2009 - oh so cliche

When I was at the bank today writing the date I realized that this was most likely the last time I would write 2008 in 2008. It makes me a little sad. The older I get the faster time seems to go, I'm not sure I'm ready for 2008 to leave.

But as I look to the next year I can't help but think of what I would like to accomplish in it, even though I am not the biggest resolution maker, these are a few things I'd like to be better at in the next year:

- Save more money
- Pay off more debt/ stay on budget
- Look more put together on a consistent basis
- Feel secure in my job/ get promoted
- Do the laundry, grocery shop, and clean more regularly and on a schedule
- Spend more time with family
- Meet new people
- Hug Jeff more often
- family prayer/ FHE/ scripture study more regularly
- Be strong (physically and emotionally)

Looks like I need a blackberry or something for the next year. Everything seems to correlate with being on a more regulated schedule and not being lazy, the struggle of my life.

It's Christmas Time in the City

THANKS SNOW!

What a better way to get into the Christmas spirit than snow? Driving home and playing in the snow last night I was so giddy and kept giggling. It was so much fun. Who knew I missed snow so much?

I hope everyone was safe - and I hope everyone had as much fun as I did.

HURRAY SNOW!!

The colleges in Nevada suck!

I am trying to register for one measly spring semester class. I don't want to be an admitted student, I just want to take one class. While I was trying to register for this class at any of the 3 colleges or universities in Las Vegas it became apparent to me that they could care less if I ever registered or if they answered a freakin' phone during business hours.

I'm not saying I need to be handled with knit gloves, but isn't the higher education system in Nevada suffering? Don't you think they would want the nearly $500 it cost for a student like me to take one freakin' class? I will be a great student at whatever college I eventually can register at but who knows if I will ever be able to or if I can. There are so many hoops and requirements and FEES to just try and register for one class - all before I know if the class I want is even still open. It is ridiculous!!! Sorry for the rant but I just had to get it out. Even navigating their websites is a mess. I went to little SUU - not a huge school - and registration with them was much simpler and achievable. Maybe that is why I chose to go out of state and pay for part of it rather than go to school for free in Las Vegas.

I'm being a Grinch

I feel a bit like the Grinch this year. Since this year most of our extra cash will be going towards paint and flooring for the house, we don't have much mula for Christmas presents. For me, one of my favorite things about Christmas is thinking about the most creative and thoughtful gifts I can give someone. When you have low spending limits per person though, sometimes great gift ideas can get too pricey. Plus, we don't have much time to think about Christmas this year because we have multiple things going on all at once.

I've been listening to my Holiday mix in my car, I went over to help the in-laws decorate their Christmas tree, and Jeff and I are even playing Joseph and Mary at our ward Christmas dinner, but it still doesn't feel like Christmas. What are some of the best ways to get into the Christmas spirit?

Condhouse

When I spent a summer in Hawaii I loved that everyone had names for their houses. Everyone knew the names of the houses so it was easy to give directions or tell someone where a party was at. I lived in the "junkyard house" - named because the owners lived in the garage and kept a lot of weird trash-like things in the front yard. Not the best name, but it wasn't the best house.

So, I have wanted to continue the house naming tradition here on the mainland as well. Even if no one knows the name of our house I love giving things nicknames, and of course Jeff is the king of nickname giving, so it only seems right for our house to have a name.

Jeff and I were discussing possible names and of course he came up with the perfect one. We feel like even though the house is a SFR it feels more like a town home or a condo because of the 1 car garage and close proximity to the neighbors. We decided that the houses name should be "Condhouse," not quite a condo, not quite a house. We were thinking of other names that refered to the mud color of stucco or it's foreclosure status, but this seemed to be the right one.

I realize that I name almost everything, my cars, furniture, strangers, etc. I think humans as a whole have an obsession with labeling and naming everything. For example, the skin on the human elbow is named the wenis, why does the skin on the elbow need a name? Or for that matter a car? But I know I will continue to name things and find strange pleasure in it.

Stamps

Now that Jeff and I know where we are going to be living for the next 3-5 years I am thinking of getting an address stamp. I've seen them on a couple of websites and think it is a great alternative to the address stickers. Has anyone purchased one before or had any experiences with any sellers of these stamps or have any recommendations? Are there ever any issues with return services or anything? Below is an example of one I liked on Etsy.

I want to get it before Christmas so all of our Christmas cards can go out with a cute stamped address.

OUR HOUSE

This is our new pad. We will be moving in about a month to our newly purchased house. I must say it was not our first choice, we were out bid by cash investors on some great properties, but we are excited to have a place of our own. HURRAY!

CAMPING

Over the Halloween weekend we went to Carpinteria CA, just South of Santa Barbara, and camped with Jeff's family. We had an amazing time! It rained a lot all weekend but we still managed to have fun. The camp site was right on the beach so we spent our time boogie boarding, looking at tide pools, reading, and watching the sunset. It was so nice to just sit back and relax, I don't think we wanted to come home. We also went to visit a Mission up in Santa Barbara and walked the grounds there. When we go on vacations like this I always wonder why I live in a desert?




While we were there we got good news, our offer on a house has been accepted!! Looks like we will be home owners by the end of the year.

About to be Homless

So, we did not get the first house that we put an offer in for, or the next couple of houses we put an offer in for, but we put an offer in on a house this weekend that is great. I am really excited and hope that everything works out with this offer, for once. It is in a great neighborhood, and will need little work to fix it all up. But, with foreclosers taking at least 45 days to process and close, it is now evident that Jeff and I will indeed be homeless for a while. Not really of course, we will stay with parents for a bit, but we will not have a place of our own for a period of time.

As much as I hate our apartment and the scary people who live there and break into cars and stuff, I am going to miss our own space. How does living with your parents work when you are married? Can I still cook our own dinners or do I just help my mom cook what she is having for dinner? Will we have to set days to do our laundry? Hopefully, it wont be for long, and we wont impose too much.

Strangely, I'm also really going to miss living in the first place that Jeff and I lived together as a married couple. No matter how gross, or dark, or scary, it was our home. I loved the time I got to spend with Jeff inside those walls over the last year. This next chapter of home-hood will hopefully be even better. I am grabbing boxes from work and starting to pack tonight.

AHHHH This stinks!

I just found out 2 more offers were put in on the house. We won't know till Tuesday afternoon if we got it or not. All this waiting is killing me. Crossed fingers and prayers are needed.

CATCH UP

It has been a fun last couple of weeks. We went up to Cedar City, UT for my Cousins farewell, which also happened to be on mine and Jeff's anniversary weekend. We managed to get a little alone time in, we took a walk in the park and ate at my favorite restaurant in Cedar from my college days.

He is so cute. I just love him.

His favorite part of my beloved Cedar City is this hilarious sign at Evans Cosmetology school. He laughed so hard when he saw it, he made me stop so he could take pictures. He is a dork!

It was also so much fun to spend time with all my family. We had a good time. My grandmother pictured below is so beautiful. I hope I take after her. I am blessed with two wonderful, beautiful grandmothers.

Then, on the 8th, it was Jeff's Birthday. He is a few months younger than I am so I'm always glad when he finally turns the same age as me, then he can't tease me about being old anymore. I made his favorite jello cake.

I got him an electric violin, I was so glad he liked it! I love listening to him play so it was sort of a gift for me, but he really needed his own violin too. We went over to his parents and all the family in town came for a traditional Bame B-day.

This weekend we just spent relaxing, so I decided to bake my first pie. I made an apple pie from scratch. I'm still too scared to taste it but I hope it turned out alright. I don't have things like a rolling pin or an apple corer so I just made due.

We put an offer in on a house this week so I needed something to occupy my mind. We are still waiting to hear if the bank is going to accept our offer but I can't help decorating the house and planning in my head. I needed a distraction and pie is always a good distraction!

Tonight we are going to see We are Scientist and Kings of Leon so that will be a good distraction too! The tickets were part of my anniversary present for Jeff. We are Scientist was the show we saw on our first date years ago. Since it was the paper anniversary I gave him the concert tickets, a scrap book of him when he was little, and cuff links made from vintage typewriter keys. It was all paper themed.

Keep your fingers crossed for us on the house!

1 year later . . .

During the last year of marriage I have found that a lot of little things about me have changed that I never expected to. I am much less independent than I have ever been before. Being single for 25 years, I was use to doing things on my own. But now, as my sister says, I am whooped - hard core. I have compiled a little list of things that are different since we were married almost a year ago.

1. I fully expect to never take out my trash again.

2. I was once someone who assembled my IKEA and Target furniture all by myself without any electric power tools. Now, when we buy new furniture I get Jeff his bag of electric tools and tell him to have at it.

3. I use to sprawl out and take up my whole queen sized bed. Now, I can't go to bed without Jeff snuggling up next to me.

4. I watch sports.

5. I don't take time to read my phone, computer, or TV manuals anymore, I just have Jeff show me how to do it.

6. If Jeff works on the weekend, I have no idea how to occupy my time. This is where my nesting projects come in handy.

7. I feel my heart sink a little every time I see a little kid. I can barely wait to have kids, be a mother, and see what a wonderful dad Jeff is going to be.

8. We go out less, I read more.

9. I cook.

10. I don't bother searching for new music or bands that I might like, I just have Jeff upload new play lists of bands HE thinks I might like onto my ipod. (I've actually found a lot more and better music this way).

Basically, what a lot of this list says about me is that I have become useless and lazy since getting married. With that aside, I love being married, and maybe it isn't such a bad thing to rely on someone else to do certain things. I really do feel like we work as a team very well. I can't imagine being single again living day to day without him. I loved being single, I loved being independent, but I love him A LOT more. Lets just hope I do eventually get off my butt and take out the trash myself!

Projects

So I've been doing a couple projects to keep myself busy lately - I'm still nesting. Here are couple of my favorites from the last couple months-

We needed storage in our office/guest/garage room. It is a room with many purposes and requires storage. So this is an old target dresser that I wasn't using anymore, being from Target, it was cheap and the drawers broke after just a year. So I decided to turn

it into shelves.

I painted the inside that same color I painted my old 50's school desk and stapled some Old Navy wrapping paper to the back. I had the paint on hand and the wood was maybe $10- and I kept myself entertained for an hour or two.

I put our record player,

some records and bins for

Jeff's school stuff. Not the

cutest thing in the world but it

works and it was cheap.

These curtains and pillow were my favorite project though. I made these for Heather's Birthday. The yellow matches her couch perfectly! The gray on the sides match her kitchen.

I am such a bad seamstress; every time I make something for someone else I swear that I will not put my sewing inefficiencies on other people and masquerade them as gifts. I conclude though that I can't help it.

I like to make things with my hands, no matter how they turn out. I think it is a sickness. I guess we will see if Heather actually ends up hanging them up, even with all the mistakes. I did have fun though, The two curtains and pillow just took a couple days after work and a Sat. morning. I only stressed out once (when I made a big mistake that could not be fixed) but I hope I hide it well. Next time I will be sewing for myself though.

Scavenger

My favorite blog Apartment Therapy has this post called "Scavenger" where they showcase super neat furniture finds from Craigslist. I drool over all the great things they find in places like Chicago, New York, San Francisco and LA. About a week or so ago in LA they showed a Crate and Barrel Petrie Sofa, in a perfect color for my house, for get this - $500. That is such a great deal considering the store price is $1500! Things like this make me drool all over my desk at work and make me wish I live in a real metropolitan city.

I thought to myself today, after looking at a great danish styled mid century modern kitchen table - maybe, just maybe, Las Vegas has some hidden treasures. So I went on a "Scavenger" hunt of my own on our local Craigslist site. I often check Craigslist for little things I think I need, but never really look with the idea that I could decorate my whole home with this stuff. Today, while searching for random things, I found some really neat stuff.

This sofa was found when I searched for "antiques." True, it is kind of out there, but I'd love an old piece like this to put in like a casual basement type rec/play room someday. It is just fun and makes me grin. But priced at the same $$ as my beloved Petrie sofa it doesn't seem like that great of a deal.
Seriously, how fun would these be? The couch and chairs are gross, and probably smell like smoke since this set came from a Casino Furniture Liquidator, But the yellow coffee table and side tables are adorable. They have good lines too so if bright yellow isn't your thing you could just spray paint them a high gloss white. Not bad. The whole lot is $250, but I'm sure just the tables alone couldn't be that expensive.
This lamp is kinda cool - and at $10 it is a deal. Just that large of a round shade would be 3x that much at Target.
The last is my FAVORITE! Seriously a rare find in Las Vegas. An actual Eames Atomic Chair. A perfect chair for the atomic testing valley. If I knew how, I would snatch this up and re- upholster it like that. This chair is just $175. It was posted last week so I'm sure it is gone. I guess I should do random searches like this more often.

These finds might not be as great as the ones featured on the Blog but I was pretty impressed with what little Las Vegas had to offer. I'd still really love to live in real city like San Fransisco though. . .

I LOVE being sick

Okay, so I know the title of this blog seems very unlikely but it is true. For the last couple of weeks I have been feeling a little crummy. At first I did what all of us do, blamed it on not getting enough sleep, to what I ate that day, whatever my excuse I just powered through, kept working and even went on vacation. Finally, last Wednesday I was at work FREEZING, a fever had finally caught me. I was just too worn down so I decided to go home and sleep until the fever broke. I ended up spending 2 1/2 days at home sick. I don't know if others of you are like this but I NEVER stay home sick with just a cold - I have to be down and out, vomiting - or completely unable to make it out the door for me to stay home from work. I am not sure why I feel the need to tough it out and not let myself rest, but last week I finally actually stayed home with a cold. It was AMAZING! I felt so much better so much faster, I am still a little sick but nothing compared to last week. Since Jeff was out of school we just hung out, stayed in our pajamas till noon, watched movies and drank lots of Gatorade. I can't remember the last time I didn't get out of bed till noon, it was fantastic, even if I was sick. Next time I get sick I am going to let myself rest! This was an "aah ha" moment for me - resting when ill is a good thing, not weak.

It hit me too that Jeff and I are coming up on our year anniversary in September. It does not seem like it has been that long at all! I still can't believe that after all this time he hasn't gotten on my nerves yet? I know that sounds silly but it is actually amazing. Even when I was with him 24/7 last week when I was sick he never once was annoying?!? On the contrary, I was so sad to leave him on Friday to go into work. I just want to snuggle up to him and listen to his silly jokes and stories for always. I could never imagine being with anyone else, I am so glad that I truly found my best friend to spend eternity with. I could not ask for a better husband, he knows me so well, takes great care of me when I don't, and has the most generous heart. Now - what do you get the love of your life for a 1 year anniversary present?

NESTING

HELP! I am going through this crazy nesting phase right now! This shouldn't be a bad thing except that I am spending the majority of my time on designing blogs or googling "mid-century modern decor" images all day long. When I get like this it is very hard to focus, I just want to re-do every room in our apartment . . . and really in everyone else's house too. This usually results in spending too much of our budget on home decor and a lot of half finished projects. How do I focus or put an end to this madness?

I've been trying to focus by making this phase more of a personl design defining point, really looking at what I want my home to look like and how I want it to come together over the next few years. In this, I feel hopeless as well, I like way too many design eras and styles. My home will have to be eclectic to fit everything I love in. I think I can have it all work out though. I love the clean lines of mid-century modern and the art deco eras for the over all theme but then I'd like to have punches of modern graphic designs or a baroque styled piece of furniture scattered though out my house to give it a little more interest and personlity. I'm still trying to find some blog or design spread that fits this style for some inspiration, but most likely if I do find an inspirational piece then that will just spur more desire for more decorating and more nesting and more projects. Argh! How can I win this battle?

THE HOUSE DRESS SEARCH

I am so excited. I have been searching for cute little retro house dresses that are modest for a long time and I feel like I am finally starting to hit the jack pot. I'm not sure if more people are just making them now or if I finally am just stumbling onto the right places. First off, Jeff got me this adorable navy shirt wrap dress from Target for my Birthday. I love that it is long enough, has sleeves and, the best thing of all, it has pockets. Getting a cute little number like that made an already great Birthday even better. (When I get them uploaded I will put some pictures of our family gathering from my Birthday on here)

Now, thanks to one of my new favorite blogs - Design Mom - and being bored at work - I found another great little store that sells great house dresses. The Shabby Apple - http://www.shabbyapple.com/default.aspx - they have a ton of cute dresses that really wont break the bank, especially when they have great sales. Pictured are a couple of my favorites.
I love that retro dresses are in style right now.

I think that it is pretty funny the way things work out. When I was in college I really thought I wanted to be a career woman, that the traditional roles for women were so degrading and I wanted to do something better. I'm not saying that I didn't want to have kids or a family, I did, but I was going to do it on my own-by my terms. Now that I am married I can hardly wait to start a family. Four years later I wish I could quit my job tomorrow to be a full time mom running around in little 50's house dresses, sewing, baking and teaching my children. I still want to do things my own way but I now no longer take shame in those traditional roles that have been given to women; instead I relish in them, take great pride in how important the role of a woman is (which I do understand to be more than baking and sewing). So, yes, now I get very excited over a dress and love it.

Updating

So, I know that I am a terrible blogger. I don't ever come on here because I don't really visit blogs that much and don't really expect anyone to visit ours, however, work is getting pretty slow so I think I am going to try and be better at having a post every now and again. Even if it does not travel far in the blogging world, at least it can keep me entertained for a while.

News- So my Birthday is fast approaching. I love my Birthday!! Growing up my family would always make fun of me because I would start talking about and planning for my birthday months and weeks in advance. But birthdays are great days, it's the one day a year where you can try and have your day go as YOU WANT it to, without too much gilt about what you "should" be doing. That's right, on my birthday I don't look at my laundry and think to myself "oh that is really starting to pile up, I better start a new load". I don't think about all the errands I have to run or things I've forgotten. On my birthday I wake up and do what I want to do, whether that is starting a new project and NOT finishing it or simply just laying in my pajamas for a while - I do it my way at least one day a year!

This year is especially exciting as my new job, I guess it's not so "new" anymore, lets us have our birthday off without going into vacation time. This year will also be especially fun as Jeff and I are hosting a BBQ with both of our families. I don't know if both of our families have gotten together since we were married. I am already trying to plan for decorations, food and drinks with some kind of fun theme. I was thinking a jewel purple would be great to decorate in as I am loving that color right now but not enough to incorporate it into our apartment or anything that would last too long as I'm sure my need for the color will be short lived. I love planning family gatherings and having all these people I care about under one roof. With any luck we will be having the party at my sisters condos club house so we have plenty of room for games and a heated pool!

Originally, Jeff and I wanted to go to San Francisco but with plane and gas prices the way they are we decided to keep it close to home. We are hoping that next year we will be able to have these kinds of events in our own home. With house prices coming down so much we are starting to get excited at the prospect of actually being able to afford a home! We know this troubled market is probably the only way we will be able to afford to buy in the Vegas Valley for the next couple years while we are in school - so we want to get in while the getting is good. We do have one issue though that I wouldn't mind if my imaginary readers would give some advice on . Jeff will hopefully be going to graduate school in the next few years - which is great. However, we are not sure where he will be going to grad school and if we will be staying in Las Vegas. So - what will the housing market be like in 3 years? Will we be able to sell or rent if we need to? Will we be out money or will we have made a buck or two? I wish we could see into the future to know what to do but we are just going to have to make our best guess for the moment I presume. If anyone reads this what do you think?

This is a Picture that was taken of Jeff on Jade's old toy horse back when Jeff and I were Dating. It's great right! He is totally a rock star on that horse. Thought I'd post it so all could enjoy!!

Shake Us Free

Hey It's Jeff's end of the year mix for 2007.

It's his favorite songs that were released this last year.

Enjoy!!

Track 1: Intervention by Arcade Fire
Track 2: The Plot by White Rabbits
Track 3: A-Punk by Vampire Weekend
Track 4: Don't You Evah by Spoon
Track 5: Is There a Ghost by Band of Horses
Track 6a: Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors by Editors

6b: No "I" in Threesome by Interpol
Track 7:Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart by Against Me! (featuring Tegan from Tegan and Sara)
Track 8a: Kill Monsters in the Rain by Steel Train

8b: 1234 by Feist
Track 9: Your English is Good by Tokyo Police Club
Track 10: Icky Thump by The White Stripes
Track 11: Timebomb by Beck
Track 12: Earth Intruders by Bjork
Track 13: North American Scum by LCD Soundsystem
Track 14: Bodysnatchers by Radiohead
Track 15: Hey Jude from the Across the

Universe Soundtrack
Track 16: Black Magic by Jarvis Cocker
Track 17a: Hot Knives by Bright Eyes

17b: Two by Ryan Adams
Track 18: Lake Michigan by Rogue Wave
Track 19: When Your Mind's Made Up by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Track 20: I Made a Resolution by Sea Wolf

To see why he picked these songs visit Jeff's Myspace blog at

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=16999640