we're alive

has anyone out there been wondering if we've fallen off the face of the earth? does anyone even read this thing? well if you do, and if you were, know that we are still here, just a little preoccupied; three midterms, two papers, work assignments, personal projects, and designing your friends wedding invitations and trying to start planning your website (thank you sarah for being my web builder) all over a couple of weeks will do that.

i'll hopefully be updating some more soon, but until then, here are some highlights:

-my yoshi plant is blooming (see above image). in the fall. curious, don't you think? i consulted it's little tag thing, which only told me that it's native to south africa. maybe it's blooming now because it's spring in south africa.

-democracy. here's what mosiah has to say about it: "Therefore, choose you by the voice of this people, judges, that ye may be judged according to the laws which have been given you by our fathers, which are correct, and which were given them by the hand of the Lord. Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe and make it your law—to do your business by the voice of the people. And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you." i really do feel like in most instances, the majority will make the best decision according to the knowledge they have. in politics of course it's more difficult because it's hard to see past all the banter and facade, but only time will tell. i'm certainly happy with the results, but andy and i have been saying all along that the election of either candidate would not be cause for rejoicing. there's a long road ahead, and as obama said in his election night speech, there will be setbacks and false starts. we can only hope for the best and be grateful that we have a hand in it all.

-re-designing my c.m. photo logo in preparation for a real live website.

-getting back to climbing with stacie.

-being a tethered shooting genius at work

-getting to fall asleep to andy playing me lullabies on his ukelele thursday night.

-sunday: the one day a week when i get to sleep in.

-quite a few delicious meals created (recipes to post soon)

-starting to see an end to my subconscious stress induced jaw clenching and subsequent headaches: only two weeks and two days 'till thanksgiving, followed by two weeks 'till finals.

-a new month, which means a clean slate on the budget...that always feels good.

-new speakers=more music in our lives.

-my bike, and the fact that the snow-free weather has held out (more or less) allowing me to ride it to school and work. what a joy

-the fact that this house only costs $8,300 (learned about it in my finance class). all we would need to do to be homeowners is move to peru, indiana!

-managing to get my daily dose of scrubs with andy

-despite stresses, life is just good.

seasons

this year marks my fourth fall in utah.

i have to admit, i really enjoy living somewhere with four seasons (you know...fall winter spring summer), although i do miss some of the seasons i grew up with in florida (hurricane season, jellyfish season, stingray season, rains every day from 4-6pm season, cold front season).

as i was walking to school this morning listening to my ipod (even though i gulp wish i had a zune-i know, i know, i'm a mac traitor...but seriously, who can beat unlimited music downloads for $15 a month and wireless access to download new stuff from the actual device?), i started thinking about how certain songs/musicians really embody the mood of each season for me.

here's the run down:

fall=the decemberists, regina spektor, band of horses, iron & wine, the shins
winter= modest mouse (especially the moon and antarctica), the killers, sufjan stevens, feist, bloc party
spring=neutral milk hotel, matt costa, beck, dan potthast
summer= ben kweller, bob marley, tribe called quest, sublime

rilo kiley=good for any season

yeah, so that's what i was thinking about while walking to school.
oh, i was also thinking that sometimes i whish provo were more like dickens' london, and that we could hop onto the backs of street carriages and trolleys to get places faster.
then maybe i wouldn't be late to class every day.

speaking of matha stewart...

i really want to make this:


caramel pear terrine from this month's issue. isn't it beautiful?

magazine envy

i've had magazine envy lately. i always thought that magazine subscriptions were kind of a silly wast of money. you just end up either throwing them away (ie generating unnecessary amounts of trash--especially if you live in a place like provo that doesn't seem to think recycling is a good idea) or having to make space for stacks and stacks of them.

but lately i've been looking at alot of magazines because we had an assignment in my still life class to find still life and product ads that we like and then analyze the lighting.

if had some extra money/space/recycling opportunities, i would get subscriptions to:

and i'm only a little ashamed to admit...

and if we didn't already have a subscription at work as well as every issue ever printed, i would also get pdn.

two reasons my arms are so sore:

1. i spent all day friday and saturday climbing with my dad in maple canyon. i haven't climbed outdoors since july (we went once in the alps and i only climbed two routes), and have barely managed to climb indoors since then due to lack of a partner. the result? no skills. i belayed my dad as he flew up 5.11's, while i panted up 9's and 10's (screaming take! take! far too many times along the way)...ah well. there have been times when i've been really good, i swear.

regardless, it was alot of fun being outside.

-we camped in the canyon and froze our butts off at night (i cant recall any other time in my life when i've needed to include a beanie, wool socks and a fleece jacket as part of my pyjamas, and that was inside my heavy duty sleeping bag)
-we saw deer
-we sampled the culinary offerings of mt. pleasant and fountain green.
-we had a really amusing chance meeting that is an added testimony to the small world theory.
here's a recap:
flash back to last spring, my dad and i are climbing in red rocks, just outside of vegas, and find ourselves on a multi-pitch route stuck behind a group of two or three other climbers. so we do the only thing we really can do as we cling to the rock at the belay stations: chat it up!
flash forward to this past weekend, my dad and i are parked on the side of the small dirt road in the canyon, and start pulling out our backpacks and gear. an escalade drives past, decked out with life is good stickers and various climbing logos. the cadillac stops about 30 feet past us, backs up, one of the windows rolls down and a guy sticks his head out and exclaims:
"you're a byu student, and your dad's from france! we climbed together at red rocks!" though we are somewhat taken aback, we respond with laughter and some "good to see you again" type things.
i wonder where we'll run into them next.

in the meantime, here are some photos




2. last night, i decided that i really wanted to try making pasta from scratch; ravioli, to be specific.

so i did, and let me tell you, it was laborious.

we don't have a pasta dough flattening machine yet, so me and that rolling pin i mentioned in my last post had ourselves a party. i feel like that was just as good a workout as climbing, but now i am seriously coveting one of these babies:

the red dress

i'm going to be a bridesmaid in my friend linda's wedding this december. i'm also going to be the photographer. that will be super fun. i've never been a bridesmaid before, so it's pretty exciting.

does my marital status make me a bridesmatron?
doesn't that sound like i should be carrying a ladle or a rolling pin as an accessory?

anyways, linda picked these really pretty bridesmaid dresses:
however, they're from target (good for price, bad for sizing) and they don't have them in our local store, so i had to order mine offline. since their return policy sucks more than anything in the world and i want to avoid having to deal with customer service and returns/exchanges at any cost, i whipped out the measuring tape and tried to place myself accurately on their sizing chart (which, by the way, turns size 2's into size 8's), ordered the dress four sizes larger than my normal size, and hoped for the best.

it arrived yesterday. it's very pretty. the color is great and the fabric is thick and smooth.

i tried it on. first i tried stepping into it. i couldn't get it three inches past my knees, let alone my thighs, so i tried the other approach: pulling it over my head. that worked alright.

andy zipped me up and i looked in the mirror. it was...baggy? how could this be? the skirt and waist fit alright, but the whole top section was big and billowy and puckering out in odd ways. does this mean that i'm a grossly disproportionate pear shaped woman? i thought to myself:

sigh
i guess i'll order the size underneath and see which one fits better, maybe find someone with a sewing machine and make it work?

then i tried to take the dress off.

i couldnt.

i was stuck

forever

in a red dress.

after a somewhat violent wrestling match with the red dress, the exploit ended with me sitting cross legged on the floor with my arms over my head (little kid style) and andy pulling as hard as he could. it eventually came off, and i was able to wear normal clothes to our dinner date with my dad.

what an adventure.

thank you!

so...it's been almost four months since our wedding, and we have yet to send out any thank you cards.
the guilt comes and goes...but i haven't been able to find any good thank you cards (not really a valid excuse, i know). i wish stationery were a bit less expensive, or that we just had a [several hundred dollar] stationery slot in the budget.

i really like this card, but i feel like it emphasizes the stuff we got rather than the help and support and kind wishes. would someone who hadn't bought anything for us, but who had been amazingly kind and helpful feel bad receiving a thank you card with measuring cups, cutlery, and oven mitts on it? am i thinking about this too much?

i also really like these.

in the meantime i would like to offer a sincere thank you to all of you who were so wonderful and generous... i'll put that on some stationery and mail it off to you soon!

speaking of cards, if you appreciate good design and a healthy dose of humor as much as i do, here are some things to look at:

uncooked cards
line upon line cards
mr. letters press

really really pumpkin soup weather

it's currently 28 degrees outside. the high is 46.

i packed myself a [hopefully] leak proof tupperware full of pumkin soup in my little brown bag lunch.

today definitely calls for a scarf and jacket. unfortunately, all my scarves and jackets are buried in boxes underneath our stairs. i've got to choose between hoodies and my long wool coat...

pumpkin soup weather

today has been the first truly restful and relaxing sunday andy and i have had in weeks. it's been great.

i don't know if the (freezing) weather has anything to do with it, but all we've wanted to do all day is just stay in our pj's and hang out in our warm little apartment.

here's what we did:

-sleep in until 11 or so
-i chatted it up with my dad, who's coming tuesday for our annual fall climbing trip (maple canyon this time if the weather holds out!)
-talked to my grandma in france, who just had knee surgery that will hopefully allow her to keep hiking all over the place
-got ready for church
-got to church 20 minutes late, nothing out of the ordinary there
-enjoyed all three hours of it (a big step after bordering on inactivity for months*)
-came home
-laundry
-nap for andy
-made pumpkin soup (recipe coming soon)
-baked wheat bread (recipe coming as soon as i find a good one)
-currently sitting around reading, listening to ray lamontagne, looking at other people's photographs, and being perfectly content

you just need days like this.


*we haven't really been inactive, just traveling or being sick or only going to sacrament meeting.

tragedy

i broke another glass today.

my poor, beautiful glasses

anyone who's known me for more than a few months has probably come to realize that delicate things don't do well with me. though i love them and try to be gentle with them, they always wind up broken or dilapidated long before their life expectancy would dictate. this is especially true of things i use regularly (clothes, shoes, books...computers). i'm the only person i know with a macbook pro that has dents in it and whose hardware innards seem to be trying to push themselves out of the lower left corner.

i'm beginning to see the effects of my (unintentional) brutality on one of my favorite wedding presents; my beautiful glasses. it seriously broke my heart when i shattered the first one a month or so ago, but today was even worse. it was the last dish i washed, and as i swirled the water around inside of it to rinse the soap out, my hand suddenly forgot that it was supposed to be holding onto the glass and just decided to let go mid swirl. the glass went flying into the right side sink where it shattered and a million glass shards flew all over the kitchen. it was certainly the most dramatic demise of a glass that i've ever experienced. i had to throw away a plate of cookies that was near the sink for fear of glass shards in the stomach, internal bleeding etc. so of my eight glasses, two are broken, one is chipped, and one has a tiny crack down the side that i assume came from something heavy laid on top of it in the dish drying rack thing. i wonder if i would break things less if we had a dishwasher.

at least the flatware is durable.

the apartment

i finally got around to taking some pictures of our apartment for those of you who are far away and haven't seen it. it's a studio and we love it. i think we determined that it is 300 square feet or so (does that sound right?). but the kitchen is a perfect size, we're above a garage and don't share walls with any of our neighbors, and there is tons of light to keep my tons of plants happy.

sorry the panorama is so small, click for a bigger view

yes, we do indeed have a balcony

our kitchen wallpaper has pears on it, and our fruit bowl has apples and grapefruit in it.

some favorite windows and details...

kitchen window

bathroom window

this is an awesome cloissonne bird that my grandpa gave me this summer. he bought it in india for his dad.

this is by far my favorite of all my plants. i like it because it has fleshy leaves and it smells kind of good. andy says i only like it because it's yoshi in plant form, and yoshi is my favorite. either way, it's the cutest.

in case you are wondering, all of our furniture is from ikea, except the tall table and chairs (bed, bath & beyond), and the ottoman (target).

awww!

how can you not have a good day when the first thing your husband says to you when he wakes up is "wow, you look amazing!"?

fall

i've been storing up tons of thoughts and ideas over the past couple of weeks, and haven't quite gotten around to writing them down. but now fall seems to be here and school has begun, which means i now have a schedule, which means (unless i get crazy busy) i'll probably be blogging more often. i'm the kind of person who gets alot more done when i'm on a schedule and have to do productive and enjoyable things with the time i've got left over.

one of the biggest things i want to start posting is recipes. more on that soon.

so, andy and i started school this week. we both have some really interesting classes. it's going to be a busy semester, but we're both really excited.

oh, and to add to the fall feeling, the leaves outside the window above our bed are starting to turn, and the mornings have been freezing.

ps: the leaves here are not as colorful as in the photo yet, i took that one two years ago.

new floors!

the week before we left for france, andy and i discovered that our gross carpet from the 80's was covering up really nice hardwood floors.

we got permission from our landlady to rip out the carpet, and we went for it as soon as we got the ok. the only catch is that now we have to sand and refinish them (the agreement with the owners is that they'll pay for supplies if we do all the work).
but since the wood is in really good condition as is, we're putting of the refinishing...at least for now.

pulling out the carpet gave us some interesting insight into the history of our apartment though. i think it was built in the 50's, and the wood is definitely original. sometime in the 60's, they must have thought it would be really rad to put in orange shag carpet (we found remnants), then in the 80's, the orange shag was replaced with brown low-pile, and now we're back to the wood! it's funny how fashions change...even with flooring.

in anycase, i feel alot better about our respiratory health now that the carpet is gone.
and the new floors make our apartment even more awesome than it already was. hurrah!

4th of july with seth and melinda

now that andy and i are back from france, we've got some catching up to do.
here are some shots i took on the 4th.
it was my first ever provo freedom festival experience, and i must say, provo is extremely patriotic.
we woke up early for the free french toast breakfast at macey's (awesome), then we headed over to the parade (not as awesome).
later in the day we hung out at seth and melinda's where we had delicious food and watched the fireworks. i wish i had taken some pictures of the fireworks because they were by far the best i've ever seen.