Goin' to the chapel...

And we got maaaarrried....! October 15, 2011. It's official. And now that we are starting to have a semblance of a real life again, maybe we'll update the blog more. Maybe... ;)

Payin' my dues

I'm sorry, dear reader, for complaining. But seriously, I'm going to be happy when life finally reaches a balance... it will do that, right?? A mere few months ago I was complaining about having too few jobs and not being busy and now I have too many jobs and am too busy! Oh, life. I just hope this wedding plans itself, because at my current pace, our wedding is going to happen 5 years from now...

In happier news... this evening was beautiful. Summer is showing itself to us every once in awhile these days, though not as often as I had hoped. (It still rains an awful lot and is pretty chilly-- this morning even required the heater being turned on!) I just ate a whole huge bowl of peaches, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries with greek yogurt, and it was delicious. I finally finished a couple of paintings that had been sitting in progress on our floor for weeks. I have made some friends at work and have a potential job prospect. And I made it to level 3 of my most recent work out. Life can still be good even when it's crazy. Fingers crossed that one of these days it'll settle down and can be enjoyed without constant worry about money, time to do errands, wedding planning, and a myriad of other things that my mind is constantly swimming with.

And I now have the hiccups for the 3rd time today. Awesome.

Our new pets...

Ok, ok we don't have new pets. I lied. That would be irresponsible. But, we do have seals (or sea lions??) that we visit a few times a week. How awesome is it that we can walk down the street and see these little guys out in the wild? We've had some great weather this weekend, so I brought along my camera and snapped some pics of these cuties...

Oh, and I forgot to mention... It was a pretty hoppin' day at the Locks on Saturday, which is where our aquatic friends live. We saw a wedding, and the Boeing Employees Concert band, and a solar storm. That's right, a guy with his giant telescope was out offering a free look at the sun, which was experiencing a solar storm. It was pretty cool, I will admit. And today my friend Cindy from school came into town with her husband after their Alaskan cruise that docked in Seattle. It's always great to see a familiar face! And after a whole year since we'd seen each other, it was wonderful to catch up. All in all, a fantastic weekend.

Life is good.

Except the fact that it just will not turn into summer around here. We get glimpses of it every now and then, but I'm still wearing jeans and a jacket when I'm outside. Crazy to think that this time last year we were sweating at the mere thought of walking outside into the humid Memphis heat...

Sorry I've totally slacked on the blogging, folks. I'd say I'm going to try to do better, but let's be realistic, life gets in the way of these kinds of things.

The main thing going on these days has been work. I'm really loving it, which is great and surprising at the same time. Going into a digital marketing internship, I thought it would be interesting but maybe not my cup of tea. I'm learning so much, though, and really growing to like it a lot. I'm leading my own email campaign now, which is challenging and rewarding at the same time. It's great to be trusted with a project that I will see through from beginning to end. I'm working more and more on our website, and I'm part of conversations involving creative materials and social media. It's been a really fun journey, and I'm excited to see where it leads me.

It's also fascinating to work at a relief organization with all that has been going on in the world. I always had the idea in my head that I would like to work in disaster relief one day, and here I am. Not on the ground, but definitely putting in my two cents. The day I started was actually just a day or two after the Japan earthquakes and tsunami, so I was thrown right into writing emails asking for donations. Now with all the tornadoes, the organization has been in a flurry trying to react. It's really interesting to see something terrible happen on the news and know the next day at work is going to be nuts, as we are one of the biggest organizations responding. It's nice to know that in some way, I am contributing to that relief. It's also just exciting to be on the inside and hearing up to date information and learning more about proper ways to react to disasters like those we've unfortunately experienced this year.

Another awesome thing about this job is getting to meet so many inspiring people. Every week, I meet with around 5 different senior leaders in the organization, and so many of them do fascinating things. A few weeks ago, I met with a man who coordinated Bono's first trip to Africa. Last week I met a man who was country director of multiple countries in West Africa for 15 years (you better believe I reminisced with him about Ghana). My cubicle is right next to a someone who is working with an Olympian track athlete on a partnership with our org. I met another guy last week who used to be "Bill's" top recruiter (right, that's Bill Gates, on a first-name basis). Such cool people.

My favorite is probably this Zambian man who works on my floor. In our meeting he was so sweet and has such a love for his country. He spoke about the moment he started "seeing people with his heart" and about how that's when you really realize that you have a responsibility to make a difference. You may be able to acknowledge that there is poverty and misery, and you may even see it every day. But it is not until you truly see people and these issues with your heart that you are moved into action. It got me thinking about myself... There are multiple times in my life when I feel like I have truly been able to see people with my heart... Mainly my summer as Oxley director and my time in Ghana... but I definitely don't do it all the time. It's something I'm really trying to work on, and I guess something that would just make the world a lot more peaceful. If we can learn to see each other, not just the poor, with our hearts, then we'd all be more sympathetic, more understanding, more loving. We'd know how to encourage people in the right ways and how to interact with them in positive, constructive manners... It would just be better, right?

Anyway, I'm clearly just babbling now. My point is that I'm loving it. There are definitely places for improvement, but that doesn't mean there's not potential :)

Hope you all are well.

Destination Friendship

We got our engagement photos! They're great. And we're super vain and love to look at ourselves. At least we're honest, right?

The past few days here have been gorgeous. Combine that with a visit from my mother last weekend, a purchased wedding dress, a new job (retail, don't get too excited), and a delicious dinner in my belly, life is good. On the way back from dinner tonight a pigeon almost flew into our heads. No kidding, its wings clipped Brian's hair, and I could feel the flapping on my forehead. Crazy pigeon. But what a story it would have been had we actually been hit in the heads by a bird. Ridiculous.

Then we saw a motorcycle with the name "Destination Friendship" writing in blue cursive. Excellent. New theme for life.

Huge thank you to Ryan Flynn, the photographer who made us look more attractive than we probably do in real life.

The Food Trials

I just logged on to write a post of my own and was surprised to find that Brian actually wrote one this week! That boy always has something up his sleeve. But it's also funny that he wrote about food, because the is the precise thing I was going to talk about. Can you tell that it's a pretty constant subject of conversation for us?

We were walking around Trader Joe's, our grocery store, this morning, and I was complaining about Brian's lack of good taste and he was reminding me of all the things he has tried this year. And it's true, he has tried quite a bit, and it is one of my life goals to get him to expand his palate. If you don't know him, you should know that Brian is historically one of the pickiest eaters on the face of the planet. And that is only a slight exaggeration, people. He likes carbs and chicken, and that's about it. In college, he ate terribly. I'm not sure that he ate any vegetables or fruits in an entire week.

But now he eats them daily! I am proud to say that this week he has brought fruit salad to school almost everyday. And the other day he told me that he took carrots and hummus for lunch, and I didn't even nag him to do it! He's getting healthier and healthier by the second.

In the past year, he has tried pomegranates, kiwi, plums, grapefruit, pineapple, huckleberries, raspberries, blackberries, peaches, avocado, bell peppers, mushrooms, butternut squash... and I'm sure there is plenty more that we can't remember. The point is, this is awesome. And he's now enjoying so many of my favorite things! So yay. Congratulations, Brian.

On another note, it is an absolutely beautiful day here today. We walked down the street and got some coffee and sat outside this morning. We also got to pet the most adorable apricot-colored poodle pup. And then walked to the grocery store. Now I'm going to go work on some homemade pizza for lunch. Yum yum. Hope ya'll are enjoying your Saturday!

My mind is telling me, 'No'...

Dear friends, if you know me, then you know that I am an incorrigible chocolate addict. Most specifically, the chocolate chip cookies that Katie has perfected over the last 2 years. And I just ate some a few moments ago, that made me feel the need to share that with you. And also the fact that Katie will no longer be making them, as we* have decided to try to continue improving the health balance of what we consume. And apparently, entire batches of cookies in a day has no place in 'healthy consumption.' Vegetables are gross; yea, I said it. It's just too obvious to not. Now don't go throwing out carrots, celery, lettuce, or even broccoli as tasty vegetables, because we all know those aren't the really healthy ones. The worst offenders are the beans, and peas, and greens; all of which have remarkable vitamin contents, when raw. But to make them the least bit appetizing, they are generally cooked or steamed in a way which degrades active, complex compounds like the enzymes and vitamins they are valued for.

But really I don't even want to talk about those abominations, I'm really just here to tell you that we took our engagement photos this weekend, and we will have them in about 2 weeks to share with the world. But if Katie wants to, she can post 4 'teaser' photos the photographer sent to us already. So, if you want those to be posted, you will just have to nag her to do it.

Well I think I should probably get back to planning some more experiments and compiling information. bye bye.




*She insisted, I consented. And concurred.