Oh Happy Day!

Yesterday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  For Nathan anyway.  And if Hubby's not happy, how can I be?  He was getting discouraged about not getting accepted into a PhD program yet, which leads to worrying about the future, which leads to regretting past decisions, which leads to what I like to call "Nathan's Pit of Despair."  It's not pretty.  So I put on the happy wifey "everything's all going to be ok" face and do a little dance, which sometimes works... but yesterday... not so much.  So we decided to make a trip to the Temple to gain some clarity and hope, like you do, but lo and behold it was closed for cleaning!  Bless his cotton socks, poor Nathan thought that even God didn't want him.  We walked around the temple grounds anyway just to try to feel some peace.  I can't speak for Nathan, but I felt that "everything's going to be ok... I'm not sure how or when, but it'll all be alright" feeling.  We went to Neilson's Frozen Custard for a little pick-me-up, Nathan had a nice chat with his Daddy-O and we went to bed still unsure of the future.

Then.

This morning.

I was dead asleep when Nathan lets out a maniacal laugh from the other room and barrels into the bedroom.  I immediately just said "Where????", knowing that he'd finally gotten accepted into a program.  The next words he uttered were like music to my ears: "Florida!  UCF!  We're going to Orlando!"  Of course, this is a big MAYBE, since we still have a few other schools to hear back from... but we were totally on a high this morning.  We daydreamed about Mickey Mouse, plam trees, old friends and family (mine anyway), and oranges.  Like I said, it's not 100% that that's our final destination, but if everyone else says no, we at least know that we have one place to go!  The future is less uncertain, Nathan's regained his confidence in his career choice, and I can spend the next few months explaining why alligators are WAY less scary than rattlesnakes and mountain lions (He's from Arizona, where even the plants want to kill you, but he's scared of a li'l ol' gator).

So, yeah.  Happy day!  I was in such a good mood I decided to finish a skirt that I gave up on before we moved to England.  It has a zipper in the left pocket and it was warping.  I figured it out and now I have a cute skirt with cute pockets and a cute husband who'll tell me I look cute while we eat cute breadsticks at cute Olive Garden tonight!  (Don't hate 'cause I'm ooey gooey when I'm this happy).

Below is a picture from yesterday's Temple walkabout.  We got married in this Temple, so we walked around re-living our wedding photos.  Here is where our families stood and posed in the hot desert sun almost 4 years ago.

What Time is it?

I have a cute husband.  He's my best friend.  He grew a beard just for me.  We laugh at people together.  He sings Adele in the shower.  He watches movies for his career.  He thinks I'm funny.  He can't do math, but he can tell you about any war ever and knows all the US Presidents.  He hates shorts and sandals.  He takes me on adventures.  He smells nice.  He's very protective of his technology.  He's my sweetie.  And I love him.

He brought home a rose for me, then we revived our date tradition from Provo: a movie and Five Guys.  We were excited to see that one of the movie theaters around here was showing a bunch of Oscar-nominated films, including "The Artist".  We both had really wanted to see it, but thought we'd missed our chance!  We were SO thrilled that we got to see it.  It.  Was.  Amazing.  By far the best movie I've seen in a while.  It's silent (except for music of course) and it's in black and white, but that shouldn't be a deterrent.  If anything, it should intrigue you.  Nathan' is the critic, but I can hold my own in a film discussion and I know when things are excellent.  I won't give a full synopsis, but I will say that the story is beautiful, the shots are beautiful, the acting is beautiful, and Jean Dujardin is be-yoo-ta-ful.  He has the unique gift of drawing you into his story with just a smile or an eyebrow.  And his smile.... *needs a second*  Nathan and I agreed that Jean could be my Valentine too.  Ooo Ooo!  I just put this together!  Jean's character in the movie was George Valentin!  Snap.  Happy Valentine's Day.  I hope they win every Oscar.  Even the one's they weren't nominated for.

Here's some more pictures from Christmas.

Me at the International Wildlife Museum in Tucson,

next to a big ol' cactus,

and shooting a cute little gun.

Yeehaw.  I think living in England made me a mega-American.

Oh and YAY HOORAY!  It's my 100th post!  Not that anyone really reads this here blog, but I've decided it's for posterity and I'll keep updating for them.

New Obsessions

ZUMBA!!

I've finally found someone who'll go with me to a class!  It's cheap and the instructor is a BEAST!  I love feeling sore the next day.  And from what?  Shaking my booty.  Best.  Excercise.  Ever.  The first class I went to I had not taken my inhaler and I had a full belly of jumbalaya.  Dur.  I felt like I was at the Biggest Loser ranch on the first week.  I thought... am I really this out of shape???  But then I went this week and kicked butt.  Tips to noobs: pace yourself, bring water, don't fill up before hand, and don't watch the other people in the class (especially the gals in the front row...  you know, the ones who bought the Zumba merchandise or are wearing their dance leotards and tights... just focus on the teacher).  I found this funny picture on Pinterest:

So true...  Zumba reminds me of my old stake dance days...  I've re-connected with my inner funk.

This was 5 years ago... wuuuut??  I'm trying to get that bod back.  I'd say I'm not too too far, 15 or 20 lbs-ish.  Just a layer of padding I'd like to see disappear.

Anyway, next obsession:

Pink Ladies!!

No no no.  The apple.  The Pink Lady apple.  We've been getting them from CostCo by the pallet and I can't get enough.  We also just bought new floss, which comes in handy.

Oh and I also had another weird dream.  Nathan and I were staying at my grandparents house when a little wooden baby came into our bedroom when we were trying to sleep.  He told us to follow him into the laundry room.  Once we got there he turned into Mr. Clean magic eraser sponges.  I was happy because I love cleaning with them! 

Weird.

Till next time!

For Weeks Like This One

Dream a Little Dream With Me

I've been having really vivid dreams lately... which is weird because the last time I had this many long, memorable dreams I was on pain meds.  I can assure you that I am not currently on any kind of medication, so that's why this is odd.

We begin with a love story from a few nights ago.  Once upon a time there was a man who had a skin disease and needed a skin transplant for his entire body.  This took place in the future where there was a brand new procedure that could replace a person's skin with a man-made substance that still had reacting nerves acted like real skin (like what the Borg give Data in The Star Trek movie "First Contact").  The problem is that the "skin" is clear for the first few years while it's adapting to the body.  The hero of our story is the first to ever try this transplant, so he's under the watchful eye of several doctors that are there to help him recover from this transplant.  Enter the physical therapist.  She helps him adapt to his new skin by teaching him to roller skate.  He falls in love with her, but is too shy to say anything because he sees himself as a monster (remember, his skin is still see-through).  She sees past this, falls in love with his personality, yadda yadda yadda, they get married and then when his skin is opaque again he's super handsome and they live happily ever after.  Oh, and they also hung out with David and Victoria Beckham at one point.

Kooky huh?

Next, we have the tale of Ellie.  Nathan and I have a baby: a little girl with flaming red hair.  Several mambers of both sides of the family are there to greet her.  Everyone starts telling us what to name her, but we hate everyone's ideas ( I wish I could remember some of the ideas... I just remember them being ridiculous).  Nathan and I finally discuss it alone and think she should have the only logical name for a red-head: Ariel!  We end up naming her Ariel Lee, then start calling her Ellie (Ariel+Lee-Ari= El Lee).  Then we take her to the mall and she's three already and does a cute little dance while we walk hand-in-hand.  She looks kind of like the Princess from the new Pixar movie "Brave".

Nathan thinks the name is inspired and we HAVE to name our first girl Ellie.  I agree, so...... dibs.

Last, we have a Disney Dream.  And Disney dreams are supposed to come true.... right?  If so, that'd be super random.

So we (Nathan, and the Brady family) are enjoying a day at Walt Disney World when we bump into, who else, but Ellen Degeneres!  Lucky for us, my sister Elizabeth used to work for her!  (Not really, but in Dreamland she did).  Elizabeth goes up to Ellen and says, "Hey boss!  Care to join us for lunch?"  Ellen then says that she has a table at The Brown Derby already, and that we should come and join her!  On our way to the restaurant we see Princess Tiana singing a song nearby, so Nathan and I stop to watch.  We fall behind from the group, and in attempts to catch up, encounter Buzz Lightyear on horseback.  We spook the horse and Buzz falls off!  I tell Nathan to go get help while I help "Buzz" out of his jet pack.  It turns out not to be Buzz at all, but someone I used to work with at Disney World (not even a friend of mine, just a random dude I worked with once, maybe twice... I can't even remember his name...).  He's in a lot of pain, so I tell him to go on ahead to the doctor and I'll take care of his Buzz suit.  I start to take the costume back where only employees can go, but then I remember that I'm not an employee anymore!  I gather my confidence and go behind the scenes anyway.  I walk down a long paved road and pass several of my old friends from the Disney days.  One of them doesn't recognize me, which makes me sad, but everyone else is surprised to see me and gives me a warm reception.  I drop off the suit, the whole time pretending it's mine and that I actually still work there, and make my way back to the restaurant.... only to find out that I'd missed our special lunch.  No good deed goes unpunished I suppose.



That concludes the telling of the most recent and most vivid of the dreams I've been having.  I wonder what Joseph and his technicolor coat would say....?

Ru Paul's Drag Race

Here we have Ms. Dida Ritz wearing a shirt that I also own.  I got pretty excited.  I am apparently way more fabulous than I was originally aware.

My Holiday in Pictures

Hm.... almost two minths since I've posted?  Sounds like it's time for a super-long post.

Or...

Or......

I'll just add a bunch of pictures of Christmas gifts and other fun things with brief captions. Sounds good to me!

 Nathan got me a guitar!  As of now I can play our song ("Swans" by the Format), "Firework" by Katy Perry, and some Ingrid Michaelson.  And by "play" I mean very mediocre-ly.  But I like to sing and strum, so I'm glad I finally have my own guitar to play around with!

 This is the "Christmas taco".  Our air mattress sprung a leak.  See that little head?  That's Nathan poking up out of the taco.  Searching for his shadow, mayhaps....?

 New KitchenAid!!!  Courtesy of Mama and Papa Snow.  Thanks to them for that!  They gave us lots of nice gifts this year.  There's also some new additions to the tea collection shelves from a mixture of giftcards and an antiqueing trip with Nana.  I researched some of the pieces when I got home and one of the tea cups is from around 1813!  And one of the pots is worth $100 (I got it for $2, holla!)

 Ahh, the traditional Los Jarritos/Estrella Bakery trip.  Every Christmastime we take a trip to South Tucson (which is essentially Mexico) and get baked goods and breakfast burritos.  Afterwards we went to the International Wildlife Museum right in the midst of the Saguarro National park.  I'm usually quite the shutterbug, but this time I took almost all of my pictures on Nathan's new iPhone.  So I may/definitely will be posting again with his picture from the trip.

 The two new frames on either side of the wall were purchased with a giftcard from Nana and Popi.  Thanks!

 I've discovered a new world of decorating: vinyl wall art.  I love it.  And my niece loves it!  She'll sit and (kind of) count the circles over and over.  These were bought with a giftcard from Mama and Daddy!  Thanks!  Our house is getting more and more home-y.

 Another giftcard purchase!  I love this mirror!

 Antiqueing find.

 Antique candlesticks.

 Gift card purchase.

 Gift card

 These are so special!  Nana got them from her Aunt to spruce up one of her first homes with Popi, and I'm doing the same with them now!  I love the Dickensian look to them.  I wonder how old they are...

 I'm on a puzzle spree!  When Nathan gets home from work and plays his video games, I sit and watch while putting a puzzle together.  We attained a bunch from the Snow household in Tucson and I've been going to town on them.  I may or may not have finished 4 1/2 already.

 This was a fun moment.  One of my besties from growing up has a little boy about the same age as my brother, so we met up at the mall during my trip back to the motherland and they played together.  That was cool to see.

 And finally..... I'm the Queen of Mars!

In conclusion:  I had a terrific holiday.  Tucson was fun as usual.  It was really cool to have EVERYONE from the Snow clan there.  The gifts were also particularly special this year (the ones given and recieved).  We had an amazing time with the whole family and we look forward to being all together again!  It's getting tougher and tougher as time goes on and families grow up, so it's great to take the time now to spend as much time with them as possible before we're all over the place (Nathan's oldest sister and her family will be moving to New Hampshire soon!). 
Same goes for my family.  One of the biggest surprises I got for Christmas was a trip back to Maryland!  Since they've been gypped on holidays pretty much since Nathan and I got married, they decided to snag me for a week!  It was a perfect trip and just what I needed for a morale boost.  Who doesn't need one this time of year to beat the wontery blues?  Especially now that the job hunt has started again and I'll soon be facing rejection and lots and lots of stressful waiting.  Anyway, the trip was amazing and I loved hanging with all of my siblings!  It's so funny how my family does EVERYTHING together.  Everywhere we went it was a party of 8 (parents, siblings, and grandparents).  Even when Elizabeth bought a new car, there were 7 of us piling around the car dealer's desk.  We're such weirdos.  But we're happy weirdos.

P.S.- Please send prayers/good vibrations my way for a job at  the nearby summer theater Tuahcan  (Any job really... but this one especially).  When I first moved here I knew they started hiring around now, so I KNEW I'd have a job by now.  But, long story short, I am still job hunting (AND IT'S ALL MARRIOTT'S FAULT... they strung me along like an ugly girl waiting for a date to the prom... "oh yeah we'll totally call, except we won't then we'll hire someone without telling you, even though we lead you to believe you were perfect and we loved you).  Where was I....?  Oh yeah, Tuahcan.  It's the perfect job for me and it will actually let me use the skills my tuition payed for.  And it would just make me super happy.  Which is important, right?