Dreaming.

JetBlue has $79 each way tickets to JFK today.
My heart is begging me to purchase them

--- because we all know new york city is way more fun than work any day.

Oh, to be able to take the overnight here.... I wish.



I'm a bad photographer

When we went to Jackson Hole, the boys decided to go crazy and raft down a smaller river that didn't really have tons of water in it. We watched them go through the toughest part, Snaggletooth. Here's the play by play (please excuse my finger that is in almost every shot):






















So much for my future photography career...

Birthday party

So we went to a birthday party for Kristen a couple weeks ago. Not a normal one. A water balloon party. Except there was a catch. It wasn't water in the balloons. It was PAINT.
Kristen has more pictures but here's the ones from my phone:



I got blue paint everywhere. I looked like a smurf!



David got a full one in the back.
We just went to DI and bought old clothes for like $3.


This was David's. It was almost a bummer to paint it.

Afterward, we all went to the mall still covered in paint and had birthday cake!

Then we went home and changed our brake pads. Fun, huh?

As promised....

Here are the pictures of my curtains.

 Here is what the pattern looks like close-up:

LIVING ROOM!
* So the blinds on the window are kind of old and very not-white. So we made a little covering that can come off if we ever want to actually look out of the window and we just pulled the blinds up out of the way. (We attached it with velco.) Oh and the little ties that hold it back are attached with velcro too.

I am quite happy with them. They won't fit any other windows because ours are the weirdest sizes, so when we have to move out of this apartment, I'm getting the feeling I will be sad to not be able to use them anymore. I'm already attached. 

Chinese cravings.

Remember what I said about having a hard time figuring out what to make for dinner? Well, after perusing the world wide web for ideas, sometimes I come home and start making stuff and make Mr. Bean guess what we are having. The first two times he got it SO fast. I was flabbergasted. For example, the first time I did it I was making chicken nuggets (NOT THE FREEZER KIND. THE HOMEMADE KIND) and he STILL guessed it.

I finally stumped him on my third try. I made delicious sesame noodles. YUM. Oh man. One of the best parts about these noodles is that you can use any  kind of noodle. Which means I DON'T have to make spaghetti with all the TONS of angel hair pasta I have. I would rather make this any day. Spaghetti is not my favorite, sorry.

Last friday, we had a chinese dinner (mongolian beef, sweet and sour chicken and sesame noodles, with a little bit of rice on the side). It was scrumptious! Especially now that we have figured out how to make everything spicey! (THANK YOU red hot chili oil!)  I took pictures. If you ever want some, we would be more than happy to make it for you.....I will always gladly eat Chinese food.

I would like some more please. 

Actually, now that I think about it, there might be some noodles left in the fridge. 

I'm going to go search for them.

The benefits of having a whiteboard as your wall.

One nice thing about having whiteboards as your walls means that you can do a practice o-chem test without wasting any paper. To prep for test numero uno, that's what Mr. Bean did. And then he had me check his work and correct it if wrong (which he rarely is...).  Pretty much just like taking an o-chem test on the wall.

It is also beneficial to practice writing the titles of the D&C sections when you have a quiz. Again, simulation on the wall. (They are still up there right now because I've been too lazy to go find the 409 and wipe it off.)

But one of the best things about having a whiteboard is when you go to sleep in the morning, wake up and drive your husband to school, come home and then, as you are getting ready to walk out the door, notice this on the walls (I really did walk past it twice without realizing it at all.):

There was writing on every section of the walls in the living room. I didn't notice. I fell asleep faster than he did the night before, and apparently he couldn't sleep so he decided to write on the walls. I felt silly that I walked past it twice and didn't even look at the walls. And at first, I was confused because I only saw the word "love" on the wall by the door, but the Chinese character for love isn't the one that is under it (apparently chinese sentence structure is different.....of course.) And then I slowly spun around the room. It really was like a bright light just turned on over my head when I noticed.

It was definitely one of the best things to start the morning with.

We went on vacation.

So in between getting a new job, moving into a new place, and starting school, we took a little trip up north to a place called Jackson Hole. We went with the other Beans and camped and had a great time. We rafted down the river and got pictures (for free!) with Andrew's cousin Jason (hilarious!). We even jumped off a cliff along the way, but we don't have pictures of that.

And I'm realizing now that all these pictures look the same..... sorry! I guess when you float down a river, get past some rapids, then get out and hike back up to before the rapids just so you can get through them again you'll end up with the same pictures.

I forgot to get a picture of the most important part - the chocolate, marshmallow banana boats we made for dessert! Soooo delicious. Gooey chocolately banana goodness. Camping could not get better.

I wish I could go on vacation again.

A few things....

1) I tried to post repeatedly on Sunday. From my iphone, from the computer. Got no lovin' from either. So, I will try again later. (It was the pictures that messed me up! But, that's the only thing people care about, so I was trying to put them up.)

2) We sold our car. Goodbye, memories! :(  And goodbye to $60 fill-ups, random break downs on off-ramps, weird lights, expensive new tires, and the weirdest car alarm system ever. Hello to RADIO!, new cars, less worry (and yet, more worry) and exciting new things!

3)Group FHE is fun when you all go to dinner together! PLUS, the Mt. Olympus burger was surprisingly good. I would like to thank Red Robin for their $5 burger secret. Your bottomless fries fill me up.

4) I finished my curtains. But haven't taken pictures yet. Soon. I promise.

5) We have one wall that refuses to hold our pictures!! They have fallen down probably 8 or 9 times. The glass is gone now and they still won't stay up. I have no idea what to do.

6) We started talking about how we want to go to San Francisco next summer (after a Yosemite trip?) and I am itching for winter to be here already so that spring can come and go, and then it will be summer and then we can go!

7) Somehow last night, I ended up on the couch. I have no clue how I got there, but I brought a pillow and blanket with me. I woke up a few times, and realized I was on the couch but didn't do anything about it. And then somehow I woke up again in my bed. Not quite sure what happened or what I was dreaming about.

8) Does anyone else struggle over what to make for dinner? I think I have this problem every day. Every once in awhile I have a bright moment and a brilliant idea, but 95% of the time, I am clueless. If it was up to me and I didn't feel bad about making the hubby do this, I would probably just eat sandwiches every night.

9) I have scanned over 600 pictures at work. Are they work-related? NOPE. Are they my pictures? NOPE. Am I okay with this? Most of the time because it gives me something to make it until 4:30.

 10) If you made it through this post, you are wonderful. You will be rewarded with pictures soon. I PROMISE.

I have a new brother.

Specifically a Brother XL-2600 - a sewing machine. It was a semi spur-of the-moment decision. All the reviews were really good and it was pretty cheap compared to others that I've looked at - even on KSL/Craigslist. I've been looking for a little bit, but never seriously. Then on Sunday night, I ordered it and it came on Wednesday! AND, get ready for this........ I've already used it!

We went to JoAnn's last night to get some fabric for our much-needed curtains. And I'm kind of really  excited to show you what they look like. Especially our bedroom curtains. I think the pattern is so cute! Not what I was planning on getting at all, but after about 2 minutes of deliberation, we decided we liked it and that it did indeed match, and NOW, I'm halfway done with the curtains.

Oh man. I'm excited for the sheer potential I have now.(And I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to have an allowance for crafts so I don't go wild and spend tons on them.) Like I said, makes me want a baby so I can make cute things for it! 

Babies.

I dream a lot about babies - which you think would be my subconscious telling me that I really do want to "grow large with child", when, in fact, I would really really REALLY like to put that off for some time. So, I'm not really understanding these dreams.  I'm not looking forward to the stress or the missed sleep because I know it's not all sunshine and rainbows when it comes to children.
But yet, I know multiple adorable pregnant women. And although I know it's completely absurd, the jealousy/coveting begins. I want one too. I want a baby I can call my own and not have to give back. A baby who can change my life forever (not to mention getting me out of working!). A baby that is a part of me.

Then, here comes Elizabeth Stone who sums it up succinctly for me: "Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."

And I know I'm not ready. Not ready to let go of my heart. I want to keep it safe for a little while longer. Someday, I think I will be ready to be a mother and let part of my heart go. But not yet. Someday.


BUT
that didn't stop me from getting one of these for free yesterday (I paid for shipping only!):

Picture from here. (And thanks Jessi for the promo code!)

And it is going into storage right away.