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8.31.2011

End of Summer

I can't believe summer is over. School started on Monday and this is the first fall since I was five that I haven't had to think about something school related. Amazing. It's weird, but I like it. I continue the job search. I've had some awesome leads, and I hope they continue. One thing I love about the end of summer is peach season. Peaches are my absolute favorite fruit! I need to go to the farmers market this week and buy a bunch of them. They're perfect for about two or three weeks in the year and if I forget I'll miss it. I have this memory of buying peaches with Grandad Hurst from the University of Chico's agricultural fields. We were eating peaches off the tree and they were so juicy I had to lift both elbows into the air so the juice would drip to the ground and not all the way down my arms. I'm so lucky to have those kinds of memories with family. And to have such good peaches!



8.30.2011

Pure American Greasiness

In honor of the new school year the local McDonalds offered a deal where if you bought one BigMac you could get a second for 1¢. Before I can say, "Needless to say…" let me explain my relationship with the big McDaddy.

I grew up anti-McDonalds. My family wasn't fast food oriented and my parents inadvertently passed on an ewww-McDonalds attitude. I slowly changed my opinion when my siblings and I started making the Dollar Menu cheeseburgers our pre-concert ritual. I came to have a fond relationship with McDonalds when Lover and I started eating Hot 'n Spicy McChicken sandwiches on a regular basis; a part of our relationship's foundation.


So, needless to say I took advantage of the pre-school year deal. Lover was still doing Army training so I went with my roommate, Michelle. As we sat down with our boxes of food she confessed that this was her first BigMac ever. (Come to find out another friend of ours still has never had a BigMac. Waaaaahhhhhttt?! How can we be stereotypical greasy Americans and never consume the mother of all American hamburgers?)



This is the documentation of the event:


She may look apprehensive, but she enjoyed it. Seriously.

8.29.2011

SPC Lover

The reason I refer to my fiancé as "Lover" and haven't really posted any pictures of him is he prefers his anonymity in pretty much every regard (he doesn't have a Facebook, for example) so I try to respect that. Today, I am going to break that a little bit.

Lover's in the Utah National Guard and his unit has been preparing this last year for their deployment to Iraq starting the end of this year. During his training last week, he called to tell me that their deployment has been delayed until October 2012 (there's a real likelihood it's been canceled). Needless to say, I'm happy! We are hoping our plans will be such next year that he won't have to go at all and we can have more of working/studying like this:




Nothing is ever certain in the military, but it made me want to talk about him a little more.

The military is awesome in a very frustrating way. Lover and I have no interest in making the army a part of our lives, but I would not change anything the time we've had in the military has done to our relationship. I have a ton of respect for our soldiers and I love all of them a little because I see Lover whenever I see someone in ACUs.

(A picture he texted me while he was at training. He knew I missed his face. :) )

8.27.2011

New Blog

I forgot to post the link to my new sister blog. Here it is:



Lots of love.

8.26.2011

Notebooks

I keep having all these great ideas of what I want to write about, and sometimes I'll jot them down, but mostly I forget. I need to start carrying around a notebook. It was easy when I was a full-time student because I always had some sort of bag with me, but now I'm out of the habit.

Goal of the week: Notebook.

I went to get my haircut last week from my main man, Twix (HIGHLY recommend him), and there was a kid there getting his back-to-school haircut and I started thinking about my first days of junior/high school. I kind of miss that feeling. Getting up early on a late-summer morning, catching up with old friends, feeling older and more important, doing nothing but getting syllabi and promising yourself you're going to nail this year.

Anyway.

I officially started a new blog. It's with my sister, McKenzie, and sister-in-law, Elizabeth.

ctocsisters

Still in the starting stages, but I'm excited because we're all so spread out and now we can be bloggers. Say it with me, "NERD!" Yeah.


Also, I made this piñata with my roommate for Cinco de Mayo this year.



That is all.

8.21.2011

Lover and I unexpectedly fell asleep on my bed last night. I'm talking: he slept all night wearing his belt and I didn't take my makeup off until this morning. (Not to mention my breath could have killed a komodo dragon.)

It was glorious; I woke up as the big spoon and couldn't have been happier.





I love him.


8.13.2011

a Hobbit of sorts

Guess what this is!

It's totally my foot: I made a pair of faux-fur lined leather slippers. They are pretty much the most comfortable thing because they're fuzzy and they're exactly my size.


I stole them from this tutorial: here
I went to the thrift store and got an old, full-length leather jacket for $15 and I made these with about one-tenth of the jacket. I think I'm going to make a pair of boots next. I'll keep you posted.


Aren't they awesome?!! I was skeptical about how they were going to turn out while I was making them, but as soon as I finished (and loved) the first one I busted the second one out in 15 minutes. Solid.

8.01.2011

An Occasion to Remember


This weekend I had the opportunity to attend Lover's sister's wedding. Janel and her husband, Jacques, decided they were going to elope, and I was flattered that they wanted me to be there as a part of the event. "Elope" isn't the right word. Everyone knew they were getting married, but the families couldn't make it and the two J's wanted a small event so it ended up just being the four of us. In fact, Lover and I were the ones to witness the ceremony so our signatures are forever on the wedding certificate. Way awesome.



 The ceremony was perfect. J+J got married in a small town so the mayor was able to spend some time beforehand getting to know us and giving some very poignant advice. He spoke from the heart in counseling them to cherish the difficult times as much as the good times because those times allow a couple to bond in ways no other can.


After they got married and we spent some time taking pictures and talking we put all their stuff in our three little cars (a miracle, really, that we got it all in one trip) and moved them into their new apartment. We then had celebratory dinner at Texas Roadhouse where we could all get to know each other.


It was a totally a-typical wedding but it was a perfect marriage. It's comforting to watch two people who are not only completely in love, but are a perfect match for each other.