Woe is Me

Here's how today went:

• Woke up too early for my taste.
• Work was fine.
• I was sad that Romney didn't get the nomination, BUT I'm okay with Palin. She was a smart choice. I like her enough to vote for McCain. It's so tempting to write in Romney, buuuut that doesn't help Obama NOT get elected.
• I remembered that the carpet cleaners (who were supposed to come Tuesday, but didn't) were actually coming today--and that I didn't pick up all our stuff off the floor.
• Raced home from work, only to find that they were already in my apartment, of course.
• Remembered various unmentionables that were on the floor in our bedroom.
• Died of shame and humiliation.
• Refused to enter the house--too awkward.
• Drove to Smiths instead, and bought some unnecessary stuff.
• Drove by my apt, and the carpet cleaners were STILL there.
• Drove to Kyle's office in Springville, hoping to see him on his lunch break.
• On the freeway, a big nasty flatbed truck was ahead of me, a piece of metal flew off of it and made a BIG crack in our BRAND NEW WINDSHIELD.
• It scared me. I was mad.
• Then a big plastic container flew off the truck, making me swerve and nearly die to avoid hitting it.
• I was REALLY mad.
• Sat outside Kyle's work, but his phone wasn't on.
• Waited.
• Talked to Christy.
• Looked up movie times.
• Still waited.
• Gave up.
• Drove home.
• Our carpet is wet, and our furniture is all in the kitchen.
• And now I'm bored.

My mood has improved though. Mom/Dad/Katy are coming tomorrow morning, and that makes me feel better.

Fun Fact about Lord Byron

Lord Byron ate mustard toast. HE TOTALLY DID. My tastes are completely legitimized.

So. Here's a list.

BLACK EYES

• Waking up at 6 every morning
• School on Tuesday
• Nieman's gone :(
• Katy P. is gone :(
• I have to stand in line for a million hours to get my books
• My headache won't go away
• My internet is being slow
• I don't have a good book to read
• I'm really hungry
• My summer of joy is over
• I still can't find my North Face
• There are a lot of dishes in the sink
  

FEATHERS IN MY CAP

• Katy's all checked in at her apt. and I haven't lost her key yet
• Katy is coming to live soon
• Mom and Dad are coming to visit soon
• Tomorrow is Friday
• Tonight I want to make a good dinner
• Kyle gets out of work soon
• We still have 1 and 1/2 seasons of Lost to watch
• I'm wearing my new cardigan that I love
• Christy and Danny and Lucy are coming in a couple weeks
• I have a friend at work who is going to become a real life friend
• Kyle continues to be the perfect man

So yeah, I guess that's about it.

:(

So, I think I have Alzheimers. I keep losing things! I'm only 22 and already I'm losing my mind. Most of the misplaced objects are unimportant (like, I'm sure we'll find the mail key soon), but I. Am. Upset. about not being able to find my North Face. It is one of my prized possessions. SO warm. SO cute. SO lime sherbet green. Dad bought it for me this summer, so I haven't even worn it in the winter months--just on chilly vacations (like my honeymoon). I wake up at 6:45 every morning--and in a week, make that an hour earlier. It's cold that early. This winter I will be walking home in the snow every day.

I don't have many jackets. I love my North Face. I need my North Face.


I am sad.

(that isn't me. she is creepy)

this one is no good

• I know I need to blog, but so much blog-worthy stuff has happened that I feel overwhelmed. I also feel completely unmotivated, because I feel like crap. Last night I had a bad migraine that put me out of commission for some hours. Poor Kyle is so nice to take care of me when I'm like that. I didn't go to work today because I'm still feeling the effects of it. Pretty miserable. But the dang carpet cleaners are coming today (like there is ANYTHING they could possibly do to remedy our ugly carpet--it's plenty clean, just nasty) so I couldn't just stay in bed, I had to pick up everything off the floor and shower and get dressed, and now wait for them to get here, with no clue when they're coming, and I can't fall asleep like I want to because how awkward if they just walk in and I'm in bed. This is not a good day to stay home sick. I feel all groggy and gross and my eyeballs hurt.
  
  Anyways, good things have happened too.
  
  Tuesday-- a great date. Indian themed, so you know I LOVED it. Kyle is so awesome.
• Wednesday -- Mott/Bluffs wedding planning meeting. Good stuff got done, still a lot to do.
• Thursday-- another failed attempt to float the Provo river. I'm losing the will to try again.
• Friday--baby-sat Scott and Nancy's kids and had a blast.
• Saturday--shopping spree, home decor projects, and Bryce Lowder's wedding reception!
• Sunday-- dinner with Dane Bjork, and Star Wars Monopoly at the Riv. Dane won. Geeky, but fun.
  
  I don't have any pictures from any of the above events. Sad, huh. I know I should give more detail to actually make it interesting but I feel completely uncreative, unfunny, and lame--so my blog is going to reflect that. I'm sorry. I think I'm going to go back to sleep--who cares about the carpet-cleaners.

If you don't like mushiness, don't read this one

Because I'm a married woman, and I do what I want, aight? Ok, calling myself a woman was out of line. I apologize. That just weirds me out. But I can't say I'm a "married young lady."

So. One year ago today, Kyle and I started dating! Crazy, huh? It makes me feel all gushy and lovey inside. I know that it's not a big deal like our wedding anniversary will be, but still--it's something! We've been together for a year! And nonstop, too--we never did a break-up-and-get-back-together thing. Boring, but I love it. We're so consistent. I've been kissing Kyle for a year. I've been seeing him everyday (apart from a few tragic separations) for a year. I've been thinking about him nonstop for a year. Ok so I've been thinking about him nonstop for a lot longer than that, but whatever.

It's funny to think about the day we started dating. I flew from Phoenix to Salt Lake on Sunday afternoon and he picked me up. The airport pickup was AWKWARD. He was wearing his Spree tshirt and I felt REALLY ugly because I've been traveling and needed a haircut and just looked gross. He brought me a candy bar. It was awkward because we knew we liked each other, we knew we wanted to date--but it had all been over the phone! The week before we had seen each other and held hands once--but that was IT. And I'm just really awkward anyways. Instead of going back to Park Place immediately, we went to the awesomely huge cemetery in Salt Lake. He had gone online and looked up my relatives that were buried there, and some of the prophets, so we could easily find them. It still wasn't easy though--we were there for a really long time! The whole time, I didn't know if I should...hold his hand? Stand close next to him? So, we didn't touch each other--too awkward.

After we got back to Park Place, I reunited with roommates, moved my bags in, etc. I don't really remember that part of the day very well. I know that I spent most of it with Kyle. That NIGHT, I remember. We were on the couch outside my apartment--warm summer night after curfew=some of my best memories! We talked. He asked me some questions to make sure that I fulfilled the requirements to be his girlfriend--the only one I remember was: "Is your name Chelsea or Jessica?" "No..." "Ok then you're in!!!" So that was easy. I'd already passed all the other tests. My questions for him were "Will I have to twist your arm to get you to hang out with me?" and "Do you have emotions?" and he passed easily. What a relief. Then he asked if he could be my boyfriend, and I said yes. And we were dating. Then he walked me the whole 2 feet to my door and he KISSED me! I was stunned. You gotta understand, I had just dated a boy who dated me for a MONTH before kissing me. Drove me absolutely crazy. Not cool. The boy before him made me wait a while too. So I was completely shocked--and immensely pleased--that Kyle kissed me right then and there. I think the shock showed on my face, because he acted a bit worried--like I was displeased that he had kissed me so soon. He explained to me that his rule was that he wouldn't kiss anyone that wasn't his girlfriend. So once I was his girlfriend, BAM, why wait? I loved it. What a refreshing experience. [Why did I ever date any other boy? And it's a shame that he wasted time on any other girl. We should've gotten together ages ago. I first had the idea spring term 2006--I wish I'd been braver! That would have saved us both a lot of crap. We are so perfect for each other. ]

The next day we put our relationship on Facebook, and since then, every day has gotten better. I didn't think that could happen. I remember like two weeks after we got married, I realized that I loved him more right then than I had on our wedding day. How is that even possible??? Guys, marriage is awesome!

We have big plans tonight--but I don't know what they are. Kyle's in charge. I'm excited to see what happens.

Oh come on!

Ok, you probably all saw these on Christy's blog, but I just am stupefied that a child can be as gorgeous as Lucy is. I can't get over it! She is unreal!!!! Man, I love her.

Kyle is HOT!!!

Dudes, seriously! Check out his majesty!

So, last night was WAY fun! We went to the canyon for a "campfire" with Amanda. We thought it might rain--but that would probably just make it more adventurous. So we went and bought all the campfire essentials--wood, hot dogs/buns/condiments, Starbursts, Capri Sun, etc. We even had a dinosaur cake that Amanda brought. So, on our way to the canyon, it started raining. No big deal. Then we noticed freakish amounts of traffic heading in the opposite direction. The canyon was emptying--rapidly. We speculated on the reason. The obvious conclusion was that I Am Legend had happened in Heber, and everyone was trying to escape before it got quarantined. And we were heading straight for the zombies. We decided to keep going anyways, and got to the park we were going to hang out in--Canyon Glen. As we parked, we noticed the big sign that said that open fires were not permitted for the time being, because I guess Bridal Veil has been on fire for the last while, and it was super windy and the fire hazard was extreme (I guess just forget that it was raining, or something like that). SO--we considered our options. An empty park, where we were extremely vulnerable to zombies/raptors, OR that huge long line of slow-moving traffic?

We put the stuff that didn't need to be cooked over a fire into the cooler and looked for a nice spot to sit that was sheltered from the rain. We found a nice grassy corner underneath some tree cover, and it was quite pleasant. We consoled ourselves with the knowledge that if/when we were attacked by raptors (there were NO defenses for us there), at least Katy would spend her whole life avenging us. We were hungry, so instead of nice warm freshly cooked hot dogs, we put mustard and Doritos on the buns and supped on those. And they were good! You know how mustard is really good on most things? Last night we discovered that it's good on Nacho Cheese Doritos. Council Bluffs joined us eventually, and it was quite pleasant to sit in the rainy park and eat cold food. A fire might have been nicer, but it was still fun. There was a wild cat (we assert it was a baby bobcat) who wanted our food, so we left it some chips.

Emily was conveniently working at the miniature golf course, so then we got to play miniature golf in the rain! Almost everything is more fun in the rain. We had the course almost entirely to ourselves, because it was chilly and windy and rainy out. There was CRAZY lightning going on! We had a blast! Luckily, we didn't keep score. We started out keeping score, but once the game detiorated into a free-for-all (involving kicking other people's golf balls, stabbing with putters, and racing to finish) it got kind of difficult. At least we all know that Amanda lost. I hadn't mini-golfed for ages. So fun!

My prompt for this picture was "Eat that chip the way Nieman eats lettuce." The picture doesn't portray the subtleties of my performance.

Pondering her options

Yeah...they're bad

So ridiculous

What we did last night.

Last night was INCREDIBLE. Katy P. and Celia and Kyle and I (and Amanda joined us later) got takeout Rice King (the place was empty...Victor said everyone was getting delivery or takeout so they could watch the Opening Ceremonies) so that we could get in the spirit of Beijing and ate it while watching, of course, the Olympics Opening Ceremonies. I expected to watch like an hour and a half, and then move on to other activities. But no. We were CAPTIVATED by what Zhang Yimou (such an incredible director!) put together. What a historic night. I don't even know what to say about it--besides that it was an amazing visual masterpiece. The amazing dances and music and just COOL technological stuff--we loved every second of it. Katy P. and Kyle and I watched it to the very end, and never got bored once. The Parade of Nations was SO AWESOME--I loved seeing the different uniforms each country wore. The best part for me (by "best part" I mean "the one that made me cry the hardest") was little Lin Hao walking with Yao Ming, leading the Chinese athletes around the stadium. He was the cutest little boy, and his story made Katy P. and I bawl!

We did, however, cry at MANY parts of the night. The Olympics usually make me super patriotic, but this year is even more--I'm feeling patriotic for the world.

(Last night was also really fun because of the citric acid...Kyle blogged about it.)

Ketchup.

Guys. I am so happy right now.


I'm sitting on my bed, in a bathrobe, with a towel wrapped around my wet hair. I'm listening to old school Ben Lee songs that I was addicted to in high school. I've worked all day and feel like I've earned my money. I'm about to finish my drink--which means I'm at the bottom of the cup, where the lingonberry juice usually settles so the Sprite is super syrupy with Swedish goodness. I just submitted my first assignment for my independent study course, which has been weighing heavily on my mind. I don't have to do anything else today because I already feel like I've been productive--because I also scrubbed our bathtub so I could actually take a bath. Reading in the bath is my favorite pasttime--that's why I feel so relaxed right now. Ah, now Bread is playing and I feel even better. Tonight is FHE with Kyle, and we're going to Costco!



My plans for today are:

• blog.
• read.
• pick up Kyle.
• shop @ Costco.
• eat delicious Costco hot dogs or pizza*.
• watch LOST the rest of the night.
• go to sleep feeling satisfied and content.
  

*I know, why would I ever ever EVER not get a Costco hot dog, the best hot dogs on the planet? Kyle was shocked too, when I mentioned this morning that I'm craving Costco pizza. We just had J-Dawgs two days ago, and I realize that they're not the same thing, but I still feel like my delicious-hot-dog quota has been filled for the week. Besides, Costco pizza is really good too!

OH I forgot that I should actually blog about stuff. Well--St. Johns was awesome. It was thundery the whole trip, which was awesome. I shot some guns. I played with Lucy. I watched a parade. I hung out with family. I ate at the Safire. I took a million pictures. It was so fun to be with my family! We are so cool when we all get together. It was SO sad to say goodbye to them. Luckily I'll see Mom/Dad/Katy at the end of August, and I'll see Christy/Danny/Lucy at the end of September, so it didn't feel like goodbye forever. Plus, I knew that when I got off the plane Kyle would be waiting for me. Which he was. He's so cute--he brought me a heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwich in case I was hungry when I got off the plane. He got a lot done while I was gone! He got a desk from DI--we have zero room for one, or so I thought--he found the tiniest cutest desk ever, and it fits perfectly next to his side of the bed. I know he feels a LOT better now that he has a desk. He also got--get this--a touch lamp! He painted it white and made an orange lampshade for it, and it looks AWESOME. I'd really wanted one just like it from Urban Outfitters, so he went and got it at DI and made it look the exact same! Kyle is so clever.



The day after I got back a monumental occasion occurred. Here's the evidence:




It's too bad Council Bluffs left before we took the picture! This is Mike, the guys' freshman year roommate who is a very big deal. It was so fun to all get together so they could reminisce and tell us girls (Amanda, Emily, and me) crazy stories. They were so weird back then. And still are. A lot of really really funny things were said that night.

And--I finally saw the X-Files movie!!!!!! I've been dying to see it. Um, remember how that's my favorite show in the whole world and I've been obsessed with it since middle school? Remember how last Christmas I got the entire series on dvd--all 9 seasons--and the shock and joy made me BAWL??? Yeah. I love that show. And the movie was great because it was just like one long episode, which is exactly what people who miss the show wanted. It was good. It was traumatic for me--WILD ANIMALS ATTACKING ME WILL NEVER STOP BEING MY WORST FEAR. So those crazy dogs getting all up in my grill really freaked me out--to the point of tears and convulsions. But it's not like it was a scary movie, other than that. I really liked it. I think Chris Carter did a good job bringing Mulder and Scully back without being...awkward. It was just so great for me to see them again--my two heroes from my childhood. Scully is hot as ever, by the way.

That was on Saturday, which for some reason was the best day ever. We woke up late (8:30!) and ate waffles and watched Lost (we're addicted--just started season 2). Then we ate lunch at J-Dawgs, saw the matinee of X-Files, drove around while I called Katy to tell her about the movie (a ritual which must never die), and finally went to Barnes and Noble--where we stayed for the next 2 and 1/2 hours. We found so much to occupy ourselves with! I.Love.Bookstores. And then, we ended the night with more Lost! What a full, perfect circle.

Kyle got a calling! He's the Sunday School Secretary--trust Kyle to get the calling with the best alliteration. We're glad because it shouldn't be that big of a deal--although Kyle wore his power tie on Sunday so that everyone knew that he was gunning for President.

Last night we were bored and were watching fancy cakes being made on the Food Network Ultimate Challenge, so we made our own little cakes. Sister Nieman gave us cute heart stuff for the wedding, including the heart shaped pan and sprinkles, so we put them to good use! We ate like half of one and wanted to die, so we brought the other one to Celia because we love her.

Ok that's enough.