Brandon is a horse!

Merry Christmas everyone! This post is about a week late, but here goes. Last weekend Brandon and I went up to Flagstaff to hang out with some friends and attend a Christmas party. It was a short trip, but so fun! The snow was beautiful and it was nice to get out of town for a little bit. I made Brandon drive around NAU campus so I could reminisce about my time there. We also had the best sandwiches in the world at Crystal Creek! The party was fun and the food was amazing (Great job Jamelle!) but my favorite part of the whole weekend was when Brandon was a horse! He entertained Jamelle's 4 year old for hours while we prepared for the party. Ironic that I fell more in love with him just because he was a horse!

What a weekend!

It was a perfect Thanksgiving weekend (almost). On Thanksgiving day, we just slept in and then puttered around the house. Brandon played with Christmas lights in the garage while I made rolls for dinner. Josh came over and baked a pie. Then we headed over to my parents' house for dinner. Emily and Preston were there with the new baby and it was really nice. My mom does such a great job with everything. The table was so cute. After dinner, we just layed around and took naps or watched a movie. Brandon's mom came over for a little while. It was fun to have her there. Overall, it was just super relaxing!

Friday was good too. We slept in again and I did a little shopping while Brandon got to work hanging Christmas lights. After I got home, I decorated the house for Christmas. We also got ready for our outing the next day. I finished decorating while Brandon and Taylor (Brandon's brother) went out to fetch some ammo, a quad and a fat cat (dirt bike with ATV wheels).

On Saturday, we got up early and drove up to a ranch in Kearny to shoot and ride the quad and fat cat. Brandon and I, Josh (my brother), Paula (Brandon's mom), Hunter and Taylor (Brandon's brothers) and Lynda (my friend) all went. When we first got there, Lynda and I took the quad for a spin while the boys got all the guns out. When Lynda and I got back, I was looking at the fat cat, trying to figure out how it worked. I didn't intend to ride it, but when I kick started it while it was in gear with a stuck throttle, it took me for a ride anyway. Granted, it was a very short and very painful ride. When all was said and done, I am kind of banged up. I came away with multiple small bruises on various parts of my body, a sprained or fractured thumb (I'm not sure which) and a leg injury. I don't know what to call my leg injury. I would call it scratched and bruised, but I'm not sure that would accurately describe it. Here's a picture:


After resting for a little while, I still rode the quad a little bit and did a little shooting. It was all very painful to do, but I didn't want to waste the day. Hopefully I can walk without a limp soon. Even with the injuries, it was a pretty fun day.

Sunday night, we decorated our first Christmas tree. It was a perfect weekend. I'm so excited to spend this Christmas season with my amazing husband. How did I get so lucky?

Many Thanks!

I have been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. First, my sister and her sweet family (including my newest niece) are here for the weekend. We have to share them with her husband's family, but at least we get to have them for a while. I'm looking forward to spending more time with them tomorrow and getting to know my three week old niece better. I'm also excited to have a four day weekend with which to relax and decorate for Christmas. I just love the Christmas season! Everything seems just a little bit better. Plus, it's my first Thanksgiving with my husband. I knew him last year, but I was driving him to Utah to see his fiance last Thanksgiving so this year is better! :)

I am so thankful for so many things this year that I couldn't possibly name them all. However, I am most thankful for the following (in no particular order):

1. A heavenly father that knows who I am and loves me despite of my weaknesses. I am also grateful for the experiences that he gives me to make me a better person.
2. My amazing husband who is so patient with me and is constantly trying to make me happy. He is so talented and handsome. I cannot imagine my life without him.
3. A job to go to everyday.
4. All of the material blessings I have received. I sometimes forget how incredibly blessed I am to have food to eat, a house to live in, a car to drive, and clothes to wear.
5. My family who has loved and supported me in everything that I have done. I know that any member of my family would be there for anything I needed.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Project update

I will post pictures soon, I promise. It's just that my house is kind of a wreck right now, for numerous reasons. First, because I have 20 projects in process right now and second because I spend all of my time doing projects rather than cleaning! I had a pretty productive weekend and hope to finish a bunch of things up this week. I made curtains for the two windows in our kitchen. I think they turned out pretty good. We also bought a new dining room set. I can't tell you how happy I am about that! Here's a stock photo:

It's not very big, but it's nice because it sits behind our couch in the living room and I got tired of pushing the old table out of the way to get by. Technically it can seat 6 people, so it should do for a few years anyway. I also ordered a new light fixture to go above it, but it's not here yet. The one that's there is very country. Here's a stock photo of the light fixture:Also, my two person table for the kitchen came in yesterday and my sweet husband put it together while I was at work. I'll post pictures later. Now that we have paint, a table and chairs and curtains in the kitchen, I need to take a break from the kitchen for a while because the cabinets and countertop are jobs that are too big for me right now.

I finally got all the pieces put together for some new art for our living room. I found these prints I loved on art.com (I love that website). I bought 16 x 20 prints thinking that would be a standard size to find ready-made frames for, which it is if I didn't want to mat them. However, 20x24 frames are not so easy to find. I finally found some at Aaron Brothers, but still needed mats. I called around to several framing shops. Apparantly mats are made out of gold these days because everyone wanted a LOT of money to cut plain white mats. I finally found this little mat store in the mall that would do it for a reasonable price. Yay! They also earned my business forever! I called ahead to ask them to have the mats cut for me when I went to pick them up. That was bonus number 1, because none of the other shops would cut them before I paid. Then they told me that they would put everything together for free if I brought in the frames and prints. Cool! So I take all my stuff in and they take my art and frames to the back room and are taking FOREVER! Finally I ask what is taking so long. Apparently, I gave them the wrong measurements for the mats and they had to re-cut them. Not only did they not charge me for the first ones (even though it was my mistake), but they also gave me a 30% discount because I had to wait so long. Holy Cow! If anyone EVER has framing needs in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, you have to use this place. It's called Frame Up. They have two stores- one in Superstition Springs mall in Mesa and one in Paradise Valley. They will also beat any printed framing quote by 10%. I wish I knew about them before!

So the end of that story is that I got the art framed and hung on the wall last night and it looks great. I finally hung up all the pictures in the staircase and hallway as well. For the rest of the week, I just hope to paint and install the molding for the shelves, finish the living room furniture (it's so close it's ridiculous) and clean my house so I can put up Christmas decorations on Friday. I'm so excited for this weekend!!!!!! Yay!

Projects!

Gosh, my house has been all about projects for the last couple months. I wish I had taken before and after pictures of everything, because we've made a lot of transformations. Luckily, Brandon and I enjoy working on house projects together, but boy, is it tiring. Here's what we've been up to (in no particular order):

1. Stripping and refinishing all of our living room tables (Coffee table, side table and sofa table). Brandon came into the marriage with really nice furniture. Unfortunately, it wasn't my style and didn't go with anything else in the house. It was a light wood with intricate engravings. So, I took out the engraved pieces and replaced with straight pieces of wood, stripped off the stain, re-finished in a dark chocolate stain and replace the hardware with modern, silver handles. We had some issues with the polyurethane coats, but now we're almost done. Brandon finished the coffee table last night and we should finish the other two this week.

2. Redecorating both of our offices. The pictures of Brandon's office in a previous post(his birthday present). After my sweet husband installed a wonderful, but enormous desk in my office, I realized I couldn't paint the walls, so I painted the ceiling instead (with the help of my fabulous friend, Janette). It's a dark turquoise, to match the satin and velvet turquoise curtains that take up most of one wall. Oh, I made the curtains, too. (I hate sewing, but I love that I can because I can never find cute curtains in the store.) I hung some art by one of my favorite artists (Steven Meyers) and now I love it!

3. Redecorating our bedroom. When I moved out of my law office recently, I took all of the decorations and put them up in my bedroom. I hung shelves and pictures and bought new lamps and made some curtains. I couldn't find material I liked for the curtains, but I did find a shower curtain, so I cut it up and made curtains. The sink and vanity are connected to the bedroom, so I put up curtains on a shower bar to separate that part from the rest of the room. Now, the only thing left to do is refinish the bedroom furniture in a dark stain (I already ripped off the engraved panels.)

4. We put up shelves and new art in the living room. I also bought new lamps and made curtains to frame the french doors (but that was a few months ago). I also repainted the shelves in the living room that are also connected to the staircase. It's hard to explain without seeing it. I'm also working on spicing those shelves up with some fabric backs. I think (HOPE) we're going to buy a new dining set this week. That will really make a difference in the whole room. After that, I think we'll be done with that room.

5. We also painted the hallway and stairway. Painting stairways is a big fat hastle. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband to help when I get these ideas in my head. I just need to repaint the handrail, put that back up and hang pictures. I'm also working on the shelf project I mentioned in number 4. On the stairs side of the stairs, I'm stapling up some fabric and framing out all of the shelves in molding.

6. Jill and I repainted the guest bathroom one night and then Brandon and I framed the mirror with painted molding and replaced the light fixture. I hung up a painting, added a little cabinet, some candles and matching towels. I also replaced the towel holders. It's amazing how easily those things updated the previously old and ugly bathroom.

7. This last weekend, Jill and I painted the kitchen. Well I helped her tape the kitchen and then she painted it while I sewed some curtains for her kitchen. I bought fabric for kitchen curtains and will probably have those done in the next day or two. I ordered a small table for the kitchen, and then I'll take a break on the kitchen for a few months.

8. Replaced all the door knobs in the house.

Projects on the horizon:

Refinish bedroom furniture
Refinish kitchen cabinets and add new hardware
Resurface kitchen countertops
Paint master bathroom
Refinish master vanity
Build dog house for 4 dogs
Build a closet under our staircase
Paint all the trim and baseboard in the house



I'm sure I'll come up with more projects, but that's all we have planned for now.

I am recalling the November 6th Post

I would like to now boycott my November 6 post "What city are you?" Six out of six people that I know of who took the city quiz all were London. Unless someone who takes the quiz gets another city besides London, I am putting my foot down and saying "WHAT A FRAUD!"

My cousin, Mindy, tagged me!

1. Where did you meet your husband?

At my house. A mutual friend brought him with him to home teach me because his normal companion couldn't come.

2. What is the first thing you said to your husband?

"I've heard about you. You were a jerk to my friend Lindsay."

3. Where was your first date?

That is a tricky question. We went on a fake date to Serrano's when he was engaged to someone else. It was fake because we were just friends and his fiance lived in Utah, so he was bored a lot. :) I don't remember what our first real date was because we were friends for so long before we started dating.

4. Where was your first kiss?

In my kitchen, waiting for a frozen pizza to cook.

5. Did you have a long or short courtship/engagement?

Pretty short, I guess. We were friends for about a year and a half before we started dating. We dated for 3 months before getting engaged and were engaged for three months.

6. Where did you get engaged?

Also a tricky question. We started talking about it at my house one night. It was more of a process than an event. We were engaged for a while before he actually proposed. I think I got my ring about three weeks before we got married.

7. Where did you get married?

Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple

8. How did your reception go?

It was perfect and beautiful. We ate a yummy dinner and then just mingled. I refused to stand in a receiving line.

9. THE HONEYMOON...

Cancun, Mexico. It was beautiful and we had a wonderful time. Even though I was sick most of the time.

10. Who's turn is it next?

Jackie, Cristin, Holli.

What city do you belong in?

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique soul like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong In?

Job update

So I've been at my new job for just over a week. People keep asking me if I like it. That is a very impossible question to answer at this point. Training is long and tedious. I spend 95% of my time reading everyday about a portion of the tax code. I'm learning a lot and I know it's necessary but I seriously want to poke my eyes out just so I don't have to read anymore. I'll let you know how it is when I actually am able to start doing my job. I do like the environment and the people that work here. I do like the part of town that I work in (but I don't like the commute). I think I'll like the job. That's all I have to say about that right now.

I start Tuesday

I finally got an official offer of employment from the company I was hoping for. I am so excited to finally have a solid plan. It should be great. I will be working for an investment company facilitating real estate transactions. The company is a subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company which means great benefits. My division only has 11 people, so it is the benefits of a huge corporation with the feel of a small company. I think I will really like it. I'm not excited about the commute to Phoenix every day, but that's really the only down side. Plus, I'll be making more money - WOO HOO! Of course I had to go shopping this week for new work clothes!

Friday Night Freaks

My friend Ally's boyfriend plays in a band called Jed's a Millionaire. They are actually pretty good. Anyway, Ally sent out an e-mail that they were playing last Friday night at Paper Heart Gallery in Phoenix. She said it was part of Phoenix's "First Friday" art walk where all of the galleries stay open late and artists line the street trying to sell their art and there is entertainment, etc. It sounded kind of fun, so Brandon and I decided to make it our date night. HOLY COW! It was not as described. First, Paper Heart Gallery is a bar with an art gallery in the back room. Second, the gallery show was death themed. Third, the place was FILLED with freaks. It was actually a lot of fun, but only because I could not stop staring at all the freaks. When we first got there, we said hello to Ally and a few of my law school classmates who were also there (I met Ally in law school). The band hadn't gone on yet, so we decided to wander a bit.

We went out to the front parking lot and saw the funniest thing I had seen in a long time! There was some sort of belly dancing convention and everyone was dressed like gypsies, taking turns belly dancing for each other. There was quite the crowd. This was made only more interesting by the fact that more than half of the belly dancers weighed at least 300 pounds. There were even troupes of 300 pound belly dancers that performed! I could not look away. They were very proud of their bellies. While this was disturbing, part of me was proud of them for their high self images! We tried to take pictures, but none of them turned out. We watched for quite a while before going inside.

We went back inside to listen to the band and had just as much to look at. There were several very distinct groups there. It was crazy. First, there was our group, which consisted of several attorneys and their friends, spouses, etc. We were pretty normal. Then there was the gypsies, which I previously mentioned. There was also the cross dressers. They were this group of men that tried, but failed to look like women. Well at least I thought they failed. One of the guys in our group was checking one of them out before another guy told him that "she" was a man. Ha ha! There was this one "she-male" that was balding and his hairline didn't start until half way back on his head. It didn't matter. He just grew it out long and pretty and dressed like a woman anyway! That was my favorite! So disturbing. There was also the gray faces. This group all painted their faces gray with dark circles around their eyes. Why do people do these things? I told Brandon I bet they are all regular people during the day, working at the bank and the library, and turn into gray faces at nights. The last group was the lesbians that stood right in front of us and kept kissing while the band was playing. They were interesting too. Brandon kept mentioning the one with the butch hair and the service station shirt on. I don't know why she was so interesting, but she was definitely the boy in the relationship. Her girlfriend was a girly girl.

I guess the summary is that it was good to see some of my friends and the band was good, but I'm so glad I've led the sheltered life that I have. I mean...how do you get on the path that leads you to become a balding cross dresser?

30 only makes you more handsome!

My gorgeous husband turned 30 on Saturday. It was so much fun. He's not accustomed to the multi-day birthday celebrations that I enjoy, so it was fun exposing him to a new way to do birthdays. Last Sunday was the first celebration...a Miller family gathering at my mom's with his favorite dinner and a cheesecake with 30 candles in it! Then on Friday night, he and I went to Carrabas for dinner to celebrate Brandon's Eve. Yummy! Saturday was his actual birthday and I had a lot of work to do. I've had some problems getting him a present that he didn't find out about. I bought him a miter saw a couple weeks ago, but he found it in my trunk a week before his birthday. Then I was going to buy him an electric razor, but he tried to buy one for himself so I had to tell him that it was one of his birthday gifts. So I tried one last thing. We live in a three bedroom house and we each have our own office. A couple months ago, I decorated my office and I think it looks great. His office was still bare. You see, he and I don't have even close to the same style, so he put most of his stuff in storage. Well I went and got a lot of his stuff out of storage and decorated his office. I made curtains made of tan suede. My dad helped me make wood shelves that wrap up high in the room on three walls and I filled every piece of wall space with his decorations from the dead animal, cowboy, southwest design area. He absolutely loves it. Here are some pictures. Tell me what you think.

Saturday night, we had a bunch of friends over for a barbeque. It was fun and I think Brandon had a good time. Happy 30th Birthday love of my life! It's going to be a great year!

Now here's the job search update: My last day of work was on Friday. I had one interview last week with an investment company that helps facilitate 1031 exchanbe property and land transactions for investors. I have a second interview with them tomorrow for lunch. On Saturday morning, a law firm that I sent my resume to called and said they were in a hurry to make a decision and wanted to interview me that afternoon. I told them I couldn't, but went in for an interview on Sunday after church. I loved the firm and felt like it would be a good match for me. I felt like they liked me too. I got an offer first thing this morning from the law firm. It was for a lot less than I was hoping and it's pretty far away (North Scottsdale), but I told him I needed a couple days to think about it. I could start working this week. We'll see how my interview goes on Tuesday. They pay more, but the work would be all transactional and the hours would be shorter. Plus, there would be no billable hours requirement. On the other hand, I don't know if I'm ready to give up litigation work yet. We'll see. Hopefully I have a job by the end of the week. Wish me luck!

Job Search and Furniture

You know, I have had a rocky employment history during my short legal career. First, I got a job with a good sized, stable law firm with infinite growth opportunity and without a compensation ceiling. All of my law school friends envied me...that is until this great firm spontaneously combusted, leaving me without two months pay or a law firm to work at. No worries...brush myself off and venture into starting up a law firm. So exciting...be my own boss, get lots of court experience and build a firm from the ground up! Yeah, that sounds cool until your boss (because even though my name's on the shingle, I didn't contribute any cash to the operation so I'm not actually a partner) tells you that after months of working for a pittance, trying to make this thing work, that you should probably look for another job since he's not going to afford to pay you for much longer. So here I am, only employed for another 13 days, looking for a job. But hey, how can I look for a job effectively when I'm still supposed to come to work and bill a full day's work in order to collect my last paycheck? The other problem is that I don't know exactly what I want to do! I hate knowing that I'll probably just settle for whatever job I can get because I need the paycheck, and also knowing that I'll have to stay there at least for a couple of years because the stability of the work history on my resume is less than stellar. If anyone hears of anything wonderful for me to do for a living, go ahead and send the info my way. Thanks!

On a more exciting note- I have taken on the huge project of refinishing all of the wood furniture in my house. It's a lot of work, but husband is excited about it too, so it's tons of fun to work together on it. The first phase includes taking all living room tables (coffee, end, and sofa) and stripping them down, replacing engraved panels of wood with straight pieces, sanding the heck out of them and re-staining them a beautiful shade of chocolate brown that I concocted by mixing stains because all of the stains at Home Depot are ugly. So far we have stripped all of the tables and replaced the busy, engraved panels. We are in the sanding process and so close to done with that. I'm so excited for the staining part! They are going to look so much better! After these are done, we start on the bedroom set. That's going to be an even bigger job! I'm hoping I don't get burned out, because I'd love to do the kitchen cabinets too. My goal is to have it all done by Christmas. What do you think? Will I make it through all of my projects or will I end up poking myself in the eye with a screwdriver because that actually sounds more pleasant than stripping or sanding one more thing? I don't know...I'll let you know! :)

Teen Elect

I'm the Beehive Advisor in my ward, which means I work with the 12 and 13 year old girls. Once a year, they have a stake (10 wards) activity called teen elect where they teach 12 and 13 year old girls and boys manners and have a big dinner to practice. That was last night and one of the most humorous things I've experienced, only partially because that's the age where girls are so much taller and more developed than boys that age. When they all went into the room to eat, they told the girls not to sit down until a boy had pulled her chair out for her. It was hilarious because there were a bunch of girls standing next to chairs waiting for a boy to come and at the next table there were a bunch of boys standing by chairs waiting for a girl to come. Well eventually they all got through dinner relatively unscathed, even though some of my girls were sure they were going to die before the evening was over.

Next came the dancing!!! It was awesome. They lined up the kids, giving no thought to matching heights, and paired them up. They then attempted to teach them such complicated dances as waltz and swing. Eventually they gave up and stuck to line dances. I even joined in on the line dances and actually had a really good time. I'm so glad I never have to be 12 again! I took a few of the girls home afterward and the following is a conversation that they had that I wished I could tape and let them listen to in 10 years.

Katelynn: Hey, you guys know how I was dancing with Chase, right?
Girls: Yeah
Katelynn: Well when we were dancing, he had a bugar hanging out of his nose.
Girls: (Hysterical laughter)
Katelynn: And I didn't want him to be embarrassed, so I told him about it.
Girls: (Hysterical laughter)
Katelynn: And he said he didn't know what to do about it so I told him that no one was watching, so he should just pick it.
Girls: Ew! Gross! (Laughing even harder)
Katelynn: He said he couldn't pick his nose in public and I was like "But you can let a bugar hang out of your nose in public?"
Girls: That's disgusting! You know that if he picked it, it would be on his hand and he was holding your hand to dance.
Katelynn: I don't care, I'd rather touch it than look at it!
Girls: SICK!!! (More hysterical laughter)

29!!!!!!

I can't believe I'm 29! I still feel 19 sometimes. There is no way I'm knocking on 30's door! Well, anyway, it was a good birthday week. My birthday was on Wednesday, but I had mutual, so Brandon took me out on Tara's Eve. In the morning, I got in my car and he had written sweet notes on my windows and left a Tara's Eve card in my car. So sweet! After work, he took me to a really good, nice steakhouse called The Keg. It was so yummy! Then we went and saw the Bourne Ultimatum. I really liked the movie, but the camera was shaking the whole time so it made me kind of sea sick. It was a wonderful night spent with my husband. Couldn't have been better.

On my actual birthday, I went to work all day, but let's be honest...how much work did I really get done with so many wonderful people calling to wish me a happy birthday all day? I'm so happy that so many people love me! I even received another birthday card in the mail from my sweet husband. My wonderful friend Lynda (aka Hollywood) took me out to lunch. It was so fun to hang out with her. I also got flowers delivered at work from my dear friend Stacy. I'm so spoiled. After work, I went home and got ready for mutual. Normally I probably would have skipped it, but the youth I'm in charge of were in charge of the whole activity that included all the youth (boys and girls) and not just the 12 and 13 year old girls like usual. So I felt like I needed to be there. All of my girls wrote cards for me and tied them together to make a book of birthday cards. It was so sweet. For the activity we did "Where's Waldo" at the mall. We split the kids up into groups and went on the search through the mall looking for other people in the ward that were "disguised." For instance, one lady dressed up like an old woman who was reading outside a coffee shop. My sweet husband wore an eye patch and a doo rag. He looked so funny. It actually was a lot of fun. I was a group leader and my group came in third. Brandon said he even had fun.

After that we went back to our house and Owens and Jill came over. I opened presents from Jill and Brandon and we all ate leftover cake. Jill gave me a book and some nail polish. Last night she took me to dinner too. She's such a good friend. I can't imagine my life without her. Brandon thought he was so funny because he gave me a bag that was full of smaller wrapped presents that included: a yo-yo, a glow in the dark plastic ring, an informational pamphlet on Cialis (drug for erectile dysfunction), and a wooden bracelet with pictures of the virgin Mary on it. I pretended to be mad and told him I wanted my real present NOW. He thought he was so funny. It was worth the wait!!! He got me a half-day spa package with a pedicure, facial, and massage (and another birthday card). Thank you love of my life! Tara's Eve and my birthday were perfect!

Wedding Report

So I do have a reason I haven't written about my wedding day. I wanted to put up pictures, but I didn't have any yet, so I've been procrastinating. I found some wedding pictures on my photographer's blog so here you go. It was the most perfect day of my life.

We decorated for the reception the night before the wedding. I didn't want the reception to look like it was on a basketball court, even though it was so I had to do some improvising. The reception was held at the oldest LDS church in Mesa. It's an old Spanish-style church with an entrance into an open air courtyard before you get to the doors to the gym. It is so cute. In order to make the gym look like more like a ballroom than a basketball court, I (along with the help of some great friends) strung up white Christmas lights all over the ceiling and then draped a thin cream colored fabric across the whole ceiling to give the illusion of a tent. It turned out so good. My colors were Cranberry Red and Cream. The tables were draped in crushed velvet red tablecloths with mammoth white calla lily centerpieces. It was simple, but classic looking. I loved it. The tables also had candles, a small cream fabric center and red rose petals. There was a dance floor on one side of the room with the tables on the other. The refreshment tables were in the center of the room. I hung clusters of lighted white paper lanterns on each side of the room. Okay, I'm realizing that I'm not describing this very well, but I thought it was perfect and beautiful.

The day was PERFECT! I slept in a little, then got up and Brandon and I went over to my mom's house for a late breakfast. Most of the family from out of town was there so it was good to hang out with everyone. About noon, I went home and took a long bubble bath. At two, my beauty team (THANK YOU ANNELL AND SARA!!!) came over to get me ready. It was so much fun. By the way, Brandon had been staying at my house and I had been staying at Jill's or my parent's house, so Brandon was getting ready in the room down the hall. Then my mom came over and we all left for the temple.

The ceremony was perfect as well. I can't believe they fit so many people in the sealing room. I think there were over 70. In fact, Brandon and I were waiting a floor above the sealing room and could see as everyone was filing into the room. I never thought it would end. The sealer was so sweet and sat and talked to us right before the sealing. I was so overcome with emotion. I had never been happier in my whole life. During the sealing, I couldn't even say "Yes" when I was supposed to because I was crying. I think Brandon thought I was having second thoughts! :) Not really, but I knew with my whole heart that I was marrying the right person in the right place at the right time and that I was the luckiest woman in the universe.

The reception was so much fun! We started with a family and close friends dinner with the most delicious food - chicken cordon bleu, green beans wrapped in bacon, garlic mashed red potatoes and salad and rolls. Yummy! My mom made all the food and it was much better than any caterer. After dinner, the reception started. We decided not to have a line and that was the best decision! We just walked around and talked to people and danced when we wanted to. Because we started everything so late in the day, I wasn't tired and could just enjoy myself. It really couldn't have been more perfect.

After the reception, Brandon's aunt chauffeured us to the hotel in a very expensive Mercedes. All of my siblings and cousins had chipped in to get a room at a nice hotel that they had scattered rose petals and kisses throughout. It was the PERFECT DAY!!!

Funny news

BIKER FAILS TO NOTICE MISSING LEG

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese biker failed to notice his leg had been severed below the knee when he hit a safety barrier, and rode on for more than a mile, leaving a friend to pick up the missing limb.
The 54-year-old office worker was out on his motorcycle with a group of friends in the city of Hamamatsu, west of Tokyo, on Monday, when he was unable to negotiate a curve in the road and bumped into the central barrier, the Mainichi Shimbun said.
He felt excruciating pain, but did not notice that his right leg was missing until he stopped at the next junction, the paper quoted local police as saying.
The man and his leg were taken to a hospital, but the limb had been crushed in the collision, the paper said.

*Commentary - WHAT???!!!??? I don't even know where to start with this one. How do you not notice if your leg is missing???

BLIND DRIVER CAUGHT AGAIN

TALLINN (Reuters) - An Estonian man who was caught driving a car even though he is blind has been at it again, police said on Monday, and this time he faces jail.
Police first arrested the man, 20, a week ago.
"We arrested the same blind man driving his car again on Saturday in the town of Torvandi, near Tartu (in southern Estonia)," said Marge Kohtla, a spokeswoman for Tartu police district.
"He was drunk. There were three people in the car with him giving him instructions."
She said police wanted the court to jail the man for 30 days and confiscate his car.

*Commentary - I don't know why, but I find this hilarious. What blind man would even want to drive a car and who are these people that get in a car with a drunk, blind man???

MEME

(Tagged by Jackie) I usually don't do these, but I just feel like it right now, so here goes:

Jobs I've Held:
1. Waitress
2. Stock broker
3. ESL Teacher (English as a Second Language)
4. Lawyer

Places to go for a Weekend Getaway:
1. San Diego
2. Cabin in the mountains
3. Mexico
4. Laying in my bed with my husband and a good book!

Movies I can watch over and Over:
1. Save the Last Dance
2. Sweet Home Alabama
3. How to Lose a Guy in 10 days
4. Return to Me

My Guilty Pleasures:
1. McDonalds Double Cheeseburger (don't laugh)
2. Kick Butt Garlic Bread with Cheese (Oregano's)
3. Carmel Cone Haagen Daaz
4. Pizza Cookie (White Chocolate Macadamia Nut at Oreganos or Peanut Butter at BJ's)

Places I have lived:
1. Mesa, AZ
2. Flagstaff, AZ
3. Beijing, China
4. Atlanta, GA (just for one summer)

T.V. Shows:
1. Gilmore Girls
2. One Tree Hill
3. Anything on HGTV (Home and Garden)
4. Law and Order

Favorite Foods:
1. Anything Italian
2. Anything Mexican
3. Navajo Tacos
4. Dessert

Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:
1. The Beach
2. At Home
3. At a cabin in the woods
4. Wherever my husband is.

People I'm Tagging: ALL OF YOU WHO READ THIS! :)

Favorite website of the week

I decided a couple weeks ago to begin a more healthy lifestyle starting today. I had a big bowl of gelato last night to prepare! :) Anyway, a friend of mine introduced me to a website over a year ago, but I have only recently fell in love with it. It's Spark People and it's my tool to becoming a better me (and a hot body). For a great new clip about Spark People, click here. This website was created by a really rich guy who made a bunch of money by selling his online auction site to e-bay. He recoups some money from advertisers, but has spent over 5 million dollars of his own money just because he wants to help people! It has everything you could want in the way of nutrition. It helps you count your calorie/fat/protein/carb intake by entering what you eat. It automatically calculates everything for you. You can also enter in recipes and it will figure the nutrition value for you. It helps you figure out how to reach goals with both diet and exersise, even creating a fitness schedule for you with recommended exercises. It will put together meal plans everyday if you want. It tracks your weight and measurements. It makes getting into shape so much fun. Plus it gives you points for doing good things. The points don't really mean anything, but who doesn't like getting points? It's strangely motivating. The best part is that it's all free! Okay, I sound like an infomercial, but I'm so excited about my new goals. I will probably be more successful if I make my goals public, so here it goes. I want to reach my target weight by February 1 (I'm not telling you what that is). I am going to try to work out at least 3 times a week, more if I can. I just want to start being nicer to my body. I'm starting off slow tonight by going to Water Aerobics, but I'll ramp up. Wish me luck!!!

Calendar and Fishy

I know, I know. I haven't updated forever. It's just that there's a few big things to blog about and I feel like I can't blog about insignificant things until I catch up. Oh well, I'm giving up. I'll eventually get around to blogging about the wedding, the honeymoon, life as a newlywed, etc. But for now, I can't help but report on some very blog worthy events that happened last night.

The first isn't an event as much as a funny story. Some dear friends of mine are moving to Georgia on Sunday. Thus, I hosted a small gathering with a few friends last night to say goodbye. Holli, one of the friends that's moving away told me that she had a Christmas present for me back in December. It just always seemed that she forgot to bring it every time I saw her over the past few months. She would give me hints though as to what it was and I eventually guessed that it was a desk calendar. So last night, I asked her about the calendar. She looked at me sheepishly while her husband, John, snickered. I guess they had a garage sale in preparation for the move. The calendar was wrapped in Christmas paper and Holli put it out to sell. John told her that no one was going to buy a "mystery" item. Holli won out and the wrapped calendar was purchased. So not only does my friend purchase a gift for me, tell me that she has a gift for me, leaves me in anticipation for months about actually receiving the gift, but then sells it at a garage sale for a quarter. That was the worst Christmas present ever. At least I never even purchased a Christmas gift for her.

There was a random assortment of people at the little dinner party, including one of my most unique friends. Let's call her Hollywood. She's great and a lot of fun, but sometimes quite spastic. Anyway, she saw my beta fish in a bowl of cloudy, low water and promptly chastised me for abusing my fish. I told her if she was so offended by the state of my fish bowl, she could clean it out. She went straight to the kitchen to do so. A brief moment later, I saw my husband go running into the kitchen. Apparently Hollywood had dumped poor fishy down the disposal. Fishy couldn't be reached by the human hand, so sweet husband thought that the only way to get to poor fishy out of the sink would be to shop vac him out. Luckily, Holli lobbied for poor fishy's safety and convinced sweet husband to forgo the shop vac and explore other options. I know you're all on the edge of your seat in anticipation of the ending to this tragic story. Well, poor fishy did, in fact, survive. Apparently, some salad tongs and a flashlight make for a safe, albeit, slightly mangled fishy. He's now still alive after 24 hours, so we're fairly sure he'll make it. I'm pretty sure he laid in the drain for about 20 minutes. Luckily, Hollywood had the foresight to continuously pour water down the drain to keep him alive. Thank you sweet husband for saving my fishy with my salad tongs. It looks like I need a new set of salad tongs now. I know I should have been so scared to loose poor fishy, who's been with me for quite some time, but I was laughing so hard. It was like a Friends episode. Well, we wanted Holli and John to have one last memory of us all before they left.

And some final Arizona words to the Ronquillos. Congratulations John on this new, exciting chapter of your life. You've already accomplished so much in your short life and I know you'll continue to be amazing. Holli, we have so many memories. Thanks for bringing the pictures to remember some of them. Long life rock painitng. I love you both and will miss you, but am very happy for you. Plus, I know you'll come visit me and our friendship is nowhere near the end. Take care of each other! BFF!

I said yes!

Brandon finally asked me to marry him last night and guess what? I SAID YES! This may be confusing to most since we've been engaged for three months and our wedding is in 9 DAYS!, but here's the thing... Because of a whole bunch of timing issues and circumstances with the ring, he's never really had the chance to propose. We just kind of decided to get married and then started planning the wedding. So here's how it went...

I came home from work and he greeted me at the door and invited me in. The house smelled wonderful and there was classical music playing. He led me into the living room where the table is. There was a bouquet of roses on the table along with a candle and dinner. Dinner was ribs and mashed potatoes and wow, was it good. After dinner, he served key lime pie. During dessert he got down on one knee and asked me what I had planned for the rest of my life. I told him that I was planning to spend it with him. It was very sweet and very cute. I'm so excited to get married to him.

Spa Day

I have this fabulous friend named Stacy. She is absolutely wonderful. We met in college, both finance majors. I don't think either one of us could have graduated without the other. In honor of my upcoming wedding, Stacy treated me to a spa day. It was amazing. I'll walk you through from the beginning. We walked in the front door and were immediately treated like royalty. We checked in and were then given a brief tour of the facility. We were then led to the women's area where we were presented with keys to our lockers and comfy slippers. We found a comfy robe in our lockers. Before changing though, we headed to the restaurant for lunch. We split a very yummy chicken basil sandwich and a pesto chicken pizza. It was all delicious. After lunch, we changed into our swimsuits, covered up with our robes and headed first to the jacuzzi. After a brief sit in the jacuzzi, we got out to get ready for our massages. We then headed into the women's lounge to wait for our massages. The women's lounge was a very quiet, peaceful room with super comfy chairs, frosty beverages and soothing music, and a bunch of women laying around in bath robes. Stacy had a maternity massage, while I was treated to a Camelback Signature massage which consisted of aromatherapy, reflexology and hot rock massage...heavenly. After an hour of pure bliss, my massage was over. Sad. We then changed back into our swim suits and headed back out to the pool. The water was the perfect temperature. The weather was great. We ordered fruit smoothies and layed by the pool for a good two hours. The best part about the whole day was spending such great time with Stacy. We just talked and talked and had the best day ever. Thank you Stacy! It was just what I needed in the middle of this chaos called wedding planning.

11 More Days!

Greatest Bridal Shower!

My bridal shower was on Saturday. It was amazing. It was done as a group effort by a few of my friends, namely Jill, Holli, and Janette. It was perfect. The food was amazing. Tons of people came. I got a lot of great gifts including twelve, yes TWELVE pieces of lingerie. Now, some of my friends were very dirty in their gifts, but it was fun. Brandon's aunt was there and she gave me some lingerie, but it wasn't very scandalous. After she saw all the other stuff I got, she was so mad that she didn't get what she really wanted to. She thought that Pollyanna could have worn what she got me. All in all it was a perfect shower and I have the best friends in the whole world who are spoiling me rotten! Thanks girls!

On another topic, (still wedding related), we finally got our invitations in and sent out on Friday. They were delivered at about 11 am on Friday. At noon, Jill, Jackie (my sis-in-law), Lynda (friend), Josh (brother), and Brandon were all at my house folding and stuffing about 400 invitations. They were all in the mail by 1:30 pm. Good job everyone!

We also narrowly avoided another wedding catastrophe this weekend. My flowers are all calla lilies. White ones for the tables and deep red ones for my bouquet (which were a bit difficult to find). Well we ordered them a couple months ago, apparently when my wedding date was still May 19th. I guess we forgot to tell the florist that the date changed to June 2nd because the flowers came in this weekend and the florist wanted to know why we didn't pick them up. Plus, they said they had a hard time finding the red lilies and didn't know if they could get them again by June 2nd. Well my mom talked to the owner of the flower wholesaler today and he didn't make her pay for the first order and said he will be able to get more flowers in time for the real wedding. Isn't it wonderful when people are just nice? Thank you Mr. Flower Man. You are a very nice person.

12 MORE DAYS!!!!

Wedding planning keeps on going...

So, we had a slight catastrophe this week. I was supposed to get the invitations on Monday, but when they came in, they were horrible! The biggest (one of many) was that they spelled Brandon's parents last name wrong. So they are reprinting them and we should get them back on Friday. We have a crew ready to stuff at noon so we can hopefully get them out by Friday afternoon. Most people won't get them before 10 days prior to the wedding, but I guess there's nothing I can do about that. I'm getting my facial today and my spa day on Monday. Don't I have the greatest friends? We finally booked our honeymoon this week. We are spending five nights at a resort in Cancun! Yay! I'm so excited about that. We can lounge around in luxury for a whole week! My bridal shower is this weekend. I'm pretty excited about that too. I think some of my friends might try to embarrass me, but I doubt that's possible. I just can't believe how close it's getting. Before you know it, I'll have been married for 50 years!

23 days to go!

I know I have not been a good blogger. I really want to. I just need to try harder to make time for it. Okay, so I get married in 23 days! Wedding planning started out to be more stressful than I could bear, but I stepped back, took a breath, and relaxed. It's been pretty smooth sailing ever since. I guess the thing that I've noticed so much in this whole process is how little I care about the event and how much I care about the actual marraige. I really could not have chosen a better man. He is truly amazing. He tries so hard to make me happy. He works endlessly on communicating with me and solving all problems before they can cause contention. I'm not saying everything is always perfect, but he tries so hard to understand me and thus inspires me to try hard as well. I never thought I could be this happy.

Okay, now getting past the sappy stuff, I am also excited about the actual wedding day. I have my dress and it's beautiful. It's ivory with darker ivory embroidery and a deep red sash around the wasit. I'm wearing a strand of my great grandmother's pearls for sentiment (plus they actually go with the dress). My colors are cranberry red and ivory. I've designed the reception myself and it will hopefully be different than other receptions I've been to. There will be no trellis or ivy or picket fences. It will actually be quite simple, but hopefully elegant and I'm excited to see how it all comes out.

I think I'm almost done with most of the planning. We're still waiting for the invitations to come in. I am still in search of fabulous earrings. I still need to craft some type of mechanism to hang a bunch of round, Chinese paper lanterns from the ceiling at the reception. I have a dress fitting on Friday. We still have to book the honeymoon too!

Luckily, I have a lot of very talented friends. One of my friends is an extremely talented photographer and has already done some fantasic engagment photos for us. I'm excited to see the wedding pictures that she does. I have another friend who does makeup and skin care. She has provided me with some great products to get my skin ready for the big day and is taking care of my makeup. My cousin does my hair. We've already practiced my wedding hair and I think it will look great! And I have several other friends that are planning my bridal shower and have shopped with me and have planned with me. I am very lucky.

23 more days!

GETTING MARRIED!

Hey everyone! I'm engaged! Yay for me! Okay, so I've been engaged about 2 1/2 weeks, but I wanted to make sure to tell everyone before they read it on my blog. We're getting married in May (date is still up in the air). I'm so happy and have no doubt at all that he's who I have been looking for my entire life. I'm so in love and cannot wait to be with him for eternity. I'll write details later about how it all came to be, but for now, here's a picture my grandma took of us the other night. Everyone, meet Brandon, my future husband...

More Gushing

One of my friends told me that I gush about B. If you are tired of hearing about how great B is, then stop reading immediately. The other day, I got a home decorating project in my head and at 9:00 at night after we had already been out for the night, B helped me measure and hang and staple and anything else I needed until the project was done. He didn't even complain once about it. By the way, the project turned out GREAT! Then, yesterday, another bouquet of flowers mysteriously showed up on my piano, right below the recently completed project. The saddest part is that I didn't even notice the new flowers. I felt so bad. I'm so spoiled. So happy... Did I mention how cute he is?

Headaches and tattoos

Have you ever felt like something was just off. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I haven't been quite right lately. I'm all achy, I have had a headache for 4 or 5 days, and I'm so tired all the time. It's not a lack of sleep and I'm eating healthier than I was. Shouldn't I feel better? I don't think I'm getting sick because I don't have any sick symptoms. I wish I would feel better because everything seems harder to accomplish lately.

On a different note, I'm willingly letting a woman run a needle along my eyelids for an hour or two tonight. About 6 weeks ago, I got permanent (aka tattooed) eyeliner. It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced. Apparently it takes two visits to really complete. I can't believe I'm going back for more! What am I thinking? Although, I love having it. It means that when I wake up in the morning or just get out of the shower or pool, my eyes are defined and I don't look sick. Also, my eyeliner doesn't wear off by the end of the day. Oh, what glory! I guess beauty is pain.

Best Boyfriend Ever!

I am so lucky! B is so good to me. For Valentine's Day, he had a huge bouquet of roses delivered to me at work and then cooked me dinner that night. It was perfect. Last week, he noticed that I was frustrated when I was cooking because I don't have any good pans, so a couple days later he showed up at my house with a really nice set of pans. This weekend I was struggling and somewhat emotional. Even when others may have thought I was being crazy, he just loved me and was so patient. Plus, he came to my house on Saturday and mowed and weeded my backyard and cleaned my garage. Yesterday, he brought me a book about how to fix my car (he said mostly for him), a gas can for my lawn mower with stuff written all over it about how hot I am, some Stargazer Lilies (I'm running out of places to put flowers), and a Costco card (he added me to his membership). He's wonderful and I'm in love!

Beehives

In my church, we all have what are called "callings." Basically, a calling is the job you are assigned to do in the church, which could be anything from the librarian, to the greeter, to the organ player, to a Sunday School teacher, to the Bishop. You don't get to choose the calling. Instead, the Bishop and his counselors "call" you (with inspiration from God) to a calling. So, after that lenghty explanation, I got a calling today. I've been called to be a Beehive Advisor. Beehive is another name for 12 & 13 year old girls.

What that means is that I teach a lesson on a couple Sundays a month and I attend weekly activities and just generally help out. It also means that I have 13 girls to love now. I'm so excited. They are excited and full of life, and yes, even a little obnoxious, but I think I will have the greatest time. I'm excited to get to know all these girls and hopefully to have some impact on their lives. Wish me luck!

The Story of B

Most of you who read this already know the story of B (that is IF anyone reads it anymore). However, I thought I'd write it down for posterity anyway.

Over a year ago, I met OB at church. OB and I became good friends and eventually OB was assigned to be my home teacher (someone assigned to visit you every month to give you a spiritual message and make sure you're doing alright). Well home teachers come in twos and for some reason, OB needed someone to come with him to home teach me so he brought his friend and next door neighbor B. Now I had never met B, but I had heard about him because my friend had a big crush on him and things didn't really go well, so I had heard about what a jerk he was. Anyway, OB and B came home teaching and we had a great time. B was really funny and I think we became friends.

A couple weeks later, my roomate hired OB to do some electrical work for her at our house and B came along to help. That's when B and I started to get to know each other. I told him what a jerk he had been to my friend and he agreed. After that night, the three of us started hanging out more frequently. At some point during all this, B rekindled things with an ex-girlfriend in Utah and had a long-distance relationship going with her. Since she wasn't in Arizona too often, B had a lot of spare time and he and I continued to be friends. He was around last year for all the main events in my life and helped me celebrate. At some point, he got engaged to the Utah girl.

Well, I bought a house in November and B liked to come over and do a lot of home projects for me. We hung out a lot and spent a lot of time together, but we never crossed any friendship lines. My mom and I were going to drive up to Utah for Thanksgiving and B asked if he could hitch a ride to go see his fiance. We had a ton of fun driving up and I remembering giggling a lot. We also had some really good, long talks about life stuff. When we got up to Utah, I dropped him off at his fiance's house for the week.

The day after we got there, B called to tell me that he was headed home because he and his fiance had broken up. My mom's cousin was driving home the next day, so B caught a ride with him.

When I got home from Utah, B kept coming over to help me with house stuff. One night I was tired of doing projects so I just suggested we make a pizza and watch TV. It kind of started with a joke, but B kissed me in the kitchen while we were waiting for the pizza to cook. At first, I just kind of laughed it off and wondered what that was all about, but we ended up kissing again later when we were watching TV (or supposed to be watching TV). After about 3 days of this, I finally asked what he wanted. That night, we decided to start dating and see where it would lead us.

So two months later, things are wonderful. He treats me like a goddess. He makes me feel like the most beautiful amazing woman in the whole world. He makes me laugh every day. My family loves him. He makes me happy.

I'm back

Well I hope I'm back. I will try to be back. There is just so much that happens, that it's hard to find the time to get it all down. I'll try and give a quick timeline of the last few months.

11/03/06 - Closed on my house and moved in! Yay!
11/04/06- Had the first floor of my house painted. My great room is blue and my kitchen is orange. I'll post pictures soon.
November - Worked on various house projects like unpacking, taking down wallpaper, painting, putting up shelves, seeding the backyard, fixing sprinkler system, general decorating, etc.
11/18/06- Left for Utah for a week for Thanksgiving. Spent part of the week in Idaho visiting my sister.
11/25/06- Get bad news from work. My firm isn't doing well financially and a rumor starts that attorneys are no longer getting paid. Stress!
12/04/06- Got myself a boyfriend!
12/15/06- My last day of work at the law firm.
12/18/06- Start preparing to open a new law firm with another attorney from the old one.
12/21/06- New law firm opens up with my name on it.
Christmas - Christmas Eve and Christmas were wonderful!
New Years - Had friends over and got a great New Year's kiss! Lots of fun.
January- Working hard to get the new law firm going strong. Got a niece and lost a great-grandma on the same day. Was the organist at two funerals in one week. Trip to Utah for one of the funerals. Hired and fired an office manager at the new firm. Hired a much better office manager. My dad got bucked off a horse and landed himself in the hospital. He broke seven processes on his spine and fractured his sternum. Ouch! Apparently he thinks he's a cowboy.

Today is the first day of February. Things are great. I have the world's most wonderful boyfriend with whom I'm madly in love. The new firm finally seems to be running smoothly. I still love my house. What more could I want? I am a happy girl.