David and Michele

Remember.

2011-09-11T19:25:00.001-07:00

I won't bore you with where I was and what I was doing during the exact moments of 9/11 10 years ago. I remember it as do most of us who had achieved cognitive maturity.

I thought this was a beautiful musical presentation of the beauty of our country and why it is important to carry on. I feel for those who felt the tragedy so much more closely than I had to.

http://byutv.org/watch/event/48546045-ad33-4226-ad2d-c657e891e18a

I also thought Portraits from Ground Zero by Andrea Booher was poignant and interesting. I hope we've all reflected on our lives a little today, been thankful, and mourned for those lost.

"Journal" Why the Practice Is a Problem for Me

2011-09-11T18:53:00.000-07:00

Let's have a little look.

Word Origin & History

journal

c.1355, "book of church services," from Anglo-Fr. jurnal "a day,"from O.Fr. journal, originally "daily" (adj.), from L.L. diurnalis "daily"(see diurnal). Sense of "daily record of transactions" first recorded1565; that of "personal diary" is 1610, from a sense found inFrench.

Journalism is 1833 in Eng., likewise from Fr. (where it isattested from 1781).

Thank you, Dictionary.com. While I do keep a record of some church services I attend for spiritual growth, that's not exactly what I'm talking about here. I am TERRIBLE at journaling everyday. As a matter of fact I went and found some of my older handwritten journals and I'm pretty much lucky to have 1 entry per year. Forget every single day! Gosh. Overwhelming or what?

So what's the problem? Besides the fact that I'm super busy like everyone else on the planet?

1) Let's be honest here. I make it too complicated for myself. "Oh, I know! I'll buy a nice, neat looking journal and I'll only write really important entries in that one. Then, I'll write everyday entries in this other one..." Hello, if you can't keep up with one journal, how in the world can you keep up with multiple journals? I also feel like journals should be handwritten for some reason--as though modern word processing software like you see the product of here never existed. Why don't I just try writing them all by oil lamp too after my farm chores are done. So dumb.

2) I don't feel like there is enough vitally important stuff to write down. I always want to wait until there is a big occurrence and then write that down. No menu/chore journals for me! All the while, I know that the life that is happening occurs in the details and the mundane minutia of everyday life. Am I afraid I'm going to waste paper? Bore someone to death? Maybe. Maybe I'm doing that right now...

3) Caution about writing down the important stuff. I'm not sure if this is some remnant paranoia from years back or what. I'm worried that if I write stuff down people will be able to read it and find it. Well, no kidding. That's kind of the point, isn't it? At least so I can find it and read it later. I distinctly remember ripping out pages of a journal that had to do with an ex-boyfriend round about 9th grade or so. Embarassing now? Probably. Hilarious and of historical value? You bet. But now we'll never know because I disposed of that stuff like it had trace evidence sure to convict me of something heinous. Add to that my ridiculous refusal to get in front of a camera for about a 10 year period if my life depended on it.

I have to figure out a way to increase this skill. I am taking advice, hints, notes from anyone offering. If you ever even figure out that I've actually updated this blog since 2009.

No matter what anyone says....

2010-12-22T20:47:00.000-08:00

Don't make cheesecake without the cream cheese. I essentially made a "healthy" (er) substitute filled cheesecake and it just wasn't quite right.

They looked cute and everything, but I definitely wouldn't go back for another one. Maybe I went wrong at the sour cream.... Also, Greek Yogurt does not equal fromage blanc.

Full cal and latino cheeses for the next batch. No qualms here.

My Blood runs Carolina BLUE

2010-12-12T19:11:00.001-08:00

First Carolina Game Experience--11 out of 10! It may not be the Hansbrough/Lawson years, but no fair being a fair-weather fan!

David and I went to the Carolina/Kentucky game last Saturday thanks to his boss being unable to go to the game at the last minute. It was AMAZING!

I have to admit we were not expecting the game to be so close--and I don't mean in Carolina's favor. But it was SO CLOSE! The whole entire game was within a shot or two. It really came down to the very end of the game and Carolina pulled it off! If you didn't see the game, you should check out the last 45 seconds or so of game time.

Michele vs. the Box Truck

2010-11-09T17:48:00.001-08:00

Round 1 to the Box Truck.
There was rain, good deeds, a slippery ramp, and a bad fall.
Add more blood than seems necessary and
ineffeciencies related to unplanned healthcare needs.

Sounds like a great way to spend a Thursday evening, right?

What an ordeal. It'll be a while before some things fall into place, but things are working out and I've proven I am just as hardheaded as 1)some people have always known I was and 2)my dad:).

Reason #427 "Why I love my husband"

2010-10-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

David and I went to the fair yesterday. It was our "date" night in big-town Goldsboro. On the way home he turns to me and says:

"If this was our first date, I think we would definitely have a second one."

To a lifetime of dates and the benefits of marrying your best friend.

Introducing: Luca Wiggins

2010-10-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

After much patient (and impatient) waiting, a doggie has finally darkened the door of our house!
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My stupid allergies make it very difficult to have a dog in the house and we have to wait awhile yet on fencing in the yard, so I've been trying to find an allergen friendly rescue dog. After trolling craigslist, the newspaper classifieds, petfinder, and petharbor's pound watch lists, I pretty much gave up. Needless to say it was a very frustrating process.

(Tangent Alert--but an important one) To all you rescue shelters out there, thank you to the ones who do their jobs and have amazing hearts. I wish there was a special kind of torture out there for those of you who don't. One place in Charlotte particularly has extremely poor practices and another let us go through the whole process telling us the dog was in good health until after the site visit. (This was like Step 4 in the process and yes they did come to my house to check it all out). Then they tell us the dog has a progressive incurable disease.

Long story short--after years of living in dorms and apartment complexes that refused to let me have a pet and lifelong allergies that seriously impeded this process, we got a cute little toy poodle from a seemingly okay lady. I doubt I'll ever groom him like a true poodle because I think show poodles are ugly, yippy creatures, but Luca is a different ball of fur :).

Here's why we named him Luca (besides the fact that it's a cute name):

1) He has a marking on his chest that looks like the Eiffel Tower. Luca=lights=Paris=City of lights
2)At night, when he cries he sounds like a Wookiee (Chewbacca was NOT a cute name) so George Lucas, creator of the Wookiee. Lucas-->Luca
3)Luca is a boy name, but he's a dandy-like little boy so not a ridiculously masculine boy name.
4)David and I agreed on it.

Luca already using google

The Perfume/Celebrity Connection

2010-09-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

Try to follow me on this one:

"I'm a celebrity."
"Hmm...what can I dabble in today?"
"I need to expand my marketshare."
"So many product lines to choose from. Which one should I pick?"
"I KNOW! I'll make perfume!"

Wha? Is there a magic connection between fame and smell? Do celebrities have magical potion powers? Why do musical stars seem to be more attune to this than other famous people?

Smells like celeb spirit I guess...

Office Legalities

2010-09-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

"The Office" + legal jargon = funny stuff

Michael: I ran down Meredith in my car.

Ryan: Did you do this on purpose?

Michael: No, I was being negligent. But she's in the hospital. She's fine, recovering nicely. Tiny little crack in her pelvis. But she will be up in—

Ryan: Did this happen on company property?

Michael: Yes. It was on company property with company property, so... double jeopardy. We're fine.

Ryan: I don't think you understand how double jeopardy works.

Michael: Oh right, I'm sorry. What is, "We're fine?"

Midnight, maniacal musings

2010-09-07T21:04:00.000-07:00

I know I should be sleeping right about now, but those of you who really know me, know that this is not an unusual occurrence. If I had the ability to sleep like my husband, I cannot even begin to wonder how different life would be. But, alas, the hand has been dealt and easy-going sleeper is not one of the things I will ever confidently aspire to be.

I have been thinking about a lot of things recently. Some of which have absolutely nothing to do with anything else. Usually, I don't include much personal thought on my blog because I haven't made it private (yet) and while I know I probably only have 1, maybe 2, "regular" readers, cyberspace is a vast and incalculable wasteland. So you never know who just might traipse across things. But in the name of sleep deprivation and middle-night musings, here we are.

1. Why, why, why is our healthcare system so flawed? I'm not talking about an Obamacare overhaul here. I'm just saying, if I paid my bill in July for a bill dated in July, then WHY must I receive a bill from the end of August with the exact same amount on it that I paid two months ago with no indication of payment receipt? Forget the fact that the insurance company denied putting part of the claim towards my ridiculous deductible, arbitrarily no doubt. And please tell me why I have to pay out of pocket for seeing a no-name, piece NP who has the personality of a rock.

2. I am currently enjoying Book #3 from the Wicked series. Never saw the play although I hear great things. Books 1 and 2 were very good. The stories are very detailed and intricate enough that they are hard to paraphrase for fear of leaving out some important detail. The third book is a little less engaging, but I am hoping for the reappearance of some of the characters from the last book. We'll have to wait and see what happens. If you like to read, read them. They are not children's books and there are a few parts that seem pointless to me, but overall very well-written with loose-ends tied and plot stuffed full of an array of things. I'm generally not a fan of "fantasy", but who says the Wicked Witch has to be fantastical;).

3. I am really considering hopping back on the writing bandwagon. Well, you're writing right this moment, you say? But I mean, writing on paper. Some say that poetry is a dying art form--and I would say based on some statistic they are probably right. And that makes me very sad. Words are powerful, words are history, words are how we tell anything really. Perhaps if more people used forums like poetry, the vocabulary of the general population would be...oh, better than it is? (idk if u no wut i mean)

4. Why are so many people so fickle? Why do we ask people how they are, if we don't care what they say? The love, the compassion, the sincere concern for others...where did it go? Does growing up mean you just become downtrodden with responsibility and no longer have the time to tell a bully to stop harassing someone weaker or smaller or to share the best of what you found? Why don't people understand that money won't keep you warm at night and currency is not important on the other side regardless of your eternal perspective. Are we being who we said we would? Who we know we should? Am I?

I know. I tried to warn you that it would be random (what? rambling...?) And with that smattering of contradiction, I will bid the world wide wonderland Adieu. Until I muse again.

*This post brought to you by the effects of insomnia. Generationally endowed.*

Airport Shoes

2010-08-27T15:59:00.001-07:00

Time for a little sparkle and wit. Recently I had the opportunity to delve into the wonderful world of airports two days in one week (germ-infested holes might i add where the cruel TSA officers steal your terroristic looking hand santizer in case you've laced it with a super-sonic biohazard).

As I was sitting there..for hours at a time since I chose to follow airport recommendations to get there this many minutes before a flight..I was awed and amazed by the absolutely, RIDICULOUS shoes people wear when they have to tromp around through the airport.

And let's image that if they are trudging along through the airport, they were also probably trudging along some city sidewalk or hopping on subway trains and carrying oh-so-many

suitcases stocked with more ridiculous shoes.

What do you do if you have to run to catch a flight? Doesn't that hurt your back? Your legs? Your eyeballs? Young, old, man, woman...apparently the condition has no demographic preferences.

Baby Mama

2010-08-08T11:49:00.001-07:00

It doesn't matter how many times we watch this movie. It's funny every single time.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are hilarious. "Aye, aye, Captain!"

Feeling a Little Blue...

2010-08-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a little blue today. I'm not sure why. It is Monday so maybe that's it.

Honorarily...

Harold sans the purple crayon

2010-08-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

A few pics of Harold's adventures at our house.

Harold's Birthday and the exploding Elmo cake. He knew it was elmo without any provocation so...that's all that really matters! Right, Steph?

Blowing out all 3 candles.

Harold reading scriptures. Wonder what he's looking up there.

Rascal Flatts--Happy Anniversary!

2010-07-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize it had been so long, but Rascal Flatts has now been a recording group for 10 years!

I was lucky enough to see them at Western Carolina University when they blew through the college campus circuit 2001 or 2002. Here I am with them at the Ramsey Center!

I got to go with my friend, Becca (not pictured) and some of her friends. It was a great time and obviously very small venue compared to the crowds they play for now.

Almost a decade later, I finally decided to catch another concert. David, my mom, and I joined my friend Catherine, her husband Jason and two of their friends in Raleigh for their kick-off show.

Despite the fact that it was hotter than the surface of the sun out there, it was a really great time and they played a lot of their songs off the first album as well as all of their newer albums too. They even played a new "first" from their upcoming album. I think it was titled "Why wait?". It's been awhile since we've been to a concert and it was a great one to get started back on. No one sat in front of us, it didn't pour down rain, and no aggressive drunk people sat on our stuff! Even Kelly Pickler did a decent job (clearly I'm not a KP fan...).

Way to go Rascal Flatts! Musical talent, meaningful songs, and just the right amount of country twang. It helps that their songs were very poignant during different stages of our lives.

Hard to pick favorites but I think my top 3 Rascal Flatts songs would be Everday Love, What Hurts the Most, and Why. Ask me tomorrow and I'll probably change my mind.

Happy X Year Anniversary, Rascal Flatts.

Happy Birthday, David and Acoustic Guitar Cake

2010-07-10T20:19:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was David's 26th birthday. I decided it would be nice to have a little family get together for him so between me, his mom, and his stepmom we pretty much got it squared away. I did the cake and Connie and Hazel took care of cooking dinner.

To add an element of fun we decided to surprise him. It's hard to surprise David because, well, he's nosy:). But we pulled it off thanks to strategically hiding cars in our garage and way down the street! And of course the misdirection in phone calls and the usual surprise tactics.

David's nieces and nephews made Bday signs to hang up and everyone hid in the kitchen while David came in from work and sang Happy Birthday to him. We all had a very nice dinner together, shot the breeze, and the little ones had fun playing games. I am now a certified musical chair mp3 DJ if anyone is interested.

Since I was off on Friday, I decided to make David a birthday cake. And since my gifts to him were in regard to his guitars, I also decided that it should be a guitar cake. But more on the cake later.

We shoved 26 candles into one poor little moonpie and sang the birthday song to David again and he blew out his candles. His lung capacity is so good we hardly could get a picture. But wow all the smoke from soooo many candles:)! David opened his presents, made out like a bandit, and was pretty much just a happy camper. We had the pleasure of having post-dinner entertainment provided by Jake and Melissa's girls.

When I asked David if he knew we had something planned, he said "I had no idea, but I hoped!" Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband.

Part II-How to Make an Acoustic Guitar "Cake"

Including Backstory and Instructions.

Since I had this guitar brainstorm, I felt the need to follow through. After some online scouting, I didn't like what I was seeing so I took the one good idea I found and made up the rest. I would like to give thanks to google searching for the idea of using wafer cookies as frets, but had to expand the idea to my own liking.

Here's the stuff that you need.

Ingredients

-1 8 inch round cake pan

-1 9 inch round cake pan

-1 cup white granulated sugar

-1 cup Lite Corn Syrup (Karo brand for me)

-1.5 bags of butterscotch chips

-6 cups rice krispies cereal

-1.5 cups creamy peanut butter

-1 container chocolate frosting

-enough margarine or butter to coat the pans

-12 mini-M&Ms (6 brown, 6 yellow)

-30-40 chocolate wafer cookies (Keebler sells the only ones I could find in the right shape and I bought 2 bags)

-6 mini marshmallows

-3 pretzel sticks

-1 double-decker chocolate moonpie

Directions

The Base

1. Generously butter both pans and set aside.

2. In a large pot, mix together corn syrup and sugar stirring constantly until it reaches a rolling boil. Continue to stir for 1 minute and then remove from heat.

3. Quickly stir in peanut butter until it all melts.

4. Rotate pouring the rice krispies and the peanut butter mix into a large bowl and then stir to mix it all together.

5. Butter your hands and/or spoon and transfer mix into your two round cake pans.

6. Let rice krispie treats solidify. You can put in fridge to speed up this process.

Note: I arranged the moonpie into the smaller round pan and left an indention for the bottom of the moonpie in the larger pan like a puzzle piece fitting together. If you don't put the moonpie in at this stage, leave a crescent shaped hole at the top of the larger pan and another at the bottom of the smaller pan for easier molding.

Adding Colors and Decorations

1. Remove the rice krispie treats from the pans and place on a serving platter or tinfoil.

2. The larger pan will serve as the bottom of the guitar and the smaller pan will be the top.

Place the moonpie into the crescent shape hole in between the top and bottom halves. Be sure you are delicate with the moonpie because the coating will come off.

3. Mold the rice krispies with your hands to encircle the moonpie and finish the guitar body shape.

4. Use a water bath or double boiler to melt the butterscotch chips.

5. Use an icing spatula to coat the top of the guitar with the melted butterscotch. Do not cover the moonpie.

6. Adhere 1 wafer cookie in the middle of the bottom circle of the guitar body as shown above. You can use chocolate frosting piped through a ziplock bag by cutting a hole in the corner as a "glue gun".

7. Arrange the other wafer cookies stacked two high side by side from the top of the guitar body. I did about 15 rows to make the neck of the guitar long enough.

8. Break the 3 pretzel sticks in half and press one marshmallow onto one end of each halved pretzel. Use the frosting "glue gun" and press the pretzel sticks into the top three sets of wafer cookies. Use the picture above as a guide. You will need to hold the other wafer cookies in place while you press the pretzel sticks in place to keep them from sliding.

9. Use chocolate frosting to draw the six strings from the wafer cookie on the guitar bottom all the way up to the pretzels and marshmallows. Look at a picture of an actual guitar if you need help.

10. Place a brown M&M for each line/string on the wafer cookie at the bottom of the guitar and a yellow M&M at the top end of each line/string by the pretzel/marshmallow tuners.

11. Use chocolate frosting to cover the side edge of the rice krispies.

It's not as complicated as it sounds. The hardest part really is molding the rice krispies around the moonpie. After that, it's all fun and decorating. For those of you who are familiar with scotcharoos, you can see where I got the variation for the body of the guitar. Special thanks to Evie, my old roommate, for introducing me to scotcharoos several years ago:). Good luck if you decide to try it for yourself. Everyone seemed to be happy with the way it tasted too.

Plastered!

2010-07-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

Apparently "nail pops" are a common phenomenon in newly constructed houses. The contractors give it a meh noise at most. In my head, I imagine all of the nails sliding out of place in the whole house and the roof collapsing the day after my warranty expires.

The builder called his plaster guy to come out today to FIX these "nail pops". And let me just tell you how it is done, ladies and gentleman. Easier than buttering toast, they flop another tiny layer of plaster over top of it and leave the white spots there for you to paint over yourself. And I can still see the nail heads too.

The hard part about working with a general contractor is that they subcontract each tiny piece of the work. Et voila, they can pass the buck. I suppose I could call the contractor to call his paint subcontractor to come and paint the white spots but it would take awhile for that to be arranged and then they would probably glob up the paint and get paint stains on the floor. I can say the painters were nice/smart enough to leave us with small tins of left over paint to match our colors. I see painting in my very near future.

T. Michele Attorney

2010-07-07T23:25:00.001-07:00

That's right, NC! The BAR has been passed. All the worry, hours of studying, and law school years were worth the wait. I am very happy to report that this was on a "once and done" basis. I doubted BARBRI, I doubted my brain, and I was really concerned about that whole out of state law school situation. But that's what happens when you are an analytical, I suppose.

I had a great celebration party with family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers with an Aussie BAR-bie them. The barbecue, not the doll, obviously. Great people, great support.

In a way, I have finally finished what I started and in another, I have only just begun.

It's ALIVE!

2010-07-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

Well, thank you blogger for welcoming me back to the blog-esque world with open arms. My ridiculous hiatus is astounding to me. How does the time go by so fast?

The title of this blog can serve two purposes:

1) Obviously, to account for the fact that I am making an attempt to revive this poor little blog and make something of it. It had been so long in fact that I had to figure out my password. Shameful.

2) Moving on with the posting topics--the spider infestation that is plaguing us at present. Those darn little/not so little creatures are invading our home and we DON'T like it. And they don't like to go down without a fight either.

When we first moved in it was the Black Widows. Mostly we were finding them outside around the rain gutters. Then they were outside between the brick work and the siding. Then, they were inside. Or at least we *felt* like they were inside. And who can blame us. The black widow hides in dark places and is fatally poisonous! Only killed one live one inside. The other that was actually in the house we found dead in the middle of the carpet. Thank you, Ortho Home Defense. But they do like the garage.

So after several hearty rounds of the home defense stuff we haven't seen any more black widows. But now, the brown spiders are apparently trying their luck. I know part of it is that the people in charge of keeping up the pump station lot finally did their job and mowed the trees/grass/weeds/jungle that were taller than i am down next door. And so these stupid spiders think they can just invade our house. And its freaking us out. Generally, I'm not crazy with arachnophobia but when the spiders are brazen enough to stand in your bedroom doorway and stare you down at night, there's a problem. And last night, I lifted a shirt off the floor with the hanger to put away the laundry and when i picked it up there was a huge spider underneath it. Too close for comfort. And under the laundry! Inches from my hands! Now I'm feeling spiders crawling on me and imagining them to be everywhere. I'm wondering if they are on the couch cushions right now.

To the best of our non-entomologist capabilities we think we've identified a few possible culprits. Prepare yourself if you're spider-uncomfortable.

We are, of course, 100% certain on the black widows (thank you hour glass poison indicators). Hobo spiders, wolf spiders, fishing spiders, and funnel web spiders among other smaller varieties. Thankfully, I don't think we've seen any brown recluses in the house. If anyone has any great spider disappearance suggestions, we're accepting any tips.

Here's the scariest picture of all (this is what came up when we searched for spider traps /poison):

How could I reconcile having that creepiness in the house?? And the directions say don't remove any caught spiders because spiders eat spiders so it actually attracts more if you leave them. The wasp spray actually works better than the spider spray in my opinion but it requires a one-by-one "within arm's reach" approach.

Until we can figure out a viable alternative, I will be always with shoes on in the house and refusing to walk around in the dark. I'm not too proud to admit that I crawled *over* David to get in bed last night so that I didn't have to walk around the bedroom in the dark. But I don't want to risk looking like the guy I saw at the doctor's office this week. He had a spider bite on his foot and the whole bottom portion of his leg was swollen to double-size.

This is war!

I'm TERRIBLE at this...

2010-01-29T23:33:00.001-08:00

Must there always be 6 months between posts?

I think I'm going to make this my summer project. I don't have the time to get all hyped up about this now.

But I really must improve.

Kudos to you people who are so much better at this blogging thing.

Charlotte, Concord, Cookout, Court

2009-06-28T22:32:00.000-07:00

After work last Friday I left the big town of Goldsboro and went down to Charlotte for the weekend to see my long lost best friend. It had been over a year and a half since we had seen each other (ridiculous, i know). We took the opportunity to do girly things like shop, talk, and watch a movie or two that our significant others don't have any interest in seeing.

David spent some time with his family this weekend. He got to see his brother while he is in Winston-Salem and see his other bother, sister-in-law, and the nieces and nephew in Garner (the location of our future house--but that's another story and a whim). We're not used to spending days apart so I'll definitely be glad to see him on Tuesday, but we've had a socially productive weekend.

My friend and ate at a great Greek deli on Saturday (i should find the name and help others spread the word). The chicken salad pita and homemade chips were awesome. And the company kept the conversation very, very interesting. I'll just say that some people's lives are a lot more interesting and dramatic than mine. And that is 100% okay with me;).

After lunch we went shopping at Concord Mills. It was a loooooong day of shopping. I needed to get more clothes for work since I mostly had cable knit sweaters. Imagine why those won't work in hot and humid NC. Thanks to the air conditioner at my old job I really did wear long sleeve shirts and sweaters all year round. Express and Ann Taylor Loft were probably the most fruitful patronage decisions. My friend took me out for a late birthday dinner AND i got chocolate dip n'dots. What can i say? I was a happy girl.

We did a little more shopping today (thankful nothing like yesterday) and I introduced my friend and her brother to Panda Express. Orange chicken never disappoints. We also watched Confessions of a Shopaholic. Cute movie. The romantic parts were kind of stupid..seemed more like an afterthought than a substantial plot point, but everything else was good.

Tomorrow I'm going to the office. Time to get a little law back in my life. Sit in on a little court, see some legal beagles in action, and reminisce about the similar situations that will no doubt arise. And tomorrow night we'll have a little cookout before I head back home. I'm excited to meet my friend's boyfriend in person for the first time. And cookouts are always good.

Oh yes! And I have had the wonderful opportunity to spend the weekend with her cute dog, Roxy. She's still in the training stage, but she's a very loving doggie and great to be around. Overall, it's been a great weekend and I'm glad to have had such a gracious host:D. Good friends are hard to come by and so are three day weekends!

The Combined Post: When Strep and the Flu Have a Baby & The Year Valentine's Day Took a Vacation

2009-03-05T21:39:00.000-08:00

So, the next time you think you have strep throat...BeWaRe! You might just have the first day symptoms of the new flu fad. Everyone's getting it! And you can too. I think I caught it from the lovely little children that came into the office a few days before I came down with it. Despite the fact that I know the flu is contagious and I suppose would be considered an epidemic...it still amazes me how quickly it runs around the country. And sometimes repeatedly. It was a horrible 2-3 weeks! Sorry for any of you who end up with it! It does eventually go away. Although the cough and fatigue seem to linger on and on.

Since I didn't leave the house the whole weekend of Valentine's Day, we decided that Valentine's Day would be celebrated the following weekend. And wow! The Valentine's chocolate was soooo much cheaper.;) We didn't really do anything over the top, but we had a great weekend together and enjoyed the time to relax. And we went out to dinner and didn't have to wait for anywhere close to 4 hours for a table.

I got a dozen lovely roses (see above) and etc. etc. on the romantic mushy stuff. Maybe we should celebrate Valentine's Day after the fact every year and reap the benefits of not being on the same time schedule as everyone else in the nation. I'll have to give that some serious thought.

Simple but Useful Recipes

2009-02-01T11:51:00.000-08:00

I'm no superchef Gordon Ramsey wannabe, but here are the two most useful recipes I've come up with in the last little while.

1. The I Hate Traditional Iceberg Lettuce Salad

What you'll need:

-romaine or leaf lettuce

-grilled chicken

-peaches (fresh or sliced canned will work)

-chow mein noodles

-cheddar cheese/american cheese

-citrusy salad dressing

Cut up grilled chicken into cubes. Cut peaches into bite sized squares. I prefer the canned peaches but skip the heavy syrup kind. Put lettuce, chicken, and peaches in bowl. Add handful of chow mein noodles to bowl. Add as much cheese as you like. In a pinch, sliced kraft american cheese works just fine if you cut it into small squares as well;). Add salad dressing and enjoy it! My favorite salad dressing for this is Briahnna's Ginger Mandarin. Enjoy the taste of a salad that doesn't taste like a boring house salad.

2. The Coldbuster Tea

What you'll need:

-one tea bag "Mandarin Orange Spice" from Celestial Seasonings

-honey

-1 cinnamon stick

-1 lemon or concentrated lemon juice

-cayenne pepper powder

-water and 1 mug

Fill mug with warm water. Heat in microwave for 45 seconds. Steep teabag in water. Add 2-3 teaspoons of honey. Add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Add a TINY sprinkle of cayenne pepper. A good way to do this is to use the tip of your pinky finger. Cayenne pepper is supposed to be good for colds and sore throats. Stir with a cinammon stick. Reheat a little longer if necessary. It may not get rid of your cold or strep throat, but it does as much for me as dayquil ever did.

New Year in Pajamas

2009-01-12T13:33:00.000-08:00

We had a very low key new years eve that was very nice and enjoyable! I took the day off work and David didn't have work or school either. We lounged and used the free time for errands. We went out to dinner and read books at barnes and noble during the hour wait for a table. Then, we went back home and watched a few New Years Eve shows on tv. My favorite is Dick Clark's. I think it's great that he was back in Times Square doing his thing this year. After a toast to cranberry juice, we put blankets on and walked to the end of the sidewalk in front of our door and watched the fireworks going off from Provo's 1st night celebration. Great view from the third floor. We also watched the Dark Knight and updated our resumes. We're party animals. What can we say. Here's to 2009-the year we go back to North Carolina!

Merry California Christmas!

2009-01-03T22:53:00.000-08:00

So in a wise decision for the winter-averse, we decided to skip out of Utah for Christmas and head to California. We weren't able to go back to North Carolina for Christmas so we headed off to Rosamond to spend Christmas with my cousin, Billie Jo and her family.

We relaxed a little, watched a few movies, and went into Los Angeles for a day. In LA, we got to experience the wonderful traffic, see a few sights, and enjoy a day without a coat. We went to Grauman's and the Walk of Fame where we saw lots of stars and hand prints and ran into an elvis impersonator and quite a few Jack Sparrow wannabes. We also walked down to West Hollywood to LaBrea where Kat's tattoo shop is from LA Ink. We saw Jim Henson's production company and the High Voltage Tattoo Shop. Kat and the tv crew were not in, but it is a fully operating tattoo place. We opted to remain tattoo-less, but interesting to see nonetheless.After that, we drove in the direction of the beach. We stopped at Venice Beach long enough to snap a quick picture at sunset and drove on to the Santa Monica pier.

We also drove up in the hills to a great park that had a LOT of dogs and a great view of the Hollywood sign with no powerlines in sight! Thank you mapquest.On Christmas Eve, we went to look at Christmas lights and on Christmas Day we had a southern, hawaiian, german Christmas Dinner. Billie Jo's husband, Troy took care of a lot of the meat while Billie Jo and I made southern vegetables and rolled out Chicken pastry by hand. We had a great dinner at their friends home. The hostess is from Germany so she made some German dishes too. We had a great time and were very happy that Billie Jo and Troy were nice enough to let us visit:).

Hope all of you had a great Christmas too!

Pumpkins

2008-11-02T20:23:00.001-08:00

And we carved pumpkins last week too. Have a look at our awesome pumpkin art.

Happy Halloween Eve!

2008-10-31T22:51:00.000-07:00

So what did we do for Halloween? NOTHING. Here are our costumes for Halloween Night:)

I got home from work late and we rented a scary movie, but it was very dumb so we ended up not watching it. It's hard to find a quality scary movie. We actually did buy a little candy for the trick-or-treaters. Luckily we were smart enough not to get a lot because we only had a few kids come by. And by a few I mean like two kids and two adults. It was nice to stay home and take a break. But we did do a few halloween things earlier.

We decided to break bad and actually dress up this year. We decided this about two days ago. There was a multistake activity which expected our appearance and we thought we would set good examples and it would make it easier for us to not stand out if we actually dressed up. So we made this crucial decision about two days ago. We went to Kmart because all of their halloween stuff was supposed to be 50% off, but it was a hectic disaster and the corporate website was not accurate about the store hours. So we decided to come up with our own ideas while roaming around wal-mart. I saw this fuzzy hoodie and decided to be a bear and we found David the stuff to be a stereotypical redneck. I say stereotypical because not everyone who dresses like that is a redneck;) and not every redneck dresses like that.

And then to make it all couple-like we made a little bullseye with a scope sighting mark on it. Don't worry animal rights activists! David wouldn't shoot me (or any other bear for that matter)

For my bear costume, I found that fuzzy shirt, some fuzzy pants and even some fuzzy shoes believe it or not. I got a headband and rolled some pipecleaners to make the ears and then I painted my face myself. Note to self: creme make up is NOT the way to go. It never dries and smears like crazy if you get any where near it. But it was fun to paint on.

David found some perfect clothes for his hunter attire although he did really want a racing shirt to make it more authentic. He borrow a belt buckle from someone that had a hammer and a saw on it.

It was fun to do something out of the norm. We painted sugar cookies, saw a lot of very cool costumes and David even helped judge the costume contest. Some of the most interesting ones were the whole troup from the Wizard of Oz, a group of roommate troll dolls, Ron Howard, Uncle Sam, an APX alarm salesman, and Mario and the Princess. We went to panda express after we left the activity because donuts and sugar cookies were not for us. One of the ladies asked me if I wanted to work there since I was dressed up as a bear. It was a fun night.

Here's a picture of me painting my self portrait with chocolate frosting

Happy Halloween!

Unthawing Assets

2008-10-07T11:25:00.001-07:00

So here's the follow up to our frozen asset challenge. We DID IT! With the exception of one tank of gas at the beginning of the two weeks (and the automatic deductions for bills of course) we didn't spend any money for two weeks. I actually feel really accomplished. It's so hard to work all the time and then just tuck what little money you have left away. I'll be really glad when I don't have these hefty student loan payments to make any more. What a burden that will be lifted from our shoulders.

We actually made it a couple days past our goal before we made any extra purchases and I might add that we have been doing really well finding uses for the things in the cabinet that we have not been eating before restocking at the grocery store.

My two biggest accomplishments were a thai noodle dish and a tomato/macaroni baked casserole. Just in those two meals I used the following things that we had just waiting around without having to go buy a single extra thing..it did require some substitutions, but I can be creative when I want to be:)--
pineapples, peanut butter, spaghetti noodles, soy sauce, chicken broth, crushed red pepper, garlic, onion powder, macaroni shells, two cans of condensed tomato soup, and shredded cheese. If I remember, I'll try to put the recipes here too.

Yay for meeting goals!

General Conference

2008-10-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday we were able to go see the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference. We decided that since we had the opportunity to go, we should take it! We won't have many more opportunities to be here around conference time. The weather was very dreary and I'm not sure I've ever seen it rain so much at one time here. But once the driving was over and we were safe and warm inside, we were very glad we went. It's so great to be able to hear the words of our church leaders. There were so many wonderful things said. And David is especially glad about the announcement that there will be a temple built in Roma!

Here are some pictures we took in the rain while we waited for traffic to die down a little.

That's inside the conference center with the cute primary choir! The kids who noticed the cameraman and then tried to act "natural" were the cutest.

That's us outside the conference center. We're laughing because David just tossed the umbrella behind us right before the picture was taken. I do wish I hadn't taken the time to straighten my hair the one day it rained in the desert. And here are some pictures of the temple.

Frozen Assets

2008-09-24T14:33:00.000-07:00

David and I have made a goal not to spend any money for two weeks. Don't worry. We're not doing this for distribution of assets for those who know anything about divorce! Recently, we had to pay some lovely little medical bills that diminished our monetary reserves and doled out tuition for the semester without a single loan thank you very much!

Since everything hit us all at once, we've decided to go on a NO spending spree for two weeks. For some of you it might sound really easy--maybe you're great savers and don't spend much money. And for some of you with an affinity for shopping it probably seems absolutely impossible!:) So we're foregoing our indulgences and being thrifty. Here are some of the things I have thought about purchasing so far:
-a necklace
-a jolly rancher soda (just to see what the heck it tasted like)
-tickets to the zoo
-a soda
-an infomercial dvd
-a book someone recommended to me
-a redbox rental to watch while david was at school doing homework
-golden grahams
-a puppy
-a flower pot
-an aloe vera plant
-food and eating out a million times-that's what we usually do on the weekend as our "date"
-birthday card...
-a house
-a hot tub

Obviously I wouldn't buy all these things even if we were spending money for lots of reasons, but I think not spending any at all does make me think about it more!

Of course we won't know exactly how much money we saved since there's no absolute way to know how much we would have spent, but I am 100% sure we'll be better off for denying ourselves for a few weeks. We started this last Tuesday, so we're already 1 week in and we've done great so far! Not one slip up. I did have to put gas in the car the day after we started to try and make it last until next week. But I did shop around and go to the cheapest gas station I could find that day:).

It does take a little strain off of us and makes us feel like we've accomplished a little something. And with the state of the economy and the payments we have to make every month, I think we're doing a great job! I'll try to remember to post again next week at the end of our goal to see if we did it. Stay tuned.

Ready or Not! Here it comes.

2008-08-31T23:48:00.001-07:00

Well, it's that time of year again. The fall semester starts on Tuesday. This year David is going to have a crazy schedule. He'll be teaching an Italian 102 class at BYU. He'll still be working at the library for a few hours, but the bulk of his work time will be preparing lessons, helping students, and grading exams. The only English he'll be speaking is to talk about the syllabus and then it's all italian from there on out for the rest of the semester! Along with teaching classes, he'll have his own classes to attend too. There are some generals left to knock out of the way and a few Italian classes too. It's going to be a busy semester for him, but luckily he is great at being prepared. He may have to brush up on his English after so much Italian!

The Life of a Shoe

2008-08-23T23:09:00.000-07:00

It's been a long road for some inanimate friends of mine. I've had this pair of black shoes forever. I got them so long ago..I don't even remember when. Maybe my sister could remember. She gave them to me. My best guess is that it was about 7 years ago (estimating like 50 years in shoe years).

The shoes were the target brand, not very expensive, not seemingly amazing in any way. But they were the best dress shoes I've ever had. They've been around the world with me. I was super thankful for them in Sydney when I had to walk 30 minutes or so to work and pretty much every where else. They're not super cute, but they are functional. When you're a working girl on the go? Functional is muy importante. Try wearing cutesy high heels trombing through undeveloped land to hunt down real estate signs. The owners might appreciate your lame attempts at aeration, but it's not fun.

They've been wearing out more and more lately and about a year ago I actually started looking for a replacement pair. No luck. No luck at all. So I've been pretending that they aren't hideous and way worn out. Perhaps I should be embarassed about it, but I held on to them as long as I could. However, even I can deny it for so long.

They don't look so bad from a distance. But up close you can tell they've had it.The sole on the back of the heal started coming off, the straps started fraying and one of them even broke completely. When that happened, I revamped my efforts to find a new pair and came home very discouraged. So..I made due with a lovely little office supply.

When the material came apart from the sole, I just couldn't handle it. That whole socks poking out of the shoe thing just really didn't work for me. So I had to retire them that day.

Might sound silly to be so attached to shoes, but they've served me well. I've been spared a lot of pain, blisters, and cramps thanks to these shoes. It'll be hard for me to throw them away. Who knew it was so hard to find a shoe with the strap in the right place. I have small heals so shoes won't stay on the back of my feet without a strap. And those straps at the very front of the shoe really serve no purpose I've discovered. And the pump version just isn't the same. Goodbye, little shoes.

Destination Coasters

2008-08-19T22:34:00.000-07:00

I love painting pottery! It makes me feel artistic. For my birthday back in June, David took me to Color Me Mine in Provo and I chose this coaster set to paint. Since it was a surprise, and I am oh so indecisive, it took me awhile to come up with an idea. I saw the coaster holder and thought of those longitude maps and the idea was born! Painstakingly I drew all the continents by hand and it actually turned out pretty well!

Here's all I had time to finish the first night. This is the Pacific Ocean side. Use your imagination and you can see Australia there, China, Japan, and a little bit of New Zealand:). (Note: Map not drawn to scale)

I decided to take the coasters home and draw them out first so I didn't have to pay to draw them. I asked the lady working if I could finish my piece later and she said sure. They have been sitting in the bag next to our entertainment center for about two months now. Just as blank as they were when I bought them. I knew I wanted to paint significant landmarks from places I have actually been but had a hard time deciding which ones. Friday night I decided to get started and actually drew all the coasters in one sitting. So guess what we did on Saturday??

You guessed it. We painted the coasters! And because of the way the girl wrote out the instructions for me to finish my piece, I got to finish it all without paying another studio fee! Basically a free date! David helped me paint the Eiffel Tower and I finished the rest. He did an excellent job with the detail on the support beams. I always wait in anticipation to see what the piece will look like after it's fired. I hope for the best, but expect the worst. As those of you who have dabbled in this know, it doesn't always look the same after the kiln as it does before. But I couldn't be happier with the results! I'm glad to find my teeny, tiny artistic niche. (And I must admit I was a little proud when the girl at the store told me how great they turned out when she handed me the bag).

Here's the whole set. Extra points if you can pinpoint your hometown!

#1 The Sydney Opera House

#2 The Eiffel Tower

#3 The Pyramids of Giza

#4 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

If you've never been before and you're looking for something different to do, I totally recommend painting pottery. If you do a little research beforehand, you can usually find a good deal and they have small pieces if you don't want to spend a lot of money. It's not as a cheap as a dollar movie for sure but you have priceless treasures you can take home with you ;o). You can make reservations or walk in. They have a buy one, get one deal every weekend and they usually play relaxing music. Only bad thing is that apparently now, (at least at the Provo location) they make you buy your own puff paint.

Our Gymnastics Picks

2008-08-18T20:24:00.001-07:00

We've been enjoying watching the Olympics in Beijing this past week. David has taken a particular liking to the swimming competitions and Michele found that she enjoys watching beach volleyball. We were also intrigued by the synchronized diving competitions and the trampoline tumbling. Who knew that kids were practicing an olympic sport with those in ground trampolines around here...

Our favorite thing to watch is the women's gymnastics though. We were excited when USA won gold and silver--despite some of the very interesting scores from the judges who couldn't hang up their telephones! Here are our picks even after everything that's gone down.

Michele's pick: Shawn Johnson

She may have won silver, but she is so amazing at everything. Definitely best all around! She seems to handle it all in stride, performs as well for the team as for herself, and makes it all look easy and fun! Nastia's unbelievably talented too. Everything looks so graceful and even her dad has to be impressed!

David's pick: Nastia Liukin

Well, basically because she's a cutie! There you have it. Words from the expert!

Yay, USA! It was hard to watch the floor routines in the qualifying rounds and the falls! But things got better from there. And watching Bela Karolyi added an entertaining part to the studio segments. He's so animated! All the Athletes are amazing and USA seems to be doing a great job in many of the competitions. Rock on Beijing 2008!

The Egypt Scrapbook

2008-08-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

I have a little sense of accomplishment over this one. I actually finished our Egypt scrapbook! It's not one of those fancy one picture per page ones that wins awards, but I'm proud of it:). Considering the last scrapbook I did was right after high school, I can hardly believe I did it myself.

I collected a lot of little "memorabilia" while we were on our trip, so we have some cool stuff in there. We have some Egyptian money, a cheeto advertisement in Arabic, one of the roses they gave us for being on our honeymoon, and other things of a similar sort. We even have a piece of paper money from Qatar. David picked that up from the grouchy woman who guarded the bathrooms at the Valley of the Kings. Note to future tourists: take the travel size charmin with you. I was very glad I did! Here are some of the pages I included.

The Picture on the right is my name in hieroglyphics. The little lady at the bottom indicates that I'm a woman. Our tourguide Hanaan did one for both of us.

Bang, bang baby. Crash, crash, crash.

2008-07-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

So, it was a more exciting trip home from the airport this time, unfortunately. I had to go on a business trip down to vegas this week. I got to come home on Thursday night and David picked me up from the airport. About twenty minutes after we left the airport, we were coming around a big curve where SR 80 merges onto I-15. I turned to tell David that the eighteen wheelers all around us made me nervous, but I didn't get that far. That's when I saw the car coming at us diagonally just before she hit us. No time to say anything or brace myself. Perhaps luckily David didn't see her coming. She slammed into the back right corner of the car causing us to spin.

David did a really great job. I guess his Mario Andretti skills set in and he was able to control the car enough that we didn't run into either of the concrete walls. We were headed straight for one when she first hit us. In the process, she hit us again too. When the car stopped we were backwards in the lane facing two semi-trucks. While David was pulling over onto the left shoulder since that was the quickest way to get out of traffic, the woman rolled down her window and pulled onto the far right shoulder. She said "oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Are you alright? I'm so sorry I lost control of my car." By the time we could check and make sure we were all still attached she was gone. I did think to get her license plate number--only it was about 5 seconds too late.

So we called the police and had them write the report. Of course they won't find her. But at least the police report makes it known that it was no fault of ours. I'm sure she was going too fast around the curve and lost control of her car because she is a crappy driver and a crappy person. It's hard for some people to take responsibility for their actions I guess. So we get stuck with the bill.

But, in all honesty--I cannot complain. I may have lost a little faith in mankind but I gained even more in the power of the Lord. We are extremely fortunate. She hit us twice going 60mph or so. We didn't hit any walls, no other cars ran into each other. I have some soft tissue damage in my neck where I was turned to the side and then back when I saw her out of the corner of my eye when she hit us. David has a scrape on his knuckle. Logically, it makes no sense how those big trucks stopped so fast and if they hadn't they would have hit us head on. I can tell you exactly what the driver looked like and what he was wearing we were so close to him when we all stopped. The back bumper of our car is detached and the rear axle might be a little crooked, but so far that's the only damage we've seen to it. Amazing? Absolutely.

The doctor said my neck should be better in a couple of weeks and David's knuckle is healing already. I still drove to work yesterday on my gimpy little car and I wasn't traumatized to do it. We are so thankful that we are being looked out for. In the long run, the money thing will work itself out. I guess that's what uninsured motorists insurance is for.

"Don't Forget to Remember Me" Songs of Life

2008-07-05T00:16:00.000-07:00

I know that I am kind of dorky because I see life in song lyrics. They don't always fit perfectly, but sometimes they come pretty close. I love this Carrie Underwood song. It's so real life it's almost tangible for me.

The first verse of this song totally reminds me of my mom. My poor mom! She got as used to it as she could. I took off so many times. My mom drove me to college when I went to Western (and my dad helped me bring my stuff up later) for the first time. That was almost seven years ago. I think she must have tried very hard not to let on to all that emotional stuff. I wasn't much for that sort of thing at the time. I think it wasn't really until much later that I realized that she missed me when I was gone. My own oblivion rather than her negligence I must admit. When I went to Australia a few years ago to work for awhile, she said I would finally have to start coming back closer to home because I couldn't get any farther than the other side of the earth.

I'm very thankful for my mom. She's been very supportive of everything. She taught me how to be selfless. I think my desire to be completely compassionate stems from her. I know that no matter what time I call, no matter how small, she will do her best to listen and do anything she can to help me. My mom's faith is immovable and absolutely amazing. It's helped me refocus spiritually and keep things in perspective over the years. I'm glad my mom is my friend and such a good example in so many ways.

The rest of the song follows in regular familiar acknowledgement. I'm thankful for the way music can give words to feelings we might have but aren't necessarily eloquent enough to share or even vocalize period. But I'm waxing philosophical here. Here's the song.

"Don't Forget To Remember Me"

18 years have come and gone
For momma they flew by
But for me they drug on and on
We were loading up that Chevy
Both tryin' not to cry
Momma kept on talking
Putting off good-bye
Then she took my hand and said
'Baby don't forget
Before you hit the highway
You better stop for gas
There's a 50 in the ashtray
In case you run short on cash
Here's a map and here's a Bible
If you ever lose your way
Just one more thing before you leave
Don't forget to remember me'

This downtown apartment
sure makes me miss home
And those bills there on the counter
Keep telling me I'm on my own
And just like every Sunday
I called momma up last night
And even when it's not,
I tell her everything's alright
Before we hung up I said
'Hey momma, don't forget
to tell my baby sister
I'll see her in the fall
And tell mee-ma that I miss her
Yeah, I should give her a call
And make sure you tell Daddy
that I'm still his little girl
Yeah, I still feel like
I'm where I'm supposed to be
But don't forget to remember me'

Tonight I find myself
kneeling by the bed to pray
I haven't done this in a while
So I don't know what to say but
'Lord I feel so small sometimes in this big ol' place
Yeah, I know there are more important things,
But don't forget to remember me
But don't forget to remember me'

The Half-time Update, a little bit of everything.

2008-07-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else absolutely amazed that it is July already? Our blog is already collecting dust. Here's an attempt to update you on our quaint little lives. It could be a long one.

We've been married for more than a year now! If the first year is the hardest, marriage is going to be fabulous:). We're sure it won't all be fluff and sunshine all the time, but we still love each other as much as ever and have battled the rough times without too many dings. For our anniversary, Michele got a much needed long weekend off of work and we went down to Zions National Park. We experienced all different levels of living staying in an economotel one night, camping with our awesome camping equipment (thanks Corey and Jennie!) and staying in a nice bed and breakfast. David shows off the tent below in all its glory.

We actually did a lot of exercising that was enjoyable. We didn't try Angel's Landing though. We have desk jobs after all! Southern Utah is very beautiful. We weren't thrilled when the power to the only restaurants and grocery stores went out. But it came back on in time to get some fish for the grill anyway. We saw a lot of wildlife too. The squirrel population is thriving! The snake population isn't doing too bad either. Just kidding about the first picture! Here's the longest snake we saw on our trip. There was another one that looked more dangerous. Of course the dangerous one is the one that snuck up on us, but he slithered away in fear when he saw how menacing we were (or maybe it was just comparatively how large we were and there only happened to be one of him...)

After hiking and 'roughing it' we went down to Kanab and had a nice time in the little town. We got one of their nice suites and the bed and breakfast with an in-room jacuzzi tub and a monster king size bed. They even cooked our breakfast how we wanted and as much as we wanted in their fancy victorian kitchen and let us check out late.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After that little trip it was back to the usual work, work, work. Since then we have had a few noteable things. David has become the second counselor in a single's ward bishopric at BYU. It's an interesting experience for the both of us and we're sure it's good training for leadership positions. He especially likes it when he has to conduct:). He's learning quickly and we are both enjoying getting to know everyone in the ward. We even had a third of the ward over into our little apartment for FHE. Talk about a squeeze. We're sure our neighbors loved us for that one! While perhaps not safely, we now know we can fit at least 20-25 people in the living room of our apartment.

Michele got a much needed (and might we say well deserved without being too presumptuous) raise at work recently! We are very excited about that and look forward to putting that money towards paying off the law school endeavor and our car as rapidly as possible. We are still managing to save for David's tuition and Michele's BAR fund. BAR as in the exam of course, just to clarify that she's not running up a tab for O'Douls and such. In other awesome news, we just found out that David is getting a scholarship this year! It was completely unexpected and we are very excited! Financial aid is hard to come by and it's even better when there is nothing to pay back. We're very thankful for such blessings.

David has taken up a renewed love for jogging and soccer. He found a great way to use a bike pump to keep his soccer ball in shape and is dedicated enough to jog several times a week. Michele enjoys the walks but doesn't care much for the running part of jogging. Michele is trying to find a hobby so that the days don't keep melting together from one work day to the next. She might start drawing again, but wasn't really ever fantastic at that in the first place. Oh, to be artistic. Here's the first shot since freshman year of undergrad. I can put it up since the quality of the picture isn't good enough to see the detail anyway;). We'll see if it works out.

We have both developed a new found love of reading things just for fun. David has taken a liking to real estate investment books and learning about the contract and inspection process. He's learning quite a bit of useful information and may like it enough to be his own general contractor. Michele isn't learning so much as reading for the leisure of it. She's reading any substantial literature she can get her hands on and has a waiting list as well. She recently finished The Fountainhead (which was very fascinating, see the review on facebook) and Atlas Shrugged and Anthem are waiting in the wings. Reading Jane Eyre just prior to that gave her an interest in other books about the same characters albeit from different authors. She is currently reading Thornfield Hall by Emma Tennant. It is part of the Jane Eyre story from the perspective of Adele, the little french girl Jane is the governess for. We like to read together--as in reading at the same time, but not reading the same things. It's good quality time! More later!

Mechanics

2008-05-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we've pretty much had it with the mechanics around here. They suck. Really, really suck. Not only do they overcharge you and try to screw you in every way possible, they don't even do a decent job.

A few months back we had the brakes changed (for the second time) on our car. Well, we decided to do a comprehensive check on the car today. And guess what they told us...they said who ever fixed our brakes stripped the spindle and the screw on the back tires. Which was causing the back tire to be completely unstable. Apparently there was some wobbling going on. And then what are our choices? Money back?? Heck, no. It's go back to the crap hole they call a car repair shop and hope they honor the warranty. Do they honor the warranty? Not completely. It's such a rock/hard place situation. You either pay hundreds more to have some other person fix the car or you go back to the idiots who obviously couldn't do their job properly if their own life depended on it.

Then, they try to blame the mechanic who found the problem for their mistakes. We were uncomfortable going to them after our last experience any way and that's why we didn't go there for the comprehensive check anyway. So now, we have to entrust our lives to those guys we didn't trust to start with.

We're so ticked off that they put our life in danger because they don't learn how to do our job properly. We have specifically requested that one of their mechanics not work on our car (because he is so brilliant he can't even remember to put the oil cap back on after changing the oil in the car), but he's the same one every time. Probably because he's the best (or the only) one they've got. Which is sad, sad, sad.

So tomorrow we'll go back and pick up our car and probably take it to another mechanic straight away to make sure they haven't royally screwed anything up. And they are making us pay for the part since we can't "prove" they are the ones who stripped the part. And we'll just have to hope that the other mechanics don't lie or screw us over. Why can't people just do their jobs? And why can't people be honest?

We've probably been to about 5 different mechanics since we've been here for different things and I don't trust a single one of them. The guys we went to today may be the best of the bunch. At least they can recognize when there *is* a problem. i guess we'll just have to hope for the best and be thankful the tire didn't fall off the car while we were driving down the road.

The Basic Update

2008-05-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our little corner of the world. We decided to give a basic update for anyone who might happen not to know. Then we can refer our family, friends, and those random people you see in wal-mart here to avoid small talk redundancy!

We got married last year. May 12, 2007. We've been married almost a year now and neither of us could really tell you where the time has gone. Married life treats us both pretty well. Maybe a little too well sometimes. We currently live in Provo, Utah while David finishes school with his Italian and Business degree. When he's not throwing around fancy Italian verbiage, he works on campus as a database specialist. If you've ever written a report and used an online database to help do the research, its thanks to people like him. Since graduating from law school, Michele is working at a real estate brokerage handling contracts and clients as a transaction coordinator (and catchall employee of the month!) She's learned more about the mortgage and investment industries than she could ever imagine.

When David graduates in April, 2009, we will be returning to the east coast--which both of us are very happy about. We're planning on heading back to North Carolina, but some of that will depend on where we get employment. Utah has its good and bad points, but it doesn't feel like home to either of us. Landlocked and winterized just didn't sit well enough. But we still hope to see a little more of the west before we get out of here.

We work a lot, so that takes up most of our time. Overtime pay certainly does help pay the student loan bills though. We enjoy the weekends a lot. There are tons of parks around here and even a little area where people sell puppies every weekend (which Michele enjoys visiting as often as possible). We've become Scrabble aficionados and have progressed to making 6 or 7 letter words on occasion. We're also reality tv music critics. But we try to be fair! We're excited for summer--mainly because that means winter is over.

Well, that's the watered down, generic version.

The World of Fads.

2008-05-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

Well, we thought we'd try this. At least start it I guess. Not that we'll keep it up of course, but the attempt counts for something. Our lives aren't profoundly interesting, but this might be helpful if you happen to be interested. So read on friends! If there is anything more to read;).