Wedding Pictures

I promised I would post pictures once I figured out David's computer or got a new one and I did! Get a new one that is, David's computer is still hopeless.

Here are some pictures from our bridals session and our wedding day. Hope you enjoy!

Judge Not

Today at school while working on a group project there was a moment where I felt judged, and I was livid. I had never met this person before and she had no understanding of the circumstances! I couldn't believe she would be so rude!

Then I came home and saw this and realized I had judged her as well. Let us all work a little harder to be more compassionate and understanding with our neighbors.

Sick Day

Somehow over the past week I picked up a really nasty sore throat. We're talking so painful it wakes you up at night. After getting up 3 times last night to try and find something to sooth it I was exhausted and slept in a bit. My dear sweet husband made me breakfast in bed and a cup of peppermint tea while I stayed snuggled in under a mound of blankets. Then tonight he took a break from his heavy homework load for our hot date. Because I wasn't feeling too hot he tucked me in bed and read me a good book for over 2 hours and is out right now getting me more peppermint tea before heading back to homework. Isn't he the best?

Hobby .22

This weekend was our second reception in Independence, MO. The flight out was uneventful other than my husband, who usually carries 1 handgun, 1 small hunting knife, and 1 small pocket knife with him, remembered to check the gun but not the knives. So he took them out to the parking garage at the SLC International Airport and dropped them in a bush. We will see if they are there when we get back tonight. Luckily the .22 pistol we brought made it just fine and we went out with a friend to shoot it this morning.

The little .22 is technically mine. I got my conceal carry permit in April, before I even really met David, but never got a gun. I wanted to feel comfortable with them before I bought my own. David however has at least half a dozen guns and considers ammunition part of food storage. Needless to say he was eager for me to have my own gun. We looked around for a few months and never found anything I really loved, but when we found the .22 handgun for such a good deal we decided to get it. Inexpensive to shoot, easy to use, and not much of a kick, it was perfect for a starter gun for me.

We got it probably almost a month ago but haven't had time to shoot it so David was very excited to bring it on our weekend outing to give it a try. So eager in fact that the morning after we got here he took the first opportunity to shoot it out the backdoor. I think my ears were ringing for half an hour. This morning was my turn and we went to the shooting range to try at targets. I didn't hit a single bulls-eye but I did manage to get pretty good groupings in the target. So far so good. We'll see how this hobby pans out.

PS
I will eventually put up wedding pictures, or pictures in general for that matter, when I get a computer that can get pictures off of David's camera or learn to use David's computer, which ever comes first (probably a new computer because David's computer is hopeless).

Valentines Day and Success at My Secret Hobby

Some cruel person decided to make internship applications due February 15th, which means that February 14th is the mad dash to pull together applications. Then my biochem teacher got in on the fun and made a paper due on the 14th. And if that wasn't enough, the cosmos decided to give into entropy and David and I both had rotten days on February 13th. This ended in me getting teary eyed in the car after we both forgot our wallets and realized it after shopping for 45 minutes which meant I would have to make a 3rd trip to the store that day (I hate shopping, hence the tears) and we would miss our hot date. My sweet husband let me cry, and ran home, got his wallet, took me to the store and we collected all our goods in 7 minutes flat at a different store (a major Woodward record for us), and we still made it home in time for a shortened version of our hot date. The future was looking brighter.

The next morning we got up early in order to be on campus at 7:00 am so I could finish my paper and do my reading before biochem. As we were heading out the door we got a message from my wonderful mother-in-law who had found me the hook ups for a dietetics clinical preceptor. We called around and in 3 hours had found all 5 needed preceptors for the Utah State Distance Internship. This is nothing short of  a miracle as it often takes people close to a month and I had not had any luck previously.

I ended up skipping biochem all together (its fine, right? you get to drop two quizzes anyway...), meeting with Dr. Nyland, the BYU Dietetics Program Director to go over my personal statement which was "much improved", and I still managed to turn in the biochem paper, run errands, make dinner AND have success at my secret hobby.

For a year now I have been searching for old propaganda movies on YouTube from the 1940s and 1950s. Not just any propaganda movies mind you, but more specifically health, grooming and etiquette clips. Part of the challenge is finding a full movie because often only 5 minute segments are posted, each by a different person and with no connection to the other clips. Segments of an high school assembly presentation have been popping up, all by different people, and I've been trying to find the full portion for months. Today I found a 25:45 clip of Grooming Essentials for Women! That is almost the whole thing. What a great way to end the day. Now, if I can be sneaky, I'm going to finish David's valentines gift while he is doing homework in the kitchen. Happy Valentines Day!

Advantaged?

I recently stumbled across a PBS series about a British lord and his family at the start of World Ward I. As often happens, I am more captivated with the house and clothing than the movie, but I absolutely love this particular show because it shows both the wealthy family as well as the behind-the-scene life of the servants and how such a large, formal household was run. This has always been a bit of a mystery to me, especially because I've always heard stories about my great-great grandmother working as a maid for a wealthy family and being very particular because of it.

I was pondering on this today as I was trying to clean my own tiny apartment. Its amazing how quickly such a small space can fall into disarray, and how much work it can be to keep it clean and organized. I thought about what the house I live in would have been like 100 years ago when it was brand new. There are so many things I don't have to worry about compared to then. Not just all of the things that make life easier like a dishwasher or washer and dryer (not that we have either, even 100 years later), but how many formalities have been dropped, and in more ways than one.

1900 Kitchen 

1940 Kitchen 

2010 Kitchen 

Judith Rasband recently came and spoke in a class of mine about professional dress. I'd never understood what people meant when they said Americans don't know how to dress, but now I do. Its not so much that they can't put an outfit together if they really wanted to, but more that they choose not to. I heard someone complain that taking time to have a clean house and to dress nicely is a waste of time and that she is so glad to live in a time where where she can wear sweats, have a messy house, but expand her mind. I thought, 'Get real, lady. We all know you are spending the time saved by having a messy house and not showering so you can veg on facebook.' And how true is that of all of us?

We have so many advances provided us by technology, but are we really using them to our advantage? We dress poorly when it is easier than ever to get and care for clothes. Our homes are a mess while there are a myriad of tools to make maintenance and cleaning easier. Our manners and knowledge of etiquette are almost non-existent in my generation. So have all these advantages really helped us? Are we really improving ourselves with all these improvements? I think in many ways many of these subtle changes, the informality and wasting of time come about over 100 years, is a sly plot to distract us from the important things in life.

I wonder what things I am being distracted from. Self-improvement? Learning? Skills? Awareness of others? How about you?

In Search of a Hobby

Ta da! At last I have my blog in working order...sort of...

After a recent unexpected setback my dad called and asked, "So are you back on top after your big setback?" "No!" I said as I burst into tears. After I told him all about it my dad abruptly asked, "Do you have any hobbies?" Having spent the last 5 years engulfed in academia and obsessed with grades while getting my degree I told him of course I didn't have any hobbies. He told me that studies have shown that individuals who have enjoyable hobbies are proven to be more successful because they do better work and don't burnout quickly, and that maybe I should look into getting a hobby. thus the quest began.

First I interviewed my husband. "Hun, what are my hobbies?" "Since I've known you? Dating me, hiking the Y, wedding planning and school." Strike one.

Next, I asked my friend Chelsey. "School? Cooking? Organizing? Organizing can be a hobby, right?" I think she was trying to convince herself more than anything since we are both perpetual organizers. In the end we decided maybe bargain shopping could be a hobby of mine since I really like shopping at DI. My husband didn't think that was such a great idea.

Finally, in desperation I googled hobbies. From my search I came up with a list of potential hobbies.

• Blogging
• Bodybuilding
• Bonsai Tree (just need to talk my husband into letting me buy a $40 plant) 
• Cursive
• Church Activities 
• Cloud Watching 
• Antiques 
• Cooking (only an option when I am not working as a cook) 
• Crocheting 
• Entertaining Guest 
• Exercise 
• Herb Garden (got my first plant today!) 
• Handwriting Analysis 
• Hiking (someday I will be able to run the Y) 
• Journal writing (also a family goal) 
• Kitchen Chemistry (think Alton Brown) 
• Spanish 
• Mediation 
• People Watching 
• Reading 
• Visiting the Elderly 
• Old Movies 
• New Moview 
• Shooting (just got a little .22 pistol) 
• Old Houses 
• History 
• Yoga 
• Dancing 
• Research 

So far so good! I've tried a new hobby every day and we'll see which ones are keepers.