Today was the first day of Fall semester! Michael was so cute in his little backpack and gray shirt that I couldn't help but take a picture... I'll post it later. He has been on campus for a couple of hours now and it just hit me... this could be the end! The end of tuition, homework, late nights at the lab, all of it! I am so so SOOO grateful that Michael stuck with it long enough to figure out what he truly loves to do and put in the work to make it happen. It has been a little bit windier of a road than originally anticipated but I think that Michael will be leaving his college career with something that many people forget to build along the way: passion. He loves what he does and he loves what he has learned... despite the naughty words he has spit at his computer along the way. He is going into his last semester at BYU with the momentum of success as his motivation. There are great things waiting for him because he has put his all into what he loves. I am so proud of you Michael!! I am so happy you're almost done so that you can do what you want to do out there!! I'm excited to go through your syllabi with you tonight :-) Bring on the homework!! These next 4 months will FLY BY!! Love you!!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Memorial Park
This is a real picture of the parkBoth of my parents grew up in the Bay Area - my dad in San Francisco and my mom in Walnut Creek. As my dad grew, his family had a yearly tradition of going camping at Memorial Park in the redwoods of San Mateo, CA. When Nick and I came along he decided that taking us to see Memorial Park would be the perfect vacation while Mom was off at girl's camp for the 200th year in a row. My mom put my hair in braids (in which I returned a week later... same braids), we threw the tent in the car, and the tradition began. After a couple of years Mom mustered up the courage to join us and we were able to enjoy Memorial Park every summer together thereafter. We made friends, swam in the water hole, played in hollow logs, raced banana slugs, ate pudding, played Racko, and went on lots of walks. Memorial Park was my very favorite childhood vacation memory. As time went on we moved to Vegas, participated in summer camps, and lost the time we normally found at Memorial Park.
I bet you've guessed what is coming next though, right?? WE'RE GOING BACK!!!!!!!! We have our campsite reserved for July 11-15, 2012 and I am going to the store today to buy the marshmallows!! The fun part is that this time I get to sleep in my own tent with a BOY and I don't have to go to bed early with the kids! I don't think I've ever been this excited about a vacation before. Especially since both my parents, my brother, and my sweet husband will be there with me!! Watch out dad... I am going to dominate you in Racko.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Michael and I
This was taken the last time I saw Michael! Our fun trip to Disneyland. Makes me miss him.Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Glee Project
All growing up I believed 100% that TV was a waste of time and that watching it was a lazy thing to do. I would catch an episode of something every here and there but never anything consistently. And then I graduated from college in August 2009. I honestly think that was one of the most life-changing events I have ever experienced. I felt great about my potential with a college degree under my belt and I felt even better about the freedom I then had. I felt like if I didn't wear shoes that I would probably start floating around with how light and happy life suddenly became. And somewhere between blissful thoughts of living off of ice cream on a permanent road trip, I found HGTV. I watched reruns of episodes until my eyes almost fell out. When Michael thought I was ready, he introduced me to my first series: Glee. I had never before had a show to call my own but then I did. We started inviting friends over to watch with us every Wednesday night and then had a big season finale party complete with nasty blue slushies and costumes. Once Glee ended I moved on to Modern Family, the Bachelor, the Bachelorette, and now... The Glee Project. The Glee Project is a reality TV show that started out with 40,000 kids auditioning for a 7-episode guest star role in the next season of Glee. We are now down to 7 contestants and they are all VERY talented. This is my favorite clip so far. Mostly because I LOVE SAMUEL and hope he either wins or gets picked up by somebody and goes big. You should definitely watch Samuel and Marissa's duet. It's only like 90 seconds long and so hot.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
An Update on my Sony Goals
A while back I posted about my goals while Michael is away at his California internship... We are almost halfway through so an update is at hand. I apologize in advance for another long, wordy post but I am all alone most of the time so I have to talk to someone!!
Key: DONE, IN PROGRESS, BAGGED
Around the house:
1. Goal: Re-do the guest bedroom. Strip the wallpaper off of the one wall it's on (I'm not sure who decided that the accent wall should accent the ugly closet), paint the top half of the room, then learn how to install bead board.
Update: I originally thought that this would be a great time to strip wallpaper, do some painting, then learn how to install beadboard so that I could make all of my nail gun mistakes in our first house rather than our last. Then I realized that beadboard is really expensive, time consuming, and would probably earn a valid 7+ on my future 'pro's of staying in Utah' list and I don't want to add too many more points to that list just in case it wins and the winter still comes. SOOOO... the plan was revamped! I spent two days stripping wall paper (if anyone is interested in stripping wallpaper let me know, I have lots of great tricks) then met up with Merrick at Home Depot to pick out the perfect paint color... Morning Mist. It's a subtle sort of blue with a hint of gray that I just love. I brought it home, realized they had given me Gatorade Blue instead, took it back, got the correct one, and was graced by the wonderful and hard-working presence of Savanna and Jon! They once offered to help me get through my list, to which I smiled politely. Then Jon BET me that I would not take them up on his offer. After 12 hours of painting he wished that he had not provoked my competitive side. It actually only took about 3 hours and Savanna and Jon were WONDERFUL painters!! Thank you so much for your help guys!! Unfortunately the night ended with their dogs having an allergic reaction to something in my backyard that made them all bumpy and puffy. I felt awful. Click HERE for more info.
2. Goal: Have the 2nd half of our blinds installed
Update: They have been ordered and paid for, I'm now just waiting on installation!
3. Goal: Replace the bathroom mirrors and repaint the master bathroom
Update: After realizing that we could be moving out of this house as early as January I have decided that this project is not worth my time and money. You will see this phrase copied and pasted several times in the next couple of goals listed.
4. Goal: Decorate kitchen
Update: I have decided to combine this project with my 'travel wall' project so see #7 for an update there.
5. Goal: Refinish kitchen cabinets
Update: After realizing that we could be moving out of this house as early as January I have decided that this project is not worth my time and money.
6. Goal: Install new stair rails
Update: Merrick and I looked at stair rails at home depot... you have to actually cut them, sand them, and stain them yourself before they can be installed!! I would love to still do this project but I want the rails to be ready to hang. It's just not worth it to me to go through all of that work for a stair rail.
7. Goal: Put together our travel wall that we've been talking about for at least 2 years
Update: I have decided to put our travel wall in the dining room off of the kitchen just over our dining room table. I have printed canvases and collected pictures of different trips. I am still working on framing a couple of oddly-sized pictures before I am ready to start hanging things but it is well on its way!!
8. Goal: Decide what the living room is missing
Update: It's missing Michael. And possibly a rug... but again, no use spending mula on a rug that I may not need in 5 months. I think waiting for Michael to complete the picture is much more practical.
9. Goal: Decorate wall above bed in master and find night stands
Update: I'm still really excited about this project!! I definitely want to have it done by the time Michael comes home because I think he will love it. I'm going to spear-head this one as soon as my travel wall is complete.
10. Goal: Replace the bathroom mirrors
Update: After realizing that we could be moving out of this house as early as January I have decided that this project is not worth my time and money.
11. Goal: Secret office project
Update: Still deciding how this could be accomplished and if it is worth it. My brother in law has some stellar ideas that have re-kindled the fire on this one.
Personal:
1. Goal: Come up with at least 10 light staple-dinners
Update: I don't eat dinner when I don't have anyone to cook for... so this has been interesting. Not too much progress made but I'm not going to bag it yet.
2. Goal: Ride my bike 3 times a week
Update: For some reason I have not been able to talk any of my sweet house guests into riding bikes with me... And since I have had wonderful company most of my time without Michael, this one has been a bit tricky. Maybe I will just force the next batch of guests to wear bike helmets around the house until they give in. Watch out Joyce!
3. Goal: Say kneeling prayers (I've had a hard time with this one - I swear my 3rd grade teacher is still living under my bed just waiting to grab me. Call me crazy but she is there... Mrs. Galusha...)
Update: Mrs. Galusha still lives under my bed. It freaks me out.
Reunited Part 2
I was scorned by the motherhood gods immediately after my last post in the form of severe sunburn by the pool. You would think that this fair-skinned mother-in-training would have been able to handle an hour of happy sun rays but the abilities of tanning oil should not be underestimated. Luckily (??) I only put it on my front side so my back is still nice and pasty white. As for my chest, tummy, and legs however... think lobster. I was going to post a picture but it felt weird. Too much skin.
After spending an hour chatting with my long-lost bestie Mush while frying by the pool I took a shower and dolled up for my honey. He got home around 2:30 to take me to Disneyland to recreate the commercial I mentioned before and to spend some more good quality time with Ariel. I don't know if I have a Disneyland threshold but I certainly don't feel as if I am close to reaching it any time soon. We had so much fun playing with the camera and holding hands. I have only been away from Michael for about three weeks now but seeing him just made me realize how wonderful it is to be able to have him around all of the time. My hat goes off to all of those army wives out there that say goodbye knowing that their sweethearts will be gone for 1+ years. It takes a strong woman (and a large hobby budget) to handle that kind of time frame. And a tangent for all of those 18-year-old girls with boyfriends that are about to leave on LDS missions... don't. do. it. Say your goodbyes today so that you have moved on before he leaves... then you can love him again when he gets home!! Just don't tie your <3 down like that. Anyway, we held hands. That was where I was going with all of that. It was great.
After Disneyland we went and saw Zookeeper with Kevin James and I was actually SO surprised at how much I laughed. It was the perfect post-Disneyland movie. Tired brains could just watch and laugh mindlessly without having to thing about anything at all... except Michael. Somehow working on movies all day doesn't make him tired of analyzing everything he sees. If you do not have your feet firmly planted regarding your like or dislike of a movie, Michael can surely sway your opinion with his analysis. My family no longer allows him to give his opinion on anything they have already seen or may see in the next 15 years because his points of view taint your entire experience. I'll have to have him do a movie review on here one of these days... with spoiler alerts all over it. He holds nothing back. Anyway, I thought Zookeeper was funny. He thought it was funny but that the storyline was completely flawed so it was hard for him to concentrate... I thought it was about talking gorillas... how can that be flawed?? Anyway, we held hands during the movie and it was wonderful.
On Saturday morning we got up and got ready the slow way, where showering somehow takes 30 mins even though the water is only on for 9. Rachel (my sweet mother in law) had gone through her closet and had me try on everything that she was through with. I must say that I now feel cute and SOO relieved! My work pants were starting to cry when I pulled them out of the closet every morning because they are all so old. I feel like a new woman now... and I think it has something to do with the fact that I now own my first pair of BKE's. Dream jeans. I am so grateful for Rachel's giving attitude. She firmly believes that if you don't love it or you don't wear it that you should get it out of your closet. I went home so pumped to cut my closet in half! When I went in to go assess the situation though, I decided that I need an intermediate phase. SOOO... I am going to transfer anything I haven't worn in the last 6 months-ish into Michael's closet. If I don't think about it before he gets home in 5 weeks, it's toast (Toast = have my favorite SIL take anything she wants, have my beehives take anything they want, dump the rest at DI). If I do think about it, the article has earned its spot back among the ranks of my other clothes purchased in high school. Oh gosh - I have a tangent disease today.
After getting ready and spending 45 minutes hugging my new wardrobe we went off to the Orange County Fair to eat some roasted corn, go through the fun house, make Michael go on a bunch of spinny rides, and pet tons of animals. They had cows whose back end stood taller than Michael. I'm not exaggerating. Their bottoms were 6' tall!! Michael also promised to get me a miniature potbelly pig as soon as Tank and Ruby die. It might be a while but I'm not going to forget. After the fair we met up with Chad and Rachel for some KFC before they headed out of town to spend their 2 year anniversary in Vegas. We then took a long hard nap, waking up just in time to jump back in the car to head to the Sawdust Festival. It was a brilliant fair filled with glass blowers and people with dread locks. We had a blast. Probably because we were holding hands.
Michael bought me ice cream at McDonald's on the way home. :-)
Sunday morning we went to church then jumped in the car and took Carmageddon by the horns in our drive to Santa Monica. I spent some time in Santa Monica on a trip with some friends in high school and it has been a romantic destination to me ever since. Hopefully nobody from Sony is reading this blog post (does anyone read them when they get this long? I think not. My posterity will thank me later though, I'm sure.) because we definitely broke into Sony Imageworks so that Michael could give me a tour. We saw the normal things like the beautiful courtyard and cafeteria AND the top secret things like cardboard cutouts of the Smurfs and things like that. It was awesome. I can't even tell you how happy it makes me to know that Michael receives fulfillment in his work. That is worth more than any salary could ever pay and almost more than going to school for 12 years for an undergrad degree. I know that he loves what he does and it inspires me to spend my time on things that I love to do. I believe that passion is service. It feeds the souls of those around you. I wish everyone could do what they love to do.
After my top secret tour, Michael and I walked up and down the Santa Monica pier, then strolled down the beach to take a nap on the sand. It sounds like we did a lot of napping. We did. It was wonderful. On our way out we stopped by an apartment complex to tour one of their units to see what things look like living in LA. In three words? Small and expensive. In two words? Snow-less winters. In one word? Yes. I love California. I don't want to live in a place with barred windows where my children cannot play on my front porch (LA) but the California suburbs are to die for. We will see what happens!
The last leg of our journey included a sad parting of ways at the Orange County airport. Michael didn't know but I had already cried earlier that day so that he wouldn't see me cry when he dropped me off. We're almost halfway through his internship and I really am doing fine... but I married that man for a reason and living without him will never be my #1 or #100 choice. Only 4 more weeks till I get to see him again!!
After spending an hour chatting with my long-lost bestie Mush while frying by the pool I took a shower and dolled up for my honey. He got home around 2:30 to take me to Disneyland to recreate the commercial I mentioned before and to spend some more good quality time with Ariel. I don't know if I have a Disneyland threshold but I certainly don't feel as if I am close to reaching it any time soon. We had so much fun playing with the camera and holding hands. I have only been away from Michael for about three weeks now but seeing him just made me realize how wonderful it is to be able to have him around all of the time. My hat goes off to all of those army wives out there that say goodbye knowing that their sweethearts will be gone for 1+ years. It takes a strong woman (and a large hobby budget) to handle that kind of time frame. And a tangent for all of those 18-year-old girls with boyfriends that are about to leave on LDS missions... don't. do. it. Say your goodbyes today so that you have moved on before he leaves... then you can love him again when he gets home!! Just don't tie your <3 down like that. Anyway, we held hands. That was where I was going with all of that. It was great.
After Disneyland we went and saw Zookeeper with Kevin James and I was actually SO surprised at how much I laughed. It was the perfect post-Disneyland movie. Tired brains could just watch and laugh mindlessly without having to thing about anything at all... except Michael. Somehow working on movies all day doesn't make him tired of analyzing everything he sees. If you do not have your feet firmly planted regarding your like or dislike of a movie, Michael can surely sway your opinion with his analysis. My family no longer allows him to give his opinion on anything they have already seen or may see in the next 15 years because his points of view taint your entire experience. I'll have to have him do a movie review on here one of these days... with spoiler alerts all over it. He holds nothing back. Anyway, I thought Zookeeper was funny. He thought it was funny but that the storyline was completely flawed so it was hard for him to concentrate... I thought it was about talking gorillas... how can that be flawed?? Anyway, we held hands during the movie and it was wonderful.
On Saturday morning we got up and got ready the slow way, where showering somehow takes 30 mins even though the water is only on for 9. Rachel (my sweet mother in law) had gone through her closet and had me try on everything that she was through with. I must say that I now feel cute and SOO relieved! My work pants were starting to cry when I pulled them out of the closet every morning because they are all so old. I feel like a new woman now... and I think it has something to do with the fact that I now own my first pair of BKE's. Dream jeans. I am so grateful for Rachel's giving attitude. She firmly believes that if you don't love it or you don't wear it that you should get it out of your closet. I went home so pumped to cut my closet in half! When I went in to go assess the situation though, I decided that I need an intermediate phase. SOOO... I am going to transfer anything I haven't worn in the last 6 months-ish into Michael's closet. If I don't think about it before he gets home in 5 weeks, it's toast (Toast = have my favorite SIL take anything she wants, have my beehives take anything they want, dump the rest at DI). If I do think about it, the article has earned its spot back among the ranks of my other clothes purchased in high school. Oh gosh - I have a tangent disease today.
After getting ready and spending 45 minutes hugging my new wardrobe we went off to the Orange County Fair to eat some roasted corn, go through the fun house, make Michael go on a bunch of spinny rides, and pet tons of animals. They had cows whose back end stood taller than Michael. I'm not exaggerating. Their bottoms were 6' tall!! Michael also promised to get me a miniature potbelly pig as soon as Tank and Ruby die. It might be a while but I'm not going to forget. After the fair we met up with Chad and Rachel for some KFC before they headed out of town to spend their 2 year anniversary in Vegas. We then took a long hard nap, waking up just in time to jump back in the car to head to the Sawdust Festival. It was a brilliant fair filled with glass blowers and people with dread locks. We had a blast. Probably because we were holding hands.
Michael bought me ice cream at McDonald's on the way home. :-)
Sunday morning we went to church then jumped in the car and took Carmageddon by the horns in our drive to Santa Monica. I spent some time in Santa Monica on a trip with some friends in high school and it has been a romantic destination to me ever since. Hopefully nobody from Sony is reading this blog post (does anyone read them when they get this long? I think not. My posterity will thank me later though, I'm sure.) because we definitely broke into Sony Imageworks so that Michael could give me a tour. We saw the normal things like the beautiful courtyard and cafeteria AND the top secret things like cardboard cutouts of the Smurfs and things like that. It was awesome. I can't even tell you how happy it makes me to know that Michael receives fulfillment in his work. That is worth more than any salary could ever pay and almost more than going to school for 12 years for an undergrad degree. I know that he loves what he does and it inspires me to spend my time on things that I love to do. I believe that passion is service. It feeds the souls of those around you. I wish everyone could do what they love to do.
After my top secret tour, Michael and I walked up and down the Santa Monica pier, then strolled down the beach to take a nap on the sand. It sounds like we did a lot of napping. We did. It was wonderful. On our way out we stopped by an apartment complex to tour one of their units to see what things look like living in LA. In three words? Small and expensive. In two words? Snow-less winters. In one word? Yes. I love California. I don't want to live in a place with barred windows where my children cannot play on my front porch (LA) but the California suburbs are to die for. We will see what happens!
The last leg of our journey included a sad parting of ways at the Orange County airport. Michael didn't know but I had already cried earlier that day so that he wouldn't see me cry when he dropped me off. We're almost halfway through his internship and I really am doing fine... but I married that man for a reason and living without him will never be my #1 or #100 choice. Only 4 more weeks till I get to see him again!!
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