Awkward and Awesome

Awkward:
Having to turn the water off to a house you don't live in at 10:30 pm, apologizing to the basement dwellers we barely know.
Getting pranked by a co-worker giving a phone number to a rather... unsavory... 1-800 number.
Getting checked out by 6-7 middle aged men walking home from Spin class
Seriously wondering if the guy who works the counter at work ever leaves.
The jokes you get to make when you buy 10 cubic feet of steer manure.
The idea of showing our apartment to people. Here guys, lets look at all my stuff in my terribly messy closet!
Thinking that you are going to be caught peeking in  the windows of the house we are renting starting next month.

Awesome:
Done with spin, almost done with the others
New house
The Hose Pipe has ceased to explode
Orem Summerfest
Getting a washer and dryer with our new place!
12x30' garden space

We've done it.

Well, with this post we've done it.

For those of you that don't know Jamie and I have been participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month, that's really fun to say). We've been trying our best to post every day and we did it! Yay!

Here are some things that we learned in doing so.

Blogging is hard.
We are boring.
Jamie is a talented writer (not that we didn't know that, but it was a good reminder).
Blogging helps us reflect on our lives.
Being able to prewrite posts is awesome for vacations and holidays.
It's not as hard as you'd think (Jamie).
When you force a post it ends up coming out poorly.
Talk about things that you are interested in like puppies or aardvarks.
When you ask for engagement people will typically engage.
Jamie is talented (again, not a new discovery, but a good fact none-the-less).
It is possible to maintain a blog and have a life.
We watch far too much Psych... I don't know if blogging taught us this, but it's true.
When you blog about something like Christmas gifts the people you are gifting to start talking about it.
Blogging is fun, really. Trust me. I just did it for a month.

I'm sure that there are more profound lessons in the world. I'm just setting into a food coma due to the copious amounts of noodles and flatbread that I just ate.

What is your favorite part about blogging?

Christmas Shopping

I have had an oddly hard time remembering to get Christmas stuff going at the beginning of December since I started college. I will finish finals, and realize that I have NO idea what to get anyone for Christmas. I just get distracted with finals. This year, with David's help, we have figured out what we are getting most everyone. (hooray!) The only problem with this is that the only ones we haven't figured it out for are really hard to pick/think of something for.
The more time I spend living not with my family, the harder it is to find gifts that I know that they will love. It is kind of hit or miss depending on the person and the year. Either way, they get a thoughtful gift or a way cool one that they will like, but isn't so "thoughtful".
And, I am totally stumped on what to get David. Eek!

Great Day

So, last night I turned a paper. I had another one due on Wednesday that was just as long. I went to class today and my teacher not only bumped the due date to Saturday, but cancelled class on Wednesday. Isn't that great?

Jamie and I planned the last few weeks of classes mapped out and (with the movement of that paper) the semester is fairly even with little pressure. Finals week will be interesting. I've got a few finals on Tuesday... like 3 in a row. I should clarify that I've got one final, a T.A. final (I just get to watch other's suffer), and a presentation.

To celebrate the season we're decorating a tree tonight. It should be a lot of fun.

Speaking of trees, let me tell you about one of Jamie's favorite things: vintage Shiny Bright ornaments.

She loves them. We have them all over our tree, in fact, I do believe that they will probably be the only kind of ornaments on our tree... that and her Fisher-Price nativity ornament.

Christmas Music

Well, it is after Thanksgiving, so I can't get away with being a grump about people playing Christmas music. I really do love it, but after a month of the same songs, I get tired of it. So, I wait until my month of loving it can fully cover Christmas.
The only acceptable way to have Christmas music before Thanksgiving is when it is a choir/piano/etc. recital/performance piece. You need more than just the month before to practice. So those who practice earlier, go for it. And good luck.
I love finding new Christmas music/artists, so I am going to share some of my favorites, and hope that you will comment with some of your favorites. (Please?)

Carpenters Christmas: I grew up listening to this, so nothing says Christmas time! like this does for me. I think that they are a classic.
Michele McLaughlin: I discovered her last year on Pandora and ended up creating a station there based on her music. Fantastic solo piano.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra: I got a couple of their albums a couple years ago and love both of them. The words are surprisingly tender and contrast a bit with the style of music. I have The Lost Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve and Other Stories. Both albums are great, and quite different from traditional Christmas music.
George Winston: Another pandora discovery
Mannheim steamroller: some strange stuff, but it is good and it is a classic.
Mormon Tabernacle Choir: Always good.
Michael Buble Christmas
These are just the ones that I can think of that I love. I will comment if I think of any more.
What are your favorite Christmas albums/artists?

Success

Thanksgiving is a success.

I personally declare it.

We ate stuffing and turkey until we waddled. We had a salad that was to die for. Potatoes and yams came out our nose. I think I ate an entire pie.

We played with cousins and talked with grandparents. We saw Christmas lights and braved stores on Friday morning. We didn't get annoyed at the Christmas music playing in stores. It is Christmas time.

We are putting up our tree next week. The semester is winding down. Christmas classics are on t.v. again and you can bet I'll be watching Rudolf.

For me, Christmas is about tradition. It's about gathering with family and thinking outside yourself. It's about lights and trees and nativity scenes.

Now if we can just get through finals it will really be Christmas time!

Strong Girl, Raised

My parents had only daughters, 2 of us. Their motto and reference for thinking in raising us girls was "Raise Strong Girls". They taught me to be smart, capable, and about what matters. 

Be Smart: My parents placed me in an environment, culture, and society where knowledge really is power. Learn, simply for the sake of learning. Read poetry simply because it invigorates your mind. The Church values knowledge and learning. Through this, also introduced to me and taught by my parents, I learned to value knowledge. Love to learn. I was taught that I have been blessed with a brain, and with that I have a responsibility to fill and use it. Their parents taught them the same lesson, and it was passed down to me. My poetry book is the same as one my grandpa has. His is heavily worn, all the pages read, spine held together by duct tape. I watch him slowly turn through the pages, reciting the poems printed on the pages, but not reading them. He pulls them deep from memory, from a place deeper than he seems to be able to access for other information. This, these familiar, learned, beautiful words are what he remembers. What you know is a solace, a comfort, a friend when all other things leave you. 

Be Capable: I learned to be capable, be independent. My place in the world is wherever I want to be. I have chosen to become a teacher, but eventually to stay home with my family. I was taught that what I can do is important. I need to have the potential to be completely independent. Should I need to support my family, and myself; I need to have the skills to do so. Throughout college I have taken classes in electronics, robotics, woodworking, sewing, cooking, finance, parenting, nutrition, interior design, among others. I am learning skills that I can use to take care of my family, if the need arises.

Know what matters: I learned that friends may come and go, but family is where time matters. I will always have my family and those relationships are more important than anything. I was taught to stay close to family members, help them, even when it means sacrificing something that I want, or time that I want to use elsewhere. The gospel matters. It also is more important than anything. Whatever happens, I will always have my family, and the Church.

Here I am, as a strong daughter, Raised.