To Do List

Here is my To Do List before I move on July 23rd:

1. Finish some projects at work so I can quit and not leave anyone hanging.

2. Pack my house.

3. Go through all of our belongings and figure out what to give away, throw away, or pack.

4. Paint some closet doors.

5. Pack my house.

6. Pass my certification test to certify as a voice teacher.

7. Record some songs for a cd my Relief Society presidency is making.

8. Pack my house.

9. Go to Utah for a week for a family reunion.

10. Say goodbye to friends in Utah.

11. Go through all the loose papers and clutter laying around our house and figure out what it actually is, if we need to keep it, and if so, where in heaven's name do we put it?

12. Pack my house.

13. Pick up Cristian in Utah since he will coming back from NY, where he is now, fulfilling his calling as a director for the Hill Cumorah Pageant.

14. Eat all the food in my cupboard and fridge and freezer, by myself, as said husband is out of town, as mentioned above.

15. Garner and organize help loading the POD here and unloading the POD in South Carolina.

16. Pack my house.

17. E-file my taxes. (Yes, we had an extension, before anyone freaks out. We are fine.)

18. Clean my house so it isn't disgusting.

19. Clean my house again after everything is out of it.

20. Did I mention Pack my house?

21. Keep my sanity. Somehow.

I will breath when I get there.

My own little vacation

Last month I also took a vacation, all by myself, and went to Oregon to visit my sister Cyndi. It was so fun and relaxing, I didn't want to come home except Cristian was there. Cyndi took such good care of me, and it was so fun to see her family, my cute nephews, and my newest nephew Johnathan! It was really good to spend some quality time with my sister. She is so great. And can we talk about how much I love Oregon? We went into California to the Redwoods, and to the coast, and it made me homesick for my childhood. We used to go to the coast and the Redwoods all the time.
She was a total soldier and took that baby everywhere in the pack, even hiking. It was awesome. Her 5-year old son Adam also provided great company. He was also pretty funny. Example: Cyndi was asking him if he wanted to go to Ashland with us, or play with a few friends the next day. "What friends, Mom?" She named a couple of boys. "I think I will go with you and Aunt Nicole. I am not really into them right now." I'm sorry, what? You are not "into" them? I was laughing so hard. He continued throughout the week to talk about stuff he was "into" or "not into."

Josh, Ethan, and Seth were in school, but I loved talking to them after school and learning what they are "into" these days. Cyndi and Steve are doing such a great job with them, and they are a fabulous family, and I love them to pieces!

Graduation!

So, true to form, I have put off posting until, like, a month later. Yes, well....

First of all, Cristian graduated! He now holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Technical Direction from University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He was done on May 13-ish. It has been a hard road for him and I am such the proud wife! (Don't take my lateness at posting this as any indication. I really am so proud of him I could sing it from the roof tops.) This is a picture of him with his presentation of work for the year. These are pages from his portfolio, which is very impressive, by the way, and helped to land him a great job at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina. So in a few weeks, we will be packin up and headin out!
We are really grateful for Cristian's education. We are also really grateful he is done!

Character Defined.

I meant to do this post a few days ago, and just got busy, so I have run out of steam just a little bit. But I watched the Today show this past Tuesday, and Matt Laur was interviewing Miss California USA (Hereafter known as Miss C., since I don't remember her name) about her controversial answer to Perez Hilton's question about her thoughts on gay marriage. She stated that, in her family, she was raised with the belief that marriage is between a man and a woman, and, basically, that is what she still believes. Well, she got First Runner-Up in the Miss USA pageant, and many people, including Perez Hilton and Donald Trump, speculated that the answer she gave cost her the crown. That very well may be true, we will never know for sure.

I did not see the actual pageant, just the interview two days later. First, Matt Laur interviewed Hilton by Skipe in LA and got his thoughts. He said Miss C. gave the completely wrong answer and made people feel unwelcome at the pageant, and she shouldn't have brought her politics and religion onto the stage. He said a lot of other things as well.

To him I say: YOU are the one who brought YOUR politics into the pageant by asking the question in the first place! You would have loved her and said she did the right thing if she had answered the way YOU wanted her to. She didn't bring her religion into the discussion. Nothing was said about church, God, or Christ in any way. Miss C. only stated what she believed, which she has a right to, and should not be persecuted and slandered for it. (He was shown on his video blog calling her a "dumb *&^$#." Really mature. Awesome.)

To Miss C. I say: GOOD FOR YOU! You stood your ground even when asked if you would answer differently given a second chance. You showed me there is still integrity and character in the world. I do not live in California anymore, but you made me proud of how the location of my childhood represented.

To all of you I say: To me, this is not necessarily about gay marriage, and whether I agree with Miss C.'s opinion on gay marriage. ( I do agree, but that is beside the point for the purpose of this post). It is all about someone taking a stand, in the national spotlight, for what they believe, knowing it would not be a popular one. She stated that as soon as she said her answer, she knew she would not win. Yet she did not back down. She didn't even stay neutral in order to increase her chances of winning by giving what would have been a popular answer, and what Hilton was obviously looking for. She was clear in her beliefs, not derogatory in any way toward homosexuals, she just stated her opinion about it and was done. After working so hard to get as far as she did, that would have been a very hard thing to do, and I can't even imagine that kind of pressure.

In hearing the comments from both Hilton and other judges about "staying neutral if you want to win" and other such things, I thought about how we are a generation, and raising a generation, of people who are not encouraged to stand up for their beliefs. It is really sad how we are encouraged and counseled to seem lukewarm and nuetral on issues so that no one is "offended," and we can gain an advantage by saying what people want to hear. So there doesn't really seem to be any accountability. Guess what. There are ways to disagree with others with respect for their different beliefs. Not everyone has to be unified in everything, we just need to respect our differences, and not judge. Unfortunately, Perez Hilton never got that memo.

I admire Miss C.'s courage, and I hope to have a fraction of that courage if/when I am ever put to the test like that.

Not that I have plans to enter the pageant circuit. You all would love that, wouldn't you? I can see you laughing.

But I think you all know what I mean.

Valentine's Day and my Birthday

Ok, I realize it is now April and I am just getting around to posting about things that happened weeks ago. Don't judge me.

Just a short note about V-day: We had dinner with our friends Scott and Shalisse Jenkins, and went and saw "He's Just Not That Into You." Papa Johns Pizza ran a deal for heart-shaped pizzas, and we had to partake. We laughed so hard about the pizzas, and had a great time. The boys didn't like the movie so much, as was evidenced by Cristian's bouncing his knee for the whole two hours. Oh well, they were good sports about it.

For my birthday on the 20th of March, Cristian was out of town doing a myriad of job interviews. While he was off slaying dragons, I had a great day by myself, got a facial, went shopping, then went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner with a bunch of my girlfriends. It was so fun!
Pictured: Tate Hulet, Shalisse Jenkins, me, Erin Dudley, Sheri Mohlman, Nicole Boyd, Rochelle Hendericks, and Marlaina Harris. We had so much fun, and dang, that food is good. Love my girls.
We finished out the weekend the next day when some of the above girls and I gathered at my house to watch "Twilight." What a weekend.

The next weekend Cristian was home and we gathered with my family across town for a barbecue. Can I just say, I adore them all? We will sure miss them when we move.
Personally, I think Bennie is just sad that it wasn't his birthday.

Isn't he cute? Anyway, we had my favorite pie (I am not a cake person) Marie Callender's razzleberry pie and ice cream. I was so sick to my stomach from eating so much, but so happy. And it was a gorgeous day.

I am now 30 years old. Does that bother me? Did I freak out? No. But I hear that the thirties are way better than the twenties, so I am ready to be impressed.

Happy Spring!

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.