trip to Belize. Posts 1 and 3 will be written by Julie, while posts 2 and 4 will be written by Bradford.

First off, I apologize to the blogosphere (and a million times over to Bradford) for those of you who have been gripping the edges of your seats waiting to hear how our Belizean adventure further unfolds. I have been slacking and putting it off and off and off... All Bradford’s gentle motivations to get me on the ball were left for naught until today. Now, that being said, on to Dangriga!

We boarded our plane leaving from Salt Lake City to Belize City (switching planes in Dallas/Ft. Worth) at 8:20 AM and arrived at 3:55 PM Central time. The flights weren’t too bad, I was actually able to sleep some, thanks to ear plugs, a sleep mask, and less than 3 hours of sleep the night before. Something about an early morning flight encourages all-nighters… Once we got off the plane (via a rolling staircase like you see in all the movies about tropical places…) we retrieved our checked bag, went through a customs process, and were promptly offered a cab ride into the bus station downtown by a friendly cab driver. His name is John and he was very chatty and readily made conversation. Bradford held up most of our end of the conversation while I marveled at the scenery, warmth, and the curls already forming in my hair from the humidity.

After about a 20 minute cab drive we arrived at the bus terminal. We paid our friendly cab driver who left us with his business card and one last time tried to convince us to have him take us to Dangriga in his cab rather than the bus. We politely declined, saving us about 100 American dollars doing so, and then faced the barrage of men eagerly waiting to assist us in finding the right bus to Dangriga. It wasn’t overly pushy, which I found refreshing. A lot of the places I’ve been have had similar hordes of men and I’ve usually felt overwhelmed, accosted, and sometimes mildly under attack . I was relieved to find it less overbearing here. We did end up following a friendly individual who showed us where our bus would be. I can’t remember his name now (another reason to write about these things soon after they transpire instead of waiting…) but he was really easy going and accommodating. Bradford and I were starving and hadn’t eaten in what felt like eons and our bus wasn’t arriving for a few minutes so our friend took us over to a roadside cafe (though nothing but the sounds of sizzling food from inside indicated it was anything but a shack) and we had our first Belizean meal. It was delicious! It was beef (Bradford had chicken) and rice and beans smothered in some kind of spicy red sauce that I still can’t really describe because nothing I’ve ever had tasted like it. It came with a small pasta salad on the side. It was incredible. Bradford and I could have easily shared one plate satisfactorily too, even in our famished state. It cost us about US$6 for the whole meal.

Before too long our bus arrived so we gulped down the last of our Fantas and hurried back to the terminal. We left our friend with a tip (and the rest of our dinner that we weren’t able to finish) and boarded the painted up old school bus that was our ride. We chose to ride only the James line buses while we were in Belize because its the only private bus line that stuck it out when the government was trying to monopolize the bus lines a few years back. Its the line the locals try to support. They’re easy to tell from the other buses because they are painted in green, red, and yellow horizontal stripes. Ours was an “express” bus to Dangriga and even so it ended up being over a 6 hour ride. By the time we pulled into the terminal at Dangriga it was well past dark. Bradford got in a few snoozings and I was left pretty awake despite my yearnings for some shut-eye. So many times along the ride I thought we were “almost there” but I was only right once… Regardless, it was neat to observe what we could of the beautiful country before it got dark.

Once we got to the terminal at Dangriga we shuffled off the bus and tried to orient ourselves with the quiet, dimly lit town. We were solicited a cab ride or two but Bradford was confident the cabanas (Ruthie’s Cabanas to be exact) we were staying at were only a short walk away. After we walked about 30 ft one of the same cab drivers pulled over and generously gave us a free ride the rest of the way. Which ended up being only about 100 yards further. We thanked him and gave him a tip and then we walked up to the robe-clad Ruthie who had been honked out of her house by our driver. In her Garifuna accented English she told us that she was so worried about us and had been waiting on her porch all day for us to get there and when she didn’t hear from us she became even more worried. She immediately struck us as a very warm, spunky lady who casually addressed us as “baby” whenever she spoke to us. She took us to our cabana that was about 50 ft away from the ocean shore and we settled in.

Even though we were tired we took a few minutes to walk back to town and grab a few snacks from one of the still open shops. For dinner we had a can of pringles, a snickers, some local candy, and a bottle of water. While we ate we watched some cable from Colorado on the little TV in our cabana. We don’t know why or how they get Colorado’s cable down here in Belize but Bradford and I thought that was kind of funny. Not long after that, Bradford fell asleep and I soon turned off the TV and went to bed myself. The soothing sound of the surf breaking on the beach, plus a long day of travel made it too easy.

(This is Bradford and me on the express bus from Belize City to Dangriga. We look a little weary already. This is the only picture of me on the entire trip with straight hair... The humidity took over soon after this was taken. I regret not taking more pictures of the whole experience. Next time we well get more. Because there WILL be a next time!)

Belize: February 11-February 18 2009

2009-02-21T17:51:00.007-07:00

This is part 0 of a 4 part blog about Julie and Bradford’s trip to Belize. Posts 1 and 3 will be written by Julie, while posts 2 and 4 will be written by Bradford.

Back in October 2008 I got an email from AirfareWatchdog.com (great service, I highly recommend it) alerting me to amazing prices to Belize from Salt Lake City and a handful of other airports. I quickly looked up where Belize was, saw that it was in a tropical locale and decided to ask Julie what she thought. I emailed my family and friends and called Julie. Julie can’t pass up an adventure, so we decided to go. It was such a short sale that my unimpulsive family and friends missed out; just my Julie and me. Total cost for two round trip tickets from Salt Lake City: $420.

After buying the tickets we let the trip slip into the back of our minds, the place where we put Christmas and birthdays only to be thought upon with mild excitement and anticipation until we are startled to realize they’re almost upon us.

In the months preceding the trip Julie did a lot of research on where to stay and what to do in Belize. We made the decision early (out of necessity) to make this a very low budget trip – no renting cars, taking planes or expensive tours, but using the local bus system, eating local food, and staying in quaint (ie make-Julie-grossed-out-because-it’s-so-run-down) places, and so on. Even with this in mind, I was surprised at how relatively expensive everything was. The Belize dollar is fixed at 2 Belize for 1 USD and a meal at a roadside shack would cost between 6-8 Belize (3-4USD) in Belize City. Because of Julie’s excellent research abilities we had an OK idea of where we were going to stay: Dangriga for some jungle action, Punta Gorda for some relaxation, and San Pedro on Ambergis Caye for the beach and snorkeling.

Sooner than later we realized that we had only a week to get ready and to plan. We started buying the small things we needed and collecting things to take. I started doing research on the bus system and how our daily itinerary was going to be. I found the perfect tool for doing this: tripit.com. Our itinerary can be found here to see it in action.

The night before we were to leave (very early in the morning) I packed up my backpack, set aside the Teva Wraptors that Julie and I bought months before (these were perfect), and caught an hour or so of sleep. It was about to begin!

All Aboard

2009-02-03T11:34:00.005-07:00

As mentioned before, Bradford and I bought season passes to Sundance and we have been going snowboarding about every Saturday. Its been a lot of fun and despite my many bruises and sore body parts, I've started to feel a lot more comfortable with the whole thing and I'm getting to enjoy it more and more.

The second time we went this season, I actually ended up in an ambulance... I really wasn't hurt, my pride was the most wounded thing about me, but it makes for a decent story at least. From what I hear (I don't really remember much about the 'before' part) I was doing really well and Bradford was behind me on the hill and then I caught a bad edge or dropped my edge or something, and it consequently made me lose my standing and I flew a few feet and landed on my back. Then Bradford came up to me and a skier who saw it happen came over and then they called the ski patrol (much to my dismay) and they felt my head and my neck and asked me questions and held up their fingers and then they strapped me to a stretcher and took me down the mountain. All the while I'm crying (yes crying) because I was embarrassed and I didn't think that all the attention and fuss was equal to the severity of my fall. They ended up putting me in an ambulance and checking my vitals and what not, with the motive of taking me to the ER for an MRI. I was afraid of passing out or something because I didn't want them to take me to the ER, which they were very intent on doing, and I figured I had a better chance of avoiding the trip if I was conscious. I eventually convinced them that I was fine to go, without the trip to the hospital, and since then I have been relatively crash free on the slopes!

This past Saturday we went up and it was really fun, the snow was pretty good, I hardly fell (except for getting off the lift- which is still a challenge...) and we remembered that I had my camera so we took some pictures while we were on the mountain.

Here they are!

This Saturday I'll try and get some more candid shots. Hopefully I remember.

Gotta Have It

2009-01-28T08:28:00.005-07:00

What is it about us as human beings that have to have the best parking spot? I mean honestly. I was walking in to work today after just having parked the car (thank you Bradford for being a peach and letting me use Blackie!) and I noticed that a spot had just opened up that was much closer to the building than the spot I had and I was seriously considering going back out and moving the car before the spot got snatched. I pushed the button for the elevator and as I waited for it I went back to the window and pondered all the advantages of the closer spot and how it would take me just two minutes to move it. Then I realized the irony of the situation. I was waiting indefinitely for the elevator (with the stairs two feet away) because I wanted to get to work ASAP. Yet I was very intensely thinking about going back out side, walking to the car, moving it, and then walking back into the building to save me time later? How does that make sense?

I started up the stairs after that realization.

As I was walking up to my floor I asked myself that question: What is it that makes me want to have that spot so fervently (and I really did)? Will it make me earlier to work? Not if I go back out to the car and move it and then continue to wait for the elevator. Was I so cold now that I didn't want to be as cold after work when walking back to my car? Walking 10 seconds longer in my long winter coat isn't going to kill me. Then maybe it was because I knew I wasn't going to get out of work before 6 tonight and I didn't want to have to walk to my car alone in the dark? Nope. The street (where the "amazing" spot is) isn't lit while the parking lot (where I parked) has a light about every ten feet. Then what?! I couldn't think of anything logical.

One could argue that a closer spot saves time if you're late or in a hurry or something. But I don't want to be the type of person that is rushing around from one place to another at hyper speed all day long. Plus, it is easily arguable that circling the lot like a hawk wastes more time than just taking the available spot and walking the difference. Same goes with the stairs vs. elevator situation. People (yes, I'm generalizing here) take the elevator because its convenient, "faster" even. But I know from experience that waiting for the elevator and then slowly ascending may be less work than taking the stairs but it is definitely not quicker.

Now, back to not wanting to live life at supersonic speeds rushing around all the time. If the stairs are faster and walking from a farther spot takes less time than waiting for a closer spot to free up, then isn't that living life in a time conscious crunch? I thought about that and decided that yes it may be more time efficient but I'm not really worried about how much time I'm taking (ideally). I'm just doing it because it makes more sense than waiting who knows how long for an elevator or a prime parking spot to become available and not because of any pressing feelings of urgency. If, for example, I were hovering behind an old man who was shuffling to his car in the coveted spot the emotions I can clearly see in that situation are impatience, annoyance, maybe selfishness because I don't want someone else to have the spot, and a sense of being rushed because work is waiting. I'm also probably not feeling too fondly toward grandpa at that moment. I don't want to start my day like that! Especially since work can get stressful enough without preceding it with those high strung emotions (essentially dooming my day before its even begun). I don't even want to experience those stresses at all if I can help it. Especially if they could easily be avoided. Walking from a far spot might make me a tad colder, walking up the stairs might make me a little more winded, but if nothing else I'm getting a teeny bit more exercise then I would have. More importantly though, I side step those frazzling emotions.

So, as an addendum to a previous statement in a previous post, I will continue to take the stairs and also walk a few extra feet from the parking lot. My soul needs the exercise.

Playing Ball

2009-01-08T09:43:00.006-07:00

The start of this year has been a little different for me than most. Usually the ball drops, a new calendar goes up, I feel sick from all the holiday goodies snarfed... but then the days go on just like they did the year before. Its not a big deal. New Years is fun and all if you want it to be but for me it doesn't spark any of the, "OK, this year things will be different!" motivation that seems to consume the nation. Don't get me wrong, resolutions are great and admirable, especially when they are stuck to, but for me, I need more than a New Year to have a fresh start and be better. I need new weeks, new days... new minutes even. Maybe that's why New Year's isn't a huge deal for me because I am constantly needing to review and recommit to my goals over and over and over, not just at the beginning of the year. Thus, I have oodles of mini "New Years" scattered throughout the 365 days so it isn't anything significantly unusual come the night of December 31st. That's how New Years have kind of always been for me: just an excuse to celebrate and not particularly a soul searching realignment of life. This year, however, was a little bit more like the conventional New Years in that I did feel differently, and I did have a different, more conscious, motivation than I've had on previous New Years to have a more fulfilling 12 months. I don't think that it was necessarily because its a new year so that's why I was feeling that way, it was more coincidence than anything that this realization and sense of eagerness to up the gears in my life happened to fall on the beginning days of a new year. However, it is easier to see the upcoming year at the top of it than at the end or middle of the one before it.

The past few weeks I have been reading different talks and quotes and scriptures as well as having conversations and experiences that were all generally unrelated to each other. Little did I know, until later reflection, that they had all been accumulating into a divinely linked together idea that provided me a special insight into myself, and life in general, that hit me all of a sudden a few days ago. I saw things that I have wanted to happen in my life. I actually saw them happening and realized that there wasn't anything but me keeping me back from doing them. I have known I wanted to do things like get out of debt, start school again (and be able to pay for it up front), and get a dental hygiene degree, etc. but they always seemed more like far of aspirations that were still in the stars and not actually plannable yet. Then I saw 2009 and I knew that those balls could start rolling. I eagerly pulled out my planner and my budget and I planned! I roughly paved the way for those things that I now realize I REALLY wanted to do. I can be out of debt entirely by June, May even, and for those of you who know, that was a very far off idea when I ended August of 2007. I was in over my head at $11,000+ in debt with no job, no job prospects, and finance charges steadily accruing. I will be able to pay for at least one course of online school with BYU in May as well. And another by the end of the summer. I may not be able to apply for the dental hygiene program at UVU until 2011 because I have some pre-requisites I have to knock out of the way before then, but I MIGHT be able to squeeze everything into this year and apply for the 2010 program if I'm lucky. But then I have to decide if I can really afford to quit working full-time to do school, and the program is really competitive anyway so I may not make the 14 students that are admitted each year after all... Ok, sorry, you all don't need to be inside my head for the actual planning process and all it entails... But long story short, I am actually doing this. Not just talking about it anymore. Its something that I am extremely excited about and the excitement just increases the more I think about it and read about it. So many things that I feel like I have only been able to peek at over the fence are now on my front porch!

Life is wonderful. I realize, too, that everyday I can resubmit myself to be changed and renewed. Things like New Years are great opportunities to remind us of that, but its more important for me to remember that new "beginnings" are a barrel a penny, available each and every time I need some shaping. All it takes is a choice made.

FYI

2008-12-26T13:01:00.004-07:00

For those of you that follow Bradford's blog, he has a new web address for it. It is now: bradford.law-family.org

Update it in your blog list! His blogs are good... And I say that as unbiasedly as I can. :)

Hope you all are having wonderful holidays!

Time is here

2008-12-11T13:36:00.006-07:00

I love the Christmas season. Everything about it just amazing. I don't even mind the cold very much just because its so characteristic of the holiday. Though, we are all scratching our heads out here in Provo, wondering where in the heck they mis-delivered our white fluffy stuff too. I mean, there is only 2 weeks until Christmas and even the ski resorts are sweating it over. I sure hope something happens soon because if I spend $400 on a snowboarding pass I sure expect to get some of that snow to board on. Needless to say, I'm sure I'm not the only one here in UT Valley with crossed fingers. Whodda thought I would ever be hoping for snow? I tease my roommate, Mita, that its all her fault because she keeps praying that it WON'T snow. She is from Fiji and snow and cold are further from her favorite things list than lima beans are from mine.

I want to relish Christmas this year. I don't want it to rush by in a whirlwind and leave me wondering where the time went. There are so many exciting things that happen during this month that its easy for time to fly. I want to make sure that I absorb it and enjoy it. Most of that will be achieved by dressing myself in the spirit of Christmas everday before I set out. I should do that all year long but Christmas is always a good time to reevaluate and rededicate myself to that principle.

Bradford found an article the other day for a fun seasonal celebration. Its a spin on the 12 days of Christmas. Instead of doing 12 days of incremental gift giving, its a 12 DATES of Christmas. So every day, starting 12 days before Christmas, you go on a date and somehow tie in the number of the day before Christmas it is to the date. I thought it was a great idea and we wanted to give it a spin and start a tradition, but we ended up having a bunch of other events scheduled and not enough days to do everything (we would only be able to do our 12 dates on weekends and maybe one other weekday every week because of school and work)... Christmas is a busy time of year I'm realizing... Even though it didn't work out for us this year, I love the idea and I am determined to make it work for next year.

As far as the Christmas festivities go we have already gone to my work's Christmas party (which was dinner at a Mexican restaurant, Joe Vera's, and a show at Comedy Sportz, a local comedy club that I recommend to anyone who appreciates clean, silly, comedy), and a Kurt Bestor concert. I had never heard of Kurt Bestor until someone brought tickets to my work to give us as a thank you. Apparently he is well known in Utah as a Christmas music performer and Bradford knew who he was and liked him so I got four of the tickets and Bradford and I went to hear some great Christmas music with our friends Jarron and Olivia. I really enjoyed it. He's a very talented musician/composer and there were some touching Christmas pieces. Coming up on our checklist of Christmas events is the annual Mo-Tab/Orchestra at temple square Christmas concert. Though nothing can easily top the one with Sissel from two years ago, it should still be great this year. They gave out tickets in a "lottery" for this years concert. You basically just entered a drawing with how many tickets you wanted (up to 4) and what night you preferred them for and then they randomly chose people to get them. I was lucky enought to get four of them. I originally had four for the sunday mini-concert but then my old co-worker switched me for her saturday night ones because she can't go on saturday. Mita and Kimberly (hopefully) are coming with Bradford and me and I'm really lookign forward to it. I'm also going with Kimberly to her work Christmas party which is on Friday at Tucanos. Mmmm... I'm going to be missing out on a good chunk of Bradford's family's Christmas party but I can't pass up Tucanos! Or Kimberly for that matter ;).

Speaking of Bradford's family... Bradford's brother Richard and his family are visiting from Las Vegas this week and the women in the family (ie, sisters, sisters-in-law, girlfriend...) took advantage of the opportunity to go out for a girl's night to Olive Garden and then play games afterward at Bradford's parents'. It was sweet of them to include me, and once the hyperventilating subsided I was able to enjoy their company and conversation. I hope they can say the same of me... Unfortunately, I am shy by nature, believe it or not, and being in a group of just girls (let alone a group of people I don't know particularly well) is extremely intimidating for me, and I wasn't as active a participant as I would have liked. I am perfectly content to be a listener and observe things, but sometimes I'm afraid that people interpret that as me being indifferent and standoffish. Part of me wished Bradford was there to lean on and calm my nerves but I need to get over it already. After two years you wouldn't think it would be an issue to be around his family alone. That's my fault for letting it get to me so much and overthinking and letting anxiety take over... I wish I had a better handle on it. I can only get better, though, can't get much worse. That is my new resolve: to be less self-conscious. In all aspects. Its something that has been on my mind for a while now and I realize that its holding me back from being an honest depiction of myself. Anyway, off that vein...

I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas season. Its such an amazing time of year and everyone deserves to feel a glimmer of the Christmas magic!

♫ Let me show you the shape of my Heart! ♪

2008-12-02T10:00:00.007-07:00

Its amazing. Whodda thought that Bradford was actually speaking truth all this time?! ;) Ok, I'm kidding, I always knew he was right but I just didn't give myself enough of a chance to truly practice what he preached. Do what, you ask? I'm sure you're all just dying to know. So I'll tell you. This morning, I finally woke up. Early. Earlier than just in time to quickly shower and scramble around to get ready before stumbling out the door to get to work on time. Early enough to wake up and work out (thank you Kathi for that intensified ab workout via the giggles, I think Tony would be proud) and afterwards I took a relaxing shower and *gasp* actually ate breakfast. Who knew those early morning hours were actually good for something? I'm happier today too. I'm not so tired, even though I woke up earlier than I would have normally on a day like today, I'm energized and I feel good. Not sluggish. Amazing...

Bradford found this really cool alarm clock that I think is part of the reason I was able to wake up and stay awake rather than fumbling for my phone and shutting off the alarm in the same second that I fall back into unconsciousness like I usually would do. I can't even remember what its called. Its ornj or citrus alarm clock or something... but anyway, you download it off of the internet and it links with the songs in your media player on your computer. At the scheduled time of wake up it starts to play the song (or songs) and it gradually gets louder and louder until you get up and turn it off. Its pretty clever. I put my laptop in the living room so I have to physically get up and go shut if off, increasing the wake factor. And it works! Imagine that. The only bad thing I've noticed (I've only used it twice) is that I wake up about 15 minutes before its actually supposed to go off. I don't know if its because my body is anticipating it and my subconscious just can't wait to hear the Backstreet Boys crooning me out of bed or if its merely a fluke. I hope it doesn't keep happening... because even though I was wide awake, 15 more minutes of slumber is always very much appreciated.

Today I had a good start, and I can see that a good start could be the difference between a good and a bad day. Now, tomorrow I'm planning for a great start.

***Here is the alarm clock link if any of you are interested in it for yourself: http://www.ornj.net/citrus/ it has a 30 day free trial so if you want to try it out I recommend giving it a whirl.***

Long Time

2008-11-18T09:16:00.007-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while, for more than a month actually, and I have a whole list of things just begging to be blogged about! I have been training a new receptionist at work and so I haven't had a computer during the day to blog on (not that I blog at work...), but now I have a few spare moments so I am going to record some of the things on my list.

First of all, Bradford and I had a lot of fun with our Fall o'Festivities. We went to the corn maze at Thanksgiving Point with his sister and brother-in-law, and had a lot of fun there. The corn maze itself was kind of lame... but the company and food was fun. That same night, before the corn maze, we celebrated our 2-year anniversary. We went to California Pizza Kitchen and Cold Stone. That's where we went on the date we decided to become official. Insert "Awws" here. :)

Bradford's sister, Amanda, also put together a really fun evening for the adults in the family. It was a full on pirate themed murder mystery dinner. Complete with costumes and crazy accents. Bradford was a British Lieutenant and I was an African witch doctor. Because of our budgets I decided I would hone my creative skills and make our costumes myself. For mine I bought some clearanced fabric at the fabric store and made myself a robe and skirt. I probably should have used a pattern but the patterns cost more than my materials did so I decided to just wing it. Surprisingly, it turned out looking ok. The hood was the only part that didn't turn out exactly how I would have liked but I guess that's what I get for not using a pattern. Then I bought a cheap skeleton from a discount store, disassembled him, and strung him into a necklace with a few plastic spiders here and there. I then used a scarf for my head dress. Bradford's costume turned out even better than I'd hoped. He had some BYU men's chorus jackets that the previous tenant had left in his closet so I took one of them to use for his naval officer outfit. I took off the men's chorus badge, sewed some gold trimming across the buttons, and I made the shoulder fringe things with two sponges painted gold and gold trim hot glued around the edges. Then I sewed them onto the shoulder pads in the jacket. I bought a foam sword from Wal-mart for 2 dollars and painted the handle gold (it was blue). Then I sewed a sash out of some red fabric and a ruffly collar thing out of some white fabric. I made his hat out of a dollar store straw hat that I sewed up on the sides and added some gold trim around the edges. Lastly, I used the khaki pants he wore for our Halloween costumes last year (he was Colonel Mustard for a Clue party my friends threw), and I cut them off and added some blue ribbon to the bottoms to tie on the sides. And he wore tights... I tried to find knee-highs but to no avail. He didn't seem to mind them. I'm not sure what that means... ;) Overall I only spent about $40-$50 all together. Here is a picture of us in our costumes my roommate took for us. Doesn't Bradford look dashing?

Another thing on my list of festivities that we did was drive up the canyon to see the leaves. It was such a refreshing afternoon. We grabbed a pizza and headed up for a relaxing drive and some good conversation. We topped off the night with some hot chocolate. Here are a couple pictures we took up at the canyon. It was a little chilly, hence my rudolph nose. And yes, I kiss boys. Well, just one actually.

Bradford and I also went to the pumpkin patch and then carved some jack-o-lanterns. I love going to the pumpkin patch. I don't know why exactly, but I love it. My pumpkin is the sad/scared one. Its supposed to be scared but it looks kinda sad instead. I wanted to do a scared jack-o-lantern because jack-o-lanterns are usually scary, not scared, so I thought it would be some good irony. My pumpkin was particularly fibrous. I had a hard time carving it because the fibers kept peeling away. It was interesting and made the whole pumpkin carving even more challenging. Anyway, we carved them the night before Halloween and then on Halloween we watched a bunch of scary movies and ate a bunch of candy. A few days ago we smashed our pumpkins and took a video of them.

Here is Bradford at the pumpkin patch, cutting the vine to one of the lucky pumpkins that gets to come home with us:

And here are our finished jack-o-lanterns. I wanted to carve the little gourd but that thing was hard as rock. I couldn't have made a single notch in it without at least losing a finger.

Here is a picture of my pumpkin after he had been smashed. Poor thing.

And this is the pumpkin smashing video:

Another thing we did that was on my list of things to do this fall was to buy some fall clothes. Bradford actually came with me believe it or not and didn't get sick of shopping until hours later. I'm so proud of him. ;) We went up to Park City to do our shopping at the outlet mall up there. I love going up to Park City. It always feels like a vacation. It was a lot of fun and we found a lot of stuff for some really good deals. I bought a long light jacket, nine west brand, that was orginally $200 but I got it for $30, and I bought some new black dress pants for work and a black ruffly-ish blouse, brown flats, a silk blouse, and another blouse at the Banana Republic outlet for a steal. Then I got a sweater and a new black cardigan at the Gap outlet and I can't remember what else... maybe that was it. I also got a new umbrella later back in Orem at Target. We went to dinner after our spree and drove back home. It was really a lot of fun. Bradford enjoyed it at least as much as I did too.

All in all, it has been a great month since I last wrote. I anticipate the next month to be just as good. Hopefully though, it won't be that long before I blog again...

Spooktacular

2008-10-16T16:00:00.006-06:00

I have made a few decorations for our apartment this Halloween season and I've taken pictures of some of them so I decided to post them for those of you interested.

This is our "Spooky" door sign.

This was a lot of fun to make. I used Halloween paper, some eyeballs from the craft store that I think were meant for a stuffed animal or something, ribbon, buttons, glittery scrapbook letters, and an unfinished wood board (I actually ended up using an unfinished wood picture frame because I couldn't find just a board anywhere that was the size or price I wanted...). Then I put the paper on with a clear drying glue and painted over the top too so it wouldn't rip or anything. It was a lot of fun and super easy and pretty inexpensive. I'm thinking I'll do some for Thanksgiving and Christmas too.

This next little project was way easy and I spent less than 5 dollars on the whole thing.

The spider web I got at Big Lots for four dollars and I tacked it up into the corner of our living room. I made the spider out of some of Kathi's old soccer socks, a few buttons, little paper fangs, and fuzzy pipe cleaners I got at a craft store for seventy cents. For his body I rolled the socks up into themselves until they made a ball. Then I hot-glued some orange and black buttons on for his eyes (I guess technically he should have 8 of them but he just looks so darn cute with only two of them...). I cut two little triangles out of some white paper and tacky glued them below his eyes for his fangs. The legs are the pipe cleaners hot glued onto the bottom of his body and then bent a little. He was so cute when he was finished that we had to give him a name. Everyone, meet Rufus. I wanted to make him crawling off the web on to the wall or soemthing, but I was having a difficult time figuring out a good way to get him up there.

I also bought a ceramic jack-o-lantern off of a clearance table at Michaels for $1.50. He looks nice with a candle lit inside of him on our coffee table. I bought a garland of some really cool looking fall leaves that we hung above our window too so our living room looks nice and halloweeny.

I'm having a lot of fun finding different things to decorate with. I especially like to use things to make something that they wouldn't normally be used for. Like Rufus made from socks (who knew?!).

If anyone has some fun ides, send them my way!

Eat, Drink, and be Merry

2008-10-09T11:20:00.012-06:00

This past weekend was conference and so Kimberly and I decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to try out some of our fall recipes. I picked out a few I wanted to try this time, went grocery shopping, and then planned for our feast! I was so excited about kicking off our Autumn excursions and at first I thought I was being a little ambitious, but the recipes ended up not being very difficult, and the end results were pretty darn good.

On the menu was:

Wild Mushroom Dip

Vertical Pear Salads

Curry Pumpkin Soup

Spice Rubbed Chicken

Horchata

and Pumpkin Chocolate Cookies.

Mmmm.... it even SOUNDS delicious!

Here are the recipes, along with pictures! I'm going off of memory here, but I'm pretty sure I got them right:

Wild Mushroom Dip

- 8 oz cream cheese

- 1 5 oz package of dried wild mushrooms (I had to use dried shitaki mushrooms that I found in the Asian food aisle. I almost didn't find any anywhere in the entire store but then a clerk that I recruited to hunt some with me found me later in the store with the shitaki ones. So if you want to make this and you can't find dried mushrooms, check the Asian aisle if there is one.)

- 2 cups white cooking wine

- 1/2 cup sour cream

- 1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of mushroom soup

- 1 cup shredded mozzerella cheese

- 1 tsp. salt

- 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

- 1 tsp. dried tarragon

- Heat wine in microwave on High for 4 minutes. Place mushrooms in wine for ten minutes to rehydrate. Then blend mushrooms in blender/food processor with 2/3 cup of the wine (throw away the rest of it). Blend until it becomes a thick paste.

- In a crock pot mix mushroom paste and remaining ingredients together until well blended. Cook on low for 2-3 hours.

*I served it with some fresh tarragon on top.

Last minute I remembered some pitas I had in my fridge so I cut them up into little triangles and put them on a cookie sheet, sprinkled some grated parmesean cheese on them, and put them in the broiler for about 5 minutes. They came out slightly crispy with the cheese nicely melted on them.

I had this out to eat during the last session of conference and it tasted great with the pita chips. I loved the kinda smoky taste it had and the tarragon was delicious in it. Even Kimberly, a self admitted mushroom hater, seemed to like it.

Vertical Pear Salad

- 4 smooth skinned pears (whatever that means... aren't they all smooth?)

- 2-3 cups water cress (depending on how much salad you want)

- 1/2 cup toasted pecans

- 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

- vinagrette dressing (your choice. I used raspberry vinagrette and it was really good.)

- honey

- lemon juice (I had lime juice already in my fridge so I just used that instead.)

*I didn't measure any of the ingredients, I just added as much/little as I wanted.

- Cut pears horizontally (short ways) into four slices each. Use a kife to cut out the cores so the peices look like donuts. Leave the stem on the top peice. Brush lemon juice on each cut side of the pear peices.
- Toss the pecans, blue cheese, water cress, and dressing until coated.

- Reassemble the pear, vertically (ahhh... get it now? ;) ), with the watercress salad in between each slice. Once assembled, Drizzle with honey.

I absolutely LOVED this! It was delicious and surprisingly simple. And it looks awesome. The hardest part was remembering which order the pear peices went in the reassembly...

Pumpkin Curry Soup

- 1 30 oz can of canned pumkpin

- 1/2 cup chopped celery

- 1/2 cup chopped onion (I used a white onion)

- 1/2 cup chopped carrot

- 2 Tbsp butter

- 1 tsp curry powder (I used some yellow curry powder that Bradford has.)

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

- 1 cup half and half

- water ? (I can't remember how much water it called for... I'll look at my recipe tonight and adjust it on here.)

- In a large pot melt butter on medium heat. Once melted add the celery, carrots, and onion. cook until somewhat soft. Then add the pumpkin pie spice and curry powder. Cook for 2 minutes.

-Add water and pumpkin. Bring to a boil. Then add salt and pepper. Reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occaisionally. Remove from heat and let it slightly cool. (I stuck it in the fridge for about 15 minutes.)

- In a blender, blend about a 1/3 of the mixture at a time until welll blended. Once entire mixture is blended through, return to pot and allow to simmer. Once its simmering stir in the half and half.

This soup was really good. Everyone liked it a lot. Bradford gave it a 9 out of 10 even. I served it with some Italian parsley on top and some french bread Kimberly brought with her. I added some more salt and pepper to my serving, just because that's how I liked it, but it was perfectly fine without it. It had such a delicious flavor and it smelled incredible.

Spice Rubbed Chicken

- 1 5-6 lb roasting chicken (my grocery store didn't have roastign chickens so I picked up 3 cornish hens instead. I just adjusted the cooking time)

- 1 tsp paprika

- 1 tsp ground cumin

- 1 tsp ground coriander (we only had whole coriander, and it was like 7 dollars at the grocery store for the ground stuff, so I just used a spoon and ground it myself. It was a lot cheaper that way. :) )

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp nutmeg

- 1/2 tsp cinnamon

- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

- olive oil

- 1 med. red onion thickly sliced/chopped

- 1 med. white and/or yellow onion thickly sliced/chopped

- Set oven to 350 degrees. Lay onions in the bottom of a shallow roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt.

- Mix all spices together in a bowl.

- Rinse chicken and pat dry. Rub with Olive oil then rub on the spice mixture. Coat entire chicken.

- Place on the onions and loosley cover with foil. Cook for 1/2 an hour. Then remove the foil and cook for another hour and a half to two hours. Or until juices run clear.

* For the cornish hens, I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I didn't get them done all they way on the first try and we ended up sticking them back in the oven after we'd cut into them and noticed they weren't done. Whoops. But, all in all, I found that they need to cook at 350 degrees for about two hours. I served the little guys a big ol' chard leaf from Bradford's parents' garden. I was going to braise it and serve it with the chicken but I forgot about it until I was done cooking and we were sitting down to eat, so I just plopped the birds on top of it instead.

We were so full by the time we finished our soup and salads and after all the munchies that we had throughout the day that we ended up not eating the chicken and Bradford and I had it for dinner a few days later. :)

Horchata

- 1 cups uncooked rice

- 5 cups water

- 1/2 cup milk

- 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon

- 2/3 cup sugar

- 1/2 Tbsp vanilla

- Blend the rice and water in a blender until the rice begins to break up. Then let it soak for 3 hours.

- With a mesh strainer, remove the rice from the water. Stir the remaining ingredients into the rice water and then let chill. Serve over ice.

Bradford was in charge of the horchata. We actually doubled this recipe and ended up with a lot of it, but it was so good.

Kimberly made the chocolate pumpkin cookies and I don't have to recipe for it. I'll try and get it from her soon because they were so good. I realize now that I didn't get pictures of them. Sad. But they looked just as good as they tasted!

I got the recipes I used from the Better Homes and Gardens magazine. They always have tons of really great recipes each month and I am constantly collecting any recipe I can find from the various magazines we recieve for our waiting room at work.

Here are some more pictures. The two of Bradford I just had to post because they are so very Bradford. :)

Why Not

2008-10-09T08:39:00.002-06:00

I could or could not win a handbag by posting this link. I guess we'll find out. Never hurts to try right? Right...

http://www.handbagplanet.com

I'll let you know how it goes!

Quirks

2008-10-06T09:51:00.005-06:00

My wonderful sister, Kimberly, has just "tagged" me in one of her blogs. Because of that I am to write a similar blog about myself with 7 Quirky things about me that all of you may or may not know already. The last step is to also then tag 7 other people to write about their quirks on their own blog. I'm not going to do that part though... I guess the whole part of my brain that has an aversion to mass/chain emails is likening it as such. But, if any of you that read this need an idea for a new post on your blog, feel free to share your quirkiest quirks with the rest of us.

1- Ok, so I know that anyone who knows about what I am about to tell you would be very disappointed in me if I did not own up to this characteristic in me as my absolute number one quirk... with that said: My number one quirk is my "Sticker" issue (even thinking the word makes me gag). Ever since I can remember, the idea of stickers, face paint, people writing on their hands, peeling labels, etc... have honestly made me ill. Sometimes I have a better handle on it than other times, but there have been actual instances where I have lost my lunch over encountering one of the afore mentioned objects. I prefer to use the word "label" as opposed to "sticker" mostly because it grosses me out less. Stickers are ok if they are in their proper context. Like scrapbooking. But once they become applied to clothes or skin, and even worse, once they start curling up their corners... I'm done for. And stickers on food is even worse. It just seems so wrong. I carefully choose my fruit and vegetables at the store to avoid those with labels on them. I also can't stand when labels on bottles, cans, etc... start to peel off. Anything that's sticky that starts to collect grime and grodies is bad. And face paint, stamps on hands, any writing on the skin... can't handle it. Halloween can be a hard time. Funny though, someone once asked me why make up doesn't bother me... maybe my narcissism ousts the gag reflex. Also, tatoos don't have the same effect. The rub on ones do, but not real ones. Not sure why.

2- Even though my number one quirk is probably quirk enough to account for 7 of them, I'll go ahead and list 6 more, just for Kimberly's sake (though I think she's just determined to expose me for the weirdo I am to the entire blogosphere...). I have to have all the silverware in the drawer stacked up nicely on itself. it can't be askew or haphazardly thrown in. All spoons must be neatly placed on the same sized spoons, all forks must be laid nicely on the same sized forks. I have a friend who years ago, while "helping" me put away dishes, thought it would be funny to mess up the silverware drawer and then stand in front of it so I couldn't fix it...

3- I can't stand it when dresser drawers or cupboards have clothes or something sticking out of them when they're closed. It also bugs me when cupboards and drawers (or even containers of any kind) don't/can't close all the way.

4- I prefer to have two straws in my drinks. Unless the straws are mondo thick straws, I can't drink my drink well unless I have two of them. Bradford, dear heart that he is, has even gotten in the habit of asking the waiter's for an additional straw. Or he just gives me his. I can't remember when this habit started. Its sometimes embarrassing when I ask for another straw and the server looks at me like I'm and idiot for not seeing the one already sticking out of my cup... just humor me man if you want your tip.

5- Whenever I have cash, I like to have all the bills facing the same direction and in order of their amount. Kind of on that same vein, my DVDs have to be alphabetized...

6- If I'm ever popping bubble wrap (because its strangely satisfying), I can't leave any of the bubbles un-popped. It drives me crazy.

7- I love fluffy animals. Anything that is fluffy temporarily incapacitates me and all I can do is obsess for a few minutes over whatever it is that triggered my behavior.

My 7 things turned into more of a "let-me-tell-you-about-my-OCD-issues" synopsis rather than a list of my quirkiness... maybe they're one in the same, I'm not sure. I probably don't notice all my quirks either, so if any of you know of additional quirks in me that I failed to mention, and that you feel are prominent go ahead and let me know what they are.

A Day Away

2008-10-01T08:57:00.014-06:00

Bradford and I took a litte mid-week break yesterday from Provo, and work, and school, etc... Bradford picked me up from work at one o'clock and we headed up to Salt Lake City for the day.

Our first stop was in Sandy for lunch. We had a two for one coupon to Sweet Tomatoes, a soup/salad/pasta buffet. It was so good! I ate way too much, of course, but because the food was all pretty healthy I didn't feel disgusting afterward. I think my favorite things there were the Ginger soup/broth and the itty bitty teeny tiny ice cream cones. Seriously, these things were adorable and held just enough ice cream to top off the meal. I wish I had taken a picture of it... Here's one of Bradford though, enjoying a tasty leafy salad:

After we finished lunch, we headed further North to downtown Salt Lake City. We parked the car and then walked to one of our favorite spots in all of Salt Lake City. Sam Weller's Bookstore. I love that place. We only make it up there a few times a year but we love it every time we come. Its a three story new and used bookstore and they have a collectibles section that has really really old books, rare books, special edition books, and also just really nice copies of books. Bradford and I have been building a small collection of classics. I think we have 25-30 leatherbound or wanna-be leatherbound gold lettered books. I started buying them years ago and more recently have started to buy higher quality ones. At Sam Weller's we can almost always find really nice copies for under 40 dollars. Its a lot of fun. Yesterday I had a hard time choosing just one... I found about ten that I wanted but we ended up just buying The Three Musketeers as well as Anna Karenina. After we made our selections from the collectibles we wandered around the rest of the store and ended up picking up a Tagolog-English Dictionary for Bradford. We made ou purchases, walked back to the car, and then headed off for Hogle Zoo! We were initially planning to see My Fair Lady at the Pioneer Theater Company but we found out that the show for that night was sold out, which we were kinda bummed about, so we decided a trip to the zoo to see some fluffy animals would help cure some of that disappointment :).

We saw all sorts of animals, lots of monkeys, some big cats, lots of birds, elephants, rhinos, a few bears, snakes, and lots of fun litte furry guys too.

The first animal we saw was a bunch of turkeys. Throughout the park there were turkeys and roosters and peacocks just walking around. Bradford was walking up to one of the turkeys and the turkey started to cluck and get kind of agitated and so we decided it was time to go elsewhere... Turkeys make me nervous anyway... one too many bad run-ins earlier in life. Here's Bradford posing with Ms. Turkey:

I also took a picture of one of the roosters for Bradford. He loves chickens/roosters and he got excited when he saw them.

There was an exhibit of a family of monkies (I can't remember what kind of monkey there are...) and they have a 6 week old baby and he was darling. He was jumping all over the place and playing with his mom and dad, running around, tackling clumps of grass... It was very entertaining and we got to be pretty close to them. This is a picture of the baby in one of his calm moments staring at a family member. I think he wanted whatever the big one was playing with in his hand.

There was also an inside monkey exhibit and in one of them there was a bunch of lemurs and one of them came running up to us when we walked up to the glass and he put his hands on the glass, so I did too (don't worry, I didn't tap on the glass) and I thought he was really liking our interaction until the next thing you know he and his cage-mate started screaming and making a really scary sounding yell... I was very glad for the thick glass in between us. Apprently I made some offensive hand gestures in lemur or something.

After the monkeys we saw a cougar that was swatting and biting at bothersome flies, some black bears who were very shy and hiding from spectators, some elephants, two rhinos, soem warthogs that were surprisingly really cute. and then we saw one of the most amazing animals ever. A Red Panda. I wanted one so badly after that. He was darling! If he wasn't a wild and slightly dangerous animal (though he looked as sweet as anything) I really think I might have climbed into his home and snuggled him. He has one of the cutest, sweetest, faces ever. I wanted to get a picture of him but when I went back to get it he was in his inside area and I couldn't get a good picture because of the glass. Next time...

We then saw some giraffes, which made me miss Kenya, and then we saw a tiger. I wanted him to go swimming in his little pond thing but he was too busy pacing back and forth at the top of his hill that he lived on. across from his exhibit there were some lynxs and they were beautiful. One of them was really preoccupied with the pacing tiger. His stare was locked on Mr. Tiger the entire time we watched him. He was even pacing to match the tiger's pace. I think he secretly wants to be a tiger.

My favorite big cat was a leopard. He was taking a nap on some very cozy looking grass and he looked very, very soft. Another furry friend I would have glady cuddled with minus the potential of death. Again, I wish I'd gotten more pictures but I either didn't think of it in time or there was glass that affected the shots.

We also saw a white alligator. He was lounging out on the bank of his pond and I found him very comical, even though he wasn't doing anything but laying there, sprawled out, and relaxing. I kinda liked him. As we walked into his exhibit there was a cave thing you had to walk through and it had a waterfall coming off of it so Bradford and I took a couple pictures in front of it:

We also saw some penguins that were really cute. I think it must have been nap time though because they all looked so sleepy. This one was my favorite, I think he was sleeping standing up (maybe that's normal for penguins... hmm, I'll have to wikipedia that)! I also took a picture of one of his fellow penguins.

We went inside their reptile/desert animal exhibit. Along one wall was all the snakes and bugs and creepy crawlies. On the other wall was birds and fuzzies (like a REALLY cuddly looking prairie dog that I swear was smiling at me...) and things that were less scary to look at. I stuck closer to that side of the exhibit. At one point Bradford had to prepare me for a sight I could hardly stand. Two bunnies! I don't know what it is about bunnies but they are one animal that can get me to squeal like no other... they were very fun to watch. Next to the bunnies was another cute furry friend. A sand cat. He was sleeping in a hollowed out log and poked his head up at us. Very cute.

We saw some very pretty birds, and on our way out of the park we saw this parrot:

He was chriping and kind of cooing, and he seemed shy but also like he wanted us to see him and admire him. It was so cute (boy I'm using that word a lot... I just can't help myself!). He even made a full turn on one of his perches and posed very nicely for us. I liked him a lot.

After we said goodbye the friendly parrot we heard another bird talking. Earlier we had seen a very quiet Macaw parrot and I thought it sounded like it was coming from his location. Sure enough, we made our way over to him and he was more than willing to give us a show. He was such a crack up. He kept doing funny litte tricks like the one I got him doing in this picture:

Ok, so you can't really see what he's doing very well, but he would hook his beak on his cage and then let go with his feet and just hang from his beak, and he'd wiggle his wings back and forth. The harder we laughed the more he did it. It was so neat. Such a smart animal!

And, of course, what Zoo is complete with a giant lion mouth to drink from? Classic.

We left the zoo, and made our way back south to Provo. Then Bradford remembered that there is a Filipino market up this way and he wanted to find it so we could buy some food so I could experience and he could reminicse (he served his mission in the Philippines). It took us a little while to find it (we stopped at a 7/11 to buy slurpees and get directions...) but it was worth it once we did. Bradford was really excited and it was neat to see some of the things he'd told me about. As we were paying, the clerk asked me if Bradford was my brother, haha. I laughed and said that he most definitely wasn't my brother and Bradford said "I wouldn't kiss my sister like I kiss her." The lady said, "Oh, well you guys look alike." It was kinda funny.

We drove back in to Provo and stopped at Maceys to pick up some groceries for Bradford and then we went back to my apartment made some pancit sandwiches (kinda like top ramen noodles on white bread). Bradford used to eat them in the Philippines and he introduced me to them about a month ago and I found myself craving them. We had some peppermint herbal tea as well and then we watched a movie.

It was such a nice day. Such a needed break, too, from all the surrounding monotony. And its always nice to be with Bradford, no matter what we're doing. I know he needed the break too so it was great to get out and do something enjoyable and different.

Its in the Air

2008-09-18T16:07:00.019-06:00

I am SO excited for Fall this year!!! Granted, Utah falls aren't quite as vibrant or long as those back in KY, among other places, but it will be wonderful all the same. No matter how soon the time runs out from now until the snow starts falling, I will cram as much autumn into my days as I can handle.

I love fall clothes, the weather, the BYU football games, the smells, the food, and of course those begging-to-be-stepped-on-ultra-crunchy leaves! I am going to make sure that this is an Autumn of enjoyment, taking advantage of all the fun, festivities, and beautiful nature that can be had.

I can hardly wait to go fall clothes shopping. New shoes, sweaters, jackets, jeans... I'm tickled at the very anticipation of it! Bradford will definitely humor me because I'm pretty sure he will also benefit from the fruits of my sprees. Sometimes its more fun shopping for him than it is for myself.

I'm starting a fund for our Fall O'Festivities, as Bradford fittingly christened it, so that we can be sure to go to the pumpkin patch to pick out our lucky pumpkin friends for this year, and also so that we have plenty of resources to attend all the fun things like farmers' stands, haunted houses, haunted forests, haunted corn mazes, haunted toilets, whatever! I get so ridiculously into those, no matter how unbelieveable, I push all logic aside so I can get thrououghly scared at every cliche chainsaw man and scary clown face (don't have to try too much be truly scared of those ones...). What fun is a haunted anything if you aren't going to let yourself be scared? Bradford can testify that I truly do denounce any reasoning that would allow me to walk through one of those without much clinging and shrieking. Not to mention the heap of entertainment for him as a product of that behavior...

And food! Thanks to the most recent Better Homes and Gardens magizine that was just bestowed to the doctors' office I work in, via the friendly postman, I have oodles of mouth-watering recipes and treats to try out. From pumpkin curry soup, spice-rubbed chicken to savory plum salad and chocolate cherry bread pudding... I think I will easily become a fan of the feasts of fall. Also, what fall is complete without several caramel popcorn balls and jugs of hot apple cider?! Come one, come all, I WILL be in the kitchen this season.

I hope that there are lots of fun parties and things going on... wait, this is Provo, land of the Cougars and home to BYU, of COURSE there will be parties, campus parties, community parties, ward parties, and hopefully a few parties by friends. Heck I may throw one myself if I feel ambitious enough. Now... what should Bradford and I dress up as if we need costumes? Hmm, that'll give me something to mull over.

Decorations! I want to do something fun in my apartment... maybe a fun squash arrangement or some fall leaves... There will definitely be scents of cinnamon and other delectable autumny smells to be had. Ooo! An autumn wreath on our door! Brilliant...

One of the canyons out here has what they call "The Alpine Loop." You go up one canyon and "loop" around the mountain and come out another canyon an along the way there are tons of aspen trees. They are gorgeous when they change color. They usually change pretty quickly though so you have to get up there at just the right time when they are at their most vibrant. I'm sure Bradford would love to go up with me and look at them and take some pictures. I also want to find a yard that needs to be raked so I can play in a pile of leaves. I loved it as a kid and and positive I would still find some kind of joy in it now.

With the days getting crisper, and whiffs of autumn in the air, Fall is going to be here before you can say Jack Robinson! So do something exciting to enjoy this wonderful season! Shower the kiddos with handfuls of candy come the 31st of October, try a fun recipe, sit outside and enjoy a beautiful afternoon with a good book. Let me know of plans you have so I can borrow your ideas and add them to my list.

Happy Fall everyone!!!

Ratatat-tatting

2008-09-04T12:13:00.007-06:00

Last night Bradford and I went up to Salt Lake City to The Venue to watch a band Bradford recently discovered on Pandora and we both found it pretty cool. The band is Ratatat and they don't sing, its just all music full of synthesizers, some awesome guitar solos, and of course an electric keyboard and other doo-dads. It was so much fun! The Venue is a pretty small venue too so it made it even better. If I liked them before I think I love them now. But it will never be the same listening to them now that I've heard them live. It was SO incredibly good. The first two hours of the concert were torture though... there were two opening bands, and they were really not entertaining. The first one, E-rock I believe, was better than the second one, though still not what I would call good (Anyone that can use a Wiimote and nunchuck to digitally scratch though is considered pretty cool in my book.). We almost wanted to leave because the bands were draining our energy and excitement to see Ratatat and then they took the longest time to set up for Ratatat that we considered just going home. I'm glad we didn't. Ratatat's set was worth the wait. But next time, we'll probably show up an hour or two later so we don't have to deal with lame bands and wait time. Bradford used my camera to take some pictures and videos of the concert so I posted a few of them for anyone who wants a taste. (P.S. The video I was going to post was taking FOREVER to attach to my blog so I didn't end up posting it but I may try it again later.)

We got to go higher up (with a better, less obstructed, less crowded view) into the "lounge" part of the venue. It was a "21 and older" only section so it was the first time I've ever been IDed to get in somewhere. They had couches and an outside balcony and, of course, bars.

The keyboard guy was going nuts in all the songs, it was pretty hilarious to me for some reason. Maybe it was because his hair was a huge poof and it was fun to watch him fling it around...

These are some songs that I like a lot by them:

Falcon Jab http://www.box.net/shared/pncgik12g2

Wildcat http://www.box.net/shared/kby3rh338u (Bradford thinks they should play Wildcat at the BYU football games because it has a cougar-ish roar throughout it. Its fun).

Loud Pipes http://www.box.net/shared/k8pa53lc05

While we were waiting to go inside for the concert there was an old beardy guy standing by the crowd with a cello and he was playing all sorts of diddys on it. He was quite a character. Bradford and I decided that he's a bum because his under-appreciated musical genius drove him to insanity and forced him to the streets. We gave him a buck or so, as did a lot of other people. I bet he made a pretty good chunk of change that night. Ratatat should have had him open for them. I would have enjoyed listening to him more than the bands that did open.

We also went to Wal-Mart last night after the concert to get a few odds and ends and we FINALLY found Mario Kart for my Wii! I'm pretty excited to try it out. I love Mario Kart...

Out of Order

2008-08-26T08:17:00.008-06:00

I was just about to Google something (don't ask me what it is because even now, only 30 seconds later I can't remember) and I have that personalized Google page where you can have a calendar and daily quotes and a picture of an animated fox that changes with the time of day... This particular morning, as I was about to dive into the ever growing world that is the internet, one of the daily quotes on my page stuck out to me. Its by Richard Paul Evans and it says, "Everyone who got to where they are had to begin where they were." Now, this may not strike anyone else as profound, but it did me because it reverberated a theme that has been playing in my life the past week or so. That seems to happen alot. Quiet, sometimes unnoticeable, but meaningful principles will be patterned in clumps in my life, something kind of like this: I'll come upon a quote on my google page and then later have a conversation with a friend and the same topic seems to be an underlying theme and then later a talk in church will bring insights into the same concept even sometimes something in a book or in a movie will somehow hint at the very thing that is trying so desperately to get itself into my head. All these situations drive, subtley, a simple idea into my little brain. The principles behind these themes are always things I seem to be lacking in or things that will undeniably help me out a lot in life. Again, they are usually very simple things. Maybe I'm more simpleminded than I thought... (but don't get any ideas of now having free reign to call me a simpleton you clever folk out there).

Back to the quote that spurred this rambling entry. The theme this week seems to be (in case you didn't guess it already) a you-can't-get-to-your-super-large-and-super-great-goals-by-pretending-you're-further-than-you-are-and-then-trying-to-jump-from-extreme-to-extreme type of thing. For example, one of the things that sparked my realization that this was something that was trying to manifest itself to me happened yesterday. I was talking to Bradford about something and I said, "You need to stop worrying about trying to jump to the top of the stairs. Just take the next step up." Later that night as I was writing in my journal, it hit me how ironic it was that one of the things I needed to hear came out of my own mouth. There are no elevators to the top of our potential. You have to take the slow steady steps and get there the "hard" way. Its like every morning when I get to work, I always punch the elevator "up" button in hopes that it will appear soon so I don't have to trudge up the stairs in my heels. More often than not though waiting for the elevator to arrive and then move up to the 4th floor takes longer than just taking the stairs from the get go. Funny.

I also came to the perhaps obvious conclusion that the more little, short term goals (like making those couch pillows I've been planning for so long...) will make it even easier to have the endurance for those bigger goals (like my goal to be consistent in doing hobbies, not just in drawn out spurts). No one tackles Everest before ever having climbed anything else (pardon the cliche. But they are cliches for a reason...). Doi. It seems so obvious but I've tried so many times to hop my way over all those intermediate steps and somehow come up at the top landing. You're more likely to fall on your face when doing that than you are if you take each step at a time. Making your big goals a series of little goals.

I have goals. Maybe nothing that seems to be of great magnitude, but things like getting a Dental Hygiene degree (oh stop your gasping, I've always wanted to get a degree, the fear of debt just kept me out of school for a little while, I never intended to never go back). And littler goals like smiling at five people today when my initial reaction might be to growl at them. Its also funny because you think you can make plans and do things exactly how you plan them... I don't think that has ever been the case in my life. Sometimes accomplishing those goals require you to take a route that you may never have known existed when the goal was made, or had even considered an option for whatever reasons. It just goes to show that you can't do it all yourself. You aren't always right. You may have great ideas for yourself but the getting there is sometimes better done another way.

So it looks like I'm taking the stairs.

One More!

2008-08-19T07:59:00.002-06:00

One more card! I made this card last night. Its for my sister's birthday (mother of Emma).

Pulling Out the Spit Shine

2008-08-18T09:39:00.031-06:00

Following in line with my new goal of trying to do more of the things I love as well as shining up some of those left-to-rust talents I know are lying around somewhere, I have rediscovered my love for making cards. I'm not much of a scrapbooker, mostly because it would take me forever to catch up to my current life in photos (maybe I'll start that up again when I have a family of my own...), so I have instead found that making birthday cards and thank you cards and a card for any reason at all really has been something I thoroughly enjoy and I've done a few that I'm pretty pleased with. I wish I had taken pictures of them all but I didn't think to start taking pictures of them until a couple months ago. Anyway, here are a few of the most recent ones I've done:

This is one I made for my sister's graduation.

This one was my Dad's Father's Day card.

This was a card I made to go with a baby present for a friend. (Its also probably my favorite. It took a long time to make but I had a lot of fun with it and it turned out pretty cute.)

This is the card I made Aimee for her college graduation.

This I made for my grandparents in California.

And this is my niece's birthday card. (Shh... don't tell Michelle... I haven't sent it off yet.)

They, aren't the best pictures in the world, but they give a taste of what I've been making. I like to have the pictures of the cards I've made so that I can see that I really can make a decent card (if I'm stumped or feeling discouraged on a particular card design), and also I can see progress I've made or reuse ideas if I'm feeling lazy :). Its really fun and surprisingly therapeutic. Some of them definitely are better than others but they have all been fun to create. I don't have a lot of tools, mostly just paper and scissors and a few add ons like ribbon and buttons, but the more I make the more I notice the things I'd like to get. Its kind of nice because when I started I didn't spend tons of money on tools and supplies that I'll never use but also sometimes frustrating because I can only do so much with the resources I have now and it takes a while to cut out letters and flowers and things. I'm going to keep a list though of the things I'd like to get and then slowly add on to my supplies.

Now... who's got a birthday coming up?

I Have Been Blessed

2008-08-05T10:07:00.007-06:00

Today started out ok. I didn't get up early like I had planned and instead I rose out of bed at 7:00 from a very shallow and restless night's sleep. I did not feel refreshed at all but I scuffled to the bathroom, forcing my eyes open against the glaring lights and commenced the beautifying process. My hair was ok, my make up looked fine, I scrounged something out of my closet to wear that wasn't fabulous, but work appropriate and comfortable at least.

At work I set up for the day, had everything ready for the arriving patients, and waited for the day to begin. Its a Tuesday and Tuesdays are a lot less hectic than most so I started to write a card to my Grandpa and Grandma out in California who were angels and gave me a much needed loan for Dental Assisting School about a year and a half ago. Not long after I finished the note the first patient of the day arrived. I don't know why but I was in statue mode. Unfeeling, uncaring, and yes, maybe slightly curt. I had no reason to be, except I was tired and apparently didn't try at all to break myself out of that grumbly mood. The next few patients arrived and checked in and I went through the motions with barely more than a semi-friendly greeting and only addressing the necessary.

That's when Mr. Dobson came in. Mr. Dobson is a 75 yr.-old new patient and needed to have his insurance cards scanned, a packet of paperwork filled out, and apparently slowly repeated instructions. For some reason, especially in the mood that I was in, I expected to be irritated by this gentleman's requirement of patience. Instead I felt the exact opposite toward him, much to my astonishment. My spirits glowed faintly brighter when he stepped up to my desk. Mr. Dobson does not write well. It took him a full 3 minutes to sign his name and date on the sign in sheet and he mistook his friend's business card for his insurance card, and he very seriously told me that he wasn't able to write when I handed him the paperwork. He asked if I could fill it out for him and I surprised myself by saying, "Yes, of course I can do that for you," before I even had a chance to think about how inconvenient it was for my schedule... (it was a very self centered start this morning...). I grabbed my favorite pen and the clipboard of paperwork and then Mr. Dobson and I sat on one of the couches in the waiting room and I read him the paperwork as he gave me the appropriate information I needed to fill in. Throughout the course of the venture I learned that Mr. Dobson is a widower from Washington who, at the age of five, had an iron accidentally dropped on his face, smashing the bones across his nose and sinuses. Unfortunately, at that time, there wasn't the resources to surgically correct his injury and he was left to the mercy of mother nature to heal on his own. What they didn't know, what no one could really have known, was that due to that injury 70 years ago, Mr. Dobson was to suffer a myriad of health issues, from skin cancer, a kidney transplant, heart problems, a foot long and very protruding hernia, to severe sinus infections and fevers, all stemmed from that one incident as a child, believe it or not.

I don't remember exactly how it happened but somehow I mentioned that he had a good life despite it all. He very assuredly agreed with me and affirmed that he indeed had a very fulfilling life and a wonderful family, and with tears in his eyes he said that he was glad for the life he's had and grateful for the things he's been able to expereince. He said that now, he's ready to go home though, and he's just waiting for when the Lord is ready for him. It wasn't sad though. It was such a peaceful statement. He's lived and he's ready now to go home. With no hesitations. What a wonderful way to "end" life!

Mr. Dobson touched my heart today in a way that I don't think I'll ever forget. After we'd finished his paperwork and chatted for a little while longer I decided I needed to pull myself from this wonderful man's presence, stop any tears that were welling, and come back to my responsibilities. As I walked to my desk I noticed my step was lighter. When the next patient checked in I was warm and congenial. When I answered the phone I had a smile in my voice. Little common annoyances that have always been in the workplace were evaporated. This sweet, unfortunate man, was my angel today. He cured me out of my selfish mood. He resolved me to a better outlook.

Since then I have noticed the blessings more acutely in my life, even the ones in just today. I recieved a raise at work, as well as an unexpected bonus just for a job well done. A man came and brought me handfuls of goodies because, "receptionists just don't get appreciated enough." My wonderful, amazing boyfriend has made me feel so loved and cherished. I am healthy and strong without any physical defects to speak of. I have a great job in just about every aspect of it. I have a wonderful family and friends that have loved me despite everything I may or may not have done. I am blessed. Anything I have to complain about is a factor of my own making or my own selfishness. I need to always remember dear Mr. Dobson and the lesson and feelings he has brought to me.

Thank you Mr. Dobson and I wish you a smooth transition back to your sweetheart.

Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise

2008-07-31T09:33:00.004-06:00

I am very pleased to announce that my pants no longer squish into the sides of my waist and my thighs aren't as wiggly-jiggly as they were once upon a few weeks ago. A few weeks ago! Already I am seeing some very likable results. This program is proving to be very impressive.

I have only worked out once this week thus far (as you can see on my handy-dandy calendar over yonder), which just means that my goal of four days a week has no more freebie days to spare. But that's ok! I will do it. What I really need to make myself do is wake up an hour or so earlier in the mornings and do it before work. I know Bradford is reading this, nodding his head, thinking something along the lines of, "That's what I've been saying this whole time you crazy girl!" and I know! You're so right Bradford, but I am so very terrible at getting myself out of bed in the morning to do anything other than shower and get ready for work... sometimes even without the shower part... but it is something that I will keep working towards. My dad can testify of my challenge with early mornings. From paper routes to early morning seminary I was a force to reckon with if anyone so much as dared to try and wake me up without my being ready to be woken, not that I was ever ready... I'll keep setting that alarm though and keep on trying to roll out of bed sooner. I know it is good for me. The few times I have actually succeeded in doing so, my days have been more productive and smooth and more positive overall. Good ol' Ben Franklin wasn't lying.

I tried another recipe on Tuesday night and it turned out pretty well. It was a breaded, baked, perch dish and I made sauteed squash and a fresh vegetable salad to go alongside it. I've never had perch before and it was a risk since my liking for fish has only been a recent development, but even Kathi, who doesn't like fish very well at all, ate it and seemed to like it ok. I forget how small perch is though so only four filets made a light meal for Bradford, Kathi, and me. Next time I'll make a few more. Everything tasted pretty good and the recipes are pretty simple. It was a pretty fast meal too, it didn't take more than 30 minutes to make it all. I'll post the recipes a little later, maybe this evening after work, and add my suggestions for alterations as well.

Anyone who read my previous post I hope didn't feel that I was more low than I was trying to express. It has merely been a more laziness on my part than anything else. I've not been not doing the things I love and know would be productive and gratifying to me. Instead I have opted to just sit in front of the TV when I get off of work until I decide its time for bed rather than do things like clean or make a card for someone or read a good book or exercise... simple things, but good things. I was just observing that my life was a reflection of the old adage, "Old habits die hard." Thank you for all of your concerns and thoughtfulness though. I'm grateful for everyone's input and support! I know we've all felt this way one time or another. Its good to know I'm normal :).

Running Circles

2008-07-29T09:31:00.001-06:00

For starters, this P90X thing is really working. I've only done it for about a week now, but it has been working me out. Last Thursday I did the "Plyometrix" workout and it tore me up. I could barely walk for the next two days. It was pathetic. But obviously that means its doing something right? Next time that particular workout comes around though I think I won't push myself so hard. I can't remember a time I've ever felt that sore!

Lately I've been feeling pretty mellow. It seems to be a common emotion for me the past few years. I don't really feel sad, sometimes I do, but for the most part its just mellow. Its more a state of being, actually, than an emotion. Maybe I'm not doing enough in my life to feel that sense of fulfillment that maybe I'm subconsciously craving? I don't know... probably. I guess I don't live enough for the present. I'm too concerned about what I haven't done in days gone by or what I dream about doing in the future that I end up just sitting around in the mud not really doing anything for today. I get stuck in a melancholy, unproductive state of being. Even writing this I can feel something stirring inside of me with discomfort at the very thought of me wasting all this time that I could have been doing something meaningful with. I'm not content with mediocrity, but I think that maybe the past few years of my life have kind of shown otherwise. Maybe that's where my mild frustration lies. My outer sphere of life, the life that everyone around me can see me in and the life that my actions (or lack thereof) reflect, is so conflicting with my true desires. I guess the "real me," for want of a better phrase, is still struggling to surface through.

And yet, I know what the cure is: Quit feeling so blah and start doing something with my life. Quit letting old, hard dying habits rule my life! Quit writing about it and talking about it and just do. I won't be perfect. I will probably relapse many times and feel this same sort of state of being all over again, but I will do something today. Something that will make me feel good and like a consequential individual.

Just one day at a time...

Week Gone By

2008-07-23T09:09:00.001-06:00

I haven't posted anything for about a week and I had another recipe test for dinner last night but part of me doesn't want this blog to become just a bunch of relatings about me trying out recipes and what I think about them... its all well and good, but, there has GOT to be something a little more blogworthy in my life than me eating dinner. So, for the sake of proving to myself that I'm not desperate and I don't have to resort to recipe analyzing just to write an entry about my life, I am not going to divulge the sub-par parmesean chicken recipe I tried (partly because it was sub-par and also because I will not be dependent on those experiences to make sure I have regular entries) and will instead write about something... else.

Its funny, I started out writing this particular entry having something somewhat in mind to write about that didn't invole a frying pan and now, after all that, all I can think about is why I didn't take the stinking foil off the chicken halfway through its baking like I'd planned... Give me a minute and I'll dig out something un-food related.

Ok, I'm going to slightly milk Bradford's most recent entry topic and tell about my own resolve to try out a new workout regimen. I have always felt the desire to be in shape but, like most people, I do well for a week or two and then for about a month I drop out of the exercise realm altogether until I catch a glimpse of my thigh in the mirror or some other body part that should not be that bulgy. Laugh all you want, I know I'm not a large person in the grand scheme of things but I am definitely not in as good of shape as I know I can and want to be. My metabolism is slowing, believe it or not friends. I am really excited to start this P90X thing. Despite the fact that it somewhat terrifies me for how intense it is, the little I have expereienced of it has proven to me that this is a no nonsense program that has every promise of helping me get and stay fit. Its going to kick my butt but I will garuntee you that while doing so it is going to make that butt come out looking better than ever.

One thing I've found that I really like about this P90X program is that it IS really hard but the Tony guy, or whatever his name is, that hosts the program really emphasizes pushing yourself and doing good reps but not overdoing it "take a break if you need to, we'll be here when you get back" is common to hear throughout the programs. I like that because I can do what I can and still have room to grow. So the program will give me something to work up to and I won't grow out of it very quickly and when I'm (cross-your-fingers) more fit and active, I can still use this program to keep challenging and toning my new bod. Hopefully it will help me create a new healthy habit that will stick with me throughout the rest of my life too. I have a feeling that I'll stick with this for longer than I've stuck with most things. Not only because I'm doing it with Bradford and accountability has an uncanny way of motivating me, but also because my hiney will be awfully glad too.

Good Eats

2008-07-16T10:02:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I realized again that I like to cook! Its been too long since I've actually pulled out a recipe and made something. Recently, however, I have felt the desire to be healthier in my lifestyle and eating well is obviously a part of that. My roommate and I have decided to trade off nights to cook dinner. I pulled out my collection of long accumulated recipes and chose about four to buy ingredients for and I made up a shopping list for what I needed and after work yesterday we stopped at good ol' Maceys and loaded up on some foods. Eighty-seven dollars later I had a nice myriad of resources to put my creativity into some intriguing recipes. As I was planning my day, I had everything worked out for when we would get home from the grocery store and how long it would take me to make dinner and then exactly what time we would sit down to eat and then when we would be done so Bradford and I could get to our 7:30 appointment. Needless to say, nothing stuck to the schedule like it should have and I was only barely able to get everything done in time for us to only be 20 minutes late... whoops. Regardless, it came out pretty well I must say. Bradford, my darling boyfriend/best friend in the entire world, and Kathi, my previously mentioned roommate, were donned my critics for the meal. However I think I was the harshest crtic overall. The meal included a main dish of honey mustard chicken breasts, a basil, mint, and fresh green bean salad, and some french bread. I figured I'd share the recipes since that seems to be common blogger ettiquette:

HONEY MUSTARD CHICKEN
1/3 cup dijon mustard (I just used whatever mustard we had in the fridge)
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise (I had Miracle Whip so I just used that)
1 tsp. steak sauce
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Preheat the grill for medium heat.

In a shallow bowl, mix the mustard, honey, mayonnaise, and steak sauce. Set aside a small amount of the honey mustard sauce for basting, and dip the chicken into the remaining sauce to coat.

Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill chicken over indirect heat for 18 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally, or until juices run clear. Baste occasionally with the reserved sauce during the last 10 minutes.

*I don't have a grill so I did it in a frying pan over med-low heat and just basted the chicken every so often. I used a lid too to keep in as much moisture as I could. It made for a nice sauce to serve the chicken with too so that was a plus.

BASIL, MINT, AND FRESH GREEN BEAN SALAD
(I don't have the salad recipe on me, but it was pretty simple and I can remember it I think... here it goes!)
6 cups water (its just to cook the beans in so I didn't measure how much water I used. just enough to boil the beans)
1 lb. fresh green beans, trimmed if preferred
1/2 cup shredded fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup shredded fresh mint leaves
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small sweet red pepper chopped
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt (I used a salt/herb mix that I had in my spice cabinet)
*I also added some edamame because Bradford likes protein and I was introducing a new option for him to get some more of it. I probably used about 1 1/2 cups? I didn't measure, I just added some until it looked good.
*I also used spinach to make it more substantial because the leafiness seemed a little scarce to me, plus it was on sale for 69 cents a bag :)
**I also didn't measure the mint and Basil, nor did I shred them. I just did what I thought looked right. And I lied. I did tear up the mint now that I think of it, but not the basil.

Bring the water to a boil in a large sauce pan. Add the green beans, and bring to a boil again (I also added the edamame at this point.) Reduce heat to a simmer for 7-8 minutes or until beans are crisp-tender (whatever that means...). Add garlic to last minute or so of simmering. While beans are simmering, toss leafies, and red pepper in a large bowl. Once beans are ready, drain and toss into the other ingredients (I also ran cold water over them until they were cool so that they didn't wilt the other stuff). Then add olive oil and salt (I ended up using about three tablespoons of olive oil to compensate for the spinach and I didn't measure the salt...). Mix until coated.
*I also stuck the bowl of salad in the freezer for a few moments while I was getting everything else out onto the table, to give it a slight cool.

The last thing I did was the bread. I would have loved to try my hand at making some French bread from scratch but given my time crunch I opted to just buy a ready made loaf at the bakery and then I sliced it up in about 1 inch thickness, and laid them on a cookie sheet. Then I melted some butter, drizzled it over the peices, sprinkled some shredded parmasean (not the powdery stuff), sprinkled some garlic powder, and then some dried parsley. I was going to use fresh parsley but its a lot more potent than the dried stuff and I didn't want it to conflict with the basil and mint in the salad. I would have just left it off altogether but the parsley added a nice color. Then I set the oven on broil and put them slices in for probably 3-4 minutes and they were perfect.

It took a total of approximately 45 minutes to make everything. Even though I got clock-shock toward the end, which meant I forgot to add the garlic to the simmering beans (so I just added it straight into the salad and it ended up being fine), and I forgot to turn the oven on to broil so the bread was just sitting there for a while (good thing it didn't take very long to toast! we just had to have it half way in to our eating... but it was good!) it was a pretty darn good meal. And if my camera wasn't charging at the time I would have taken a picture. It looked pretty and colorful on our plates.

We all agreed that I should have taken the soy beans out of their pods (Duh), because it made for a not-so-enjoyable toughness in the salad (we ended up taking them out individually ourselves as we ate, and it actually added a lot to the whole asthetic appeal of the salad). And, of course, the chicken was a little dry. Next time, when I have more time allotted to cook, I'll bake it to keep it juicier. Other than that there were no complaints. Bradford gave the chicken's sauce 5 out of 5 stars, the chicken itself 3 1/2 stars (because of the slight dryness), and he said he would have liked the green beans to be cut in half because they were so long. I kinda liked how they looked though with their length, but it would have made them easier to consume if they were cut. I would have added some of that shredded parmasean cheese I used on the bread to put on the salad if I'd had a moment to think about it. That would have been yummy. Or maybe even some crumbled feta or something. I also should have trimmed off the very ends of the beans because they were like eating grass... All in all though, the salad was really tasty, I loved the zestiness of the mint and basil, and the bread was great (you can't really go wrong with garlic bread), and the chicken with its kinda musky mustardy flavor was really a good compliment of flavors to the unique variety in the salad. These are some dishes I will definitely make again.

I'm looking forward to continuing this cooking idea. It not only provides me with better nutrition but it also makes me feel a small sense of accomplishment which is always greatly appreciated. I'll keep adding the recipes and let you know how they all work out, the good and the bad.

Now... next time its my turn I think I'm going tackle a seafood pasta dish... any suggestions for sides?

Chaff and Grain

2008-07-14T11:47:00.001-06:00

I love being loved. Really loved, in that unique way that only a few seem to be capable of. Knowing that there is someone in the world that truly loves and enjoys me with all my ins and outs and ups and downs, I can't imagine anything more satisfying. Its like, an external part of me. A part that is me but isn't at the same time. Its incredible having someone that can get into my brain and mull around in it with me. Yet we're still seperate entities. With seperate emotions and reactions and thinkings. I love it . Everything about it. Now... the only thing that's missing is the hardware. Oh you know I'm teasing... kind of.

Commencing the Bloggage

2008-07-10T13:10:00.001-06:00

I had all sorts of fun setting up my blog. Choosing a background, thinking of something semi-clever for a title and theme... And then, after all those preliminary steps were taken, I had no idea what to even write as my first posted blog. So, here is to blogging and hopes for something significant or blog worthy to appear into my brain. Cheers and happy blogging all.