Nate's post

School is winding down and I'll be probably start having some time to write on this blog again until I begin Calc II next semester (yipes!). There's all sorts of exciting stuff like being overworked and underrested to catch you up on...I guess. But until I figure out a way to make my life excited I thought I would give you a sneak peek at the post I'm putting on the Spirituality blog I contribute to. Well, this week is hubby week and so Nate actually wrote, but I didn't know about any of the stuff that he wrote and so I thought I'd share his sweet sentiments with you all:

My wife just told me that it's hubby night on the blog and handed me the computer. Wow I thought, what a great opportunity to share my experiences with people I barely know. I then asked my wife to tell me what I should write about and the helpful advice she gave was "something spiritual". With a topic that specific, how could I go wrong? I guess a big test of faith in my life somewhat recently has been moving to Salt Lake.
I grew up in a small town, Mendon, just outside of Logan. It's a tight-knit community and everyone knows everyone else. I was raised by loving and sheltering parents. The only significant amount of time I've spent away from Mendon was to serve a mission to Philadelphia (which was an eye opener, and no doubt). I give this history to give perspective on my somewhat recent activity.
I met a beautiful woman, who seemed to like me in return. We dated until I realized she really did like me, then I proposed and we got married.
Thus we are eventually led to my real story. Right before we were married I moved from my small town to West Jordan. The initial hardship was (and is) driving. It's way different here than in a small town. Then there was adjusting to a new home and meeting our funny neighbors. It wasn't until later that I found myself feeling somewhat depressed. I had left everything and everyone familiar for a city where I knew nothing and no-one. I had gained something far more valuable in return but there was definitely something lacking.
I found that I had to lean more and more on prayer to help me feel something familiar. I still feel alone sometimes, cut off from the familiar. I still feel like an alien sometimes. But the Spirit of the Lord always makes me feel lat home anywhere.
One day, I was alone in our apartment, I was feeling particularly out of place. I had no job, and no friends other than my wife. I was feeling so bad that I finally fell on my knees and asked for something to make me feel better. I knelt there for a couple of minutes, nothing happened. So I got up and started doing some dishes. A few minutes in I felt suddenly like I was at home. The same feel that was always around me growing up, and on the mission. It wasn't a huge spiritual moment full of tears and heartfelt repentance. It was just a comforting, loving feeling. Very subtle and still. The feeling lasted for several hours afterward, only leaving right before I went to bed.
Whenever I hold my wonderful, caring, loving, doting wife I get that same feeling. Like everything is ok. She is my home. My incredible Father in Heaven has given me a great gift. The gift of a home I can take with me anywhere. Sometimes I still feel lonely but whenever I hug my wife or even think about her, everything feels ok.
Two sister in-laws are pregnant right now so I've been thinking about babies. I wonder if babies feel that way. They just left all that was familiar, a family they had known for millenia, personal relationship with the Father. They come to this new, scary, and sometimes mean world. Our Father in Heaven provides earthly parents to help us remember that feeling, and eventually our awesome spouses. He loves us so much, he always wants us to have some way to feel his love.
Well that's my spiritual thought. I'm not a talented writer, which is probably apparent. But I do have a testimony of God and His son Jesus Christ. He has been so good to me. I am so grateful for the comfort of the Spirit and the gospel in my life.
Signed by yours truly,
Nate G.

Dilbert is Life

I know I haven't written, but this comic perfectly describes everything that has been going on at work lately.

Apology

My apologies to the three people who actually read my blog. School, work, and play are keeping me pretty busy but I wanted to let you know how I'm doing.

I'm still not a fan of Biology, but my teacher is from Venezuela and I don't mind listening to his accent three hours a week. Biology lab is cool. Our instructor is more about the process than the paperwork and actually teaches us how to do stuff instead of making the lab book do it. Plus, we get out of lab earlier.

Calculus is awesome!! I take it from Chuck Cummins who you can sometimes see teaching on UEN and he's even funnier in real life. AND I can actually do my homework instead of just using Carissa's as as "study guide." If you ever need a limit or a derivative of a function now, I could totally get it for you. LoL.

I just started my course on creating web pages, but I can already tell I'm going to be obsessed with it. It brings back memories of 4th grade working on a hyperstudio presentation about the 1994 Dream Team and having to save it to 7 floppy disks where I developed my love for graphic design. I'm most excited to actually learn HTML instead of using templates. I should get some websites up by December that I'll let you guys take a look at.

Lastly, the days draw closer to the Utah Child Care Professional Development Conference which I inherited back at the beginning of this year. I'm excited to see Dr. Harvey Karp, author of Happiest Baby on the Block and Happiest Toddler on the Block. I'm mostly excited to be involved in such an awesome and large event to see how my event planning skills are where they need to be at this point in my career.

That's all for me. Happy posting, everyone!!

New Coupon code to get 5% off of chegg book rental!!

Who wants to pay a wad of cash for textbooks? Not yours truly. I’m Chegging, baby.
Seriously, go to Chegg.com where you can rent textbooks rather than buy them. You’ll save between 65%-85%. Yes, I’m serious.
Just search for the books you need and order. Chegg ships them to you super fast and when your term ends you just ship them back for free. And guess what? They plant a tree for every book that’s rented. Pretty cool.
BUT – make sure you use this special promo code CC103872. You’ll get an extra 5% off your order. Type in the work "yolk", too, and you get free shipping. I'm just trying to hook y'all up with some extra cash!!

When Did I Sign Up for Social Interaction?

Unbeknownst to me, Nate and I have started officially entering the world again. Ok, so I kinda knew since I had to start writing what we had going on this week on our bathroom mirror so we didn't forget. I kinda thought that after Nate and I got married we could disappear like other couples, but since I am Ashley, and since this is Salt Lake, it doesn't quite work like that does it.

First up, Saturday night we went to a family party because my FAVORITEST COUSIN IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, Keli'i just got back from his mission in Arcadia, CA. Super cool except for the super bummer that his family now lives in Hawaii so I will never see him. Although, he now has a job at the Polynesian Cultural Center at a Photo Model. That's right, he stands at the entrance dressed up in Polynesian attire (aka. a lavalava and no shirt) and people go up and take pictures. And some of those women get a little frisky, lol. Perfect job for an RM, no? Also notable from the party, I finally got to meet Piers Butters, Aiona's baby that was born on my wedding day. He has red hair and blue eyes and the whole time Nate kept saying, "Our kids better not turn out like that." I'd be okay with it, though. He's still cute.

After the party we got to spend some time with Nate's best friend/sister-in-law Georgia. She happened to be at a wedding reception for her cousin, who was in my old Single's branch in Pleasant Grove. It was at my old meetinghouse and I got to see President Gwilliam. It was crazy cool. Georgia and Nate talked and talked the night away and Tommy was as cute as ever. And, since that's not enough for one night, after we left Georgia's we went to Colleen and Derek's house to play "Curses" and "Pit." Curses was HILARIOUS. At one point Colleen had to talk in an Irish accent, with her lips barely moving like she was a ventriloquist, doing pretend sign language, and her wrists were glued to her head. LoL. Poor chica. We laughed all night and wanted to stay longer, but alas, it could not be.

Tuesday our apartment complex had a pool party for us. It was the first time Nate and I have ever visited the pool, sadly enough. But we had some hamburgers and salt and pepper corn and stuck around for the raffle hoping to win the $75 gift card to IKEA. But, we didn't.

Wednesday Nate went job-hunting and came home depressed, so we used the last of our wedding money to buy Jamba Juice. I got Peanut Butter Moo'd and He got Strawberry Surf Rider. I never realized how much I dislike strawberries until Nate wanted to eat them all the time. While we were there we ran into some people from my student ward, namely my visiting teaching companion, my home teacher, and my relief society president. It was fun to see them since I was planning on calling Bethany (my VT companion) and discuss the chaos that happened at their ward last week. Apparently the stake split off part of the ward without informing anyone taking the relief society president, half the mingle's committee, and half of the east elders quorom to a different ward. Super sadness AND confusion. Anyway, it was good to see them and joke about it. After we left Jamba we went to my parents' house to find my dad watering the lawn at 10:30pm and spent some time with my mom making fun of the news.

And last night, we went to our new ward's Elder's quorom BBQ. It was fun to finally get to know some people, although we'd have a lot more to talk about if we actually had kids. I did find some football friends, which is really what it's all about, right. They may be Boise State fans, but they dislike the U, too, which is acceptable. And finally, we went to our apartment hot tub last night. The jets weren't working, but the water was still warm. Nate has started donating plasma and he had a mishap that left a big bruise on his arm and a tingly pain in his hand and oddly enough, the hot tub helped with both. Poor bruised baby.

This weekend we have lunch with our friend, Keely, who is moving to Disneyland. :( I don't want her to go, but if I had a chance to move to Cali, I would do it, too. We also have something called the Stake Extravaganza (?) which is a vague description and I assume is also for families with kids, but we are going to be supportive and social. And hopefully get some free food.

I Gotta Feelin'...

Our photographer from the wedding set up a camera that takes pictures every 15 seconds and captured our entire reception! I tried to post it on here, but it wasn't working so go check it out at the Creative Juice Photography Blog.

If you're buying textbooks...

You should check out Chegg.com. I heard about it in a Biology class once and I have not gotten textbooks anywhere since. On this website, you actually rent textbooks for a semester and send them back after. The price you pay is HALF what you would find in any bookstore, the books are in excellent condition, and for every one you rent they plant a tree. Even with buying a book and then selling it back, this is the cheaper option. And if you write the word "yolk" in for a coupon code when you order, you now get free priority shipping. And they have a 30-day any reason return policy, so if you decide NOT to take that class, send it back and get your money reimbursed. Seriously, do it.

Livelihoods and Lollipops

On a recent assessment of my scholastic standing, I have discovered that I am halfway to a degree in Business and halfway through pre-requisites for pharmacy school. Nate's about 1/16 of the way through his pharmacy pre-reqs so I thought, what the heck? I might as well double major in business AND biochemistry while I wait for him to catch up. LoL. It's not as impressive as it sounds, believe me. I'm only taking two to three classes per semester while I'm working, and it will take me three years at that rate, but it's still exciting to know that I'm halfway on my way to doing something useful.

Nate has had a hard time finding a job here in Salt Lake. Today he was going around to see about possibly donating plasma to earn some money and not feel lazy (although, technically it is still lazy to lie down and donate blood for a livelihood, but at least he'll get a cookie and some dough. LoL). Our budget has been pretty tight, but mostly because I refuse to live off of chicken noodle soup, ramen and pancakes. I gotsta have some meat and corn in theres somewheres.

Speaking of food, I have become obsessed with it ever since I entered wedded bliss. For people that are on a tight budget and little time, I HAVE to give my recommendation for KraftFoods.com. Under the "Living on a Budget" section, they have something called 1 bag, 5 dinners. It gives you a shopping list of items that should fit into 1-2 grocery bags and recipes for 5 dinners that can be made using the ingredients you just bought. I love that it does all the planning for me and I only have to go grocery shopping once a week. They even have a Healthy Living section with recipes that are under 400 calories per serving. And, the best part, each of the recipes takes less than 15 minutes of prep time. Seriously, this website was made for me.

Lastly, we finally got our wedding pictures and they look awesome!! Nate and I were laughing and reliving that day all over again. I plan to make them into one of those snazzy coffee table books to match the guestbook and the photobook Kristen made me that are currently on our coffee table. Anyway, if anyone wants to see the pictures and is in town, you're more than welcome to drop by and take a gander at our wedding awesomeness.

Reception Pictures on Creative Juice Photography Blog!

We've all been waiting for it and the time has finally come!! Go to Creative Juice Photography's Blog and check out some of the pics from the reception. I dare you NOT to laugh.

Temple Pics are up on the blog!!

Jessi at Creative Juice Photography has posted up some of our pics at the temple and says some pretty cool things about me, so check it out and get excited for the reception pics!!

The Spirituality Blog

One of my companions from the MTC has started a blog with different writers who share gospel lessons that they have learned throughout their week. I am extremely honored that she has given me an opportunity to contribute as the writer on Saturdays. Please check it out and comment on any of the posts that inspire you to do so.

http://oursecretweapon.blogspot.com/

I love you all!

In Sickness and In Health

I know in the temple wedding ceremony, they don't say the infamous "in sickness and in health" clause, but I think Nate and I have decided to try it out for size anyway. From day one, it has gone as follows, Nate sick, Ashley sick, Ashley sick, Nate sick, Nate AND Ashley sick, Ashley sick, Nate sick, Ashley sick. I won, though, being the first that had to go see a doctor. I have an infection that requires an antibiotic that makes me nauseous and another med that turns one of my bodily fluids fluorescent orange. (I know, TMI, but when the doctor told us that, Nate and I thought that it was pretty funny).

Enough about that, the wedding was AWESOME!! We didn't have as many people at the temple as we thought we would AND at one point the temple lost our wedding license, but it was a lot of fun. President Fillmore is slightly insane but everyone said that it was one of the most entertaining sealings they'd ever been to.

After the temple we played around with our amazing photographer, Jessi Stafsen of Creative Juice Photography, and then I had to walk around downtown in my wedding dress because my mom took off with my car keys and Nate's car was parked at the church for the luncheon. But that also meant everyone was congratulating us and treating us like we were famous. There was good food at the luncheon and our parents gave us a tribute and Nate and I got teary-eyed and all that good stuff. ALSO, my neice, Marley, sang "I Am a Child of God" and it was soooo cute.

Nate and I ran some errands that night and the next morning getting ready for the reception. It was nice having so much time to relax and get ready for Saturday. We had a couple of hiccups with broken centerpieces and an hour less of prep time than I thought we had, but other than that, everyone was completely awesome and it turned out looking pretty amazing. We especially need to thank my maid-of-honor, Talisha, for getting 10 round tables and transporting them with little to no notice, and for putting together the guest book that everyone loved. Shannon Williams who purchased a frame and markers so we could decorate the sing-in/gift table. Keeley Clark Jolley for taking command of table arranging and linen coordination on the spur of the moment and for making decisions when Nate was freaking out and couldn't. Our cake was prepared by Barbara "The Cake Lady" Wachs and was delicious, for those of us that got to taste it (I can't wait for our one-year anniversary when we get to eat some more). Although, I did the flower arrangements on it. My bouquets were done by Modern Display and I LOVED them. We got linens and centerpieces from Weddings for Less (wedforlessonline.com) and I havev been telling everyone that they should use them. You have to pick up, set-up, and return stuff yourself, but they are an awesome price and they let you keep the stuff for the entire weekend without extra charge. Not to mention they have a lot more choices than other places I looked at. Wheeler Farm turned out to be an awesome venue with lots of stuff for kids to do and beautiful backdrops for pictures. My brother, Carl, was a stellar DJ. I especially loved the Michael Jackson tribute and my parents dancing. Nate said his favorite part was our first dance together, and just between you and me, that was the closest I've ever seen him to actually crying. One of my favorite parts were when my friends made their way up to the upper balcony and ran around dancing like they were in Mamma Mia! LoL. The whole Fijian community helped with cooking under the direction of my Aunty Beta. And my mom was able to enjoy it, and she did all the post-reception clean-up and returns. Thanks to my dad who purchased food and got us a hotel room for the two nights we were in Salt Lake. Which just goes to show, it takes a village to marry me off.

The honeymoon was a nice relaxing week in Vegas in which we stayed in a nice timeshare apartment arranged by Nate's brother, Thomas, who is now on a ship courtesy of the United States army. It was hot and Nate wasn't feeling well, so most of the time we slept, ate, and watched movies in the nice air conditioned room. We did get out in the evenings to walk around some of the hotels and saw "The Blue Man Group" who I highly recommend seeing. They are hilarious!! Also, Nate got to see the Bellagio Fountains and gardens for the first time. It was awesome to share that with him.

For the 4th of July we were invited down to Newport Beach to hang out with Kristen and Jake, Brent and Christa, and Wendy and David. It was funny to me because Kristen, Wendy, Brent, and I all went to Newport together 2 years ago, and this year we were all able to return with our spouses. Things just seem to change so quickly. Newport was blast. The beach was beautiful, our friends were hilarious, and fireworks on the pier was just about the most romantic thing I could have ever hoped for. I was sad to come home.

But now I am back and Nate and I are putting our life together and it's been pretty awesome. We opened gifts on Wednesday and we got some pretty awesome things. Carissa and Jonathan gave us light sabers WHICH we have already put to some good use. We ended up with 5 rice cookers, 3 blenders, and 2 hand mixers. But, we also got an ice cream maker and crepe maker, so we've got dessert covered for the rest of our lives. When we get everything situated and sorted, I'll post some pics of our place. For now, I must get back to putting away my clothes so it looks like I actually live here. I love you all, and thanks for sharing this part of my life with me. It's been so much fun!

Space Holder

I promise I'm going to write about the wedding and the honeymooon and how married life is going so far. I'll just sum it up: I LOVE IT!! I've got the bestest sweetie in the world.

AND this is a picture my friend, Colleen, took of the clouds breaking in the shape of a heart.

I love it, too.

A poem for a poem

Um, this is too cool of an experience to keep to myself. The other day my friend and I were having a rather open and intense conversation in Facebook chat when the program went out and we left things hanging. But unbeknownst to each other, we both ended up writing poems about it (especially weird since neither of us write poems much these days and it was 2am). But he ended up sending me his poem but said he hadn't finished it yet, and when I sent him mine back, I realized it was a response to his that was written at the same time. It was pretty trippy. So, the first set is his and then when the voice changes it's mine. I'm still totally weirded out that they are a conversation in verse.

A Poem for A Poem

There's a world out there undiscovered yet
Causes which are many unknown
Lost in a confusion that many fret
A mixture of rampant emotions

Outward appearances have deceived
Being sensually appetizing
Is "love" actually being achieved
During this stage of disguising?

Exhilarating and always fun
Evoke such unexplained passion
Flooding of feelings in everyone
This seems to be the new fashion

Attraction moves to the inward spirit
Success starting to knock at the door
Wondering "Can I really inherit?"
A love that will last forever more

Dreams begin of an adventurous past
Notions incriminate us to find
Escapades that will never be surpassed
Doubts infix themselves into the mind



It's not about love
It's about choice
And learning that you have a voice
From hearts that like to hurt and feel
And fight against a conquered will
Alone, they will never learn control
It's only one half of the soul

Eyes, ears, and mouth are on the head
'Cuz conscious thought is to be read
And music is heard, and songs are sung
From deep within expansive lung
Which hides the heart in cavity
And it's constant pounding to break free
What would it do without the brain?
Slowly free itself from pain?
Wildly beat itself to death
Independent of calming breath
Finally succumbing to the stress
That lonely hearts experience?

Things are pondered, not pounded, within the brain
Instead of pumped, they are taught to refrain
A fact that allows me to sustain
An existence I've grown fond of
A stable, subtle chance at love
With brain and heart in harmony
A chance to feel completely free.

Most unusual staff meeting yet...

1. Today's buzzwords: "Converging Technologies" and "Stop-gap measures"
2. An unexplained absence which led to an unhappy guest presenter and supervisor.
3. A recommendation of someone who could help with a project, followed by the announcement that said person had died over the weekend.
4. An announcement that someone my department had recently been having problems with from another company was now going to be working for one of the vice presidents at my company.
5. And a surprise update that one of our new co-workers was no longer a co-worker.

It's been an informative day.

Half-lives and Half-loves

This is my victory
Life over self-denial
and coming to overcome
My favorite mistakes

A new life
Full of the newness
I've been missing for so long
No more settling for half-lives and half-loves

I'm insecure
I know
I've never been here before
And I don't know how I'll do

But it's got to be better
Than always wanting something more
Than waiting for someone to catch me
Instead of leading me on

No more small niceties and big disappointments
I'm choosing the right guy for good

This is my victory. Finally.

If you're bored...

Okay, so I've actually been really really busy today, but since I got a chance to breathe, I decided to share with you my new daily online ritual. It's a website called http://www.newlaunches.com/. And you know I have to love it because it's not that great looking of a website and I totally judge websites by their homepage. But it's got amazing updates on the lastest technological what-nots and do-dads. And it's ALWAYS being updated with new stuff. For example...

This was the product that initially introduced me to this page. They are solar-powered headphones. Geordi on Star Trek:TNG wishes his visor looked as cool as these puppies.

First of all, this is a Rolls Royce. The epitome of cool, no? Wait for it... IT HAS A BUILT-IN PURSE HOLDER!!! I don't carry purses that often, but when I do I have to throw it around and find a spot and watch everything fly out if I stop too soon. I covet this even more so than I do the actual car.

Seriously considering one of these desk helmets for future Nate-that-has-an-office-and-desk. They're about five inches tall, but very intimidating. Also, the remind me of some characters in the Doonesbury cartoons. ALSO, reflects my new love of the show "The Deadliest Warrior."

One last website for all of you sports fans, at What-if Sports you can put any two teams from any year within a sport against each other and it comes up with a play-by-play of how the game would go and who would win. In the NCAAF, you can even choose the weather conditions. For example, just for fun, I put the 2008-09 LA Lakers against the 1996-97 Utah Jazz and let the computer duke it out. The Jazz still lost 117-118, but it makes me feel just a little bit better that it was only a one point difference...

Dear Kristine, These are my high school memories...

Fortunately for you, I still hang out with my high school friends so I remember almost all of my adventures without having to go back to my journal. In keeping with my theme of falling, I'm going to add a little bit of excitement by informing you that I once had really long hair, even WITH it being curly. Unfortunately, I used to put it all in a ponytail on top of my head that prompted my mom to start calling me "Sideshow Bob." (Actually she never could remember his name so she just kept calling me "that one guy from the Simpsons.")

Sadie Hawkins, Senior year. We have just finished doing a service scavenger hunt and leaving from breakfast at a park. As we're walking to the car we have to go through a break in the fence which is strategically placed below a low-hanging tree. As the rest of my group ducks below the tree and safely exits the park, I duck below the tree, make it halfway through the opening and suddenly have my head swung backward along with the rest of my body. When I finally realize what has happened, I discover that I'm hanging from the low-hanging tree like a Christmas ornament. Laughter ensues.

Senior Breakout, Taylorsville High School. Same hairstyle. My friend, Lori, asks me to do something to keep her boyfriend awake sometime around 3 o'clock in the morning. Being the athletic vixen that I am (not), I promptly challenge this wrestling star to the bungee run. If you do not know what the bungee run is, allow me to explain. Notice the picture below.

That is a bungee run. A bungee is attached to yours and your opponents backside and you are given a beanbag with velcro on it. On the mark, get set, Go! You run as far as you can and see who places their bean bag farthest on the velcro strip in the middle before being snapped back by the bungee. If it helps you to visualize, I was on the left hand side. Before the race had begun, I heard someone mention that if you jump forward at the last second you can get your beanbag a little farther. Brilliant, right? We raced, I jumped forward and placed my beanbag on the velcro strip and am promptly snapped backwards by the bungee...only it didn't snap me back very far and when I fell backward, my Sideshow Bob Ponytail wrapped itself around the still taught bungee so that everytime I attempt to sit up, it pulls my hair. I lie there yelling (and laughing), "Help Me!" but no one can hear me except for Brennan (my opponent) who is trying to reach over and help but everytime he does, his bungee snaps him back and he has to start over. LoL. Rinse and repeat about three times. I was eventually saved, in case you were worried.

Last one. Sweetheart's Dance. 2002. Much to my sorpresa, my best friend Robbie Scharman (pronounced like the toilet paper) did not get asked to the dance. Despite my protests against a formal dance where the girl has to ask and pay ON TOP of getting a dress, I asked him to go with me. (Sidenote, I could do a an entire book alone on funny/weird/awkward things that have happened and still happen to Robbie and me). I went to pick him up and his mom insisted we take pictures and midway between photo shoot she asks me "Do you wear thongs in winter?" I replied, "Yes?" and to this day pray that she was talking about flip-flops. At the dance, neither Robbie or I were fans of slow-dancing so during the slow songs we would sit at the tables and read fortune cookies to each other. He read one that said, "You are filled with charm and patience." Which I thought he said, "You are filled with Scharman patience" and was awestruck that his name was in a fortune cookie. This misunderstanding led to a really funny inside joke about toilet paper for people who are constipated. THE REAL PART of the story that I wanted to share with you follows. THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED. You can ask anyone who was there. Robbie and I are out on the dance floor when the opening notes to "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor comes on and Robbie and I both shout, "I love this song!" I start lip-synching the opening lines and on the part where it says, "I could never live without you by my side," I point to Robbie who, in turn, looks around, points to himself and mouths, "Me?" and I proceed to come at him accusingly to the following lines, "But then I spent so many nights just thinking how you did me wrong/and I grew strong/ and I learned how to get along" while he backed away slowly to my advances. Then on the part where the music picks up right at "Now you see me" I pointed to Robbie again at which point he starts dancing to the music and following me as I walk away to "somebody new" and a back and forth dance moment straight out of a musical proceeded to take place for the rest of the song while the rest of the students in the auditorium stopped and watched us in awe and wonder. It totally looked coreographed (think "You're the One That I Want" from Grease). And that was how I became famous.

In conclusion, I've lived a good life. Now, Kristine, how would you like to become famous?

Dear Kristine,

Hahahahahaha!! You want a blog about my embarrassing moments, huh? Sadly enough, there are way way way more than I really care to remember. I'm sure you know about the Lion Tamer episode, which I will only tell the first part and then Kristen can fill you in on the second part if you don't know it. So, one day during my first transfer, my trainer decided that we didn't need the 3-5pm break because we had too much to do in town. I, as a greenie, was crushed but obedient seeing as I could not go home by myself. (That part is only an explanation to the second part of the story if it gets told). Well, in my weakened state of mind, we went to our next appointment that we got off street contacting in an alley. The person we had talked to wasn't home and Kri..., I mean, Sister Sheffield was talking to one of his roommates and inviting him to church when he said he had to work on Sunday. She asked him where he worked and after hearing it, I replied, "You're a lion tamer?!?" (in my usual excited tone) and after weird looks from both of them Sister Sheffield corrects me. "LANDSCAPER." Much laughter ensued...leading to the second part of the story to be told by someone else.

Pre-mission, I have a lot of falling moments. Once, I was walking down a street in Washington D.C. with my friends and it was raining on the smooth smooth D.C. sidewalks in my tractionless flip-flops and flip-flopped myself to the ground in front of a line of people waiting for the bus. I started laughing hysterically, they did not. Awk-ward! Another time, my ex-boyfriend and I went on a date to my grandparent's house. It was winter, there was some ice, but not all over the place. As we were leaving I had to close the garage door and step over the motion sensor. Well, I was being cute and decided to leap over the motion sensor in grand affair, where I promptly slipped on the ice and slid across on my back right into the front bumper of my car. The last one I will share involved the same ex-boyfriend (who liked to say I was always falling for him) and the same tractionless flip-flops as I've already mentioned. I had gone to an Institute dance with just a few minutes left to meet up with my friends, and even in the few minutes I was there, I was having an awful time. After the dance everyone was walking outside and across the lawn I saw my boy and excitedly ran over the newly watered lawn to give him a hug but right before I got to him, I slipped and slid (baseball style) between his legs. So there I am, on the ground laughing with my boyfriend standing over me attempting to help me up and finally just crossing his arms and waiting for me to finish while everyone walks past and stares at us.

There's also a fun one about slipping in sour cream at Albertson's, but that's one's better in person.

I recently heard a quote that really made me think about how my mind works in tune with the spirit. It's simple, "If you can't get someone out of your head, maybe they're supposed to be there." It affected me in a really powerful way seeing as that usually means that the spirit is directing me to someone who needs me, but so often I brush it aside because I'm so busy. No excusas, verdad? How about you? What are some powerful words you've heard lately?

Well, until next time I can't get you out of my head, (which is always) I wish you the best. And congrats on the new house!! I can't wait to see it.

Seashell Bouquets

Ok, so the flowers are fake, but I think they are totally awesome! Vote on your favorite! Found on http://www.etsy.com/ (where Kristen keeps finding all of her crafty stuff). Also where I found this awesome veil...

Dear Kristine II,

YAY!! I am so excited that you have returned to blogdom!! My mental vibes and online proddings have worked at last. I'm sure the fidelitous old abuelitas are also excited for you to return. (Side note, I'm pretty sure I just made up the word fidelitous and Fidelitous Old Abuelitas would be a really cool name for our Mariachi band). Onward and upward, as I always say...or never say...or I guess I could start saying in the near future.

Which brings me to today's question, what are your six pull-string phrases? I may have asked this before, but it's always interesting to hear the answers. Just list the six phrases or words that EVERYONE could possibly associate with you because you use them in almost EVERY conversation. I don't think I could think of six of them for you, but I can try to share mine.

1. That's a medical problem. You should probably get that checked.
2. How did that go again?
3. That's random.
4. Check.
5. And THAT's why you don't have a boyfriend/girlfriend!
6. Sweet action.

On a related note, I just went through some of my text messages to identify some of these and there's some random quotes from my everyday life I would like to share, too.

• The guy was killed by a tortoise?
• Do it for me. Be an example of persistance and dedication and non-procrastination. Restore my faith that ours is not a generation of slackers.
• 1 bunny laying eggs, 2 bunnies laying eggs...
• Vinegar+eggshells=cosmic battle
• I swore I texted you 3 to 4 times last night, but I realized I only dreamed the texts.
• I'm totally disappoint that the ninja lost. :(
• You're not supposed to LEARN stuff! You're supposed to chalk it up to insanity and pray for my misguided soul.
• It happens when one starts descending into delusion. Weird feelings, hallucinatory smells...
• Fabiola Gordon has a nice ring to it...
• Still ominizing?
• Anything with a coin slot. Next villian, my piggy bank.
• Bubbles, Buttercup, and Blossom
• And today's word is miasma.
• I am a self-proclaimed photo snob.
• I dreamed last night I was pregnant with twins that I was going to name Hibachi and Kentucky.
• You've got a facemask. You'll be okay.

LoL. Man, my life is interesting. ANYWAY, I got to go to some super fun meetings, now. I wish you all the best on your blogging endeavors and maybe we'll see each other in real life soon.

Loves,

Ashley

Dear Kristine,

I am saddened that you do not write funny quips and stories on your blog anymore since you seem to think your funny bone is broken (although it is NOT) so I thought I'd give you something to respond to. This blog entry is just for you (and the other three people that read my blog can share in the fun).

I recently read the book The Five Love Languanges and let me tell you, I am a FANTASTIC lover...in that I know how to speak all five. It's quite interesting. The proposal is that there are 5 ways in which people communicate or understand love: Quality Time, Acts of Service, Words of Affirmation, Physical Touch, and Recieving Gifts. My first language is Quality Time, which is easily detected in the fact that I will take the most random road trips to see the people I love (including you!) Of course, it can't be just time together, it has to be UNDIVIDED ATTENTION. I'm an attention whore. I know it, you know it. Let's move on. Which do you think is YOUR love language? And chocolate doesn't count. Unless it's in soap form.

I was just thinking about a couple of years ago when we went to San Diego with Kristen to Wendy's wedding. That was so much fun! I still love the swimming suit I ended up getting at Target. And you being typical Kristine were wanting a swimming suit that was functional for swimming laps instead of just being cute. Silly girl. Always wanting to be practical. That was good times in SoCal. And remember getting lost and somehow repeatedly ending up where we had started? LoL. Who needs GPS when you can play Automobile Hide-and-Go-Seek with yourself?

Ah, I should probably get back to, ya know, work or something like that. It's actually been pretty busy the last couple of weeks and just now is starting to slow down. We should get together and do something soon. In the meantime, if you need a laugh, go to Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About. It makes me so excited to start blogging about stuff Nate and I will argue about after we get married.

Ta-ta for now!

Ashley

P.S. If you would like to read Kristine's response, click here.

T-minus 2 months and Counting...

That's right, ladies. I'm under the 60 day mark as far as the wedding goes and that means shopping around for flowers and decor. Yay-er? I have no idea how to decorate for a wedding, so I've been talking to people that do. I'll let you know when things get finalized, but let's just say colored Japanese lanterns and tropical flowers. I pretty much just said lots of color.

Invitations should be coming out in the next two weeks. Suh-weetness!

And as a last note, I found these palm tree centerpieces I love. LoL. What do you think?

Worked in Progress

Pebbles of the past
Slingshotted back into being
The now of it all
that I wanted to leave behind
Progressively returning
Yearning to be relived and dissected
From it's cold and lonely grave

I'm glad it wasn't as bad as I remembered it
I'm glad it doesn't hurt as much
But I resent that it hurt so bad I had to stop feeling at all
The dull undertones to real emotion that I now live with
Make me feel less whole

Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday...

Those of you who know me KNOW that I like to have fun and I'm rarely without something to do on a Saturday night. OK, I did have plans last night but I stayed home and to plan my lesson for Sunday School. I read through the lesson earlier and had been thinking about it for most of the week which usually means I only need an hour to put everything together. Well, for whatever reason it took me 4 hours to put my lesson together and it wasn't at all going where a normal lesson about the Sabbath Day was going. But I got to Sunday School and there was one young man in the room that's countenance kept getting brighter and brighter. So often, I teach to whole rooms that you can feel that they're understanding, but this lesson today was purely for this one guy. I found out in testimony meeting that he had his aunt pass away last week. It was the first death he's really experienced that was someone so close. My whole lesson was based on how the Sabbath was moved to Sunday in recognition of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and I read "Sunday Will Come" by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. The Spirit in that room from that one person totally amazed me. I'm so glad the Spirit led me to such a great experience today. I've never recognized a lesson being so directed before.

I hope each of you have had a Sabbath where you've been able to feel a spiritual resurrection within yourselves. A new chance to repent and start over for the coming week and it's trouble.

Amazing Pictures

Having recently become fascinated with photographs, I followed a link from a webcomic I frequently visit to this Boston.com feature:

2008 in Photographs

Check it out. I almost cried.

Also, I've been collecting some new music recently that you can listen to on my music player on this blog. Most of them are sappy overly romantic new agey stuff, but I'm getting married so I'm allowed to become obsessed.

How the tv show House helped strengthen my testimony that God loves us...

I don't know if any of you watch the tv show "House" on a regular basis, but this past Monday they had one of their main characters commit suicide. In reality, the character had been offered a job in President Obama's administration and suddenly left, but as you can imagine, having him leave the show in this way was quite controversial and emotionally charged. To both the viewers and the characters alike there had been no signs that this character was depressed or in trouble. It was the fact that there were no warnings to the suicide that made it so hard to deal with. Each person was wondering what they missed or what they could have done.

When I was a senior in high school, there was a boy that was a year older than me that I knew, not extremely well, but that I knew that committed suicide. Even though we weren't close friends, I took it really hard. I don't have many people in my life that I have died and this was the first that was my age. I remember feeling so sad, then so angry. I found out at an honor choir rehearsal and I ran into the school hallway and just started crying and screaming. How could he be so selfish? How could he leave us all here to worry and wonder what we could have done? How could he do this to his parents? For days I cried and tried to make sense of it all, but it just didn't make any sense. He was always happy. Except the last time I saw him. It was in the commons area at school and he had come back to the school for a visit and I thought it was weird. I asked him about college and life and we chatted for a minute, but I had to go. I didn't realize it at the time, but he didn't smile the whole time we talked. It was his funeral where I gained a testimony about the body and the spirit being two separate pieces and death is just dividing them. He didn't even look like himself in the casket. It took a long time to get closure, but a friend helped me realize, that I couldn't have done anything and none of it was my fault.

A few years later, though, I had a completely different experience which is really what I wanted to talk about today. I don't want to go into a lot of details, but I do want to share the experience so please forgive me for being vague. My second year of college I had started becoming friends with someone who was having a rough spot in their life and, at the time, I had no idea just how desperate they had become. There was one night where they had decided to take their own life. No one in my group of friends had suspected it. This person seemed happy despite their hard times. To make a long story short without any of the details, some choices that myself and another of my friends had made on that particular week put in motion events that stopped this suicide, although neither of us knew it until months after the fact. And as I was thinking about this today, I was filled with gratitude that what could have led to a lifetime of "what ifs" or "what could I have done"s, instead has led to a "Thank you God for saving my friend."

Today, I am grateful for so many things, but especially that week. I know that God had a special purpose and plan for my friend and I know that the choices I made that week were led by the Spirit because they were not choices I would have normally made. In fact, there were things that had been put in motion for almost a year before that fateful week that led me to be humble enough to make those choices because they were so much out of character for me. And it saved a life. I am not saying that all suicides or deaths can be prevented if we follow the Spirit, because that's just not true. Things like that have to do with agency and an understanding of life that we do not have yet. But I am indescribably blessed that I have an experience where instead of wondering what I could have done, I was able to actually do what could have been done.

The more I think about these things the more I know that God loves each and every one of His children, and we are ALL His children. If there is one thing I want to teach every one of the people I ever have the opportunity to come in contact with it is the FACT that God is a loving Heavenly Father. If we all knew and remembered that all of the time, we would be different. The world would be different. We would treat each other differently, as brothers and sisters who need compassion and love. We would focus more on communicating with our Heavenly Father and following His counsel than on money, or clothes, or tv shows which give us no love in return. We would learn that repentance is a merciful and joyful thing, not a process to embarrass us. And the Atonement is real and will save us from our mistakes and make right all that is unfair in life.

And now, years after this happened, I find myself also learning why our God is an unchangeable god. He knows us. He knows us so well that He has made specific and purposeful plans for each and every one of us. Plans that reflect our eternal selves. I'm not talking about predestination. C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity explained that it is like a father who knows his wayward son. He can see what choices his son will make, not because he is forcing him to make them, but because he knows his son and his behavior so well that he can predict it. God, knowing us as well as any good father knows his children, has put people and situations in our lives that fall into some greater plan that we do not always understand. Sometimes we get to see the immediate results of these plans, but most often we do not. What makes us human is that we often have to weigh what we want most in the end for what we want right now. What makes God God is that what He wants most in the end always aligns with what He wants for us now. It is now and forever to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. He wants for us to be in His presence as His family for rest of time. And that is why His plan for us is so specific and so precious. It is this knowledge that helps me stay sane because so many things which I think matter right now, don't really matter. What matters is God loves me and, as I live His gospel, He will lead me to where I need to be.

The plans are going fine...

I know it's been a while since I updated. It's because my brain will explode if one more person bugs me about my wedding plans. Nonetheless, I have made some leaps this week. I bought my wedding dress last week from Mary's Bridal. The website is less than desirable, but there is this one chica there that made my whole experience nice and easy. It's ivory, empire waist with flowing skirt and court train that has flowery embroidery and beading, short sleeves, and square neck. And just so you know, I had to look up all that descriptive stuff because I definitely do not know the wedding dress vocab.

I have a photographer I'd really like to have do my bridals. Her name is Kayleen T. , but I'm putting her on my wish list because she's kind of expensive (because she's worth it!). She did all my friend Lina's pictures and this is the first photographer I've noticed with a lot of pictures of Polynesians! (I'm relatively sure she is also polynesian which makes it super cool).

The invitations are in the drafting process and should be done by next week. Again, special props to Bethany at Glamour Graphics for doing those, too.

The Last Name

I've spent quite a bit of time today looking up my last name because I'm absolutely convinced that it has to have some sort of meaning. There's a couple of theories. Here's the progress I've made so far.

1. My earlier research has led me to believe the name comes from Finland. Mostly because there is a Finnish company that is named Sokkia and a town called Nokia. There is also a cell phone by that name whose company is based in Finland.
2. The town Nokia has a couple of theories of what their name means. One is that it is the plural of "noki" which means "soot" (which is funny because my first name means from the ash tree meadow so by that meaning, I would be Ashy Soot). More likely it comes from an older word "nois" which means sable, a dark furry creature suitable for hunting. Oddly enough they have now come to believe that sables never actually were in Nokia, Finland, but that they gave the wrong name to beavers.
3. Operating under the same deductive reasoning, I tried the words "soki" and "sois" in a Finnish to English dictionary. The closest I came was the word "isoisa" which means grandfather. So, we could be a bunch of grandfathers. Interesting tidbit, in Spanish "sois" is the plural verb for "you are" in formal style. Mixing the two languages our name would mean you are a bunch of grandfathers, making our name an appropriate trash-talking phrase.

On the other hand, my new last name is going to be "Gordon." The meaning of this name is pretty straightforward: a large fortification or a great hill. In French or Spanish it means REALLLLLY fat. And in Gaelic, it means "beloved." However, when you are polynesian, all of these definitions can be pretty much interchangeable.

Some Poems...

I used to write ALOT of poems, but they are all hidden away in a notebook in my room since I stopped writing in my third year of college. I'm reading through a couple of them and I thought I'd start to share some just so I can feel validated in writing them in the first place. This one didn't have a title as it was a response to an e-mail poetry battle I was having at the time with my friends Mike Steed and Marie Hutchison.

I've been hearing through the grapevine
and the modem at my home
that my words have just not satisfied
that you want a REAL poem

Well, you see a poem is more than talent
It's inspiration and sweat
It's evaluating all life has
and what it holds for you, yet.
Some treasure the sappy moments
Others are jokes in rhyme
But little do the readers know
these poems took lots of time
Revisions of their visions
A line that just won't fit
A true poem not only has style
But conveys meaning behind it

In our overworked and fast paced world
The time passes too quickly
But even then anyone can write a poem
If they will take the time to see
The joy the world holds for them
The sorrow that it gaves
And refuse to be blinded to anyone
who offers a unique perspective

So, my friends, keep your ears open
And let your ears hear it all
But only keep that which is good
Or, more than likely, you will Fall
Remember this advice you've received
From this little Ghetto Poe
The truth will only come to those
Who have the courage to WANT to know.

A plug for Walt...

I have to put in this special plug for my friend Walt for a couple of reasons:

1) He's hilarious.

2) I post the pictures he took of me and Nate all over this blog and he hasn't called the copyright police on me.

3) I do that because I freaking LOVE his pictures and...

4) I just discovered that he has a blog!!! Click the link. Check it out. I think my favorites of his pictures, though, are his commercial product pictures and I know several of you are either starting businesses or thinking of starting businesses and he can make you and your product look SO much better than you can, LoL...But seriously, he can.

How's the wedding planning going?

A couple of thoughts. The word wedding is a weird noun. I mean, to wed is a verb, although we don't use it often. "I am going to wed on June twenty-sixth," is a weird, but grammatically correct, sentence. It makes more sense use forms of the verb to marry, but no one asks you how marriage is going when you're going to get married because that would indicate that you are already married and have been trying it out for a while. Which brings me to the question I get asked so often nowadays, "How is the wedding planning going?" Well, wedding would be the present progressive form of the verb "to wed," right? But we can't say, "I am wedding Nathan on June 26th" because even though it follows the rules, it makes no sense. So, when someone asks about wedding planning, I don't know how to respond because my brain goes straight to how odd it is to have two gerunds right next to each other. And when they add going it makes me even more confused. I have less trouble when someone asks how the wedding plans are going because I am, in fact, planning to wed Nathan, although the only thing I have to do to actually wed him is show up at the temple with a marriage license and a temple recommend. I guess the preferred question would be to ask how the wedding reception plans are going. But no one ever asks it like that, do they?

The plans for...whatever...are going well. So far, I've just tried to reserve all the people that I want to do things for the the day that I want them to do them. LoL. Do you like how I just went off about my grammar gripes and then I wrote that sentence. My biggest concern was getting good photographers before anything else and I'm pretty pleased with the ones I've gone with. My wedding pictures are going to be done by Creative Juice Photography which is two of my friends friends, Christi and Jessi. They're from Hawaii (mostly) and they are so much funHopefully we'll be getting my bridal gown and measuring it for alterations tomorrow. My goal is to get a cake person and a flower place in the next week. I'll let you know when I've made some decisions, but I've got a pretty good idea of the places that I want. Then I'll have all of next month to worry about bridesmaids and flower girls and tuxes and decorations.

Speaking of cakes, my mom and I have recently become obesessed with a show called "Ace of Cakes." You can look up their stuff on YouTube. They are AMAZING. But my mom is saddened that I want a boring normal cake instead of a thematic and dramatic one all the way from Baltimore. (Or as the locals call it, B-More).

So that's how the wedding planning is going.

Dear Casey Jones,

I read your article in the editorial section of the Deseret News about a recent study at Harvard showing that Utah has the highest number of subscribers to internet pornography than any other state. I may be misinterpreting the satirical intention of the article, but I assume it is supposed to be the disbelief that a conservative LDS Utahn would express at hearing the results of the study. As a conservative LDS Utahn, let me share what my reaction was to the study.

Thanks, Harvard, but we already knew that.

Maybe we didn't have the specific numbers, and maybe we didn't apply this knowledge to encompass all of Utah, but as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we knew this was a problem. And it wasn't even one that we were trying to hide or deny. Every session of General Conference the leaders of the church have admonished us over and over again to avoid pornography and have warned of it's a addictive nature. And they have not told us these things as a way to spread the words to others, they have directed these words towards us. We are supposed to know better and yet the problem persists and persists and the fight continues.

This issue has just strengthened my testimony even more that the Brethren, in whom I put my spiritual trust and confidence, are more aware of what is going on today than we will ever realize. They are not old-fashioned, naive, or uninformed. They are inspired by God and many of the issues which we have had to deal with as members of this church have been addressed and we have been prepared sufficiently to face them without fear.

Glamour Graphics Pictures!!!

Hahahaha!! I am so freaking excited!!! Bethany posted some of our pictures on her blog!!! I love them!! Nate and I are not very exciting people to take pictures of, but she sure made us look good.

Have you seen this man?

Because it's my fiance and he's pretty much the best looking guy ever!!! Look at those eyes!

Exhausted

I've had a very busy and very straining week. Sunday was non-stop action with church, my mom's car breaking down, baking brownies for dinner group, 2 visiting teaching appointments, attending dinner group, and finally scary movies with Tyler. Monday was gym, taking Auntie Beta to the doctor, work, My Thai with Tyler, and creating the wedding event on Facebook. Tuesday was trying to secure a high profile speaker for our child care conference in October (many many phone calls), tanning (yes, tanning), gym, printing out my Sunday School lesson, and finding out that Nate now has a moratorium on daytime calls because his family is over their minutes for the month. Wednesday was gym, work, and up to Ogden for a night hike with Nate at the Ogden Nature Center, Village Inn and drive home. Thursday was tripping out of bed into a face plant, totally dropping the ball on a project at work, having it saved by my co-worker, leaving work early after a stress breakdown, then up to Logan for my cousin Tai's game and dinner with the cousins afterwards, and getting home at 1:00am. And now I'm at work again where I've already completed another project and had a meeting and tonight we're planning on Super Nachos at one of my friend's house that I have to go shopping for, and get gym in there somewhere. Tomorrow is home teachers, make-up for engagement pictures, engagement pictures, Walt pictures, and double date with Carissa and Jonathan, and lesson plan for Sunday for church at 9am.

Next week, I'm not going to do a darn thing.

Engagement Pictures

This Saturday is Picture Day!! Nate and I will be posing for the lovely Bethany of GlamourGraphics. Check out her blog. I especially love the Romeo and Juliet themed ones. Nate and I went shopping for clothing last week. We found some stuff that was brightly colored and super summery so I'm way excited.

Also, any of you that are my facebook friends have seen the balloons and bubbles pictures that my friend Walt Sorenson took of me (click his name to see his website). It was really fun because we've known each other so long and he could get me to laugh so easily. Anyway, I set up a time for him to do a similar photo shoot for Nate where he gets to bring some ideas and outfits he thinks defines him and have some fun looking all debonaire and awesome. Love it!

I want this song on my playlist

Still Recovering

Went to San Francisco this weekend with my fiance and his brother and his brother's friend. I'm still dead tired from the 17hour drive home because of bad weather and closed canyons (Nate didn't get home until 25hours after we left SF and then STILL had to go to work, poor thing).

Before I left, I made my first venture into the world of wedding dresses. Can I tell you that's been my biggest fear? I went to Mary's Bridal over on Highland Drive and had a gander at their stock. A couple of things I learned:

-I am not as large a size as I thought I was (YES!!)

-A starch white dress is NOT becoming on me, but the Ivory color looks HAWT!

-Lace-ups make your body look AMAZING.

-Lace on an ivory dress will probably not show up very well in pictures so I'll probably want to go with some sort of beading.

-Short sleeves, thumbs up.

-I have to keep in mind that the end of June is going to be blazing hot so pay attention to how heavy the material is.

I did find a pretty awesome dress. I'm going to go shopping some more this weekend because I'm going to need to find a dress soon to have time for alterations or shipping.

I've also started organizing all the junk/stuff/adverts from the bridal shows I went to and will be selecting a cake and flower place. Nate and I still haven't come to terms about him having groomsmen, but I'm pretty set on it. AND I need to make an appointment for engagement pics at the end of this month. I won some packages that I'm going to take advantage of and see how they turn out.

And lastly, I turned in my passport application yesterday. My picture TOTALLY looks like a mug shot, but I thought it would be funny for the next ten years to see it.

I just really like this picture I took of my friend Wendy

Keep Thinking...

I've logged on here three days in a row because I keep thinking of something I want to write on here, but I don't remember it during the daytime, apparently. I'll just babble and see if it eventually pops up.



Nate and I are taking our first trip together EVER tomorrow with a lovely drive to San Fransisco. All right, I admit that SF is NOT my favorite place after a less than pleasant trip there when I was 19. All I gotta say is hills are awful and chinatown scared the bejeebes out of me. Nevertheless, I had to coerce Nate into a road trip somehow before we got married and Wicked tickets in one of his favorite places with 6-month advance notice seemed to be the only way. We're not even married and I've had to change the way I do things. Who needs more than 4 weeks to plan a trip? Geez Louise! Anyway, I'm counting down the hours until 4 days of freedom. We are now at 21 hours and 40 minutes. Hal-le-lu-jah!!



I don't know if I've revealed this to my small blogging community, yet, but I have a personal trainer. Her name's Kim and she's adorable. I haven't lost much weight-wise but I can lift twice as much now as I was able to 4 months ago. To quote myself, " I may not look like a supermodel, but I could easily knock one out." My energy, as you can imagine, is through the roof. I feel like I get no sleep, but I don't even care. The weirdest development in my exercise routine thus far is my knees. I've been concentrating on doing elliptical/arc trainer/bicycle/low-impact stuff because my knees are so bad, but I had a craving to start doing some time on the treadmill this last week. A-MAZ-INGly enough, my knees feel better than they have in a long time. Stupid waste-time physical therapy. It was probably making me worse. Anyway, back on track, I learned how to bench press today and I may become addicted to it because of how cool it looks.



I went and took some preliminary photos of Wheeler Farm. That's going to be so much fun. Tyler (my fiance stand-in) came with me and we started looking at a layout for tables and such. There's a big opening in the middle where you can look down on the first floor from the second floor...patio...thing. We thought it would be cool to have bunches of colorful balloons floating up through it for part of the centerpieces. I LOVE balloons. I'm excited to see if we can get it to work.

Invitation Shopping Online

I've decided I really really like the pocket fold wedding invitations. So, I did a little perusing online and found a few ideas. I figure Kini and I can get some do-it-yourself ones and we can put them together...together over Spring Break.

And on a side note, while I was perusing I found these really cute purse and flower idea for bridesmaids...

I got another some more pieces of advice:

You should choose a wedding dress that you feel like yourself in. Don't get something that doesn't fit your personality just because it's "traditional."

If I had to do it over again I would have gotten a wedding dress that I absolutely love. I got one that my mom kinda cried over but I didn't really love.

Thursdays are Unproductive...

...unless you take into account that I've gotten the high score on 3 computer games I like to play. Yay!? I believe Thursday is the day when the rest of the week catches up with me. And then I become as useless as a solar powered flashlight in Alaska.

Last night Talisha and I went up to Logan to visit Nate. It was pretty uneventful EXCEPT I finally got to go to the Bluebird. Unfortunately, I don't see the big deal. Unless you count the candy. The candy looked awesome.

Long Distance Relationships

I'm pretty sure the hardest part of a long distance relationship is when you have a bad day. Or a bad week. Or anything hard that happens. Because if that person were nearby and easily accessible, at the very least you have the hope of seeing them later that day that would make it all seem easier. Unfortunately, all I have is a phone call. One that I have to wait until 11:00pm to really be able to talk to Nate. It sucks. I've been having an awful time at work because I'm feeling so unmotivated and worthless. And what makes is worse is that I'm stuck in it because there's a hiring freeze in the college and I'd want to stay there. And what is the deal with Full-Time Employment? Especially with this position. There's no way I have 8 hours a day worth of work, even when I go beyond the minimum requirement for my job. And I HATE having to be on time BECAUSE I know I have to sit there for 6 of the hours trying to come up with something to do. Lame sauce.

Reception at WHEELER FARM!!!

Wow. Work was booooooring today. Good thing Mom and Grandpa came to the rescue with WEDDING PLANS. My grandfather had personally taken it upon himself to find me a reception venue for my wedding. He suggested the Lions Club Park (which I thought was an awesome idea), he checked on some of his stake's property (which was also an awesome idea) and yesterday he firmly decided that it was going to be at the pavilion at Wheeler Farm (still an awesome idea). So my mom started doing the legwork and 5 phone calls and negotiations with my fiance, we put in the paperwork for the Activity Barn on June 27th. It's an AMAZING location, I'm totally stoked. The thing is, that is one week later than we were planning on having the Salt Lake reception since we're scheduled to be married on June 19th. I don't want to move the day since we have the temple and my mission president already set. But with so many family members out of town coming in, I want them to be there for the big reception with all the food my Aunties have cooked. So, that's the current predicament. A few more phone calls and some prayers and I'm sure we'll get it figured out.

Bleh...

I hate being sick!! But it's been nice not working and I was forced to drop my psychology class because I've already fallen too far behind. I didn't really want to be in that class anyway. People overshare WAY to much in classes like that. I like Biology. People don't tell about their overbearing parents or their issues with intimacy in Biology. We talk about animals and parts of a cell and how to grow bacterial cultures. Now THAT'S stuff I can deal with.

The Poly Roll

I was at the gym this morning and I noticed two Polynesian guys working out on some of the weight machines. I promise, I wasn't checking them out (though I did think that my friend Kristen would have loved to be there). I don't know what happened when they were weighing themselves, but they both just started laughing really really hard. And it wasn't that I heard it through my intensely loud earphones, I saw it.

I don't know how many people have noticed, but when Polynesians laugh, it takes over their ENTIRE BODY. Limbs go flailing, suddenly all sense of balance has been lost and we have to walk around or rock back and forth to keep us from falling over. The best is at mealtimes. I'm convinced that Polynesian males can eat so much because between all the talking and intense laughter (which causes them to rock back and forth in their seats), their diaphragm pushes down and compacts all the food into the tightest, smallest form imaginable, thereby making room for more food to enter.

Career Goals

Yeah, I'm really thinking I don't want to be in this job past this next year. Of course, I would probably find some other position at SLCC...or go back to the U (if I decide I hate myself).

I love my job for now, but it's not one that I can take anywhere unless I really want to invest myself into a Child Care Profession (which I don't) (unless it's my own kids)(and even my own kids will be lucky to make it to adulthood alive).

Carl wants me to buy his car. I want to buy Carl's car. I don't have any money to buy said car. And all future monies are going towards a wedding that I really don't know how I'm going to plan.

Ashley doesn't think Dane Cook is funny...

Seriously. Not seeing the funny.

Things I should probably write down....and then actually do...

I keep thinking that I need to contact people about stuff for the wedding. And then I get caught up in minor things like work and school and my personal health. Ok:

Suzie Hardcastle-Hair
Mandi Williams-Makeup
Colleen Poole-Bridesmaid Dresses (also must go to David's Bridal and Allyse's Bridal)
Carissa Poole-Flowers (also need to find out what those pink lilies were called)
Book the Photographers
Bring myself to actually even think about getting a really white wedding dress that is going to make me look REALLLY big. >whine<
Go completely broke
Lose my mind.

On a side note, there have been suggestions from people that have started "If I had to do it over again..." including:

If I had to do it over again I would have spent more money on the photographer and less money on the bridesmaid dresses

If I had to do it over again I would have paid extra for people to man the carnival games instead of having irresponsible relatives do it.

If I had to do it over again I would have done it on a warmer day.

I'm sure as the day draws closer I'll be recieving even more advice that I will lovingly put up here because that's what blogs are for.

Sunday Drive

I thought it was the funniest thing. Tyler and I found a "Sunday Drive" while we were on our Sunday drive yesterday. This was following our Sunday Walk and our Sunday Ice Cream, of course. I've never been to The District until last night when we decided to walk around on a day we wouldn't spend money. I'm pretty sure it looked like we were casing the joint so if any of the stores got robbed last night, I will be called in for questioning. We also made up a new cheap date idea. Instead of actually going to a movie, you can just take someone into the lobby area of a nice movie theater and look at all the posters of upcoming releases. They're getting really creative with the poster nowadays. I found it highly entertaining.

Pink and Green.

And we're talking bright pink and green. My fiance was ok with it, my mom was ok with it. Who cares if my favorite color blue is a far gone casualty? In fact, when I presented it to my mom I said, "You know, like a watermelon." To which she responded, "Watermelon's are RED and green." But that was the best response I've gotten to anything yet.

I vetoed blogs...

...and somehow I'm back here again. But I was always much better at blogging than I was at handwritten stuff. My current dilemma is finding colors for my wedding. Doesn't make much sense to plan the rest of it if I don't really know what color I want it to be unless I plan on coloring it all in with magic markers the day of the wedding. Although, I do like the colors on this layout...I do know that I want dots. Lots of cheerio kind of polka dots (the open ones). I've recently become infatuated with them. It's probably some psychological link the the comfort I find from cereal.