this shouldn't surprise you

mark speak

2011-04-29T10:38:00.005-04:00

i like how being married makes you see new things every day. especially about your spouse. i have learned that mark is super cute. also i have learned that there are a few things that he says that are awesome. for instance:

get out the way. not get out OF the way. get out the way. cute
when driving, mark has a little impatience. road rage if you will. but since swears rarely escape his lips, he calls everyone a dillhole. it's awesome.
when he says just kidding, he really says dus' kidding. i didn't notice this one for the longest time and then one day i did and my life has never been the same.
normal americans say croissant just like it is spelled with an r right? well mark says cwoissant. just like his mom. this one drove me crazy for some reason.
he also says bin for ben, tin for ten etc. so i like to say " i called bin tin times". that bin never answers the phone

so now go forth and use these new phrases in your life. dus' kidding you dillhole.

politically savvy

2011-04-08T09:43:00.001-04:00

let's talk government shutdown for a minute. funny how dc draws me right back into the political aspect of things. in spokane i never even used the word government or politics or anything of the sort. but now i am smarter-just having left spokane (i kid, i kid), and i actually know what is going on. but let me tell you somethings. this government shutdown, i mean potential shutdown could really screw with a few things. for instance. my darling. he is currently doing and externship now with aforementioned government AND he does not have all his hours yet. hours he needs to graduate law school. people! this is serious. here is another thing it is screwing up that directly a(e)ffects (i have such trouble with those words) me. if the government shuts down, so does ford's theater and if ford's theater shuts down so does liberty smith and if liberty smith shuts down, my friend matt anderson is out of a sweet acting gig and if he is out of a sweet acting gig, how the heck am i supposed to see him in his play???!!! riddle me that? i am supposed to see it saturday matinee and government shutdown is friday, midnight. great timing government. ugh.

the other white meat

2011-04-07T11:41:00.000-04:00

this is just in case you needed my blog with a side of bacon. ridiculous? i think not. people LOVE bacon. and by people, i mean mark. speaking of ridiculous: has anyone heard of the new term "ricockulous"? that is seriously ridiculous. i mean it.

very pinteresting

2011-04-05T14:32:00.000-04:00

i have a new love interest. i am currently obsessed. it is pinterest, dearies. have you been there? have you joined? please do and then let's follow one another and share all that we love. i seriously spend a good chunk of my day repinning things to my board. chances are, i will copy all your pins and put them on mine. some people are genius. also you have to request an invite but it can take up to a week to be accepted. it is a pretty exclusive club. ha. jk.

parsonage

2011-03-31T10:09:00.001-04:00

friends, i need some help. i don't expect much since not many know i am blogging again but if you read this, please help. ok. so the other day on younghouselove they had some chairs-(click on the link)- and they are a steal of a deal and they are still available on craigslist. 2 hours away. here is what they look like if you are too lazy to click the link:

we can all agree now that that is the ugliest of ugly patterns but the shape of them is so nice. and so here is the question. would they be worth the 2 hour drive to procure them? these chairs are expensive in other places. like pottery barn-$250!!!! eek. do you think I could reupholster them? or have you heard of painting fabric? here is an example. so, dear readers, what would you do? please help. the end. and thanks.

crickets

2011-03-29T15:45:00.001-04:00

so mark and i have a lot of time to g chat whilst at work. some of it is business ie. what's for din? some of it is link sharing ie. this one. some of it is just chats and such. but mark has reached a new low of being passive aggressive. i ask a question and he answers with ...
yeah. i know. what the heck does that mean ...
just an elipsis, right? but no. in mark's dangerous psyche, these ... are crickets.
there are always just three.
and they sometimes go on and on like this:
me: ps i forgot i told so and so i would help her with a project tonight.
mugs.
want to help?
Mark: ...
...
...
...
...
me: crickets?
Mark: ...
...
yep
...
hear em?
...
me: so, yes you want to help?
Mark: ...
me: thanks!!!
Mark: ...
...
me: love you
Mark: ...
...
...
...
...
...
...
me: the crickets can come too
Mark: I can keep this up all day
...
...
...
me: it's fun
fjun
Mark: they'll already be there (the crickets)

ergh. he can be so infuriatingly darling. and he thinks he is so funny.

sucker

2011-03-28T15:45:00.001-04:00

i kind of want to punch my blog in the face and then kick it while it is down. it is pretty lame and needs a revitalization, maybe? i am not sure. all i know is that if i have to look at that picture of mark and me anymore, i am going to literally be sick. all over my keyboard. i like to not save the drama for my mama.
so hi. i am here again. and guess what? i live in a new locale since my last post. i am back in virginny and it is glorious. but i miss spokane too. i never thought i would say that but it's white trash ways have needled themselves into my heart and made me miss it a tiny bit. so here are some things that have changed. we love lists right?
1. coasts. west to east. feels nice
2. mark is in an externship here for his last semester=no coursework=so awesome
3. we pay 1 million in rent instead of like 5 dollars
4. we only have one car
5. i actually make money here. it's weird
some things that are the same:
1. we are still awesome
2. i still drink like this
3. still a potato
and there you have it. a new blog post for a new city. hopefully i will keep it up. it's fun to be back in the saddle.......maybe.

b to the oring

2010-10-29T15:31:00.004-04:00

can someone make me a cute blog header for free so i want to blog again? muchos gracias. vielen dank. i mean i know this is not a very good incentive to do a favor for me but i do have some things to share AND i am unemployed so i can do WHATEVER i want WHENEVER i want!!! please help. here are the 2 nerds who can't /won't (mark) make a blog header look cute. thanks

the haps

2010-03-10T21:07:00.002-05:00

a. my little brother is getting married. wahoo. she is lovely
b. my sister moved far far away....all the way across the country. sad
c. our truck got stolen. good thing we have insurance. oh wait. we have the kind that doesn't cover that
d. i tried some new recipes since mark thing i need to "branch out". most of them sucked but a few were delish
e. i am working one million hours a week
f. consequently i am still a potato
g. consequently my social life is in the garbage
h. my mom is coming to visit!
i. i dropped my camera (well my nephs did) and i have no lens now
j. consequently no pictures.
k. consequently an even more boring blog.
l. my cousins are coming to visit. oh yeah. oh yeah
m. i made a desk
n. it rocks.
o. i broke my sewing machine somehow
p.i am running out of haps
q. consequently, the end.
r. nice to see you again.
s. byee

i am a child

2010-01-28T22:37:00.003-05:00

i "work" (my super awesome temp job) at a place that makes office supplies. mostly stamps. we are contracted through staples so if you order a stamp anytime soon, chances are, i am your data enterer- so glamorous. anyway, today my boss was on the phone and she said, "yes we sell rubbers" to which i laughed aloud. then i looked around at my very quiet (and obvs mature) co workers. go me.

becoming one with nature

2010-01-26T20:39:00.000-05:00

well about a hundred years ago, we went camping with some friends. it was lots of fun and kind of nice for mark and i not to have any kids because kids make you do things like get up early, hold their hair back when they throw up, hold them on your lap, keep them out of the fire..etc. so we were fine just watching other people with kids. so i have some pictures but they are in no good order so i will just explain and you will wonder why i am blogging again and will yawn and sigh to yourself.
this is our friends' little girl and she is so so funny. i have about 20 more of these posing pictures and she is a natural. i didn't even ask for her to pose, it is just in her to do it.

i taught them how to make dandelion crowns and the modeled and looked lovely.

stay out of the fire. obvs, some parents needed a little help. way to go helping your friend, l. i am like a child in that i can not keep any clothes clean. good thing these were camping clothes!

shalaun, jamie and susanna. to illustrate how long ago this camping trip was, jamie's baby in her belly is now in kindergarten (well not really but practically).

this is scott and mark. i only took this picture to show how awesome their height difference is. seriously. like 2 feet. he is maybe the nicest guy you will meet though so don't be afraid for mark.

the tent community. our tent is not in this picture because we were smart and shunned ourselves way way way fay away and slept in. the end.

mocked time and again

2010-01-25T21:22:00.000-05:00

while going through some pictures the other day, i came across several that had a familiar theme. my darling, sweet husband can not help himself from making fun of me. i have this issue where when i hold around something, i have my pinky sticking straight out. i think it is elegant but apparently not. here is evidence of the mockery that is being made of my life.

although he looks fancy, that is not an good excuse to make fun of the way your wife holds a lens.

again. ps. nice black socks, nerd.

look how elegant he looks drinking. serious. i guess imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery. thanks, hon.

stew

2010-01-23T17:46:00.004-05:00

well, after much begging and pleading i have decided to revisit this sorry excuse of a blog. (cheer, cheer, clap, clap, clap.) before you get too excited, remember in your head that this blog is a bit lame. thanks. okay, now before i begin catch up (or ketchup if you prefer), there is something i need to tell you. something i realized as of late and something many of you already know. an epiphany i came to the other day..... .....i am shaped like a potato. a potato with carrot legs. and it is sad. but i will sally forth and do something about it so have no fear. thank you for your time. now on to catching up.....

get me outta here

2009-11-16T12:55:00.001-05:00

well friends we did our time. we were in primary for about 10 months and it was HARD. fun but hard. so we are done and i kind of miss the little nerds and mark is crying about it every day so i stroke his hair and rub his back and then he feels better. so here they are.
ctr6

they were so funny. they were crowding together like crazy

this is what mark looks like when he teaches and they STILL listen to him. I mean, i look like a million bucks up there and i am funny and witty and brilliant but it is mark they adore. boo hiss.
stupid kids.

so he got to be in all the pictures with them so they wouldn't cry when i came near them. i am going to ROCK at motherhood someday! oh yeah.

and they love him. what a cute little bunch of hooligans. sniff. they still call us teacher when they see us so that is super rad.

postwoman

2009-11-10T20:32:00.003-05:00

dear this shouldn't surprise you,

you are a lame wad. suckiest blog in existence.

love, megan

dear honey,

your mullet is looking mighty fancy and i like your butt in your skivvies.

love, honey

dear mjarn,

your family is so cute. i miss you.

love mjeg

dear newest temp job,

you are the suckiest work place i have ever encountered. thanks for making me cry a lot, be really mean at home and still not make any money.

hate, megan

dear holidays,

hello. how are you? come quicker but last longer! thanks.

love meg.

dear grievances,

consider yourself aired.

sincerely, mrs. smith

jokesters

2009-09-20T04:00:00.000-04:00

for some reason, college came in to my mind today. probably because i am a college grad and do not have a job or any jobs on the horizon and it is super sweet (and emoticon giving you a very, very sarcastic look.) anyhow, there was some crazy shiz that happened in my freshman dorm at utah state and i am going to share it with you here today. (an emoticon who looks at you jealously for getting to hear all these stories.)
anyhooter. when i was a freshman, i lived in a co-ed dorm. it was a blast. i loved it. for some reason, our apartment of 6 girls got into a prank war with an apartment of 6 boys and mayhem ensued. it was war! and sadly we got completely schooled. i don't remember much of what we did to them but it was harmless stuff like taking their mattresses and such. their pranks were downright ruthless. here they are.
1. they took ALL the labels of ALL the cans of food in our pantry. it was awful. if you wanted a can of soup, you ran the risk of opening a myriad of other things before you found the soup. it was so lame. so so lame but hilarious and brilliant.

2. they took flowers off the graves of the cemetery across the street and left them on our pillows. this creeped me out! not sure why. also, how tacky to take flowers from the graveyard. sheesh.

3. they put crickets in the beds of one of my roommates. also, the tore off their back legs so they couldn't hop away. and they gave them bits of food. so they were definitely there when she crawled into bed. yuck.

4. this was the WORST! we had a regular shower with a bathtub and then we had one of those little cube showers with a glass door and just enough room to stand up in. well, we came home from church and they had filled the entire tiny shower with leaves. so if you opened the glass door, they would all spill out. it was awful. and this was not the wort part. in the middle of the leaves, they had put a DEER HEAD. and not a taxidermied deer head, oh no, one fresh from the deer hunt. so so so so disgusting. ick. i still cringe.

5. a few weeks later, when we were watching a scary movie for halloween, they lowered the deer head from the apartment above right in front of the window and made it knock up against it. it was the freakiest sight of my life. eeek.

needless to say the boys won this little prank war and a truce was made so we could rest in peace. man alive, they were brilliant. still much hilarity abounded throughout the year which is probably the reason i pulled straight C's that year. awesome! go college! go aggies! love, megan

winner

2009-09-18T00:47:00.000-04:00

everyone,
i just wanted you to know that i won my first GIVEAWAY in my life and i am so excited about it!!! i won it here at jess's blog (she is so talented). you should check her out and check out her etsy shop too for cute cards and such. now i have the hard task of figuring out what to get!!!!

while this may not be a trip to iceland , or a new baby or a new blogging gig, this is as exciting as mark and i can handle right now and we are thrilled!! what would you pick???

house guests from h*@!

2009-09-17T16:29:00.005-04:00

guess what? we are SO excited. we are having visitors. and they are visitors that we LOVE and adore and can not get enough of. oh me, oh my. dave and mei li are coming to visit the wonderful city of spokane and mark and meg!!! wahoo!
lovely mei

handsome dave (or scary if you prefer that adjective)

dave and mei embracing

and here are the 4 of us reunited over christmas. do you think mark bears a striking resemblance to this guy ?

blessed and named

2009-09-16T09:35:00.000-04:00

look how sweet baby eleanor is. we got to go to payson after the wedding and see her get blessed. she looked so pretty in her dress.
that face is so sweet. and her "stork bite" is cute too!

sweet shoes and her legs are starting to get chubby.

getting mad. oh well.

millie did not like me this trip so she refused to look at me but insisted on being in some pictures and holding her little sister. haha. she is such a little spitfire.

still not looking but henry and max were good sports. love these kids.

still ignoring me. she also told me she didn't like me and was promptly told to tell me sorry which she did a little too grudgingly so i know she didn't mean it. i WILL win her over.

she slept the whole day, this baby.

if you read marnae's blog, you might not know she has a new baby, since she NEVER updates!!!!

nice day for a white wedding

2009-09-14T22:58:00.000-04:00

well friends, we were in utah again for a quick visit to attend the wedding of mark's favorite cousin and my favorite cousin in law-BEN!!! mark was the best man (duh, no brainer) and so he got all duded up in a sweet tux. he looked hot. here is some photographic proof. mark and ben might not be the most photogenic.....

but erica is. she looked so so pretty and she is on her way to taking over ben's spot as favorite cousin in law.

see, so pretty. also she is poser for pictures so we were kindred spirits.

me and my hunka hunka.

mark-sour face but hot sour face. he is going to love this post.

the smith family. there is a plethora of them!

mark and ben had to do this gay hand on shoulder thing. it was awkward and funny to watch because they are not the touchy kind AT ALL! i loved watching them be awkward. go ahead and judge me.

the groomsmen. nice, gentlemen, nice.

so, the wedding was in the salt lake temple and then the festivities were at solitude and it was lovely. it was a fun wedding even though i got a huge fat sunburn in the 200 degree weather waiting for them to come out of the temple. good thing i don't hold a grudge, ben. we were lucky in slc to get to stay in the house of the rosenfields. i used to nanny for them in college and they were in new england and left us a key to stay. so it was like we had our own mansion-our own hundred and ten year old mansion. it was dreamy. it was a fast trip but we did get to see both fams. and eleanor got blessed so i will show you those pics soon.

we had an anniversary shout hooray

2009-09-03T22:45:00.005-04:00

well friends, we made it to one year. who woulda thunk? i mean, i am totally a brat and mark has put up with me for a long time! go him. anyhow, since we were a bit poor this year, we stayed local and went to a place in the couer d' alene mountains called silver valley. it is a bunch of mining towns. they are small and quaint and pretty. we wandered around, holding hands and sweating our a**$# off but it was fun to be together.
this is wallace. so pretty. see that green awninged building? that is where we partook of lunch and it was delightful.

apparently, wallace is somehow the center of the universe. anyway, i think mark took this picture because i am the center of his universe (obviously).

here is honey, eating lunch (ps. anyone who hang s out with us knows we have the annoying habit of calling each other "honey" all the time. it started out as me trying to bug mark-who hates pet names and has resulted in the honey talk all the time). he's cute.

wallace, pretty wallace.

we wish. how awesome is it that you can win a gold mine!? for maybe $5!!!!

and yes, there is a bordello museum in wallace so we went in and looked around. and guess what?! it only closed in 1989!!!!! is that crazy to anyone else? a bordello! in my lifetime!

and if some of you are wondering why this town seems so familiar? well, it was in the blockbuster hit starring pierce brosnan and linda hamilton duh. so if you come to spokane and want to go to wallace, let us know. but not on our romantic anniversary trip please.

ps. i love mark lots. he is a good husband and i was lucky to bamboozle him into marrying me!

seriously, i have issues

2009-09-03T21:58:00.006-04:00

i think no one checks this blog anymore on account of its lameness but i will try to make up for it. I have about eleventy hundred blog posts in the works. they will make you laugh. they will make you cry and they are on their way. anyway. mark and i went to utah about 2 months ago and here i am blogging about. my sister had a baby-eleanor and i went to "help". she is more than capable. she is like wonder mom. whatevs. so i just gazed at the baby and played with the cousins. so here is eleanor and rocco (kole's baby). we put them to sleep in the swing and the little angels slept like babies ( i kill me) for quite sometime. sweet little things.
some other highlights were a trip to sundance fro some hiking and ski life riding and family togetherness which we love love love. max and nash were so dirty!

henry max and nash hanging out outside the sundance shop.

kenz, marg, koley, millie and i rode the tram. millie was freaking us out leaning clear far over. man alive. good thing i had a death grip on her. i let her sit on her own but she scooted way up to the front and it was too freaky so back to the lap she went.

here is the whole gang hanging out. see wondermom and brand new baby? whoa

so there were a lot of fun times. we went to the RODEO. it was boots and chaps and cowboy hats and spurs and latigo. and awesome. here are some of the girls. dan, marg, kole and marn.

the whole group. i have a crush on all of them.

the best part was that when i called mark to say we were going to a rodeo(he was in price) he agreed tocome and he showed up in the SWEETEST outfit i have ever laid eyes on. oh man alive. get us a room. the end. i heart utah and it's inhabitants. and arkansas's as well.

i wish the pants had been a little tighter.

lucky

2009-08-19T21:13:00.000-04:00

mark is so lucky. this is what he gets to wake up to every day of his life. it is a wonder he has not had a heart attack yet. and guess what. this is one of my bettter morning hair days!!! one morning i looked exactly like this.luckily i start to transform........

.....into a lovely swan. how do the rest of you compare with sweet morning hair?

lucky man, that mark. *wink*

i've been creating

2009-07-11T21:09:00.004-04:00

i created a pot rack for our tiny dwarfish kitchen. yay, more space.

i created a bag which mark ripped yesterday. ugh

i created a dress for millie. it's pretty sucky but i made up the pattern. holla.

i created a skirt for marn. also patternless.......wonder why none of my creations are being worn. hmm.

and one more bag

the end. still have not created life.

utah here i come

2009-07-06T22:21:00.004-04:00

guys

i am an aunt again

eleanor jane was born yesterday

i am coming to see her on sunday

so i will be in utah from the 12-31.

call me

let's hang

if i have a car

or you really love to come to payson

the end

here she is

so sweet

when goose comes i'll be anyway

2009-07-06T21:50:00.003-04:00

you know how lyrics can get kinda tricky? oh not for you? just me who can not understand a lyric to save her life? well as i sing along to my ipod, i realize how few lyrics i get right. they sound close but still not quite right. here are some of my famous ones and a few of my favorite wrong lyrics:

the real lyrics: "how my poor heart aches with every step you take"
my version: "i'm a pool hall ace with every step you take" (even though i know the real lyrics, this is still what it sounds like to me.

next, from the little mermaid (my sister loves this one and made fun of it for one whole vacation): "the men up there don't like a lot of blabber, they think a girl who gossips is a bore yet on land it's much preferred for ladies not to say a word, after all dear what is idle babble for"
my much better version : just replace blabber and babble with glamour. so chic. ps my lyrics never make sense.

from brant
the real lyrics: "hold me closer tiny dancer"
brant's version: "hold me close, i'm tired of dancing."
now when i hear tiny dancer, these are the lyrics that sound correct to me.

from koley
the real ones: "by this shall man know, ye are my disciples"
kole's version: "by this shellamenno ye are my disciples"
my favorite part of this is that she asked her mom as an adult with children what a shellamenno was!!!! hahahaha

brown eyed girl:
them: "hey rodorigo"
me: "hey where did we go?"

here is one where i had almost all the lyrics wrong. eraure's star
them: " we go waiting for the star"
me: " we go out for the saaaaa"
them: "not a satellite of love but a laser shooting out it's tiny tongue there"
me: "not a sano white of love but a laser shooting out a tiny thunder"
them: " in who's hands are we anyway?"
me: " when goose comes i'll be anyway"
and it goes on and on

there are more. maybe it should be a weekly segment. does anyone else have some funny ones? i can't be the only humiliated one here.

one of the top 31 birthdays i have had

2009-06-22T20:50:00.002-04:00

i know my birthday was 17 years ago but we went on a fun little road/camping trip for the weekend and it was so pretty and so fun so here are some pics.

we drove all the way across the state past seattle and got on a ferry to take us to the olympic peninsula. we were on our way to olympic national park. has anyone been there before? it is so so pretty. you should go there. it is also tres romantisch (i like to mix my languages). so i was the planner (because who doesn't love to plan their OWN birthday surprise getaways?) and i did not account for a bridge being out so we had to go the LONG way to get to where we were going. good thing it was a beautiful scenic long way. also i made mark drive almost the whole way because i hate it. so here are some get-out-of -driving tips.

1. only look at the scenery not the road

2. swerve crazily when you realize you are drifting

3. go really fast and then really slow and alternate these sporadically

4. yawn a lot

5. complain that it is your birthday trip so you shouldn't have to drive

(all of these work like a charm. you're welcome)

since we had to take the scenic byway, we didn't get to the camping spot we wanted to but guess what we still got a rad one right on the strait of juan de fuca. (unfortunate name, juan.) it was in sequim which you think would be pronounced as such. it's not. it is pronounced squim. but it is still pretty.

here is a view of the strait

here is a view of us and our campsite

and here is a full body view....lucky you. look at how lush (the scenery since we are teetotalers)

a somber reminder with life jackets to use. how kind. apparently adults float though because they were tiny. i tried one on. don't take your super chubby kids here.

this shot is cool. it is me running from the automatic timer and not quite making it. ( it was a long pier). so i made mark do it next time and guess what, he broke the camera. he says it is my fault but it is so his. so the rest of the pictures are from a crappy throwaway camera that we got in FORKS uber excited. (slash not really excited) but man that town LOVES their twilight. there were nerdy signs EVERYWHERE. also we went on the quileute indian res and they said no vampires allowed so i felt safe.

the park is so pretty. it has mountains, a rain forest and beaches. all in like a forty minute drive. the followning few pictures are from the hoh rain forest. in this top one mark is at the end of that fallen log. can you see him? the moss was so pretty and the trees were HUGE.

this is lake crescent. i want to live there. the water was so clear and blue and the trees were so green

check out that clarity

this is how hot we looked. also this is probably mark after i bamboozled him into driving again. also he loves pictures.

see! i told you the trees were huge.

the beaches were my favorite part. they were so pretty and rocky.

look at this spectacular rock formation

this is rialto beach. we gathered so many rocks here. our pockets were bulging. the driftwood was cool. huge.

this was by one of the beaches. a huge cedar tree. the roots were rad. also so were my socks and flip flops.

this was my fave beach. ruby beach. we went at low tide and so we saw tons of cool tide pools and no one was there or if they were they were lost in the fog.

star fish

it was a fun vacay and a great birthday. if anyone wants to go here, count me in. i am all ready. see you soon. bummer that my crappy disposable camera pictures will not enlarge. boo. google olympic national park images for a real treat.

do as i say not as i do

2009-06-09T21:19:00.004-04:00

i have a problem. it involves me not putting the lid on tight of anything. nothing, people. spices are my favorite to leave the lids on loose but everything is given their fair turn. it drives mark CRAZY!!! i can not tell you how many times i have had the "it is not that hard to put the lid on tight" lecture. still i persist. not sure why. anyway. a few weeks ago we were driving home from church and we took the long way to see if the lilac gardens were in bloom. as we were driving home, i kept getting a whiff of something that i couldn't put my finger on. well i turned around to the back seat and lo and behold, our laundry detergent (we do laundry at our friend's house) had spilled all over. this was not a small thing of laundry detergent. it was the costco sized kind. the kind that costs 17 dollars and does 1 million loads. this kind:

and it was ALL over. mark was not pleased. i kept saying, "how are we going to clean this up?" and he kept saying, " you mean, how are YOU going to clean this up??" then i got the lecture and then we got home.

here is a semi close up but it does not show the depth of the spill. lots of detergent

looking great

here is me having no idea how to clean it up. what would you have done??
amazed at how cool i am

mark, mad in the front seat. hahahahaha. so, we had to take it to the car wash. and 85 ,000 quarters later it was presentable. there were SO many suds. it was ridiculous. i guess when they say "super concentrated", they mean it. i think i learned my lesson.........except i have had the lecture 2 times since.

when we're helping we're happy

2009-05-28T17:26:00.004-04:00

i got a new job! wahoo. for some reason, jobs have been elusive for me. maybe because deep in my heart i really don't want one but oh well. i will pretend i do. so my new job is pretty cool and i am already learning tons. i am working at a fabric store here in spokane and it is so cute! when the jtsm (job that screwed me) aka the census ended, i emailed the owner and asked her if she needed any help and she did! so i got hired and i work not very many hours but they will pick up because she is going online and needs help in that arena!! so yay. mark doesn't think it is a real job but oh well. i do and i love it!

the shop. if you live in spokane it is located at garland and monroe. or come visit. i get a discount!

she sells amy butler

valori wells

anna maria horner (whom i love!)

alexander henry and tons more. the shop is little but cute and she teaches sewing classes and so i am learning new things all the time! i might be martha stewart before we know it!

4 ur i's only

2009-05-22T02:01:00.003-04:00

dear honey,

i forgot to say i want a love letter most of all. thanks.

love, megan

ps i deserve it because i have been super awesome and not whiny while you've been in utah. thanks.

pps. extra mush please

upROARious

2009-05-19T14:50:00.013-04:00

i feel it is time for me to get all caught up on blog posts. so let's start with an adventure i had WAY back in april. you see, it was my mom's birthday so i decides in january to have a few surprises for her since she was turning the big 6-0. so i planned a trip out there and had her sister plan one as well. then i made her a book of love letters from friends and family (thanks for all the help everyone) and then we put the plan into action and had a splendid time and she was mostly surprised and may have been all the way surprised if henry could keep a secret. so here is the scene. my mom's sister had been in town for a week and then had "flown home" but really she went to slc to hang and then get me at the airport. meanwhile, marnae and cousins had mom at dinner and then were whisking her away to a hotel for a girl's night out. so auntie and i showed up at the restaurant and surprised the living daylights out of her. it was fun. and funny. she got all shaky and that may not be good for a 60 year old woman. then we spent the night laughing and talking and hanging out. twas glorious. here are some pics.
the peeps. i love these ladies so much and our time together is precious and uproariously funny.

this is the face elv made when i said reenact how surprised you were to see me. good surprise face!

brenda is shocked.....

trev is dumbfounded...

all at what marnae can do with pregnancy shelf boobs. wow.

and kole said, no less than 20 times, "if you guys don't quit i am going to pee my pants" and so we know for a fact that a good time was had. you should join us.

caring is creepy

2009-05-19T14:45:00.002-04:00

guys. i hope you don't think i am an awful person but man alive do i have a treat and a gem to share with you. this site. seriously so rad. my personal favorite is the body builder but the bank teller and barber are pretty good. I like the emotion present. and just for my sister, here is this special one. hope this makes work better for you.
i know i am on my way straight to hell.

fret no more

2009-05-18T15:16:00.010-04:00

my birthday is fast approaching (may 31, remember??) so i have compiled a list of the things i want to make your shopping much easier (or rather marks)

a scooter duh. a vespa, please

a grill. it doesn't even have to be this nice. just able to grill good things

this rug is WAY too expensive but i love it with all my young (ish) girl heart

fabric or money for fabric so i can pick it out myself

this exact perfume because it smells heavenly and i want to smell that way.

and these shoes because hello, awesome. happy shopping my friends. if you need my address to ship things, let me know. or gift cards are always nice. or clothes, or plane tickets or money. oh and i want this birthday party (at least the last part)

to all the girls i've loved before

2009-05-10T16:18:00.002-04:00

sorry mark was not able to smile. he meant to but he says he can not smile with teeth. he looks a little frightened.

because i give into peer pressure...

2009-05-07T12:26:00.003-04:00

friends. i have been censussing. it has been a to the w to the e to the some. that is all i can say.
1. i did not get accosted by hannibal lector!!!! Victory
2. i made TONS o cash (sarcasm)
3. they said the job would last 10-14 weeks and i just finished so i think they meant 3 weeks!
4. we won't have enough money to make it through the summer now.
5. i met some crazies
6. i met some nice people
7. it was cold 8/11 days i was outside. miserably cold.
8. i am mad that this job was a farce.
9. i should have more time to blog now
10. the end

can you believe that i am done??!!! i am still so mad about it!!!!!

reflection

2009-04-16T00:37:00.004-04:00

i have a secret shame. well it is not really a shame i guess because i am owning up to it right now in a most public way.. i love to listen to country music. but i pretend i am too cool for it and i am not sure why. i don't think country music is necessarily nerdy but i think there is a stigma that goes along with it. anyhow, love it or hate it, i listen to it occasionally when i am alone in my car and by listen i mean full blast singing my heart out like i am the best singer anyone has ever met.(ps. i am.) well tonight i was driving a little way home and had my music blasting and i got to thinking because country music does that to me and i was thinking about my love life or lack thereof in the past
i was thinking about my first boyfriend and "missionary". man i loved him but was NOT the nicest of girlfriends. i was catty and bratty and caught up in myself he came home a wiser man and realized it and chose another girl over me. as far as i know they are doing great and are a great little family and i am so happy for them but at the time i thought i was going to die. i thought nothing could be worse. but country music go me through it. the dixie chicks in fact.oh man i needed them.
my next love was a friend i had had since sixth grade. i was sure we were meant to be together and he was the greatest thing. i thought we were perfect for each other and so did tons of other people.....except him. i was also immature and our communication was absent. it took a long time for me to get over him. YEARS!!!! but i did it and he is still one of my best friends in the whole wide world and i miss hanging out and talking and i miss his family. in my years of getting over said friend, country music came through for me. it was my shoulder to cry on when i was frustrated and sad and lonely.
my next love was another good friend and i was shy and reserved and insecure and things were not that open but oh we had some fun times and i still laugh aloud at the things we have done. he is great and i miss him and our escapades. ilove when we finally talk after months and it is as comfortable as always. man alive, but a broken heart.... guess who came through...country music.
tonight as i was driving, i was not frustrated or sad. i was happy and even a little sappy and i listened to some of the cheesiest lyrics around (come on admit it country fans) and i totally identified!!! i even got teary eyed as i thought of my little love waiting at home for me. he is perfect for me. and i sometimes feel a little lame that i am 30 and just barely married because in my culture that is a little strange but i am so glad i found him and he get me and loves me as i am with all my faults and foibles. and laughs at me when i am being hilarious even when no one else thinks i am. and reaches out to find me in the night and packs me a lunch and folds my underwear and millions of other unglamorous things. i love to come home to him. forever. and force him to listen to sappy country music with me once in a while. good old mark.

documentarians

2009-03-22T23:35:00.006-04:00

ok people, here is a question i am posing for you. i am going to give you 2 choices. please pick one. would you rather watch a documentary about people at bus stops waiting for the bus with questions such as what do you do? where are you going? why do you ride the bus? why are you wearing that fuzzy blanket? where did you get that saber? just basically finding out their stories and see if they think you are crazy (or the documentary maker is crazy) or is they answer candidly and have honest heartfelt answers. or would you rather watch a documentary about all the people holding signs at freeway exits, under passes, stop signs etc. asking for help, anything helps signs and have a brief glimpse into their lives. maybe spotlight a few of them to find out their stories and what made them feel so desperate that they had to beg for money. also find out if any of them are scam artists. thanks for your help. here is the back story. mark is obsessed with people at the bus stops here. seriously. anytime we drive past a bus stop, he always points them out and now refers to them as the bus people. he talked about them so much that i told him he should make a documentary about them. then, i thought i sholud have a competing documentary so i came up with the one about the sign people. i think it is more compelling and has a more human touch. don't steal our ideas because they are AWESOME and copyrighted. thanks.

alive

2009-03-17T15:16:00.010-04:00

i promise we are alive. things are quiet here but i thought i should put something on here so i was not staring at my blasted curlered hair every time i opened this thing. here are some highlights of the past little while.
1. we have friends! i never thought i would see the day but alas, we are popular again so never fear. i am going to do a new friends post soon so hold on to your hats.

2. with aforementioned friends, we took a trip to moses lake, washington this past weekend. i took 2 pictures and they are of us in the car so not so exciting. it was a fun relaxing weekend and was on the tail end of mark's spring break, so we had to party it up.

the whole time i was in moses lake when i was not partying, i was looking for my friend's uncle john. and the sad thing is that i have no idea what he looks like. i just know he lives there.

3. the temple gig is going well. we get up at freaking 4:30 am but other than that it is pretty nice. i am always tripped out for some reason when i see mark there doing some of his duties. fun times.

4. we bought a vintage fondue set off of ebay and i made some yummy cheese fondue for valentine's day and got myself some beautiful calla lilies.

5. there is still snow on the ground here.

6. i got a job. kind of. it is for the 2010 census bureau. it lasts 10-12 weeks. someone told me that hannibal from silence of the lambs killed a census worker so the job is now not appealing at all. that show freaked my freak for years and caused me to not sleep in my basement bedroom for weeks. sigh.

the sun will come out tomorrow

2009-02-25T22:26:00.003-05:00

well friends on the quest for beauty i have had yet another hair brained idea. you see, my hair is the bane of my existence. it is a pain to flat iron and it is so blasted curly, i always look like an infant. what i wanted was those loose pretty curls that most girls seem to be able to do. so, i went and bought myself some rollers. the curling iron was working but i was afraid of all the damage being done and the time it took, so of course in my peas sized brain, rollers were the answer.
my friend had these rollers for her daughter and they produced really pretty curls in her hair so i thought i would give them a whirl so i went and bought some and lo and behold, wound them tightly

posed for a few picture so you could all be jealous of how cute i am with no makeup and rollers. all i can say is good thing mark married me because hello, not so cute. anyway, on with the rollers. want to see the results of this brilliant idea??!! behold
side view=hot

front view=hot

back view=hot

so the moral of this story is that i have brilliant ideas and everyone should rush out and go buy themselves some rollers. actually the moral is that i am once again and idiot. sigh.

fashion plate

2009-02-23T16:29:00.005-05:00

homies. guess what. i got some sweet orthopedic shoes. i got them free from a lady who works with us at the temple. wanna see them so you can see how fashionable i look? okay here you go. feast your eyes on these beauties.
pretty sweet eh?

sorry about the cankles

and as an added bonus, they look great with jeans!!!!!

i mock, but seriously, they are so comfortable and wasn't that so nice of her to GIVE me these? they are not cheap shoes. so thanks friend.

actual conversation

2009-02-10T19:37:00.002-05:00

mark: honey, maybe we should stop drinking caffeine so much since we are going to be working in the temple now.
me: you don't really drink caffeine.
mark: i meant you. and honey, maybe we should stop swearing or try to not swear so much.
me: you never swear.
mark: again, you.

so i think it is plain to see who is the saint in our coupledom. whatever. i bring a lot of joy and happiness to sailors and truckers in the soda business so i contribute too. take that mother theresa.

correction

2009-02-10T19:31:00.003-05:00

remember a few posts back when i said mark and i were going to be working in the temple. i made a mistake. i meant don johnson. from the miami vice days. sorry.
common mistake

days of yore

2009-02-10T19:15:00.003-05:00

remember when mark was amish and sported a lovely beard? well those days are over folks. he is smooth and his hair is cut (by yours truly who claimed to be a great hairstylist in order to get the privilege- hahahahaha)

so folks in honor of the new do and smooth face, we tried a few new hairstyles to make mark's appearance more shocking, stylish and awesome. ta da: the new looks. you can vote if you want

1. the bad boy

2. Middle part with curlicues

3. the rocker? or the widow's peak

4. fresh off the mission nerd with a part

5. mormon mom (my personal favorite)

let us know what you think. our primary kids just thought he looked weird. at least they are honest

lame post warning

2009-02-10T18:46:00.005-05:00

remember when i said this blog should be called old news??? well i meant it. here is some, to catch you up. in december on the day before we were supposed to go home to utah, it began to snow. and snow and snow and snow. it was a marshmallow world and we were stuck inside. the roads did not get plowed and there were people walking if they had to go anywhere. luckily we were ok. mark's final was cancelled (after a scathing email telling the students to prepare for bad weather and give themselves plenty of time to drive to school) and so we were pretty much snowed in for 2 days and then in between storms, we made a quick break for it to make it to utah in time for the holidays. so here are some pictures of the snow because i have them, and this is old news and so therefore appropriate for the blog. for your viewing pleasure:

our shoveled walkway

our friend ian's car. he was staying with us because he was moving to chicago.

mark and ian were proud of this little driveway they built from our car to ian's so we could get out. we got out and then later that day, the plows finally came and covered all their hard work with snow so ian was stuck. luckily there was a neighborhood shovel brigade out and about.

more of the shoveled out "driveway"

cars slipping and sliding and mark sweeping

snow land

our car getting unsnowed

our steps. note. that handrail where the snow is piled up to is up to my waist!!

our car. wowzers. old news for sure but still.....

new job

2009-01-26T22:52:00.003-05:00

mark and i got a new job. we will be working here for the next little while. mark will be the one in the white suit and i will be the pleasant lady in the white dress and orthopedic shoes. please stop by. we will be there the first 3 saturdays of the month from 6:30 am people!!!!! until 1:00. see you soon.

mystery solved

2009-01-19T20:59:00.002-05:00

i figured out why no one wants to be our friend. this is our picture for the ward website and i bet when people are on there wondering, " hmm who should we befriend?" i bet they skip right over us. i mean seriously look at the dirty look mark is giving the camera. so mean. and also the fact that i have 9 chins. we will be alone together the rest of our lives. sigh.

home again

2009-01-15T16:43:00.003-05:00

i am thinking of calling my blog, lamewad or old news. seriously that is all it is. I am alive and well and back in spokane so take away the well part because i am not so happy to be here. my new year's resolution is to have a suckier attitude about spokane than last year. so far so good. we were in utah for the last 24 days!!! can you believe it? It was a LONG vacation and was delightful. here are a few highlights.

family
friends (sorry if we missed you!)
sleeping in
mark with no school
mark's birthday
a rocking new years
american idol
family dinners
game nights
stomach bug
cold
loverly christmas

we had a great time and not you are caught up on our lives for a while. also did you hear about all the snow that we missed her ein spokane and all the flooding? we are so glad. we left in betweeen storms and saw enought to disgust us with no snow plows and such. it was pretty though and i was glad we didn't get too snowed in and could still leave for the holidays. well the snow is melting and there was some news of flooding but we live on a hill so i think we are alright. in other news i cut my own hair today. hahaha. i may have to post pictures. i am not very good.

go here

2008-12-17T18:44:00.003-05:00

friends, isn't this so pretty. well my friend susan is selling these in her etsy shop. she and he husband made them!! so cute for a kid's room so go order some. she also has some other really cool prints so check them out. here is the link to her etsy shop

crapload

2008-12-12T14:47:00.002-05:00

were you wondering how my day is going? oh thanks for asking. it sucks. here is why. i feel like crap and i have a nyquil hangover. also here is the best part. i was leaving for work this morning and i was carrying a pumpkin (already embarrassing). i was carrying the pumpkin to the garbage can and also my work bag. also i had on slippers. because they look like shoes and they make me feel cozy at work. (don't judge, they look like shoes!) so unbeknownst to me, jack freaking frost decided to come last night and make things all icy. well in his trickery, it just looked wet. so i went down the stairs paying no heed to their treacherousness. well of course i fell ALL the way down them and of course the pumpkin flew out of my hands and all the contents of my bag. and of course someone just happened to be walking by my house right then at 8 in the fricking morning and had a front row view. typical. i just sat on the bottom step in pain and embarrassment and then finally got up just as mark approached the scene of the accident. he laughed. he will regret that later. oh how my butt is so sore! so sore. there is going to be a huge bruise and you better believe i am going to blog the picture of it. i need sympathy people. then i got to work where i could really use on e of those inflatable donuts to sit on and realize that i have forgotten my phone and brought the wrong lunch. best. day. ever. good thing my laughy husband felt bad for me and remedied the forgotten things. what a guy, he would be almost perfect except for his penchant for laughing at me all the time. sigh. woe is me. woe is my bum.

a scroungy home is coming along

2008-12-04T22:51:00.008-05:00

ok, i have done a few more projects around the house and so of course i need some opinions. please try not to be too harsh because most of them i like. here is our bed before. i liked this bed but the blues were really hard to find anything to match with so i changed them.......to this. what do you think? the whole time i was thinking of my friend darci who is not a fan of red and thinking she would hate this! but i like it and it made a lot more things possible.

there is a slight problem, the curtains look like bandannas (thank you matt) but i sort of accidentally miscalculated the amount of fabric i ordered. oops! so bandannas it is. sigh. oh well they still look better than boring windows. (sort of)

this little lovely is in a frame and a collage that for some reason i didn't get a picture of. oh well. these were my valentine cards last year and i loved them.

i was reading on a diy website to use ceiling rosettes as wall art. well i couldn't really find rosettes but i found ceiling tiles and they were 100% free!!! also they are big and make a blank wall not blank anymore. since we are poor, i have to make up my own wall hangings. frustrates me to no end since i lack the creativity gene.

this next homemade wall art is a collage of some of our many wedding cards. i thought it was a fun idea but maybe you might think it lame. not quite as cool as i had hoped but at least no more blank walls in the bedroom. i do not heart blank walls.
we got this huge vase for 2 dollars at a garage sale and it has been sitting empty for months so i bought some flowers and such at pier 1 and went to town. flower arranger i am not but oh well.
painted our star red. it was yellow before. also here is some of matt's photography from thailand.

and here is our pioneer quilt. just so you know how pioneer like i am. this is the ohio star pattern and my childhood neighborhood made it for us for our wedding. pretty. and so warm. so that is our new bedroom. now i will show you some "art " projects i made that are totally embarrassing and many of your pre-k children could have made them.

for the dining room. hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

and for the living room (oh the shame). where did i get the idea i could decorate. (an emoticon who is giggling at herself while shrigging her shoulders and putting her hands up.)

stoner

2008-12-04T22:34:00.009-05:00

last night mark had a tutorial for school so he was gone for the evening. usually after work, i am tired and not really up for doing much except hanging out or reading or watching a movie. for some reason last night, i was a cleaning whirlwind and i took pictures to prove it. here is my oven guts all ready to be cleaned. my oven!!! i hate cleaning the oven.

then to show you the truth of what our house looks like, here were the dishes we had left in the sink. i thought mark should do them and he thought i should so there they sat piling up for 3 days! gross.

here they are all cleaned.(but not put away because i HATE that job, not sure why.) also i put clean sheets on the bed, straightened up the rest of the house and got the oven mostly cleaned. there is still some thanksgving dinner baked on their pretty good so i will work on it tonight.

see how scroungy i look? i wish you could have seen the super sweet outfit i was wearing. it was so so hot. mark laughed at it when he came home. see my drugged out eyes and blank stare?

i did all of this in one hour. i was a cleaning lady on overdrive and do you want to know my secret? i was on speed. i haven't been a user for months and then i found this jewel in my fridge from my parents' thanksgiving visit. delish. i may become a regular user again.

i just read through this and it doesn't really sound like i did that much but it felt like it okay people, it felt like it.

insight

2008-12-04T13:43:00.003-05:00

marriage has offered me a more personal glimpse into the life of my darling mark. it is funny to notice new things about him all the time. here are a few

he does this little hum thing under his breath a lot. i ask him what he is humming and he is like, "i am not humming. what are you talking about?" but it's it there, promise and it is cute.
he is the most thorough cleaner i have ever met. he scrubs our floors until they shine and our dishes are sparkling (no dishwasher ugh). in fact, when we do the dishes together he will rinse and will look at a dish i have cleaned for inspection and will toss it back into the sink if it is not to his high standards. so now he is the washer while i rinse and dry. this cleanliness also carries over to personal hygiene. he practically scrubs himself raw in the shower. it is amazing. also his hair. shampoos and conditions so thoroughly. then when he dries off, wow. i have never seen anything like it. i love it.
he talks to himself. he denies this up and down but it is true. believe me. also he makes really cute hand gestures as he is writing emails to people as if he is having a conversation. darling.
he likes to make fun of me. this is nothing new and if you read the last post, can you blame him? but i will ask him what he is laughing at and he will always say "i wasn't laughing?" i think he likes to make me look crazy. so he is more of a liar than i thought because he IS laughing.
remember my worries about our primary class and the beard? well have no fear. the class is in love with him. in love. even the boys. i will talk and they will be off in their own world and chatting and he will start to talk and they all snap forward, become still as mice and look at him with reverence and love. it sucks.

marriage is fun.
i like having someone to sleep with. if i move in the night he always pats me to make sure i am ok. funny.
i also like having our own place and our own stuff. our own messes and our own little life. i finally feel like more of an adult. especially with my funny little husband.

bright

2008-11-22T01:22:00.004-05:00

so it has not been hard for me to figure out that i am not the sharpest knife in the drawer. i mean seriously, all i have to do is examine my day to day life and the looks that mark gives me like "seriously, did you just do that?!" well i am used to it but i think others are not. there are some present examples like the fact that i think i am an expert seamstress now and the fact that i think i am good at decorating our house. ha ha. also remember how i tried to be a pioneer and make butter? seriously, who does that. well let me tell you about some past stupidity, oh man. a lot of them involve my bff linnea but i am sure most of them were my ideas since she is bright and lovely. instance 1. when linnea and i were about 11 or 12 (maybe older but i will never admit it), we braided out hair together since she was so blond and i was so dark. it looked cool. then we walked around for awhile like that and then (here is the really idiotic part) we decided to jump on the trampoline!!!! oh my lands the pain. seriously, not the brightest bulb. instance 2. also involving linnea. we used to take sunday drives all the time. and we would always go in our sunday dresses and ridiculous shoes and we would always get into some sort of pickle, like our car high centered and us miles from anywhere. or our car trapped on an icy road with a cliff looming right where we are slipping. then riding with a family also out for a sunday drive to help. the dad of that family made the mother get in the very back so linnea and i could ride in the front. nice guy. instance 3. one time i left my towel outside to dry. when i went to look for it later, it was gone so i stepped out to get a more thorough look. the door slammed shut behind me and locked. oh and did i mention i was NAKED. yep. buck. it was great. especially when i had to climb up onto our deck and in the blazing lights coming outside into the dark from the kitchen, i knocked timidly while crouching to hide all my personals. oh man. however, the look on my mom's face-totally worth it. ha not really worth it but awesome nonetheless. and all of this leads to my current state where i do idiotic things daily or bi-daily if that is a word. however, it is often. my other pioneer experience involves making tomato soup. yes instead of opening a can when i wanted grilled cheese and tomato soup, i decided to make it. 4 hours later, it was bubbling happily on the stove. 4 HOURS!!!!! i had to freaking peel and seed the tomatoes. and it took 12 of them. TWELVE!!!! oh and did i mention the soup was not good at all. mark lied and said it was but a pioneer can tell when people are lying. .

times change

2008-11-22T00:55:00.005-05:00

one of the greatest things about being married is the fact that you can talk about things that may have been embarrassing before but now that i have landed the man, i can throw caution to the wind. like i have no fear to say, "honey, do i have b.o (or bo as we call it)" and if he says yes, i am not embarrassed. i can also ask the same about bad breath. and then not even worry about it. this would have been so embarrassing to me in the dating world. so nice. also there is the fact that we can talk about the future and things like children's' names. like now he can know that i have names i like and if a new name comes out, i can ask him about it instead of pretending that i (as a single girl) have never thought further ahead into my future to imagine children. so now that we can talk about it, i find it coming up quite often. i like to test out the naming waters. fun. when i was a wee lass i thought for sure that i wanted twins and i wanted them to be a boy and girl. their names were going to be brittney and braxton or brittney and breanne. so beautiful in my mind. well my tastes have changed a little but i also think maybe we should go with the theme names. i mean i come from a family where all of our names start with m- mike, marnae, megan and matt. so we could do all the same letter names. there is also using the letters of the alphabet. in my hometown there was a family who named their kids abcde etc. they had twins on f and ended on g. i always thought that was so cool. or we could go with an interest. like another family from my neck of the wood who have (no lie) justa cowgirl, brody o, arena raycin and destry corral. wow. that is all i have to say. i feel sad those names are already taken. so we have some great ideas if we ever have some kids. not yet but someday. i can just see britt and bre hanging out right now with derek and braxton and branden.

leaves

2008-11-13T22:34:00.001-05:00

don't worry, the leaves did change after all. even the pine trees in our yard. so strange

this road was pretty all covered in yellow

love the yellow tree

mark loves the multicolored trees. me too. i don't remember seeing these in utah.

and beautiful red! hooray for fall! boring post, i know but i liked the pictures. so there.

halloween

2008-11-13T22:19:00.005-05:00

oh, how was your halloween? great? oh, me too. oh wait, not really. mark and i went to the ward trunk or treat and i made all these cupcakes. i am an idiot. the rest of the ward freaking bought theirs. oh well. live and learn. we also got invited to a halloween party where girls wore lots of trashy costumes and there was a lot of drinking. we opted out and watched a movie snuggled up together. jealous? thought so. halloween is not as much fun without kids or friends.

monster cupcakes......what a joke.

this last bloody cupcake is for mary d and leslie (iggy) from mark to remember the youtube video of muffins.

beard

2008-11-13T22:15:00.002-05:00

here is the beard in all it's "sleeping" glory. he would not open his eyes for these pictures oh well. he was going to shave off the beard but i told him to wait until christmas so people could see it in person. rad.

he hasn't shaved since the wedding except the mustache which was bugging him and frankly was a bit creepy.

he opened his eyes for the last one. looks good eh?

saturday is a special day

2008-11-13T22:00:00.008-05:00

oh hi, remember me? i am megan, a notoriously bad blogger. oh well. i have another confession to make. friends. beside being a bad blogger and hating the twilight series, i also hate emoticons. there i said it. i think they serve a purpose but have you ever gotten an email filled with emoticons? so lame. anyway, my friend will shares this hatred with me and my most favorite email from him is one where instead of using emoticons, he describes them. so funny. so i am going to do that in this blog post and probably in more to come to convey my feelings. get ready. my version of emoticons :) ;) :0 :( ready? OKAY (said like a cheerleader while doing a split jump and clapping emphatically)
where to begin?(an emoticon with a perplexed look that is scratching her chin). well the other day, mark and i went to couer d'alene idaho to look at the fall foliage. silly us (an emoticon with a sheepish look on her face, shrugging her shoulders). we should have realized that almost the entire population of trees where we live are pine trees so needless to say, there were not many fall colors. oh well, (an emoticon who heaves a big sigh) lake couer d'alene is very pretty and it was a pretty drive and walk.

then we had to take a few pictures of each other of course (an emoticon who looks at you knowingly with an elbow nudge). here is mark making fun of my classic picture taking expressions. the big smile(ramsdell smile for those of you in the know)

it didn't hurt my feelings (an emoticon who is crying on the inside)

here is another face he is making fun of. (an emoticon getting a little angry but smiling through it)

then i gave him the face he always gives me when i take a picture (a smug emoticon who loves payback)

take that sucka (a still smug emoticon laughing in mark's face)

then mark gave me the "i am not listening to you or acknowledging your presence anymore face or franklin face
then we were glad we had no pets*. ( an emoticon smirking at this lame blog post)

* please don't be offended if you think we hate your pets because we do not.

the end. don't be jealous of our fun "leaf peeping" adventure. (an emoticon who hangs it's head because there were no cool leaves)

i am very important at work

2008-11-03T18:11:00.006-05:00

today, i took meeting minutes. i didn't understand a word of what was being said. then i typed up the notes and sent them to my manager. here is the email chain
my email
Angela CashonProduct Configuration Tech Supportext. 27839
From: Megan Smith Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 2:20 PMTo: Angela Cashon
Subject: I don't know what I am talking about

Here are the extraordinary minutes from today’s meeting. Hold on to your hats!
and hers
The last three items on Megan’s notes are very important. Do you think she takes us seriously? I’m starting to wonder……..
and the attachment

Team Meeting 11/3/08

There has been some confusion on how to display plans with no coinsurance but a deductible and how to display the out of pocket maximum (OOPM).
· Therefore, we are not going to display the OOPM anywhere.
· If it is there to quote, it causes confusion to members.
·· In the State of Alaska- the deductible is OOPM.
· Starting today if you are building in the build tool, put n/a for OOPM
· · Change on main cost shares to n/a.
· We should rename the buddy audit tool-citizen’s arrest
· We need some get out of jail free cards
· More lame insurance jokes and laughter
· Blah blah blah
· Snore-me.
i expect to be unemployed by the end of the night.

today's the day

2008-11-03T15:24:00.005-05:00

this is dave. he is my dad and he is holding my sleepy niece about a hundred years ago because she is not that tiny anymore. that is neither here nor there. he is going back to work today after his accident during the wedding time in my life. hello the wedding was in AUGUST. anyway, maybe my guilt will be lifted a tiny if his first day back is awesome so here's wishing. have fun dad.

no more leisurely days reading trashy mags and eating bon bons. sorry.

pictorial

2008-10-29T13:23:00.003-04:00

weirdos

2008-10-19T21:18:00.003-04:00

oh my gosh we are so weird. seriously. the other day, we cleaned the house and it took a while because it was dirty. it looks clean in pictures because i shove things out of the way. anyway...mark vacuumed out new rug and all the shag was neat and orderly and so pretty looking. then i went in to dust and i stood on the rug and mark was all sorts of mad about it because of my ONE footprint. so i climbed over the love seat and on to the couch and dusted the rest of the furniture while he vacuumed my footprint out. now i find that we are walking on the furniture instead of the blasted rug. what the?! still no footprints but come on!!
this one is just about me. i think that i think i am a pioneer. i am all about baking and cooking and sewing and the other day, i needed butter so i went to the store and thought, i bet i can make butter cheaper than this. seriously, i am NOT A FREAKING PIONEER! so i looked it up online and started shaking my cream into butter. do you have ANY IDEA how long that takes? REALLLLLLLLLLY long and your arm gets tired and you tell yourself how stupid you are about 1 million times and then make your husband finish up and then see the fruits of your (or his) labor and taste it and realize it is not that good and you are not a pioneer.
weird dorks, that is what we are. ps. i got a job. kind of. it is a temp job until christmas so i can go home for a long time. yee haw!!

furniture!!!

2008-10-14T17:23:00.005-04:00

our furniture is finally here and we are loving having somewhere to sit besides our bed or the kitchen table. so here it is. i made those pillows and was thinking they were pretty cute until we had mark's friend over for dinner and he said, " oh going for a southwest theme huh?" well, not the look i was going for so please tell me if it looks southwest to you.

so here is a close up of the pillows.

southwest?
here is one of our three new lamps! totally on sale!our old bookcase in a new locale

coffee table...obviously needs some decoration. oh and the shaggy rug that is so soft

one of our 2 end tables.

the view from the couchi hung up these plates that i have been wanting to hang for awhile in the "dining room".
is this too circular? see the pumpkin for fall and the table runner my mom sent us. thanks ma.
now onto the guest room. here it is from the hallway. those are the curtains i made. still debating so i have not made the others yet.

the guest bed. very comfy so plan your trips soon.
and a fairly dark close up of the curtains. sorry.
and here is the fabric... just so you have a better feel. should i make the others or just bag these.

so to recap, i need your opinions on the southwestness of the living room, the curtains and the roundness of the plate display. thanks!

were you wondering?

2008-10-09T19:04:00.008-04:00

were you wondering why my blog is so lame?
sorry, nothing cool has happened!!
were you wondering how spokane is? still not my favorite!! but it is growing on me.
were you wondering how mark is liking school?
he is liking it but is a little burned out. he is in the throes of midterms and there is so much reading!
were you wondering if i had any friends yet?
still no. sadly. i thought i was more likable. sigh. the good news is that mark has friends!
were you wondering if i had a job?
well...er....no. not yet.
moving on...
were you wondering if we had our new furniture yet?
no...but....IT'S COMING TOMORROW!!!!!
were you wondering if i had turned into a seamstress?
you betcha!!! i tried one project and failed miserably! seriously so bad but then i got back on the sewing horse and have made pillows! and curtains! whoa! i will post pictures soon.
were you wondering about our primary class?
well they are great. a little rowdy but oh man they are funny. mark laughs all the way through primary now. even when they are being naughty.
were you wondering about mark's neck beard?

still there and so long! kinda not my favorite but i am also a little intrigued by it. i think he may keep it until christmas to see how long it gets. also he may be abe lincoln for halloween.

well, that is all i can think you would be wondering about. i will be better about the blog now. promise.

Happy FALL!!

recipe blahg

2008-10-09T19:01:00.001-04:00

hey, check out another blog of mine with recipes here : www.aforkandspoon.blogspot.com. it is relatively new so there are not many recipes yet but there will be. also please make the pumpkin soup recipe on there. it is so so good and will make it taste like fall!!!

i am finished!

2008-09-20T22:47:00.006-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but i finished the birdie sling!!! (i became semi obsessed with it's completion) it turned out pretty nice. there are a few things that i could improve on but I DID IT!!!! and i did it alone without handing it to my mom and having her do the hard parts and me sew the straight lines. i did have to call her quite a bit though. anyway, here are some pics! also i never finish projects so this is a big deal and also i have not sewed (sewn?) since high school and i can not follow patterns very well but this one worked out for me and i made pleats and gussets and i have no idea what a gusset really is!! (well kind of now i do but.... still!)

one sidethe insidethe other side (i know they are the same but i MADE this!!) call me martha. and i mean washington not stewart because i bet she was crafty too.

sew on and sew forth

2008-09-19T18:23:00.006-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but i am not crafty one tiny little bit although i would like to be and i pretend i am. so this week i am going to take up sewing again and i have a project and the lady at the store told me she was sure i could do it. so here it is:

the birdie sling

and the exterior fabricand the accent fabricthe lining fabric does not match at all but it wont show and is a fabric i love.
see, it's weird and i knew you would think that but it won't show and i think it will be cute!! wish me sewing luck (heaven knows i need it). and these may be your christmas and birthday gifts!

our house, thus far.

2008-09-15T19:28:00.027-04:00

sorry kole, this has been hard because i am computerally challenged. so, here is our humble abode thus far! we are waiting for our new furniture and i have no pictures of the guest room/office because i want to do befores and afters. so maybe the next post. anyhow, welcome. here above is the front door and the wall of the front door. here below since blogger won't let me type there is the bookcase and the view from the front door to the dining room. the arched door leads to the hall and the bedrooms and the door next to the wreath leads to the kitchen. the tiny kitchen. and the last shot is from the dining room into the living room (imagine it with furniture and a rug!!!!!)

the dining area
<----------- here we have the kitchen. it is little but it works marvelously. here is the fridge and clementine then a little shelf we have, then the view from the door from the dining room, then our rad floor (which mark loves and also told me it was mauve before we moved in. i am so glad it is not mauve!!!!) so, that is the kitchen and if you come, i will make you whatever you want to eat. it might not be good but i will try my darndest.

next we have our bedroom. now please, please keep in mind that we need a lot of stuff on the walls and i know a lot of what we have is uber dorky but bear with me people. we are poor. bed. dresser, walls, blah. you know the drill.

the hall from the bathroom

and the bathroom. narrow and cool tile. sweet eh?

fit the part

2008-09-13T19:16:00.003-04:00

so, this shouldn't surprise you but the other day, mark and i were sitting in church and one of the guys from the bishopric came up to us and asked if we would talk to him after sacrament meeting. so we sat there and wondered what he could want. mark thought he wanted to ask us to speak and i thought that he wanted us to teach primary. so we sat there and listened to announcements and such and then all of the sudden the man who had spoken to us earlier as asking from the pulpit if we would stand. so we did. and then he called us to be primary teachers. then he got really flustered and said, "um, you need to sit down now" and then he explained to everyone that we hadn't been asked to be primary teachers yet. he was so flustered and the whole congregation was laughing. it was quite humorous. anyhow, so that is it, we are going to teach the 4 and 5 year olds. i am excited but a little leery. do you think the kids are going to listen to this man?:
hello, he has a neck beard. more evidence. it might frighten small children. so, do you think they will listen??he assures me they will. wish us luck, but at least this will keep my mind from wandering in relief society as it is wont to do.

eye

2008-09-07T19:02:00.003-04:00

dear friends,

thanks for the concern about the eye but what should have excited you about that last post was the kitchen aid!!!!! oh well. not all of us can get excited about kitchen appliances. anyhow, they eye is not a good story. i fell asleep with contacts in and i think there was something in my eye and it got scratched around all night. so i am still dealing with the effects (or is it affects?). let that be a lesson to you all. do not sleep in contacts....but i probably still will once this confounded eye heals.

loves, meg

oh man oh man oh man

2008-09-03T16:13:00.005-04:00

she's here, she's here, she's here!!! my little clementine kitchen aid. oh wowie. now i must get to baking. except i scratched my eye last night and i look like the devil and can not keep it open or from watering in yummy treats so baking may have to wait. i am going to start a tally at the end of all my blogs now of all the things i need.
like this:
job: 0
friends in spokane:1 (mark)
good attitude:0
kitchen aid mixer:1!!!! yahoo
new living room furniture: in 2-3 weeks!!!! yeee
better attitude: it's coming
scratched eye: priceless (what the?)
lameness: in abundance!!!!

this little light of mine, i'm gonna let it shine

2008-08-27T16:43:00.004-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but i am not going to lie. law school is not my favorite. all mark has to do when he is home is study. and since i am home alone all day and so excited when he comes home, i am less than pleased. i am trying to be not bratty but you all know that i am bratty by nature ( much like naughty by nature). so i have a lot of free time whilst i look for a job and ps. i hate looking for a job. why cant someone come up to me and say, you're hired at this fabulous rate. oh well. boo. so anyway, i am trying to be self entertaining but i am not good at it so today i ordered this little lovely:

and i am going to become a baker. if you need me to mail you various treats or breads, let me know. also i am homesick for virginia but i am putting on a brave face for mark. don't tell. the end. if you want to email me or g-chat, let me know at selmanmegan at gmail.com. loves.

ps. does anyone know how to pint 9x9 pictures? please?

here you go! hope you're not disappointed!

2008-08-18T13:01:00.006-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but here are the wedding pictures. i am working on a mac and i can't get the pictures in the order i want so i am sorry about that. it was a great day and we missed you all who couldn't be there!! now....in with the commentary....

we took some bridals and groomals in a town called eureka. it is practically a ghost town but there were some pretty cool spots like this old house.

and this romantic old door.

and here all of the sudden is the group at the temple (see what i mean about proper order?!)
and here are mark and me coming out of the temple. i opted not to wear my lace jacket at the temple. but i did wear my sweet yellow shoes.

oh what's this? some bridals....our rings and my pretend bouquet, the real one weighed approximately 30 lbs and i called it my baby all day and kept asking people to hold the baby.the old house again. i have on the lace jacket here. don't we look old fashioned?

mark's sweet tie and our rings.
us at the beautiful manti temple. i love the overcast sky.
us on temple grounds.
the smith family
me and the sibs: matt and marnae. no mike.
the food at the reception. sorry about the decoration pictures but i want you to feel as though you were there and if you were there, then you can remember these fondly. also i had a sweet team of help all week to pull off this gig. a big thanks to all the cousins and especially AUNT TREV!!!! and dani and kenz and riley!!
the book and our candy stick favors that no one took with them so we have a ton!!! seriously if you visit us in spokane you will receive these.
our centerpieces
our awesome musician jordan riley. if you ever need a wedding musician, call him!! he rocks and is totally easy on the eyes.
our cookies. they turned out so cute!!! thanks cookie makers brenda, nakole and marn!!!
the cousins and the bride. and the sister. dani on the ground and then marn, kole, me, kenz and mauri.
mark and i finished this old dresser that i got from our neighbor and then set up this little display.
our gifts. those doors are yellow and they looked really cute and see those yellow balls above them? i made 60 of them and they were a pain in the rear!! but they looked good all around the yard.
our RICE KRISPIE cake!!! it turned out better than i thought. mark and i made this all by ourselves. we can be hired if you need us and don't want a real wedding cake like me.
this is my mision president but i also wanted ou to see our back drop. those garlnds were everywhere and so pretty and made by AUNT TREV!!!! anyway, it was a delightful day and i hope you enjoy the pictures!! sorry they took so long!

alive

2008-08-12T14:49:00.002-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but i know i am sucky at my blog but listen, there have been a lot of events. any way, we rolled into spokane last night and once we get a little more unpacked, i promise i will blog. the wedding!!!! i finally have the pictures, so there will be some to come! please be patient. after all, i did move twice cross country and get married. give a girl a break.

silly ben

2008-07-09T11:59:00.002-04:00

here is the questionnaire about mark's and my going away party tomorrow night. please come! (isn't ben clever?!)

SHOULD I COME QUESTIONNAIRE: If you are having a hard time deciding if you want to come to this party take the questionnaire below.Add up your points next to the answer you selected and consult the table given at the bottom:
Do you know Mark Smith:
__ (1) Is this the guy that has a mullet?
__ (3) He did have a mullet, but now he has a rat tail.
__ (6) Yeah, he's a solid guy, the kind you wouldn't mind being in a fox hole with.
__ (9) I know about his secret obsession with RPG's
Do you know Megan Selman
__ (1) Does she always sit on the back bench at church.
__ (3) I secretly blog stalk her and post a comment occasionally.
__ (6) I know she is afraid of horses lying down and vellux blankets. Does this count as knowing her well?
__ (9) I have her blog set as the home page on my web browser and I comment on EVERY post she makes. (Creepy)
Do you like Mark:
__ (1) LIKE, is a strong word for how I feel.
__ (3) Eh, He's alright.
__ (6) He's a cool dude.
__ (9) I watch what he wears so I can match his fashion sense. To the shoe laces.
Do you like Meg: __ (1) Well, I don't know if like adequately sums up my feelings.
__ (3) I do enjoy a well placed"Your Mom" joke.
__ (6) She is as good of a friend as one can hope for.
__ (9) She made me laugh so hard once, I split my britches.
Will you miss Mark:
__ (1) Uh ... I doubt it.
__ (3) I have no idea how to set up an appointment with the Bishop now.
__ (6) I plan on setting up a support group of those who will miss him.
__ (9) I will need professional counseling for months to be able to let him go.
Will you miss Meg:
__ (1) All indications point to NO.
__ (3) Only on Tuesday.
__ (6) Meg leaving will be like forgetting a fond childhood memory.
__ (9) Losing Meg will be like loosing one of my own appendages! How will I go on!
Should I stay home and watch re-runs of The Office, or should I rock out with Meg and Mark one last time:
(6 - 15) What are their names again, .... do I even know these people?
(16 - 25) I don't think them leaving will adversely affect my life.
(26 - 35) I should go by to wish them good luck with their future endeavors.
(36 - 45) I will miss these two, like the desert misses the rain.
(45 - 54) If I miss this chance to party with them I will consider this one of the top 5 missed opportunities in my life. ?'s, You can contact me: Ben Smith

some things

2008-07-03T15:35:00.001-04:00

on july1, 2006, i arrived in washington dc.
on july 1, 2007, mark and i had our first kiss. so sweet.
on july 1, 2008, we stuffed our wedding invitation envelopes
can't wait to see what happens july 1, 2009!!!

we had a shower shout hooray

2008-07-03T15:18:00.007-04:00

well we had a boy girl shower this last weekend. this lovely lady above was the planner and decorator and executor along with her side kick katherine ( who apparently worked a little TOO hard wink, wink)
not so conventional but i have a lot of guy friends that i wanted to be there. so heck with tradition, boys were there. darci and katherine and patti did a beautiful job. all was lovely and beautiful and delicious. THANK YOU!!! here are some picts.
ooh la la

favors
i wanted you to see that this girl can decorate! so pretty
our friends. sniff, sniff. i don't like to think about leaving
and of course motorboat. i laughed too hard at the spitting noises!

hubba hubba

2008-07-03T15:13:00.003-04:00

um this shouldn't surprise you but i got some engagement pictures taken the other day and i was showing them to my "friend" at work and apparently, i am " not that pretty in real life. "

ahem....i BEG to differ.....

amish delights

2008-07-03T08:27:00.003-04:00

what? did you say i suck at blogging? whatever. my blog and i were in a fight because it is so lame but this shouldn't surprise you but we kissed and made up. mostly because i get so mad when people don't blog and so i am a hypocrite. get over it. a few weeks ago, we took a sojourn to amish country. for some reason, we left super early. i think out thoughts were that the if amish get up early, so should we. so we did. we hit the road at 7. am people. on a saturday. fun. we made mei li drive. it was a beautiful day and the fields and all were so green and loverly. it was a nice day to visit lancaster, intercourse, bird in hand, blue balls, paradise and other little towns. hey amish, nice names.

look at how that are baling that hay! holy hannah. that would not be easy. it was cool to see though.

this girl in the field was cute.
i am not very good at car pictures but i wish this one had worked out of these two little boys on the fence.
i love these scooters.
mei li and i loved the clothes hanging on the lines
horse, buggy, neck beard. check.

after lancaster county we went to hershey and to hershey park. dave has the pictures of that but i will blog them when i get them. there were some fun roller coasters and i was a wee bit scared at first which apparently makes me " no fun at amusement parks." oh well. anyway, here are the light poles in hershey. again a car shot so not my finest work but do you get the idea of the wrapped and unwrapped kiss? we went to chocolate world and learned that milton hershey was a cool guy. he did a lot of good for that town. i hope i can be like that one day except not that rich.

the hershey factory smoke stacks. it was true that the town smelled of chocolate. mmm.

and that was our saturday adventure. the end.

for matt anderson

2008-06-12T12:56:00.005-04:00

in honor of matt anderson, i have been having people do the motorboat face. here are a few.

my aunt trev

my brother mike
my lover
me and my cousin ben (almost cousin...he can't wait)
but let me show you the best ones. here is my cousin dani. she is a really pretty girl but her motorboat face.....well see for yourself. dani before:
and 1-2-3 motorboat:

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

ar kansas

2008-06-12T12:45:00.003-04:00

so for my real birthday, i took a trip to an exotic resort in blytheville arkansas. i had my own room poolside and a welcome basket and my own personal tailor and chef. it was nice.

ok, it was my aunt's house but all those things are real. she is making my wedding dress so i had to go down there for a fitting. it was fun times.

i had a birthday shout hooray

2008-06-12T12:20:00.006-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but i had a birthday and i am OLD now. my lover organized a little dinner.
he was super happy about planning a party.

so...if you are reading this blog and are my friend and didn't get invited to come to dinner, please don't be mad. i am so scatterbrained and didn't tell mark all the people to invite. but seriously you should see my wedding invite list. i am adding people all the time that i forgot. hello grandma. so i am preoccupied. anyway we went to the coyote grill and it was lovely.

remember a few posts back when i said i was a teetotaler? (oh you don't remember because my blog is so boring you don't read it anymore?) well if you remember that, it is no longer true. i am a lush. the waitress brought me this drink and said it was for me from cubbie. so i took a sip and i thought...this tastes funny and so i had mark take a sip and he was like that has a LOT of alcohol in it. so i told the waitress we wanted a virgin and then cubbie started laughing about how it was he birthday joke and she had known all along that it was alcoholic. oh man!! 30 years and this was my first taste of alcohol. not good, even in a margarita. (this shot was a reenactment)
when we got back to mark's house for delicious strawberry shortcake, mei li had organized a puppet show with laminated pictures of all our friends so no i can make magnets out of them for when we move to washington. cute. thanks mei!
and thanks mark. and thanks darci. and sorry friends left out. and sorry mom for being an alky.

outer banks revisited

2008-06-12T11:59:00.004-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but i know my blog is so boring!!! well i am busy okay!! anyway on MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND (megmorial day) we went to the outer banks. i wrote it in caps because it was freaking (or as mark says "frickin") 8 years ago and i am just now blogging it. I rock. anyway we had a fun house with a few friends and it was low key and delightful. we stayed from friday to tuesday. lovely!! we played on the beach and ate and swam and watched movies and sat in the hot tub. relaxing. sorry there are not more pictures but i just left my camera lying around the house the whole weekend....

which led to this... random pictures of cubbie and katherine. there are seriously so many and they are funny. my linnea friend always does this to my camera, steals it and takes pictures of herself. here is cub

here is kath. love the comb picture
demuresexy
sweetsick
aloofi wish we could all go to the outer banks together and frolic in the sand. let's do it okay? all of you.

rat tail

2008-06-04T16:05:00.003-04:00

remember when mark had this for hair? a sweet mullet?

well he has now cut it into a more respectable hair cut but guess what....he left a little something. a rat tail and he says he is keeping it for the wedding. you like??

it is super freakishly long now too. these pictures don't do it justice.

friends, help please

2008-06-04T15:46:00.003-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but i am getting married and i am trying to do it somewhat inexpensively. so i am asking for your help. i am wondering if any of you have or know how to get cheaply these things:

white paper lanterns (any size). i want a lot but i don't know what to do with them when the wedding is over so i don't was to buy a huge amount.

these anchor hocking jars. maybe the gallon size or smaller. they are not too pricey but if you would lend them out, that would be delightful.

cake stands, yellow, white or glass. anyone, anyone??

just thought i would try. i will be extra special super careful. thanks.

sicking me out

2008-05-29T11:56:00.002-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but mark sent me an email about getting a marriage license today and in the information was this:
Cousin Marriage: Yes, with limitations. First cousins who are 65 years of age or older can marry without consent. First cousins who are 55 years of age or older will need to provide to the district court that they are incapable of reproduction before receiving consent to marry.

YOU CAN MARRY YOUR FIRST COUSIN!!!!!! (in utah).....ewwww

in other news, congratulations to matt and mauri or matt and dani or mauri and jesse. hahahahahahahahahahaha.

saturday

2008-05-23T09:41:00.005-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but we had another adventurous saturday. we are lucky to have dave as a friend because he finds the most random stuff to do and it is always entertaining. so, this day, we went to the team america rocketry challenge at great meadows. it is a huge deal!

anyway, all these teams from all over the country come to compete at this competition and they have to launch their rocket 750 feet in the air and have a flight time of 45 seconds and bring back 2 eggs unbroken. it was cool. they win scholarships and money. you should have seen all the people their to recruit these smart kids. impressive. i was definitely out of my league since i am a dumb kid and all.

there were nerds everywhere. see proof, dave and mei li reading the rules and regulations while cuddling....nerdythen these guys came...... in lab coats and bow ties. AWESOME. they had all these stopwatches and computers to do their calculations on the other teams
this guy wasn't really nerdy but there were tons of nerdy kids around this robot (including me). he was so cool. you could ask him anything and he would respond and if you took a picture of him, he would say cheeeeeeeese. i sort of had a crush on him.
nerds by tank like vehicles
and nerds in tank like vehicles.

but then, we came upon the inebriation goggles. oh man they were so funny. dave looked crazy in them.....

....but check out mark!!!!! his eyes were wacky and it was so funny. he thought he was looking at me in this picture. such distortion! nerd.
then we went to this craft fair and wine tasting and really got inebriated and didn't need the goggles for fun anymore (just kidding mom, i am still a teetotaler), instead we made out in this alley. (just kidding again) man, i am funny.

catch up, ketchup, catsup

2008-05-16T09:11:00.015-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but i have a lot to catch up on! this will be a long post so if you are bored, just scroll to the bottom. there is some interesting stuff there. first things first:

heather's good bye parties (and troy)
my darling heather left NRECA to move to sunny san diego with her bf troy since he is in the coast guard and apparently he wants to guard a different coast. so they are gone and we are so sad. i miss her everyday at work but am so glad that we got to be friends. one of our co-workers don, threw a big going away barbecue for her. best food ever.

mark loves to be dragged along to work functions. what a sport.

for our last party together, we went to kit and josh's house and had bruschetta past and played games. this is the obscene amount of tomatoes kari brought. there was one more bag. yum!!

they all got chopped into these tiny pieces. we used teamwork.

then we played games and ate and were sad about heather leaving :( booo.

living with the nelsons

so i moved in with the nelsons for a few weeks until my new place was available and it was the greatest!! here is a spontaneous dance party. i just loved darci's fierce face in this one.
and cubbie was like, "yawn", these dance parties happen all the time

jimmy's birthday

this nelson boy had a birthday. so there was a party with good friends and we played in the park.
eating pizza

ben has decided to close his eyes when i take pictures. doesn't stop me.
cub making treats. rice krispie treats in a frying pan....awesome

busboys and poets

so, we went to this poetry reading thing and it was so awesome! i was hesitant at first but i loved it.
this was love the poet. she was the featured poet but then there was open mic as well.

u.s national women's soccer game vs. canada

with dave and annie

they are freaking rad and so entertaining to watch
except sometimes i get a little bored and choose to annoy people.

big news

in a haiku (for em)

he asked me to wed

"what a great idea", i said

hope to see you there

sorry about the sausage fingers(not part of the haiku)

no details on the proposal. won't be as special if i share it all with you.
we are getting married on august 2 in the manti temple. then leaving this land of virginia for greener pastures.

decade of not rad

2008-05-01T16:35:00.000-04:00

i
know
i
am
the
worst
blogger
ever
but
i
can
not
be
clever
lately
sorry!!!

decade of rad

2008-04-15T10:45:00.008-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but i went to a rocking surprise party the other night. it was for this lovely lady, patti. happy birthday patilda.

guess what? it wasn't just any party, it was an EIGHTIES PARTY!!! and some of us got totally decked out! here is tim, cubbie (doesn't she look like an 80's teacher?), jim, me, darci and sara.

after patti got surprised, she took a little time to get in her 80's get up. she looked fab-totally rad.

jimmy looked awesome in his 80's outfit without even trying.

then.....the dancing started. here are the nelson siblings. cubbie, jim and darci (doing the running man)
darci has the sweetest 80's dance moves of anyone i have ever met in all my days.
there was even some slow dancing. total eclipse of the heart and forever young. tres romantic.

i like the hand placement in this picture and the slight pelvic thrust. go get em, mark. looks like he has a thing for 80's teachers.

besides, hot clothes, sweet makeup, banana clips, pegged pants and totally tubular dance moves, there was also a real live working ATARI!!!and a rubiks cube cake. i heart the 80's.

happy birthday patti!

i can't believe i am sharing this

2008-04-15T09:32:00.002-04:00

oh man. i have this friend matt and he is hilarious and he has made us do something awful but every time i look at this blog, i laugh aloud so i am sharing it with you even though it is the WORST picture of me ever taken in my life and there have been some doozies! click on the pictures to get the full effect. try this out when you take your next pictures and send the results to me. so funny!!
http://themandersonreport.blogspot.com/2008/03/idea.html

conferencing

2008-04-15T08:19:00.005-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but i have not done much blogworthy lately unless you call sleeping and staying in my pajamas for weeks blogworthy. so i will try to make up things to blog about even though they seem lame because i was lame for like a month. well i am happy to report that i am feeling MUCH better and don't think i will be dying anytime soon so things are looking up. so since i was bedridden for weeks, i would beg mark to take me to his house so i could see other scenery besides my bedroom and he obliged because he is kind like that. so my house and marks were about all i would see but on saturday and sunday the 5th and 6th, i went to darci's for general conference and breakfast lunch and dinner. it was nice to see people and especially nice to see general conference.

mitch, mei li, cubbie (in sweet muu muu), dave and darci eating (which it seems is almost all we did on sunday)
mei li and jim hemming pants
mary and courtney-totally watching conference
courtney and mary should have taken lessons from ben and maryann dutifully taking notes and not dozing. good kids. i love general conference time, even when i feel lousy, there is always something that makes me feel so great.

stoned

2008-04-02T19:53:00.006-04:00

this shouldn't surprise you but i am sick again and not with mono. I am one lucky girl. so you all get to hear about it. on friday night i woke up with horrible pains in the middle of the night. i as up for a long time and then i finally got them under control and went back to sleep. all weekend i felt a little sicky but not too bad and then monday morning the pain was back something fierce. i knew something was not right so i called into work and made an appointment with my doctor. she thought i might have a ruptured cyst so i went on my way to get a sonogram with some heavy pain pills. after the sonogram, i took the pain pills and then the pain came back with a vengeance right when mark got home from work and i said, we need to go to the hospital. so off we went to the er and i was ushered in and out on some heavier pain pills that did the trick while they tried to figure out what was wrong with me. turns out, i have kidney stones!! what the? they are awful!!! so i stayed in the er for a good 6 hour and had various tests and then was sent home around 11. well around 2 am, i was in the worst pain of my life so i called mark and he came over and off we went to the er again. i was barely coherent but i got some morphine and fell right to sleep and then around 6, they wanted to admit me but i asked if i could go home with some stronger pain pills and just take it easy at home and they let me. so i am recovering. mark is taking care of me and the pain pills are working (mostly). so if this makes no sense, it is because i am in a drug induced haze. so i will not be at work this week.. again. i swear i have never had this many things wrong with me and all in one month!!!! sucky. here are some super pretty pictures from the er.

my sweetie with his hot new haircut. my view of him in the er. he is a good nurse!

busy

2008-03-25T16:12:00.003-04:00

well friends,this shouldn't surprise but i am going to be busy this week. here is the list of things i am doing:

1. moving.
2. selling my car
3. working full time
4. helping with a bridal shower
5. book club
6. having mono.

try not to be overrun with jealousy.