Haven't posted in a while... Things are busy at the Walton residence... Hmm...
I'm ready for fall:
I'm at work so I can't call everybody in the world, but...
That was us one year ago. Or a little over a year ago, now. A year ago we were on our honeymoon, exploring San Luis Obispo and eating fried zucchini at this quirky little restaurant with a waiter who sounded like Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove.
We've had our bumps in the road, but I feel like everything we have been through is worth it. Being with him is the best thing in my world--he gives me a reason to get up and go to work every day, and hope for a beautiful future. It's nice to know we have an eternity to come--we face things better together than we ever could have alone.
Hey baby? Thanks.
Hello.
So I just found out about this, which is a website where you can document your life with lists. Like an autobiography. With lists. A listography. It is also a book.
I found the website boring (just not aesthetically pleasing, really) but I like the idea. I am going to add it to my goals. Goal number ten. And here comes my first list.
Things I Need to Stop Doing
"You know who's a real hero? Hiro from 'Heroes.' That's a real hero." - Dwight, The Office
Hi. So, Steve and I accidentally rented disk one of Heroes because there was nothing else interesting at Blockbuster, and guess what? We are addicted to it like a yuppie to Starbucks. (No offense).
We got disk two in the mail today and have already watched three out of the four episodes. I can almost guarantee that we'll swap it out tomorrow for disk three.
Least Favorite: The blonde chick who makes us fast forward scenes because she runs a... ahem... questionable website. Awkward.
VERY VERY Favorite: Hiro, from Heroes, who really is a true Hero. I hope he doesn't get "cool" as the show goes forward. I love him for who he is.
Peter commented with immense concern over my bookcase organizing system, by color. You can read the comment on that post, which I think is two entries down. There he writes that organizing by color is "barbaric" and wonders how on earth I can find any books at all and ever.
Peter, calm yourself. Let me quiet your fears by explaining.
I am a Literature major, therefore I love books. I have purchased hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of books in my lifetime. If I were to keep them all around, my whole apartment would be a library. So I only keep books around that I like, and since I've read them a couple times, I tend to know the colors of them, and usually search for them by color because who on earth has time to organize alphabetically?
For example, a sampling of my books, and, without looking, their colors:
So I was looking through my computer for a cute/interesting photo to post for y'all, and stumbled across the "Wedding" folder on my C: drive. (Which I have named, like the cute little geek that I am, but I think that is another story altogether.)
In said folder was a document intriguingly titled "The Big Scary List." Our 1 year anniversary is coming up, and I thought that it was appropriate to check it out. Kind of a "What I Was Doing Last Year at This Time." So I scanned it, briefly, and concluded yet again that planning a wedding is the most stressful thing ever. I much prefer the being married part.
Seriously. The list is two pages long, two columns, single spaced, size ten font. I had to close it immediately as it made me feel an ulcer coming on. Thank goodness that's over. I want to give you an excerpt, but I don't know if I'm strong enough to handle opening that list. Possibly not ever again.
There are actually several photos of me in wedding garb. Enjoy this one for now. (I am totally wearing blue shorts under my "wedding dress").
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.
