Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

So people have been asking me about "The Big Debate" and want to know what we decided on. Well, being the great bargain shopper that I am, found a lot of ads for stores that had some nice looking 6 ft. artificial trees for only $25. This lead Matt to decide he would give in and consent to a fake tree since it was such a great deal.

Well a few days later, we went on our big outing to find ourselves a Christmas tree. Much to our surprise, we went to multiple stores, and all of the Christmas trees were gone (this was the first week of December?)! We couldn't believe that the only ones left were around $200, no thanks. So feeling a little dejected, we made our way home.

A few nights later, we decided to try again. Since all of the cheap trees were gone, we went over to a Christmas tree lot and picked out a great tree for us. We brought him home and named him Herbie.

Now I'll admit, the smell of the Herbster has been great. He has even been a good little tree and only shed a few needles! I don't know if I'm completely sold on the idea of getting a real tree EVERY year, but it sure worked for us this year. We picked out some cheap ornaments, lights and candycanes for the year. We really do love our tree and am sad to see him go. You've been a great tree Herbie!

Partly Cloudy

5°F

Feels Like

5°F

Updated: Dec 10 10:05 a.m. MT

At least it's an improvement from yesterday's 3 feels like -1

Lame-o Post

Everytime I go to post, this is what comes to mind........... Sorry, but nothing's coming. The strange thing is, it isn't that I don't have things going on ie: Mexico, who won the Christmas tree debate (no one yet, it is a neverending battle) or leaving the country for one week and losing half of my little young women, it is just that when I try to write about it, zip! Maybe tomorrow??

Oh Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum

The holiday season is right around the corner, and Matt and I are facing a serious issue. He wants a real tree, and I think that is just unnecessary. His argument is that he doesn't want to miss out on the "Christmas-tree smell" and that an artificial tree isn't a real Christmas tree. I say just get some pine scented air freshener and then not have to worry about 1) burning your house down 2) vaccumming up the pine needles everyday (this doesn't seem to worry him, probably because he knows he won't be the one having to do it) 3) spending money on a new tree each year.

It will be interesting to see how this thing turns out...

Work, work, work

At work, we're gearing up for the Sub for Santa season. I recently put a Christmas-themed photo shoot together in preparation. It's been a lot of fun putting materials together with the photos. Since I don't share much about what I do all day, every day, I thought I'd give you a look at the shoot. (all photos are unedited).

I sure hope whoever said "You are what you eat" was kidding. I don't want to be a cough drop. It's bad enough smelling like one...

Times are a Changing...

It was time. While it has served me well the past bit, if even my mother-in-law could figure out how to get a cute template (no offense becky), then it was time for the lime green to be a thing of the past. I think i must be really picky though because it sure took me awhile to find a background that i liked. Who knows, maybe before you know it, I'll put up the obligatory wedding photo. Now, I'm not sure how I feel about the advertisment across the top of my page. We'll see how long this lasts...

You Have Mail

I have just about everything changed over to my new name but still have been using my old email. This morning I decided it was time to see what my options were. I typed in my preferred brenna.cox and was informed that email was already taken, but it did offer up the friendly recommendation of brenna.brennacox.cox916. Really? That isn't taken already? First of all, who wants an email that long? Second, brenna.brennacox.cox... I don't even have anything to say. Third, where did the 916 come from?

Needless to say, I'm still exploring my email options.

Once there was a Snowman, Snjowman, Snowman...

We had our first snow today. It was great. Nothing really stuck, but it was still fun to watch it come down. It made me think of the following story.

My last year of BYU, I lived in an apartment complex that gave me my very own assigned parking spot. I was pretty thrilled to not have to worry about having to fight the craziness that is BYU approved housing area parking. There were only a few downsides of this pre-assigned spot. It was on the top level of the parking garage, and thus not covered (sad day, especially since I paid so much to get that spot) and on top of that, for whatever reason, mine and my roommate's spot always had more snow than anyone elses (i think it was something to do with shadows and where the wind blew, but what do I know?).

Well, one day, I woke up and looked out to about a foot of snow. I planned accordingly and left with plenty of time to get to the library to meet my study group. I went out and turned my defrosters on full blast and got to the job of scraping the snow off my windows. In a few minutes, (remember, I'm from Utah, I have a lot of experience) I was ready to go. I got in my new jeep (pertinent fact in a minute), put the car in reverse and tried to drive out. That's right, TRIED to drive out. I was stuck! I pulled forward a bit and tried again, but nothing. I told myself to stay calm and not panic. I thought to myself "good thing I have a jeep, no big deal, I'll just turn on the 4-wheel drive and be on my way."

I started fiddling with the thing that said 4-wheel drive, but nothing was changing/happening. Talk about feeling like a dumb girl. I was in a stinkin' jeep and I was stuck in my parking stall. Not, some exotic, cool offroading place, but my little parking spot in my parking garage. Next I did what most people in my predicament would do (or I've been informed not really, apparently, i'm a weirdo in this regard), and pulled out my owners manual. Sadly, turning on your 4-wheel drive must not be that difficult because I couldn't find it in there at all.

So, I called my dad, he gave me a few ideas and wished me luck. I went back to the dumb lever I was originally playing with and started playing with it again, but still, nothing would happen.

At this point, I had watched multiple, small non-snow cars drive away just fine and was getting a little frustrated (it had been close to 30 minutes at this point). I was in a freakin' SUV, why was this happening to me? Our manager was out shoveling snow, so I finally swallowed my pride and asked him for help. His response was, "huh? but you have a jeep, just turn your 4-wheel drive on!" I sheepishly explained that I didn't know how to do that, so he climbed in, pulled the lever (yes, the same one I had kept playing with), and in less than a minute said, "there you go!" Seriously?!! Apparently I wasn't pulling hard enough... I thanked him and completed my drive of shame out of the parking lot.

The next day at church, a group of people were talking about the storm, and a kid (who I didn't really know well at all) started laughing and said that I had a good story. My spot was right below his bedroom window and apparently he sat and watched me in my all of my stuck glory and laughed and laughed. So much so that one by one his roommates came in to see what the ruckus was about where they too joined in. I couldn't believe the jerk just sat and laughed at my pain and didn't come and help me! Talk about feeling dumb! Good thing I am such a forgiving person though because he did eventually become a good friend.

Oh good memories!

Then Comes Baby in the Baby Carriage...

No, no, no, not mine, but I did offer to throw a baby shower for one of my good friends. I'm happy to do it for her, but i'm not going to lie, i'm feeling a little over my head. This is definitely not my forte. Does anyone have any fun activities/food ideas for me?

As Requested

Chocolate Chip Cheeseball

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. confectioners' sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
2 T. brown sugar
1 T. vanilla extract
3/4 c. miniature chocolate morsels
3/4 c. finely chopped pecans, divided
Graham crakers, butter cookies, pretzels (we had vanilla wafers, which were delicious)

In a bowl, combine cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, butter, brown sugar and vanilla, beating with an electric mixer until smooth. Add chocolate morsels and 1/2 c. pecans. Refrigerate until firm about 2 hours (i just stuck mine in the freezer about 40 minutes, it worked fine). Shape mixture into a ball (or football) and roll in remaining 1/4 c. pecans. Serve with graham crackers, butter cookies or pretzels. MAkes 8-12 servings.

Here Comes the Sun (or Not)

I'm not sure what happened to Fall this year. It seems like we had about 3 great days of crisp, cool Fall weather, but then it suddenly turned into Winter. While this means great things like first day of cute coats, boots and sweaters, we're still in denial (ok, maybe it's just me) and have yet to turn on our heater (minus a few hours when we had guests). Matt seems to think its time though...

So after the great decorations debacle, I had to redeem my title of "Domestic Diva" somehow. We had a BYU game that night, so I decided to make a game treat. It was my first time making anything that like, but I think it turned out pretty well.

Chocolate chip dessert cheeseball

Me and Martha

Last weekend, we finally purchased our final piece of necessary furniture for the new apartment. I was happy inside, but also a little sad because it meant I could no longer hold off on the decorating process. As I've mentioned before, being creative and making things look good is definitely not a forte of mine. I have been trying to be upbeat and positive about the situation and even thought of a few things I thought would spruce our place up.

I like coupons and pretty dutifully go through all the ads each week. I was excited when I came across a Customer Appreciation Sale at one of the local craft stores featuring 60% off home decor, 50% one item and an additional 30% of your total purchase; they were even giving away gift certificates to the first 50 people through the doors. I'll admit, my find made a little tiny bit of excitement creep into me, and this morning, I jumped out of bed, hurriedly dressed and headed out the door.

I was excited because I made it to the store even earlier than I had planned, but quickly began to doubt my plan when I saw the number of cars in the parking lot. It was 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday, who would of thought so many people would be at a craft store?! I couldn't believe it when I walked to the end of the 80-100 people line and took my place about 1/2 mile away from the doors. I tried to stay optimistic and upbeat by telling myself that the people were just big families (it was only 1 per household), but deep-down inside, I knew I had lost my chance at the gift card.

Thirty minutes later, the line made its way into the store. I grabbed a cart and started shopping. I definitely felt WAY out of my element among the women running around filling their carts with items and assembling wreaths and centerpieces as they went and did my best to imagine/pretend I knew what ribbon would go well with this fake grass and fruit topped off with that colored candle all the while kicking myself for not dragging along one of my more "cutsey" inclined acquaintances that early morning.

After 45 minutes of wandering, I felt pretty good about my purchases. I excitedly loaded up the car and headed home to make my living the next show room of Martha Stewart's magazine. Much to my dismay, I had underestimated my shelf height and NOTHING would fit! Talk about dashing all my hopes. Sadly, Operation Martha was definitely a bust. My poor house...

Who??

So my office has an information and referral call center that when you dial a certain 3-digit phone number (no, it's not 911, I don't work at the jail), it connects you with one of our "specialists" who can then tell you where you can get help with human services meaning things like paying your utility bill, how to get a ride to the doctors when you're too old to drive yourself or where to go if your kid has a drug problem. Well, the other day my coworker received a phone call that went like this.

CoWorker: "Thanks for calling UW *11, how can I help you?"
Caller: "Yes, I need the number for O'Reilly."
CW: "O'Reilly? I'm sorry I'm not sure what you're looking for. Is that a name of an organization?"
C: "You know, O'Reilly. I want to call O'Reilly"
CW: "Is O'Reilly a person?"
C: "Haven't you ever heard of the show? I want to call into the Bill O'Reilly show!"

Needless to say, although we have a pretty high rate of keeping our "customers" happy, this was one number we were unable to refer.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow (or a Couple of Weeks Ago)

I've always been a longer hair type of gal but recently, it has become a little out of control. It reached what matt affectionately called "Polygamist Hair" (one or two inches above my behind), so that as well as me thinking it was time for some adventure in my life led me to decide to get it cut.

(This kind of a funny picture shows the idea of the great mass that was my hair)

I knew that I wanted to keep it "long," but was undecided on the length. I figured if I did Locks for Love, it was on the border of my limit. When I got to the salon, I thought it was silly for me to cut so much off and be so close to doing Locks for Love and not do it, so I bit the bullet.

The girl chopped the ponytail, and I was feeling pretty good about things, but by the time she was finished styling it, she had taken an additional 4 or so inches off for a grand total of 14 inches or 1 foot, 2 inches! I was pretty bummed, but what can you do? At least there will be one less bald kid running around...

I went to bed last night but was kept up because of some loud noises. I peeked out the window and saw an ambulance and fire truck parked in the middle of the road with multiple cop cars behind it. We couldn't see what was going on until the ambulance left and then we could only see them patting down some woman.

We sat peering out the blinds for awhile but didn't know what was going on. My neighbor apparently had a little bit more information than us though. I took this from her blog.

"...Just as we had drifted off to sleep, Dave got up and went somewhere. When he came back he said, "Some lady just knocked on our door asking for someone named Meatball and she had an open knife!" I may have mentioned that Dave is prone to sleep-walking and –talking. So I was a little skeptical at first, but then I heard her outside our window slapping the brick wall of the basement apartment next door and yelling for Meatball. Dave had already called the cops, but he didn't know where she had gone, so he called them again and gave them our neighbors address. Soon there were 4 cops parked outside our house, and I went outside to point out where she was, then I went back inside. We watched through the blinds as the cops confronted her. They asked her to drop the knife several times, and then tazered her! She was very drunk so she had difficulty understanding what they wanted, but eventually they got the knife away from her. They cuffed her and put her in one of the cop cars and waited for the paramedics because she was bleeding. She could have cut herself or just fallen in her drunken state.
Understandably we had difficulty falling back asleep after all that midnight excitement!"'

What a night! I don't think she ever found her friend Meatball, but I wish her the best of luck.

Oh, Check the Freezer!

I read a story the other day in one of the Salt Lake newspapers. It talked about a man who has been missing for a few months. They finally found him, or I guess I should say they found his body. It was in his freezer. I was sad for the man, but then a few days later, they had a follow up story. Apparently the coroners determined his cause of death was suicide.

Huh? Who decides to kill themselves by climbing into their freezer? I guess I don't comprehend the whole suicide thing, but seriously, it seems like even if you thought that was a good idea, it would take so long before anything besides getting to know the chicken, steak and vegetables and being pretty cold happened that you would give up. Even if you decided to poison yourself or something, why climb into the freezer? I definitely wonder what the story here is. It just seems too bizarre.

Customer Service Woes

We are supposed to receive cable as part of our rent in the new place. But when we went to hook up the tv, we didn't get anything but a blank screen. I called Comcast and was put on hold for an extended period of time before ever being connected with a real person, so I decided to help our manager earn her keep and turn the task over to her. Much to my dismay, I received a message from her telling us the way to solve the problem was to call Comcast, so I made sure I had some time (in preparation of holding), and once again attempted to speak with a representative, preferably someone I could actually understand.

Well, after pushing lots of different buttons telling them what I wanted, I was delighted to finally hear "Comcast Cable, how can I help you?" I explained what the problem was, and he told me it sounded like we needed a technician to come out and see what was going on. I told him ok and then was shocked by him saying it would be Aug. 19th at the earliest (this was earlier this week)! What? A few thoughts raced through my mind: We're expected to pay for 2 weeks of service that we don't get, and wow, Comcast must not be very good service if they have that many problems going on.

I thought that was pretty lame and told the guy so. I tried talking my way into having someone come out sooner, but no, the 19th it is. I wanted to demand a credit or something, but since our HOA pays it, I figured it wasn't worth the battle. I'm pretty disappointed though. It definitely makes me double think getting our internet through Comcast. Anyone have recommendations on an internet company?

The Past Couple of Weeks

We moved into our new apartment. We've been spending our time

• Cleaning
• Unpacking
• Looking for furniture

We currently have a kitchen table, bed frame and a desk with chair. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any couches out there that we like. What is with the current styles? We're hoping for a successful day today, so we can actually have a place to sit (I've been spending a lot of time of the floor lately...) We also don't have the internet yet, so that means no blogging. I've never had to pay for my own internet (it was always included in the rent); it makes me feel like more of a "big girl" a.k.a. real adult.

What's in a Name?

My coworker had to make a phone call yesterday to a person named "La-a." She asked around to get suggestions on how to say the name, and the general consensus was just a long La (Laa). She dialed the number and asked for Laa but was quickly scolded and told that "the dash isn't silent! It's pronounced Ladasha!"

I don't know why I find that so funny (Matt didn't seem to get nearly as much enjoyment out of the story as me), but I thought it was hilarious. It has inspired my first daughter's name though, La.a, said Ladota. I think we could have a new trend here...

Nee How!

So I kind of want to go to China. I keep hearing a radio announcement about a special for a trip to China for $999 including airfare. I might just have to convince Matt that a trip to the Orient is just what we need. Anyone want to come along?

Picnic in the Park

Tonight for Family Night, we decided to take dinner to the park and have a picnic. It was great weather, nice and warm, but not too hot and there wasn't a huge crowd out. We had a nice little dinner consisting of wraps, potato salad, baked beans, chips and a martinelli to drink. We had a great time eating outside followed by a short Family Home (or I guess in this instance, Park) Evening. We even took some photos, (this is pretty amazing for us, our poor camera never exactly gets used).

Home Sweet Home

Matt and I just got home from signing a lease on what will be our new home starting Aug. 1 for the next year. We found an AMAZING deal across the street from where we live now. It is actually in a complex Matt was interested in before we even got married. It is one of the corner apartments, so it is huge. Matt's excited to have room in the living room not only for the piano but for a tv. It has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (one in the master bedroom), 2 covered parking stalls and plenty of storage space. It is also right in the same area,which means a 10 minute walk to work, 18 minute walk to school and in the same ward we're in now.

The funny thing is, it is actually the old apartment of my coworker. He just bought a house down the street but has lived in the apartment for 7 years. I somewhate jokingly asked him today if he was worried I was trying to take over his life, first we moved into his ward and now into his old house. He told me other people in the complex are paying more than $1o0/ month more than us, and they are in one of the smaller units.

So now my job is to find us some furniture. Anyone have anything they want to donate to our cause?? ;) Just kidding!

So Long, Fare Well, Auf Wiedersehen, Good Bye!

If you need me in the next little bit, you can find me here

"Spider Pig, Spider Pig, Does Whatever a Spider Pig Does..."

We're coming up on one month with the Detroit spider bite. It seems to be healing, but you never know, but then again, we thought that a couple of weeks ago. I'm still waiting for my Spidy-Super Hero Powers to kick in...

One Week Ago

I came home from work to find this on the door

So I went for a run and returned to this

Which opened up to this (Sorry about the sideway pictures, I could figure out how to turn them) And don't forget about this!

Followed by Carrabbas (Yum! Sorry no picture) and then Coldstone Ice Cream CakeWhich led to one happy brenna
Which means one happy Matt
It was a good day :)

Oh Detroit

So I went to Detroit for the big national UW conference. Overall it was pretty good. I got to see the new 2009 advertising materials which was cool. They also debuted the national versions of my video and the radio spot that they recorded. I'm sure I'm a little biased, but I think they turned out awesome! They also announced the winners of the "Best of" contest, and sure enough, UW of Utah County was one of them (for my video). That was pretty exciting! It is always nice to have your work recognized, and that is a pretty big resume booster.

Other noteworthy highlights include:

Secretary of Education (don't remember his name, how pathetic is that? Who needs to know the name of the guy in charge of the whole country's education?)

Guy the Pursuit of Happyness is based on (Chris Gardnor)

(Who needs to wait in a long line? I just snuck a picture while walking by)

Dolly Parton being like 20' away from me, and to answer the question I know everyone is thinking, yes, her "you know whats" were VERY large!

(The picture is obviously a screen, unfortunately, I didn't have my camera so I resorted to stealing the photo from my coworker who was too far away to see Dolly upclose and personal like me! I somehow snuck onto the VIP table)

Crazy spider Bite (doesn't sounds like much, but I basically have a decaying hole larger than a half-dollar on my leg, sick, I know, tell me about it...When i find my camera cord, I will post pictures)

My man cleaning our whole apartment for my return. And when I say cleaning, I mean hardcore scrubdown.

"This is it Boys, this is War" & "The Ants Go Marching One by One"

I am normally a fairly peaceful person, but I am declaring war. Our little apartment has ants. Originally we didn't think much of it because it was just an ant here or there. I thought it was weird because I never saw ants in the kitchen, just in the bathroom and an occasional little guy on the windowsill in our bedroom, so who knows what they are eating.

Well, I have had a change of heart. Although we still have yet to see an "Ant Highway" or anything close to it, essentially at almost any time of day, you can see a couple of the critters running around (a small handful has also found their way to the kitchen). I always wanted an ant farm as a child, but now I've grown up, I've learned a thing or two, and I definately don't want our house to be a large lifesize ant farm.

I think the deciding factor was the other night when we were laying in bed watching tv. My "behind" suddenly starting hurting/itching. I tried to be ladylike and just ignore it but was eventually forced to start scratching. It was all in vein though, with the dang pain continuing. After about 5 minutes, Matt showed me that we had a little ant in our bed. I was pretty disgusted by that, and then it dawned on me. I quickly yanked off my pants, and sure enough, there was a little guy trying to make my bum his dinner. I freaked out probably a little bit more than I should have, but Matt did think it was pretty funny when I started yelling "I have ants in my pants!!"

Well, typical me, those bites (yes, plural) swelled up pretty big and itched for the next few days. It was then I decided it was time for the ants to go.

After I got back from my conference in Detroit, we spent some time researching how to get rid of ants online. Then we went and started dumping vinegar down there holes. Apparently they don't like that. Also, pepper is also a deterrent so then we made mountains of pepper over all of the holes.

It has been a pretty good temporary method, but I still don't feel safe. I know I should hold grudges, but I don't think I'm going to be happy until the little guys have moved on!

Anyone have ideas on how to kill (it sounds so harsh, and yet, that is what needs to be down) these nuisances?

California Dreaming

A couple of weekends ago, we headed out to California for the wedding of one of Matt's good friends from growing up. It was a short but good trip.

After the wedding festivities, we drove over to the coast. We hit up the kite festival, which was cool. My favorite kites were the scuba divers whose legs were "swimming" with a shark chasing after them.

Once we were tired of watching the kites, we headed over to the golf course. Matt loves to golf, and his favorite course is the one on the coast (don't quote me on that, I may be accidentally lying). Since we've been together, I have only been invited along to the golf course once. Here is my disclaimer, I don't golf, never have. I enjoy miniature golfing, but I don't think that counts for anything. One time my dad took me to the driving range and about the only thing that happened was that I ruined his clubs because I hit the ground so much. Oops!

Anyway, so Matt invited me along once, but I only got to drive the cart. It was an.... Interesting experience, so I was excited when I got the full invitation to actually golf.

We decided we didn't have enough time (or maybe it was just golf knowledge on my part) to actually golf the course (is that a proper golf term?), and so we just went to the driving range. Well, then the golf lessons began. I had no idea what I was doing and could barely even hold the club correctly. We started with Matt having me show him "what I've got." Yeah, that didn't go to well, because, well, I don't have anything. We started with the basics, and I just could not figure out the movements. The way you stand and twist felt so wrong and awkward. Eventually, my club was taken away, and I was demoted to using a twig. I was skeptical of the twig working, but we actually made pretty dramatic improvement with that twig. At that point, I could easily get to the different points, but when I tried to do the whole movement, I just got all twisted and it wasn't exactly working.

My husband is a very smart man. I think he was at the point of not knowing how else to help me, when he had the brilliant thought of asking me about lacrosse. I was then given a real club, which was quickly turned into a make shift lacrosse stick. He had me show him some of my moves. While i was showing him different things I would do while playing lacrosse, he pointed out that many of the body positions were the same. After that, our training changed to "Ok, now protect the ball! Now throw the ball..." I'm sure all of the other people thought that we were crazy, but it worked, I actually started to look like a golfer! The best part was, I started actually hitting the balls (not very well, but I'll take what I can get...) and not the ground or the air.

We're still working on me not taking a step as I swing (that's how you 'throw' the ball), but I made some significant progress. I even hit 2 really goods ones. I'm on my way! Watch out Tiger, I'm coming!

Oh Kids...

I just got home from my first YWs activity. My favorite part of the night.

"Wait, you're the new leader?! I thought I didn't know you because you went to the OTHER middle school!!!"

Two Months of Kitchen Duty

Matt and I realized shortly after we got married that we had no pots or pans. I stressed out a little bit about this, but when we moved into our apartment, someone had left a nice little pot in the oven. Matt was pretty excited and decided it was a blessing enabling us to actually eat something besides raw fruits and vegetables. It took me a little longer and many washes later to decide it was sanitary enough to use, but I eventually caved in due to necessity.

Well, yesterday was officially two months of marriage. Two months and many meals later, I've been shocked at how easy it is to cook with one little pot and an electric fryer. It's kind of amazing to think of all the things that have happened and probably most to think about how long it seems to us, when in reality, two months isn't any time at all.

Anyway, it took us longer than it should have, but we are now the proud owners a beautiful set of stainless pots and pans. Oh boy are they pretty. I'm kind of sad to use them because I want them to stay as pretty as they are! As weird as it is, I also think I'm going to be kind of sad to not pull out my electric fryer, it became quite normal to figure out how to turn everything into a one-pot meal because you had no other choice...

We also quickly realized we had no sharp knives. I was skeptical about using butter knives to chop vegetables, potatoes, cheese and meat, but you'd be amazed at the things those little dull babies can do. I am also excited to announce that the other day, I ordered an excellent set of knives complete with kitchen scissors. Not going to lie, I'm pretty excited and hope they get here soon!

I almost have a "real" kitchen! Wahoo!

My Bad...

So I was very excited to finally finish up all of the wedding Thank You cards a couple of weeks ago. It was something that I worked on every night (almost) faithfully since getting married. I'm not going to lie, when I finished up, I felt like celebrating.

Well, we've gotten a few more gifts since then, and I pulled my box of cards out again tonight for the new ones, and what did I see? A huge stack of cards that I wrote, addressed, stamped and then apparently left sitting in the box. Oops! Good thing I wrote all of those so long ago...

There's a Girl on the Boy's Side!

After Matt and I got married, we moved into a very nice condo, which is actually in the same complex as we lived while we were single (below one and across the hall from Matt's old place, and yes, it is a single's people place). The place came up for sale due to foreclosure, and his parents decided it would be a good investment. Well, we needed a place to stay and since it would be essentially impossible to fill 4 spots mid semester, we decided the smartest thing would be to have us move into it until the end of August.

I was a little bit weary of moving in where we lived before and being the only married people, but they are great apartments, it is about 1 minute away from both my office and Matt's school, and it just made sense, so I had no problem agreeing to it.

I'm happy to report, that it has been even less awkward than I originally anticipated. The location, as mentioned is perfect, and it has the best parking situation in Provo. We've had a couple of doorbell ditches, but things are good. It is a little wierd though, living on the boy's side. I am definitely the only girl on this side of the parking lot. Yesterday, our neighbor even made the comment, "I can smell your air freshener outside! It's great having a girl over on our side!" Every morning when I leave for work, I can't help but timidly poke my head out and look both ways before running out to the car. Even though I know everyone knows we're married, I still wonder what they think seeing a girl run out every morning.

"Running just as Fast as We Can..."

I'm coming up on two years without lacrosse. I've been thinking a lot about the way I've been taking care, or it would be probably be better to say NOT taking care, of my body since then. I miss excerising on a regular basis. It is just tough to find the motivation to get out and really push yourself. But I do miss finishing a workout feeling like you are absolutely exhausted and can't move another step and yet so good.

Unfortunately, I developed asthma in high school, and since then, I never was a runner (running just isn't quite the same when you are coughing up blood...). I looked it as a necessary evil. I never understood those track people. But lately, I've been missing pushing myself and having a goal to work towards. This crazy thought kept popping up in my head, and now, I think that I want to run a half-marathon this summer. I would shoot for an actual marathon, but that is probably a bit much for me. I wasn't going to put it on the blog because then I would be more acountable for this pyscho goal of mine, but then I decided that is exactly why I should put it on the blog.

So now you all know, I am going to be running a half marathon here in a few months. I know there is one in June. Does anyone have any experience with this and know if that is too short a time period?

The lucky thing for me is, my sisters are starting "A Little Healthy Competition" to see who can accomplish all of their health and fitness goals. It will be nice to have that extra boost of motivation.

Wish me luck, I'm definitely going to need it!

Big News

The list of finalists for the "Best of" competition with UW of America was released yesterday. On the list for Best Storytelling/Video was good ol' UW of Utah County. Wahoo! They announce the winners in May at the big conference they've already asked permission to show the video at.

"Number One Hundred Fifty-Nine..."

I went to the SS Office to officially get my name changed last week. I had heard from a coworker that it was a rather long process, so I did my homework before going and knew what I needed to bring and what I would need to fill out once I was there.

The day I decided to go, I purposely took a late lunch in hopes of beating the majority of the crowd. I was really surprised when I walked in and saw every seat in the waiting room full and then some. As you walk in the door, they have a machine and a sign that says, "If you have an appointment, check in here." I was going to check in, but since I didn't have an appointment, figured I wasn't supposed to. I was a little bit confused though because there wasn't a line anywhere. A nice old man with a cane finally hobbled over and told me I had to check in at the machine to get a number, even if I didn't have an appointment. I went and grabbed number 99 from the machine and found a corner to wait in.

After about 10 minutes, they called the next person over, "Number 87!" I knew then that my dream of getting in and out was not about to happen. Luck was on my side though, when apparently number 92, 93, 94 and 95 decided not to wait it out and left before they were called, drastically cutting down wait time for everyone after them.

After 50 minutes (I get 60 for lunch), just when I was about to give up myself, I heard, "Number 99!" I excitedly gathered up my stuff and proudly presented my already filled out form. The worker asked for my marriage license, so I pulled out the rolled out document I had grabbed as I ran out the door that morning. As I started to unroll it, my heart sank. Instead of being the government issued document that I thought it was, I slowly started to see more and more of "The Family, A Proclamation to the World." I told the worker that I had brought the wrong thing, and she told me maybe it was ok and to let her see it, but I assured her it wasn't what she was looking for. After one look at my dejected face, the worker told me it was ok and pulled out a slip saying as long as I returned that day, I could be the next person helped. That is a great deal, except I had to be back at work in 5 minutes, and the SS office closed at 4. I explained that to her, and asked if the ticket was transferable to the next day. She told me it wasn't, but I must have looked pretty pathetic standing there with my Proclamation because she told me she wasn't supposed to do it, but she changed the today to the following day. Boy, did she become my new best friend that day!

During my wait, I had been texting Matt with updates. When I got back into the car, I called him and explained what had happened. I felt like such a dork, I couldn't believe I had grabbed the wrong thing! He expressed his sympathy but started asking where our real license was. I told him it must be at the apartment, but he was worried I had lost it because, get this, the temple had rolled it up inside of a copy of the Proclamation. I slowly unrolled the thing just a little more than I had, and sure enough, there it was!

So imagine how dumb I felt because I brought the wrong thing, but times that by about 20 to get how I felt after realizing I had it with me the whole time!

You Can Never Have Enough Kitchen Towels

I did "Food on Tires" yesterday. Between the week of Christmas and New Year, I was the only person around in the office who was authorized to do it (you have to have a background check and be trained), so I ended up doing it every day. During this time, one of the ladies (the one who never wears pants, bless her heart) decided she thought I was pretty neat. She is very lonely and has been known to keep volunteers chatting with her for lengthy amounts of time. Well, she found out that I was engaged and excitedly declared, "Well, I'm going to get you kitchen towels! No one can ever have enough kitchen towels!" And then she found out we were getting married over Valentine's Day weekend, which delighted her even more because she could "find all sorts of great towels with hearts on them!"

I quickly assured her she didn't need to get me anything (none of these people have any money) but thanked her for her generosity. Despite my protests of it being enough that she was willing, she insisted on getting me some kitchen towels with hearts on them.

Ever since then, she loves when I am the one who volunteers. She is really deaf and can never hear my name right, but she faithfully greets me with a "Brenda, right? You're the one who is getting married! On February 12, did I remember right?" Then she would proceed to inspect my ring and get the latest on all of the planning (all with my shouting and repeating multiple times, she really should put her hearing aids in more often). The shortest amount of time I've spent with her since then is 25 minutes, which would be ok, except my whole lunch hour is only between 30-60 minutes, and there are 11 other people who need food delivered.

Well, yesterday she told me to go and search through the bags on her couch because she was finally able to make it to the store (this is an extremely nice thing for her to do, she is so arthritic that she is almost completely crippled). She was sad that she didn't make it before all of the heart towels were gone, but she got me some nice blue ones. She is so sweet and kept saying how she really just wanted to get me some colorful, cute ones, but no one had any color except for white. She wrote down matt's name and told me she would have a card for us next time I came.

It was such a "small" gesture, but for her, it was huge. I am so appreciative of her act of kindness. I know it was a hardship for her. I hope that I can be as kind as her, even my old and decrepit age.

It's been a very up and down week at work. It's time again for the Thank You Breakfast, and I've encountered several hiccups and for awhile, we were considering canceling it to save money, but it is back on, just on a smaller scale.

Another day though, my boss received an email from the creative director of the national UW (The guy who designs EVERYTHING for UW). Earlier in the year, I submitted a bunch of the projects LIVE UNITED projects I worked on during the past year. Apparently, he loved our video that I put together so much that he wants to show it at the upcoming conference for all of the United Way's Senior Staff leaders. He also wants to start using for some of their things.

Also, yesterday, I received a call from the national PR director. She said she was working with a USA Today reporter on a story about Millenials Giving Back. She wanted to submit my name as a contact to be interviewed on our Student program and upcoming Charity Ball (which is put on by the students and us). She said the reporter would contact me in April, but she wanted to give me a heads up.

Well, about 15 minutes after I hung up I received an email from the reporter. She wanted to schedule an interview for Monday. It created for a busy day, but I think it will be well worth it. I had to get talking points together and work on training our Student President and Student Coordinator, so they will be prepared. It would be so great to receive some national coverage. The reporter said she is even considering sending out a photographer for the ball in March. I really hope things go well on Monday! Wish us luck!

Husband Anyone?

It's official, I have one now. Pretty crazy...

Surprise!

The wedding festivities have already began. I can't believe that next week is the week. A few days ago, a couple of the girls from work threw me a bridal shower. It was a lot of fun and a good opportunity to get to interact with all of my coworkers in a setting other than the office.

Earlier in the week, our friend Jeremy, who is the ward executive secretary, told us the Bishop needed to meet with us one more time and asked us to meet with him on Thursday at 9. The bridal shower went right up until nine, so I raced over to the church. Since I was coming from the shower, I was just going meet Matt there. I pulled into the parking lot and was surprised to see a large number or cars, but I didn't think much of it and figured something like choir practice was going on. I went in and met Jeremy in the hall who told me the Bishop was still in the previous appointment and to just take a seat.

I started to get suspicious when another friend of ours poked his head out and was quickly shooed away. When Matt finally arrived (he was about 20 minutes late), Jeremy asked us if we could help him move something and we headed to the cultural hall area. When we opened the door, there was a room full of our friends from the ward, a table full of food, speakers and a video projection screen.

It was such a nice gesture of our friends Angela and Jeremy. It was a lot of fun to see everyone from the ward again. Angela and Stephanie had even put a video together of when they interviewed the two of us about our courtship. It was really fun to see how Matt responded to all of the questions and hear his side of the story.

It was a great evening, and I'm so grateful for our wonderful friends.

It should have been a pretty good clue that it was coming when for three days in a row, I woke up and couldn't see anything. Then I went throughout the day with my eyes being so puffy that they were swollen half shut.

I've developed some nasty sore throat thing. I did some research today and don't think it is strep, which is a good thing. I think the airway in my throat is about a wide as a pea, which is unfortunate, but oh well. At least it is now and now 2 1/2 weeks from now.

Hum Your Favorite Tune

We're trying to put together a wedding video for our dinner program. We're supposed to think of songs that will play while it shows pictures of us growing up. I'm drawing a blank. Anyone have any good suggestions?

(And yes, I know the phrase for the title should be hymn, but we were instructed no hymns for the video)

Crazy Times

I keep thinking I'm getting things done, and then someone reminds me of one of the other things that has to be done...

Does this Make Me Look Fat?

For work, I am in charge of one of the funding panels. What that means is I facilitate a group of community volunteers who are in charge of deciding if other nonprofit agencies in our community will receive funding from us at UW. Well, yesterday, we had toured the agencies and listened to a short presentation at each one.

Our first stop was at a crisis pregnancy agency. The director from there was very obviously directing her presentation at me. I noticed and thought it was a little bit weird, but then decided that since I was the person from UW and the person who had set the presentation up, she must assume that I had more clout than the other panel members (not true, I don't actually vote). Well, at one point in her presentation, she actually stopped herself and said, "Oh! I keep talking to you because you look SO YOUNG! I just feel like I'm talking with one of my clients...."

Talk about sitting there awkwardly while trying to think of something to say.

I have become a blogging failure. I have been so busy, and yet everytime I sit down to update this thing, I draw a blank...