Autodidactic Ambitions

Ferocious Flirt #5 & #6

2012-02-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

Even though I'm not too great at doing this ferocious-flirt-a-day business, I did try out a couple new ideas, in between preparing for my first observation over at the middle school and keeping up with my church responsibilities.

Since I'm too lazy to go and find the book, I'll just summarize.

Ferocious Flirt #5: Send your significant other an e-greeting card on a normal day, just to say that you're thinking about him/her.

I actually used to send e-greeting cards all the time four or five years ago, but I haven't been in the habit of doing it lately. My go-to website for online greeting cards is www.egreetings.com, because they have funny cards for super random holidays and great cards for everyday stuff. Although they do have a ton of Valentine's Day cards out right now, I decided to send Matt a card that was under the "Everyday" section under "Love." (Side note: I LOVE the interactive cards. WAY too much fun.)

Matt got the greeting card when he wasn't with me, which is just how I wanted it to be. He sent me a very sweet text after he got it that made me feel all giggly inside :). The great thing about going out of your way to express your love is that your significant other will nearly always reciprocate that love action in some way. So then you both have gained something from it. (Not that you should do cute things because you expect something back, of course. That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm more just pointing out the fact that love tends to breed love, is all.)

Ferocious Flirt #6: In your sweetie's backpack or briefcase, put a Twinkie with the following note attached: "You're the Twinkie in my brown bag of life."

I thought this one was too funny to pass up. The only thing was I didn't really have much time to actually make a note, so I just put a Twinkie in Matt's backpack and planned to text him the note as soon as he was on his way to school. The problem was, I forgot to text him. So like five hours after all that, I get this text from a very confused Matt asking, "Did you put a Twinkie in my backpack?"

Rather than explicitly confirming, I just sent the text back with the cute little saying.

He obviously couldn't tell if I was just messing with him or not (and must have been worried about the Twinkie being poisoned), because he said, "Did you really put a Twinkie in there? Seriously?"

I got a good laugh out of it.

And he got a Twinkie.

It was a win-win.

Mid-Week Boost: Finding Joy

2012-02-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

Today I'm excited to introduce you to one of my new favorite bloggers: Jodie from jodienoted! I found Jodie's blog a few months ago and just fell in love with her positive outlook on life, her thought-provoking personal stories, and her beautiful craft ideas. Go check her out--you won't be sorry!

From the moment Torrie contacted me about writing for her Mid-Week Boost feature my mind has been going nonstop. What am I passionate about? What excites me? Where do I focus my time and energy? And honestly I was kind of stumped. At one point or another I've always had a specific passion. Music, for one. Or baseball, writing, sewing, friendships, and the list goes on. They used to consume my thoughts and actions. Lately, however, they are missing. For the longest time I could not put my finger on why I had lost all zest for these things that I normally love. What has happened that they no longer have a place in my life?

It didn't take long for me to answer my own question. Life. Life is what has happened. I've become so overwhelmed by what life has handed me that I haven't given my old interests the time of day. This got me to thinking, though. If I have no passion right now - no gusto whatsoever - how am I still able to get through each day? And it hit me. I am passionate about something in my life right now. Something that means the world to me. I realized that through good times, bad times, stresses, trials, busy schedules and everything in between, what I am perhaps most passionate about is living and loving my life regardless of what comes my way.

I will be the first to admit that I don't have an exciting life. At least not the kind of exciting that the rest of the world looks for. I haven't traveled much of anywhere. Heck, I've never even been to California. I don't spend money on big TVs or new cars or a nice house. I didn't graduate at the top of my class from a well-known university. I haven't climbed the corporate ladder. I can't offset my bad days with retail therapy or a quick weekend getaway. Frankly, I'm just a normal girl living one day at a time. But my little life and my simple days are all I'll ever need.

If I spend a day cleaning up my daughter's messes and burning dinner and only get a breath of fresh air when I walk to the mailbox greeted by a stack of bills, I have still lived a great day. I have reasons to smile. Why? Because I have a daughter to make messes with and to hug and snuggle and love. And I may have burned dinner but we had food to eat and a dinner table to sit around together and laugh about my culinary failure. And the bills may pile up and will seemingly never stop, but my husband was able to receive an excellent education and we have a house that is warm in the winter and a car that gets us where we need to go. If I can't find joy in the most ordinary of days, then I've failed to understand the meaning of true happiness. It is in the simplest activities that I'm able to see how meaningful my life is.

It might seem silly that finding joy is my passion. But maybe the joy we all find and learn to recognize is what leads us to more good things. Maybe finding joy in the ordinary is just the first step in allowing ourselves to really see what we have to offer and the great things we can accomplish.

Building a fort on a rainy day / Learning how to make the best sugar cookies from Grandpa

Thanks so much, Jodie! (P.S. I loved your last post on what faith means--I haven't stopped thinking about that quote, actually!)

Tell-All Tuesday

2012-02-07T14:20:00.000-07:00

*I've always thought that I have pretty great luck in life. Apparently that all changed this week. My car sputtered and slowly died this morning while I was still 4 blocks away from the school, I had a minor panic attack while giving plasma last night that required them to put an oxygen mask on me and have a nurse babysit me for half an hour, and I have realized (once again) that no one expects anything out of student teachers. I mean, I've cried TWICE already this week, people. This just does not happen.

*But of course, in all trials there is a silver lining--my cooperating teacher felt bad about my car, so she bought me a Dr. Pepper to save my sanity, and the second my car died, I immediately had people come to my aid to help me push my car to the side of the road. Plus I had a guy come and park behind me and make sure everything was okay about 2 seconds after I put my emergency lights on. People are so good here.

*I was just grateful that I remembered how to actually turn on the emergency lights in my car (something I did not know how to do for the first two years that I owned the thing).

*Luckily, the car is now fine. Apparently cars need gas or something. (In my defense, I was planning on filling it up right after school, and I thought I still had a good 50 miles left on the tank. Guess I was wrong.)

*On the bright side, I have a new episode of The Bachelor to watch tonight and a really great husband who came to my rescue and filled up my car with gas and moved it to the front of the school while I was teaching class. (Not to mention how he listened to me bawl my eyes out for about 45 minutes straight last night, made me dinner, and gave me a foot rub). Matt, you are so wonderful! Kiss!

*I'm trying to go meatless this week because there haven't been any great sales on meat lately. Anyone got any good ideas besides grilled cheese sandwiches of what I can make?

*I started a new scripture study technique on Sunday that has brought me so much comfort this week. I'm hoping to have time to post about it a little later.

*I entered a writing contest for the first time in years yesterday (the main writing contest that Utah State sponsors). As I've been lucky enough to win in years past, I'm trying not to hope too hard that my luck can stretch just a little further and allow me to win this year, too. A couple hundred extra bucks would sure help me out.

*I think all my students drank Red Bulls before class both days so far this week. I've wanted to rip my hair out (or theirs!) this whole week. Must be a sign that we're due to start a new unit soon. Or that we all need a holiday.

*I will be finishing Matched today. I would have finished yesterday at the plasma center had my body decided to not freak out. I'll be posting my review of it shortly.

*Here's to hoping that the rest of my week goes much better than the first half.

*Is it the weekend yet?

Ferocious Flirt #2, #3, & #4

2012-02-05T15:43:00.000-07:00

I love poetry--I have scads of poetry anthologies tucked away in bookshelves all over the house. For this reason, Flirt #2 was particularly easy to pull off:

When writing a love letter . . . "steal from the best! Use freely from the bard, the lyrics to romantic love songs, and poems."

On Thursday night, I didn't have much time (or frankly, much motivation) to do anything out of the ordinary. Truth be told, I just wanted to eat chocolate and check in early. But then I read something in Ferocious Flirting that made me realize that I was just wanting to act selfishly and that the best way to get out of my funk for the day was by serving. So I pulled out an old sketchbook, tore out a page, and handwrote this poem and then taped it up on our bathroom mirror. Even though poetry has always been more my thing, Matt came downstairs with a big smile on his face and swooped me up into a hug and then asked me if he could keep the poem in a special place. Isn't he sweet?

Flirt #3 was not necessarily something that I could provide physical evidence of (unless I'd had the forethought to take a picture), but it's a good reminder nonetheless. Matt and I have set a goal this year to go on more "real dates" together, instead of just sitting around the house every weekend and watching movies and eating junk food. So even though Friday, we did just your typical movie-and-dinner date night, I made sure to keep this ferocious flirt tip in mind:

"Remember to make going out or spending time with your hubby a special occasion. Take the time to get dressed up for your spouse every now and again, just as you would an 'important' person you were going to spend the evening with. Just because this guy loves you doesn't mean you shouldn't make him say 'wow' every now and again, like when you were dating."

Now, I'm the kind of girl who gets ready for the day no matter what, regardless of where I'm going. But I have realized that since starting marathon training, I often look better for my 7th graders than I do for Matt, because he'll come home to find me still in my jogging spandex with my hair pulled up, working on the computer. And even when we do go ou, I usually just wear whatever it is I was wearing earlier that day. But on Friday, for our date night, I made sure to change into my "date jeans" and a more feminine-looking shirt than what I had on. I revived my hair and reapplied some makeup. And even though Matt didn't say anything (which he normally would), I still felt better about myself because I'd put more thought and time into my appearance. Ferocious Flirt #3 accomplished!

The last Ferocious Flirt I'll share today is one that I'll be working on for the next couple weeks, esp. with all the Valentine's Day decor around. It's called "Preparing to be Spontaneous":

"Has this ever happened to you? You feel particularly grateful to your sweetie and want to do something extra special to show how much you feel. You think up something, but of course you don't have it around the house. Then you run to the store only to find that they don't have what you're looking for. You end up spending a lot of time and not being able to do what you wanted to do anyway. So now, instead of feeling grateful, you're feeling frustrated. What you need is a "spontaneity kit." This kit is a collection of simple things that will allow you to do something special for your sweetie on a moment's notice. My kit includes:
*I Love You stickers
*Candles - both scented and otherwise
*CDs with romantic music
*DVDs we both appreciate
*Heart-shaped box
*Massage oil
*Blank greeting cards with romantic, friendship, and appreciation themes
*Chocolate kisses and hugs
*Index cards with various romantic thoughts on them"

While I don't have a lot of these items on hand, I do have a few, which made me able to be spontaneous last night after we got home from stake conference with a romantic chick flick (Just Like Heaven) and candles. I decided this week that I need to pick up some of the other items, so I can have some fun spontaneously surprising Matt later on (like putting little stickers everywhere!).

What other things do you think I could include in my spontaneity kit?

Marathon Training, Week Five

2012-02-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

Matt and I have now been officially training for over a month, and over that period of time, I've learned quite a bit about my running self.

Each day before I'm due for my run, there is inevitably The Stall. You fellow exercisers know what I'm talking about---the moment where you know you need to go out and get sweaty, and you just look for every little excuse to keep pushing it back. The other day I talked Matt's ear off for a solid 30 minutes until he finally said, "Get out and go running. There will be no sun left if you keep talking to me."

Of course, once I'm out, I accept the inevitable and get on with it already.

During mile one, I feel all the spots where I'm tightest (tailbone, inner thigh, hips, knees), and I am keenly aware of the freezing temperature, the wind pushing against me, and my own failure the day before to stretch adequately.

In mile two, I get a sideache. Without exception.

By miles three to four, my sideache gradually wears off and my muscles are warm enough not to be giving me grief.

During mile five, I usually feel like throwing up. Or I get gassy. (TMI?)

By mile six, I realize how thirsty I am (after all, by this point I've been out about an hour), and all I can think about from then on is how nice it's going to be to get to the apartment and drink a dangerously full glass of warm water when I get home. Somehow this makes me go faster, and I start running closer to the ground and taking longer strides.

By mile seven, my body is starting to feel the length of the run and my limbs start to hurt for the first time since mile 2.

By mile eight, I am so close to home that I get a huge adrenaline rush and about double my speed. Usually by this point, my body is a furiously effective machine, and I feel like I could go on running forever and ever because of all the endorphins racing around my bloodstream.

Of course, the second I stop running, I want to die.

But overall, the training is going great. The biggest obstacle in my way is always myself and my own motivation---I think for me, running is about 75% mental and 25% physical. If my head's not in it, my body's not in it. Those are the bad days. Lucky for me, most days I have a ton of thoughts swirling around in my head, which helps me to crave the exercise a lot more--running has given me a great way to release stress and ponder about problems that need fixing.

This week, we boosted up the mileage on a few of our runs. I bumped my short runs from 3 miles up to 4.3 miles. My semi-long runs stayed at 5.5 this week, but they'll be bumped up to 6 by next. And then I added another mile onto my longest run, which puts me at 8 for that day (although, since my speed increased this week, I should have run 9). Matt and I finally mapped out a new route, too, which helped a ton with yesterday's long run, since we've been getting a little bored with the routes we've been doing since the beginning. I had no idea that First Dam was such an ideal distance from us. (remember that photo walk? First Dam is pretty much the same thing, but just a few miles closer). I discovered that changing up the route is a great way to re-motivate me to get out there and get my miles done.

This next month will bring some exciting challenges, like running the distance of a half-marathon by the end of it and trying out some speed exercises. Bring it on!

Number of Miles Run This Week: 30
Avg. Time Per Mile: 10 minutes (slowly but surely, I'm getting faster!)

Teaching Update

2012-02-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

I've finally gotten around to updating my teaching blog with a couple more posts.

This time, I weighed in on parent-teacher conferences and funny student remarks.

Check it out here:

http://didacticdithering.blogspot.com/

Cartoon via cartoonstock.com

Ferocious Flirt #1

2012-02-01T19:23:00.000-07:00

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I decided to whip out Ferocious Flirting (this cute little book we got at our wedding that's full of little ideas to make your marriage wonderful) and start trying out some of the suggestions. I always try to serve Matt every opportunity I get, but this book gave me some ideas on how to go out of my way to make him feel loved.

My goal is to try out one new idea from this book every day until Valentine's Day.

First Experiment (quoted from the book):
Before your sweetie gets into the shower, start the dryer going with some towels. Just as they are finishing, get two towels out of the dryer and leave them for [him]. A nice warm towel after showering is a luxury he may not have experienced before.

I didn't realize how challenging this experiment was going to be until I actually started going about it. First of all, Matt rarely showers while I'm at home. As I've said before, our schedules are very different this semester, and we don't see much of each other except at night. So when he happened to be getting in the shower while I was around, I jumped on the chance.

Then a second problem happened--his towel (we only have two towels) was hanging up over the shower rod, so there was no way I could steal it without him noticing. But I took it anyway, only to have him ask, suspicious, "What are you doing with my towel...??"

"Oh, just a little surprise," I said innocently, then bounded off down the stairs.

When I came up with a warm towel for him ten minutes later, he loved it. I got an extra big (and extra-drippy) kiss for it. So even though it wasn't a surprise, I know he still appreciated it. And I giggled to myself because it just felt good to do something out of the ordinary.

I dare you all to try this out this week, and let me know how it goes!

Tuesday Tell-All

2012-01-31T15:12:00.000-07:00

*Okay, I know I said I wasn't going to try to talk about student teaching so much, but my paper load is seriously becoming kind of unbearable. And now I finally know what all my English teachers were talking about...I've spent over 6 hours in the last two days going over one-page rough drafts, and I've only managed to correct half of the periods that I have. And then today I got another whole load of papers that came in that needs to be entered. AAAAAAGGGGGHHH! I will drown in papers before the semester is over.

*Want proof of how overloaded with papers I've been? Matt and I didn't watch Once Upon a Time last night like we always do on Monday nights. We NEVER miss our t.v. shows. Obviously this is serious, people. But I absolutely WILL make time to watch The Bachelor tonight. No exceptions.

*I know I mentioned this in my last marathon training report, but I'm really kind of amazed at how the weight is just starting to melt off--I am now lighter than I have been in years, and the numbers keep going down. And nothing has changed--I'm still eating what I was before, and running about the same amount. Who knows why my body all of a sudden decided to drop the weight? Weird.

*Matt paid me the cutest compliment last night after I fed him his dinner. He said, "If I ordered that at a restaurant, I would never order anything else from there ever again." My heart just melted. (I'll be posting that recipe soon, in case you're interested!)

*I finally started Matched. Although it's gotten mixed reviews, I decided I wanted to give it a shot. And I made the mistake of telling Matt all about it, so now when I go home and am looking for my book...well, you can guess where it is. How that man manages to read so much more than me even though he's busier than I am is beyond me...

*I'll probably post more about this on my teaching blog, but I'm reading over all the students' personal narratives right now, and they are just so endearing. Not to mention hilarious (although the students usually don't intend them to be, which is why it's so funny). I wonder if I would get sued if I posted funny snippets from their stories on here? Hmmm..

*Our kitchen is a disaster right now. I wanted so badly to clean it yesterday, but my aforementioned paper load just wouldn't have it. Sigh. Maybe tonight.

*I've gotten into the habit of donating plasma twice a week to pay for our groceries. Whoever thought of letting us donate plasma for money was a genius. And even though I kind of hate the whole process (esp. getting my finger stuck with a needle at the beginning), it's pretty awesome to see all that cash in my wallet. I never have cash in my wallet. I feel so rich.

*Wanna know something funny? I decided that I am much wiser with my money when I am spending it in cash than when I am using my debit card. I make smarter decisions because I can actually see how much money I'm handing over, rather than just seeing an abstract number on the screen and swiping my card. Crazy.

*Anyway, school's out and I've got a LOT of grading to do. Peace out!

Marathon Training, Week Four

2012-01-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

People who deserve extra blessings: people who shovel not only their driveways, but their sidewalks as well (oh, I just want to hug you all!), people who actually slow down and move slightly over when they see you running, and people who have control over their dogs (or, if they don't, that at least have a leash on them).

I think I have the world's worst luck with dogs in this neighborhood. I swear, Matt never comes home with any stories about dogs trying to eat him, but I come home with such stories almost every day. Take yesterday, for example--I was on the last mile of my 7-mile run, when this curly-haired, cream-colored dog comes tearing out of the house across the street and pursues me mightily, despite his owner screaming, "TITO! Ven aqui! GET OVER HERE!" at him. Of course, had it not been for the presence of the owner, I probably would have tried to kick the dog to make it go away. And then we all would have been in trouble. (Okay, so maybe I wouldn't have KICKED it. But Matt did tell me that if a dog were trying to eat me, I should raise my hand as if I were going to hit it and supposedly it should go away. I made the mistake of doing this in front of the dog's owner earlier in the week--yeah, never going to try that again). Amazingly, I haven't gotten bit yet. But I'm kinda starting to wonder if it's only a matter of time.

As far as the training overall this week, I didn't do too well. Thursday I had parent-teacher conferences all night, and so I was forced to do my run during my lunch hour, which meant I had to cut down my run from about 6 miles to 3 miles. And then on Friday, I donated plasma right before going out to jog (I know, it was stupid of me, but I had no other time to go), and I only was able to run 2 out of my 3 scheduled miles. So I kind of feel like I failed this week, or cheated. But the great news is, my body (for the most part) is still getting stronger and my lungs are getting better at breathing so I don't have nearly as many sideaches, unless I eat right before I run.

Highs of the Week: FINALLY losing the holiday weight. After a few weeks of seeing the scale not budge and then go UP a pound, I lost four pounds in 5 days this week. Body, you are so weird.

Lows of the Week: Not being able to finish my run on Friday because I felt so sick and lightheaded. That's the first time I haven't finished a run because I haven't been physically up to it, and I sure don't want to repeat it again.

Next week our training schedule kicks it up a notch and I'll be bumping my 3 mile jogs up to 3.5, my 5.5 miles up to 6, and my long run on Saturday (now at 7) to 8. Should be fun.

Here's What's Cooking...Garlic Beef Enchiladas

2012-01-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

At first glance, this recipe looks complicated and like it requires a lot of fancy ingredients. But I actually didn't have to buy anything to make this--I already had everything on hand. And even though it took a little bit longer to make than I normally would like (a little over an hour, from start to finish), it was TOTALLY worth it. It's been ages since I've had an enchilada that I was so smitten by--I'd have to say the last time was at The Red Iguana in Salt Lake (which is fabulous, by the way).

But here goes:

Garlic Beef Enchiladas (from Taste of Home's Prize-Winning Recipes 2007)

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 can (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes

Sauce:
4 to 6 garlic cloves, minced (I used 4)
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 can (14.5 oz) beef broth
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce (I just realized I used one of the smaller cans for ours, but it still tasted great!)
1 to 2 tablespoons chili powder (I used one)
1 to 2 teaspoons ground cumin (I used one)
1 to 2 teaspoons ground sage (I used one)
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 flour tortillas (7 inches)
2 cups (8 oz) shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese (I used cheddar)

In a saucepan, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink: drain. Stir in the flour and seasonings until blended. Stir in tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in another saucepan, saute garlic in butter until tender. Stir in flour until blended. Gradually stir in broth; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in tomato sauce and seasonings; heat through.

Pour about 1-1/2 cups sauce into an ungreased 13 x 9 baking dish. Spread about 1/4 cup beef mixture down the center of each tortilla; top with 1-2 tablespoons cheese. Roll up tightly; place seam side down over sauce. Top with the remaining sauce.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered, 10-15 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted.

Yield: 10 enchiladas (ours stretched a little bit more and made 11--I just threw in an extra tortilla)

So delicious! You won't regret trying it out :)

Tuesday Tell-All

2012-01-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

*I feel like the only thing I'm ever going to have to write about anymore will be stuff about teaching. But that's what my teaching blog is for. So I'll do my best to think of other things going on in my life. Ummm....

*So Matt and I really never see each other. Take yesterday, for instance. I left at ten to 8 to go over to the middle school and by the time I came home around 3:30, Matt had already left for work. After work, he goes straight to his evening math class and then gets home around 9:15, at which point I'm pretty much getting ready for bed. This semester's schedule is a beast, I tell ya.

*Did I ever put on here about how I'm pretty sure I failed the Math Praxis test I attempted a couple weeks ago? I didn't even graduate in math, but I figured I went up to Calc IV, so I should have an easy enough time of it...WRONG. That test was insane. And I didn't even finish the thing--after two hours, I only was able to legitimately attempt 38 out of 50 problems (and half of those 38 I'm sure I did incorrectly). Moral of the story is this: don't drop $100 on a test unless you absolutely know you have a decent shot at passing it. However, I still haven't gotten my scores back yet. If by some miracle I pass, y'all will be the first to know.

*Actually, you won't be. Matt will. And then my mom. And then all of you :)

*I have a new little "project" of sorts in honor of Valentine's Day that I'm hoping to get started this week. I'll be posting my idea on the blog shortly (as well as holding myself accountable on here so I'll actually do it). I'm thinking of calling it, "No Skirting the Flirting." But we'll see. I really probably won't call it that; I just was trying to think of something clever and funny. I'm pretty sure that title fails on both counts.

*This weather is really tampering with my marathon training. I know I already stated how much I hated running in the gym, but it looks like pretty soon, that might be my only option. Sigh.

*Doesn't this soup just make you want to die and go to heaven already so you can eat it all day long? I think I might definitely have to try it out for Valentine's Day. But now that I think about it, why wait? Life is too short to pass up on a good chocolate soup recipe. (By the way, if you want the recipe, check it out here).

*The new phrase around the middle school is "like a boss." Although I'm not exactly sure how to use it in context, Matt and I have sure had a fun time trying.

*I haven't started Matched yet (I've totally been slacking on the reading), but I have managed to keep up on The Bachelor, Biggest Loser, and Once Upon a Time. Kinda sad how that works. (P.S. I'm way more excited than I should be about getting to watch last night's Bachelor episode on the Internet today. That's one bad thing about not having t.v.--you have to wait until the next day to be able to watch any of the shows).

*All right, I probably should be using my prep hour (one of them, at least) more wisely. So to the faculty room for a Dr. Pepper it is... :)

Photo Walk: Legacy Trail

2012-01-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

Remember how I was saying here how I wished I could have had a camera on our run last Saturday on the Legacy Trail?
Well, we decided to go back and try to capture some of its beauty and take advantage of the newly fallen snow on Sunday. And while we didn't want to run 4 miles in again to get to the best spots, I think some of our pictures still turned out pretty cool.

Hope you enjoy!

Sometimes we take pictures of the same thing. His: Left (above). Hers: Right (above)

In the above right picture, can you see the horse up on its hind legs?
(And West Bountiful seems to produce money trees, as you can see in the above left picture)

Above picture: Matt waited patiently for what seemed like an eternity for that little icicle to just let off a droplet of water already. It never did.

The ice made the most unusual shapes as it melted: what does the above icicle look like to you?

And lastly--the reflection and the reflected. Wish they could be bigger and still be side by side.

Gotta love the Legacy Trail!

Preview

2012-01-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

Today we went on our first Photo Walk in ages, and I can't wait to post all the cool pictures we got.

However, it is time for bed, so I will only post these cuz I think they're fun:

Can't wait to show you the rest.

Hope you all had a happy Sunday!

Marathon Training, Week Three

2012-01-21T15:10:00.000-07:00

Oh, how I wish I could have brought my camera on our run today so that I could have captured the marshy brushes and the red berries waving in the rain this morning as we ran along the Legacy Highway trail in Bountiful.

Of course, such picture-taking was out of the question as grueling, long Saturday runs and nice, expensive photography equipment don't exactly get along. And besides, I have a hard enough time hefting my own body weight for 8 miles while the rain freezes my hair and the puddles seep through my shoes and socks, so adding any accessory to my running outfit is just out of the question.

But maybe one of these days, when the rain has blessedly stopped and the snow far from our memory, I will pretend like we're out on a really grueling, long Saturday run and take pictures of it for you.

Won't that be exciting?

But as it is, you just get my word pictures today.

This week marked a couple important things for me: first, I started student teaching. Second, I decided at the spur of the moment to up my mileage on today's run (and by "on the spur of the moment," I really mean that I had no idea how far I'd gone and ended up running an extra mile as a result). So I now have run farther than I ever have before: 8.5 miles. I'm feeling pretty good about that.

Overall, this week was just so much better than last week as far as the training went--my body wasn't nearly so stiff and sore, and it just responded so much better to the whole running process: I didn't have so many sideaches to deal with, and our usual runs have started to become much easier overall. I was so encouraged after this week--my body really is responding to the training, and I can feel my legs getting stronger and my lungs becoming more able to provide me with the extra oxygen I need. It's amazing really.

The only thing that was definitely harder this week was dealing with the weather--I ran through freezing, driving rain two of the days this week and then was forced to run into the gym on Wednesday night because the roads were so icy that I could barely make it from my car to my front door without slipping. But through it all, while my wet, smelly clothes clung to my skin and my brain grew numb from the icy wind, I just kept telling myself this: "I cannot afford to be a fair-weather runner. Fair-weather runners will never reach their goals."

Simple, but it worked.

Highs of the Week: Finally getting a change of scenery--since we're down in Bountiful this weekend, we ran an 8.5-mile course along the Legacy Highway trail, and it was just beautiful (even despite the rain). I simply love running outside: I love the ducks I pass at the pond every day in Logan, I love hearing the river gurgling beneath the ice, and I love it when the sun comes out and warms my face. There is nothing better.

Lows of the Week: My run at the gym on Wednesday. It is truly awful to be forced to run on a treadmill in a sweltering, sweaty gym when you have been used to running outside every day. It was without question the longest 3 miles of my life (I would rather have run double the amount I did today than deal with running at the gym again during training). It's so weird how preferences change: two months ago, I had only known what it was like to run in a gym on a treadmill, and I didn't mind it. Now you couldn't pay me to do that. (Well, maybe you could. I wouldn't mind a new lipstick). Anyway, it's not something I want to repeat anytime soon. So all of you who are praying for precipitation...you'd better watch it.

Miles logged: 28.5

Time Per Mile: Somewhere between 10 and 11 minutes. I need to be better at keeping track. (That is the one thing a treadmill is good for).

Teaching Blog

2012-01-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

I've decided to use the blog I created last semester for a class as a place to document what's going on in student teaching. These are learning experiences I never want to forget, so if you want to follow along, check it out:

http://didacticdithering.blogspot.com/

Tuesday Tell-All

2012-01-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

*I did it, people---survived my first day of student teaching with a smile on my face. Of course, I didn't actually teach today (just observed and passed out papers and went to an IEP), but I'm excited for the semester ahead. I completely take over all my classes tomorrow, and I'm actually really stoked. The kids are so receptive, and I think that I might enjoy teaching this age group more than I originally thought. Of course, we'll have to see how this first week goes...

*I know I've been seeing people post this everywhere, but Jason Mraz's new song "I Won't Give Up" is really just so brilliant. It's been ages since I've loved a song so much.

*So I must have had too much time on Monday (with the holiday on all) because I actually caved in and watched The Bachelor for the first time. (Yes, I'm embarrassed to admit that). I'm even more embarrassed to admit that I kinda like it. And that I dragged Matt into watching it with me.

*Already this week's marathon training is a 180 from last week. My body and mind have been responding so much better, and it's a good chance for me to process everything going on at the middle school. I have a feeling that my heart is about to get a lot bigger this semester, and not just from all the jogging.

*I got 3 magazines in the mail today. Happiness :)

*I almost forgot how cool libraries are. Matt and I went to the Logan Library for the first time in ages this past week, and I picked up some Taste of Home cookbooks I haven't tried out yet, and we made a truly sabroso (tasty) meal on Saturday because of it. It was kind of a duh moment really--a good reminder that I don't have to buy every book the minute I want it.

*I got $35 worth of groceries today for about $10. It was amazing.

*Now I want to go eat all of them. Mmm....

What's up with you lately?

Book #1: Forge

2012-01-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

Title: Forge
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
# of Pages: 280

What a great way to spend a holiday: snuggled up in bed this morning until ten o'clock finishing my first book of the year. And then drinking a banana-chocolate smoothie and watching Big Bang Theory. Could life get any better? I submit that it could not.

Forge is the second book in the Chains trilogy that I started last month (unfortunately, the third book doesn't come out until the end of this year, a fact I unfortunately didn't know until AFTER I'd already finished reading the first two books of the trilogy). Whereas Chains is told from the point of view of Isabel, a headstrong, courageous young slave girl trying to escape to freedom during the Revolutionary War, Forge is told from the point of view of Curzon, a young slave boy who enlists with the army to fight the war and who tried to escape with Isabel in the first book. Forge tells the story of Curzon and Isabel's continuing search for freedom, while outlining Curzon's plight as a starving private in the Patriot army and Isabel's plight as a branded slave once again. My favorite part of the book is, of course, the budding romance between Curzon and Isabel. One chapter was so cute that I leaned over, grabbed Matt, and started shaking him while saying, "That....is.....just.....so.....CUTE!" (To which he simply looked up from his own book, bewildered and confused).

As I said, no better way to spend a holiday.

Although I'm disappointed that I won't be able to see how the trilogy ends until October of this year, I have loved these first two books and am impressed, as always, with Anderson's ability to craft strong characters with unique writing voices and craft novels that are not only entertaining and suspenseful, but also thought-provoking and full of feeling. She continues to maintain her status as one of my all-time favorite authors of YA fiction.

My Rating: 5 stars

Marathon Training, Week Two

2012-01-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

Joggers and dogs are not friends. Joggers and cars are also not friends. And that's a mutual feeling on both sides, and we all know it: cars hate joggers, and joggers hate cars. Case in point: I almost got hit while crossing on a 4-way stop sign, and when I looked at the driver to see what was going on, she gave me a look like, "Get off the road, pedestrian. This is MY territory."
Or something like that.

Of course, if all the snow and ice would go ahead and melt already, I could stick to the sidewalks and we'd all be reasonably happy (esp. the dogs, because that way I would be at a more convenient distance for them to eat me). But as it is, I must trek on at the side of the road, praying that the next car coming up behind me sees me and isn't feeling particularly vengeful.

Highs of the week? The fact that I didn't walk a single time the whole week during my runs. And that I didn't take any "shortcuts," like cutting across the lawns on the corner properties.

Lows of the week? I felt like this whole week was a low: I had problems with my motivation (probably due largely to the fact that "real life" started up again and I was forced to start running solo in the afternoons instead of with Matt in the mornings), I had a minor emotional breakdown during one of my runs that almost spurred on an asthma attack, and my body never, ever ceased to be cripplingly sore (yes, cripplingly is a word. Or at least it is now). Plus I was hoping (you know, since I'm busting my butt every day to go out and run and still keeping up a mildly low calorie count) that I would lose the pesky holiday weight that I so easily put on about three weeks ago. But, much to my dismay, I have actually GAINED a pound since starting marathon training. It's very discouraging.

But I still did it. I still completed the whole week's worth of training (although I did skimp on one mile on Tuesday, since I was afraid I would have an asthma/panic attack if I kept on going). And I feel pretty good about that. Plus the weather was beautiful and dry the whole week, which always makes life easier.

Week 3, I am ready for you.

Number of Miles Logged: 26
Avg. Time Per Mile: 11 minutes (why it's slower than last week, I don't know)

Change It Up Report: A Clean Home

2012-01-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

I don't even know where to start with this report. I've been putting it off for so long because (let's be honest) I was waiting for my house to be clean before I actually reported on how I'd done at cleaning it more often/better.

It looks like that might not happen before the end of the semester.

So I guess I'll just say what I tried and how it went.

You all should know, my mom is a brilliant homemaker--I grew up in a spotless, organized home and could expect a hot dinner every night at 6:00 sharp. And while I've got the hot dinner thing mostly down in my own home, I have always struggled with the "spotless" part. (I'm pretty sure it's because I have hoarding tendencies. And a too-high tolerance for piles).

To be honest, I wanted to be able to put down some mottoes in this post that I had magically picked up, like "Don't put it down--put it away." And while I tried to live by that, it just didn't work for me.

So I tried to come up with a system that I know works for a lot of people: assign a different major household chore (vacuuming, dusting, etc.) to a different day of the week. I put kitchen clean-up on Monday, bathroom clean-up on Tuesday, vacuuming on Wednesday, etc. You wanna know long that lasted? Not even a day. The problem? My weeks are often unique in their schedules, meaning that some nights I got home too late to clean and other times I was too tired to do anything more than the basic necessity of cooking a hot meal and getting a foot rub from my husband.

Some nights are just like that.

My mom told me that the key to an organized home is never letting it get too bad. The rationale is that if you keep on top of it every day, you'll always have an organized home and will rarely have to spend more than 15-30 minutes cleaning at a time. When my home was clean at the beginning of this challenge (for about two weeks before the roach spray incident), I could definitely see how that system could work. I also noticed that because every space in the house was already tidy, it was easier to keep it that way (partly because it seemed such a shame to mess up the cleanliness by throwing my dirty socks on the floor). The problem was that when something unforeseen happened (like us having to disembowel our entire apartment so that it could be sprayed for cockroaches), we never seemed to be able to get the house back to its pre-incident state. And then the mess and the clutter just kept growing.

However, I do know that when it comes to a few things, I have made significant progress. For example, we've actually pretty much kept on top of the dishes almost every day (which is kind of a significant thing for us). And a mantra that I unconsciously adopted for those days when it just seemed that I had no time or energy to do anything, I would think to myself: "Just do this one thing." The "one thing" was always something very small, like wiping out the hair in the sink or recycling a newspaper, but usually the "one thing" led to me doing 4 or 5 things, and before I knew it, I actually had made a noticeable difference in a room.

The other biggest thing that I did as part of this challenge was to try and come up with a place for everything so that everything would always have a home and it would be easy to clean up. While this is one that I'm still working on, I have gotten much better in this respect. Some of the things that helped the most were updating our filing cabinets with new folders to carry new papers and putting little card boxes to work holding odds and ends. It also helped that we got rid of a lot of stuff over the past two months.

I still have a long way to go, and I wish that my report could have showcased a more drastic change. But I think I'm going to have to face this ugly truth sooner than later: that I am not predisposed to being super tidy and that I'll have to work at it my whole life. With that said, I will always be looking for suggestions on how to improve myself in this area, like this great blog post I found today (which is where I got the above picture):

30 Minutes to a Clean Home

Change It Up Successful? Umm...kinda. At the very least, I don't think I got any worse...

Finding Motivation

2012-01-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

photo via runtothefinish.com and Pinterest

I would rather sit home today and watch Sandra Bullock movies and eat ice cream.

However, I still have 5.5 miles to get under my belt.

A few minutes on Pinterest, and I'm feeling slightly more motivated.

Out I go.

Tuesday Tell-All

2012-01-10T15:46:00.000-07:00

My brain has been feeling overloaded and soggy all week long, and I blame it on the lack of brain dump that is Tell-All Tuesday. So here you go.

*For the first time since starting the marathon training, I don't want to go running. I blame the fact that I've been sitting in a student teaching seminar for 7 hours straight today. I mean, who wants to do ANYTHING after that?

*We're having the roach spray guy come again today. Actually, he's in my house now. That is why I am not. I'm tired of worrying about the little buggers (even though we, very luckily, haven't had any problems yet)

*Matt and I experienced a miracle yesterday. Hopefully I'll have the motivation to post about it later, because it was a needed reminder that my prayers are always heard and that I really need to stop worrying so much.

*I take the Praxis exam again this Saturday, this time in Math and Principles of Teaching. I've been trying to teach myself Matrix (Linear) Algebra and Discrete Mathematics all week. Needless to say, I'm a little stressed out about it.

*I start student teaching next Tuesday. After two full-day seminars yesterday and today, I am about 100 times more nervous about it than I was three days ago. This has led me to conclusively state that the less I think about things, the better I feel about them.

*I came to the sudden, sickening realization that this semester is going to look suspiciously like the summer, meaning that Matt and I will hardly ever see each other. I hate it already.

*I am teaching my first-ever class on couponing tomorrow night. To tell the truth, I've barely even thought about it. I wonder why?

*Do you ever feel sometimes like the people who know you the least think that you're all great, and that the people who know you the best don't? That probably came out way more depressing than I meant it, but it was just something I was thinking about today. It's a good thing that the people who know us the best love us anyway though, despite the fact that they're familiar with WAY more of our imperfections.

*All right, I'd better go muster up the energy to run before the sun is gone and it's time for my Relief Society meeting tonight. And before I post more depressing rhetorical questions that weren't meant to be depressing.

*Oh, how I missed having my banana-oatmeal smoothie today.

*(I just had to end on a food note. It's tradition!)

Marathon Training, Week One

2012-01-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

Have you ever run so far that you threw up? Me neither, but I sure came close today on mile 6 (I somehow knew that eating Denali mint fudge tracks ice cream minutes before we left was a bad idea).

I've never been a runner. When I was in my early teens, I developed a sudden and severe case of asthma that left me breathless (literally) every time I tried running more than a quarter mile. Although the asthma left as mysteriously as it came, I have always blamed it for my seemingly reduced lung capacity for aerobic activity. Up until about 13 days ago, I was perfectly content with thinking that I would just run 2.5 miles at a time for the rest of my life and be happy with it.

Then three things happened.

One: We got high performance spandex running gear from Matt's parents for Christmas (everyone in Matt's family is a runner, not surprisingly).

Two: I suddenly hit on a cute little idea: 26 miles before I turn 26 this year. How fun would that be, right?

Three: I gained a stubborn three pounds over Christmas that just are not being as agreeable as the three pounds that only briefly stayed for three days after Thanksgiving.

And that, my friends, is how it began.

This week, we've started on a 12-week marathon-training plan that will hopefully have us whipped into shape by the time we run our first real marathon on April 21st. Since the marathon is more than 12 weeks away, we're debating whether we should just repeat week one of the program three times or whether we should just keep going with it and just repeat the last week three times. But we'll see.

The training goes like this: run 25 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, run 50 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday, and then run an hour and ten minutes on Saturday.

What really happened?

On the days I was supposed to run 25 minutes, we chose a three-mile loop, which put me at 30 minutes on those days. On Tuesday, we guesstimated how long 5 miles was (what a joke!) and ended up coming home at 35 minutes and calling it good. Thursday, after mapping out a "real" 50-minute run, I ended up running 63 minutes because apparently I slow down the longer I run. And today I ran for an hour and twenty minutes (or so we think, because I beat Matt home due to him running for a longer distance today and him having the key).

Highs of the week? Running 7 miles today. I have never EVER run more than 4 miles at one time in my life, so this was a BIG accomplishment for me. And I did not stop once. In fact, the only walking I've done all week was on Tuesday, when on my guesstimated path, I chose to attempt to run up the steep hill right next to the temple. While I did, in fact, run all the way up the hill, I did not, however, continue to run when I crested the top. I only walked for about 30 feet though, so I'm happy. The other happy revelation? That the running gets a lot easier for me after mile 3. I don't know exactly what "runner's high" is, but since Matt told me it's not what I think it is, I'll call this happy phenomenon "runner's numb": when my body hits the third mile, my lungs start breathing easier, my sideache goes away, and my muscles are so warm that they don't feel how much pain they're in. It's beautiful, really. Until the numb wears off, that is.

Low of the week? Yesterday's run. Since Thursday was the first time I'd ever run 5.5 miles, my body rebelled something wicked yesterday, despite the fact that we were only doing a 3 mile run. My inner thighs hurt so bad that I was half-limping down Center Street as I jogged. I just keep telling myself though that in a couple weeks, 5.5 miles will be a total breeze as it will be about a daily occurrence. Boo-yah.

Number of Miles Run: 25
Avg. Time Per Mile: 10.1 minutes

Photo Walk: Mini

2012-01-06T11:21:00.002-07:00

On New Year's Day, I took a short mini photo walk by myself while Matt and his brother played Magic cards. And you know what I realized?

Somehow the photos are always better when Matt's there with me.

It's probably because most of the ones I post are his :)

But regardless, I guess I'll post the few mildly-intresting shots that I was able to get.

You know what else I realized?

January isn't a very pretty month.

But here goes:

*All pictures were taken on Main Street in Bountiful, Utah.

New Year's Eve

2012-01-05T12:28:00.000-07:00

Our New Year's Eve was spent with these good people:

The best part about having a best friend whose birthday is on New Year's Eve is that it means that I always have something to do that night.

In years past, we tried to do the whole big party shebang, with lots of food and lots of people.

This year, I'm glad it was just us.

Just us and sparkling cider.

And Uno and Risk.

What better way to ring in the new year?

Here's What's Cooking...Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

2012-01-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

The last time I got on pinterest, I ran across this healthy, protein-filled smoothie that I just had to try. For the last couple years, each morning I've been having a Carnation Instant Breakfast smoothie, and it was definitely time for a change. I recommend that you add a little bit of milk (about 1/4 cup) to the recipe so that it's not so thick (the first time I made this, the texture was almost too thick to take--Matt still won't drink this smoothie because of it). If you're looking for a quick breakfast that is low-calorie and leaves you feeling full til lunchtime, this is the smoothie to try!

Banana Almond Oatmeal Smoothie (from chiquitabananas.com)

2 whole Chiquita Bananas (best with brown flecks on peel)

2 cups Ice

1/3 cup Yogurt - preferably Greek yogurt flavored with honey (I used plain vanilla yogurt and just squeezed in a little bit of honey)

1/2 cup Cooked oatmeal

1/3 cup Almonds

Pour all ingredients into a blender, putting the ice in last. Serves 2.

This Year, I Resolve To...

2012-01-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

I love the idea of a new beginning--it's the reason I always look forward to a new school year or a new job. New beginnings mean a chance to see yourself in a fresh light, the opportunity to harness the hope that comes from clean slates.

So it stands to reason that I would be a sucker for New Year's Resolutions. As far as last year's resolutions went, well...there's room for improvement (such as the fact that my goal was to read 50 books and I only read 19. And the 19th was a bit embarrassing to review because it involves a vampire love story, and we all know how I feel about those. Therefore, there will be no review).

But in a lot of ways, I succeeded in my attempts at self-betterment this last year. I mean, thanks to my Change It Up Challenges, I took up yoga, started couponing, lost ten pounds, learned the joy of bright lip color (much to Matt's dismay), and really started to love photography. So in light of my successes (although most of them were unplanned), I'm really feeling like this will be a winning year.

Without further ado then, in 2012, I resolve to:

*Run a marathon. (This WILL happen--Matt and I have already dropped $200 to register our spots in the Salt Lake City Marathon on April 21st, and we've started our training already--I've run over 15 miles in the past week to start preparing myself for the more strenuous training schedule that starts in two weeks).

*Read double the amount that I did last year, which translates to 38 books. You can stay posted on that by reading my upcoming "38 Book Challenge" reviews. I do realize this does not have the same relish that "50 Book Challenge" does, but what can ya do?

*Go to the temple every month

*Have people over to dinner every other month. (These first four goals are resolutions that Matt and I set together during Family Night last night. Goals are so much easier when there's someone to be accountable to!)

*Finish typing up my mission journals.

*Do the NaNoWriMo challenge. (This might not happen in November, but we'll see).

Oh 2012, you're going to be so good to me!!

Book #18: A Christmas Carol

2011-12-30T23:32:00.000-07:00

Title: A Christmas Carol
Author: Charles Dickens
# of Pages: 110

This novella has been on my to-read list forever, and, when I found out how short it actually was, I was sheepish that it had taken me 25 years to finally get around to it. I mean, this is probably the most quoted Christmas text next to the Bible, and I, as an English major, should have checked it off my list many, many years ago.

But the past cannot be changed.

Although, as we learn from this tale, the past can indeed come back to haunt us...and change us. Besides the obvious appeal of the plotline (three ghosts coming to haunt a miserly businessman on Christmas Eve), I found myself immersed in the book for other reasons, too--mainly, I found myself dissecting it for the inherent spiritual meaning that I was sure it held. And I was not disappointed.

Maybe it's just the fact that I've been taught how to over-analyze everything thanks to the Lit Theory class I took back in 2006, but I found deep, very personal meaning embedded in each small chapter of this book. You see, I myself have been a bit of a "Scrooge" about Christmas for the past decade or so. and, since I felt that this year I was finally starting to get over that, this book especially hit home for me.

Although I won't bore you with all the details of my personal revelations while reading this, I will say this: there is a reason that Scrooge needed the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future in order to experience the metamorphosis from misery to mercy. His past reminded him not only of why he perhaps had become the way he was, but also gave him snapshots that life had not always been so bleak for him. Likewise, we can bunker down in the past and continue to think to ourselves, "Poor me," or we can realize that our past has its ups and downs and its joys and sorrows, which means that our future and present can hold such things as well. I liked how the Ghost did not only show him his past Christmas joys, but that he also showed him his past Christmas sorrows. I liked that fact because it reminds me that "without the bitter, we could not know the sweet." And it's important to know that we will always have both, and that's okay. It's so easy sometimes to just think, "This past event is why I am the way I am," and leave it at that, but we should rather think: "I have had some hard times, but I have also had some joyous times." It's all about what we choose to focus our attention on, really.

The Ghost of Christmas Present in the book was not the gluttonous phantom often portrayed in the movies (okay, I'm mostly thinking of just the Mickey Mouse version, since that's the only one I particularly remember); in fact, in the novel, the Ghost of Christmas Present does not sit idly and enjoy the pleasures of Christmas by himself or merely show Scrooge the current situation of his acquaintances--on the contrary, this ghost adds to the merriment and cheer of everyone he comes in contact with, and shows Scrooge that even the poorest of the poor can have cheer on Christmas day. The message I got from this was that to enjoy Christmas, we should share in the cheer of others--not just look at others' situations and be jealous (because they have it "better" than us), or depressed (because they have it "worse" than us).

Finally, the Ghost of Christmases to Come reminds Scrooge that our current decisions affect our future outcomes. Although Scrooge's future in these particular scenes is bleak and lonely, Scrooge himself hits on the truth of the matter when he realizes that his future doesn't have to be that way--that he, in fact, does (to a great degree) affect how his own future will go. And so do we all.

So although I'm still not the type to put up Christmas decorations in October or claim Christmas as my favorite holiday, I know I've made some big changes this year: I recognized the joy and sorrow in Christmases past, I shared in the excitement and love of Christmas present, and I know that I can control my attitude towards Christmases in the future. Isn't that a great thing?

And to think I could gain all of this from such a short little book.

Marvelous, isn't it?

My Rating: 5 Stars

Our Christmas: Just the 2 of Us

2011-12-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

Even though we knew Christmas Eve and Christmas Day would be spent back home with our families, we still wanted to start doing our own Christmas traditions.

Each night this whole month, Matt has been reading me a Christmas story.

Every day last week while we were driving somewhere, I would read aloud from A Christmas Carol.

Thursday night after work, we made a big roast turkey dinner, popped open some sparkling cider, and watched a movie. It was originally going to be a Christmas movie, but upon realizing that we had exhausted our only Christmas-ish movies in the past weeks (The Holiday and While You Were Sleeping), we just watched Enchanted. Next year we'll do the holiday stuff.

Friday morning dawned cold and clear, with presents from Santa already under the tree and in our stockings! (Crazy how Santa knows how much Matt is obsessed with Oreos)

First item on the list: opening the stockings.

Funny story: so I was figuring we'd fill each other's stockings, right? Well turns out, Matt's Santa had different ideas in mind. When I came home from work on Thursday night, all prepared to start stuffing, I discovered that his stocking was somehow already stuffed full. Even funnier still? Both of our "Santas" got the same things for him (Magic cards and movies, luckily not the same ones). In fact, Matt's Santa had done such a good job stuffing his stocking that some of his gifts had to be re-routed to go under the tree, and one of them even ended up in my stocking. Weird. Santa sure is getting forgetful, considering he visited Matt twice. Matt didn't seem to mind though.

After we did the stocking thing, we tore into our presents. I was just excited to finally give Matt the gift I've been making for him since October: a journal filled with pictures of us where I had written him a letter every day (well, every day I could find the time).

When all was said and done, we came away with a LOT of movies and a LOT of food. And Matt got me two things I've been really needing: a new memory card for my camera and a cooking thermometer.

It's been ages since I've enjoyed a Christmas so very much. And the best part was: we still had two more days after all this to enjoy Christmas even more!

Hope you all had a beautiful Christmas with your own loved ones, and that y'all have a happy new year!

Tell-All Tuesday

2011-12-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

*I just love this cheesy photo that we took of our celebratory Christmas feast that we had last Friday, just the two of us. We wanted to make sure that "our" Christmas as a couple didn't get lost amidst all the hoopla of our family affairs, so we set aside Friday night to have a roast turkey dinner (with sparkling cider) and then we did stockings and presents on Friday morning. I'll post more pictures a little later.

*Guess what my mom and stepdad got me? A NOOK!!! I pretty much haven't been so excited about a Christmas gift for, well, years. Not that I haven't loved other Christmas gifts (because I've gotten some pretty awesome gifts in my lifetime), but I just was as excited as a little kid when I opened my book. I haven't been able to stop playing with it since!

*I was planning on this Friday being my last day at work, but it turns out that they're not really having hardly anyone work at all this week. So it looks like today was probably my last day (although I'm "on call" the rest of the week, just in case they need someone to hold down the fort). You wanna know the weird thing? Even though I've been looking forward to this moment for months, I was actually pretty sad when the moment to say goodbye came. Had I stayed any longer, I might have gotten a little choked up. I am so WEIRD.

*I don't want to take down our Christmas tree. It's just so pretty and sparkly and mesmerizing.

*I actually finished reading A Christmas Carol aloud to Matt yesterday while we were driving back to Logan (I'll do a book review on it in the next couple days). I am now threatening to read Pride and Prejudice aloud to him just as soon as I get it on my Nook...

*Wanna know a funny story? So Matt's extended family's big Christmas party was on Saturday, and we had to bring a white elephant gift. With hours to go before the party, we finally went to my mom and asked her if she had anything we could use for gifts. My stepdad ran into the other room to get something that he was willing to part with, and then my mom pulled out this cookbook of slow cooker recipes. After just glancing at the cookbook, I told my mom I wanted it, and she said that she hadn't really planned on parting with it, but that if I were to "get" this gift in the white elephant exchange, then she would let me take it. Matt assured me that his family would definitely not be interested in such a gift, so I figured we were safe. Long story short: Matt's family rules of the game say that you can only trade one gift three times before it's "frozen." Well guess which gift was frozen immediately because literally everyone wanted it? The cookbook. My mom was so mad when she found out. And I was pretty sad, too, cuz it was pretty awesome. Oh well.

*Have I told you all before that I'm completely addicted to Tootsie Rolls? I can literally chain eat about fifty of them without blinking an eye, and still want more. Matt got me a bag for Christmas. I bet you'll never guess what's littering the computer table right now...

*Guess what Matt got for Christmas from my mom and stepdad? A GPS! You know what this means, everyone? We'll never get lost again! Unless, of course, the woman in the GPS gets lost, which, if you'll read here, can actually really happen...

*Since so many of these are about Christmas, I probably should just do a Christmas Tell-All. Hmmm....

Triple Christmas

2011-12-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

You wanna know one more great thing about being married?

The fact that you basically you get the triple Christmas threat: the Christmas celebration together AND the Christmas celebrations of both of your families.

It makes me love being married even more.

Tonight we're kicking off "our" Christmas celebration with a roast turkey dinner (courtesy of my boss's Christmas turkey to us, isn't that cute?) and a Christmas movie.

In the morning, since I blessedly don't have to work, we'll wake up to stockings stuffed by Santa and open up our gifts to each other.

Then it's off to a packed weekend of making chocolate truffles, having breakfast with my dad and stepmom, squabbling over the best White Elephant gifts at his extended family party, having a Jerusalem dinner with my mom and stepdad, and then, finally, CHRISTMAS!!!

Hope your holidays are joyful and spiritual, packed with family, fun, and the sweet reminders of the person who makes everything possible: our Savior.

Merry Christmas!

Mid-Week Boost: Culinary Arts

2011-12-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

Today's blogger is my dear friend Petrice of The Rosie Review. Petrice and I have been friends since childhood, and let me tell you, you are in for a treat with this post (no pun intended!). And after you're done checking out this post, you should go over and check out her adorable blog about her family's adventures with their two small children. Now try not to drool as you read this. I dare you!

"...YOU'RE DONE!!!" This is one of the things my Culinary Instructor would yell, only half joking as I slid a batch of breadsticks in the oven. I don't know if it was there in Culinary classes or later down the road of interesting events in my life that led the realization that I indeed have a passion for not only food, but making the food an enjoyable experience for those partaking.

During High School I took a few culinary classes from the local college and graduated with a gourmet cooking certificate (which basically means nothing). Here I learned traditional French cooking (very Julia Child and Jacques Pepin-esk).

I later worked at a gourmet restaurant starting out as the "salad girl" and in less than 5 months was Sous Chef working alongside the very experienced owner/chef. Bob (owner) was a great mentor to me and showed me that I didn't always have to follow the traditional methods, that I could have FUN *gasp* with cooking.

At age 19, I was living in St. George, UT. It was there, being broke and living with my sister that I had the crazy notion to start my own catering business. How hard could it be?? I called the coordinator of the annual St. George Bridal Show and inquired about a booth for my "catering business" which didn't have a name, or a business license, or ANYTHING at that point. It was a risky leap, I look back and still wonder what the heck I would have done if I had gotten that booth. The coordinator also owned Vintage Celebrations (a high end wedding and events company) and told me she was looking for a new Head Chef and wanted me to cook her a food dish of my choice. I told her I was not interested (because I was scared spitless), but she insisted. I ended up making her a simple chicken dish in a pinot grigio reduction. I wasn't even old enough to buy the wine myself! I had to have my older sister go to the liquor store for me. Debbie (owner of Vintage Celebrations) ended up hiring me on the spot and I became her new Head Catering Chef.

Here I am, at the Bell Tower venue preparing for a wedding...

Debbie taught me and helped me develop what I find most exciting about food... the experience.

It must be BEAUTIFUL!

I don't care if it's Ramen! It can either be Ramen sloppy in a tupperware bowl (because all your other dishes are in the washer), or it can be Ramen carefully twisted in the bowl, on a matching plate, with silverware set, resting in steamy broth adorned with a cilantro garnish. You do not have to be a gourmet chef to appreciate a little care given to your food. I know I'm super nerdy, but I LOVE to beautify food, especially for my husband and kids. Seeing their eyes light up for even our scrambled eggs in the morning starts the day off right for me.

Here are a few examples of food that I've created. Take the few extra seconds and try these four tips to help your mouth water a little more when serving up your food.

1- Add COLOR:

Mixing things together that have a variety of color makes it look so LUSH doesn't it??

I'm kind of drooling. All over my keyboard.

While these fruit kabobs are not difficult to assemble, they don't look simplistic in this gorgeous fruit montage.

2- Have fun GARNISHING:

A perfect little blackberry adds the finishing touch on this delectable kiwi cheesecake...

A yellow pepper turned "flower" adds to this simple salad...

Thanksgiving Turkey needed some loving, so we added parsley and little "Cutie" oranges. Now that's one good looking bird...

3- Add LEVELS:

When you put little cakes on a pedestal...

Or use a two tiered platter, you add levels, which pleases the eye.

Can you imagine if this buffet were flat?

Icky No! Let's not go there.

You don't need fancy platters in order to create levels. With this buffet we just put cardboard boxes underneath the table cloth to create the desired effect. It's an easy way to make your table look like a million bucks!

4- Where is the LOVE?

You are welcome for that song being stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

the LOVE.

the love.

the LOVE!

I think the most important thing about putting the finishing details on your food is the impact it has on others. You can help someone feel more special or like they are getting a better deal for what they paid for. Whatever the situation, you are spreading love.

Here is my cute Hubby and our little boy sitting at the table as we prepare to eat dinner. This is one way I can show them how much I care about them.

I find the most joy in cooking when I serve others. I am certain that by serving others with what you are passionate about, you will be happy. Happy Cooking!

WOW! Petrice and I have been close friends for YEARS, and I never knew all the details behind her fancy-pants cooking skills--don't all those photos just make you wish that it was lunchtime RIGHT NOW? (Maybe that's just me). I, for one, can attest to Petrice's fabulous cooking skills--I mean, she has been cooking for Matt and me twice a week this whole semester.

It's been heaven.

Thanks so much, Petrice!

Tuesday Tell-All

2011-12-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

*Between me leaving my camera at home and our laptop not working until just now, I didn't get a chance to blog about our killer weekend full of Christmas celebrating, great food (see pic above), sugar cookie decorating, and way too much Catan playing. If I'm not too tired later, maybe I'll get around to it. But no promises.

*I'm super excited to have a little Christmas with just Matt and me--we decided to set aside Friday as "our Christmas" day (a fact that got even merrier when I discovered I didn't have to work that day), and we're going to do our own little shindig with just the two of us, complete with sparkling cider, stockings, and a great meal that I haven't decided on yet. Maybe steak. Yeah, steak is Christmas-y, right?

*We have a taco soup simmering on the stove as we speak, and I think my stomach is so hungry that it's eating itself. Matt had better hurry up in the shower, before I eat the whole thing myself...

*Can I just say how great it is to have our laptop back? I sure have missed being able to watch all of our favorite shows every night of the week (since we don't have t.v.). Once Upon a Time, here we come to watch you first!

*My dad's flying in from Kansas City on Thursday, and I can't wait!

*Last night for family night, I convinced Matt to let me start reading A Christmas Carol to him. I'm positive I enjoyed it more than he did, but it was awesome. I just have this thing about reading aloud or being read aloud to----it's just this obsession I have.

*I didn't get any reading done over the weekend. I kinda feel like a slacker.

*Okay, time to eat. Bye!

Antsy

2011-12-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

As much as I love checking out all the new Christmas decorations at work, I am SO done with this work week. I am, however, beyond relieved that this semester is finally over for both me AND Matt.

Just think, in just a few short hours, I'll be eating a massive dinner at Outback Steakhouse,

then watching the Biggest Loser finale (none of you'd better spoil it and tell me who won early),

and looking forward to our niece's birthday party tomorrow and my family's gift exchange on Sunday.

Love this time of year!!

Anyone else got big plans for the weekend?

mid-week boost: documenting life

2011-12-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

I know I say this every week, but I'm super excited about having Mary from mary plus vince blogging here today! Mary's blog was THE blog that made me want to start documenting my own life more by blogging; that's why I think it's so appropriate that she chose to write on this topic, because she's so good at it!

hi! i'm mary from the blog mary plus vince, where i blog about my life and adventures with my husband. i'm so honored that torrie asked me to post for her mid-week boost series! i have a lot of passions in my life, which makes it hard to narrow it down to just one thing to write about. i am obviously super passionate about my relationship with my husband -- he is my absolute best friend. i'm also very passionate about photography -- but more so than that, i'm passionate about documenting life. so, i decided to kind of merge those passions and talk about documenting life.

i've always been a journaler. even before i could write by myself, my parents kept a journal for me where they would ask me what i wanted to say and they'd write it down word for word. i pretty much love reading those now, they are so hilarious. because lets be honest -- kids are awesome. as i got older i went through journal after journal. at my height of journaling i think i'd go through one journal every 3 months!

i've also always loved taking pictures. from the time i could get my hands on a camera, i always had it with me and was constantly going through tons of rolls of film. i was always ready for those "kodak moments", and because of that i have a lot of pictures from junior high and forward. so i will always remember the doofy hair cut i got in 8th grade, what my friends and I did to entertain ourselves on friday nights, and anything and everything else that happened to me.

in 2005 i started my blog. i was living at home, going to the university of utah, working a part time job, and waiting on a missionary. life was fun and exciting and i had a lot to document. a blog was the perfect way to do so! it was like writing in a journal, but so much easier and faster! by the end of 2005 i had met and started dating vince (not my missionary -- so glad that didn't work out!) and i had so much more to write about!

i love being able to look back and remember all sorts of things i am positive i'd forget about if i hadn't taken a billion photos and written about in a journal or on my blog. for me, its like re-living those memories! what a treasure.

i sometimes get panic attacks -- i don't want to forget.

[not my image, original source here]

and so i keep on documenting life. i write about the small things and the big things. i take photos of what we ate, where we go, what we do. and years down the road, i can look back and i won't have forgotten. its like a time machine! and my kids can read about our silly little adventures -- trying to figure out adulthood and holding on to childhood; they can read about our struggles and our triumphs; they can learn from our mistakes. what an amazing gift for them!

if you aren't a writer or a poet or a photographer or whatever else you can think of -- it is ok (because heaven knows i'm not most of those things)! it doesn't have to be deep or something breath-taking ... what is important is just that you are documenting your life. take a few moments a day, or once a week, once a month -- whenever! write it down, take more photos. just get to it! i promise, you will be so grateful years down the road that you did! :)

So true, Mary! I'm a bit of a journal freak myself, so I can definitely attest to the value of recording down our memories because I, for one, do not remember anything unless I write it down.

Thanks for sharing with us this week!

Now I just want to go out and take pictures of everything...

Student Teaching Placement

2011-12-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

I had meant to post this when I found out about it. But then I forgot because I somehow thought that I'd already done it. But then I remembered that I never did.

So I got my student teaching placement.

And I'm at a middle school.

The problem is, I never even WENT to a middle school.

What I mean is, when I went to that nightmarish in-between school, it consisted of grades 7-9 and was called junior high. And I hated it.

But now they've apparently invented middle school for grades 6-8 and left the 9th graders to fend for themselves in high school.

I could be teaching TWELVE-YEAR-OLDS, people. That's crazy.

If I wanted to be an elementary teacher, I would have gone into elementary.

But after reflecting on it for the past two weeks and wearing everyone out with my complaining,

I decided I'd better just be happy about it because it means that I'm that much closer to getting to where I want to be: a graduated 25-year-old with a teaching license.

So there you go.

But if any of you have any encouragement for me, I won't complain...

In fact, I could really use some.

Feel free to encourage away.

Tell-All Tuesday

2011-12-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

*Sorry I slacked a little bit over the weekend...truth was, I was too busy turning in assessment portfolios, having my car stop working, having our laptop stop working, and wishing that I could stop working...

*First good news: the car was just the battery. So instead of having to get a new car, I just had to pay over $100 for a new battery.

*Second good news: amidst all the studying I was supposed to be doing over the weekend, I still managed to go to Maple Grove Hot Springs with Matt and our friends Kayla & Sam, watch "While You Were Sleeping," watch the last Harry Potter movie, start a new book, and work out at the gym. Basically what happened was that I decided I didn't feel like studying for my finals (and the crashed laptop didn't help), so I didn't. The sad part? I still got A's on all of them. Education program, how easy you are!!

*I am officially DONE with ALL finals, homework, and classes for my whole undergraduate career! Hurrah!

*Have I mentioned on here about our work door? We have heavy-duty double doors that you push on to exit. In case you're wondering why that's important, I'll let you know that when winter started, we've taken to locking one of them. (Can you all see where this is going?) Anyway, I kinda wish I had a camera set up, because there's nothing funnier than watching every single person run straight into the locked door on their way out. Am I terrible for laughing about this?

*Everyone at my workplace (literally, everyone) is in a meeting except me. They've actually entrusted me to run the entire operation for the next two hours, even though I can hardly tell a septic tank from a grease trap. Good thing no one's coming in...

*The unfortunate thing about everyone being in a meeting is that I drank a LOT of water about an hour ago and now have to wait until the meeting is adjourned before I can rid my system of it. When I told Matt, he said that that was just my curse in life: always having to go to the bathroom at the most inconvenient times. So true.

*Sometimes I feel like twirling around like a crazy ballerina at my workplace. Especially on days like today. Pandora, why must you be so great?

*Why IS it that the phone will be silent forever, and then EVERYONE decides to call at the same time? I just had four people call in the last three minutes. And then two more people call within a millisecond of each other. I have taken down NINE message in the 30 minutes this meeting has been going on. I think this is a sneaky test that my work is giving me to see how I handle it...I bet they're all not even in a real meeting. They're probably all just upstairs eating donuts and drinking orange juice and laughing at me run the whole place. That's what I would do if I were up there.

*13 more days here at work. Not that I'm counting.

*Today I woke up to Matt just holding me and stroking my hair. The weird thing was, somehow that all got worked into my dream. But the best part was that when I woke up, it was real :). Morning cuddling is the best.

*All right, I'd best at least pretend that I'm doing something while the phone isn't ringing off the hook. Hope you all have a lovely Tuesday!

What's going on with you today?

Book #17: Chains

2011-12-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

Title: Chains
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Number of Pages: 300

It's been awhile since I've read a really well-crafted historical fiction novel, so I was glad when an assignment in my Teaching Social Studies class forced me to read this one. You see, even though most students hate being forced to read anything, I love it because it gives me a deadline and an extra push to read books that I usually want to read anyway. I was especially excited to read this book, because it's by the same author as Speak, which is one of the most brilliant YA novels of all time (and one of my all-time personal favorites). So when I heard that Anderson's latest novel Chains had also won multiple awards, I knew I had to get in on the action, and quick.

It didn't take me long to get into the story of Isabel, a young slave girl living during the Revolutionary War. After the death of her last master, Isabel is sold to a wealthy Loyalist family in New York and thrust into the midst of the struggle between the Colonies and Great Britain. The main quote on the book jacket is: "If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl?" Isabel is headstrong and independent and has a loyal heart, though she doesn't always know it. I love that Anderson's female protagonists are always so multifaceted and independent, plus she just knows how to write a compelling story.

What I especially liked about this book was that although the narrative is familiar (a slave seeking her freedom), the time period is not; while most slave narratives follow the period of time right around the Civil War, I like how this one is over 75 years earlier, during a different period in American history. Not only does it give an interesting account of Isabel herself, but it often portrays the other side of the Revolutionary War--the Loyalists and the British troops--which we don't usually hear about in history classes. I also liked how each chapter began with a different quote from a historical document of the era--it really served to set the tone and to thrust you into the time period. (Side note: this could definitely be a novel that I could teach in a secondary ed classroom). Loved this!

And the greatest part? The story isn't over yet--there's a sequel called Forged that I'll be starting tonight. Hallelujah for a good story not being over (yet)!

My Rating: 5 Stars

O Tannenbaum

2011-12-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

There's just something so magical about putting up a Christmas tree...

Magical because each ornament represents something:

A milestone...

Old memories and favorite childhood decorations...

Or constant reminders of our parents' love (each year my dad gets us a personalized ornament that reminds him of us in some way, and the gorgeous gold, white, and blue-themed ornaments were a wedding gift from my mom).

And when all is said and done and Matt is finished grumbling about all the "sparklies" everywhere,

there's just nothing like sitting in the darkness

and basking in the glow of tiny Christmas lights,

hand in hand with the one I love.

It's going to be a beautiful first Christmas together.

Mid-Week Boost: Positive Thinking

2011-12-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

Photo taken by Matthew Meidell

Hey, everyone! I'm excited about this post because it's something that I know I need to work on in my own life, and who better to share it with you (and me) than someone who has lived one of my own dreams [of becoming a published author]?. I am so glad that Karey White was willing to come and share her thoughts with us here; you should check out her blog here and check out the book she's published here. I think she is truly an inspiration to people everywhere that living your dream is always possible, regardless of how busy you are. Thanks for posting, Karey!

I was excited when Torrie asked me to be a guest blogger about something I’m passionate about. I thought that would be easy. I’m passionate about writing (I write). I’m passionate about creating (I always have to be creating something and often have several projects going at once), I’m passionate about reading and cooking and sewing and I love, love, love to travel and see new places. So I came over to Torrie’s blog to check out the other posts and discovered that writing has been covered, traveling has been done, and there’s a post about creating (and in it cooking and sewing).

So what could I write about that would be different and still, hopefully, worth reading.

What I came up with is a little different but I hope it resonates.

I’m passionate about our thoughts. I absolutely believe our thoughts make us what we are.

I’ve wanted to be a writer since high school. I took writing classes in college, but then got married, had my kids and most of my creative energies went to being a mom and doing things that helped pay the bills, like making wedding cakes and sewing. About six years ago, my family gave me an online writing class with a focus on getting published. It got me writing again, but the biggest thing I took from it was this line.

If you want to write, you have to think of yourself as a writer. If you can’t call yourself a writer, even to yourself, you’re simply not a writer.

Wow! I wanted to be a writer but I’d never once called myself a writer. I’d never finished a novel and I wasn’t published. If I told someone I was a writer and they asked me questions, they’d see I was a sham and they’d probably roll their eyes when I wasn’t looking. (Or worse—when I was looking.)

That would be so embarrassing.

But I wanted to write. And since I’d been taking the class, I’d been writing almost every day.

One Sunday I was sitting in a church meeting and I introduced myself to a new family that was sitting in front of me. We talked for a few minutes and during the conversation, the woman asked what I do. I told her I was a stay-at-home mom and then, scraping together every bit of courage I could find, I said, “and I’m a writer.” I braced myself for the questions that followed and answered them as they came.

No, I’m not published yet. No, I haven’t finished a novel. Yes, I’m working on one.

And she said, “This is so great. I’ve never known a writer before.”

That change in how I thought about myself was subtle but very real. I was a writer. I’d told her and she’d bought it, so it must be true.

I firmly believe that if we want something, the first thing we need to do is plant that desire in our thoughts. Then consistently water, weed and tend those thoughts. Think about them, stew on them, mull them over until they grow and become real to you. If you turn your thoughts over to them, they have life. If you forget about them or crowd them out with negative thoughts, they die.

“As a man thinketh, so is he.” I thought I was a writer and I was. I think I can’t do math and I can’t. I think I can control my actions and reactions and I can. I think I can’t and I can’t.

Dare to think about being what you want to be even if it seems remote or impossible. Think about it long and hard. Turn off the noise in your life and ponder, desire, and believe. Good thoughts can propel you to where you want to be. But only if you’ll think them.

Tell-All Tuesday

2011-12-06T20:08:00.000-07:00

*We did it! We finally put up our Christmas tree! But y'all are going to have to wait until Thursday to see pictures :)

*This last week of classes is insane. I mean, the last two weeks of any semester are insane, but this week is esp. bad, probably because I've never attempted the whole working full-time thing during finals. Boo. You know it's bad when you wish for the week to be over before it's even started.

*My mom got Matt and I totally hooked on this new show called Once Upon a Time. It's totally not the type of show I'd normally go for, but it's so original that I find myself addicted. Curse you, television--always sucking me in with one more show.

*I should be finishing Chains very shortly. Technically I should have finished by today's class, but I was about 80 pages short. Considering that I crammed in 110 pages in 55 minutes right before class though, I wasn't too hard on myself.

*I got yelled at today at work for transferring a call to one of our salesman's business cell. Apparently people don't like that nowadays. Just 18 more days, Torrie, just 18 more days...

*I did, however, get free cake at work today due to it being a coworker's birthday (luckily not the one who yelled at me). It was chocolate and caramel and delicious and just the perfect amount of sugar and fluff to get me past the usual 3 p.m. slump.

*After tutoring over at Petrice and Caleb's tonight, I have a new food fetish: gingerbread men marshmallows. The people over at the marshmallow company are geniuses---first really huge marshmallows, and now this. This is what the future looks like, people!

*I think I pulled about 8 muscles while hauling fences around on Sunday. Please wind, be nicer from now on.

*I have to go work on this huge portfolio that's due for my Assessment class. This assignment has been a thorn in my side all semester, and I can't wait to have it over with. Except for somehow, I keep managing to put it off until the very last minute...

*I'm really excited about the guest post-er that's doing tomorrow's Mid Week Boost---she's posting on something that I really, really need to work on.

*I was reading an article today on perfectionism and have decided that it's something I really need to work on. I think I'll start researching it a bit more and then do a little blog post about what I find. (In just writing that, I realized I probably made it sound like the most boring thing ever. I promise I'll be more spicy and creative when I actually do it and that it won't sound like the portfolio I'm about to work on).

*All right. Sigh. I've procrastinated long enough. Better go start working...

What are you all procrastinating this week??

Change It Up Challenge: Extension

2011-12-05T22:05:00.000-07:00

Well folks, I had good intentions.

Really, I did.

And I wasn't doing too bad on my goals for last month's Change It Up Challenge either--I was finally getting into some daily habits that really were starting to make a difference in the cleanliness and organization of our home.

Then distaster struck:

Roaches.

In our neighbors' apartments.

Luckily, we didn't have any. But we still had to get sprayed like we did.

The pictures you see is the CIU Challenge at its lowest point (the picture below was of Matt playing a game in the only spot in the entire apartment that was wide enough to fit a chair).

So I'm asking for an extension on my Change It Up Challenge. I hate failing, and keeping a clean and orderly home is something I really want to be good at.

I'd love some suggestions on how to go about doing it: I'm already in the process of trying out some (like designating a specific chore to each day of the week).

Forgive me for not having a better report after my first month's attempt.

Month 2 will be better.

I hope.

Done List

2011-12-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

This Week's Done List:

*Had the weirdest Sunday of my life (church was cancelled in order to prepare for the pending windstorm)

*Tore apart and hauled away about half of my family's red fence for about four hours, which had been destroyed by last Thursday's windstorm

*Made it to the last week of classes in all of my college career. I wasn't sure if it would be possible, but here I am!

*Lost the Thanksgiving weight (and then some!) in record time

*Got my butt killed this week in the gym my tough hubby. Boy, does that man know how to push a struggling gym buddy!

*Have officially honed my wishing skills: on Friday while I was at work, I wished that Matt would magically have all the dishes done AND our Christmas tree put up when I got home. Lo and behold, my wish was granted! Jedi mind powers, indeed!

*Got 3/4 of my visiting teaching visits done, despite my companion having the flu

*Made it through one more week at my job (only three more to go!! Just hold on!!)

*Attended my family's awesome annual extended family Christmas party and scored two useable White Elephant gifts (beef jerky, M&M's, and a brand new brownie spatula).

*Started to listen to Christmas music, even though the songs "Sleigh Ride," "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," and "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" still drive me into all sorts of Scrooge territory.

*Bought and wrapped two of Matt's gifts (which are now under our still-undecorated Christmas tree)

What did you all get done this week?

Mid-Week Boost: Traveling

2011-11-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite pictures from my Paris trip, 2005

Due to a lack of planning on my part, I am going to be my own guest post-er for this week. Check out my blog here (ha ha).

As I was contemplating whether to cancel the Mid-Week Boost for this week or just post myself, I kept thinking about what on earth I was passionate about. Let me clarify: it was probably harder for me to identify something that I was NOT passionate about than it was for me to think of something I WAS. In other words, I have way too many interests.

One of my passions is magazines (unfortunately), and something I came across just last month in the Oprah magazine was an article about finding your passion in life (or something to that effect). There was a little mini handbook that you could fill out to help yourself discover just what it was that could become your new passion. Some of the questions that it asked were, "What did you like to do most as a child?", "What are talents or qualities that you have that people often compliment you on?" or other questions to that effect. After thinking about my own answers to those questions, I came up with three things I should be passionate about: dancing, gardening, and playing Cinderella.

Unfortunately, I haven't done much of any of those lately, unless you count all the cleaning I've had to do thanks to the roach spray.

So I started to think of my own questions this morning while getting ready for the day:
What gets me excited?
What do I always wish I had more time or money for?
What do I associate with some of my most positive experiences?

And then suddenly: The Answer:

Traveling.

My answer surprised yet didn't surprise me. It surprised me because I feel like it's been quite awhile since I've actually gone much of anywhere. It didn't surprise me because traveling is the perfect hobby to accommodate two other passions of mine: trying out new things and taking pictures. I started to look for evidences that supported this as one of my passions in life, and I didn't have to look far: strewn all over our thrifted coffee tables are recent issues of Budget Traveler and National Geographic Traveler. I thought of how I've begged Matt in the past 48 hours to consider the idea of us going on THREE different vacations next year (we'd originally just planned for one, but recent opportunities have made me dream bigger).

Me at the Matterhorn in Switzerland with fellow classmates, 2005

This is why traveling is one of my big passions in life:

1 - I love experiencing new things. I wonder if I had a touch of ADD as a child, because I was always drawn to the idea of NOVELTY. If something is new to me, I'm all over it. What can I say? That's why I invented the Change It Up Challenge.
2 - I love experiencing different cultures and everything that goes along with that: different languages, different social customs, different ways of celebrating holidays, and of course, different food!
3 - I love how traveling always makes me appreciate home more. Even after the most fabulous vacation, there truly is nothing to compare with that feeling of coming back home.
4 - I love how traveling gives me time to meditate on the things that matter most to me and that it gives me new insights into myself and into the world around me.
5 - I love how the experiences and memories I gain while traveling are always with me. There is nothing that can compare to a happy memory--there is no price that can be put on that.

Despite my love of traveling, I am obviously limited by the fact that Matt and I are both students and that we both are working just part-time while going to school. Nevertheless, here are my best tips for being able to plan out a fabulous (and affordable!) vacation:

1 - If you have two incomes coming into your home, just live off of one person's income. With Matt and I, we pay all of our bills and all other necessities from mine and bank pretty much all of Matt's. It is only because of this that we can even feasibly think of going on 3 vacations next year (or even one).
2 - If you have a particular place in mind and a rough time frame, there are several travel sites that will email you every time a plane ticket or hotel dips below a certain price. Just name your price, and see the miracles happen!
3 - Dream. If there's someplace you'd really love to go, dream about it---but then turn that dream into a working plan. Start figuring out how much money it would take to go there, and make a doable plan.
4 - When you're preparing to actually leave on a vacation, don't set your expectations too high. This sounds counterintuitive, but I've found it's best not to set unrealistic expectations. Most of life's disappointments (if not all) come from expectations not being met. Therefore, if you just go into traveling with the idea of having a different experience, then you're probably much more likely to enjoy yourself.
5 - Don't forget to plan down time while traveling. While it can be tempting to just dash like mad from one location to another, vacations are for relaxation and enjoying the company of loved ones (or your own company, if you go it alone). Schedule some down time at night to check out your hotel's hot tub, or make some time in the middle of the day to take a short nap.
6 - If you can't afford a big vacation, plan a mini vacation to a nearby location. Most of the funnest vacations that I've taken have been to more local places, such as Moab or Park City. Check out what tourist locations are near you (even if they're in your same town!) and make plans to go visit.
7 - Remember this philosophy of mine: money spent on traveling is always worth it, because memories go on forever. Sure you could invest that money into new furniture or a nice entertainment center, but time spent together with the people you love truly is priceless.

Taken during my trip to Moab with friends in 2008 (we each spent only $50!)

Tell-All Tuesday

2011-11-29T22:32:00.001-07:00

*You know that extra pound and a half from Thanksgiving? Well, it's pretty much gone--75% of it anyway. Eating smart works every time.

*After a church leadership meeting tonight, I realized that I am grateful to be exactly in the spot I'm at in life--there are so many people facing so many problems, and my life is so simple. I love that.

*I have 3 classes that are cancelled this week. Woo hoo!

*I had fully intended to have our Christmas decorations up by now. As it stands, we only have managed to put up two nativities and a sign that says "Christmas" Oh, and a door wreath. The rest shall come out when the roach spraying mess is done away with. Which just might be never.

*One of our finds from Black Friday is a pre-lit tree that we saved over 70% on. I'm excited to post pictures of our very first Christmas tree together. I know you all can't wait.

*We're not sure if Matt's nativity from Africa has all the pieces--we think it's missing either Mary or Joseph. It's kinda hard to tell. It did, however, make sure to include an elephant and a giraffe.

*The drain under our washer was fixed today so I can finally wash our clothes without the fear of the entire house flooding. Our neighbors can also wash their clothes without giving us the fear of our entire house flooding. It's the simple things in life that matter, really.

*I supposedly find out this week where I'm student teaching. I don't know if I should be more excited or nervous about this fact.

*I'm looking forward to hitting the gym tomorrow with my friend Petrice. It will be the first time in about a month and a half that I've been able to go, and I have just been craving some hardcore body-beating.

*I am so ready to go up to bed and cuddle now. Good night everyone!

Thoughts on Thanking

2011-11-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

I know my thoughts on Thanksgiving are a bit belated. I was enjoying my turkey and gravy, okay? But this Thanksgiving holiday really left me pondering long after the tryptophan had settled into my digestive system, and I'd like to just record here a few of the thoughts I had over the break.

I don't know really know when the pondering all started--maybe it was while Matt and I were trying to decide how to divide up the holiday or when my family was going around the table at dinner and saying one thing we were all thankful for. I do, however, know when the pondering started to stir me enough inside to make me want to change a few things: church. As I sat in sacrament meeting and listened to a woman share about how she associated gratitude with adversity but also with hope and how she was grateful for all she had even though she had just lost a newborn baby just a few months ago, I felt the familiar realization that I have been altogether too selfish and too focused on the wrong things in life.

I started to think of all the scriptures I could on gratitude and for some reason, the one that kept coming up over and over again was, "Thou shalt not covet." An odd coincidence maybe, but I don't think so. I don't know what it is exactly, but ever since getting home from my mission, I've had a serious case of the comparison crazies--because I didn't know exactly how to assimilate myself back into the American culture, I started to compare myself to others to remember my social cues and what was expected of me. The problem was, the comparison never seemed to stop. In fact, I'd say it just made things a lot worse. Whereas on my mission, I was content with the bare minimum in clothing, food, and technology, it seemed like upon arriving back in the States, all I could think about were all the things I lacked from being gone for so long. Sure, I always knew that I had gained much more than I had lost, but I still couldn't shake the nagging feeling that I needed to play catch-up with the rest of the nation. I started following blogs like crazy, which ended up being a double-edged sword: I was inspired to update my own blog and record my own thoughts, but I was also sucked into the mindset that I always needed to get MORE: more clothes, more lipstick, more DIY craft supplies for the house. And even with a bulging closet of clothes and an apartment more stuffed than a turkey, I still couldn't rid myself of the mindset that it wasn't enough.

Then the roach spraying incident happened.

I was forced to take out all of our worldly possessions and pile them in the center of the floor for the whole world to see--I felt that my own material worldliness had been exposed. That combined with the feelings of gratitude that usually accompany Thanksgiving made something click within my head, and I realized:

I don't need to be on the cutting edge of trends.
I don't need to be as beautiful as, or as skinny as, or as well-dressed as, or as crafty as anyone else.
I just need to be me.

It will be a long process to rid myself of this comparison compulsion I've somehow gotten myself into. But I've at least gotten a headstart: I stopped following a lot of the blogs that were making me feel like I wasn't "enough" and have started to de-clutter my apartment and my head. I've started to make myself concentrate more on what I already have than on what I lack.

And you know what?

I feel happier than I have in months.

Here's to simplifying!
Here's to being grateful!
Here's to realizing that however much I have, it is enough.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Last Week's Done List

2011-11-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

Last Week's Done List

*Gained a pound and a half of well-fed evidence on my love handles. Totally worth it.

*Gathered up every item in our home and moved it all to the center of each room, away from the walls.

*Realized I had way too much stuff.

*Donated (or am in the process of donating) many lovelies to the D.I.

*Survived our first roach spraying experience

*Finished an annotated bibliography of 30 texts I might someday use in my content area

*Started a new book (Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson)

*Played Settlers of Catan way more than most humans would care to.

*Won approximately 27% of those games

*Went undefeated in my family's Thanksgiving Rook tournament with my sister Jill as my partner

*Saved over $300 on Black Friday

*Somehow convinced Matt to come with me for Black Friday (ha ha! It's a Christmas miracle!)

*Went on one glorious, one-hour walk on the clear perfection that was Thanksgiving night

*Realized just a little more how blessed my life really is.

Mid-Week Boost: Writing

2011-11-23T10:05:00.001-07:00

This week's Boost is brought to you by my very own friend, Stephen Bradford. Bradford is the genius behind The Life & Times of S.R. Braddy, which is probably one of the funniest male-written blogs out there. Check it out!

I nearly turned down Torrie’s invitation to contribute to her blog’s “Mid-Week Boost” feature, since I’ve been almost completely bogged down with projects of my own. However, since the invitation was to spend a couple paragraphs on something I’m passionate about, I had to accept. I mean, I’m nothing if not a man completely in love with his own opinion. And boy, do I have opinions about writing.

I love writing. I’ve been writing for about as long as I can remember, depending on how generous you are in defining “writing.” I studied English at Utah State University, eventually settling on a bachelor’s degree in creative writing, a decision I made completely from dedication to the craft of literature and not at all because it shaved a good year off my estimated graduation date.

Writing has proven to be a rather silly career path from a purely monetary perspective. I’ve made a dollar on my publications to date which, when you factor in the cost of postage, paper, and ink, likely amounts to a net fiscal loss on my part. Still, my personal life has been enriched by the art of writing, and I have no regrets.

With that introduction out of the way, I present to you a little tutorial on the craft of creative writing, in the hopes that someone out there will read this post, feel inspired, and go get a real job. I call it:

THE BLANK PAGE – HOW TO START WRITING

Selecting a Genre

The world of writing is wonderfully diverse. There is a type of writing for just about everyone out there. I strongly encourage any aspiring writer to explore as many of the different genres as they come across, thus limiting their effectiveness in whatever genre they ultimately decide on.

To start with, there are the three main genres of writing – fiction, nonfiction, and poetry*. Each of these three genres contains their own strengths and weaknesses. Fiction allows a writer to craft a realistic world without resorting to any silly “research.” Nonfiction relieves the writer of the burden of coming up with any original ideas. Finally, poetry exists for people who suck at writing anything else.

To make the decision even more paralyzing, each of the main genres contains hundreds of sub-genres. For example, someone who decides to write nonfiction should be delighted to learn that they don’t have to spend their days writing stuffy textbooks. They can indulge in a sub-genre called “memoir,” which is a French word for “stylized account of an unhappy childhood.” If you choose to write memoir, though, I’d recommend that you wait until your family has all passed. Families hate memoirists, and memoirists hate families.

Poets have even more options available. A poet may choose to write sonnet, villanelle, pantoum, limerick, free-verse, epic, narrative, rondeau, roundel, rondelet, haiku, ghazal, quatrain, cinquain, sestina, or even slam poetry, although that last should be reserved primarily for angry people without enough “street cred” to call themselves real rappers.

Of the three major genres, fiction is probably the strangest. While there are sub-genres to fiction (i.e. romance, fantasy, thriller, and fan-), there exists a peculiar blank genre known as “literary fiction,” which is almost completely devoid of distinguishing characteristics – aside from a pervasive attitude of misery. All authors are, of course, welcome to write any genre they wish, although they should be aware that writing anything other than “literary fiction” will likely result in their works getting snubbed by the academic illuminati.

*Oh, I guess you could call “script writing” a genre, too, but since any writer who produces a script worth passing on will see their work torn to pieces and completely transformed by hoity-toity producers, directors, actors, and visual artists, I don’t consider the writer to have much say in the final product.

The Writing Process

Writing is all about process. Every writer’s process is completely different, and can change over time.

For example, I used to write by playing video games all day. I pursued this path happily for several years; sadly, though, I found my daily word output surprisingly lacking.

Later, I transitioned to writing by watching a lot of movies and television. These hours helped me build a solid foundation in understanding plot, character development, and who Christina was seeing behind her husband’s back this week.

Then, feeling unsatisfied with the less-than-impressive body of work I produced through watching television, I started to write by reading a lot. The thousands of books I’ve read have made an invaluable contribution to my artistic ability. Now, I’m able to finally look at a text, think about it, and say, “Yup. That’s writing, all right.”

My current process is a highly experimental one that I’m not sure I’ll stick with for long. I call it the “Sitting Down at My Stupid Desk and Pushing the Stupid Keys on My Stupid Computer and Writing for Once in My Stupid Life” process. While I’ve increased the quantity and quality of my writing exponentially through the liberal use of the SDMSDPSKMSCWOMSL process, I have noticed a severe lacking in other areas of my life – most noticeably in the progress I’ve made in the latest Batman game.

To keep focused on this particular process, I usually get involved with “National Novel Writing Month”, a project which challenges its members to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. I’ve found that I’m able to overcome most of my writing insecurities with sheer volume of words.

You don’t have to imitate any of my processes, of course. Feel free to experiment and find your own.

Creating a Work Environment

You may find it important to select a properly motivational work environment. Certain areas allow for a more creative energy to flow – the local library or a secluded park, for example. Other locations, like the middle of a busy freeway, may make it difficult to concentrate.

Personally, I find that listening to music helps the mind focus on the task of putting words together into coherent sentences. Be careful to select the right kind of music. I prefer something classical, instrumental, and boring. Boring classical music acts as a sort of blinder for the concentration, convincing the brain that it might as well write, because there’s certainly nothing else interesting going on in the world.

Networking

Sadly, it seems that the days of the reclusive writer who toils in anonymity and squalor his whole life only for his works to be celebrated by the world at large posthumously have come to an end. In today’s world, it is important to develop a network of writing contacts that will validate your ego when your writing is good and bust your chops when they find it lacking.

In building your network, a balance needs to be struck between accessibility and experience. One’s own mother, for example, is unlikely to be a good member of one’s writing network, as she may hesitate to “bust chops” appropriately (unless her maiden name happens to be “Brontë”). On the other end of the scale, famous writers like Edgar Allen Poe are notoriously private and difficult for amateurs to contact. They may or may not also be dead.

A good middle ground can be found among the throngs of English majors attending college or those who recently graduated. Indeed, it is a rare English student who denies wanting to pursue a career in writing while they teach “on the side.” Such students are likely to have just the correct balance of passion for the subject matter and inexperience to provide the criticism one needs. Even if you don’t live around a college or university, you may still be able to find a washed-up literature student through the miracle of the internet.

I hope you all have found my thoughts on the subject of writing useful. Now, if you will excuse me, it is getting late, and I still have to reach my NaNoWriMo word count goal for the day. Ahem…

“Wendy looked through the door. It was a dark door. No, really, it was, like, really dark. How dark, you might ask? Well, it was really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really…

Thanks, Bradford! You're always been one of my biggest writing inspirations!

Tell-All Tuesday

2011-11-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

*Hooray for Thanksgiving Break!

*That would be a much bigger hooray (like a HOORAY) if it wasn't for the following three facts: one, I have to work tomorrow. Two, Matt has to work tomorrow AND Friday. Three, we get to spend hours upon hours tonight getting our house ready to be sprayed for roaches tomorrow (due to a neighbor having seen a single roach in her kitchen). While I'm glad we won't have to worry about roaches, I am not as glad about having to move all the food out of the cupboard, pull all the furniture away from the walls, and move everything out of our storage closets. Happy Thanksgiving, stupid roaches. Now DIE.

*I went to a teacher development training today at Logan High just so I could see what all the "real" teachers do. I had a hard time not giggling when everyone kept looking at me wondering what the heck I was doing in their training. Experience, people. Just gaining experience.

*I did a lot of soul-searching for about 35 minutes while the rest of Logan High was eating lunch. For what I was soul-searching about, check out my post on my other blog: http://soulsymmetry.blogspot.com

*Last night I tried out a whole lot of new recipes, new cooking techniques, AND new meal-planning strategies (aka, have more than just the entree to serve Matt when he gets home from work). Thumbs up to me for successfully completing all three goals!! (and making Matt like sweet potatoes!)

*I really want to go take advantage of the $4.99 burger combo deal happening at Angie's today, but we're trying to save money to prepare for the holidays. The real question is: will I mention the deal or will I not mention it? For on such hinges the fact of us going or not...

*Even though money will be tight next semester while I'm student teaching (and not working), can I just say how excited I am to quit my job? VERY EXCITED. I pretty much am counting down the days until freedom.

*I am going to attempt the Black Friday madness, people--there are two big-ticket items that I really just don't to pay full price for. And I'm going to make Matt come with me. Heaven help me (more for tolerating Matt's unavoidable complaining before, during, and after, not so much for the actual shopping itself). Let the madness begin!

What are your plans for this Thanksgiving week?

This Week's Done List

2011-11-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

This Week's Done List:

*Celebrated being just days away from Thanksgiving Break with some discounted chocolate satin pie and bubbly. Let the weekend of good eating begin!

*Finished the most annoying assignment of my life: compiling an annotated bibliography of 30 texts that I could potentially use in my future classroom. Yuck.

*Read over 175 pages of student writing and met with almost 30 different students to discuss said pages (I don't know how I made it through that particular nightmare, considering I still had my normal job to worry about as well as my own homework, my church calling, and my hubby).

*Went grocery shopping for the first time in over a month. Well, "real" grocery shopping (aka, when I buy more than just milk and bananas). Matt was so happy he probably could have cried.

*Cleaned out the fridge. It was this act that ultimately clinched the undeniable truth that I couldn't put off going to the grocery store any longer. (Translation: we were out of milk, eggs, meat, fresh fruits or vegetables of any kind, and, horror of horrors, cheese. Interestingly, we were not out of ice cream. But that was because we'd made a special stop to buy it two days before).

*Finally finished a book

*Went to Matt's vocal recital and was again astonished at how amazing he is. (Brag moment here: he was saved, along with the other very best singers, for the very end of the recital. He was the best male singer by far. Musical talent is so attractive).

*Hit up Old Navy's pre-Black Friday sale and saved over $120 (and no, I did not need to SPEND $120 to get to that amount either).

Still To Do:

*Buy a pre-lit Christmas tree on real Black Friday so that we can start decorating our very first tree together this next weekend :)

*Take one of my cardigans back to Old Navy because the stupid security tag was still left on it. If I had a dollar every time that happened to me...seriously...

*Eat myself silly on Thursday and not feel one bit guilty about it.

Book #16: Breaking Night

2011-11-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

Title: Breaking Night
Author: Liz Murray
Genre: Memoir
# of Pages: 329

I don't normally go for memoirs (not for any particular reason), but when I heard my Ethnic Lit teacher last semester talking about how excited she was to read this book based on a true story about a girl who went from being homeless at 16 to graduating from Harvard, I couldn't get my mind off of it. For several months, I kept trying to remember the title of the book, but to no avail. Finally, one day I got the brilliant notion of just typing in "Homeless to Harvard" into Google and found exactly what I was looking for. Aren't I so resourceful?

Anyway, I snatched this book up the first (guiltless) chance I got: one of the rare days when Barnes & Noble offers 50% off all bestsellers when you order online. Even though I had other books I should probably have been reading before this one, I couldn't resist it.

I'm so glad I didn't put it off.

Breaking Night is the inspiring story of Liz Murray, a girl who grew up to two parents who were addicted to crack and who both contracted AIDS through their drug use. By the time she was sixteen, Liz's living situation had gotten so bad that she ran away from home. Before being homeless, she had been put into a group home for not attending school. After getting out of the group home, she tried to go to high school again but could not force herself to have the discipline to attend regularly enough to pass. By the middle of her 9th grade year, she had officially dropped out and spent her days trying to find enough food to eat and a place to spend the night.

At 17, she left an abusive relationship to fend for herself. During that period of spending nights alternating between friends' houses and stairwells, she found within herself the need to do something more with her life. Even though it seemed that all doors had been closed to her from the beginning and all the obstacles too great to overcome, she started trying to re-enter any alternative high school that would take her. When one finally took mercy and accepted her, she decided right then and there to start afresh and not make the same mistakes she did the first time. The story's ending is so triumphant I felt like crying in the middle of USU's library between tutoring appointments.

This memoir is inspiring and heartwrenching--you won't be able to put it down. Murray has the delicate gift of being able to talk about depressing subject matter in a non-depressing way; she never makes herself out to be a victim, and her writing is straightforward, stoic (in a good way), and completely compelling. And although she dealt with mountains of negative experiences, she very tastefully talks about her experiences in her memoir--there is hardly any language at all, and she doesn't go into any explicit details that would have made me too uncomfortable. I found myself rooting for her against all odds, and now I'm inspired to search out the movie that was made of her life.

Trust me, you want to check out this book--you'll never look at the world (or your own situation growing up) in quite the same way again.

My Rating: 5 stars

Mid-Week Boost: Creating

2011-11-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone--I'm really excited about my new weekly post idea: Mid-Week Boost! Each week, I'll be asking a different person to write in and tell us one thing that he/she is passionate about. Since Wednesdays are usually the most blah day of the week, I thought that this would be a way to put a little spice in it and remind us all of the things we love in life (and also maybe get us interested in trying out new things). I'm excited to have Corina here today from Corina's Corner: I checked out her blog a couple months ago and completely fell in love with her artwork and photography. Hope you enjoy!

Hello! This is Corina from Corina's Corner. Torrie asked me to write the first edition of her new column, Mid-Week Boost. She told me that she wants these posts to focus on what people are passionate about and what inspires them. So I have been trying to think for the past week about what I am really passionate about and what I always come back to is that I am passionate about creating. No matter what it is, I love to create. I love to sew, paint, build, design, cook…the list goes on and on.

I love photography. I love the visual aspect of creating, capturing a beautiful moment, a colorful image, frozen in time to look back at forever.

I love sewing...bringing different pieces of fabric together to create a new piece that is more functional than the first.

I love cooking...(ok mostly eating...)

And my newfound love, painting...

I have always been creating. I have loved it since I was very little. I can't exactly pin point when I first started creating, but I think what drew me in was a part inside of me, inviting me to be creative.

Occasionally it is challenging and frustrating, especially when I can imagine exactly what I want to create but I can't figure out how to do it. I know there's always a way though, so I try not to get frustrated and move forward.

I am currently taking a wood shop class where I am building a TV stand. Even though I find it extremely challenging, I love it. I love taking a bowed piece of wood, that is rough and has water stains and completely transforming it, making it smooth, beautiful, and functional.

Creating for me is relaxing and helps me stay grounded. I love having a project to work on, something I look forward to working on and finishing. I think everyone should have some kind of a creative outlet, or hobby, something they enjoy doing, that can brighten their lives and the lives of others.

Thanks again, Corina! And while I'm here, if anyone has an interest in being a guest post-er for an upcoming Wednesday, go ahead and comment below or email me at torrief@gmail.com.

Let me know what you think about the new column!

Tell-All Tuesday

2011-11-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

*Do you ever get to the point where you feel like your brain is like melted cheese? That's how I feel right now, after tutoring other students on their writing for almost 6 hours straight (before which I had to observe at the high school for 4 hours, before which I went to my own classes and did my own homework). Translation? One giant heap of melting brain matter. So forgive me if this post is somewhat lacking (or just crazy).

*We are out of shampoo and I have had absolutely no time to run to the store. Translation: very greasy hair in spite of my shower this morning. And p.s.-- dry shampoo is not all it's cracked up to be.

*Thankfully, I have awesome friends who go out of their way to lighten my load: the lovely and amazing Petrice (who just got an amazing and lovely haircut) brought us by some healthy and hot white lentil soup and breadbowls. It was the perfect thing to come home to after a VERY long night at the library.

*I am about thisclose to finishing Breaking Night, and I can't wait to do a review on it. This book is incredible, people!

*I have four brand-new magazines that I haven't even touched because of how busy I've been. You know my schedule must be crazy when that happens...

*I'm really excited for the new blog feature I'll be starting tomorrow. I hope you'll all love it as much as I will!

*I ate Arctic Circle today for the first time in years. It brought me back to all my days as a teenager, when my friends and I would make the mile or so walk up to the nearest Arctic Circle and see how many cars of boys would honk at us. Oh, those were the days...

*I'm going to put myself to bed in about twenty minutes, even though it's only just past 9. It's just been one of those days. And tomorrow will be the same thing. And so will Thursday. I'm gonna need the extra hour of sleep.

How was the beginning of your week?

Change It Up Challenge (Nov): Cleaning

2011-11-14T09:03:00.001-07:00

Picture taken from http://organizingsolutions.info

I come from a very clean family--one of my Dad's first memories of me is when I mopped up my own juice spill when I was two years old (which I'm sure I learned from watching my mother, who is the cleanest person I know). Unfortunately, that go-getter attitude towards cleaning that I had when I was two did not carry over to my adult life, or even to my teenage life (or even over to the next year of life, I'm afraid). I think my mom has been telling me to clean my room since I was old enough to start accumulating too much stuff (a.k.a., preschool). I just always had better things to do than clean, it seemed--extracurricular activities, reading, friends, work, school...cleaning, for me, has always been a weekend thing: wake up Saturday morning, cook up some creamed eggs over toast, then clean the house for 4 hours. And this system worked just great for my early college years, because I always had roommates who were willing to clean on a daily basis :).

The cruel irony of my personal bad habits when it comes to cleaning is this: although I am not, by nature, a very clean person, I am VERY used to living in a clean house. If anyone has ever had the pleasure of being at my mom's house, you know that it is always immaculate. Therefore, I expect to live in a clean house, but don't have the tendencies towards making it that way. Oh cruel, cruel world.

Now that I'm married, I've found that my "roommate" seems to have the exact same cleaning habits I do, but that he doesn't require quite the same standard of perfection of cleanliness.

Translation: our apartment has turned into a fire hazard.

And the time has come to do something about it.

So this month, I'm asking you for your advice:

-How do you split the cleaning duties between yourself and your significant other?

-What strategies do you have for maintaining an orderly home despite a busy schedule?

-I have way too much stuff and not enough places to put it: do you have any organizational strategies for me? Any cute ideas you've seen on Pinterest to make a small space hold more stuff?

I welcome your answers to these and any other comments you might have. I will try my best to try them all. And in my report at the end of the month, if I tried your suggestion, I'll make sure to credit you with that in the post.

Wish me luck!

Aggie Basketball

2011-11-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

This is Matt and me,

excited to be with...

These people:

Watching this sport:

And doing a lot of this:

Go Aggies!

This Week's Done List

2011-11-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

This Week's Done List:
*Screamed myself hoarse at the USU basketball game on Friday night (picture post to follow)
*Beat everyone in Settlers of Catan
*Beat Matt at Monopoly Deal (ha ha)
*Had a girls' night (finally!) with my old roommates
*Did not finish my milkshake at said girls' night (yay for learning to stop when I'm satisfied)
*Worked on my communication skills (this is huge for me)
*Remembered to clean my hair out of the drain after showering 2 out of 3 times (baby steps, people)
*Didn't wait until the last minute to submit one of my writing assignments
*Did blog post on the results of last month's Change It Up Challenge
*Read over 100 pages more in Breaking Night
*Mailed off all the thank-you notes
*Joyfully made it through the first six months of marriage
*Made our bed every morning (with Matt's help)

To Do Still:
*Finish Breaking Night
*Do blog post on this month's Change It Up Challenge (I'd love your feedback on it---I could definitely use some tips in the area that I'm working on this month!)
*Survive the week of insanity that lies ahead of me: it's a 60-hour workweek, people. This could get interesting.

Change It Up Report (Oct): Exercise

2011-11-11T13:15:00.000-07:00

(picture from fabfitsquad.com)

Last month's Change-It-Up Challenge was all about learning to incorporate exercise into a (very) busy lifestyle. During the summer, I got into the habit of going to the gym just about every single day; it was relatively easy, because I would just go right after work (around 5:30) and get back home before Matt ever even got back from his job. Since I would have just been sitting at home by myself doing nothing, it was easy to get into the habit of doing that every single day.

Then the school year started.

I went from just having to worry about a full-time job to taking a full-course load, working 32 hours at Robertson's, tutoring math twice a week, having a busy church calling, and having another tutoring job on the side that would up my total work hours for the week up to 60 whenever it kicked in. Keep in mind that throughout all of this, I have been a full-time student and a full-time wife. Needless to say, I had a full plate. Although I hated it, exercise started to take a backseat to everything else going on. It had to.

But when I noticed that I started to put on a pound or two after having worked so hard to lose ten, I knew that something needed to change. I also was starting to get cranky more easily, and I was starting to get winded while doing everyday activities. The real question pressing on my mind was this: "How on earth could I possibly fit one more thing into my schedule? I'm already so stressed out as it is."

I didn't want to have to wake up earlier to get my exercise in, esp. since the fact that I average 7.5 hours of sleep a night is one of the few things keeping me sane. I knew that I couldn't regularly cut out the hour and a half it takes me to go to the gym. So what could I do?

After thinking about it all month, I came up with a couple strategies that really helped me (and incorporated them into my life). They're really simple and mostly do not involve intense exercise, but I figured that getting some exercise was better than getting none. So this is what I came up with:

*I bought a pair of 10-lb. dumbbells from Wal-Mart first thing after deciding that this would be my CIU Challenge for the month. On most days, I do a quick 5-minute toning session (flies, curls, etc.) whenever I can squeeze it in. Sometimes it's during commercial breaks (during the rare moment I have time to catch a show with Matt) or it's right after getting home from work or it's when I need a quick break from studying. The important thing is that I do it more days than not (which allows me to keep the toned arms that I worked so hard for in the summer).
*When I'm home alone and need a break from studying or cleaning, I'll turn on music really loud and do Zumba moves by myself. Once again, I figure even jumping around for 10 minutes is better than not doing anything.
*One thing I've loved is taking Matt's birthday gift out for a spin every chance I get (and every time it's not too cold). I love the feeling of the wind in my hair and of the cold in my lungs--there's just something about exercising outside that's a huge mood boost for me. Even if I just go for 15 or 20 minutes around a couple blocks, I feel a huge difference.
*For family night on the Mondays when I wasn't working, Matt and I would go play a couple quick games of tennis for about 45 minutes while dinner would be cooking in the oven. I find that this is one of the best strategies I came up with--because sometimes I don't want to go to the gym because it means time away from Matt, I love it when we can go and exercise together because it hits two birds with one stone.
*On a couple Fridays, I packed my gym clothes in my car and just headed to the gym straight after work. This couldn't be a daily occurrence, but since Fridays are less busy I can sometimes afford to go then.
*I've invested in a couple short exercise videos (like a short dancing video, a Tae Bo video, and I have a Yoga Meltdown w/ Jillian Michaels video on loan), which allow me to just pop one in and work out for as long or short as I can.

Overall, what I found from my experience was that despite how busy I was, I DID have time to fit in a little bit of physical exercise on most days. Also, it goes without saying that I felt better every time I did. I'm excited for next semester, when I should have a little more time to invest in working out, but for now I'm grateful that I've come up with some strategies that have really worked for me in incorporating exercise into my busy daily life.

What kinds of strategies have worked for you in fitting in exercise?

Wedding Wednesday: Last Thoughts

2011-11-09T18:15:00.000-07:00

1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise? pictures of that... etc.
4. the ring: tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures! tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good? ;) haha...jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts

This is the most recent picture taken of us. It was taken two nights ago on our 6-month anniversary, which we spent eating hamburgers and fries at Angie's and playing Monopoly Deal slumber-party style on our living room floor (slumber party style meaning with lots of pillows and blankets put down to cushion our bums). I think I lost every round but one. But we still had fun. Mostly because Matt is a good winner and doesn't rub it in. I, on the other hand, well...my grandpa always said, "Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser." And I guess that's just always stuck.

It's impossible to choose what I love most about Matt, but for the sake of choosing something, I'd say that I have to go with how peaceful he is. And I'm not just referring to the fact that we don't fight and rarely have conflict---he's just a very peaceful person to be around, very calm. Whenever I'm in his presence, I always feel more at ease and I just seem to get this vibe that no matter what, everything will be okay. I know that's pretty abstract, but it's very true. Even my sister once commented on it; she said to my mom (referring to Matt and I as a couple): "They're just so peaceful together." I think it's one of the highest compliments anyone's ever paid us.

There are other things I love about Matt too, of course, among which are his fish kisses (pretty much exactly what they sound like), his quickness to smile or make me laugh, his absolute diligence in doing his part on his schoolwork, his thoughtfulness, his little acts of kindness to me every day, his athleticism, his spirituality...okay, this might go on for awhile. Basically, I just love the guy. And that love grows stronger and stronger every day that we're together.

Thanks so much, honey, for a wonderful first six months together!!

***Note: This is, indeed, the last of the Wedding Wednesday posts. But I have been brewing up some ideas of what I can replace this column with, and I'm really excited with what I've come up with. So stay tuned for next Wednesday!!

Tell-All Tuesday

2011-11-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

*Although my body fought back valiantly (and had been ahead in the battle for about 2 weeks), it finally succumbed to Matt's cold. I now officially have a sore throat, dry cough, and congestion. I'm just glad it hasn't been as bad as Matt's, though. I still think it was all them apples that kept me fighting for so long!!

*Can I just say how satisfying it was to drop all 48 of the last thank-you cards into the mail yesterday?

*The two lessons I taught to the psych classes at the local high school last week went amazingly well. My observing teacher said he's never seen a student teacher manage a class so perfectly or teach her subject so effortlessly. I'm still smiling about it. Yay! :)

*I missed all the excitement at work yesterday---apparently the management sprung a surprise drug test on everybody first thing (while I was at school). It was the talk at the figurative water cooler all day long.

*Thanksgiving is upon us in two weeks, and I am READY.

*My skin has felt (and looked) pretty amazing since I bought all those skin care products at the Mary Kay party last weekend. Yesterday in my work's bathroom, I was admiring the disappearance of the worry lines on my forehead. There ARE miracles in a jar, people!

*Yesterday we celebrated our 6-month anniversary. I'll be posting more about that in tomorrow's last Wedding Wednesday post. Has it really been 19 weeks already since I started that?!

*I'm starting to miss my long hair now that my haircut is starting to grow into the awkward middle stage. Sigh. This always happens to me.

*Speaking of hair, on Sunday I wore a headband for the first time ever. I mean, it was one of those uber-skinny rubber-band-type ones, but still. I felt very chic-teen.

*I'd best stop procrastinating my reading assignment for class, seeing as how it starts in 25 minutes.

What would you put in your own Tell-All Tuesday?

Here's What's Cooking...Apricot Chicken

2011-11-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

K, so you totally cannot judge this recipe by the terrible photo above (basically I had eaten all of my chicken and then said to Matt, whose chicken was still halfway intact, "Stop! I have to take a picture!"). I've been trying to experiment with different slow cooker recipes every Sunday that we're up here in Logan, so this was this week's try.

I thought its juicy texture and sweet (but not too sweet) flavor was perfect for a snowy Sunday afternoon. Ideally I would have paired it with fresh rolls and a fruit cocktail, but as it was, we were lucky to just get the entree. That's just how it is sometimes.

Anyway, here's the recipe (I took it from the Oct. 2011 issue of All You magazine):

Apricot Chicken

12 dried apricots
8 medium chicken thighs, about 2 lbs. (I actually just used two chicken breasts and two huge wing/leg parts, and it worked perfectly)
Salt and pepper
2 tbs. unsalted butter (I cut this out and it still tasted great)
2 tbs. vegetable oil (I substituted olive, to make it healthier)
1 onion, sliced
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

Rinse apricots and scatter them in slow cooker. Pat chicken dry; season with salt and pepper. Melt butter with oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook thighs until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes per side. (Brown in batches to avoid crowding skillet). Arrange over apricots.

Pour off all but 1 Tbs. fat in skillet. Add onion and cook, stirring, until just soft, 2 to 4 minutes. Add broth to skillet, turn heat to high. Bring to a boil, stirring to loosen brown bits on bottom of skillet. Pour contents of skillet over apricots and chicken. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.

Carefully transfer thighs to a serving dish (they tend to fall apart easily); cover with foil to keep warm. Pour remaining contents into a saucepan. Boil, stirring often, until reduced and thickened, about 10 minutes. Pour over chicken. Serves 4.

This Week's Done List

2011-11-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

This Week's Done List:

*Tried calamari and stuffed mushrooms for the first time (and liked them!)
*Finished writing my thank-you notes. Yes, you read that right: after six months of procrastination and guilt-tripping and fussing over it, I finally finished writing the last of the thank-you's. It's probably the most significant thing I've accomplished in these six months of marriage.
*Taught two full-period lessons to real, live high school students
*Cleaned our bedroom for the first time since moving in. Let me clarify: this is the first time our room has been clean, organized, and free of random boxes since our wedding. This is probably the second most significant accomplishment since we got married.
*Tried out a new slow cooker recipe
*Practiced Chopin's "Nocturne" for an hour while Matt was at work
*Did not complain (too much) about the first snowfall of the year

Still to do:
*Take pictures of aforementioned first snowfall (or maybe the third or fourth snowfall) for our next Photo Walk (hopefully Matt is feeling better soon so that we can)
*Buy stamps so we can actually mail out the thank-you notes
*Write my post about last month's Change It Up Challenge
*Write my post about this month's Change It Up Challenge

So much to do, so short of a week...

Weekend with the Roses

2011-11-06T17:40:00.001-07:00

We had the pleasure of spending our weekend with these lovely people: The Roses (Petrice and Caleb). I was grateful for the excuse to have a "real" date night, by which I mean that it was pre-planned and involved something other than grabbing hamburgers and watching movies here all night at the apartment (not that I don't love those date nights, too--but change is always great, too!)

We spent our evening gorging ourselves at The Olive Garden, then trying to work off all the calories at The Rock Haus (indoor rock climbing venue here in Logan).

Saturday, Petrice and I left our men at home for a much-needed girls' night out. Petrice had been invited to a Mary Kay party, and I so graciously agreed to tag along (actually, I pretty much just invited myself cuz I wanted a free facial).

Let's just say that my skin is going to be much more hydrated than normal for the next six months or so :). Thank you to everyone who bought precast concrete products from my job for the last month: it allowed me the best early Christmas present I think I've ever bought myself.

And there you go: our "after" shots. I don't normally go for brown shades on me, but it was fun playing dress-up for a little while (okay, for like four hours. Matt was freaking out back home).

All in all, a pretty great weekend. Thank you so much, Petrice and Caleb!

Wedding Wednesday: Kids

2011-11-02T18:18:00.000-06:00

1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise? pictures of that... etc.
4. the ring: tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures! tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good? ;) haha...jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts

Yes, we have kids--these are ALL ours.

Our nieces and nephews, that is.

I'm so funny.

Anyway, Matt and I do not have any kids yet (we've only been married 6 months, people!). Both of us look forward to the day when we'll be parents, but we know that that day is not yet. I'm sorry to shatter anyone's hopes and dreams, but we probably won't be having kids until Matt graduates with his bachelor's degree (almost two years down the road). So none of that "Aren't you pregnant yet?" kinda stuff, okay? Okay.

One of the things that I've always loved about Matt though is how very comfortable he is around kids, and how good he is with them. I know many a man who resists holding other people's babies, but Matt is not one of those men. I have the utmost confidence that Matt will be an ideal father, and I only hope that my own parenting skills will someday catch up to his. It will be greatly rewarding for me to see him grow in that role of father someday and I think it will be, well, interesting to see myself grow into the role of mother. We don't know exactly how many kids we want yet, but we've talked about having 4 or 5. (I guess we'll see how much we like the first one).

But, until that day comes, I will be using my tried-and-true (for 6 months anyway, ha ha) birth control: the Marina (an IUD). A lot of people (me included, at the beginning) think that you can't put in an IUD before having kids (and especially not before getting married), but you can. My doctor did an amazing job to make it go as smoothly as possible, and even though it was still painful, I really love it now; I have seen very minimal side effects and love that I don't have to trust myself to take a pill every day (which I absolutely know I would fail at---case in point: the fact that I still forget to take my multivitamins every day even though Matt faithfully packs them into my lunch every morning). I know other people have had some negative experiences with having IUDs put in, but I couldn't be happier about my choice. The greatest part is that you can keep it in for five years, but you can have it taken out whenever you want. And besides abstinence, it's the most effective birth control there is right now. I think that's pretty cool.

Anywho, that's about all I have to say on that. Any questions?

Tell-All Tuesday

2011-11-01T17:06:00.000-06:00

*I am still on a sugar high from Halloween yesterday. I think I ate about seven of Petrice's homemade donuts and then slurped down two full glasses of homemade root beer and then put down almost half of a root beer freeze at A & W. It's a good thing this Halloween business only comes around once a year.

*I am excited to be posting last month's Change It Up Challenge soon (hopefully by tomorrow or Thursday). Even though I didn't incorporate exercise into every single day, I feel like I've developed more healthy strategies for fitting physical fitness into my lifestyle. And I'm keeping those ten pounds off! I think that over the holidays, when I've finally quit my job to prepare for student teaching, that I'll be able to drop my final five pounds. I'm really excited to have some more time to myself again.

*This is the week of teaching for me, it seems--not only am I teaching a mini-lesson in one of my classes tomorrow, but I am actually going to teach TWO full-length AP Psych classes at Logan High on Thursday. I'm glad to get the practice (I've been practically begging the teacher all semester to let me do it), but I'm starting to get the little flutters of nervousness that something is going to go horribly, irreversibly wrong...

*I was going to continue writing about some more of the trivialities of my life, but I just got the news that one of the men from a family that I grew very fond of on my mission was just killed today. I am so grateful to know that death is not the end and for the sweet comfort that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings me in such times. This news is just one more reminder to me to never take the ones I love for granted and to live my life the best that I can each and every day.

*Sorry to end on a sad note--hope all of you have a good (and safe) Tuesday.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T08:30:00.000-06:00

Halloween 2011

Halloween this year started early, with a visit to my mom's house for her annual Halloween party. Included in the ghoulish treats were spider cupcakes, mummy dogs, and jello jigglers in the shape of bats and pumpkins (made with grape and orange jello).

All the nieces and nephews (and even most of the adults) came dressed up and ready for a good time: pin the smile on the jack-o-lantern, a spooky scavenger hunt, make your own bat (check out how cute they turned out!), and frosting Halloween-themed sugar cookies.

My mom put in a lot of work, and we had a lot of fun!

Last night, we were invited over to Petrice and Caleb's Halloween shindig, which included a crackling bonfire and homemade donuts and root beer.

Matt went around trying to scare me with his mask until he made Petrice's little boy cry.

Then he felt bad.

Thanks Petrice, for such a fun Halloween! (And thanks Kayla, for coming to A&W with us to round out the evening with Papa Burgers and even more root beer).

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Do you like how lazy we are at costumes?

Petrice and Caleb weren't lazy though--I'm still laughing about Caleb shaving half of his hair off so that he looked like he was balding and Petrice's bosoms that sank down almost to her belly button. (Don't they still make an adorable little "old" couple, though?)

And just for fun: spooky pictures by the firelight.

Sorry for the pic overload! (This has basically become my scrapbook and journal all in one, so I feel like I should be keeping a log of my life. Hope you guys don't mind.)

Last Week's Done List

2011-10-31T08:09:00.001-06:00

I am a person that tends to focus on the things I lack or the things I perceive myself as "failing" in rather than on my successes. As this is clearly not a recipe for personal fulfillment and happiness, I'm working on concentrating on my little victories rather than simply on my shortcomings. Although each week has a "to-do" list, I'm trying much harder to take the time to applaud myself for my "done" list. If you'd like, join with me in celebrating your own "Done" lists and link up your posts below!

My Done List (Week of 10/24 - 10/30)

*Got a brilliant idea of what I'm going to do for Matt's Christmas gift. I'm really excited about it. (But it's a surprise, so I can't tell!)
*Attended my Mom's amazing Halloween party on Saturday (pictures to follow)
*Told my boss very candidly exactly what I thought of certain particulars in our office (this was a huge accomplishment for me--usually I'm scared to death to bring up what I really think at my job)
*Turned in a check that paid our rent for the next 6 months (woo hoo!)
*Found time to read almost a hundred pages in Breaking Night (no, this book has nothing to do with Twilight)
*Tried out the Yoga Meltdown DVD that was loaned to me
*Played tennis
*Made our bed more days than not
*Did the dishes more days than not (baby steps, people)
*Mailed off half a dozen thank-you notes
*Bought new box of thank-you notes
*Entered our ward's Chili Cookoff (and even though ours didn't win, we heard enough compliments on it to jokingly award ourselves "The People's Choice Chili)
*Fended off my craving to eat the bakery orange rolls sitting by my work desk all week and (mostly) fended off my cravings for 7-11 hot chocolate (3 days out of 5)
*Read over some old General Conference talks at work and posted some of the loveliest thoughts on my other blog (Soul in Symmetry)

Still to do:
*Finish those thank-you notes once and for all!
*Finish hanging up the wall decorations in our apartment (after 6 months)

Wedding Wednesday: First Place

2011-10-26T22:54:00.000-06:00

1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise? pictures of that... etc.
4. the ring: tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures! tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good? ;) haha...jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts

(The above picture was obviously taken on a much warmer day, about three months ago)

I will admit, I'm going to cheat a little on this post. By cheating, I mean that I'm going to refer you to this post here if you want more pictures of the actual layout of our first place together.

The real reason I'm "cheating"? Our apartment is a disaster area. We've unfortunately gotten into the habit since school started of only cleaning on the weekends.

However, I did find a few nooks and crannies that didn't require too much cleaning before I took a picture.

Like this:

Or this:

(Apparently our bookshelves don't need much cleaning, although now that I think of it, they haven't been dusted since we moved in...)

Although we had a rocky beginning with our landlords and the apartment in general initially (our toilet was in the tub when we first moved everything in), we've had pretty much smooth sailing since they moved away to Wyoming. Coincidence, maybe? Anyway, some of my favorite aspects of the apartment include: free heat (I have never known what that was like in Logan before; I could never go back), free Internet, a dishwasher, lots of closet space, and a spare bedroom (which incidentally has become our "library," where the two above pictures were taken. We don't go in there much. Which is why it's so clean).

The most challenging thing about having our own place is (you guessed it) keeping it clean; being neat and tidy has never been my strong point, but I grew up in a house that was always immaculate (thanks, Mom!), so I've learned to really crave that kind of atmosphere. Unfortunately, I'm failing miserably at keeping that kind of atmosphere in my own apartment. I think it's one of my greatest failings at the moment, actually. I'm kind of embarrassed by it. (Matt doesn't seem to mind too much).

Another failing of mine? Interior decorating, apparently; I am not crafty and am usually unconcerned with the general aesthetic appeal of having neatly arranged wall and table arrangements that match the seasons. Maybe someday I'll develop that gene. But for now, all we get is this:

1- food for table arrangements (thanks, Petrice!)

2- A fake tree for greenery that I didn't have the heart to let my mom give to the DI

3- Oprah to decorate the toilet (classy)

4- And lastly, actual decorations that people have given us. Which, coincidentally, are the only really cute decorative pieces we have. (Thanks everyone for your wedding gifts!)

But at the end of the day, this is home for us: the place that Matt and I call our own.

A place for cuddling.

A place for studying.

A place for praying.

A place for resting.

A place for loving.

There's truly no place like home.

Tell-All Tuesday

2011-10-25T11:38:00.001-06:00

*The emergency brake light has all of a sudden decided to start freaking me out by coming on at random intervals while I drive (even though the brake is not in use). I'll be going 55 on the highway, look down, see the red light, then freak out. This process gets repeated about 4 times a day. I think my brake light thinks it's funny.

*I gave in today and got a 7-11 hot chocolate on my way to work. My rationale? This is the first day I know of that it's been in the 20s, I generally don't go into work on Tuesdays anyway (so who cares if I'm 15 minutes later), and I played tennis last night (which makes me feel slightly better about the 270-calorie price tag on the little 12 oz. sucker). Heaven is hot chocolate on a grey, foggy day.

*Matt has been getting slightly sick, and I'm not even home to take care of him. In fact, I won't be home until much, much later tonight (probably around 9:30 or so). Poor Matt. Hang in there, dear! I'll come in and rub your feet after you've zonked out at 8:30.

*We're (hopefully) heading home this weekend for my mom's annual Halloween party with all her grandkids (my nieces and nephews), and I'm really excited. My mom throws a killer party--prizes, themed food, activities for all ages...what's not to love?

*I don't have to go in for my clinical observations this week at the high school due to my co-worker being out of town (so I have to cover for her). I feel really, really sad about this...

*Did anyone honestly believe that last sentence? Good.

*I think the reason that Matt has gotten sick and not me is because I've been eating about 3 apples a day for the past week. When I told Matt this, he said that that was NOT the reason. And then he informed me (through text) that he had just eaten an apple. The power of persuasion, people.

*This week, Matt and I have been watching segments of the 6-hour BBC version of Pride & Prejudice. Oh, how it endears me that Matt doesn't mind watching it with me. It endears me even more that he laughs at the humor, compares it to other versions of Pride & Prejudice that we've watched, and that it's usually him that suggests that we watch some more of it (not me). You're so great, Matt :)

*I went and saw the new Footloose movie with my friend Chelsee over the weekend. Despite many people's complaints about the fact that Hollywood was doing a remake, I thought they did a really decent job at sticking to the original story and even the general soundtrack. It brought me back to the good ol' days of high school when I was actually in the musical Footloose (I was peeved, though, that they cut out my character in the movie). But the real shocker was this: how much I enjoyed Real Steel. Who would have thought robot boxing could be so entertaining? And who would have thought that I would ever say that? Miracles happen every weekend here in Logan, people.

*Also over the weekend (as you might have noticed on my "Done" list), I spent the $100 Old Navy card. And I bought my very first WARM winter coat since I've been in Logan. It is amazing. Pictures to follow someday. I also bought a sparkly tank top that I layered under a black "tough" jacket yesterday with the rationale that Mondays need a little extra sparkle in them, so why save the shirt for the weekend?

*What little happenings have been going on in your corner of the globe? I'm all ears...

Here's What's Cooking...Pork Chops With Apple Rings

2011-10-24T21:58:00.000-06:00

I received an unexpected bounty of fresh-picked apples this week and have been wondering for the past couple days how I'm going to use them all while they're still crisp. This recipe was the first to be tried (of many, I'm sure):

Pork Chops With Apples (from Taste of Home's Prize Winning Recipes 2007)

6 pork chops (1/2 inch thick)
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp rubbed sage (we substituted marjoram)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbs butter (we just used one and it tasted delicious still)
2 medium unpeeled Golden Delicious apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch rings (we used a different variety--any cooking apple will do)
1/4 cup diced dried apricots
2 tbs. golden raisins
2 tbs. brown sugar

Sprinkle pork chops with celery salt, sage, salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown chops in butter on one side; turn. Top with apple rings. Sprinkle with apricots, raisins, and brown sugar. Cover and cook on low for 18-22 minutes or until the meat juices run clear.

Yield: 6 servings

This Week's Done List

2011-10-23T15:15:00.000-06:00

This Week's "Done" List

**Make caramel apples (thank you, Kayla!)

**Ace my two midterms

**Finish my big project for my assessment class (and get 100% on it!)

**Write more wedding thank-you notes (goal: have them all finished by our 6-month anniversary)

**Play Risk with friends (and win)

**Go see Footloose with Chelsee (and Real Steel)

**Spend my $100 Old Navy prize card (got $120 worth of stuff, spent $1.88)

**Give Matt a big hug and kiss for waking up early yesterday (despite the

holiday) in order to make me a special breakfast before work

**Cuddle

Still to do:
Try out the new yoga DVD that Karianne loaned me
Go Biking
Buy more thank-you notes so I can actually complete said goal
Use some of the homegrown apples I just got to make that new pork recipe

Wedding Wednesday: Thoughts on Marriage

2011-10-19T21:34:00.001-06:00

1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise? pictures of that... etc.
4. the ring: tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures! tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good? ;) haha...jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts

Growing up, the idea of being married always scared me. All I ever seemed to hear about was how much work it was, how couples were happier when they didn't see too much of each other, and how the divorce rate kept climbing.

I don't know what made me change my mind. Actually, I do. It was Matt. And my mission.

On my mission, I saw a lot of couples who somehow managed to stay together despite terrible hardships and stressors. I saw couples who were about to call it quits who started to live the restored gospel and saw their whole marriage do a complete 180. Basically, by the end of my mission, I realized something very key: marriages built on the gospel of Jesus Christ will be successful when both parties are willing to live its principles and love each other selflessly.

After this realization, I finished my mission and fell in love with Matt about two weeks after getting home. I didn't tell him that early on that it was love, of course, but I knew--that little intuitive part of me just knew that this kind of love was different: it was the love I was willing to commit to. Forever.

And you know what I was surprised to discover once I got married?

That I loved it.

That it wasn't as hard in nearly as many ways as I thought it would be.

That it was kind of hard in ways that I hadn't really thought about.

When I asked Matt his thoughts on marriage, he texted me this: "It rocks!"

When I pressed him to give a little bit more depth to his answer, he responded with this:

"[In marriage], you always have someone there. And it's not just someone--it's the person that you most care about and always want to be with."

I couldn't agree more; that's one of the things that I love most about being married--I know there's always somebody there at the end of the day to give me a hug, tell me he loves me, and to talk and share my dreams with. Matt is the kindest, most considerate, and most thoughtful person I've ever known, and I feel so lucky to have him as my husband.

As for the hard stuff, well...it's not even the stuff that I thought it would be. I thought that marriage meant conflicts, esp. conflicts over little things, but Matt and I have never fought. I'm not saying that we never will, but we have learned to settle any differences in a way that's sensitive to the other person's feelings. I guess the hardest part about it all is learning how to be less selfish in my life--to be less selfish with time, with money, with service. My mission really helped me out with that, but I still have a long way to go.

One thing I'm sure of though is this: I am so grateful every day that I have Matthew in my life--that I do have that someone who is always there for me, who I want to be with more than anyone else.

And I love that.

Marriage really does rock.

Tell-All Tuesday

2011-10-18T16:24:00.000-06:00

*After Matt had read yet another article on the importance of women getting enough folic acid (and accepting that it was a hopeless cause to try and make me remember to take it every morning), he found a sneaky way around my forgetfulness: I found it the next day packed in my lunchbox in a Ziploc baggy with a smiley face on it. Sneaky.

*My clinicals were just as bad as I thought they'd be (worse, in some ways). But then today I felt guilty about it, because while interviewing the teacher of the class, he said that he just got thrown into teaching this subject at the last minute and that he felt stupid teaching it in front of me because he knew I had more of a background in it than he did. After that, I just felt guilty complaining about it. So you all are spared from my whining...until I forget about my guilt, of course.

*Matt asked me just now, "Did you see the caramel in my math book?" To which I responded, "Ah ha! You've been eating the ice cream again, eh?" To which he then responded, "You don't remember eating that caramel apple last night, eh?".......Sneaky.

*You know what's really great right now? The fact that I'm sitting at home at 4:15 in the afternoon. This is one of the main redeeming qualities of every Tuesday: I don't work because I *get* to go to clinicals all day long at the high school. I'm spending it wisely folks---distracting Matt while he's working on math homework and eating kettle corn. I'm happy.

*Sometimes I randomly hit Matt in the night and he doesn't remember it the next day. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

*I decided that I have conditioned myself to not be willing to do homework at home anymore. Because of my schedule this semester, all of my homework has been getting done either on campus in the morning before class or during slow periods at work. So on days like today, when I actually get home at a decent hour and should still have plenty of stamina left to be productive, my brain has this crazy notion that "we don't do homework at home anymore." The real pressing question out of all this: can I do all of my homework for tomorrow in that little hour that I have tomorrow morning before class...

*I am in the middle of the most engaging memoir--it's about a woman who went from being homeless to graduating from Harvard, and it had me hooked from the first page. I can't wait to review it for you all. Maybe that's what I'll go do instead of homework.

*Can I just say how nice and relaxing this week has been because I haven't had to worry about my other job? Heaven is getting to come home at 5:00 and actually have the rest of the evening to do whatever I wish.

How is your week going?

Book #15 : Gifted

2011-10-13T14:01:00.000-06:00

Title: Gifted
Author: Karey White
Number of Pages: 224

I will begin by saying that I've never read any book like this before. I'm not one to normally go for LDS fiction, but that's not because I have anything against the genre--more than anything, I just am very unfamiliar with it (and often I've found that unfamiliary breeds avoidance). But, when I found out that my former neighbor Karey White had published a book, I figured it was worth checking out.

Gifted is the story of Susan and Brent Weller, a couple who has been trying to adopt a baby for years with no luck. One day, after an infant is left an orphan after a car crash claims the lives of both her parents, Susan gets the call telling her that her and Brent would be the proud parents of little Anna, a unique child with unusual gifts. Although all parents think their children are gifted, Anna's gifts start to become too apparent to ignore. As more and more time goes on, Susan starts to realize that although Anna's gifts are innately good, they can have some devastating consequences.

I'll admit, I had a hard time getting into this book at the beginning. The writing style was more simple than what I normally go for, and I had a hard time getting over how cheery the world of Susan and Brent seemed. (About the time that I realized this, I thought how disturbing it was that I kept expecting terrible things to happen to all the characters. Being an English major has ruined me.) However, when I started to get more deeply into the story, I found myself thinking less and less about the writing style quirks and more and more about the actual storyline (which is always a good sign). I was so absorbed at one point that I didn't notice when my next appointment had shown up (I was in the middle of peer tutoring conferences), and he just stood there awkwardly in front of me, waiting for me to look up and pay attention to him.

By the end of the novel, I was thoroughly engrossed in the story and wondering what was going to happen next. And although the ending of the novel was devastating, it didn't leave me with a bad taste in my mouth like some tragic endings do. I actually found myself really thinking about certain themes in the book long after I'd finished it, a practice I find myself engaging in less and less nowadays since many books are more entertainment-based than message-based. It was also a nice change to read a book that actually had a really good, positive, Christian message; I always appreciate a book that makes me want to be a better person, and this book did. If you're looking for a quick read that has a powerful message, then this is the next book for you.

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Wedding Wednesday: The Honeymoon

2011-10-12T22:32:00.001-06:00

1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise? pictures of that... etc.
4. the ring: tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures! tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good? ;) haha...jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts

These first two photos by Valor Photography

As I mentioned earlier, we decided to have an afternoon reception, which was probably the smartest thing we've ever done. We ended up leaving for our first honeymoon destination around 6:00 pm, when there was still plenty of light left for driving.

I have been hearing rave reviews of The Blue Boar for years now from my family, and after hearing of the five-course brunch served the next morning, I knew we just had to go.

When we got there, there were congratulatory balloons in our room and a complimentary tray of cheese, crackers, and fruit. What's not to love?

The next morning, after our worth-dying-from-heart-disease 5-course brunch, we headed down to St. George, where we'd be spending the week at a gorgeous condo owned by friends of my family. We totally hit the jackpot with our honeymoon destination--we were close enough to the "big city" stuff like movies and shopping, but we had plenty of time to spend doing activities closer to home base, like spending time in the hot tub and playing tennis and using the gym.

That condo in St. George has been one of my favorite places on earth after I started going there with my family a few years ago. Matt and I love it down there so much that we have a dream of owning a condo down there one day ourselves. Dreamin' big, people. Dreamin' big.

We spent one of the days down in Vegas, where we visited the Las Vegas Temple (breathtaking), ate the most expensive steak dinner of my life (mmm hmm!), and watched The Phantom of the Opera.

Another day was spent in Zion National Park (check out that post here) hiking up Angel's Landing.

Let's just say, what happens on Angel's Landing stays on Angel's Landing. Oh wait, that's Vegas. Regardless, if you really want details, check out the other post. There are some beefy Germans involved.

The thing I loved most about our honeymoon though was the fact that we just got to relax. The semester that we were engaged was just so stressful between our classes and planning the wedding. When I asked Matt what he remembers from our wedding day and everything around it, he said, "The thing that stands out to me now is the contrast of being way stressed out to that of being totally relaxed and just enjoying being in love."

I couldn't say it better. Our honeymoon was just one perfect week of pure relaxation, where we could truly just enjoy being in love.

And we even watched Thor together. And I even liked it.

That made Matt love me even more.

(The weather was gorgeous the whole time we were there. Even the rain was enough to take your breath away)

I keep telling Matt that we should go on a honeymoon every summer.

It will at least work this summer, anyway! :)

Coolest Thing EVER to Happen to Me!!

2011-10-11T17:01:00.000-06:00

People, stuff like this NEVER happens to me!! So a couple weeks ago (when I should have been doing homework, I might add), I took about 20 minutes to fill out one of those surveys that sometimes come in your inbox that say, "Fill this out and you'll be entered to win blah blah blah." Well obviously I really didn't want to do homework, because I actually entered.

And I WON people.

I won $100 to spend at Old Navy.

Greatest thing EVER.

Happiness :) :) :)

(Moral of the story: sometimes those procrastinating urges pay off. True story.)

Tuesday Tell-All

2011-10-11T08:16:00.000-06:00

*I start my clinical observations today at the high school. If it's anything like last semester, where I watched high school seniors draw pictures of the ghosts in Macbeth, it will be a "scathing indictment of the public school system" (as is said multiple times on Big Bang Theory). But I'm always holding out hope that this will be the first teacher I've seen since my own high school days that wows me...

*I just realized how depressing that last comment was. I used to be so idealistic about education.

*That's not to say that I don't think there are brilliant, inspired teachers out there (I personally have been lucky enough to be taught be several).

*What I really mean to say is that since starting my teacher education classes, I've begun to realize that NOBODY does everything you're "supposed" to do.

*But that's okay.

*Anyway, on to other topics. This week my other job kicks in, which means that I'll be going going going from 7 AM to 9 PM every day this week except Friday. But, if everything goes as smoothly as yesterday, it shouldn't be too bad. And the best news? After this week, my other job doesn't kick in for almost a month. A month! I almost feel like a free, unrestrained woman---maybe I'll celebrate by making cinnamon love knots every other morning and dancing around in my underwear to Miley Cyrus. Maybe.

*Matt has two huge exams today in his two toughest classes. Poor guy. I remember the days when I used to take tests...

*My bum is still sore from the 20-minute bike ride I took on Saturday. Just saying.

*I have almost finished a book, people. *GASP!* *APPLAUSE* (I know, I amaze even myself sometimes...I mean, it's been so long since I've actually finished a book that I've almost forgotten how to do it.)

*Because of clinicals, I don't have to work today. Isn't that about the best thing you've ever heard? I certainly think so. I'll actually get to see Matt today before bedtime. Marvelous!

*This is a long Tell-All Tuesday. Best stop rambling now before you find another blog to go to for all your Tell-All Tuesday needs.

What about your Tuesdays, friends? What have you got to tell me?

Cinnamon Love Knots

2011-10-10T22:04:00.000-06:00

Could anything be better than cinnamon love knots and milk after a cool autumn photo walk? I don't think so. These just might become our next Photo Walk post-snack staple.

Cinnamon Love Knots (from Taste of Home's Prize Winning Recipes 2007)

2 packages (1/4 oz each) active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm milk
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp salt
4-1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour

Topping: (note--I don't think you need nearly this much; I personally would half this for next time)
2 cups sugar
2 tbs ground cinnamon
3/4 cup butter, melted

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand for five minutes. Add milk, butter, sugar, eggs, and salt. Stir in enough flour to form a stiff dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/2 hours.

Punch dough down; divide into three portions. Cover two with plastic wrap. Shape one portion into 12 balls. Roll each ball into 8-in. rope. Combine sugar and cinnamon. Dip rope in melted butter, then coat with cinnamon sugar. Tie into a knot (make sure to tie the knot after dipping in the butter and cinnamon-sugar mix--trust me, it's better!). Tuck and pinch ends under and place on ungreased baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Yield: 3 dozen.

Photo Walk - Tony's Grove Area

2011-10-09T21:04:00.000-06:00

Last week when I got my haircut, I got an excellent recommendation from my hairdresser (Summer Stott at the Center St Salon in Logan---she's amazing!); she told me about how her and her husband loved to go to a place up Logan Canyon called Tony's Grove. I had heard of it, but had never been there and had no idea where it even was. After she gave me simple directions on how to get there and said that she felt like she was "in heaven" every time she went, I made up my mind right then and there to make it the next location for our photo walk.

Unfortunately, this last week's snowstorms prevented us from staying too long in the actual Tony's Grove area (check out the photos of the lake, above), but we were able to get some killer shots down in the canyon right around the corner from it.

Love the fall colors we were able to enjoy today!

(This last picture was taken from the front seat. I thought that was pretty cool!)

After our little autumn adventure, we came home to make some Cinnamon Love Knots (recipe to follow) and sing duets from Phantom of the Opera (because we're cheesy like that).

Happy Sunday!

A Little Change in Change It Up

2011-10-08T16:24:00.000-06:00

Hey, all you readers out there (wherever it is that you are!). So, in light of my being stressed out more often than not this semester, I have decided to do a much-needed change in my Change-It-Up Challenges. As some of you might have noticed (please tell me someone has, just so I know that people actually read these), I have not been very faithful at posting a CIU Challenge every week like I used to.

The fact is, I just don't have the time to be trying out new things because, well, I barely have time to do anything nowadays. I'm sure you've noticed that my cooking posts have mostly fallen by the wayside, my "check out what we did" posts have been limited to holidays and birthdays, and my 50 book challenge seems to have become almost obsolete within the last two months.

But, before I get anyone too disappointed, I am NOT stopping my CIU Challenges: I am just going to revise my focus. Before, I was trying to do one challenge a week (which was great and all), but I found that when I did actually find something new that I really wanted to get semi-good at before I posted (like yoga or couponing), it took a lot longer than one week to really try it out.

So the change is this: instead of doing weekly Change It Up Challenge posts, I will be doing monthly posts based around one "theme." For example, you'll notice that all of my CIU posts from last month were all about beauty (bold lipstick, new haircut, different hairstyles, etc.). Well, this month, my challenge to myself is Exercise/Wellness.

As my woeful post from Thursday pointed out, I've been bemoaning the fact that I don't go to the gym every day like I used to. So this month, I'm all about changing it up health-wise. I'll give you a hint of one part of the challenge that I've already tried out: it involves Matt's birthday present (no, not the Oreos).

Also, with this new format of Change It Up, I'll also be open to taking suggestions of things I should try out or tips that y'all have.

So, if you're willing to help a girl out, leave me a little note below. Heaven knows I'll need some help this month to get my butt back into gear.

Some questions I've been thinking about:
-What new forms of exercise can I incorporate into my busy lifestyle so that I don't get bored with the same old routine?
-For all you busy people out there (yes, I'm pretty sure that refers to all of you), what tips do you have for incorporating health and fitness into your daily life?
-Got any good motivational quotes or pictures that will keep me going when the going gets tough?

Thank you all, and hope you're all having a lovely weekend!!

What I Miss

2011-10-06T20:56:00.000-06:00

You know what I miss?

I miss working out.

I miss doing Zumba every Thursday,

Power Toning every Monday,

The Cardio Class from you-know-where every Tuesday,

Yoga on Wednesdays.

I feel like a blob. A sleeping, eating, work-a-holic blob.

Sigh.

Maybe I'll have time next semester to get back into all that jazz.

Hopefully.

Wedding Wednesday: Favorite/Least Favorite Part

2011-10-05T19:55:00.004-06:00

1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise? pictures of that... etc.
4. the ring: tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures! tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good? ;) haha...jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts

All photos by Valor Photography

Favorite part? All the kissing.

Least favorite part? All the socializing.

Just kidding.

No, but really, my favorite part of the day was by far the actual marriage ceremony in the temple.

It was incredible to be surrounded by so many loved ones and to hear the inspired words of the sealer (the man who performs the marriage) as he counseled us and congratulated us. We loved how many people came out to support us, both at the temple and afterwards at the reception. I felt overwhelmed with love, which is exactly how I wanted to feel on my wedding day. I remember being with Matt in the elevator just minutes before we'd be getting married and just glowing on the inside--Matt leaned over, told me he loved me and that he couldn't wait to be mine forever. So many people told me to just slow down on our wedding day to enjoy every moment, and that was one of those "moments" that I'll always want to remember.

My least favorite part of the day was the fact that we weren't able to get family pictures after the luncheon. Somehow, there had been a gap in the communication loop, so not everyone understood that we were going to be doing pictures right before the reception started. Luckily though, we had gotten a lot of good family pictures up at the temple, so I'm really appreciative of that.

Overall, it was a beautiful day.

It was the day that I married my best friend.

I get to be with him forever.

How could it not have been a wonderful day?

What was your favorite/least favorite part of your wedding day? Anything you would do over?

Tell-All Tuesday

2011-10-04T08:17:00.000-06:00

*It's raining today. Love that!

*I've been re-moved to yet another corner at my work (except it looks like this will be my permanent corner). It's kind of great, except for the fact that when about 3:00 hits, the sun is directly in my eyes and it's about a million degrees. But other than that, it's nice and peaceful in my little corner. I just want to erect walls around my desk and hang a sign that says, "I just don't want to be bothered." Wouldn't that be great?

*I'm wearing Matt's sweater today. I have a feeling that I might start stealing his clothes more and more as time goes on...

*Between eating birthday cake, Leatherby's ice cream, Marie Callendar's chocolate satin pie, and three gourmet cupcakes, I think it's time to go back on The Diet. Sigh. At least my body has been much better than I thought it would be at keeping the ten pounds off (with the exception of this last weekend)

*I'm starting to get used to my new haircut, although I still can't get over how weird it is to shampoo it (there's just nothing back there!!)

*I've apparently started to become Shaneekwa, the blanket-hoarder of the night. Matt woke up this morning and told me it was like a fight all night long to get even a tiny bit of blanket, so he just gave up. Who ever would have thought I'd be a covers hog?

*I feel like if I burrowed myself far enough into this cozy fleece sweater, I could just doze off. Like an owl.

*What do you all have to "tell" this Tuesday? Comment your random-ness right here (I need a good distraction from my adult responsibilities!)

Conference Weekend

2011-10-03T20:57:00.000-06:00

For General Conference weekend, Matt and I headed back to Bountiful to go see the family and to go hear the inspired messages of our church leaders.

While Matt went off to go see the Priesthood Session (the session just for men), I went and met up with a bunch of my mission buddies at the Red Iguana in Salt Lake. Even though all of us served our missions in El Salvador, we were still blown away by how good (and authentic) this Mexican restaurant was; definitely worth checking out!

It was so much fun especially to see my first "daughter" in the mission (the first full-time missionary that I trained). I was with her longer than I was with any other companion, and we just really clicked. People even thought we were sisters in real life. I also loved seeing a couple of my other favorite companions there (I had so many favorite companions in the mission---I loved them all!), as well as some other sisters who I would hang out with at the larger meetings.

And of course, since the Red Iguana happens to be conveniently located across the street from my favorite restaurant ever (Leatherby's), I managed to convince all the hermanas to hop across the construction medians and split huge ice cream sundaes.

The rest of our weekend was spent watching the conference with our families, playing Settlers of Catan, and watching Matthew sword-fight with his brother (I know--he's nerdy. I like nerdy).

A great weekend, overall!

Here's What's Cooking...4-Ingredient Thumbprint Cookies

2011-09-30T18:47:00.001-06:00

I'm always on the lookout for quick dessert recipes that look more gourmet than they really are. I think these do a pretty good job of just that (and taste pretty good too!):

Paula Deen's Chocolate-Cherry Thumbprints

1 (16.5 oz) package refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 (21 oz) can cherry pie filling
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine cookie dough and flour. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until well combined. (***my note: make sure that it is VERY well combined, otherwise your cookie will be as flat as pancakes). Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Make an indentation in center of each cookie with thumb. Bake for 8 minutes.

Remove cookies from oven, and press down indentations again. Spoon about 1 teaspoon cherry pie filling in center of each cookie, and bake for 3 to 5 minutes more. Cool on pans for 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. Drizzle with melted chocolate. (***my note: we had to mix a little vegetable oil in with our melted chocolate chips so that they would drizzle)

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.