So Confused

So, I was driving home from work a few days ago and caught this bumper sticker on a nice, pretty new-looking BMW:

"Don't be Fooled by my Car.
My Treasure Lies in Heaven."

What? Is this like those "Don't hate me because I am beautiful" ads from the 80's? I was really confused about the idea the sticker was supposed to convey. First of all, bumper stickers are tacky, in my opinion. To have a bumper sticker on a nice, really expensive looking car, is extra tacky. And, of course it also had one of those "fish" icons, you all know the ones I am talking about, the loaves and fishes icons that people put on their cars.

So, tackiness aside, my confusion lies in what it is saying. It seemed to me that the sticker was saying "don't judge me that I clearly have a lot of money, and am showing it by my nice ride. I am still really righteous and will be going to heaven, because that is where my priorities lie." I thought, really? Because I am looking at the sign on your car ADVERTISING your righteousness, which in my opinion, is not very Christian at all.

As I was driving, I really was trying to find a meaning in this that didn't make the driver out to be an arrogant jerk. But any way I look at it, the saying is offensive because I think that people who are truly laying up their treasures in heaven don't have to talk about it, especially by posting a tacky bumper sticker on a really expensive car. It seemed so ironic to me.

Is that too harsh? Obviously, I do not know the driver. He/She may be a wonderful person. The sticker was just so arrogant that I wondered if it was a joke.

Anyway, that is my thought for the day. I am really not trying to be cynical, people can put whatever they want on their cars, even the fish don't really bother me, even though I would never do it myself. But this in particular bothered me because it seemed very hypocritical. Almost like the Pharisees in the Bible who talked about the Law and how good they all were. I will stop now.

The Anniversary and Other Happenings.

I have been meaning to do this post for two weeks, since my anniversary. Four years! Crazy how time flies.

Cristian planned the celebration this year. He took me to the Bellagio Hotel, to a VERY nice restaurant named Jasmine. It was Asian Cuisine. (Did I just say "Cuisine" in a post? Yes I did. It was that fancy.) Beforehand, we walked around the hotel and walked through the conservatory, which was decked out for Chinese New Year.

The pictures are a little dark, but it was very beautiful, complete with a spread-eagle panda bush. Edward Scissorhands must have been busy.



Of course, the night is not complete without some dumb pictures that make us look like ten-year-olds.







Don't, worry, I realize this money under the gargantuan Samurai Soldier is fake. No one be alarmed. But I was trying to steal it anyway.




















Anyway, it was fabulous. The food was soooo good! And the ambience was really romantical. (I have to say it like that because I feel dumb saying "romantic." But it was.) The whole back wall of Jasmine was floor to ceiling windows, facing out to the famous Bellagion Fountains. They knew it was our anniversary, and so gave us a table with a perfect view. It was awesome. Every 15 minutes a different song would come on (very softly inside, so as not to be disruptive) and the fountains would go. We had a great time. We laughed about where we might be for our anniversary next year (no idea). There may be a small college town in our future where the "fancy place" is Applebee's.

During the evening, a woman came and asked to take our picture. I very seriously thought about saying, "no, but you can take one of us with my camera." But I decided NOT to be tacky. Of course, later, another woman came and offered us the pic in a super-fancy frame (not really, just a folded one with "Bellagio" on the front) for only $45! I almost choked. But Cristian just laid down his card and bought it anyway, being our anniversary and all. It was a good picture, and cute of him to want it.

We finished off the night with stopping on the way home at the Sonic drive-thru and getting ice cream. Super Sweet.


The said $45 picture. I like us. Happy Anniversary, Baby. I love you.

Other than that, not a lot going on besides continuing to apply for jobs after graduation. We have had a few schools express interest, so that is very encouraging. We have heard from places in Illinois, South Carolina, Iowa, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania so far, no offers yet, but interviews. It is a pretty long process. Who knows where we will be? It is fun and scary all at the same time.

Happy New Year!

Just a little catch up, Christmas was great, Cristian got me an MP3 player so I can actually stop exercising in public with a cd player hanging from my waist. I'm a little behind, alright? I got him a really nice camping sleeping pad, which he was excited about. Nothing really to top the XBox 360 of last year, but that is ok. We relaxed at home in the morning, then went to my cousin Emily's house and relaxed some more, watching Ironman for the 2 time that day. (Santa brought it for Cristian. He was a good boy this year.) So fun. Loved it. As evidenced by the below image of C and Wyatt.



2009 is looking like a big year for us. Cristian graduates with his MFA, and (hopefully) he will be getting some great job somewhere, which will also mean a move, most likely across the country, based on the openings we have found. I feel like we are about to start life for real. No more school. It is very exciting and a little scary. But we are looking forward to starting the next chapter or our life. Cross your fingers for us.

Happy New Year Everybody!

So Thankful...

I love this season. My sister Carolynn sent us an early Christmas present. It was a plain wreath with a bunch of harvest-y picks. Throughout the month, Cristian and I were supposed to take turns saying things we are thankful for and put a pick in the wreath, so by Thanksgiving it is full. It was a little rough just because C is not home much these days, but we did it and it was a great reminder to be thankful throughout the season, not just on the Day. Thanks, Carolynn, for helping us start a family tradition that I already love.

A few other things...

1. I am so thankful for my husband. He is kind, funny, hard-working, compassionate, patient (mostly with me), grounded, and above all, GOOD. He has such a good heart. I am so glad to be married to Cristian, and I am so thankful he chose me. I can't imagine my life without him.

2. My job. I work at an alternative medicine office with 3 doctors and 2 massage therapists. Cristian and I get free care, which has come in very handy since my back went out a year ago. I am now undergoing treatments for free that would cost someone else hundreds of dollars. My main concern is having a healthy enough back to be pregnant, and avoid surgery if possible, and the care I have access to here is helping me toward that goal. I also get good pay, vacation time, paid holidays, and work 4 days a week, who can complain?

3. My family. Both sides of it. I have a great family, and wonderful parents who taught me all the good things I know in life. My siblings are awesome, and I never tire of spending time with them. We are surprisingly close for such a big, spread out bunch, but we love each other and would do anything for each other. I am also grateful for the family I married into. They made Cristian into the great man he is, and welcomed me with open arms. They are wonderful people who we don't see enough.

4. My Aunt and Uncle, Tom and Ruth Pooler, and cousins Emily and Ben Montague, and Brooke Duke and her boys Connor and Wyatt. They live here and have adopted us into their circle, for which I will be forever grateful. Before living here, I saw them once a year, now, all the time, and it is wonderful. We celebrate everything together, birthdays and holidays, and other times too. We love to be together, and they have especially embraced Cristian, and that makes me love them even more.

5. The Gospel. I don't know where I would be without it. It has shaped me way beyond what my parents taught. I have long since developed my own testimony, with my own trials and triumphs to go along with that. I am grateful for Jesus Christ, who died for me. He knows me, and that brings me so much comfort I can't even begin to say.

6. Cristian's schooling. It has been hard, and a long road for us. But we are almost done, he graduates in May with an MFA. This will open so many doors for him, and for our family.

7. My talents.

8. Job Openings. Thanks goodness there are some out there. Now we just have to get hired in one of them. Just one. Please.

Happy Late Thanksgiving everyone, and remember as we step into the Christmas season, to still be thankful!

We gotta get outta here

Ok, I know this is my third post today, but I guess I have a lot to say. Make sure you scroll down to my other posts of the day. So before we lived in our home here in North Las Vegas, we lived in an apartment on the east side of town. Some would say that area is a little bit of the ghetto, but we felt just fine there. We just had a few crazy experiences with people coming to our place in the middle of the night, knocking on the windows, etc. One time some kind of transgender/transvestite/not really sure what arrived in the middle of the night. Sweet. In our new home, we have been fine for the most part, just one attempted break-in (we weren't home) for which we got a house alarm.
Last night, we were in bed and about 3am woke up to some pounding on our front door. Of course we jumped out of bed and Cristian went to see what it was, muttering, "I thought we left these experiences at our old apartment." Let me say that when people have come in the middle of the night, it is always Cristian who checks it out, and leaves me in the protection of our home, but this time he told me to get dressed and come in case we had to desparately push our door shut against intruders. Great. I was terrified and went and got our butcher knife from the kitchen. Anyway, it was a kid, probably in his early twenties, with blood all over his head, saying he had been jumped by 8 guys and woke up in our neighborhood, could we please call 911? He was wearing a bathrobe, said he had been at a lingerie party, and he was in the Air Force. He was definitely still drunk, but also clearly in need of help. Cristian called 911. We stayed with him (whate else would we do, he was bleeding all over our front porch) until the police came. At one point on of the paramedics was talking to him and he slumped over and fell out of the chair we had brought out onto the ground. Just blacked out, whether from alcohol or shock, I don't know. I think he really was in the Air Force, because he went into military mode and answered with "Sir" puntuating every sentence as if he was being drilled. The paramedic was nice enough to clean the blood off of our porch, and we got it off the wall next to the door. It must have been from his hand. He was bleeding a lot.
I felt really bad for him once I knew there was no danger to us, but I certainly don't need that experience ever again. I am not saying that all of Vegas is like this, there are many great things about it. We just happen to attract the crazies. We gotta get out of this town.

The Hunt For My October

I love Fall. It is one of my favorite seasons. But living in Las Vegas I have realized that Fall is the most frustrating season for me. It is so hot in the summer that is takes so dang long to cool off. It was still in the 80's this past week, and that drives me crazy because, while that temperature range is not bad, it just doesn't feel like Fall. No leaves happening, no cozy weather. It goes on thru November, slowly cooling down, just not fast enough for me.

So, after 3 years of futile frustration, this year I have made an effort to have a better attitude about it. After all, I can't do anything about the weather, and at least it is not still over 100 degrees, like it is most of the summer. Plus, since Cristian graduates this year and we are looking for a job, next year I may be somewhere that by this time I am already freezing my butt off, and 80 degrees might sound pretty good to me. I doubt it though, because if we are somewhere cold, at least it will be pretty with leaves and hot chocolate and soup. Here in the desert, not so pretty. All the same, I have made my peace with the Fall in Las Vegas. For now.

Note to self...

Dear Nicole: anytime something in a recipe looks weird, call someone who knows better BEFORE going ahead. Ok, so we had Super Saturday this last month. For those of you who don't know what it is, Super Saturday is a big, glorified craft-making day for Mormon women. I am not crafty, at all, but I was actually pretty excited and came away with a clock that I made and some decorative tiles. There were some really cool projects this year. Anyway, so I volunteered to make cookies for the lunch. Mormon women always need to have food involved with every gathering, and I feel great about that. I decided to make some pumpkin cookies from a family recipe book. I had never made these before. So I am doubling the batch when I come to what says, "12 tsp nutmeg." Cristian and I were like, what? That sounds like a lot of nutmeg. Oh well, here we go! I am going to go ahead and state the obvious: It was a typo. Too much nutmeg. So I called my sister in law Melissa, who the recipe came from. She looked it up and said, "oh yeah, it is 1/2 tsp nutmeg. " I was like WHAT?! I was thinking it would be 1 or 2 tsp, but no, 1/2. When I told her I alreay made the dough, she laughed so hard at me. We laughed together because, what else am I going to do? I didn't want to waste everything, so I ended up making 3 more batches to try and even it out a litte. It was a long night, and the cookies still had too much nutmeg, but they actually went over just fine the next day. Cristian and I were amazed. Don't worry, I still have about 2 1/2 batches of this in my freezer. Anyone want some? The above picture is my mess of a kitchen during the whole ordeal.























I had to show a picture of Cristian carving our pumpkin the other day. He does not mess around. He busted the power tools out and everything. It did go a lot faster, which I am all about. We have a tradition on Halloween that I make some yummy soup from scratch (this year was chicken tortilla, from the afore-mentioned recipe book, no typos) then watch some kind of tv/movie while passing out candy and eating candy until we are sick. So fun. We ended up with way too much candy left over. I went a little over board. So, we are still eating candy until we are sick. Love Halloween.