Monday

The Best Day

Here is Phillip's version of our wedding day in the worst possible grammar (this was the assignment for his advanced writing class). It's very touching.

ps. Phillip had to write with poor grammar on purpose--that was the assignment. In reality, he is one of the best writers I know.

At the present time, my best day would probably have to be when the ringing of the wedding bells came and the marriage of I and my wife found a beginning. On this day, although not only on this day, there were a lot of smiles, a lot of laughs, and a lot of happy tears of joy. With regard to the anticipation for the big day, nothing had before been, nor has since been, nor likely will have been, worse. The night before the event was a sleepless one, owing, as it were, to the nervous and happy thoughts which were, at the time, in a state of disarray and confusion in my head, leaving me without rest. But there exists in the human body a need for sleep, and so it was with me that night. Breakfast was hastily consumed after alertness was achieved. A great deal of things had the potential to have happened in a manner detrimental to the joyous proceedings of the momentous day, but as luck would have it there was only one such event that was fated to have occurred: upon arrival at the temple, the location-to-be of the wedding, the discovery was made that the recommend of my mother had been left at the house. Upon the timely conclusion of the aforementioned setback, the proceedings which have been previously referenced continued in all their joyousness.

It is of no stretch of the imagination to say that, truly, the saying could have been given, by whoever initially gave it only with regard to the occurrence of the matrimonial ceremony, that ‘truly, these were times never to be forgotten.’


Saturday

Don't Get the Wrong Idea

I want a Mom haircut and I want it bad.

Let me explain.

When a non-mom steps into the realm of motherhood her love for her baby overpowers her love for her hair and before you know it some 8-inches of hard earned hair are gone. The new style is a between the chin and shoulders length (or even above your chin if you had a really hard labor experience). It's new, sleek, and looks clean and professional as if to say, "I manage a family of three and I look great."

I want to feel that way too.

I know what you might be thinking right now so let me make this as clear as possible--no estoy embarazada. The fact that I like to wear loose blouses that could double as maternity clothes probably doesn't help either. That's beyond the point. They're just really comfortable. That's also beyond the point. I just want short hair.

Anyway, I haven't found the fresh courage to go chop my hair off just yet. I have to weigh the pros (maybe it will look awesome, maybe I won't have to use so much shampoo) and cons (maybe it will look terrible, maybe people will think I am expecting--how would I give back all the baby gifts!?)

Maybe I'll just do it.

I think I'll keep wearing my loose shirts and get a sexy Mom haircut. Maybe I can get me some presents.

Love Appreciation

Inside the spirit of love there lies a list. This list. A list of the not-so-well-known things that I love.

I love my red Moleskine planner. My entire life is laid out neatly page by page in this red book. I take it with me everywhere. Here she is.


I love our new camera that took this picture of my planner.

I love how my friends are artistic and sarcastic. We have the most amazing conversations and watch the best movies.

I love tomatoes. I say this because I used to hate them. Now, I can't wait to try new recipes with tomatoes--bruschetta, roasted tomato basil soup, caprese salad, you name it. I love how smooth and red they are. Just the other day I was nearing the last bite of a hamburger and all that was left was a moderate piece of a tomato nestled between the buns. It was luscious.

I love Berkley's blog. I wish she would blog more because every time she doesn't I reread all of her old posts over and over. Does anybody else feel the same way?

I love how, given 10 years of tweezing my eyebrows, nobody told me that my eyebrows were ridiculously asymmetrical.


Nobody. Not even the internet was man enough to tell me that one. I'm just glad I was able to keep and maintain friends (not to mention get into the business school) with those things. I am also glad that I was vain enough to take these pictures of my face yesterday to see the damage myself. The camera never lies--the mirror does lie, obviously, since it told me they were symmetrical all these years.

I love Phillip's reasoning:

Me: Why didn't you ever tell me my eyebrows were like this?
Him: Uh, I didn't know you could change those things...

I should not part my hair with a red scripture pencil. This isn't something I love, but rather, something I would love to not do again. Now it just looks like I have a long red scab down the middle of my part. Oh well. All in the spirit of Valentine's Day, right?

Tuesday

the REAL power of love

This week millions of dollars are going to be spent on flowers. Eight days later those flowers will be dead. I am starting to rethink this whole Valentine's Day thing. Cupid, what a tool.

Husband, this one's for you.

Instead of spending (y)our hard earned dollar bills on overpriced flowers (that I will have to watch shrivel up into a lifeless grime), how about spending our Valentine's money on something more meaningful and long-lasting. Like a cardigan, or a new lamp for our night table.

I love my grandma's enormous table lamp with the faux fur lining around the edge of the massive lamp shade. Don't get me wrong, but I think we should consider something a little less, let me think, antediluvian? Just imagine it. February 14th we spend all day going to dozens of stores in search of a smaller lamp with great price-to-quality ratio. Then, we would argue for a half hour on what color of lampshade to get. You'll want a plain one. I'll want one that is impractical but a good conversation starter. Then, every time we turn our new lamp on we could say something like, "the power of love." It could be our first family tradition. It's just an idea--a very romantic idea.

Or we could just surround ourselves with things we love (including the money we will save). We could invite our closest friends and family over to play Pandemic or BANG!, and make jokes while we eat bruschetta and chocolate covered pretzels. We could even talk about the book we would have just finished reading for our book group. That sounds like a fitting way to spend Valentine's Day. Let's do this instead.

We can just buy a lamp online later that day.

Sunday

The Anatomy of a Poop Machine



The poop machine got to spend the weekend with us.


He thinks she is as a pillow. She thinks he is a pooper scooper.


Behold, her head.


She melts into any surface.


Ten thousand belly rubs would not satisfy her.

Such poise.

Such grace.


Compare her face to this piece of work.


We plan to own a certified poop machine of our own someday. Until that day, she gets to enjoy us on the weekends.

Tuesday

The Good Days

Crayons. Crayon Boxes. Fresh number two pencils, new clothes, unmarked shoes. I long for the days when I would walk into a building that smelled like these things, like school.

Another first week of school has gone by. I am an experienced first day of school-er. I've gone through 19 first days of school so, I know how it goes. These days I don't get new clothes (curse you restrictive clothes budget!) and I spend more money on textbooks than I do on candy sticks and Disney folders to hide my times tests from the wandering eyes of my peers.

Oh, and I am married now. Married and going to school. It's new.

Sort of.

In elementary school we practiced this"marriage" thing. In normal places it's called "dating," but we did not date. No sir. We were pure. Instead, a group of popular boys got together and called themselves the pirates (you know who you are). They were smart, sporty schwas buckling 6th graders who were in need of love. Consequently they each picked a girl whom they deemed their wench.

Craig was paired up with Brittany W.
Taylor chose Brittni.
Nate chose Chelsey.
Kenyn chose my best friend Karen.
Bryce chose me.

Oh elementary school. The high-life.

Monday

The Bolivian Underground

Because stepiphanie just didn't cut it anymore.