Our 2nd Anniversary

Last week, on August 7th, Eric and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary!  I still can't believe it has been 2 years.  Honestly, sometimes I still can't believe I'm married.  But I certainly feel fortunate that I have found such an incredible and loving husband.

Eric planned his vacation time around our special date, so we made plans for a fun evening.  We drove down to Vancouver to our favorite sushi restaurant.  Then we headed to Portland and saw Jersey Boys.  Our seats were right up front, the music was great (most of which we have all heard over the years,) and the story was both entertaining and interesting.  I will admit that both of us were completely unprepared for the language in the show, but we tried not to let that ruin our evening.  But I wouldn't recommend taking children to seen it. A shame, too, because it really was a great show otherwise.

Again, as I have done so many times over the last two years, I ponder how much my life has changed now that I'm married.  New state, new house, new friends, new life.  It is a life I never would've predicted for myself, but that I am so, so grateful for.  Eric and I have spent a lot of time together over these last 2 weeks during his vacation...working on the house, cleaning the garage, picking out a new door and fixtures now that the house is freshly painted...and in doing these things it just reminds me again how much we are made for each other.  I love the fun we have, the way he teases, the way we communicate and make decisions together.  I love the way we work as a team and how we take care of each other.  I love his devotion to our marriage and to me.

Being married to him is truly a gift, and I look forward to many, many years together.  On to Year Number 3!

Fifty Shades of Embarrassment

I learned a very powerful lesson yesterday.  And though, in my mind, I've done what I needed to do to make it right, it continues to bother me a bit today.  Few were witness to it, fewer would even say that it is worth worrying about, much less writing about.  But it was important to me, therefore it made its way here.

It began two nights ago around midnight.  The house was quiet and dark.  My husband was asleep.  The pets were curled up in their respective nooks.  I was still wide awake and ready to find something new to read.  I had just finished a fun book by I Love Lucy's creator and head writer and I wasn't quite ready to delve into my book club's next selection.  I was in the mood for something light and engaging with a good story.

One of the benefits of having a Kindle is that you can either borrow certain books for free or you can download a sample of a book before committing to buy it.  I looked through the ones available for borrowing and nothing really caught my eye.  As I clicked my way back to the Kindle storefront, I saw Fifty Shades of Grey.  I knew little of the book except its bestseller status and that women everywhere were swooning over the main character.  Normally I do some research on a book before buying it.  I figured that downloading a free sample (about 10% of the book) would tell me enough of what I needed to know.

Even though the writing wasn't superb, the story was riveting .  Naive college girl interviews high-powered billionaire businessman on behalf of her sick roommate who needs the interview for the university paper.  Billionaire businessman is relatively young and dashingly handsome.  He comes to her rescue more than once after they meet and she is amazed at his interest in her.  Wow, I thought, this almost sounds like a modern-day Jane Eyre, with the powerful elusive man taking the awkward young woman under his wing.  This has promise.  The sample ended, but it held my attention enough to want to buy the whole thing.  Good summer reading, I thought, and if I get called in to jury duty this week I'll have a book to read.  I continued on, investing more and more in the characters....and then I fell asleep.

The next day I woke up and had a productive day, eager to get back to the book.  During a Facebook check-in I mentioned what I had started reading.  I suddenly had several "likes" and offers from different people to lend me the entire series.  I did have one warning, however, that the book was very racy and mildly pornographic.  This was news to me, so I went online and did a little more research.  And, yes, my friend was right.  The book dealt with sexual subjects that I had zero interest in reading about.  I thanked her and decided to keep reading a little further, but this time my shields were up.

A mixture of emotions went through me as the book quickly took a turn from riveting to revolting.  I'm not judging others who have enjoyed it, but I did not.  That, to me, isn't entertainment and it has no literary value.  I quickly went from shock, to revulsion, to anger and disappointment.  Angry and disappointed because I had started to care about the characters.  I also felt misled and embarrassed.  Misled because this is a book that has made its way into mainstream literature, which I don't think it is, and also because it touts itself as a love story, which I also don't think it is.  This is a book about sex.  Clearly not the same thing.  I'm not sure why I felt embarrassed, but I did.

Again, I'm not judging anyone who finds this book enjoyable, but I could not handle the subject matter.  After getting through one graphic scene, I decided I had had enough.  I erased it from my Kindle and iPad, annoyed that I had spent ten dollars on a book I knew I would never finish.  I just wanted to get as far away from it as possible.

So what was the lesson?  I guess the experience was a reminder that we live in a world where questionable things can easily masquerade as something acceptable.  But we all have a choice to make about the kinds of books and media we allow into our home.  In this instance, my choice was to move on.

I know, what a prude, right?  Thank you. But I'm the one who has to live with myself.  So, lesson learned.

Ever After You...

It is so satisfying to find a really good song!  This morning while working around the house I was listening to The Gabe Dixon Band on iTunes and I was reminded of how much I love this song.  I couldn't find the original on YouTube (What?  Something that wasn't on YouTube?!) but these college students do a great job...Enjoy and have a great day.  Summer is so beautiful in our little corner of the world!

Primary Girls Camp--The Good Language Workshop

Finally, finally, I am at the end of my very busy week.  Today I get to be in sweats and have no obligations.  It feels wonderful!

This past Wednesday was my workshop at the Primary Girls Camp, which was a 2-day event, 6 hours each day.  I was in charge of a workshop on using good language, not using the Lord's name in vain, standing up to swearing, and using words appropriately.  I feel strongly about it, of course, but I was still a bit nervous.  For starters, I have never taught kids at church before, where the dynamic between teacher and students is a bit different than in a public school setting.

I did with the workshop what I do with my Relief Society lessons, which is to do the visual aides first.  Doing it in this order helps me to feel like I'm making progress, I have a chance to relax and be creative, and while doing the visuals the rest of the lesson starts to take shape.  I do the same process every time and I have found that it really works for me.

So, here are my visuals:

The sign

The scripture we discussed (the underlined words were ones I felt needed defining, so we talked about those in more depth)

 The strips of paper with the scripture that each girl received at the end of the workshop.

The activity (wrong choices)

The activity once the RIGHT choices were added

Poster board and glitter glue became my tools of choices, only because I wanted to make this as "light" as possible while talking about a heavy subject.

Mostly we talked about ways to handle uncomfortable situations when people around us are using bad language.  Almost every young girl (ages 8-11) had a story to share of a classmate who has said bad words in front of her.  Sometimes their efforts to say something were successful and sometimes they weren't.  I think that just sharing those experiences had a positive effect.  We also talked about words like "hate," "kill," "stupid," and the importance of trying to eliminate them from our everyday conversation.  I read them a quick story about a little girl who was constantly having to say "Please don't use those words around me" to her friends and they learned that getting the desired results is not an immediate thing.  We also talked about the No Cussing Club, which is an actual club started by a boy in South Pasadena, CA in an effort to stand up to swearing.  

When the half hour was up, each girl got a strip of paper with the scripture we discussed and her copy of the No Cussing Club certificate.  

The time went very fast.  Four workshops in 2 hours. Bam, bam, bam, bam.  By the last group I could tell that the girls and their leaders were tired.   I was too!  I didn't get a lot of feedback because things were just moving too quickly and there were still 45 minutes left by the time my last session was done.  The feedback I did get was positive, so that's a good thing.  Still, in retrospect, I can think of things I would do differently next time.

It was definitely a learning experience for me.  If I was ever asked to do something like that again, this experience gave me a good foundation.  What really impressed me, though, is how the subject hit home, even with the youngest girls, and how many of them have already been courageous enough to stand up to bad language that was being used in their presence.  Good for them!

Political Differences...Among Friends

I don't normally do this,  but this is a topic I feel strongly enough about to include on both of my blogs...

Recently I was placed in a social situation where the guest of a guest--not knowing or caring what everyone's political opinions were--carelessly demonized one of the candidates.  What had started as a relaxed and fun party turned tense and thorny.  It was neither the time or place for such talk and one by one (starting with myself) people began to leave the table until this person's audience dwindled to nothing.  He did what so many people do, which is (1) assuming that we have "enough" in common that we must agree politically and (2) being so over-confident that his views were the right ones that it made up the difference, in other words, not really caring whether people agreed with him or not.

Those few awkward minutes (which felt much longer) reminded me of the climate change in conversation that always happens during an election year.  It is a mistake many people make, and it usually begins with the first thing that this party guest did.  They take a quick look around the room, the table, email contacts, or even their Facebook friends list; then they do a brief statistical analysis of the group (naturally we can't know everything about everyone, but it doesn't matter)  We have about 80% of things (probably) in common.  Or at least the fundamentals.  Good enough.  And then...the political opinion sneeze is unleashed.

What I find interesting is that very rarely does anyone talk positively about who they are supporting.  It is usually negative or harshly derogatory about who they are not supporting.  It is mud-slinging at the public level.  If the political candidates and their teams are aware of it, they must love that people do this.  It certainly makes their job a lot easier.  It is so much simpler to talk about what someone is doing wrong than what we are doing right.  And religious beliefs?  The Golden Rule?  Treating others with respect and kindness?  When it comes to politics and political opinion those things are usually non-existent (unless the mud-slinging involves bashing a candidate's religion, either real or assumed, and how it will play a role in their platform.)

As for myself, I am in a precarious position.  As an educator, most (but not all) of my former co-workers belong to one political party.  As a Mormon, most (but not all) of my church friends belong to another.  So, lucky me, when I go on Facebook, half of my friends  and family align themselves with one side and half align themselves with the other.  My extended family is mixed, my in-laws are mixed, and my husband and I both tend to rest somewhere in the middle.  That doesn't mean we don't have opinions on heavy issues.  Believe me, we do.  However, he enjoys talking about politics and I don't.  (For me, it is right behind getting my toenails pulled out one by one.)

But what I really see when a political topic is brought up is the emerging of that basic human need to categorize things.  Privilege or right?  Rich or poor?  Deserving or undeserving?  Entitled or not?  Liberal or Conservative? Democrat or Republican?  As the categories hit closer to home they start to define us.  And they start to define how we see other people.  Why is that?  Why do we let ourselves play into that kind of thinking?

We know why, although we don't like to verbalize it.  It is because we like to categorize ourselves as well.  We like belonging to a group, a way of thinking, a side, and supporting a possible victor.  We want to feel like we are on the winning team.  And even if the person we are supporting doesn't succeed, we are comforted by the fact that so many others supported him, surely, we cannot all be wrong.  To admit we were wrong is unthinkable.  Many will spend the duration criticizing the person who was elected, shaking their heads and pouting.  I've done it too.  It's completely unproductive, but somehow it makes us feel better. And anyway, in four more years we'll pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and try again, certain that the person we are supporting this time will turn our country around and make it what the Founding Fathers envisioned.  The American Dream restored.

I would like to propose something.

During election years like this one, let's put a bit more energy into other things as well.  Let's not make careless assumptions.  Let's opt for kindness.  Let's be careful of the way we throw out the words "liberal" and "conservative." Let there be more discussions and less arguments. Let's do more listening and less talking.  Let's do our part and keep the mud on the ground where it belongs.  And let's be more considerate.  I am not just talking about how we voice our political opinions.  I'm talking about assessing whether the timing is right and knowing our audience--even if you're 100% sure they agree with you.  If they don't, let's care more about that.  And most of all, let's not allow political differences to affect the way we see others.

Gandhi said this: If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do. 

How true this is and it is speaking to each and every one of us.

A Busy Month!

My quiet summer enjoying the weather has turned into a busy one!  I don't know if I should be thankful or not that everything I need to do is all happening in the month of July, but at least it will all be finished around the same time.

This week is my "prep" week, and as long as I use my time well, everything should be fine.

So what are all of these things that need doing?  First of all, I teach Relief Society every third Sunday.  I love this calling and would do it forever if I could.  But I put a lot of time into my lessons, usually devoting an entire day to preparing.  That was yesterday.  With a few breaks here and there, I worked on my lesson from 10am to 5pm.  No joke.  Probably a solid 4-5 hours with a few other distractions and meals thrown in.  No wonder I'm always running out of time when I teach!

I have also been asked to do 2 other things at church.  One of them is to spearhead a service project that involves collecting school supplies for kids whose families cannot afford them.  At 4:30am on Sunday morning I was typing up sign-up sheets because I had just received the information on what we needed to collect.  I had no idea what kind of a response we would get as I passed the clipboard around that day.  Fortunately, it was pretty packed in Relief Society that day.  But, even more fortunately, is that we have an amazing group of ladies who always help one another.  By the time the clipboard was returned to me, most of the spaces were filled, along with $75 attached for me to buy things that had not been signed up for yet. Isn't that incredible?  I was so sure that I would only have a few people helping out.  I love this ward.  So that means that I need to hit the stores so that I can give an updated report on where we are on Sunday.

Next week is also the Primary girls' adventure camp.  Being a convert, I was never in Primary and I never went to Girls Camp.  These younger girls are going to a 2-day day camp, not an over-nighter, which is where the Young Women are this week.  I was asked to lead a workshop for the young ones, ages 8-11, next Wednesday.  4 sessions, 30 minutes each, 10-15 girls per session.  The subject is using clean language, not using the Lord's name in vain, and not using those "fake F words."  We all know what they are.  I have some ideas of what I want to do and have already bought a few supplies, now it is just a matter of sitting down and organizing my thoughts and hammering everything out.  I want it to be as visual and as "non-preachy" as possible because it is camp and it is supposed to be fun, but still a memorable learning experience.

And, last but not least, we are in the process of painting our house (Eric and his dad are painting) AND I have jury duty starting on July 23rd.  I haven't quite lost my mind yet.  This is about as busy as I would like to be, as long as I stay busy and organized.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer with their families!  That you're getting to go on trips and go swimming and get things done around the house.  The fun thing that we are looking forward to is seeing Jersey Boys in Portland on August 7th, which will be our two-year wedding anniversary.  It will be very fun and a nice reward once all of the current craziness is done.  Off I go!

Happy Fourth!

I hope everyone had a fun 4th of July!  This year was a little bit different because Eric had to work graveyard on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.  That was kind of a bummer.  But, luckily, since we live so close to the lake, where all of the activities are happening, we could still walk down there each day and get lunch and be part of the crowds.

When Eric went to work on the 3rd, I headed down and watched the hilarious Cardboard Boat Regatta.  I made it in time for the last couple of heats of semi-finals and the finals. It is extremely fun to watch and they always have a good announcer that knows how to entertain the spectators.

On the actual Fourth there was a flag-raising and pancake breakfast at our ward building.  The neighborhood parade started at 10am and was right at the end of our street.  For the evening,  I was invited by my dear friends/neighbors/adopted parents, the Ponds, to join their family 4th of July fun.  There was a BBQ with tons of food, kids of all ages, and very nice people at their son's house.  As it got darker, I realized how very tired I was, so I headed home and listened to the snap, crackle and pop of the fireworks outside.

Considering that Eric had to work, it was still a fun 4th.  But it is so much better with him!

Here are some pictures I took over the last few days.  Click on the pictures to see the full-sized versions:

Some of the entries in the regatta.  There sure were some creative designs!  The winner, however, was a very sleek regular boat design of two canoes with 5-6 people in each, connected in the middle by horizontal rods.  There were plenty of slow boats and some that even capsized and sank, but there were others that were incredibly fast!

The neighborhood parade is very simple, but cute.  The 3rd picture is the Pond family marching for Hilander Dental, which is where I go too.  They were all wearing their camo shirts later on at the BBQ.  Such a great family.

 Gus and Shawn, the Ponds' new puppies.  So cute!  They spent the whole night licking people's toes.

 Masterpiece in progress!  Rene and her friend, Callie, worked very hard on this flag cake.

 Steve and Diane, my dear friends and neighbors

 Is this the perfect party house, or what?

 Their beautiful deck

 There was tons and tons of food!  More people kept arriving and there was more than enough for everyone.  The hamburger sliders with pretzel rolls were a real hit, as well as this salad that Tracy made with chopped nuts, kiwis, boysenberries, strawberries, and...brown sugar.  It was almost a dessert in itself!

 Ta da!!  The cake is done!  Along with some patriotic Rice Krispies treats.

 Callie and Rene with their masterpiece.

 Look at all of those yummy desserts!

 Trying to ceremonially eat the first piece.  Yes, they ended up on the floor.

 This is why it is called the Flag Cake!  Isn't that cool?

Improvise the Harmony--My New Blog

I have decided to create a new blog.  It is called Improvise the Harmony. 

Keeping Up With Kristie will still exist and I plan to continue adding to it, but I wanted a blog that was for more introspective thoughts.  I hope you will visit it, follow it, and leave comments.

I'm very excited about this new writing adventure.  To visit the site, simply click the screenshot below.  See you there!

Chocolate Lust...Recipe with Pictures...

Last night I remembered--I have to bring treats to Book Club tonight!  It was 10 o'clock, I was tired from planting flowers, and I couldn't think of anything to make except for that standby box of cookie brownies in the cupboard.

Then, it dawned on me while playing Drawsome with my mom on the iPad...Chocolate Lust...my favorite childhood dessert.  I messaged her for the recipe. And here it is.

You need a 9x13 pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 while you make this mixture:

• 1 stick of margarine or butter (I used real butter)
• 1 cup of flour
• 1/2 cup of finely chopped walnuts or pecans (I used walnuts)
• Mix together with a spoon and pat into the bottom of the 9x13 pan.
• Bake at 350 degrees and let cool. 

 

 

 It does not turn color after the 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, as the crust is baking, work on this mixture:

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 2 cups of Cool Whip (Buy 2 eight ounce containers, you will the leftovers later)
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• Beat together.

I have a big kitchen mixer, but I like using a hand mixer for this recipe.  

Pour this mixture on top of the crust and let sit for 5 minutes while you make the pudding mixture:

• 2 four oz. packages of chocolate pudding (you can also use banana or any flavor you like)
• 3 cups of milk
• Beat until thick

Pour over the above layer and let sit for 5 minutes.

  

 While the pudding is setting, I like to beat the remaining Cool Whip in its own container to make it easier to spread.

 Spread the remaining Cool Whip.  

Essentially, you are done!  But I wanted to add one little touch just for decoration.  I grated part of a dark Hershey bar into a bowl and spooned the shavings on top of the dessert:

 Yummy!  Now you're done. 

It is best to make it a few hours before you plan to enjoy it so that it can set and chill in a fridge.  Mine is doing that as I write this.  I can't wait to try it out tonight!

It is also a great summer dessert because it is cool and light.  

 Now for the really fun part...cleaning up!

Anybody want to help? 

Wishing for a green thumb...

 

Remember that line from Titanic when Rose gets mad at Jack for explaining ice fishing and he replies by saying, "Sorry.  You just seem like more of an indoor girl."

That is me.  I'm an indoor girl.  I don't mind cleaning house and I certainly love decorating, but working outdoors is not for me.  That doesn't fly too well up here in my newly adopted state, where few people have gardeners and even painting and construction is often a DIY project.

To top it off, as much as I love our house, it needs a lot of work.  A new paint job, new windows, new gutters, new lawn, and a whole list of expensive things that can only be accomplished little by little.

The yard has turned out to be a job that neither Eric or I anticipated because of its size and because we are on a corner.  While looking at the inside of the house (time was not on our side while we were house-hunting) we didn't pay much attention to how much mowing, edging, and general maintenance and beautification lay before us.  All we were thinking about was how great it was to be 4 houses up from the lake and how well my furniture would fit.  Not to mention the upcoming wedding and interstate move.

But now we are running out of excuses.  The last moving box was unpacked 30 days after we moved in.  The weather is getting better (apparently July 5th is the marker for clear skies until the week before Halloween) and my residual tiredness from 13 years of teaching is long gone. 

So now we are going to start chipping away at that very long To Do list and start doing what needs to be done a bit at a time.  Eric has his priorities, I have mine, and we have ours.  Naturally we notice different things, which define those priorities.  I notice aesthetics, and he notices structure.  First up?  Structure?  The rain gutters.  Aesthetics?  A new paint job (after the gutters are installed.)

Meanwhile, I have been wincing every time I see bare areas around the house that are just crying out for some attention and some color.  If I had my druthers and if funds were unlimited, I would replace all of the blocks used for the planters around our front door, tree, and driveway.  But, alas, other things have to come first.  Instead, I used what was there and cleared away the dried up remnants of past plants.

To me, this is all about knowing that some progress is being made.  If it is something that I can do, I'm going to do it.  So, I did it!

 The area by the garage.  The only place in the front that gets sun.

 The Zinnias at Freddy's were just stunning!

 There were some nice, healthy marigolds there too.

 The other planters are all in shady areas.  Finding colorful shade flowers isn't easy, so I stuck with the old standbys of begonias and impatiens. 

Today's project was the 4 planters by the front door.  This involved pulling out some azaleas that rarely bloomed and another leafy plant I didn't like.  I got some sun plants for the front and all begonias for the back.  Between clearing away the old plants, smoothing out new potting soil, buying the plants, arranging them, and setting them into the ground, this took a lot longer than you'd think!

And with all the planting, that was actually the easy part!  The hard part for me is keeping everything alive.  I come from several generations of green thumbs, but my generation got skipped somehow.  Can I do it??  

I'll post pictures again in a few weeks and we'll see...

Admit Two!

One of my favorite things to do with Eric is to go and see a concert or musical theater production together.  Access to those kinds of activities is pretty easy in Los Angeles, so I didn't know what to expect when I moved to Washington.  Happily, there have been plenty of opportunities!  In fact, as I think about it, we've been to quite a few different shows together.  Here's our list, as of now:

********************
Mary Poppins (Los Angeles)

Chicago (Los Angeles)

Wicked (Eugene)

Donny & Marie (Las Vegas)

Josh Groban (Portland)

The Fab Four (Longview)

Celtic Woman (Portland)

Jenny Oaks Baker & Portland Ensign Choir and Orchestra (Vancouver)
********************

This is since January 2010.  I still feel like I'm forgetting something, but I'm not sure what...hmm..

All of them have been wonderful in their own way.  I loved seeing Chicago on stage.  It was so different than the film, but still incredible.  It was fun to see Wicked with Eric, because he had never seen it, although it was the 4th time for me.  The Josh Groban concert was his 1st and my 4th too. (He is great to see in concert.  What a voice!)

The Donny & Marie show was a quick whim and a whirlwind of a trip.  I had had the chance to meet Marie Osmond at a doll-signing event at Disneyland in January 2011.  When I returned home and told Eric about it, he had the impulse for us to fly to Las Vegas and see them in concert (HIS 4th time and MY first.)  Three weeks later we were on a plane with our VIP tickets all ordered. It kind of counted as a 6 month anniversary trip, but it was more like a "let's blow out of town and go to Vegas" kind of a thing.  At the meet-and-greet Marie even said that she thought I looked familiar, but the fun part is that she recognized Eric because she had pulled him onstage to sing with her a couple of years before!  He and his great singing voice had made himself very memorable.  I wish I could've seen that!

The Celtic Woman concert in Portland was only 2 months ago.  We had donated some money to PBS in order to get those tickets.  It was my 3rd time to see them and Eric's 1st.  They put on a beautiful, beautiful show.  It was my first time to see them perform indoors, because the previous two concerts had been at the Greek Theater in LA, which is an outdoor amphitheater.  Eric loved it, we were in the 7th row, and it was a really fun night.

The Fab Four is a Beatles tribute band that is incredible.  It is probably the next best thing to seeing the Beatles play live.  I have seen them more times than I can count, because they used to play at Disneyland on a regular basis (I do mourn the loss of my Premium Annual Pass!) And it just so happens that a high school acquaintance of mine plays Paul McCartney (who turns 70 today--Happy Birthday Sir Paul!)  The FF actually had a gig right here in our little town at the local theater last year.  We took Eric's parents--his dad is a big Beatles fan--and had a really enjoyable night.

This past Saturday night we drove down to Vancouver and saw Jenny Oaks Baker (an accomplished violinist) play alongside the Portland Ensign Choir and Orchestra. It was all movie themes and Disney music, which was fun.  It was also in a high school auditorium, but not like any high school auditorium that I've ever seen. My high school had a rinky dink little stage and people sat in metal folding chairs.  This auditorium was gorgeous!  This is the only picture of it that I could find online:

The choir reminded me a lot of the Southern California Mormon Choir, although SCMC does not have their own orchestra that travels with them.  Jenny Oaks Baker was wonderful.  She plays with a lot of expression.  The only thing that detracted a bit was some immature teenagers sitting in front of us who clearly did not want to be there.  Fortunately, these were not $100 tickets, otherwise I would've definitely said something!

I am a firm believer that these kinds of cultural experiences makes one's life much, much richer.  I have a tradition that whenever I go to one of these shows I always buy a magnet (if there is one) to stick on the fridge and remind me of the fun evening we had.  Our fridge is becoming a mini scrapbook of our adventures (along with Solvang, Carmel, The Winchester Mystery House, the Norton Simon Museum and the Arboretum.)  All of these fun things weave themselves into the tapestry of our life together.  So far it has been pretty fun.

(My wish list includes:  Seeing Michael Buble' in concert, The Lion King, Les Miserables, and Phantom of the Opera.  I've seen them all, but I would love for us to go together...)

Life...Then and Now...

"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you will look back and realize they were the big things..."

For the past month or so, it feels like my weeks have taken on more of a routine than usual, which is fine, I actually like routines.  I know that sounds weird, but I like having dinners mapped out for a few days, knowing when I'm going to wash sheets, go to the grocery store, etc.  Everyone needs something to look forward to, and a reason to feel useful and get up in the morning, even if that reason is to clean out the cat litter box or put clothes in the dryer.

When I moved up to Washington after Eric and I married, the lack of routine was one of the things I feared the most.  As a teacher, my days, and the days of my 32 students, were extremely scheduled, because that is the way I liked it, and the kids responded better to that kind of predictability.  Not being bound to a schedule of bells and daily subjects and meeting has been VERY liberating, but also a little scary in that now there are no excuses for not getting things done.

I feel very lucky that, as a married couple, Eric and I have had relatively little trouble in carving out our individual duties. The fact that he works outside the home and I don't made this a little easier.  He has a few responsibilities around the house, but the general management and cleanliness are mine.  I'm officially a Housewife.  That word used to rank up there with some other bad words when I was a working woman, but I realize now that I was allowing my job to define me way too much.  I also realize that I did that because there was really nothing else to define me.  I was not a wife, I did not attend church for a long time so I had no church calling, and I was not even an auntie until 4 years ago.

Surely, there are other housewives who sometimes ponder the tedium of the constant making of beds, cooking, cleaning, and laundry.  I did that a lot at first, although I wasn't attending church when I first moved up here and we were just getting into the bad weather phase of the year.  It took me a while to tell myself that EVERY job, no matter how exciting, has it's tedious moments.

I remember when people would find out that I was a teacher and think how fun and exciting it was.  I would nod my head politely and think about how clueless that person was about the realities of the profession.  I didn't want to burst their bubble.  I didn't want to tell them about the hours and hours it took to set up the classroom every September, the hundreds of dollars of my own money I spent each year on supplies that were not provided, the hours it would take to change the bulletin boards when usually the only people who saw them were my students and me, the amount of time taken away from teaching because of trainings and meetings and dealing with those one or two severely disruptive students that we were all lucky enough to get.  Don't get me wrong, teaching is a great and noble profession when we are actually allowed to teach.  But those golden moments don't happen as often as any of us would like.

Yes, I miss the a lot of the kids.  Some kids are unforgettable, even from when I first started teaching back in 1996.  I miss those times when we felt so unified as I taught a lesson in Social Studies or Math (I loved teaching math.)  I really miss Story Time, which I did even when I taught 4th and 5th grade.  I miss those times when I would be walking down the hall and about 10 kids would cross my path and say "Hi Teacher!"

But I don't miss the interruptions and meetings and trainings. And I don't miss that, when you are a teacher, the job never ends.  Never. You are either actually doing it or you're thinking about it. When so many little lives are in your care, you can't leave them behind at 3pm.  So when teachers say they aren't paid enough, they aren't.  Because they are really on the job ALL the time.  And, as we know, there is so much more to be a teacher than teaching.  You are a nurse, a psychologist, a referee, a time-keeper, a friend, sometimes even a mother.  And you are always an example.  Kids notice everything.

I am very glad that I had all of those years in the classroom and in the workplace.  They taught me a lot.  But I'm also glad that another chapter of my life has begun.

So when I compare my life then and my life now, I think one of the greatest things about my life now (besides being married to a wonderful man) is my freedom.  It is glorious.  I don't have to get up at 5am anymore.  I don't have a bedtime.  Mondays are not that dreaded day that spoiled Sunday anymore.  I have the energy to be in a Book Club because I have the time to actually read the book.  (When I taught I only read books during summer vacation.)  I am loving my calling as a Relief Society teacher and even preparing the lessons is a joy.  I love Visiting Teaching and getting to know the sisters in my ward more than I ever did when I was working.  It used to feel like a chore and now it feels like a privilege and stewardship.

I don't even mind my hours of solitude during the day as I'm cleaning house or writing or reading a book.  They make the time with my husband all the more special.  I don't mind the tedium of certain things because of the freedom I have in return.  I don't mind cooking and cleaning for my husband because I know that he is doing more than his share putting in all of those hours at his work.  We are a team, and running our house and our little family of 2 (plus 3 pets) is a team effort. 

But the important thing is that new things define me.  I am Eric's wife.  I am Xander and Angelique's auntie.  I am Sister Cooley who teaches Relief Society each month and feeds the missionaries whenever possible.  I am the one who runs the book club.  I am that lady who walks her dog by the lake each day.  I am the friend of some wonderful ladies.  I really love being all of these things. 

Amidst the normal things like never-ending laundry, cooking dinners, and always trying to keep the floors clean (which isn't easy with a big, hairy dog and 3 cats,) there are plenty of things to look forward to.  These are the things that make the routines feel less restrictive.  Just this week there are 2 concerts, going to the temple tomorrow (I've been going weekly and love it,) working on my Relief Society lesson for next Sunday, hosting the missionaries on Friday night, and taking advantage of this fabulous weather and working in the garden. 

See?  Just enough planning to give Life purpose. And just enough freedom to create new purposes.

Life is good. 

Movie Review: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Is there anything more fun than a film about a group of unrelated people thrown into a fish-out-of-water situation?  That is the skeletal explanation of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. 

My main attraction to the film was the cast, some of the UK's best--Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Penelope Wilton, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkensen, Celia Imrie--you cannot go wrong with a group like this.  Even more thrilling was that the film was actually playing in one of our 2 local theaters, which is pretty unheard of for a movie like this.

The premise is this:  7 British seniors, for a variety of reasons that range from financial to medical to a thirst for adventure, leave the comforts of home to live in India.  Their destination is a run-down hotel for the "elderly and beautiful," run by the idealistic Sonny, a young man desperate to make his fortune and his mother proud.

What follows is a delightful 2 hours as we follow our cast on this journey of self-discovery in a setting that none of them (save 1) are accustomed to.  They must adjust to everything...the food, the language, the hygiene, customs, geography, shopping, transportation--not an easy thing to do in your 60's and 70's.  Some are more successful than others.  All are deeply changed by the powerful effects of their new home.

The dialogue is witty, the characters are multifaceted, and the Indian landscape is both colorful and staggering in its poverty.  We are reminded that love, life and wealth have nothing to do with where you live and how much money you have.  They are found in your attitude, perception, and relationships with others. 

I enjoyed every moment of this movie and highly recommend it to anyone who loves British films or is in search of something a little different.  I look forward to seeing this again and eventually adding it to our DVD library.

The trailer:

 

Funniest ventriloquism act ever...

I keep on telling myself that I should probably use my blog for serious writing and the expression of deep thoughts and opinions, but, I'm human, I'm flawed.  And I have a weakness for innovative entertainment and people who take a genre and do something completely different.  Enjoy.  =)

The Question of Talent...

Last night I turned on the Queen's Jubilee Concert ready to be entertained and what I saw was just a sad comment on our times.  It was a confirmation that many of our most famous and popular singers are not really singers at all, but "entertainers" (and I use that term generously.)  Weird, isn't it?  How do people like Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, and others get famous when there are incredibly talented singers that have to beat the pavement, audition for shows like America's Got Talent, or set up YouTube channels just to get noticed?

Thank goodness for YouTube, which is literally the world's stage, where people can post videos of themselves and show their talents.  I never used to pay much attention to YouTube, but Eric has shown me what a resource it can be for looking up anything...ANYTHING.  (That's not always a good thing, of course, and, luckily, they do have some rules that need to be followed.)  And I have to give a shout-out to hosts like Ellen, too, who give the little guys a chance, because the talent out there is amazing.

Here are a few I ran across today:

Go the Distance, with Danny Fong


We Are Young, with Alex G and Jon D


The Edge of Glory, with Jake Coco and Alexandra Amor


And then we have the crazy talented Nick Pitera, who is kind of in a category by himself...


In my opinion, THIS is talent.  And I must say--pretty entertaining too!  (Especially Nick P, who somehow makes me jealous and uncomfortable at the same time.)

Have a great rest of the week, everyone!

Weekend getaway in Lincoln City...

Eric and I have been talking about spending the weekend at the beach for a while, and this past weekend we finally made it happen.  One thing I realized was that it doesn't matter if you are going way for 2 weeks or 2 days--the prep is pretty much the same.  While Eric was at work on Friday, I was in charge of vacation prep--taking Bailey to the kennel, pulling out the suitcases, setting things up with our house-sitter, putting out fresh cat litter, filling the gas tank, making sure clothes we needed were clean, etc.  The kind of things that make you feel like you need a vacation from preparing for a vacation.

By 4:15pm on Friday, we were off on our little adventure.  I have to say that one of the things I really like about living in the Pacific Northwest is that there is really no such things as a bad drive.  Yes, you hit traffic, and we had our share, but the drive is usually scenic and nice.

At 7pm we decided to stop for dinner at the famous Cedar Plank Buffet at Spirit Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde, OR.  90 minutes and 2 full bellies later we were back on the road for the last stretch of road towards Lincoln City, OR, our final destination.

We checked into the Looking Glass Inn at 10pm, after making a slight wrong turn that took us 30 miles out of our way (whoops!)  That's our room on the bottom right.  The "ocean view" we were expecting was kind of a joke, because, as you can see, the room faces the parking lot.  It was more like a "bay view," which can only be seen out of one of the side windows.  Other than that, though, it was a comfortable room with a small fireplace, kitchenette, TV/DVD, and a whirlpool tub that was loud, but relaxing.

At the end of the sidewalk is a path that leads to the beach.  We enjoy taking walks, so both of us walked that path on our own and together.  We also got lucky with the weather, because it was a misty, beach rain until around noon on Saturday, at which point it stopped and cleared up.

Lincoln City is known for its outlet mall, which we visited briefly, and its little gift and antique shops, I visited a few while Eric was napping on Saturday afternoon.

Mostly, though, you just go to relax.  I also took lots of pictures at the beach.  Some were taken at midday and some as the sun was beginning to set.  Photography is so fun, even with my simple little camera:

The beach is very different than a California beach or a Hawaii beach, but still beautiful.  I'm not really one for swimming in the ocean, but I do love standing and watching the waves go in and out in their endless cycle.  I like to ponder the ocean's vastness and majesty, all the while thinking about how, with all of their ingenuity, there are still so many things that Man could never duplicate.

Because the little shops close up early, and because we aren't into the "bar scene," Saturday evening was spent in the hotel room after dinner.  We relaxed away from our obligations at home and work, enjoyed each other's company, and settled in with a movie we rented from the front desk (Australia, with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman...pretty long, but good, and worth seeing at least once.)

Yesterday morning we were back on the road, headed for home.  This time we took a different route though Cornelius Pass in Oregon.  I've been on that route once before and it is quite lovely.  Trees are everywhere.  Like I said, odds are you'll have a nice view when you drive up here.

We arrived home with that combination of mental rest and vacation tiredness.  It was a nice getaway with my #1 sweetie.