Waving the white flag of surrender.

Last blog post on Sunday October 16th, was the last time I felt calm, cool and collected.  Since the 16th it's been a steady onslaught of life.  Relentless and in-your-face.  No time to stop, blog or assess.  Finally, with this weekend coming to a close and November 1st on the near horizon, I feel like I can almost breath again.  Almost.

To be fair, the past two weeks have been full of momentous fun.  We visited the NC State Fair! Henry turned 12!  The little sisters came for a visit!  The Primary hosted the ward Trunk-or-Treat!  The kids celebrated Halloween at school! Throw in sewing a couple of costumes, having my last two very longest marathon training runs, a whole handful of subbing days, a book club, and I wondered, can life get any funner?!

Let's look back at the State Fair:

We missed the fair last year.  I have a sneaking suspicion that last October was almost as awesome as this October, and so I was eliminating non-essential events.  But this year, with Henry on the brink of his 12th birthday, he picked "State Fair" as his family birthday outing.  He had heard about the Krispy Kreme Bacon Cheese Burger, that he missed last year, and he was NOT going to miss it again for a second year in a row.  So we took him to the State Fair!

The Krispy Kreme Bacon Cheese Burger.

We bought one, and passed it around:

The verdict was that it was mysteriously delicious!  All encouraged me to partake.  Unfortunately, my very forceful aversion to hamburgers prepared in public place prohibited me from partaking.  But these pictures almost make me feel like I know what it tasted like, no?

Next up on our fried food agenda was to try the fried Twinkie:

Hopefully you know us better than to think that we stopped there. We still had the fried Oreos, fried cookie dough, and fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich (and of course corn dogs and cheese fries hardly count as special fair food, right?)...

Henry's 12-inches of fried cookie dough.  His special birthday treat selection.

Lest you think we only attended the Fair to eat fried stuff, Ruby's particular wish of seeing the pig races was also fulfilled,

And even somehow we convinced the girls that they should see the World's Smallest Woman.

Rounding out this amazing cultural event with a bit of cow milking and a sidewalk magic show.

Wrapping the evening up before anyone could even talk us into the Fried Kool Aid.

Henry's stomach was so upset the next morning that he needed a full day off of school to recover from his ordeal!  Leading me to wonder, if the NC State Fair will ever see us again?!

Long Live October!

Beauty.

Last week I finished another dress.  Dress details can be obtained HERE.  As a result, on this lovely fall afternoon I had my ladies in toe as we went to the edge of the forest to snap a few photos in the dwindling light of day.  When I got home and was looking through the assortment of images, I was struck with the beauty of it all.  

Hoping to remember that the real beauty is often found in the small and simple moments of life. 

In case you're wondering...

In case you are wondering what Darin gave me for my birthday, click on over to MOM and you can see for yourself...

P.S.  Thanks to everyone for all of the birthday well wishes.  I had a lovely time getting older.  All is well.  

Z Sisters

Annee:

Last Two Weeks-ish:

• Amber came to visit!  We haven't had a visit like that in ages.  We spent our days doing a morning workout, followed often by lunch and a bit of sight seeing or shopping.  We'd come home and help out around the house, then prepped-up for our night time activities of going to the movies, TV viewing, crafting, or more shopping.  It was delightful.  I'm so glad she came.  Not sure I've talked that much since, who knows when!  During conference Amber also baked us a small bakery worth of homemade goodness.  She is a bit of a whiz in the kitchen!  Her pumpkin cookies single handedly ruined all of my previous efforts at sliming and trimming, but what good is life if one cannot enjoy pumpkin cookies with frosting in October?!  
• Turned 34.  I think that's okay.  At least I'm not 35!  Yikes, that sounds totally old.  Totally.  
• Ran 18 miles on Saturday.  It was so much better than my 17 mile run.  I was so relieved.  After my 17 mile run I was worried that I wasn't a marathon runner anymore.  This one felt good, not great, but good.  I'll take that! 
• Substitute taught two days.  Volunteered at the book fair one day. Volunteered in Jane's class room one day. I think I was at the school everyday.  I'm happy about that.
• Finished a quilt!  It might be the sweetest quilt you've seen.  

This Week:

• Blog about my big birthday sewing room makeover.  Darin outdid himself.  It's amazing!!  
• Make something amazing come out of my new amazing sewing studio!  Amazing!
• Mail some stuff.  Why is this so hard for me to do?!
• Two days of subbing already on the agenda.  
• I need to re-listen to conference.  Turns out I was kind of sleepy last weekend.  Though we fully listened to a couple of the sessions, I can't really remember anything.  That means I wasn't really listening.  This time I'll listen during the day, while sewing stuff.  I can concentrate so much better that way!  Me, listening to conference on the couch= naptime.
• Get a massage on Tuesday.  I must do this!!  If not Tuesday, then Wednesday.  If not Wednesday, than Thursday.  You get the picture.  It must happen.
• Saturday, 20 mile long run!  Brace myself.  
• Probably a million other mom-related items should be on this agenda.  I just can't think of them all right now.  Maybe I should just have on my agenda, "be the world's best mom".  That should cover my bases, right?!

Ie Li:

Last Week:

• Fell in love with William.  I looked at his pictures over and over.  He is just the roundest, cutest baby!  Congrats to Ana and Zack!
• Went apple picking and to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum with Michi and all the kids on Wednesday.
• Ran three times, including a six-miler on Friday.
• Painted the kitchen mirror black.
• Left the kids at home with Michi and flew to LA with Steve on Saturday morning.  My dad picked us up and we met my mom at the temple to perform some family temple work.  We went straight to Will K.'s wedding after that.   It was a beautiful day and Will and Joanna made a very handsome couple.  Steve and I were two of eight guests that were not full Asian.  :)
• Finished The Good Earth. It's amazing what you can do on a five hour plane ride with no kids.  I read and slept. 
• On Sunday, we came home to our children, an apple pie, hand apple pies, applesauce, folded laundry, and a smiling Michiko!  Amazing.
• Said goodbye to Michiko and boys.  It was sad.

This Week:

• Run
• Wake up early everyday
• Host book club
• Stephen's pumpkin patch field trip
• Mei Li's school fall festival

Rachel:

Last Week

• Used a ton of farmer's market veggies to make beef stew, roasted vegetable pasta, cauliflower soup and pizza last week(s).  That's a lot of not eating out!  Go us.
• Took a pizza making kit and cupcakes to a family in our ward who needed it.  It was a fun project.
• My conference weekend was blown to pieces by a frustrating co-worker.  I found out Friday said co-worker is quitting after 10/15.  Wow!
• Got to talk to everyone on Mom's bady on a family conference call.
• Bought new tires for Ken's truck
• Steve Jobs died!  I was totally surprised and sad about it all.  He had a huge impact on our world and, in an interesting way, on the growth of the church.  Big deal.
• Went to the Everybody Wins info lunch and signed up.  
• JRCLS Religious Liberty dinner at Mayflower Hotel downtown on Thursday night.  I left the office at 5pm and we didn't get there until 7:40pm.  Terrible traffic.  
• We babysat our friend's baby on Friday while the friend interviewed at Deloitte. 
• Helped Ken apply to a great real estate consulting job at Jones Lang LaSalle.  Do you know anyone who works there?
• Spent Saturday working and sleeping and NOT apple picking like I wanted to.  That was sad.

This Week

• Last week of busy season.  I really don't want to work Saturday but I probably just shouldn't get my hopes up.
• For heaven sake we must finish our taxes.  What is wrong with me.  
• Finalize our photo outfits.  Photos are on Sunday afternoon in MD.
• Last week we were asked to do the decorations for the ward Halloween party on Oct 29.  Wow!  Big job.  I've got tons of ideas and I'm really excited.  (Actually, Ken was given the assignment through the Elder's quorum.  But seriously?  I think I'll take the lead on this one.)  What should Ken and I wear as a costume???
• Light the Night walk for Leukemia on Saturday evening.  Steve is the office rep so we gotta support.
• Bday party for a friend's 1 year old on Saturday in MD. Gift ideas?
• Get a manicure and eyebrows waxed.

Christine:

Last week:  

- Worked Monday-Thursday.  I guess a lot of people were sick or just not showing up and they kept calling me in to pick up shifts.  I was happy for the hours, but they weren't really the best hours.  Monday night I was there until 2am getting the store ready for a possible visit from some of the top guys in the company (which never happened) and then closed the other three nights as well.  

- Made a last minute trip to spend the weekend in Morgantown.  Got to finally experience some WVU football which was a lot of fun and have otherwise been enjoying the great fall weather and gorgeous fall foliage.  

- Worked more on getting settled into my bedroom.  I think I finally have everything organized and in its place, now maybe I get to move onto the fun part of decorating a little.  

- Didn't run, didn't study.  Total fails there.  

Next week: 

- Work Monday and Tuesday.  

- One of my best friends from home, Kim Chau is coming to visit me!  She gets in Tuesday night and leaves Friday early morning, so it's a quick trip, but I'm so excited and sure it'll be full of some great times.  

- Jon's coming to town for the weekend.  WVU football has a bye week, so it's an acceptable weekend for him to leave Morgantown for the weekend :) 

- Not a whole lot on the agenda for the week, but I'm sure it'll be a very full, busy, fun week!

Sarah:

Last week:

• Put on our last Rooftop Concert for the season. It was a little dicey there because of the weather, but we finally made the decision to move down to the lower level and it all worked out just fine. I was so convinced the weather would clear up so that was a little disappointing - and quite remarkable how totally accurate the forecast was this time. The Lower Lights played great as usual with some die hard fans coming in from Arizona, St George, and Seattle.
• Sewed curtains for the living room - I was totally going to hire someone to do it, but in the end ran out of time so it was fastest to just do it myself - and of course after doing it myself I thought that would have been pretty ridiculous to pay someone to sew those straight hems. I still want to add grommets to the top, but I'm pretty happy with how it's all turned out
• Hosted Webb & Laurel, and Stephanie, Peter & Tommy here for the weekend. The boys had such a great time riding bikes, playing, and just hanging out together - those experiences together are priceless. Webb, Laurel & Stephanie were super helpful watching the kids all day while Scott and I were busy setting up for the concert. It was a very low-key weekend but so great to spend time together.
• Pulled an all-nighter on Thursday on purpose to catch up on a work project. Pulled an all-nighter on Friday quite by mistake when Huck woke up ready to play at 2am when we were going to sleep after the concert.
• Let the fam in on our big news - we're having a baby in June. We're mostly scared and a little excited. Other than being extra hungry, I'm feeling totally fine.

Next week:

• Start Christmas shopping. Wouldn't that be nice? I really want to.
• Catch up on general mothering - laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning. Everything fell by the wayside last week
• More work catchup - hopefully doesn't have to be an all-nighter this time if I make good use of my days.
• Run & yoga a couple times
• Decide/purchase ticket for Richmond Nov 12
• Pull out fall decorations - do we have any?! Maybe we need to get some.

I'll be back.

Christine is hosting Z sisters this week, in case you were wondering.  You're welcome to catch a glimpse over there.  I promise I'll be back here soonish with a more comprehensive update.  I honestly feel like I need to move back to Korea, or keep my kids home from school more often.  There isn't much to tell.  I know you don't just want to hear about where Darin and I went out to eat TWICE last week.  Surely there is more to life than that.  

Maybe.  

I don't know.  

Over and out.

Checking in...

Hi.  Do you "pin" on Pinterest?  If you don't, I'll bet some of your friends do.  I don't "pin" very often.  I only have the little pin tool on one of my three computers.  But I have the iphone app, so often when I'm stopped at a boring red light, or in the carpool lane at school, I check in with my app and see what people are pinning.  The best service Pinterest has offered to me lately, is recipes for dinner time!  My sister Rachel is almost a pro at pinning.  But she's totally a pro at internet searching in general, so I'm not really surprised that her pins are so high quality.  Last week, or the week before, she pinned a picture of a canning jar in which someone had baked chili topped with cornbread.  Something about that totally caught my interest, and I knew I wouldn't sleep well until I just tried it.

Here was the original photo:

Haha!  Here is mine:

Mine did not turn out half as cute.  But when it's dinner time, "cute" is hardly the point!!  They were tasty.  I could have eaten them for dinner every night for a week.  The ground turkey was so much better than your standard ground beef in a regular chili recipe.  My kids don't love chili.  But they LOVED that cornbread topping (I reduced the sugar from 3/4 cups to 1/2 cups).  I don't care if everyone loves what I make, I only care that they all learn how to try new things.  Want the recipe?  Here's the link.

I feel like having a new motto: "If you pin it, I will make it."  The worst part about cooking dinner at home every single night is having to come up with what should be for dinner.  Now with all of my friends pinning fun new recipes onto their "boards" that question could easily be answered for me almost nightly!  Awesome.  Also thanks to Pinterest, I have found a great new white bread recipe.  We've made it twice already.  Here you go, CLICK.

P.S. If you are pinning recipes on Pinterest, please make sure I know about it.  Thanks.

Two more things,  Z Sister Update is over at Ie Li's this week.  Watch out, Christine looks like she's wearing a raccoon on her head.  It's not for the faint of heart.

Second thing, I love my latest creation for my ladies.  Details are posted over at MOM.  It was a labor of love, but so are they.  There is a beautiful metaphor in there somewhere.  Mostly I just like to make stuff.  Chili in a jar, or dresses for little girls.  It's all the same.  It keeps life beautiful!

1st Day

First, a tiny bit of recap.  We went to the beach one last time before school started.  The beach quilt made it out on the sand for one final time of the season.

I will miss our long and lazy summer days.  I'm glad we lived it up as best we could.  I will miss staying up late and sleeping in just as late.  I will miss taking road trips and visiting with friends.  I will not miss the heat or the humidity.  I will miss their summer bronzed skin.

Long Live Summer!

The day after we went to the beach, my sister Rachel was pinning smoothie recipes over on Pinterest.  One pin in particular required me to call her immediately and make sure she was feeling okay.  It had spinach in it.  

Me: "Hey, that monster smoothie is full of spinach.  Are you sure you want to make that?"

Rachel: "Yeah, I think we need to eat more spinach probably"

Me: "Okay, I'll try it for you and give you a full review.  But it sounds gross".  

Rachel: "Okay, let me know".  

The next day, I made the monster smoothie.  It was not gross.  I have made it again since.  I think eating more spinach is probably super important.  Maybe.  I have to say, when I made it the second time, all my berries were frozen berries.  It tasted a lot better.  I just think it's the kind of drink that should be cold, not room temperature.  Just trust me on that one:

I couldn't let summer end, and the kids go back to school without one final celebration.  I sampled my crowd to figure out what most would be excited about.  It came down to our cookie dough cupcakes.  Though I bought vanilla frosting to top them with, to simply avoid the whole "I hate cream cheese frosting" debate, when it came time to frost them, I just thought to myself that I could do better than store bought vanilla.  I did a quick google search on the infamous cookie dough cupcakes and found one clever girl who invented a cookie dough frosting to go on top of them!  Friends, it is frosting that tastes just like cookie dough batter.  It is the most clever frosting I have ever tasted.  Please try some soon.

    You need the recipe?  Okay, here you GO!  You're welcome. 

(Just so you know, I used a plain old box mix for my cupcakes, and toll house cookie dough in a tube for the filling.  The only part of the above recipe I used was for the frosting.  Someday I'll go all out.  But I'm not sure if it's necessary.) 

The day after the cookie dough cupcakes was the first day of school.  Can you believe I sent my oldest off to middle school?  He seems completely unfazed by the experience.  I guess that means it's a success so far.  

Here's my cute crowd all full of summer memories and cupcakes:

Middle Schooler:

4th Grader:

1st Grader:

Other 1st Grader:

I am slightly biased, but I think these are the greatest kids on the planet.  I love spending my life with them, and I love watching them grow up and blossom into who they were meant to be.  

Long Live School Year 2011-12!

Z sister update.

Annee:

(Do you have the pocketbooth app?  Maybe you should.) 

Last Week:

• Missed the Rebecca Skloot speech at NC State.  We had just returned from Hotlanta the night before.  The house and our lives were somewhat in chaos.  Stepping out of the house at 4:30pm to not return before 9 or 10 seemed like a risky move.  But Darin and I both agreed we needed a little date.  We opted to leave the house around 7.  Eat a simple dinner out, and then head over to the theater to see if we could still catch a showing of "The Help".  Darin didn't know a thing about it.  Except he thought it was going to be a girly movie.  I think he actually really liked it.  
• Hosted my Cooking Club.  I haven't laughed that long or that hard in a long time!  Were we laughing about lemonade?!  Let me just say, everything is hilarious at cooking club.  And the food is always delicious.  I made Mango Lassis as our cocktail.  And I brought THIS as my dish.  The day after cooking club, I had to try this Brazilian Lemonade recipe which was such a delightful summer nightcap.  
• Finished my quilt!!!!  Oh man did that feel great!
• Had a tri-ward primary meeting to clean out the nursery toys!  It lasted a few hours.  At the end, I decided I needed to go watch a movie.  I wanted to catch "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" before it left the foreign film theater.  But somehow my request got confused as I was buying my ticket.  When the movie started I realized I was in the theater for "Queen of Play".  In the end, I decided to just stay.  I do love an evening spent listening to French. As a side note, I was once again reminded of a fashion principle that most real French women have.  They have only a few key pieces to their wardrobes.  They are usually high quality and really well fitting.  They wear them often and repeatedly, changing out accessories, shoes, or whatever.  I think it's not about quantity to the French, it's about quality, and how well it fits.  I think this was a good reminder for me.  (PS-I'm kind of sad that I missed Snow Flower.  It was one of the best books I read this year.)
• Took the kids and some friends to the beach on Friday.  I'm so glad we've figured out how to do the beach as a day-trip.  All that vitamin D does something for my soul.  
• Ran 13 miles on Saturday which brought my weekly total up to around 34.  I really need the tempts to start cooling off.  The miles just keep climbing from here on out!  
• We took a trip to Atlanta.  It remains completely undocumented.  It was a fabulous trip.  We all had such a great time.  I should document it.  

This week:

• Back to school night for Henry is on Monday night.  Good thing too, we don't have a clue about what to expect out of the 6th grade.  Not a clue!  Good thing he is so easy going.  He doesn't seem to even mind that he doesn't know a thing about what to expect at his new middle school!!
• Tuesday Darin goes back to school.  I think he's going to miss his epic summer break.
• Tuesday the elementary school will post their teacher lists and host a back-to-school/meet-your-teacher event that night.  Big day around here!  
• Wednesday we will do something to commemorate the end of a tremendous summer!  A special dinner?  A special outing?  Maybe a special dessert?  
• Thursday-EVERYONE GOES TO SCHOOL.  Oh how I hope it all goes well.  This is going to be a huge transition for all of us.  We sure love staying up late and sleeping in late.  
• Host a baby shower on Saturday.  I really want it to be cute.  I better start working on that!

Sarah:

Last Week:

• Hired a couple guys to come over and finally move postal box cabinet into the house. I've cleaned about half of it - my fingers are sore from opening the little latches so much
• Was recognized by a woman in a store from being on Courtney's blog
• Went to Velour one night to see a band who wants to play at the Rooftop Concert Series next year - hung out with Tyler Glenn (lead singer from Neon Trees)
• Felt pretty cool for having such famous friends, and then spent the bulk of my day on Saturday in front of a computer writing code which reinforced my innate nerdiness
• Back-to-school shopping for the boys was done online this year - new shoes and new tshirts for the first day. We'll build up a fall/winter wardrobe when the weather calls for it.
• Didn't get to bed earlier than 2am any nights this week, which meant I didn't get to get up to exercise at all. Someday.
• Finally forced June to try out the "big slide" at 7-peaks holding her tight on my lap in spite of her kicking and screaming. She said she hated it at the time, but when Scott got home she was so proud to report to him that she'd done it. The next day she wanted to do it again. Had to pay Brenden to babysit Huck in the baby pool.
• Huck figured out how to go under water and loves to show off his "new trick". He comes up every time with such a surprised face - doesn't ever close his mouth or eyes
• All 4 kids got haircuts! I let them go all summer long but it was finally time. Wow they look so much better.

This Week:

• BACK TO SCHOOL!!!! That's it. I can't think beyond that. I'm so excited to get back to a routine. I'm sure once things pick up again and get crazy with homework and projects and making lunches I'll look back longingly at our lazy summer schedule, but I don't care. For now I'm just excited.
• Cub Scouts committee meeting
• Wasatch Elementary fall festival silent auction planning meeting
• Rooftop Concert Series volunteer meeting
• RACHEL COMES TO TOWN!!! Paper chain has been made
• Lower Lights fireside in SLC
• Lower Lights recording this weekend
• Need to take a trip to SLC to go to Anthropology during Friends & Family week - will this be our last one?! Consider buying this from Urban Outfitters. Shoot - looks like the table I was going to get is already gone. WILL I EVER LEARN?!?!
• Finish cleaning the postal cabinet and put the room back together
• Buy mirror - I've been shopping antique stores for a round gilded mirror for the living room, and of course have regretted not getting the first one I saw on my hunt. Hopefully it will still be there. 
• Hire a yard crew. I give up. I need to take something off my plate and it should probably be the yard work. 
• Cook at least one crock pot meal - gotta get back to cooking dinner!

Ana:

Last Few Weeks:

• Real Life exploded.  I discovered a development problem at work which had me having to work 8+ hours a day while taking care of Jack.  Most days I am grateful for my job...but not this month.  Our internet broke during month end and I had to go to work at Kinkos until the wee hours of the morning,  we had 4 ant appointments to try to deal with our ongoing ant problem, plumbing appointments for leaking sinks, DMV appointments, doctors appointments, unpacked boxes taunting me, a fridge that broke down for a week, a broken dish disposal, a call from the school district informing us that Jack is the only Kindergartener in our area that they don't have space for causing me to fly into mad panic and spend my free time checking out the other options in the district, stomach pain causing me to spend the day at the hospital as they worried I was having an appendicitis, and Jack sick with a high fever.  All of this pushed me beyond my pregnancy hormonal breaking point and I called my mom in tears and flew her out to help me in early August.  She leaves on the 31st and I am way more prepared to handle life then I was a month ago.  Moms are the best.

This next week:

• Finish fixing the work problems before this baby decides to show up and add another element of chaos to my life!-Take Jack to Kindergarten orientation on Friday to meet his teacher and other kids in his class (school starts Monday the 29th).  They have a "Boo Hoo Breakfast" for the Kindergarten parents after we drop off our kids on Monday.  Jack thinks this idea is hilarious.  That me and the other moms are going to go eat breakfast and cry.  Someday little boy your wife will understand.
• My final ultrasound at 34 weeks.  This will be the deciding factor on whether we prepare for a scheduled c-section most likely between 37-38 weeks if my placenta previa hasn't completely resolved itself.  Also, we found out the baby was breech at an appointment last week when the silly nurse couldn't find the heartbeat for five minutes causing me to go back into full panic attack.  It took the doctor 10 seconds to find it and pronounce the baby breech giving me a second condition that would require a c-section more then likely at 39 weeks.  Monday is the ultrasound so fingers crossed!
• Celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary!  I couldn't have asked for a kinder, more loving man then Zack.  Seriously his patience, love and understanding continually make me the luckiest.
• Research car crash safety ratings and purchase an infant seat so if this baby comes in the next 3 weeks we will be able to take it home with us.-Decide on a name for this dear baby.  It took me 3 weeks to actually call Jack by his name.  I now love that he is Jack, so I might just have to accept that I might not be in love with any boy name from the get go. 

Ie Li:

Last Week:

• Last swim lessons of the summer.  Sad.
• Visiting teaching
• Temple with Steve.
• Babysat for a friend.
• Painted the interior of my front door black.  It was all very impulsive, but I like the results.
• Started sanding down a side table in preparation for painting.
• Steve completed his first drywall repair job.  He did a great job.
• Got the okay from my doctor to start running.  I do need to buy new running shoes.  It turns out that I pronate, even though all these years of going to specialty running stores, told me otherwise.
• Made my first truly delicious loaves of 100% whole wheat bread.
• Received letters in the mail revealing the teachers of my children this school year.  

Next Week:

• Visit friends
• Start running
• Live up the last week of summer.  School starts on the 29th!

Rachel:

Last Week:

• We saw The Help and it was amazing.  Seriously one of the best movies I've seen in so long.  
• Visited Uncle John's house on Lake Wynona!  It's a pretty small lake.  It was really fun to go tubing.  Too bad the boat ran out of gas!  I'd really like to go water skiing again.  Ken and Steve were pro.  
• Sadly did not go see Rebecca Skloot's speech at UNC.  I hope Annee will give us a report.
• Chatted with Summer for 2 hours!  So good to catch up.  We're figuring out how we can live nearby each other again within the next 5 years.  CO maybe?  
• Saw lovely pictures of Tracy's wedding from mom.  So happy for her.
• Got a haircut.  The girl didn't do as good this time.  Darn it!!  
• A major rain storm knocked out our power on Friday night so we up and went to the movies to see One Day with Anne Hathaway.  Overall it wasn't that great of a movie.  But it did make Ken really sad.    
• Pre-shopped with CZ for Anthro Days.
• Looked into Ceramic wheel throwing classes in the area.  I plan to start one up right after October 15.  So excited!!

This Week:

• I'm going to Utah!  I'll be there Thursday through Sunday morning.  I chose to fly out of Provo because I'm curious to test it out.  Can't wait!  I wish Ken could come.  He is teaching 50 hours for Kaplan this week.  Yikes.
• I have a running list of Utah to-dos (aside from obvious family time!).  There's a fabric store I want to visit, check for treasures at Downeast and any antique stores, hike the Y, pick up my scrapbook supplies from the storage unit, run in Provo canyon (or bike ride with dad?), bring back bottles of our favorite salsa and some fry sauce.
• Did you know they discontinued my favorite kind of garments?  I bought out all the warehouse's remaining stock.  There's one more store I can check in UT.  Sad.
• Continue to plan our Christmas Card!  I can't stop thinking about it!  I'm so excited.  We have our photos booked with BlueLily.  Now I just need to plan our outfits, design the card, send it off to  Rowley Press, etc.
• Finish our wedding album.  The pictures expire online on Labor Day.  
• Figure out if Ken's sister will visit us over Labor Day.  Sounds fun!

Christine:

Last couple weeks: 

- Looked at more houses and apartments.  I think I've pretty much narrowed it down, though I'm terrible at actually pulling the trigger and making a decision.  

- Went to the zoo.  I'd like to take more advantage of all of the free activities in DC, so Jon and I ventures out to the zoo one day.  It was pretty fun and luckily not too hot.

- Enjoyed 24 hours up at Uncle John's lake house.  I thought it was a perfect little introduction to the area and I loved the time on the boat! (and I'm glad we didn't break it!)  

- Worked a few shifts at Anthropologie.  It's been pretty slow at the store and I don't have a ton of hours, but I've been enjoying getting to know the people at this store and seeing the differences.  Remember Anthro days starts today!! 

- Saw Crazy, Stupid, Love and The Help.  I loved The Help and definitely shed a few tears, I thought it was a pretty great representation of the book.  I ended up going to see it by myself after accidentally falling asleep in my car after work one day when I was supposed to meet Rachel and Ken to go see it.  By the time I woke up and walked into the theater pretty close behind the Fitzgeralds, the movie was sold out.  Pretty big fail right there.  

- Did a day trip to the beach!!  Tuesday I went with some friends to Rehoboth Beach and I loved it!!  We left super early at 5:30 and got there in two hours, had breakfast, then sat on the beach until we left at 2.  I was glad to see that a day trip to the beach is possible and hopefully will do a few more before the weather turns too cold.  I always love seeing the differences between west coast and east coast beaches.  

- Drove to Morgantown on Saturday to visit for a few days and participate in all of the festivities that are taking place as school starts back up.  It's interesting being in a college town at the start of a school year and not be going back to school myself.  I'll be honest I don't envy any of them at all as I see them all getting ready for classes.  I'm definitely happy to be done with school.  (Though I'm not sure that actually means I'm ready to start working a real job, eep!) 

Next week:

- Hopefully make a final decision on an apartment.  I know this has been on my to-do list for awhile now and it's getting down to the wire.  My future roommate, Jaklyn, is driving out labor day weekend, hopefully I have a place for her to land!  

- Work Wednesday and Saturday and possibly try to pick up some other shifts.  

- Possibly try to go to the beach on Friday.  I don't have work or anything else and now that I know it's possible the lure is hard to resist.

- Buy a plane ticket to Utah.  I'm hoping to go visit at the beginning of September.  It's possible I'm missing the Utah based part of the family and feel like I still have some lose ends to tie up at my old house and whatnot.

- Run a few times.  I've actually been doing pretty good about running at least a couple times a week which is pretty big for me.    

- Try to figure out some way to go riding.  With all this free time I really would like to find a barn that I could start riding at now and then continue once I start working.  

- There's not a whole lot on this list, my days are pretty spontaneous lately, not really planned out too much.  

Mom:

This just in...Mom said it's a sneak peak of more to come.  I'm excited for her update.  Where is this picture taken?!