November recap

I have not been the best blogger the past few months. This writing for a living thing sure drains me. By the end of the day, I’m usually mentally exhausted! Which means I never feel like updating my blog. Today, though, I’d much rather write here than write the article I need to write about parrots. Bleh!

So I guess what I’ll do is a quick recap of November:

First, the not happy.

• I had a client tell me she didn’t like one of the articles I sent her. I know, freelance writers must develop a thick skin, but I don’t have one yet! In fact, I think my skin started out much thinner than most people’s, anyway (ask John!). So I’ve been a little down the past few days.

• I didn’t make as much money in November as I had hoped. Don’t count your freelance writing gigs before they’re hatched.

• We still haven’t decorated our house for the holidays. 😦

• I don’t want you to judge me for this, so be kind: I haven’t felt like doing dishes in over a week. So I haven’t. And nobody else has either. We are down to our last utensil.

The happy stuff!

• John and I basically get a three week vacation – one week together in Athens (dubbed Holli-Johnny week), one week in Arizona, and one week in Nevada, with a little Utah possibly thrown in. Yay! We definitely need the break.

• I’m making new friends. There are so many nice people in our church ward, and I finally feel like I’m getting to know some of them. It’s nice. I’m going to a friend’s house tomorrow for some crafting fun.

• I reconnected with old friends during Thanksgiving. John and I went to Rome, GA to see a couple of my college friends and their family. We played the James Bond game (I’m so opposed to it, but there I was, shooting the bad guys until my fingers hurt!) and had fun with the kids and cats. And we ate yummy food.

• I’m going to revamp my business model for the new year. I’m going to have a website and do things a little differently. I’ll show the site to you when it’s done. I know I can make the freelance thing work, but I’ll have to do it differently from the way I do it now.

• I have a wonderful husband who is so amazong and sweet. That’s not specific to the month of November, but I needed the happy stuff to outweigh the not so happy stuff!

Anyway, happy December! I hope your month is a good one.

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update

A lot has happened since I last wrote. Sorry about that; I’m still getting used to wordpress. This place doesn’t feel like home yet, so forgive my lack of posting.

We had a great trip to St. Johns two weekends ago. St. Johns was beautiful and fun. It’s a very small town where everybody knows everyone else, kind of like where I’m from. It felt almost like home. And we saw so many people that John knew. It was great. Also, I met Kimbo, who I’ve been dying to meet ever since she started reading my blog. 🙂 And she called me gorgeous, so how can I not love her?!!

This past weekend we were in Kanab, Utah for a family reunion. We saw lots of family, swam, sat around doing nothing (yes!), and even took family pictures. It was a successful weekend. The only downside was that I burned my scalp (yet again!), oh, and I ate so much I probably gained 10 pounds.

And otherwise, the weeks are ticking by. In less than one month we’re going to be in Athens, Georgia. I’m getting more used to the idea, but I’m still scared! And I’m going to miss family and friends like you wouldn’t believe. The next four weeks are going to be a whirlwind of activity — traveling for family reunions, family parties, packing in our spare time (ha!), trying to see friends and looking for time to just relax. If I look stressed, you’ll know why. I just have to prevent a nervous breakdown, because I don’t need that on top of everything else!

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where everybody knows your name

I just finished up a really rough day at work. Fifty things were thrown at me at once, which isn’t unusual, but this time they were 50 things that were stressful or came from the big boss herself (so I had to get right on them). Mostly I ran around in circles, working hard all day and getting little done.

I don’t like those days. Thank goodness we are taking the day off on Friday. We get to spend some time in John‘s hometown — good old St. Johns, Arizona (St. Johns: Everybody knows at least someone who’s from there. Even if you think you don’t, you probably do).

Ok. Time to go home and vegetate for a while.

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i’m back

Sorry. I’ve been sort of MIA lately. Here are the excuses:

1. I’ve been at Disneyland (the happiest place on earth) with John and several other members of my family. We had such a great time, but I was exhausted by the time we got back on Monday! It’s taken me all week just to recover.

2. I’m searching for a job, and I have 8 weeks to find one. So I’ve been in hyper focus mode. I spend time job searching every single day.

3. Work has been so busy. My boss leaves on vacation today, and I have been racing against the clock to finish projects before he left.

But those are all just excuses. I’m back again, ready to post again, because I have a LOT to say! So much going on. My husband broke the news a while ago on his blog, but I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned the fact that John and I are moving to Georgia at the end of July. I have so many emotions surrounding the move that it’s probably best saved for its own post. But needless to say, we are very busy cleaning, packing, finding a place to live, and job searching. And trying to see family and friends as often as we can before we live very, very far away from them.

Anyway, more thoughts later. Happy weekend all!

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he’s back

My husband was in Texas this weekend visiting a school there. Not in the city featured on his shirt. I’m just glad he’s back.

But now we must talk of packing and cleaning and job hunting and finality. I’m not ready yet.

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thinking about tomorrow

The wheels in my mind are turning. I’ve talked before about life goals and how I don’t really have any. I encourage other people to pursue their dreams, but I don’t look inside myself long enough to know what my dreams even are. So I’m thinking.

And meanwhile, here are pictures from our trip to Delaware. I think I could enjoy autumn if I lived there. In Arizona, all autumn means is that there is darkness after 6pm. That’s depressing to me, and hence why I don’t like fall. However, Delaware convinced me that fall could be pretty nice. Most of the pictures are on University of Delaware’s campus.

Pretty, no?

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rednecks and race cars

My dad took John and me to see the NHRA drag races in Las Vegas this weekend. What an experience. You may not be able to picture what it’s like, so let me enlighten you.

*NASCAR is the one that goes around a track a million times. Drag races are the ones where each race lasts about 4 seconds.

*Some of the cars run on tear gas (or something like it). I was standing 20 feet away from one of the cars practically crying my eyes out. Some people were standing less than 5 feet away.

*The race car drivers are celebrities. We walked around the pit area, and every time a crowd formed, we knew that a driver was in his pit area. Have you heard of John Force before? Yeah, neither had I. But he’s famous. Wait, is he the one with a TV show? Then maybe you have heard of him. How about Tony Schumacher, Jason Line, Morgan Lucas? Famous.

*One of the official sponsors was Skoal. Other sponsors were giving out free samples. I kept waiting for a free sample of Skoal. “Here, have some free cancer!”

*Speaking of cancer, evidently there are no laws in L.V. to protect nonsmokers from second-hand smoke. We were packed tightly in a stadium, and I can’t tell you how many people lit up and blew their disgusting smoke on everyone around them. I don’t care if it’s legal or not – if they had any decency they’d get up and go out for a smoking break.

*Not that it mattered much anyway. Those cars emitted so many fumes it was scary. I think the drag races have single-handedly destroyed the ozone. In one day.

*The drag races last for three days – Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Of course, you can’t go to the drag races on Sunday – you’d miss church. But wait! Not to worry – they provide church services ON SITE. So you can watch your favorite race car driver, attend church, AND eat carnival food all at the same time! Hooray!

Well, I’ve never seen a bunch of people who were more serious about their ‘sport’. It was hilarious and enlightening, to say the least. And also, the races were pretty dang cool. Watching a car go 330 mph is just amazingly cool. I don’t care who you are.

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weekend update

This past week has been quite busy. First, my younger sister Alexis came to visit for the week. Since she was about 11 and I was living in Provo, Utah, she has come to visit for a week during the summer. Now she’s a senior in high school, and the tradition lives on!

We had fun doing DDR together, clothes shopping, watching Saved by the Bell episodes (Oh, Saved by the Bell, how I love you!), and eating delicious food. Good times.

On Friday, John, Alexis and I took a road trip to Nevada to take her back home. Saturday morning we were up early and on the road to St. George to see my cousin’s wedding in the St. George temple.

We decided that it would be necessary to visit the St. George Wal-Mart. Why? Well, John had never seen a poligamist before, and we needed to remedy that. (What? You haven’t seen a poligamist either? Well, you’re missing out on an interesting phenomenon. I direct you to the Wal-Mart store in St. George, Utah, usually in the fabric section. I guarantee you’ll see at least one.) I won’t tell the rest of that story for now, because I think my husband is going to tell it. But rest assured, poligamist sitings galore were had by all.

Sunday morning we went to church with my family, watched The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (which was much better than I expected it to be), and then drove back to good old Arizona. I wasn’t ready to come back, though. I love being around my family.

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deathly sick but getting better

I went to the Dr. on monday and found out what is wrong with me — I have pneumonia. Yikes. And, I gave it to my husband. 😦 So while I’m finally on the upswing and getting better, my husband is coughing and wheezing at home.

The worst of it was when we were in Nevada this weekend with my family. John started showing symptoms on Friday, and we slept most of the weekend instead of doing much with the family. 😦 Then on Sunday, when we were supposed to drive back to AZ, neither of us could do it. So I called in sick on Monday and we drove back then. We still felt crappy, but somehow John managed to get us back home.

Now I’m feeling a little better. I went on a 15 minute walk today and felt pretty okay afterward. By next week I should be back to my normal self.

Oh, and for anyone wondering, I didn’t get the library job. I’m feeling pretty discouraged about that, so that’s pretty much all I’m going to say about it at this point.

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i’m sort of alive

I’m alive, but only barely. I got sick again. Yes, again.

Coughing, high fever, achy, sleepy. This time I went to my doctor and asked for blood tests to be done to figure out what’s going on. I mean, first I get bronchitis, then the fake strep throat thing, then the rash, and now this.
I usually have a healthy immune system, getting sick maybe once a year. But this is three times in little over a month. Something is definitely going on here.

To top it all off, I still don’t have a handle on my depression. Maybe the sickness is making it worse, or maybe the depression is lowering the defeneses of my immune system. Either way, I’m tired of being sick, and I’m tired of being sad.

In other news, we already got part of our tax return back — and the tax deadline hasn’t even happened yet! What?!!! What’s going on here? Usually I’m in the line of cars trying to drop off my tax envelope at the Post Office before midnight hits on tax day. But, thanks to my husband, he did it all for us over a week ago. Yay!

This weekend we’re off to Nevada to see my sister go through the temple for the first time and then have her bridal shower. Two weeks later we’ll be going back for her wedding. Then all of us will be married but the youngest, who turns 17 today!

Okay, time to go sleep off some of this sickness.

Happy Easter everyone.

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i’m so lucky

Okay. I have to mention the amazing gift my husband gave me for my birthday. He has gone above and beyond what I ever expected for my birthday. I was simply amazed when I opened it.

A while before he gave the gift to me, he told me I was really going to like it. Then I found out he was keeping it at his mom’s house, which made it seem like a large item. A piece of furntiure? I wondered, but couldn’t figure it out.

Finally, on the day we got back from San Antonio, he gave me this:

Yes, my husband gave me a mandolin for my birthday!!! I could not have been more surprised or excited about a gift. John knows me so well! The interesting thing is, I had only mentioned in passing that someday I’d like to learn to play the mandolin. But that was enough for him to search around online for hours, finding a mandolin for me so that I could fulfill my dream!

I am still amazed that I have such a perceptive, sweet husband. He took the time to figure out what I like, spent a lot of time finding what I liked, and then purchased it for me. I ended up with a truly unique birthday present–a gift specifically for me. And that means so much to me.

I guess this is an entry where I get to be sappy and say that I found the perfect person for me. I have been blessed in so many ways since getting married…I can hardly count them. In six days we’ll have been married eleven months, and while it’s hard to believe so much time has passed, the saying is true that time flies when you’re having fun. And we certainly are.

I know I’m not a perfect wife–I know it too well. But I have a husband who loves me anyway and lets me become something better. And I don’t take this for granted. I definitely know I’ve got a good thing.

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deep in the heart of texas

To the woman who looked breathtakingly gorgeous with perfect hair and makeup even after a two-hour flight to San Antonion: I hate you.

Here I am in San Antonio, enjoying every minute of my stay. Last night we went to dinner and then walked along the river. Beautiful. Maybe it’s because I grew up in Nevada where all the buildings are either new, fake, or shabby (or often a combination of the three), but I truly appreciate the architecture here. The buildings are so rich in history and originality. I could see myself living in a place like this.

And this morning I slept in until just before the continental breakfast went away, took a bath, and read my new Lemony Snicket book. I’m just lounging (which I enjoy immensely) until John finishes his assessment. Tonight we’ll hit the town and celebrate my birthday in style.

This is my first trip to Texas, and so far I love it. However, I’m a little confused by the fact that nobody has that exaggerated Texan accent I expected them to have. Do the people who leave the state of Texas feel the need to prove where they’re from by drawling big time? Or is that accent just from a different region in Texas?

Well, better go. Off to do more lounging. 🙂

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