potentially not good

Sometimes at work I have to facilitate web conferences, which means I share my desktop as we do a group edit of some assessment or another (mostly).

Today as I was facilitating a conference involving several coworkers, a message popped up from Tim (Google Talk). He was trying to get my attention.

The message was "Let's get naked!"

Enough said.

O Christmas Tree

My friend whose blog I like to read posted this link on her blog yesterday. The post is so fitting, because this is what Tim and I were doing the other night:

And you can bet your bottom dollar we were unashamedly listening to Sujfan Stevens's Christmas album(s) at the moment this picture was taken. (The music is marvelous, really. And as Tim would say, "refreshingly Christian." Not that commercialized stuff you get so often--which can sometimes be good, and sometimes really not that great, like Lady Gaga's little song "Christmas Tree." What the heck? Not that great--It's ironic that the post would talk about how white people like Sufjan Stevens's Christmas music, because the post also talks about how white people like to dissociate themselves from the imposing Christianity of the Christmas holiday.)

In any case, we got a Christmas tree. This is uber-exciting for the following reasons (and maybe more that I can't think of):

1. I have never once, at least in my recollection, have had a live Christmas tree. (We always had an artificial tree.) They smell nice!
2. My family hasn't had a Christmas tree up, decorated, with presents under it for quite some time. Mostly because there are no young'uns around to get really excited about it, so no one much cares. (But I'm excited about this one in my new home.)

Thus, I will post more pictures.

It is hard to get a good picture of a Christmas tree.



Silly Tim! You are not supposed to WEAR stockings!

Oh, and this one is probably my favorite because it features Mister Gnome Man, whom we have adopted (as we might a child), and whom I intend to keep for as long as possible.

weird in the morning

Tim doesn't think that he is weird in the morning, but I'm building documentation to prove otherwise.

Case in point:

This morning, Tim was in bed with the pillow covering half his face. "Look, Amanda," he says, "This pillow functions as my eye patch."

Then later, still in bed, one foot was exposed while the rest of his body was covered with a blanket. He says, "Call me Peg-leg Joe!" Later, when I called him Tim, he insisted I should call him Peg-leg Joe.

On my way to work I called and left him a voice mail about something. I said, "Hi Peg-leg" as a greeting. He apparently didn't get the message until he had gained sanity, because when I saw him again, he said he listened to it and thought "What the heck?"

Yes, Tim, you wanted to be a pirate this morning. I don't know why.

getting to know all about you . . .

Tim's sister April once said that the first year or so (or first stage) of marriage is all about getting to know each other. So far, we have found this to be true.

One morning recently, Tim had something on his face that I could've sworn wasn't there before. He also noticed it that morning. It appeared to be a blood blister sort of, without the blister part, or maybe a scab, which had appeared overnight. So I proceeded to do "surgery" on it, against Tim's will, and when it didn't go away, I thought, "I'll just have to get used to this version of Tim." This was a perplexing dilemma for me. I worried about it, as if learning how to love a person with a serious handicap.

Turns out it was a mole. And upon viewing pictures of Tim's face, it is evident that it has been there for some time. In fact, one of the earliest pictures I have of Tim (from May 24, 2008) includes this facial feature. (See above.)

Our conclusion is that we both noticed it because it was slightly enlarged due to some sort of pimple in the same location. That may sound gross, but admit it, faces are gross places. (Sort of.)

Dinner at the Temple

Yesterday, prior to attending a temple session, Amanda and I had dinner in the cafeteria of the Provo Utah LDS temple--a new experience for the both of us. As many of our Mormon readers know, the temple is probably the pinnacle of Mormon experience, the place where it is easiest to feel spiritual enlightenment and to learn more about our existence in mortal life as well as the life before and the life after. Which made the temple cafeteria experience interesting.

While the rest of the temple may be inspired by God, to say that its cafeteria is also would be a serious trial of faith for me. The two beef enchiladas that Manda and I shared (the other choice was brautwerste, yes brautwerste not bratwurst) were mushy from grease. It was hard to tell where the tortilla ended and the beef began. The side of mixed vegetables was sorta tasteless and the Cajun red beans and rice only tasted of Cajun. Excessive Cajun.

This is funny because I have such high expectations about temple experience that are often rewarded. I just assumed that the would be true of all aspects of the temple. Of course, it is good that the temple is trying to save church tithing funds and feed hungry (perhaps desperately hungry?) temple patrons for a good price. I guess that must mean bad, unhealthy food.

is this one still kicking?

The fate of this blog is hanging in the balance. Nothing has really taken shape yet. I have my own personal blog, but the married person blog is floundering. What now? Tim feels like he doesn't have ownership and therefore never thinks to post? He believes it is because his friends do not follow the blog.

And nothing comes to mind for me. It's not like there are tons of marital exploits going on or anything. BUT there is some cooking. So should I morph this thing into some sort of recipe trial and error thing?

I don't know what to do! HELP!

timanda and baby-face rowan. and a secret surprise.

Timanda

Baby-face Rowan (OH CUTE!)Golltim or perhaps Gollimmy-boy (Gollum/Tim/Timmy boy)

I'm so domestic.

Yesterday, I
cooked
cleaned
baked bread
mended clothes

Beyond my wildest dreams, that's what this is.

new blender. again.

Folks, here's the blender we got this time. We've used it once so far, and it seems promising. Although it would be nice to buy something much more expensive and much more nice, we are poor. Even though we're obsessed.

But in other news, I found an excellent muffin recipe using whole wheat flour and yogurt. It ended up being bread because we don't have a muffin pan, but I felt like it was healthy because it contained only 1/4 c. butter and 1/2 c. sugar. Also delicious. There seem to be a bunch of good recipes on this website . . . let's get started cooking with yogurt, I guess. Who knew? I wonder who gets these ideas, anyway. I'd like to know.

Blender

Tim and I are obsessed with smoothies. We go to Costco and buy bags of mixed frozen fruit and then Odwalla orange juice for specifically this purpose. So amazing. And definitely lots of fruit. Pure fruit. Frozen fruit + banana+ orange juice = amazing smoothie.

But we are having problems with blenders.

First, we bought this one:

Which was good. In fact, it was great! . . . for a while. THEN I tried to blend mashed potatoes in it on Wednesday night, and it died. Completely.

So sad. I think Tim was crying in fact.

Then, the next day, our smoothie withdrawals got so terrible that we went out and bought this one with the help of a gift card (wedding present):

Unfortunately . . .

Well, let's just say we're taking it back. I even taped up the box so it looks like we NEVER used it. I can't deal with a new blender working like this?

Where can I find a decent smoothie blender?!?!?! Blenders are just notorious for not lasting very long. And I don't appreciate it. I also don't appreciate how lots of times when you get smoothies at Jamba Juice, they have little fruit chunks in them. Obviously their blenders aren't that great either. I also don't appreciate that they cost so freaking ridiculously much. AND how they add sugar. Not that either.

OUR SMOOTHIES ARE BETTER. But we need a better blender.

Bathroom, bedroom. Etc.

more. scroll

Apparently you can post four at a time? Picasa.

we are moved in our apt

It is hard to take good pictures of houses and rooms. But here is what I have taken.
This is where we live!!

check

We got a marriage license today!

photos

I really like the work of this man.

Announcement, announcement, ann-OOUNCE-ment!

We're in the process of sending out announcements currently. Hurray.

Check: Decided on a date.
Check: Found a place to live and paid deposit. (200 N 600 E. 500/month rent. Mer.)
Check: Printed announcements and pictures. (Duh.)
Check: Got a dress. It's getting altered.
Check: Bought Tim's ring.
Check: Arranged the temple.
Check: Arranged the luncheon location.
Check: Karisa took pictures. (Obviously. Thanks, Karisa.)
Check: Ordered shoes. They are in the mail.
Check: Got my ring from Tim.

Still need to do:

Get Tim a suit.
Find a place to go between April 23 and May 1 (when we can move into our apartment.)
Flowers?

Other ideas? I don't know what else needs to be done.

Let's do an art project.

Although I have lived in girls' apartments for many years, none of my apartments have ever had a quote wall. I think ours may have been the only freshman girls' dorm/apt. which didn't have one of these. I'm not sure why, but I wasn't upset by it. I thought, though, that my apartment this year needed one. My roommates are always writing little tidbits on the whiteboards on our fridge. So adopting the role of apartment quote wall facilitator, I bought some butcher paper, paints, and recruited Tim as my collaborative colleague.
Here is the "artist" at work.

Truthfully, I basically did the letters at the top and he did everything else. (Facilitator.) Although I was quite excited at the outset of our artistic venture, as usual, I faced the blank canvas in a state of creative paralysis.

I can't do art.
But Tim can, so all is well! It's lucky he's marrying me, otherwise I might suffer an artistic condemnation.

By the way, if you are wondering, I don't really know about the definitions of "art" and "artist." But I can sure use those words a lot in this post.

(I feel like a mother documenting photos of her young child, the artist in embryo. I see a lot of potential here. Just like little Marla's parents in My Kid Could Paint That.)

engagements. cast your vote.

which one is your favorite? leave a comment and tell.
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Inauguration Day!

Obviously, Amanda and I are pretty confident that this whole getting married thing is going to happen (and with each other) because we have jumped the gun by creating this joint married-people type blog, located at http://timandamandarowan.blogspot.com (emphasis on the Rowan part). This thing is set for April 24th, 2009 (date finalized today).

At the onset, I am a bit nervous since my previous attempts at blogging, journalling, and basic keeping-in-contact-with have proved short-lived and/or half-hearted. But, Amanda has been a successful blogger for years, with a small but firmly established readership, so there is hope for this blog (unlike timandamanda.blogspot.com and timothyandamanda.blogspot.com, both of which have only one freaking post over a year old!).

Today seems like a good day to start--to inaugurate, if you will--this blog. President-elect (now President!) Obama was sworn in to office earlier today and, though I was unable to attend thanks to a useless physical science lab, I can't help but feel the palpable excitement that hangs in the crisp January air. There is always skepticism toward politicians, especially toward those with Mr. Obama's rhetorical skill, so the amount of open celebration (partially because he is African-American--if there is any indication of how big the racism/slavery thing was (is), it is the amount of celebration for this milestone for the black community) in much of the country right now is surprising and exciting. 

And I am optimistic about the days ahead. Though he and I disagree on a few issues, I felt confident casting my worthless-in-Utah-county vote for Mr. Obama. I think that a major tonal and ideological shift is what we need now here in the US. Critical challenges are ahead for Mr. Obama, and for us, and it will be interesting to see how they are dealt with. But that can wait for the moment. Today is a day for celebration! So to Mr. Obama, I offer you congratulations and my thumbs up: