Don't Let Your Wives See This...

... because then you're going to get an earful.

This morning I rolled (or fell, rather) out of bed. I trudged my way downstairs to eat some Cheerios. I took time to take in the scenery. The dishwasher was full of clean dishes. Some dishes sat in the sink with remnants of last night's pudding. And random pieces of mail and other paper items were scattered from here to there. So, of course, I walked past all of the scenery and made my way to the shower. After a nice, super long, super hot shower, I felt almost ready to face the world. I walked into the bedroom. The bed was made—blankets neatly folded at the foot of the bed. I walked to the kitchen—It was clean, and the dishes were being put away as I walked by. I took a few minutes to make myself somewhat presentable for work and walked downstairs to gather my things—My car had been started, scraped off, and was waiting for me.

Ahhhhh.... this is the life.

Now some people say, "Oh, you're newlyweds. This will wear-off soon."

Nope. I've known this man for 4 years, and this is how he's always been. As friends, we went with a group of people to stay at a cabin. Guess who was up before everyone else making breakfast for the group. Guess who stood out in the pouring rain to grill the chicken for everyone for dinner. As a friend, guess who started mine and other friends' cars for them so they'd heat up for a cold, winter drive. That's right, my husband. He's just that kind of guy. Always has been. Always will be. Hate me if you want. Or find one for yourself (unless, of course, you're married.)

How did I get so lucky?

May You Never Have to Buy Another Christmas Album

Here it is... a masterpiece that's been years in the making: My Christmas playlist.

Enjoy!

The More You Read, The More You Know... Sometimes.

For some reason, I feel this need to try to go against the grain of what people would expect an "average" girl my age, in my circumstances to do. I don't know why. I don't know what I feel like I've had to prove.

The Harry Potter series hit its climax while I was in college. Though it's not a "girly" series, by any means, every girl I knew was knee deep in Potter hysteria. I refused to read it— until I taught elementary school. It was a survival skill I needed to remain hip with the kiddos. And I liked the series okay, especially the third book. But I won't admit that to many people.

Then there was the whole college scene of dating and every girl acting like she wanted only to meet boys, date, and find a boyfriend. I made sure I acted like I didn't care whether or not I dated, didn't care much about the boys I dated, and didn't hurt much when things ended badly— though I always felt more than I let on.

And so this instinct of mine, to defy what people would expect of me (though I don't always want to), has stuck with me over the years. And every once in a while, there is a trend that I'm truly, honestly, okay not following. One of which would be the Twilight craze. I love to read, almost as much as I love to eat Muddy Buddies, snuggle with my nieces and nephews, or write about my droning life events on here. But I simply cannot bring myself to read that series. After growing up on books like "Babysitter's Club," and "Sweet Valley High," I made a vow to myself to only read real, enriching literature after I was finally introduced to it in my high school years.

On my quest to become well-read with the classics, I was encouraged to read Orwell's "1984" by a number of people. I was told it would give me a lot to think about and that it was almost unheard of to not have read it, if I were to claim to be a fan of the classics. So, while in a book shop in Sienna this summer, I picked it up for the long, lonely journey home. (Which didn't end up being so lonely, thanks to a drunken Patrick Swayze look-alike in denim shorts and Dr. Martens boots. That's a story for another day.) Anyhow, I eventually read the book and eventually regretted it. It was a regurgitation of the many books written after it's kind. I should have re-read "Anthem" to get the same "Down with Big Brother" ideals in a much shorter page count, and with many fewer sexual references.

Since completing that book, I haven't had much time for reading... until this last week since I've been sick. I needed a light read. Something full of hope and big words on the page (I had a head ache). I picked up a book I'd purchased from the notorious book orders when I was a teacher and decided to give it a whirl. I knew the author's other books were about princesses and girls coming of age, but I needed something to read, and decided to tell no one I was reading this girly book. But I read it, in under a 12 hour period. Don't be too impressed, the print is quite large. It was written by a local author, Shannon Hale. And it was a well-written book loosely based on a Grimms fairy tale. It was absolutely wonderful. So much so that I publicly recommend it to you:

Book of a Thousand Days

And now, before I can bring myself to return to the world of Hawthorne, Orwell, Melville, and Thoreau, I return to my beloved copy of "Emma." Because it's okay to enjoy a girly book now and then... especially if it's written by an author acclaimed for her talents in capturing human emotions, the anguish of the clash of classes, and the essence of life in her time... and not some silly romance novel based on tension between demonic icons and frivolous girls with no backbones. (I know this, for I saw the first movie... as a favor to my best friend. For which she will be forever indebted to me).

Read on, Interweb. Read on.

May you find yourself engrossed in good literature. The kind that expands your mind, teaches you new things, and makes you a little more interesting. Because, hey, who wouldn't want to be a little more interesting?

My New Favorite Song...

My day just got a whole lot better

What a crappy morning and day so far. I feel like my head is going to spin off and I have to much to do before the wedding and not enough time to do it.

BUT

Thank you Cadbury for making Christmas candies.

Thank you retail chains for stocking Christmas candies at a ridiculously early time.

Thank you Albertsons for keeping your shelves fully stocked... and for answering you phone and confirming that the shelves were stocked before I made my journey.

Thank you car for getting me to the store in a safe and timely manner.

Thank you taste buds for working so well and recognizing delicious and creamy things.

Thank you metabolism for burning through this entire bag of eggs quickly. (This won't actually happen... but a girl can dream....)

A penny for your thoughts

I have been back and forth between wedding colors, and THIS is what I think I've come up with. The only problem is, will I be able to find flowers, ties, and other clothing items in a rust color. Thoughts?

My other option was going to be plum and dark chocolate. I think I might be starting to like that idea more and more....

Bow- WOW

One of my best friends in the whole world is disgustingly talented. She makes and sells hair bows and head bands for little girls. You can check out the goods on her blog. I tell ya, it's good to know talented people; my future daughters will have something feminine to adorn their possibly over-sized, bald heads.

Here is a sneak peak of what she makes:

SO CUTE, I KNOW!

Drum Roll Please....

For those of you who don't already know, THIS is who I am marrying:

November 21, in the Salt Lake temple

We have been good friends for almost four years. How (you might ask) do two good friends end up falling in love and getting married? Well, the answer is simple. And I will tell you... another day. I don't have time to get into the details right now, so stay tuned!

Something New to Blog About...

For the past couple of years, I have been blogging about a lot of things: vacations, family, work, memories, but mostly dating. This blog has served as an outlet for each and every dating frustration of mine and of others. Let me take a moment to thank those who have endured my many dating-centered posts and especially those who left comments of empathy. And I do mean empathy. Dating is really difficult, and I think it's supposed to be that way. As my dad has always reminded me, nothing worth doing is easy. And to this phrase, dating has stayed true. But every once-on-a-while something good happens in dating to remind you why you're doing it in the first place. It isn't because you don't know anything different, it's because you want to find someone you love who loves you back. And that's not an unworthy goal— it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's easy to get lost in the dark abyss of first dates, dead-end relationships, and awkward break-ups and to forget to enjoy dating and to enjoy the search for someone to love.

[cue "Somebody to Love" by Queen]

I claim to be no expert on dating. I developed a talent of flying by the seat of my pants in dating over the years. Worked for me, but not the best option for everyone. However, I am please to announce that in addition to dating, I will now have a new topic of which to blog.... MARRIAGE! I'm engaged and I couldn't be happier about it. I will have all sorts of new adventures to post and new stories to tell.... and new insights on relationships. And for those of you who fear losing the enjoyment of my single life stories, never fear. I have kept years of journals and notes for just this purpose, entertaining you.

I have intentions of posting more details about the exciting news, but I can hardly keep my eyes open. So, stay tuned for juicy details of how two best friends fell in love (but not too mushy, 'cuz I'm just not that girl).

Photo- This

I have never been one to endorse businesses and such on here... BUT....

Check this out— A cute friend of mine from high school has a photography business. And it's well worth checking out. Visit here photoblog HERE to see her work. Her prices are reasonable and her pictures are absolutely wonderful! She hasn't been doing it long, but she's obviously a natural.

Check it out. You won't be disappointed.

Shoe Fly, Shoe

I have a problem. A real problem. And I think I might need help.

I have probably over 50 pairs of shoes. Really. And I only wear 4–5 of those pairs. The worst part is that I buy new ones to replace the worn, tattered, old pairs... and I still wear the old shoes. I have some sick emotional attachment to them.

For example, about two weeks ago, I bought a new pair of brown flip flops with some flowery-looking detail to replace these.

[insert picture of seven year-old brown leather flip flops with a flower print and worn foot marks]

I bought these on clearance when I was nineteen. Nineteen! They are obviously worn. If I don't hold my foot completely still in a certain position, you can see really stupid worn foot marks. However, these here shoes have been to Hawaii and on multiple trips to the California coast with me. Too many memories...

I have purchased a half dozen pairs of black flip flips over the course of the past few years. Yet, somehow, I still wear these.

[insert picture of seven-year old black flip flips with tearing straps and a chunk missing from one shoe]

I was given these for free when I worked at American Eagle... in 2002! They were also in Hawaii. And Island Park, Jackson Hole, St. George, California, Nevada, etc., etc. I can feel a permanent imprint of my foot when I slip them on my feet. I can also feel the ground when I walk in them. The straps are tearing from the shoe, and there is a chunk missing from the side of the left flop where a friend's dog took a bite out of crime... or out of my shoe. Not to mention, they're made of a spongey material and, well, they absorb things. You catch my drift. Yet I love them! And I wear them everywhere.

Then there was my other favorite pair of black flip flops that I only enjoyed for a short season.

[insert picture of moderately appealing black Roxy flip flops with pink hibiscus flowers on the heel]

They were well on their way to becoming the replacement of the afore mentioned black flops. I was just learning to love them, and was truly becoming attached to them, when they were violently (I can only assume, since I didn't actually see it happen) torn from the side pocket of my backpack in Europe this summer. Oh, if shoes could talk.....

THEN, there's these guys...

[insert picture of super cute brown hybrid trail shoes with pink detail]

Let's just say that this pair and I did NOT get along. And they met their fate in Spain, where I purposely left them to fend for themselves in the Madrid airport.... after spending a hundred dollars on them and only knowing them for 3 weeks. Hey, we all make mistakes.

Some people have emotional attachments to people, books, TV shows, friends, food. I have an emotional attachment to shoes— really old, worn shoes. And that's the way the cookie crumbles.

[images to come]

Don't Try This at Home... Actually, Do..

I don't have a lot of time to write. But I just wanted to leave a bit of dating advice on my blog... because it's been far too long since I've done so. And I'm sure you're all lost and hopeless without it, eh.

My advice for you today would be this:

1) If you have a best friend of the opposite gender, try dating them. Because it happens to be lots and lots of fun... or so I've heard. If you already know you like being around them, you have things in common, you know how to communicate (otherwise you wouldn't be friends), you are attracted to them to some degree (otherwise you wouldn't be friends), and you're both single (otherwise you wouldn't be best friends), then you should totally date. Just give it a whirl. What have you got to lose? If you're worried about ruining the friendship, don't. You have to know that someday you won't be able to be close friends with them when/if you marry someone else.... so.... yeah, either way there's a risk of losing the friendship. Plus, chances are, if he's sticking around as your friend for a long time, he's probably into you (to some degree). Trust me. (wink, wink)

But PLEASE don't say anything to him about your plan to date him. This has been proven to fail. Also, pray that he doesn't do the same. Let it happen naturally, but help it along. Start doing little things to shift the direction in which your friend*ship* is headed. Spend more time, be more sincere, more open, and more attractive, if you can help it.

Who knows what will happen...

2) It is now widely acceptable in the grammar community to begin sentences with conjunctions. So that's my second piece of advice. Begin some sentences with conjunctions and enjoy the freedom of knowing it's okay. Go on now, give it a whirl. You can thank me later.

I think I'm in love.

I have recently been reunited with an old fling... AND I think I'm in love.

... thought you should be the first to know.

[Note: That is not a boy in the picture. That is me with helmet hair.]

101 Things for My 101st Post

In honor of my 101st post, I have decided to share my 101 list. These are 101 things that I would like to accomplish. We did this as an exercise for work a while ago, and my boss said that they don't all have to be realistic... so NO TEASING! (That's right, I just yelled at you.) I'm sharing my dreams with you. I kind of feel like I just invited you to sift through my underwear drawer. For the record, they're green polka dots today.

Oh, and these are not written in complete sentences, so just deal with it and try not to judge me.

1. Master's Degree

2. Law Degree

3. Doctorate Degree

4. Visit every continent

5. Learn the cello

6. Dance in the nutcracker

7. Live in a home on the coast of the PNW

8.  Get on an 8 hour/night sleep schedule

9. Meet Abraham Lincoln

10. Play the organ for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

11. Own a silver 1967 Corvette

12. Help Norm rebuild a 30s hot rod

13. Write a book

14. Finish reading Les Mis and the Count of Monte Cristo, unabridged (blah!)

15. Play on a soccer team

16. Live in Boston

17. Surf in Hawaii

18. Hike Machu Pichu

19. Sail off the coast of Greece

20. Get married to my best friend

21. Have some children/a family

22. Learn to crochet

23. Learn the guitar

24. Re-learn the violin

25. Keep my living space clean at all times

26. Meet Clint Eastwood

27. Date Kyle Korver

28. See every Seinfield episode

29. Kayak off the coast of Washington

30. Become a yoga instructor

31. Lotoja

32. Wasatch Back Relay

33. Learn the Cha Cha

34. Eat authentic Mexican food

35. Ride an elephant

36. Ride in a hot air balloon

37. Read the Old(e) Testament- front to back

38. Hike it the Alps (check!)

39. Hike in the Himalayas

40. Walk the Great Wall of China

41. Own a ski boat

42. Clear the wake on a wakeboard

43. See a play at the Globe Theater

44. Dine with a current U.S. president

45. Overthrow NCLB with a better plan

46. Be a guest of Oprah

47. See COLDPLAY- LIVE

48. Ski at Targee

49. Sleep in an ice hotel in Scandinavia

50. Trace my roots in Denmark, England, and Ireland

51. Do temple work for all traceable ancestors

52. Go elk hunting

53. Write in my journal at least once a week

54. Change a flat tire all by myself

55. Change the oil in my car all by myself

56. Cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner for my whole family

57. Share the gospel with those I love

58. Replace and overcome my fear of my clip-in  pedals (ride them crash free)

59. Sail on the Great Salt Lake

60. Swim/float in the Dead Sea

61. Do volunteer work at an orphanage in Africa

62. Coach a Special Olympics team for at least a year

63. Volunteer monthly at Primary Children's

64. Grow a green thumb

65. Learn to fix a leaking sink

66. Memorize all the U.S. presidents along with the years they served in office

67. Visit all 50 states

68. Fish in Alaska

69. Hike the Subway

70. Hike the Grand Tetons (highest peak) with Erika

71. Take my parents on a vacation to Europe

72. Record my parents' personal history

73. Maintain a position as the cool aunt :)

74. Learn to play The Flight of the Bumblebee

75. Be a Utah Symphony season ticket holder

76. Own a baby grand piano

77. Attend a MLB and NFL game

78. Buy a car with cash

79. Beat Marcie in a handstand contest

80. Sew my own Halloween costume

81. Own a home

82. Hike Mt. Timpanogos and other cool peaks in Utah

83. Visit the Smithsonian museums

84. Serve a mission with my husband

85. Earn a reputation for some delicious baked good (not Muddy Buddies)

86. Learn another language (Spanish or French... or Latin)

87. Buy/build/inherit a cabin at Bear Lake or somewhere like it

88. Start and maintain a tradition of a yearly vacation with my BEST friends

89. Teach college level courses

90. Have a small child (not my own) named after me (nudge, nudge)

91. Sew a T-shirt quilt with my millions of T-shirts from college

92. Eat my daily servings of vegetables... everyday

93. Get off and stay off any and all meds for the rest of my life

94. Havasupai

95. Take photography classes

96. Take pottery classes

97. Live in the 20s and dress like a flapper

98. Become a multimillionaire so I can retire as a philanthropist 

99. Never see another Twilight movie as long as I live!!

100. Teach special ed

101. Live a happy and fulfilled life

And now you know that I live in a dream world.

Terrible Yellow Eyes

A friend shared this link with me. It is the most wonderful thing I've stumbled upon since sliced bread. It makes me smile, a lot. Check it out, share it with your kiddos, and get even more excited for October 16th!

Nephews make the best dates

I wish everyone had a nephew. Nothing beats spending an evening with darling, intelligent, fun children that you get to drop off to someone else at the end of the night.

The boys chose to go to Maddox Drive-In, in Perry. They were so busy talking about worm holes, black holes, evolution, and dogs that we eventually had to leave ... and finish our food on the go. Yes, I took the next two pictures while I was driving on the freeway, in case you were wondering.

If you'd ever care to see the red cocktail sauce pictured here, you can see it embedded in the carpet of my car anytime. 

Then I had the bright idea of the Farr ice cream parlor in Ogden on the way home. But they had been there before. I don't know why I thought I would have been the first person to think to take kids there. (Sometimes I live in a dream world.) We accidentally ordered some HUGE portions of ice cream and ended up in sugar comas just trying to make it to the bottom.

[Aren't their smiles the cutest?!]

[Yes, I'm actually posting this super flattering photo. The boys said I needed a picture of myself, but I wouldn't let them hold my camera with their sticky hands (I know), and this is the awesome photography we ended up with.]

In other news:

In the past 8 days I have been called a brat/snob three times.

I was told by a boy that I don't feel and that there is a cold, dark cavity where my heart should go. 

I had an Emma moment last week. Not the kind to be proud of.

I celebrated Taco Tuesday on Wednesday at work, for which I made homemade guacamole dip (thank you, Erika!)

I went on my first bike ride of the summer, on the Legacy Trail with a great friend and my bottom only hurts just slightly today. I never knew I could be so excited about an un-sore bottom.

My cankles have subsided. I'm considering throwing a Welcome Home party for my real ankles. 

And a good friend encouraged me to not be so indecisive in life.

"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."

Thus, I have started making decisions. And we'll see where those go.

Turning 26 Never Tasted so Good

I actually turned 26 while I was in Heidelberd, Germany. But I held off on birthday celebrations until I returned home for obvious reasons... It's got to be hard to find my Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip birthday cake mix in Germany! Also, there are so many more people here to celebrate me. 

And because I only turn 26 once...

I went with some of my good friends to eat at Taggart's Grill.

I ate, and shared (some) delicious chocolate cake.

I posed for really awkward photos... because I can.

And now I'm just trying to adjust to remembering my new age, 26. It seems like ever since I turned 23, I can't seem to remember how old I am. Just a few months ago, in fact, I told someone I met that I was 23. And I really thought that I was. You can imagine my shock when my friend called me the following day to tell me that I hadn't been 23 for over 2 years. 

They say that you lose your mind as you grow older. I just might be living proof.

Keane Observations

Tuesday I went

[here]

To see

[these guys]

with

[this girl].

And it looked a little something like

[THAT!]

It's surprisingly difficult to get a decent picture of the band when there are a million strobe lights. This was my best effort.

Concert Review: Hands down, my favorite concert I've been to. I loved both opening acts (Mat Kearney is one of my top ten favorites) and knew and loved all the Keane songs. Plus the absence of alcohol made for a much less obnoxious crowd. And I haven't been to a Coldplay concert, so this one remains the best until I do.

Music Suggestion: Keane- all of their albums, but especially the latest. Mat Kearney- pick and choose his songs on his albums (see me for specifics). Helio Sequence- not bad at all, but much better live.

Word.

Just when you thought life couldn't get any better...