My Day

I watched The Price is Right while I ate breakfast.
I went to the food bank for a couple of hours.
I had a crash course in Ebonics from a guy who works there.
I made hundreds of meals for under-privileged people.
I came home and made up a chicken enchilada casserole recipe in the slow cooker.
I got the mail and cleaned up a little bit.
Jed came home and we ate dinner.
I worked a little on my job and my calling.
Now I'm ready to watch Teen Mom. Yup, I love that show.

Friday Foto Fix - Tom's Homecoming

The (Ohio) family the day Tom left.

And the day he came home.

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful that I was able to go home and be with the family this past week.
I am thankful that I got to hang out with Tom.
I am thankful for my wonderful family.
I am thankful to be home with Jed again.
I am thankful for the intense rain storm yesterday, and that it brought the temperature down for a day.
I am thankful that my car passed inspection this morning.
I am thankful that I don't have to go to work every day.
I am thankful to Emily for giving us a microwave.
I am thankful that I got most of my favorite book read during my trip.
I am thankful.

Monday Memoirs

I flew out to Cleveland on Thursday because my younger brother was coming home from his mission. I got there about 10 minutes before him and had to run across the airport to his terminal before he landed. I was the first person to see him, the first hug. Nobody knew I was coming except my older sisters, who were really great at keeping the secret from my mom.
I let Tom walk out first and then I waited a few minutes before I walked out. My mom was shocked! It was awesome - best surprise visit ever!

We went camping as a family on Friday night. So fun! We did foil dinners and smores and "Nutella-banana pies". Dad fell asleep early, but the rest of us stayed up pretty late and had a great spiritual discussion.

On Saturday, we hiked through the woods and then went to these really cool rock formations in the middle of nowhere. It was really sweet!
We went to this incredible Italian place for dinner - best place I've been to in a long time!

Mom and Tom spoke at church on Sunday and did a really good job. Tom and I sat in on the investigators Sunday School class; that was ...interesting. Everybody kept going off on tangents and stuff.
We had a great shish-ka-bob lunch and then I read A Tale of Two Cities out in the backyard - the weather was fantastic! Dad left on a business trip, but it was good to see him while I did.
At night, we watched The Three Little Pigs on Faerie Tale Theatre and then we watched What About Bob? too.

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful that I was able to pull off a great surprise today.
I am thankful that I got to be the first one to see Tom get off the plane.
I am thankful to be in Cleveland with my family.
I am thankful that Tom made it home safely.
I am thankful that Tom served a valiant mission for our church.

A Hairy Situation

This was my hair two weeks ago:

This was the picture I brought in to the salon:

This is what I said to the lady:
"And could you also thin my hair? Thanks." (My hair is SUPER thick and I get it thinned every time I cut it.)

This is what she did:
Cut the top layer shorter than the rest in order to "thin it out". (Usually they use thinning shears underneath the hair.)

This is what I walked out of the salon looking like (the smile is fake - I was livid):
Oh, and she didn't get a tip - I've never stiffed a hair stylist before.

Does THIS look like....................................................................................THIS???
Uh, not even close!!

Since the lady did an awful job on my hair, and didn't even really thin it out, I had to go out and buy a pair of thinning shears (I wasn't about to go back and ask her to to thin it out - she'd probably just take more off the top!). Now on top of the haircut, I spent $15 on thinning shears. I shouldn't have paid for the haircut in the first place, I know.

The good thing is that now I can thin my hair in between cuts. And I know which salon NOT to go to!
This is all of the hair that I thinned myself:

This is the color of my hair after I dyed it "Dark Ash Blonde" (and left it in for 10 minutes longer than I was supposed to):

Yeah, not really blonde, at all. More of a honey color.

I feel like I look like a 30-something soccer mom. No offense to yous guys, but I'm 24! And I don't even have kids!
It is easier to manage, but I'm still not in love with how it looks. Give it two months and maybe I'll like it. After it's grown out. :/

Monday Memoirs

On Thursday, our friend from Jed's home town, Dan, came to visit us. Our first house guest! We were going to go to a baseball game, but the pansy boys decided it was too hot. It was only like 101. I could see if it had been 105, but 101?? Come on guys!
We drove around downtown Fort Worth, went to the stockyards, and had some yummy BBQ and the local place, Charby's. Dan hit it off with the waitress and had her rolling! What a charmer! ;)

On Friday, Jed came home for a few hours in the morning and we all went to brunch at this quaint little cafe where all the old regulars were chatting it up. Cute place, good food, lots of Cadillacs and Buicks in the parking lot.

After I got Dan safely on his flight (PS - the DFW airport charges you $1 to be on its grounds, from 0-30 minutes, no matter what - super lame) and Jed got home from work, we had another one of Jed's friends over. Sergio was Jed's roommate at Gravytrains and he was in town for work. We were going to go out to dinner, but when he got here, he said he wasn't hungry, but would watch us eat. No thanks. So we chatted for a long two hours and then he left. And we were right on his heels because we were supposed to have left to go to my sister's house to help her move an hour earlier.

We ended up being of no help to her move because it was so late by the time we got there. But we all went out to dinner anyways, so it worked out.

On Saturday, I watched the kids while the menfolk moved the heavy stuff and Emily directed traffic. Their new house is nice and big, and we have our own room and bathroom there! Woo!

Jed got a new calling yesterday. Deacon's quorum advisor - teaching on Sunday. He's excited about the activities and scouting and stuff, but this may be a challenge calling since there are only about 2-3 boys who come each week and 2 of them have ADHD. I have faith that he'll do a great job and he will be blessed, as well as the boys.

Today I did Jillian's 30 Day Shred for the first time in probably 6 weeks. I really think it's harder to come back than it is when you start for the first time. But I'm going to stick with it!

Friday Foto Fix - Aerosmith Ed.

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful that Dan got to come visit us. (First house guest!)
I am thankful that my brother, Tom, served a valiant mission.
I am thankful and excited that Tom will be coming home next week!
I am thankful that Emily lives close by.
I am thankful for modern conveniences.
I am thankful for my talents.
I am thankful for air conditioning.
I am thankful for BBQ! :)
I am thankful for sunglasses.

Heeelareeeous!

My new favorite website:
http://improveverywhere.com/

Monday Memoirs

Last Tuesday I took Jed on a surprise date. Aerosmith and Blue October. I thought I loved Blue October because I like this song and this song. LOVE this song. But apparently those are the only good songs they have - the rest were, like, scream-o-ish. :/ And I thought I knew Aerosmith, but I only knew one of the six or so songs we heard before we left (Jed knew all of them - it was a surprise date for him after all). I think the best part was when Steven Tyler came out in a Lady Gaga-inspired ankle-length coat covered in silver sequins. Fabulous!

Wednesday was my interview with the lady from Big Brothers Big Sisters. It went well. The next step will be to get matched with a "Little", whom I will visit at school once a week. I'm excited!

I spent Friday with my sister's boys while she attempted to make a dent in the packing effort (they're moving this weekend). We went on a walk, colored, played Wii, got a frosty, and played in the sprinklers. Good times.

Saturday was full of shopping, movies, and laundry. Be jealous.

I made a new friend at church yesterday. Came home and had brisket for dinner, thanks to Jed's sudden desire to be one with the Texas culture. Or something like that.

Monday Memoirs

Before I tell you about my weekend, let me start by saying that I lost 3 pounds this week!! :D

Saturday was our anniversary, but we celebrated all weekend. On Friday, we went out to dinner at this great Italian restaurant. Then we went to see Inception, since everyone is raving about it on Facebook these days. It was my first IMAX! The movie was great, and the company was better.

On Saturday, we slept in and had a relaxing day at home. We played Mario together and watched a couple of movies, and then went swimming at night.

I was sick yesterday, so I just chilled in bed all day and watched movies. Jed made me dinner and then we played some more Mario (it's really fun on the Wii, even though I suck really bad).

Food Bank

I met with the volunteer coordinator at the local food bank yesterday. We went on a tour and I learned about all of the different assignments that I could perform. They don't serve individuals, but they still have a kitchen to make TV dinners from scratch. Not only do they make dinners to distribute, they also have chefs from Le Cordon Bleu come in and teach underprivileged people basic to intermediate cooking skills. They need volunteer "sous chefs" to prep food; that's definitely right up my alley! So that's what I'll be doing on Tuesday/Thursday mornings. I'm so excited!!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful that Jed was able to find a good job right out of college.
I am thankful that we're not starving students anymore.
I am thankful to be back in Texas.
I am thankful for air conditioning.
I am thankful that I was able to take a trip down to San Antonio for a few days to visit friends.
I am thankful that my sister lives close.
I am thankful that I have health insurance for the first time in over a year.
I am thankful for my wonderful husband.
I am thankful to be celebrating two wonderful years of marriage this weekend.

Update

Oh wow. A lot has happened since my last post. Must be because that was over 3 months ago...
[Disclaimer: I never read long posts like this, so feel free to skim it]
We moved. Jed got a job in his field and we live in DFW now. We got here at the beginning of June and had a month of corporate housing while we looked around. We went to the ward closest to Jed's job and met a couple who happened to be moving that week and was going to be breaking their lease. The apartment was exactly the size we were looking for, and in our price range, so we took over their lease. It was definitely Divine intervention!

I got to go to my good friend, Micheyl's wedding the first weekend we were here. She was a beautiful bride and I'm so grateful that I was able to be a part of her special day.

My whole family, minus Tom who is on a mission right now, came in to town for a week when my sister blessed her new baby girl. It was a blast to be with all of the family and I wish they all lived closer. My sister Emily lives on the east side of Dallas, but it's about an hour drive, so we don't get together as often as we would like. It's still nice to have someone that close.

Jed likes his job. The handful of people on his team are all over 50, so I guess we won't be making any good friends from work... oh well.

I'm having fun being a stay-at-home-wife, but I also get pretty lonely and bored from time to time. I'm wanting to get in to some volunteer work. I'm thinking about Big Brothers Big Sisters, a local food bank, a hospital, or something else. Any suggestions would be great!

I'm going down to San Antonio to visit my friend Heather for a few days this week. I wish the drive was shorter so that I could go more often, but at least I don't have to fly.

Hopefully I'll be more frequent with posts now that we're mostly settled in and I have the time to sit down and express myself.