Happy Birthday Kristine!

Today is my boss's birthday. To celebrate the other secretaries and I got her a pretty bouquet of flowers. (Thanks to Erin for her expert arrangement skills!)


Then for lunch we all headed to Brick Oven, a little pizza place close to campus, and enjoyed a wonderful lunch. I think i ate plenty for the rest of the day but that's OK because it was a special day!

So Happy Birthday Kristine!

Being Silly

Ok so this really is a hilarious site and, lets be honest, i have nothing better to do than...

Peter Pan! I just got slapped with a wet salmon - really - I have not updated this since people stopped clapping and Tinkerbell died... You would not believe I spend all my time in front of a computer. Seriously!.

I am absolutely consumed with responding to fanmail, planning my wedding, just generally being a Darling to society in general, my day drifts aimlessly from sun-up to I feel like going to bed. I am smitten. but this damned rock is heavy.

I make a solemn vow if one more person emails me to ask why I haven't posted today I will start posting pictures of toe fungus, or fecal murals. You wanna test me? Until my paycheck dawneth..

More summer excitement

So life is pretty boring/normal at the moment. The next two weeks will get more exciting. Next Wednesday David, Carolyn, and I are heading to Denver for a long weekend. David's best friend is getting married so we're going to that and Carolyn is bumming a ride :) It'll be fun to get away again, the last little getaway before school starts up again in a month.

While we're in Denver my family will meet us there and then head out to Utah for a little vacation. It will be nice to have them here and spend some time with them. The visit is 1/4 to see me and 3/4 to see my grandma but it will be fun. We'll just kind of hang out. Try and find some fun things to do. It'll be a good visit.

So that's the end of the summer excitement. Hope to see everyone in Denver while we're there!

More Hip Drama

Nothing really new is going on in my life.

I had a drama filled Friday. I went to the doctor about my hip and he said that there is a tear and blah blah. I already knew that. So he wanted me to get this huge surgery. Like i would be in the hospital for a few days, on crutches for a few months, then physical therapy for a few more months. I scheduled the surgery and proceeded to freak out. After thinking about my options all weekend i decided that I don't want the surgery so I'm not going to do it. I promise i wasn't quite as flippant as i sound. The thing is that it's not that painful for me so i would rather not have a huge surgery that will make it more painful. So yesterday i called around and found a different doctor to go see. I think I'll like this Doctor better. I talked to his nurse and she said that he's very conservative about ordering surgery. He also does the simple surgery so if i do need surgery he may be able to do that. So I'm looking forward to talking to him in August. So the saga continues....next installment August 20th :)

Just call me Suzie Homemaker!

I'm bored, tired, and a little cranky. This post really has no point. I'm just sitting at work with nothing to do. I haven't been good at getting to bed at a decent hour this week and I'm starting to feel the effects (tiredness and crankiness). Luckily, tomorrow is a paid holiday, thank you Utah, and I'm really looking forward to it! I can't wait to sleep in, do breakfast/lunch club, and just relax.

Keeping myself busy at work has been a challenge. There is really hardly anything. And if there is my miracle something to do it takes all of 10 minutes and then I'm back to starting at blogs, facebook, and hoping someone will get on gmail chat. I've never been good at finding interesting stuff online so i get pretty bored. However, a few weeks ago an old co-worker came back to visit and said that while she was bored at work she put together a cook book. Genius! It takes up the time, it's enjoyable (if you like cooking), and it's productive.

So lately I've been bringing my few cookbooks to work and typing up the recipes that i like. I've been searching my favorite recipe website too and getting lots of good stuff. Carolyn also wants to be in on the cookbook thing so we are doing one together. She is getting all of her recipes together too. It's going to be fantastic. I'm super excited about having my own little cookbook of food i know i like. The great thing for all of you is that we've decided to give our cookbook to friends and family for Christmas so expect a bunch of amazing recipes end of this year!

I'm hoping/expecting that when school starts I'll have enough reading to keep me busy during most of the down time at work. I hope so anyway. If not I'll definitely have to find another little project to keep me busy. Any ideas?

Apparently I'm an intense athlete!

I got home from church yesterday and got some bad news...surgery is in my future. BOO!!! Yay for the hospital they finally got the MRI to my uncle and he was able to look it over and decide what's wrong with me. The verdict is that it's a Labral tear which i guess is a tear in the cartilage around my hip socket. They can repair it with surgery. The only thing is that the surgery is relatively new so i have to make sure and get a doctor who has done a lot of them or else it might not be successful. They should be able to do the surgery anthroscopically which is less intrusive and easier to recover from. I've been doing some research online and even doing it anthroscopically I'll have to take a week and do nothing afterward and then I'll probably be on crutches for a week or two then i have a couple months of physical therapy. All in all, it'll probably be 3 months after my surgery that I'll be fully functional again. The only good thing about this is that after it's all taken care of i should be able to start running again. This is just what I've found out from my uncle and my own research. I meet with my specialist on Friday and I'll have a better idea of when I'll be doing all this fun stuff. Carolyn and I have decided that there will be a pre-surgery party just because we can so we'll keep you all posted for when that will be :)

Funny note: While i was researching yesterday most of the sites i found about labral tears and surgery talked about how it happens to professional athletes who run 100 miles a week. Yeah so i really don't know how it happened to me but whatever.

In other (less depressing) news, the weekend was great. David and I went to see Dark Knight on Friday and it was amazing! A great last little splurge before we start being really cheap (we're putting ourselves on a budget because we're not saving as much as we'd like). We also went to a birthday party for a friend on Saturday and made amazing fajitas and picked apricots from some trees near my apartment. And we've been getting me caught up on Heroes, it's a pretty fun show. And that was my weekend.

Venting

NOT!!!!

I'm starting to hate the medical world. So you know how I had to take care of forwarding my MRI again after asking the hospital to do it once. Deja vu...my uncle still hasn't received the MRI. So i called the hospital again. This time she's going to overnight it and put a tracking number on it. So yeah, I'm totally calling back tomorrow to check up and see if the third time's the charm. If they haven't sent it out by tomorrow I don't know what to do.

Other hospital stupidity....Billing. I got a bill in the mail last week. I went online to pay it on Monday and it said that i had a balance of $0. I called billing to make sure there wasn't a mistake. The lady called me back yesterday and said that my balance is $0. So, cautious like i am, i went online to double check this morning. Surprise! my balance is now more than double what the bill said. What?! So i call again and the lady tells me that they added new charges and they are re-billing the insurance company. I asked if i should pay the bill now or wait for a new bill to come. Her brilliant answer "It's up to you. We won't say no to your money." Nice, real nice. So I'm so unimpressed with the hospital now that I'm done. No more injuries for me...ever! Maybe i won't be having babies because I can't deal with the stupid hospital.

In other frustration...I'm having to redo all of the textbook orders at work because the girl who was in charge of them and just left screwed them up royally. I'm pretty stressed out with that right now. Hopefully things are getting fixed now, before the semester starts. If there are problems the first day of school I'm going to have a herd of angry professors blaming me. Not enjoyable.

So there is my venting for the day. Other than that life is great. I guess i shouldn't complain. Life would be pretty boring without stupid people to keep everyone on their toes.

Looked fun

To try it out go here.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
Philadelphia
The South
The Inland North
The West
The Northeast
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Rafting Pictures

So the rafting company contracts with a photo place to document the event. Sweet to have pictures but no way am I paying for them :) So...To see pictures of us rafting go here. The first 5 are of us. It was sweet!

Hooray for boobies!!!

...because saving them lets me go to Moab for the most amazing weekend vacation yet!

The weekend was amazing, beautiful, spectacular, enlightening, and oh so much fun! First of all, thanks to Sukie for finding this! I hope that more people can make it next year for the annual trip :)

Let me preface this post by saying that I have wanted to go to Moab for the past 4 years after hearing amazing stories from my climbing friends. Although I didn't get to go climbing this trip, I must say that Moab was everything that i had imagined and more and I have many trips beginning to be planned out it my head to get back there soon.


We got into town Friday evening and checked in with the rafting company and picked up our sweet t-shirts and started getting really excited for the next day.


Then we checked into our camp ground which to say the least was a bit ghetto. Definitely not ruffing it but it was still fun. The boys were quite disappointed that it wasn't "real" camping but that's this weekend's adventure so they got over it. That night we had some dinner, hot dogs for David and I and salmon and shrimp for the gourmet chef/David's roommate, Nate. It was really fun. It was pretty hot that night so we just slept on top of our sleeping bags and tried to get comfortable on the ground, something that is not as easy as it used to be (getting old :)


The next morning we got up early and got all ready for our exciting rafting adventure! It was so much fun! Our guide was so much fun and the other people on our raft were fun. We got lucky because we didn't have any young kids or older people on our raft and consequently we got to hit the good spots of the rapids and do lots of fun games and tricks with our raft and group. There was also amazingly breathtaking scenery and i enjoyed just taking in the beauty. Needless to say, rafting is my new favorite hobby/sport and I'm wanting to go on a longer 3-6 day trip in the next year. It would be so much fun!


After our rafting trip we had a couple hours before the dinner/concert so we went back to our campsite to relax and recover from our eventful day. We walked around town a bit and David got me some cute earrings. He's so great! Then we headed back to the rafting place for dinner and the concert. Dinner was good and the concert was better than i had anticipated. It was peter Breinholt (sp) and a couple local guys. I'm not usually a big fan of that kind of music but the concert was entertaining and enjoyable.


The next day we packed up camp and went to Arches National Park to do a little hiking(mostly per my request) before we headed back to Provo. I'm so glad that we did. It was amazing! We only had time to hike to Delicate arch but it was great. I definitely want to go back and take a few days to explore more. It was just so beautiful. We started our hike early enough that it wasn't too hot and we got to see the Arch, take some fun pictures, and get back on the road before the worst heat began.

View from the road into Arches

In addition to the pictures i took on the hike, i snapped about 100 pictures just driving too and from the hike. I got carried away but can you blame me? It was gorgeous! I just love the red rock and the formations. It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been!

Delicate Arch- if you look closely you can see David :)

Delicate Arch again

And now for a religious moment... Being surrounded by all of the beauty this past weekend has strengthened my belief in a God that cares for us and knows us and wants us to enjoy our experience here on Earth. I think that it is amazing that God has made the world so beautiful for us to enjoy. To live and survive we don't need to be surrounded by beauty we just need the basics so that we can get food and water. But God has not only given us what we need to survive physically, he has also given us places to enjoy to make life the best "vacation" at the most beautiful vacation spot ever! I've had this realization other times in my life as well but this past weekend has strengthened my testimony of a loving God just a little bit more. "...all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." ~Alma 30:44

Cool Rocks

The three gossips

As i said, it was the best weekend yet, with more great ones to come! The best part of the weekend was getting to be there doing all of those amazing things with David. I love doing fun active stuff together. I'm so lucky that i have him and that he likes to do all the fun things that I do! He's the best!

Pure Bliss

See that? That's my heaven (is that blasphemous? oops).

I went climbing yesterday for the first time in a month since the most recent hip drama. I took my last evil pill last night (of course i felt sick this morning. It couldn't let me have my last dose peacefully.) David and I were planning on climbing today but then my friend called and said he was coming down yesterday and I went a day early. David didn't come but it was still great! We went up Rock Canyon and just climbed a really easy route. Outdoor climbing is my all time favorite and I haven't climbed outside since before my mission so it was nice to be doing what I love again!

Pure Bliss :)

The route we did is super easy, a 5.6 (ratings range from 5.0 - 5.15), but it was still really fun. I climbed it once and then I decided that i was brave enough to lead it. (If you don't understand the terms I'm using go here.) I was a little scared because it had been so long since I've lead. Before my mission I could lead a 5.10b without a problem and now a 5.6 scares me. Nice. All in all it was a great night and will be repeated often in the future (i hope).

Clip. Yup I'm leading!

Also, I was worried about my hip hurting today. (Last night was kind of the trial run on doing stuff with my hip again.) Well, other than normal soreness from working out after being pretty much sedentary for a month, I'm feeling great. My hip doesn't hurt at all! Yay! Maybe I'm fixed. I want to start running again gradually but I'll hold off on that until I talk to a doctor. But I can live without running if I can rock climb!

Butt Shot :)

I was so happy when I got finished climbing! It was wonderful to not feel like a tub-o-lard anymore! I think I'm addicted to working out. Oh well. There are much worse things to be addicted to right? It was the perfect evening activity! I love summer! I can't wait to graduate and just work and always have my evenings be my own! 4 more classes :)

Sunset from the bottom of the climb. Beautiful huh?!

Professional? I think not.

Medical "professionals" really annoy me. I got my MRI 2+ weeks ago. As I was leaving the hospital I asked to have a copy of the film sent to my uncle who is an orthopedic surgeon. Did the nurse write this request on my form, yes. Did my uncle ever get the film, no. I called the hospital again today and there was no record that it had even been sent. Nice. This time she got the address from me. Let's see if they can get it there this time.

It's the 4th of July!!!

The 4th of July was amazing! I went to Caliente Nevada (population 1132) with David and Carolyn and all the rest of the family. It was great. It was also the smallest town I've ever been to in my life. No chain stores, just a gas station, a couple restaurants, a grocery store and True Value. You can walk from one end of town to the other in 15 minutes. It was a good time. The morning of the 4th we went to the firemen's breakfast and had wonderful pancakes, eggs, sausage. It was fun to get to meet new people and just watch everyone. After that we had the parade which was awesome! Got tons of candy and the sweetest Smokey the Bear pin!


That afternoon we had lunch at the park and got cooled off during the money grab. Every year there is a ton of change scattered and if you want to get some of it you have to venture into the street with the firehoses spraying you. It was awesome and it was actually really nice to cool off. And I made $4.65 :) The rest of the day was spent drying off and relaxing. Later that night it was time for fireworks! Yay! The town all gathered in the part to watch the fireworks and it was a great show. I love fireworks and I love the 4th of July!

Cute Cousins

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and spending time with family. It was such a great weekend! We played games and walked around. I used one of my 4 late-nights-a-year talking to Frik, Carebear, Sukie, and Wudan. Just had fun. No responsibilities for 3 days was the best!

We had a sweet cottage. It smelled like cucumbers (may sound pleasant but no!). We think that the smell was from the paint mixed with the gas (which leaked from the stove, no worries, we cut the gas off). It was nice to have beds for everyone together. It was fun and the cottage was also cool, which was nice during the 100 degree days.

It was a great weekend! Now I just have to make it through the week to my next fun weekend! I love summer and this one is great!

Ps. Sorry again Wudan! I'm a jerk.

Three in one day....Yeah work was boring :)

BLUES (Motive: INTIMACY)

BLUES are motivated by INTIMACY. They seek to genuinely connect with others, and need to be understood and appreciated. Everything they do is quality-based. They are loyal friends, employers, and employees. Whatever or whomever they commit to is their sole (and soul) focus. They love to serve and give of themselves freely in order to nurture others' lives.

BLUES have distinct preferences and have the most controlling personality. Their personal code of ethics is remarkably strong and they expect others to live honest, committed lives as well. They enjoy sharing meaningful moments in conversation as well as paying close attention to special life events (e.g. birthdays and anniversaries). BLUES are dependable, thoughtful, and analytical; but can also be self-righteous, worry-prone, and moody. They are "sainted pit-bulls" who never let go of something or someone once they are committed. When you deal with a BLUE, be sincere and make a genuine effort to understand and appreciate them.

80 Things You Might Not Know About Me

Sorry, had to do this because it is just so ridiculous :)

1. What's your middle name? Marie

2. How big is your bed? twin

3. What are you listening to right now? The buzz of the office lights

4. I erased this question

5. Last person you talked to? Some lady at work.

6. What you can't wait for? 4th of july!

7. How is the weather right now? Sunny and 88

8. Favorite type of Food? Fruit

9. Do you want children? yuppers

10. Ever get so drunk you don't remember the entire night? Don't drink

11. Eye color? Dark Blue

12. Favorite holiday? Not sure. I like holidays and i don't have anything against any of them.

13. Favorite Season? Fall

14. Last Movie you watched? Haven't watched a movie in a while. I watched lots of Heros though.

15. Piercings? my ears

16. Favorite movie? The Terminal, The Bucket List and some more.

17. What were you doing before filling this out? Working

18. Any pets? nope

19. Dogs or Cats? Dogs! Cats are evil.

20. Favorite Flower? I like flowers. I love roses and lilies are becoming favorites too.

21. Who would you like to see right now? David

22. Have you ever fired a gun? no :(

23. Do you like to travel by plane? Love it

24. Right-handed or Left-handed? right

25. If you could go to any place right now where would you go? So many places to choose from...somewhere foreign maybe back to spain :)

26. Are you missing someone? Yup

27. Do you have a tattoo? no

28. Do you still watch cartoons on Saturday morning? no

29. Are you hiding something from someone? no anything important so i guess that would make it not hiding.

30. Are you 18? and then some

31. What's the wallpaper on your cellphone? This fish that looks like Gill from finding nemo

32. Did you get enough sleep last night? what qualifies as enough?

33. First thing you thought about this morning? That i shouldn't have spent so much money last night.

34. What do you have handy by your bedside? Cell phone, scriptures, alarm clock, stacks of books and other random junk that i don't have room for.

35. Birthstone? Blue Topaz

36. Are you afraid of the dark? kind of

37. Favorite song? Don't have an overall favorite.

38. What is your mom's middle name? She doesn't have one

39. Who are your last 5 texts from? David and Carolyn

40. Stuck on a desert island and could take one thing? a good book

Halfway there :)

41. First thing you will save in a fire? my mission journals

42. What is your favorite color? i don't really have favorite color anymore, it used to be blue

43. What are things you always take with you? chapstick, cell phone, keys, wallet

44. What do you do when it turns 11:11? "11:11 make a wish"

45. The color of your bedsheets? Green

46. What do you think about before you go to bed? depends, i'm usually too tired to think before i go to bed

47. Republican or Democrat? Republican morally, Democrat economically (for the things that a canidate can actually change. i hate voting along moral lines, the canidate has minimal control over abortion etc.)

48. Movie you're looking forward to more: Harry Potter 7 or The Hobbit? Neither

49. Any recurring nightmare? Occasionally

50. What car/color do you drive? White Suzuki

51. Better campfire food: s'mores or hot dogs? Hot dogs followed by s'mores

52. Which Harry Potter character are you? I'm not that into it

53. If you could be a fictional character for a day, who would it be? Seriously?

54. Favorite game? Mega monopoly

55. Berries or bananas? Berries

56. Pie or cake? Cake

57. Which is dorkier: speaking Klingon or Elvish? Both

58. What's in your CD player right now? In the house? Viva la vida - Coldplay

59. Classical or jazz? Jazz

60. What was the last concert you attended? long time ago

61. Weekend plans? Weekend getaway to Caliente

62. Summer plans? Work a lot. Not spend as much money as i have been. Going rafting, camping, seeing my family.

63. Have you kept your New Year's resolutions? Didn't make any

64. Any vices you need to destroy? sure

65. Favorite beverage? depends

66. Get pedicures? every now and again

67. What's your earliest memory? I don't know. I don't have an earliest memory

68. Favorite Disney animated feature? Mulan

69. What book(s) are on your bedside table? scriptures

70. What's growing in your garden? I'm gardenless

71. What are you doing today? working, swimming later, getting ready for the weekend getaway see # 61 :)

72. Sunrise or sunset? Sunset

73. Name five things on your life's "to do" list: get married, have kids, travel to every continent, stand on the great wall of china, learn new things

74. Do you have a "happy place"? sure

75. Are you in love? oh so much!

76. Have you ever taken an IQ test? half

77. Picnic or barbecue? barbecue

78. Keep a journal? kind of, it's not a traditional journal

79. Do you believe in fate? No

80. Do you know what your name means? Princess

You made it! You never thought it would happen huh? This was incredibly ridiculous and thus I had to do it. Feel free if you want.

Happy Pioneer Day!

The decorations. Very special huh? We had a lot of fun that friday afternoon creating this wagon train. Haha really hilarious. The best part is that it is super ugly and my boss loves it :) Good times in the office.

In other fun news...I bought a new camera (thus the pictures above :) My old camera is quite old and getting pretty beat up. It was a large purchase for me (the new camera) but it will be a good investment.

Also, my family is coming out in August! Yay for family coming! I'm excited to have them out here and spend some time with them. Good times!

Lastly, I have been going crazy with wedding planning. David and I went to one of my friend's reception on Saturday and we started talking about wedding decoration stuff and it got me thinking and researching (since i have more than plenty of time at work :) I've never really had any ideas of what i wanted or liked but i have found a lot of things that i like and i have a good idea of what i want to do. I guess it's good to have plenty of time to get ideas together now so that i can just throw things together when the time comes. And for all of you that think that this might freak David out, it doesn't. When i tell him about my plans or ideas he tells me I'm cute and a dork then he tickles me but he definitely does freak out. He's the best!