There is a whole flickr group dedicated to arranging bookshelves by color. I saw it done on some random indie-creative blog, and I thought it looked really cool. Better, at least, than the random mish-mosh of non-organization that I had going before. So I did it to ours:
Looks kind of cool...
Hi. Here is something you can make fun of me for at the next waffle night or whatever:
So yesterday I'm sitting at the computer, scouring the internet for ways to refashion clothes, because that's what I'm about right now. Steve is at the grocery store, and its dark out, but I'm fine. Not scared. I'm used to this routine.
Then, out of nowhere, this earsplitting shrieky-grindy noise--like a vacuum cleaner with a grudge--starts screaming from the kitchen. Throwing my chair back from the computer, I jump up into the air and just stand, petrified, staring at the kitchen. The blender is on.
BY ITSELF. OF ITS OWN DESIRE. THE BLENDER TURNED ON.
It doesn't stop, either, and my brain isn't really functioning, I am just freaking out in total panic mode with so much adrenaline running through me that I can barely move. So how to I handle this?
I scream back at it.
...and that doesn't work. So then I run into the kitchen, almost crying, and sort of bat at the thing so I can reach past it to pull the plug out (if it had kept going I would have probably passed out) and all I'm thinking is
IT'S SET ON LIQUIFY. IT WANTS TO LIQUIFY ME. ITS A GHOST THAT WANTS TO LIQUIFY ME.
Once its unplugged I run out into the hall, fumbling for my phone on the way, and shut the door firmly behind me. I dial Steve's number. No answer. I dial about ten more times, and send two text messages. No answer.
For a second I'm wondering if something happened to him, and turning on the blender is his way of sending me a message (because the blender is Steve's thing, not mine), but then I call again and finally he answers and I'm all almost crying and freaking out and refusing to go back in the apartment.
Finally he calms me down enough to go back in (luckily no other appliances have turned on) and he tells me he'll be home soon, and once I've situated myself in front of Jeopardy with some frozen cookie dough and a spoon we decide its safe to hang up.
I'm still not so keen on that blender. Okay?
I usually spend my lunch break either talking to Steve, or, if he is too busy, reading a book or a magazine. Usually a magazine lately, because they have more pictures and require less brain power.
My magazines of choice lately are Better Homes & Gardens (used to be pretty frumpy, but I really like it now) and Simple Scrapbooks. They're both pretty fun and creative.
The only problem with working, of course, is that you don't get to do whatever you want. And I want to reorganize our apartment, and decorate it. So I spend lunchtime drooling over photos of organized laundry rooms and really adorable living rooms with a tasteful number of starfish.
Yesterday I came home and surprise! Better Homes & Gardens had arrived. I read it on the couch while Steve unwound from work with a video game, and came across this picture of a cute, organized laundry space.
Steve and I do not like to do laundry, so I thought maybe livening up and organizing our laundry closet would make it a little more bearable. They said to organize AND add cheery photos/color, so I put up two pillowcases my mom made for me when I started college--she put my dogs on them. We don't really have a space for the pillows around the house, but they look very cheery and they friendly-up our laundry room:
Its at least a step in the right direction. I made myself a little clothesline, too. Oh, I felt so very creative and organized. It still looks like a laundry closet, but at least now its not so depressing.
Feeling pressured by how everybody else in the world has a blog (I think this is probably my 10th... really...), Steve started his very first blog last night. You can check it out here:
http://greenwaterfishbowl.blogspot.com/
Hooray! Blogging!
I made my fried zucchini last night!!! It was so yummy! I dip them in Ranch dressing... Divine.
I love the internet. So much free information, and so easy to find. So I guess I also love google.
Driving home after an EXTREMELY LONG day during which I was increasingly tired and grumpy, I had a sudden urge to sit on the couch and eat fried zucchini, which is one of my all time favorite comfort foods.
We just happen to have one in the fridge, so I googled a recipe and came up with one from Cooks.com (which I think is also the place I found out how to make chocolate waffle syrup).
It has been a busy, crazy, exhausting week. It seemed like everything that could go wrong did, and I have to say I am happy to be able to start a new week. Hooray for the weekend.
My brother Tyler came down to visit Friday night, so we hung out with him at Balboa Park and chatted at home until he hopped on the train Saturday afternoon. Then I went to the temple, which was lovely, and Steve did the shopping (sooo sweet of him, he has pretty much taken over the groceries now), and we invited the Sorenson's over. We (ok, Steve) cooked them hamburgers--including grilled pineapple for the burgers, which is DELICIOUS--and they brought over some games so we played after dinner.
The Sorenson's always have really cool, unique games (like Allana!!!), so they have become our source for finding new ones. Last night we played a game called "BANG!" which is Italian, but they have also introduced us to Carcasonne (we've already bought this one, plus an expansion for it), St. Petersburg, and Bonanza, which I think are German. They are here (except I couldn't find Bonanza... I might have spelled it wrong):
Steve had his MCAT today. I can't believe it is finally over, after 5 months of studying, worrying, preparing, it's DONE! YAY!
I dropped him off before work today, and picked him up at my lunch break to drop him at home. He was exhausted but felt okay about it, so that was nice. I wanted to eat lunch with him, but today also happened to be the day that I had to cope with my first big disaster at work. So needless to say it was an exhausting day for the Waltons.
I'm home now (after a brief stop at UTC to buy Steve some celebratory See's Candies), and he's playing a video game. I think he'll have to play a couple full days worth of those to make up for all the brain power he expended today.
It's over... HOORAY!!!!
I was looking through some pics on our desktop and realized we have a picture of Emily's engagement ring! I thought I'd post it for your viewing pleasure. :-)
Rick designed it himself, and had it made for her. I think the cutest part is that he told her that the two diamonds on the sides represent her and him, and the one in the middle represents Christ. Is that too sweet?
It's definitely original, and she was just ecstatic about it. I am seriously so excited for them to get married. It just keeps washing over me in these happiness waves. :-)
There was a meteor shower last night. And I saw it.
Steve and I took a nap at like 10pm so we could get up and watch it without throwing off our sleep schedules too badly (I need 8 hours or I am grumpy), and at about 11 got up and piled into the car, laden with a plate of brownies and Steve's fancy binoculars.
We tried to go up to Mt Soledad, but it was all foggy up there, so we ended up driving to our church parking lot. Its right by a canyon so it was dark enough. We layed on the back of the car and waited.
I always forget how cool shooting stars look. That long streak of light across the sky. I saw 4 and Steve saw 3, but we never saw one at the same time. It was really nice though, to actually relax and sit still long enough to notice the stars. I highly recommend it.
Steve bought me this book for my birthday called "Sewing Subversively." It is really cool, because it is mostly about a process called "Refashioning," meaning you make new things out of old things. Its perfect for me for two reasons:
1. We are on a budget
2. It means less difficult sewing
Basically the idea is to take something you already have (or something you buy secondhand) and make it into something you will wear. I have a lot of clothes with cute patterns or almost-perfect fits, and this has cool ideas about how to make them cute and fun to wear.
Yesterday I finally got up my courage to sew something real on the machine. I took a sweater that didn't fit quite perfectly, cut the sleeves off just so, and made it into a cute sweater vest. I know that sounds geeky, but I think it came out kind of cute. I figure I can wear it to work over a blouse. I'm also planning to cinch it in the back with a ribbon. I'll post pictures when it's finished.
The coolest thing about getting my sewing machine is that I just realized that I don't really dress the way I actually want to dress, but obviously we don't have the money for me to go out and redo my wardrobe. This gives me the chance to use what I have to make what I want.
Sometimes I just feel unaccountably grumpy. And then I feel bad about feeling grumpy, so that makes it worse.
It's a vicious cycle.
Just a thought...
Making friends as a couple is a lot like dating, only you both have to like both the other people. Sometimes you luck out and two of your friends start dating or get married. Other times, its just plain difficult.
Seriously, we get so excited/nervous about new couple friends that we dress up to go on a double date, we get nervous "asking them out," we even worry if we are being broken up with. Seriously. You'd think that kind of thing would end once you got married.
:-)
On a tired note, thank goodness for Fridays. I'm exhausted.
I could afford to send random packages of very neat gifts off to random friends for no reason at all, except that
"I saw these and I had to get them for you! Enjoy!"
or
"Happy Tuesday! You are the cutest thing in the world!"
or
"Oh my gosh I wanted this so much that I thought you would probably want it too!"
or something else adorable that ends in an exclamation mark. (!) or three, if it's really good (!!!).
Maybe care packages will go on my twenty-two list. Or really any type of USPS correspondence requiring packing tape or stamps.
I finally get what it's like to be so excited for someone else that it makes you glow inside. They got engaged yesterday and are so cute and so happy. It has made my week.
So happy!!!!
In other news, my cute husband went out to run errands when I brought the car home from work today, and called me a while ago to let me know he'd spent some of his play money to buy us our new latest food-craving for a special dinner: watermelon & pork chops. With his play money!
You've got to hand it to him--that man's got class.
Steve & I went into the leasing office at CV yesterday and signed on for another 12 months. We were able to talk them down from the $115/mo increase they sprung on us to a $50/mo increase--which we figure we would break even with because of the cost of moving & what a new security deposit would be.
So that means we get another entire year in our home! I was really having to get myself geared up to leave, because it has been such an important place to us. Our first home. And I just finally felt like we'd gotten really settled in (read: there is finally stuff on the walls) and thought we were going to have to start over again.
Plus Steve is finally on my lease. Which means he can call the leasing office if we need a light bulb changed or something. Haha. That will be nice, not to be totally in charge of the apartment stuff. I much prefer to share. :-)
This is my favorite picture from our SLC trip. We were the last people in The Garden, so when we got down to the lobby of the Joseph Smith Memorial building, it was completely empty. I thought it was beautiful, so I asked Steve to take a picture, and this is what he told me to do:
Has anybody ever actually seen the Great Salt Lake? I've now been to SLC twice (can you believe, that? Only twice!) and have never seen the lake. Steve has been considerably more times, and has also never seen it.
Since I haven't been to SLC since I was 7 (I remember it being pre-baptism) Steve and I trekked up there to tourist around a few hours after Kevin's wedding. We had a great time!!! I couldn't believe how fun it was.
AND, everyone was nice. Instead of the usual rather inadvertently rude comments about my height, people said adorable things about how tiny I am. For example, when our tour guide at the Conference Center came up to us, she saw me stand on tip-toe to give Steve a kiss, and she said, "You have to work hard for those kisses, don't you?!"
Precious! Yay cute Mormons.
Photo op:
We took a tour of the Conference Center. It was gorgeous. Apparently it can hold 21,000 people... That is 7 Manti's. (The whole city population!) Plus the roof has a great view of the temple.
Me at the top of the fountain that runs down all the stories of the Conference Center. So pretty.
Steve got a steak with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Is that the most beautiful version of steak and potatoes you've ever seen? DELICIOUS, too.
I got a delicious salad with grilled chicken, feta cheese, fresh raspberries, sugar-glazed pecans, and a raspberry vinaigrette. There was even a sugared plantain on top of it as a garnish. FANTASTIC. So so so yummy.
I love him. <3Since this was really my first wedding in a long time (besides my own) that I was going to be a part of from start to finish, and since my sweetie was the best man (meaning no time to sit around and chat with me that day), I dubbed myself unofficial photographer/videographer of these new Walton nuptials.
Here are a few choice photos of the cuteness that ensued on July 27, 2007. (Also please notice that my photography skills appear to be improving slightly, per goal #1 of 22.)
Kev & Rach burst out of the Manti temple doors!
Obligatory kiss for the cameras (poor things).
Must've been a good kiss... Rachel's veil came off!
Isn't her hair/veil combo gorgeous?
I just think this is adorable (of both of them).
Rick (Steve's sister Emily's bf) became Grandma Walton's unofficial chauffeur for the day.
Steve... :-)
Jessie being beautiful and sun-drenched.
Emily and Rick bringing sexy back.
...me!
I think Rick took this for us... Thanks Rick!
Ems & Jess giving their Daddy a kiss.
