One last post...

I felt like I had to squeeze one last post into the lovely 2009, so here I am. Posting away.

I read this quote the other day and it made me laugh:

"Here's to 2010! May it kick the crap out of 2009...rip it's head off...and burn all the pieces...while dancing around the fire!"

Personally, I enjoyed 2009. I got married, I had an awesome job, I started my photography business, and I graduated! But, I know there are many people (mom, dad, brother and sister) who would rather it be August 2010 right now rather than January 2010, so I'll end the year with that quote. Plus I'm pretty sure it's referencing Twilight which equals awesome in my book.

Here we go 2010! I wonder what adventures this year will bring...

Narcissim

I just watched Julie & Julia. You know towards the end when Julie Powell is getting all those messages from agents and publishers and a voice says, "We'd like to talk to you about making a movie"? Well, when I heard that I thought to myself, "Like that would ever happen. What a dumb idea."

*Silence*

Then I realized I just watched her movie. I guess it can happen. What a doofwad I am.

In the movie the point is raised that by having a blog Julie has become self-absorbed and narcissistic. That made me think about my own blog - its purpose in my life and whether or not it has made me feel like the world revolves around me.

Hmmmmm.

Is it so bad for the world to revolve around me?

I mean, I am pretty fabulous.

*Silence*

Oops.....yep. There it is. Narcissism.

Plus, I made lemon-pepper chicken tonight with rice. That pretty much makes me cool enough to have a blog. Right?

I can't sleep!

Well hello there. It's nice to see you on this lovely Monday morning. (Very very early on Monday morning.)

I can't sleep. This is probably because I'm so excited for our upcoming trip. Morgan and I are attending my best friend Katherine's wedding. Can you guess where we're going?

Here's a hint:

If you guessed Denver, you guessed right!

At first I was just excited because I can't wait to see Kat get married, but I've decided that I'm also now excited to explore downtown Denver! Morgan and I have already made arrangements to dine at our favorite restaurant, Maggiano's Little Italy. We will eat this:

In case you hadn't heard, "Rigatoni D" is the greatest dish on earth.

Be prepared for thousands and thousands of pictures in the next few days.

Oh yes my friends, be prepared.

Schooooooool's OUT FO-EVA!

I'm done! I'm done. I'm really really dOnE!

BOom SHaKaLakA SHaKaLakA...

Whoop der it is!

WHO let the dogs OUT?

In YER face!

Let's party like it's 1-9-9-9!

BOO - YEAHAHAHAHA!

{In case you hadn't heard, I'm done with college. ForEVER.}

Mocktails and Mustaches

Gotta have them limes!

The ever-so-sophisticated Jeff & Kammie Lee.

Mariah, dahhling.

Mykel, dahhling.

Master LeCheminant

What darling hosts.

White elephant gift exchange...

Incandescent glasses...what we ended up with.

The Greek fertility candle...

Woolly Willy...

Good luck Norman family!

Mocktails and Mustaches. Need I say more?

The best party. EVER.

In other news, I have a job interview on Wednesday. Hooray!

In other other news, I have 4 finals to take. BLAH.

Let it snow

What I woke up to this morning.

Does this make me a bad wife?

I should tell you that the lonely tupperware houses toxic remains of a spaghetti dinner.

Guess what we're doing for date night?

GROCERY SHOPPING!

(My parents go to home depot on date night. We go to Maceys.)

Glorious Glorious Truffles!

Oh how I love chocolate covered oreo truffles. They will seriously change your life.

Inspiration comes in the funniest ways

Okay friends. Graduation means two things.

1. You're done with classes forever.

2. Suddenly you're supposed to find private health insurance.

Morgan and I have been debating over what to do about my health insurance for weeks and weeks and honestly, I was getting pretty annoyed. I could be a dependent on Morgan's plan, but that costs oodles and oodles. I could get private health insurance, but the deductibles on those things are through the roof. Or, hey! I could just not be insured. (Shyea right.) After much prayer, discussion, and ponder-ation, it hit me.

I was staring at the ceiling one night thinking about the complexities of the situation when suddenly it hit me. I jumped up, hit Morgan in the stomach, and yelled, "I figured it out!" Of course Morgan couldn't fully appreciate the brilliance of my plan that late at night...but after a little more sleep he saw that I am FABULOUS.

All I had to do was defer my graduation date to April 2010.

Ugh.

The good news is I don't have to take any classes.

I just can't say I'm graduating in December anymore.

Sigh.

The good news is, I'm saving us $2,000.

Yes, I'm fabulous. I know.

Grieving

I've never really had to go through the grieving process. My maternal grandparents both died when I was young, but I don't think it ever really hit me. I've never had anyone else close to me pass away.

My mom called this morning and told me that Flossie, my family's sweet Australian Shepherd, has breast cancer that spread to her bones. The vet wanted to put her down this morning, but my mom said she wasn't ready yet. I'm really grateful that she waited so that I could have some time to get used to the idea before she actually dies. She will most likely be put down this Tuesday.

I was surprised at how emotional I got when my mom told me. After all, she is just a dog. Then I started to think about it and came to the conclusion that Flossie was not just a dog. She was a friend, a protector, and a companion.

In the summer of 2008, I flew home to babysit my siblings for two weeks while my parents were on vacation. I remember sleeping in my parents bedroom during that time (because I could hear Alli better if she woke up in the middle of the night) and getting really scared over any little noise I heard. Finally, I broke the house rules and let Flossie come sleep by the bed. She stayed there faithfully all night, right by my side. I felt better knowing she was there. One night, I was crying because I missed Morgan and for some reason we couldn't talk on the phone. I remember Flossie put her paws on the side of the bed and looked at me...I knew she wanted to make sure I was okay. She was always such a good friend.

I thought of all the times that Devin would stroke Flossie's head and say in his cute, long drawn out voice, "Flooooooooossie." He would even lower his cup of milk for her to lap up when my mom wasn't looking. I loved how Flossie would bark when she heard Devin blowing his nose or shutting a door from the other side of the house. Somehow she always knew it was him!

Then there were all the times she would yip and yap when my mom would call my sister "beautiful." Apparently Flossie liked the attention. :)

I'm sad that I can't be there this week. I'm sad that I didn't take more pictures with her. I'm sad that Devin is losing one of his closest friends. I'm sad that my mom is losing her "ears." I'm sad that my dog is dying.

It's been a rough day. I really hope that dogs can be resurrected too. Because I want to be able to see Floss again.

November 3rd = Christmas Decorations up!

Oh how I love Christmas! :) I can't even tell you how excited I was for Halloween to be over so I could decorate for our first Christmas as a married couple!! Here are a few pictures of our little tree...don't you just love the berries? That was Morgan's idea! I even put a fake present under the tree. We also put up some lighted garland with berries in it on top of our kitchen cabinets...it looks so festive!

Morgan and I decided we wanted to start a few traditions based on the traditions of our families...here is our list:

1. I can decorate anytime after Halloween.

2. We will open one present on Christmas Eve.

3. We will have pizza for Christmas Eve dinner.

4. "Santa" will put the presents out every year while I'm asleep. (including this year...which I'm excited for because then I can still wake up and be surprised!)

5. We'll read about the first Christmas in Luke every Christmas Eve.

That's all I can think of at the moment but I know we agreed on more...

We also bought a little holiday village set at K-Mart...it is adorable. I've always wanted one. We were going to buy one big piece every year (A new house/shop every year) but they were pretty expensive. So we started off with a mini starter kit that has a church, a candy shop, and a cafe. It has lots of little people, light posts, and even some trees! It's so cute, I love it so much! We still are waiting to find the perfect nativity...

Oh how I love Christmas! :)

Ramblings from a bored female.

I got a 90 on my midterm. Way to go me.

Also, I'm bored.

As in, I'm watching the National Pie Championships on the Food Network. You'd think that there would be better prime time TV on Friday nights, but no. It's the worst night for entertainment. Apparently I'm supposed to be on a hot date. (Morgan is at his football game...I wimped out.)

I visited Taylor Swift's website the other day and she wrote a really long journal entry and talked about how she orders documentaries from the Discovery Channel like "The Bubonic Plague." Shyea. I sooo do that.

I also take pictures of weird still lifes...and someone always seems to knock on the door right in the middle of my amazingly creative shoot. A few months ago I had an interesting arrangement sitting on the arm of our couch because there was this amazing natural light coming in from the window. There was a knock at the door. Morgan answered. And I was hovering over the couch taking pictures of a reed diffuser. Awkward.

If you had to vote on how I should spend my evening, which activity would you choose:

1. Watch the National Pie Championships

2. Take pictures of objects around my apartment

3. Continue to blog and devise a contest for my photography website

My fate is in your hands. Please vote wisely.

6 months of rockin' bliss!

Okay so that was a really lame title, but for some reason "Rockin' bliss" sounded way cooler than "wedded bliss". Overused statements = lameness. And we all know how un-lame I am.

Monday is our 6 month anniversary! I have realized a few things over the months. Here are a few examples:

1. We are neat freaks. (I wipe down the counters almost every night before bed and have to have everything picked up before I can sleep.)

2. Dingy and expensive basement apartments will NOT seem cute and quaint for very long. (Hence, moving after four months of living in one)

3. We like to eat a lot of food.

4. People start asking when you're planning on having kids a few weeks after you tie the knot.

5. It's really funny to make people think you're pregnant as pay back for the many times they've asked you if there's a "bun in the oven."

6. The walls in our apartment complex are a little thin...let's just say it was not a surprise when we found out our upstairs neighbors were expecting. (Awkward!)

7. We go to sleep around 10pm. (When we were single it was closer to 1am)

8. We don't take many pictures of ourselves anymore. Most pictures we have from the past six months are ones I've taken of Morgan. My camera is too big and bulky to try and take a picture of the two of us...and there is no self timer.

9. It has been decided that when we buy a home, there MUST be a large walk-in closet for me. I have a LOT of shoes. And shirts. And pants. And skirts. And I have 10 winter coats.

10. I will probably never stop throwing BYU themed parties for Morgan's birthday.

I could go on and on. Stay tuned for more exciting and nonsensical ramblings. I have to go study for a midterm...did I mention I have been diagnosed with a severe case of Senioritis?

Birthday Boy

Morgan turned 25 yesterday! My cute little husband is into his second quarter century of life. Wahoo! He had to work until 6:00, but I had planned out an evening of BYU Birthday Celebrations. I was a paparazzi photographer when he came in the door and welcomed him to the Cougar Club (dinner on a BYU blanket). The card I got him was completely ridiculous as you can see...nothing like a nice acrobat in skin tight spandex named Paco. It made him laugh. That's all that matters! :) Then we played Yahtzee and I crushed him. Oops!

In other news, our grad school applications are in! I have 23 days of school left before I graduate, and I'm already trying to convince Morgan that it's okay to put our Christmas tree up. Why not enjoy the season for as long as possible? Exactly.

Life is good.

Grateful

I love Morgan. I'm sure most people assume that I do because he is my husband and all, but lately I've just been thinking about how exactly how much I love him.

He is the kindest, sweetest, most thoughtful man I know. He works so hard in school and at the physical therapy clinic, volunteers at a hospital, and still has time to make me a grilled cheese sandwich when I come home from a crappy day at school.

He is a good man, and I am a lucky girl.

PS: That is his real smile. :)

New Thangs

Fall is the perfect time of year for football watchin', pumpkin carvin', scarf snugglin', and cider sippin'. Apparently, it's also a great time of year for:

Shoe Buyin'

(Payless: $10.00)

Decoratin'

(Big Lots: votive=$1.50, berry wreath=$2.00, faux tea light=$0.75)

Treasure huntin'

(D.I. purchase=$2.00)

Craftin'

(Faux floral accessories made with scraps of ribbon and fabric, sewn to elastic)

Slooooww cookin'

(This entire dinner cost less than $5.00!)

Maybe you can now understand why fall is my FAVORITE season!