Journalizing

Remember this?

The very first post. Over a YEAR ago! Wow.

I realized that this is an excellent way to keep a journal of sorts. Even if its not an exact play-by-play of our daily lives, and even if it doesn't include all of my thoughts and feelings and dark secrets (since I try not to make it TOO personal)...
But even still, its fun to read back in time and reminisce about the way things used to be (a whole year ago). And to review some of the fun adventures we have had so far. I'm sure there are many more to come! To our faithful readers: thanks for sticking around.
We love you!

New Fave

my new favorite summer treat.
FROZEN BANANAS!

Ok, so I admit. Some people (most people, probably) do it way classier than me. You can use chocolate and nuts and sticks and waxpaper and all that jazz. Those are tasty too. But if you don't have the time or the money- I'm all about peeling some naners, and stickin' them in a ziplock in the freezer. Then when the hot hot heat becomes too much for you- pull one out and eat it like a popsicle!
Except way better for you. And way cheap. and way delicious.
Try it, you'll like it.

PS. frozen fruit is always delicious and nutritious, especially for smoothies....
but for pop-in-your-mouth snacks, try grapes! yum again.

Farewell, Lady Longlocks.

I have had long hair for a long time. But I have been thinking about cutting my hair for a while now. Jonny loves long hair. I love long hair- when its done. And as it gets longer and longer, the times when it gets "done" are fewer and fewer. Translation....the past few months my hair has been in a nasty bun almost every day.

As I thought about parting with my mane, I got a little sentimental, and started having second thoughts. So I made a "list" of cons from which to bolster my courage:

1. It takes WAY too long to style. I'm talking at least 20 minutes just to get it DRY. Then it still looks like a fluffy mess, and I am dripping with sweat.
2. Because of #1, I never take the time to style it. Hence the nasty bun mentioned previously.
3. I figured that the nasty bun didn't look very professional, and in my new life I have to look professional.
4. When my clinical instructor was talking about the dress and grooming code, she kept using the phrase "keep it under control" when talking about hair, and I swear she looked at me every time. (I admit my curled hair was looking a little wild that day, in all of this humidity)
5. I know I've always wanted to be a mermaid...but that's overrated. When am I going to walk around with shells on anyway?
6. There's something about being 21 and married in the "real world" that freaks people out. I figured an "adult hairstyle" would trick some people into thinking I'm old enough to be married.
7. Sometimes when I put on my shirt in the morning, my hair sticks out the armholes and looks like really long armpit hair. Funny? or gross.
8. I have always wanted to donate my hair. I almost did it once, when I was 16, but it wasn't quite long enough....so I figured its now or never.
9. Sometimes I feel like I'm all hair. Its everywhere. Its heavy and thick and hot. It falls in my food. I hide under it.
10. Hair grows back, right? Mine grows pretty fast actually. Pretty soon I'd be back to looking like this:

...In spite of all this...
I still wasn't sure if I reeeaaally wanted to cut it off.

The clincher came one night when I was awoken as I tried to turn over in my sleep and felt a hard tug on my head. I looked around to see that my hair was stuck...
...because Jonny was sleeping on it!

That was IT.

Yesterday I went from this:



To this! Welcome to the new me.










And I donated this pony to Children with Hairloss, a small organization in Michigan that gives hairpieces to families that have children with hairloss free of charge. Hopefully it makes someone happy.


:)

Dad's Day

To my Dad:
You are my hero. You have blessed my life in ways I cannot ever express. You have sacrificed so much for me. You have taught me countless lessons. You have been an example to me. You have been my friend and confidant, my support and foundation. You raised me in the Gospel, in a home with the Priesthood. You've always encouraged me to reach for the stars. Thank you for teaching me how to keep my priorities straight and recognize what matters most in life. Thank you for teaching me to respect God's creations. Thank you for crying and laughing with me. I feel your influence in my life daily. Thank you for your unconditional love.

Thank you for always being my "buddy" and doing fun things with me!:



Thank you for being an example of learning and trying new things, and taking me on adventures:




Thank you for teaching me what kind of man I needed to find and what kind of life I needed to live so I could make it here:



Thank you for putting up with me even though we sometimes had our disagreements:


And always believing in me...encouraging me to be and do my best in all things:


__________________________________________________________________

I also want to say that I am so thankful for this amazing man:



For welcoming me into his family and loving me so quickly. And mostly for raising a wonderful son to be my husband. Teaching him (among so many other things), to respect women, to honor his Priesthood, to trust in the Lord, to be generous, to work hard and to love chocolate. :)
Love you!

right now

right now i'm missing these people. especially the little people.

don't forget about me! i love you

xoxo- aunt mary

Back to the Beach

Happy Kuwait Day!

Mom and Dad are officially in the air- on their way back to Kuwait.
We lived there from 94-99. All of my elementary school years. We had some wonderful times there and I have so many fond memories of living in the beachside villas and playing in the gulf. And now they are moving back! I hope I hope we can go visit them and experience both the new changes and the old constants. Memories often come to me in smells: Desert sand, hot shwarma, strong incense and salty air, canvas of the party tent, exhaust from our golfcart, minty eucalyptus in the park...

On my way

I'm on my way to finishing #18!

I think Jonny and I are both pretty good in the kitchen (him more-so than me), but we fall into ruts sometimes with meals and don't plan very well. So this past week was pretty exciting as I tried new recipes. It was my last week of no school/no work (aka. I actually had time to menu plan, grocery shop, and cook.) So I thought I'd make the most of it.
I bought some things at the store that I have NEVER BEFORE ventured to get:

• jalapenos
• organic molasses
• fresh mushrooms (yes, you read that right)
• raw steak (yikes)
• sweet potatoes
• arugula
  

I started spicing up our lives by changing up the breakfast routine- Jonny loves oatmeal every day, and I know it's good for you, but I have always found it too bland.
So I started breaking away from the same-old (sugar and milk) and topping it with almonds, strawberries, honey, vanilla yogurt, peaches....things like that. Wowza! The old mush was transformed. I LOVE oatmeal now.
Then I took my sister Loretta's advice and tried sweet potatoes. Yum! I used them to make home-made baked french fries and also cooked them baked-potato style.

Here are the other recipes I tried this week:
Cavatappi with Arugula Pesto and Cherry Tomatoes

Grilled Sirloin Skewers

Chicken Sandwich with Sundried-Tomato Vinaigrette

Spicy Blackbean Cakes (thanks natalie and josh!)

And for dessert:
Gingerbread Cake with Creamcheese Frosting and Lemon Sauce


It was quite the adventure! I made adjustments to them here and there to make them easier/cheaper/smaller portions to adapt to our needs. But overall they all turned out great and were delicious! I was pretty proud of myself. (also, note to all: i like mushrooms now. if they are fresh and in a good sauce. holy cow. never thought i'd say that one. who am i?)

I'd love to know any great, healthy, quick or cheap recipes that you have! PLEASE SHARE. Sisters? Especially you. I know you all have some up your sleeves.

The Strawberries, the Swing and the Wardrobe

Chronicles of Narnia? Nope. Just us.


Saturday was a fun-filled day. We did our best to get out and see the new community(ies) that we live in. (its complicated. champaign-urbana, urbana-champaign.)
We started out going to a very fun farmers market! (held every Saturday morning all summer long) And came home with fresh salsa and sugarsnap peas. yum. Then we went to some outlet malls that are a half-hour away and shopped all afternoon! We found some amazing steals as I prepared to outfit myself as a real "grown-up" in more professional garb.


Then on the way home we heard (on the radio) about a fun event called the Strawberry Jam in Urbana. They had live bluegrass bands in a little grassy grove, praries to explore, and best of all- FREE vanilla icecream topped with real strawberries! It was awesome.

After a quick trip home we headed to Downtown Champaign for a jazzy evening. The streets were blocked off around some trendy restaurants, and people were gathered in front of a huge stage with a great band playing swing! Needless to say we danced in the street in the summer twighlight and laughed at ourselves.

Sunday was also great- church is always a much needed boost and we met some new people in the ward. The evening started out perfect- we went on a walk and saw fireflies! For my very first time. They are magical little things. Next time we'll catch some in a jar. But tragedy struck later that night when we decided to do our laundry. Although the laundry shed is only steps from our backdoor, its still a shared facility with all our neighbors and the door is never locked. We did all our laundry and brought it in to fold, but alas (as always) the towels were not completely dry. They did'nt stand a CHANCE in all of this humidity. So we decided to throw them back in for another cycle. And promptly forgot. This morning, Jonny woke up and said..."OH NO." They were gone. GONE! :( yes, I was mad/sad. They were nice towels. But they are replaceable. This is the 2nd time we've had stuff stolen from us at a laundromat. And both times...it was not clothing...it was linens.
Only the linens were desireable enough to steal, apparently. Towels, sheets, etc.

...what does this say about our wardrobes?

hmmm.
I'm a little offended to be honest. Who do they think they are?

Oh well. Now someone out there has a monogrammed towel. jYm

holy. cow.

Today was my official first day as a graduate student! or an MA1 (first-year Speech Lang. Pathology Masters Clinician)

I'm in way over my head.

I had "orientation" -which was a looooong day consisting of a variety of meetings and presentations that only served to further disorient me.

I am so overwhelmed. How am I going to figure all of this out? As I finally slumped down on the concrete bench to wait for my bus home...this is what I decided:

Its like....I'm a Freshman AGAIN! But only worse. Because not only do I display typical signs and symptoms of freshmanitis:
- feeling completely lost scared and alone, realizing all of my inadequacies and regretting that I am not 1 million times smarter than I am, taking the wrong bus and trying to get out the back doors when they only open the front ones, showing my ID card when unnecessary and not showing it when I need to, the blank stare accompanied by nervous twitching, poor peer interaction as a result of high strung nerves, trying to drive down an obviously one-way street, asking someone exactly what an Illini is, gawking and nodding at professors as they mention meaningless acronymns and some kind of unheard-of online interface....(to name a few)-
BUT now, I'm a Graduate Student! So people expect me (or at least I think they do, so I'm too afraid to ask questions) to KNOW everything already, or to FIGURE it out by myself, since I'm a GROWN-UP, right?

Yikes. I hope Monday is better.

Loving Lately

Things I've Been Loving Lately:

• Peaches. I can't get enough of their sweet, juicy goodness. Hooray for summer fruits!

• My library card! I got this badboy last week and am amazed. At the brand new library only minutes from our house- FREE dvd rentals (forget blockbuster), FREE checkouts on all the books I could ever imagine... Magazines, books on CD, a used bookstore, online database (so I can look up/reserve items from home before driving over there) a Drive-up return (for all of us extra-lazies) and 24/7 access! I am amazed. Thank you very much Champaign.
• Our Pilates and Yoga DVDs- I'm finally doing them! I like being able to work out in my own livingroom sometimes. Its a great start to my day. (check #8)
• Having a tidy house! One thing that is really nice about moving is that it forces you to clean, sort and reorganize everything you have to fit into a new space. I like having a place for everything and everything in its place. (check #12)
• Being home. Though I'm lonely sometimes, its a nice change of pace from the usual craziness of work and school and homework to just be able to be home. Until my program starts next week, I am keeping busy with projects and errands and, of course...
• Playing the guitar! I haven't played in so long. In fact, when I opened it up my strings desperately needed to be changed. After a quick trip to a music store downtown, I set up to re-string the whole thing myself! And though I had never attempted this alone before, it all worked out. So expect some new (though I won't promise good) music from me soon.
• Walks with Jonny. One of our favorite summertime activities! It is green and beautiful, (though the source of the green-frequent, short rainbursts as I like to call them- sometimes make for wetter walks) And there are so many great parks here...I'm sure we're just getting started.
• Reading the May conference Ensign. I always find inspiration and the desire to be/do better when I read. Its especially fun to read the Priesthood Session ones, that I didn't get to hear in conference. Sometimes I feel like I'm sneaking a cookie from the cookiejar.
  

#13.

#13- Check!


Thanks to our handy GPS, we were able to find our way across the cornfields and the tollroads, through the rain and wind....to end up HERE on Saturday:





I am so thankful for the opportunity that we have to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to know God's plan for us and feel the love of the Savior in our lives. That knowledge brings me peace and true, lasting happiness I know cannot be found through any other source on earth. I know that Christ's full gospel has been restored on this earth and His power, the Priesthood, is exercised regularly by worthy men to bless, heal, and sanctify.

I am grateful for the temple and the covenants we make there and blessings we receive. It is such a blessing to live so close to the temple (though we do miss being able to walk to the one in Provo!). I am so blessed to have my wonderful husband and to have been married in the temple, sealed together for time and all eternity. And I'm glad he takes me back often! No matter where in the world we are, a temple is always a Holy place, a place to feel the spirit of the Lord. On the way there, Jonny and I each talked about our very first experiences in the temple and it really helped us to bring in the spirit and prepare and think about Jesus Christ. I know that He is our Savior and Redeemer, and that there is no other way back to our Heavenly Father except through Him.

Yesterday I spent the whole afternoon reading this book, a gift from my parents. It really helped me to understand my Savior and the reality of the Atonement in a whole new light and how I can apply its power in my daily life. I'd recommend it to anyone.

our new place

When we finally arrived in Champaign and found our little townhome, we walked into an empty, dusty, spider den. It had been vacant for almost a year and it seems the little creatures had found themselves a nice dark lair. At first I was wary. But as I walked around the place spraying the handy killing stuff this way and that, (in every corner and crack I could find), I was thinking to myself, "this place is a lot bigger than I remembered..." (our initial viewing was back in April and it was a quick in-n-out). No sooner had this thought crossed my mind, when Jonny called from downstairs, where he was filling the living room with boxes from the truck, "hey this place is bigger than I remembered!" I choked out an enthusiastic, "yeah, isn't it great?" through the fumes of bugspray... and smiled to myself.
I knew we would love it.

Now that it is spiderfree and clean, smelling fresh and full of our things...its home. Its still a two bedroom(aka 1 bedroom and 1 office/storage closet) and the "kitchen" table is still in the living room- but its a really nice upgrade from the storagespaceless, school-room-carpet, only-1-person-can-fit-in-the-bathroom-at-a-time-please apartment we came from. We feel lucky to be here.
Its a funny little place. Its an old building and the stairs are creaky, the bathroom has an interesting mix of early 90's country kitchen and a shell-shaped vintage sink with the ugliest countertop you ever did see...and the storm drain pours down right on our back porch...but we still like it! The yard is green and beautiful with lots of big trees, and the laundry shed is right outside our backdoor. It feels roomier and brighter and has plenty of storage for us.
AND
A mini-dishwasher! Its the joy of my life these days. Each time I turn it on, the low rumble and swishing sounds give me a thrill, and the steamy soap-scented air that puffs out when I open the door just speaks luxury. Amazing.

There is one thing about moving that I have yet to figure out- One usually buys the furniture to fit the home, right? Not the other way around. So it seems that each time we move to a new place there is some furniture to sell, and some to buy. We got away with selling our wardrobe/entertainment center for 100 bucks and finding this treasure at salvation army for.......$16.25! Thats what I call a smart exchange. (thank you thrift stores! love 'em)
Our new TV stand:


Also, no home is complete without a pet of some kind!
I wanted to get a live palm tree.
Unfortunately the landlords don't approve of potted plants on the carpet...something about staining or molding or whatever.
So I settled on another option-




Our new betta fish! We don't have a name for him yet- Any ideas? He looks strange in this picture (I'm pretty sure I blinded him with the flash too) but he's really pretty. An electric shiny blue and orange/red tail. (and no he's NOT dead. just swimming to the top for a food pellet)

Here are some pictures of our new place- have a look if you like. PICTURES
Or better yet...come visit and see it in real life! :)

friendship

this one's for you...










These are the friends. We stuck together through thick and thin. Freshman year: homesickness and cake-filled holidays, new love and broken hearts, stupid choices and inspired changes, failed tests and semester celebrations, frozen toes and icy drives, late nights and dance parties, sunburn lines and TV marathons... and everything in between.

And even now, after I've found the perfect man...a girl still needs her girls!

Miss you all. Love you always.

The Heartland

The term Midwest has been in common use for over 100 years. Another term sometimes applied to the same general region is "the heartland".


I typed "the midwest" into my google toolbar...searching for some meaning as I tried to imagine this place we would live. Wikipedia told me about the cultural overlap from neighboring regions, the history of the area, various names for it, language dialects, political trends and physical geography.

That last one... that's really the only one I know for sure.
Physical Geography. I had a lesson in that one. A three-day journey. Through 5 states.

-After many prayers and goodbyes and "last-times", we took one more picture in front of the apartment that served us well for the last (almost) year. We'll miss you little place- your funny smells and great views, and good location and wonderful friends.


-We started on our journey, blinking back tears...Jonny in the big yellow truck, me in the tiny white car. 1,434 Miles between us and our new home. I didn't want to forget the breathtaking mountains that provided recreation, beauty, and inspiration in our lives during our stay in Utah. For my nostalgia, and your enjoyment...I risked taking the occasional picture while driving.



-Then came Wyoming.

-Then Nebraska.

-And more Nebraska....

-And still Nebraska....


-Then Iowa.

-Then we drove across the Mississippi River, and my heart fluttered a little when I saw this sign:


WE MADE IT!




So here we are, in the Heartland. Flat and green and humid...big trees, big bugs and big jars of mayonnaise. Corn fields, farmer's markets and windy thunderstorms. Our new home.