My Wife

If you even remotely closely follow our blog, you know that I don't post all that often - I even hesitate to write that it's "our"blog. However, I think it's time that I do something "out of the ordinary" for me and actually post something today, especially since Alex has been way too nice to me on this blog.

Now, I know that we've all laughed and joked about the husband of the year points and prize that Alex has been so kind to reward me with, but I must set the record straight and tell the truth, which isn't really a surprise at all. Alex is really the one who should win the wife of the year award, or cool wife of the year award, or kindest wife award - really, she could easily get a hat trick here.

To justify her winning such lofty rewards, I could go on ad nauseum about all the great things that she does for me like making me a lunch each morning, keeping our apartment clean, cheering me up when I'm down or helping me figure out and think through problems or questions. I could tell you about how she makes me laugh and builds my self esteem while motivating me to be better. However, instead of going through all that and more, I'll just tell you that 35 months after we officially started dating and 15 months after getting married, my life is happier and filled with more joy because of my dear wife, Alex.

So, ponder on that until my next post...and be warned, it may be a while until you see me on here again!

Ode to Tuesdays

Before I get to Tuesdays I want to set your minds at ease- just because Nicholas won Husband of the Year 2009 does not mean that he is taking a break from being wonderful.  Last week he surprised me with these flowers one day when he came home from work.

Now- I love Tuesdays...love 'em!  I used to claim that Thursdays were my favorite- almost the weekend, the Office was on, etc.  However now Thursdays are my long days at work and I don't even get to watch the Office until Friday.  Tuesdays are so great because I don't have to get ready at all if I don't want to- most Tuesdays I don't even leave the apartment! (Well, except for my morning exercise.)  

Now I know that may sound terrible- to be cramped up in a tiny apartment all day- but it really is wonderful.  I clean the apartment and there is nothing nicer than being at home when it is all nice and clean.  It is usually the day I get to do little random projects...making cards, getting out decorations, etc.  One "project" I was particularly excited to get done was making a space for my version of food storage- I am not going to grind my own wheat...quite frankly I don't even have the desire at all...but I do know we need to build up our food supply and I have been trying to buy extras of things we use regularly.  Up until now they were pushed under the bed between bins full of dance shoes, office supplies, etc.  However now they have their own bin (which has to go in my closet because under the bed is full) and it is full!  Wahoo!  

Another thing I get to do on Tuesdays is cook dinner- something that doesn't have to be good as a microwave meal as Tuesday is one night I actually get to eat with Nicholas.  I also get to be home to welcome Nick home from work on Tuesdays...welcome him home to a nice clean apartment with dinner on the stove.  Not to mention the fact that I can wear my grubbie clothes all day, wear no makeup, and pull my wet hair into a ponytail.

Above is a picture of my clean apartment today- I know it doesn't look like much, but it feels so nice...wish you were here to enjoy it!  And below is a picture of Koshka enjoying a clean home as well.

BEST HUSBAND IN 2009!

So I have been deeming Nicholas with "Husband of the Year" points for quite some time...a meaningless gesture to let him know he is doing something nice, funny, etc.  Well, I decided that he needed to receive an award for earning so many points this year.  On New Years, at dinner, I announced that he had in fact won Husband of the Year and we toasted to him with some sparkling grape juice. Then he got to open his present...season 5 of The Office!  We have already started watching it :)  I am super grateful for such a wonderful husband and such a great best friend...he makes my life easier and happier and I love him mucho!  Congrats Nicholas!

A Holly Jolly Christmas

It seems I did not take many pictures this Christmas so you will just have to believe me when I tell you it was great!

I had fun decorating our little apartment- we borrowed this fake tree from my parents again this year and Koshka loved it...a little too much most times.  It only officially tipped over once, but she liked to chew on the branches any time she could get her paws on them.  It didn't take long before I engineered a contraption out of cardboard and packing tape to put at the bottom of the branches to hinder her chewing fun.

This was a Grand Christmas year which means we all come to my parents for the holiday- easy enough for us!  We knew that we were going sleep there on Christmas Eve and so the night before (the 23rd) we pulled out our sleeping bags and slept in our living room...right under the Christmas tree.  It was fun and surprisingly comfortable (we highly recommend air matresses with pumps) and really got us in the holiday spirit.

While Nicholas still worked a lot, we had fun going to movies, opening presents, playing games, puzzling, ice skating, going bowling, exercising each morning, and eating a ton with the family.  I was off of work for the entire two weeks which was heavenly.  We love the holidays!

Koshka got a jungle gym type thing from "Santa" as well as a new collar and food bowl from us.  Our hopes were realized and she indeed loves playing on her new toy...which gets us out of running around with her all of the time.  Her new collar is black and white polka dots but has a little pink on it and so I am hopeful that now my family will not call her a "he" all of the time (her previous collar was light blue- it was the only one I could find that was small enough).

Anywho, we had a very lovely Christmas and are very, very lucky!  We can't wait until next year!

A New Hairdo!

I had to get all dolled up a week or two ago for work- it was a formal party for the end of our festival.  Anywho, I had come home to put on a dress and put my hair up.  Standard ballroomprotocol is some sort of low bun; I began the process.  

I first made a little poof in the front with my "bangs"...no, I did not use a bump it I just went to school in Utah and learned how to make a poof with the best of them.  I was planning to take the tails that had made a poof and do something with them and then pull the rest into a bun.  Figuring that it would be easiest to pull the hair into a bun and then figure out what to do with the tails, I pulled the tails in front and pinned them so they would stay out of my way long enough to make the bun.  After I made the bun I looked in the mirror and realized that the tails kind of looked cool.  I wrapped them all the way around the poof and pinned them in place.  There was a mass of bobby-pins, thus I covered them with a flower.

I think it turned out pretty cool and am excited to try and replicate this hairdo sometime.  I got that it looked like Audrey Hepburn, french, like a little hat, and 40's-esque.  (And yes, I am wearing false eyelashes...again, standard ballroom protocol!)

A Christmasy Weekend

Nicholas had asked me for a date last Friday.  I cooked dinner and then we went to Handel's Messiah at some church on I-10.  I had never heard The Messiah all the way through and it was fun to attend that kind of concert again...Nick and I used to go to concerts and symphonies and such all the time when they were super convenient at BYU but now they are a little harder to come by (at least affordable ones!).  After the concert there were refreshments served, so Nick didn't even have to buy me a treat afterwards!  

We rode around uptown to see some Christmas lights.  We found this one little spot and got out and walked around a bit.  There were these big candles in the center of a pointsettia wreath, and we couldn't help but have some fun with them.  I tried to blow them out and Nick thought they set him on fire :)

The next evening was The Marvelous Dancers Christmas party; The Marvelous Dancers is a student organized group of members of the studio.  They had invited Nicholas and me and so we decided to crash the party.  It was fun to attend a dancing event where I wasn't working and thus could actually dance with Nick instead of only students. (Don't worry, I still got a few dances with students in!)  The students had really gone all out and the party was really well done.  We managed to remember to get one picture at the party!

Happy Holidays!  

Darwin Awards

This was forwarded to me by my sister-in-law Erin and I thought it was too funny not to share it with someone...so enjoy it knowing that you are not the dumbest one out there!

Yes, it's again that magical time of the year when the Darwin Awards are bestowed, honoring the least evolved among us.

Here are the glorious winners: 

1. When his 38 - caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up inLong Beach, California, would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked. 

And now, the Honorable Mentions: 

2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat-cutting machine and submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company expecting negligence sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and he also lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.
 
3. A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard inChicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space...understandably, he shot her.

4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from  Harare to Bulawayohad escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.

5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer: $15.  (If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?)

7. Seems an  Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.

8. As a female shopper exited a  New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the purse-snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."

9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King inYipsilanti, Michigan , at 5 a.m, flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.

** **** A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER*****

10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges, saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.