Monday, November 2, 2009

About 3 weeks late...

I remembered I had a blog. Didn't forget it when i had absolutely nothing to be sharing with the world, but I did once I got engaged. Its probably kind of pointless for me to post anything since the whole world knows already, but here it is -

October 17th Brian actually managed to surprise me, something that doesn't happen because i can't handle not knowing whats coming. Major points to him for finally pulling off a surprise. It's not that he doesn't try, I'm just annoying and persistent. I generally know what he's going to get me for Christmas, Birthdays, etc. because I am that obnoxious. Its kind of sad that I didn't see it coming. I knew that I was going to be proposed to that night (see? couldn't handle that one either) but Brian managed to convince me that there were problems with my ring and that they couldn't work on it until the next week. Yeah, I bought that. So he carried on like we'd just keep the date for the sake of the reservations and that I'd get my ring the next week. I won't lie, that did not make me happy. So after nice dinner we went to his house where I thought I'd end up tearing down a wall, or hanging drywall, or some other home improvement project I never thought I'd actually have to do. After a quick bathroom trip he showed me the paint he'd put up, the hardwood he bought...then he said we should go see Chance (the crazy dog he inherited with the house) who was out on the back porch barking at goodness knows what. He turned the porch light on and there were flowers all set up. Somehow during my quick bathroom trip Brian had run downstairs, grabbed my ring, two bouquets of flowers, two vases, ran back upstairs, set the flowers up on a table, and managed to get quietly back inside and act like nothing happened...30 seconds tops. I was impressed. Not only was I surprised that I was getting a ring, but it turned out to be the real ring! I was expecting a loaner because my band had to be special ordered and should have taken 6-8 weeks. Couldn't be happier with it!!! I haven't been able to take a good picture of it. :( So no pictures

Our date is January 16th and we're super excited! We hope all our family will be able to share the day with us!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Busy Busy Busy

June and July have been kind of ridiculous. Lots and lots of stuff going on!!!

In June I started working at Carmen B. Pingree as a classroom aid in a preschool room. I work with children from about 2-5 years old who have autism. It is a blast! Super overwhelming the first couple of days because of all the protocol and behaviors to learn, but its so much fun! Summer session got out last Thursday so we have a little vacation before going back to school the end of August.

The 4th of July was pretty fun as well. Brian and I got a late start on our plans so most of them fell through. We ended up going to eat at some Korean place. Yes, we were traitors to America, we should have just eaten a hot dog. But we paid for our mistake - Korean food really isn't that good friends! Just say no. We ended up going to the fireworks at Sugarhouse Park. It's tradition that every year I walk there by myself I get lost and go the long way around. I don't know why it always confuses me, but every year without fail I end up walking a couple extra miles. Poor Brian. We met up with my family after a 45 minute long detour right before the fireworks started. Afterwards we went back to my house to heat up some leftovers from my parents' dinner (we didn't eat much at the restaurant...thats what we get for being adventurous).
The next morning I woke up to find that my car had been stolen during the night. We called it in pretty quick and within 3 hours of reporting it the city called and told me that they had found my car during a routine check of different sketchy motels in the valley. I was relieved until I pulled up to the motel to pick it up. It was disgusting. The steering column had been popped out, there were several deep scratches around the wheels and trunk, and it was completely full of items belonging to the druggies who had taken it. Clothes, backpacks, even a cup full of water. I just got it back from the repair shop last week (after reluctantly turning in my sweet rental). The car still grosses me out. Who knows what it has seen...

Brian closed on his house over a month ago and is now getting it ready for paint/carpet/other repairs. He also inherited a 7 year old collie named Chance. He is HUGE! He's also very friendly and thinks he's a lap dog at times. The house needs some major help, but with a fresh coat of paint and some new flooring it will look completely different. It has a lot of potential. :)

So that's what has been keeping me busy the past while. Hopefully it all slows down before school picks up!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Summer time and the livin's easy...

5 things that complete my summer -

1 - My summers always officially start with a trip to the sev for a pina colada/banana slurpee. That is the taste of summer.

2 - Bob's Brainfreeze. It's like a snow cone, but at least 10 times better

3 - Our garden. I love planting fresh veggies, but I hate waiting for the seeds to sprout so I end up staring down the dirt looking for signs of life. Even when I was away at college, I'd find time on my weekends at home to search for tomatoes, peppers, raspberries, and whatever else I could find to take home with me.

4 - Bonfires in the canyon. Next time you have a fire, try roasting starburst candies instead of marshmellows. Just spear a starburst and roast it over the coals until it gets nice and melty. Let it cool down a bit before you eat it though. Molten sugar on your tongue will not feel nice, trust me. If you've roasted it perfectly, the outside will have a little crunch to it while the inside will be super soft! So much cheaper and easier than the traditional s'more. Plus you can't burn them and there's no sticky mess!!!

5 - BBQing all the time! A couple years ago a couple of my friends and I decided to grill ourselves up some dinner. None of us had ever grilled before. Good news - it's easy enough that 3 teenagers can figure it out without major issues! We made a flank steak with grilled veggies and wild rice, with turtle cheesecake for dessert (definitely one of my favorite recipes ever). It was planned like 2 weeks in advance. We were geeks like that. It all turned out amazing and the marinade we used was great! I've used it on a lot of things since, even chicken! Though I nix the oil when I marinate chicken...it just feels wrong to bathe chicken in oil unless I'm frying it up. I think her brother came up with the marinade. He should have just made us dinner that entire summer because everything he made was delicious. Try it straight up or make it your own -

Marinade:
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. soy sauce
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. ginger
1/4 c. green onions, sliced
Mix and allow meat to sit in marinade for at least a half hour

We grilled our veggies shish kabob style. We used red and green bell peppers, zucchini, red onion, and i think mushrooms too. Just chunked, tossed with a little olive oil, speared, and then grilled. Plain, simple, and super cheap.

And the cheesecake recipe? You'll have to talk to Aunt Betsy for that one.




Apparently my summer revolves around food.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Chipmunk Cheeks

I had my wisdom teeth out today. I won't post pictures...its not something that I want to remember ever. Everything went great except for the pain medication taking over an hour to kick in. Ow!
I'm pretty swollen, but just on one side. My swelling is supposed to peak tomorrow/Saturday. Oh my goodness I can only imagine how large my face will get. Keep your fingers crossed the bruising isn't too bad. They are definitely bruised already on the inside which makes the ten pounds of gauze in my mouth that much more uncomfortable. Its nice to be home for this all to happen. I can't even imagine how my old Chinese roommate JoJo would have responded to the situation.

My face is huge. I love it...



Thursday, April 23, 2009

Moving

I hate moving.
It's always depressing to see how much crap-o-la I've accumulated in two short years. I unearthed a lot of stuff that I love and would have used if I remembered it existed. But, on a happy note - I found my extra strength fabreeze. My blankets/pillows smell fresh and fish-free! (my roommates have this thing with cooking lots of fish in some sort of vinegar bath that kind of makes everything in my apartment, including me, smell like Galveston, pre-hurricane clean-up)

Meanwhile - Brian and I are both sick, though he got the worst of it. :( Poor guy. He's miserable and just kind of sits there glazed over. (Unless there's a playoff game in Salt Lake, then he of course goes to 'not waste $50' on the tickets he already has...nice excuse bud) He takes full advantage of the situation though. Sick people apparently can't stand up on their own. That never ends well for him. I'm not sure why you would ask someone who has to set the weight back up to the shame -lbs on every machine at the gym to support to support your whole body weight...

Monday is my last final. I have a lot of biology to study to be ready for that one! I'm really glad to be done with it though. My professor is kind of insane, and by kind of I mean mostly. I will miss his horrible clothes though. Everyday he walks into class wearing the same basic outfit - a pair of horribly fitting cargo pants, chewed up newbalances, and either a wolf or dragon t-shirt (no lie). Part of the reason I could get myself to go to that class was to see what t-shirt would emerge from the 5th grade 90s vault. The other part was 'thinks-he's-awesome-guy shamelessly hitting on music-video-laptop-girl who is clearly not interested. Maybe thats rude of me to enjoy, but I'm easily entertained and it was hilarious.

Today i found out that, not only do I have all 4 of my wisdom teeth, but they are all impacted. My tiny little mouth doesn't have any more room. At least they aren't growing in all sideways and alien. Thats good news :) So they have to come out a week from today. Luckily, I get general anesthetic instead of just laughing gas. I'm 99.9% sure that I'd be so paranoid about not laughing that I would actually start to laugh and never stop because even thinking about something funny makes me laugh my face off. I'm also pretty happy about not being able to hear anything or be aware of how awkwardly my face is stretched open. I'd rather just wake up and deal with it then. I am nervous about the whole waking up thing. The thought of being disoriented doesn't appeal to me. I don't even like facing a different direction when I sleep because I wake up confused. It'll be better than awkward one-sided conversation with my oral surgeon who I don't understand. I think he might have been trying to joke with me during my consultation, but every time I joked back be gave me this disapproving look like I was insulting his profession. Which I wasn't by the way. I take wisdom teeth very seriously...