Gonna wake up in Vegas.... sort of

So..... yeah. Been busy at work, and relaxing at home the last few days. Work - though I've said many times - truthfully - how much I love my job, it has been quite the grind this week. Haven't gone to class because both of my on-campus teachers have cancelled for the week. I still had a bunch of online stuff due on Monday, and now - after spending all Tuesday night watching TV and reading, I'm trying to buckle down on a project so Geoff and I can take off this weekend. He asked if I wanted to go to lunch with him today (Of course; when do I ever turn him down!) and while at lunch I mentioned how nice it would be to get away this weekend. And! He was down for it! Except I called to see about vacancy at our favorite hotel in Mesquite, and it's about three times as pricey as what we're used to paying for it, so we're just gonna bum on down there and see what else we can find. Most likely in St. George. I love St. George. There's lots to do yet at the same time it's relaxing and peaceful. And clean. And warm. Anyway, we're going to hit up Vegas too but we plan to wander off the strip this time, there's a few other places I want to see and one very special clothing store I want to go to. (They don't have it up here and you can't buy online, either!) So, oh I'm just so ready. We were going to go to a concert/party that my cousin and friend are playing at Friday night (two different bands), but I'm sure there will be other opportunities to see them play, I hope he isn't too mad! Geoff and I were wondering if there will be a lot of crazy-looking people in Vegas since it will be Halloween, after all, and guessed there would be. I thought it would be fun to bring the camera and get our picture taken with the craziest costumes, but upon reviewing this idea with a friend, we realized we might not know who is dressed up and who really actually looks like that, so maybe not a good idea? Anyway, time to get going on that homework.

Weekend stuff

After a long week, we had a lot of fun last night. They were doing online specials for some haunted houses around here, so we hit up both the Castle of Chaos and the Haunted Mansion for our date night. They were a lot of fun; I'd say of the three we've been to this year, the Castle of Chaos was by far the best. Though there was one girl in the Haunted Mansion - an actress - who could lower her entire torso to the floor and crawl around with her knees and elbows jutting out at weird angles, just like on The Ring. And when she laughed, it sounded exactly like Emily Rose (while possessed with demons). It was pretty rad. We stopped at Borders on the way home. We want to try and squeeze in the Haunted Forest sometime next week before Halloween. By the way, that movie we watched, Paranormal Activity, that "good fun" ended up keeping me awake all night long, terrified at every little sound I heard - and some were weird. I think I might have to give it a rest for a little while until my nerves calm down.

Today, I spent hours on homework, and Geoff did some cleaning. He cleaned the junk out of the computer room, and dusted and vacuumed everything, and the room feels great now. No more litter-box stink. Though I have to admit, the house really does feel different without Wally. There's no one sitting by the door when we come home and making us laugh at the silly things he does and jumping on our laps at his convenience. I miss him. I hope he's happy in his new home.

Tonight we watched two movies, Hocus Pocus and Ghost of Girlfriends Past. (Neither are scary, not to worry!) I know, Geoff got me a chick flick and watched it with me, and even bought me chocolate and pomegranite drink. In addition to the cleaning! What a sweetie.

My mom is in New York with her sisters and one of their husbands. That's what my time off last week was for, except the week got changed. Anyway, the apartment they are staying in is in Soho - only one block away from the one Heath Ledger died in (may he R.I.P.), and is in the apartment building that some actress name Juliana Mascaro or something, and Kanye West live in. Meaning: it's nice! I guess the couple that owns it -as a vacation home - are both doctors and the husband has written books and been on Oprah. They totally stocked the fridge with wine, coffee, and chocolate, ha ha. My friend who lived in New York for a couple of years had made a list of all her favorite places to eat and things to see and do, and gave it to my mom, so they're using it. I hope they're having fun. :)

Cavo

Heard a song by Cavo on the radio today. Didn't know about them, but I kinda like it. It's not bad. (Crash was the song, but the rest of the CD is pretty okay)

Wally is gone

It was sudden. At least for me. See last weekend, I walked into the bedroom and found Wally in the bedcovers - he's not allowed in the bedroom at all - and I shooed him out, and said something mean about him loud enough for Geoff to hear. It bothered him, and a talk ensued, with me essentially saying I don't hate Wally, I'm just tired of the constant stink and mess. Geoff later decided that it would be best to just get rid of Wally, and I insisted we not, and he insisted we did, saying it might help us sleep better at night being able to breathe, that he's affecting both our allergies. I didn't think Geoff would actually place an ad, but place and ad he did, and some people came and picked him up today. I didn't even know until today when I was at work and Geoff called. I got to come home on my lunch break and say goodbye. He actually let me scratch his chin and he actually purred. And he let me pick him up and cradle him, as long as he could put his paw on my face. (I think he did that to ensure some protective distance... he wasn't used to being picked up when he arrived here a year and a half ago.)

Anyway, they came while I was in class, and Geoff said he thinks Wally is going to be happy. He was very comfortable with them and warmed right up to them. I think he's a pretty quick adapter - it only took him a day with us until he was rolling around on his back, which is a good sign. The only thing is that they have another cat, and we were told that he doesn't like other animals, though we hadn't actually seen what he would do. Geoff thinks he'll quickly get used to the other cat and will be fine. We told them to bring him back if he doesn't work out though. Geoff says we're just not pet people. Our apartment is too small for a pet. So probably soon we'll want to wash all the upholstery and have the carpet cleaned to get the hair and dander out. I'm kind of sad that I'll never see him again though, and I think we'll miss him. He's a good cat.

In other news today, Geoff had a job interview, in Ogden which is aways away. Only to get there and have them tell him he's overqualified. But, the guy had said, they get open positions in Accounting all the time and he'd give his resume to them. A little frustrating, yes, but Geoff said the guy liked him, so he's thinking of the positive, that he made a good contact. All else there is to do is just keep applying for jobs. I know something will work out.


After work today, my friend and I went to Costco to get flowers for a girl we know who just had a baby (twins - tragically, one was lost). Poor girl. I can't imagine the highs and lows she is going through right now. She's such a sweet girl and we just love her.

Short blog

Over the weekend we decided to start doing an official weekly family night, so Monday, that's what we did. I know, when you're marriend and have no kids, every night is family night, right? Well it's just a little more than that, Geoff had prepared a short spiritual thought, and we talked about it for a few minutes and then that was it. And we had dinner. And next week, it'll be my turn. This is addition to our weekly date night, which will probably be on Friday nights usually, my guess. Like we're taking some improvement steps, and I think we're totally committed this time, so I'm really very excited about this and I look forward to it all the time! I love my hubby so much and love spending time with him!

I still have school, but I'm pretty sure I can get around that. I'm not so concerned about missing a few assignments here or there anymore, if it happens at all. I'm just really really really looking forward to having a normal life again after December, filled with all sorts of good stuff like family time, being able to keep the house clean more easily, reading books, and I really want to lose some weight. The weight gain started in the summer of 2006, when I added full-time school to my schedule, and I've tried to get healthy several times since then, but have never really had enough energy or will power to stick to a long-term plan. But we're planning a family disneyland trip next summer and that's my deadline to lose 40 lbs. I hope it isn't premature that I'm blogging about this. I just feel so optimistic about post-school life and I really look forward to getting started on it.

Geoff sent me a link today to an article about a family of five, and the wife had cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy, and the husband had lost his long-time manufacturing job and was coming to the end of his severance package. Their health coverage was going from $136/month to $400/month and quickly to $1200/month. They felt their only option to make sure they had health coverage for the wife was to join the military, even though it meant leaving his family during this critical time of cancer-fighting. It made me so sad. I know I get so engrossed in my own peachy little life that I forget there are people who suffer and endure things I could not. I know I have to be grateful for each and every day I have with my husband, for what we have, because a struggle is just a down-size away. We agreed that it's a good idea to try to be prepared financially too, if anything like that were ever to happen. Life is so uncertain. But, I also feel like there's so many new and exciting things for us just around the corner and I look forward to them too, and building a life with my sweet husband. I'm just feeling very grateful, I guess.

Okay, I know I'm so cheesy. Congrats if you made it this far. ;)

Fall day in Provo Canyon

It was so warm when we got out of church that we couldn't pass the rest of the day up inside.

And finally one of my cute hubby being silly:

I love fall and I'm so excited for the holidays!

Scary weekend

These are hilarious, check 'em out. My favorites are Scary Mary Poppins, and The Shining - happy version.

Yesterday I felt well enough to make dinner and do a little cleaning. After a nap, which helped, we headed up to Salt Lake to go to the Nightmare on 13th. I was a little nervous because I really hate the chainsaw people, but they didn't get too close to us. It was actually way fun! We loved it! We want to do the Haunted Mansion and the Castle of Chaos now too, if we can find good deals online, cuz they are expensive! So fun though!

On our way home from the Nightmare on 13th, we spotted the new Oquirrh Mtn temple off the freeway and decided to drive out and see it. It is really beautiful, and oh my is it huge. Such a pretty area, all the houses and stuff too. I want to go back out there eventually.

Today, we went to the 11 a.m. showing of the new movie Paranormal Activity, and it was pretty cool. There was no gore, and it was about catching paranormal activity on camera, which we watch all the time on Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures, so yes, we like that stuff. Except the movie wasn't real so they were able to make it really scary. (The Ghost shows on TV - real or not - never catch anything very exciting). I know we joke around, suspect, and at times even swear our house is haunted, but it makes me never ever want to pursue finding out for sure, cuz you just never know what is out there! har har har. Good fun.

It's such a nice day outside that it's perfect for a drive around the loop to see all the pretty fall scenery, but I don't think I could handle a two-hour car ride today - still getting better. I've still got lots of homework anyway, so hopefully I'll get some of that done and then Geoff and I can get dinner and hang out.

Yesterday I was scheduled to get off work at noon, but ended up working straight through 'till 4:30. (And would've had to stay even longer if not for Angie's help! She's so awesome!) I was looking forward to getting a jump start on homework but oh well. It would've been even crappier to come back to all of that stuff on Monday, so I'm glad it got done. Around noon or so I started feeling sick, and now I'm totally sick. We think Geoff had a cold earlier in the week, (he had a stuffy/runny nose but didn't complain of being sick), then I got the nose thing but man I'm really feelin' it. Eck. I'm glad to have today and tomorrow off. Although I also keep thinking of all the homework and cleaning I need to do and how I don't feel like doing anything. Mmmmmmmmm.

Way back when

Since tomorrow is my last day of class for the week and there's nothing due, I am takin' it easy tonight. Geoff has to go give a presentation at 11:30 p.m., and then another one at 5:00 in the morning (crazy!!) but for a few hours we hung out. We watched most of The Burbs, symbolic of our first "date," sort of. We were watching the movie at Marshall's apartment one summer night with some friends, and eventually Marshall went to bed, and Dantzel and Johnny fell asleep on the couch and the floor, respectively. Geoff and I stayed up all night long talking, (the first time we really really talked) and eventually went to the park across from the Provo temple and watched the sun come up. We went back to the apartment, afraid that Dantzel and Johnny had woken up and were mad that we'd stranded them, but they were still asleep. Johnny was horrified that he had broken BYU housing rules and spent the entire night in the same room as a girl! He asked us to drop him off around the corner from his grandma's house, where he lived, so he could pretend he'd just been out for a morning jog. He he he! Dantzel and I called him Johnny McNaughty after that. Ha ha, Good old Johnny Chaston, he was so fun, we loved him.

Geoff and I agreed to go home and get some sleep, then we met up again and went to Salt Lake later that afternoon.

Actually, I think there was one other time that we stayed up all night talking - Geoff and his friend Ricky were at my apartment watching a movie, and everyone went to bed except me, Geoff, and Ricky. Ricky was coming down with an ear infection and sat there in the banana chair, miserable as ever, and said nothing as Geoff and I chatted it up into the night. Poor Ricky. He really sacrificed that night, lol. I can't remember which came first, The Burbs night or the Ricky's ear infection night. Anyway.

Hard to believe this was all more than five years ago! And now we've been married for four! Time has really flown.

Here I am waiting for it to start

Five minutes until class starts. I worked almost 11 hours straight today... no lunch/breaks/going home in between... typical of the last couple weeks. Just a few more days until my weekend off! Probably the worst thing about it is I've been living out of the candy machine for about a week and a half. Ewwwwww yeah it makes me feel crummy (get it, "crummy" like all those cookies I ate). We need to go shopping too cuz all we've got at home is candy and milk. Gross! It might have to wait until Wednesday!!

Ughhhhhhhhh

What a weird, awful, crazy week. It's been CHOCK FULL of work, school, and homework. So I've been a little crazy. Remember I said "tomorrow's going to suck," oh if I had but known. Wednesday was the marker of bad days. There's a task that I have done almost every day since starting in the acct department, that requires me to be careful and accurate. And for a year and a half, I've done good. On Tuesday, I messed up, and it came to haunt us on Wednesday. I had to go "confess" to my boss so we could start clearing it up, and I walked in composed, and the minute I sat down that knot in my throat came up and my eyes got hot and wet, it was awful! I've cried at work, in the bathroom or the privacy of my own office, or maybe in the company of a trusted friend, but while face to face with my boss? How completely unprofessional. Anyway, I guess first and most importantly, we could've had some angry clients, and we had to call them to explain what happened (i.e. that I'm a moron), and we didn't have any angry clients; for that I was most grateful. Next, my boss could've yelled or been a real jerk, and he did neither of those things. He didn't treat it as "no big deal," because it was a big deal, but he just helped provide instructions to clear it up and, like a good manager, inquired about our processes to see where it slipped through the cracks and made a suggestion as to what helps him with things like that. Also, the sweet ladies in Payroll were so so great to help me fix it, and for the rest of the week kept asking if I was doing okay and if I was having a better day now. Ughhhhhhhh. Anyway, it demonstrated to me again just how great the people I work with are, though still would've been better if it never happened. Awful.

On Wednesday after work, I had to go straight to school to meet with my group to make sure we had our presentation all set and ready to go. Class was at seven. I thought we were set and had a good enough understanding of the material to teach it to the class. We failed miserably. In fact, after we were done, the teacher got up, announced he was making a change to the lesson plan, and tried to "re-teach" everything we had just gone over, pointing out the errors of our presentation. I think he was pretty mad. The thing was, even after he clearly explained how it was supposed to work, still nobody understood. Questions questions questions. One guy even went up to the whiteboard to try and draw his own flowchart to help him understand. Finally the teacher said he'd post a flowchart on blackboard for us to study. I felt completely awful. I kind of thought he probably shouldn't have left that chapter up to the students to teach, and if so, shouldn't expect us to perfectly understand the process, as even he has said the book is pretty terrible. (I think this might be his first time teaching this class, so maybe it'll be different for the next class). I honestly thought I was understanding it. I'm still upset about it. This teacher has been one of my favorite teachers thus far, which is pretty good in light of my thoughts about professors in general, but at any rate, I have no more warm fuzzies where this class is concerned. I just have to make it through two more months of stuff that I will never again use in my life, and I'm free to go. (For the record, the chapter was about public/private key pairs, hashes, message digests, certification authorities, digital signatures and digital certification - which are apparently two different things - encryption and decryption, and Bob and Alice. Jackson, if he's reading, probably knows all about that stuff because he's IT, but like I said, never going to use again in my life.)

So, that is the Cali side of things. On the Geoff side, he's been under stress because he's looking for a job, and that is never a fun process, no matter what the economy is like, and the economy isn't good. So anyway there's been a little bit of tension in our house due to stress this week, but last night we just decided we needed a break to blow off some steam. We caught up on all of our TV shows, like Big Bang Theory, Biggest Loser, and The Office. Today, Geoff's out giving a presentation to some people, and I plan to shower and go shopping. We might go up to the museum at Hill AFB, cuz he was up there yesterday and said the museum looked really cool.

Homework can wait until tomorrow.

Quick update

Totally swamped with homework this week. Sure, I coulda done more of it last weekend, but it doesn't make me any less eager to be all done. And work is crazy right now too because quarterlies just started, but work I don't mind. I can't believe we're in the fourth quarter already, it seems like I just barely finished with 2008 stuff!

Well, tomorrow will probably suck, in general. But after that, it should be smooth sailing for a short while.

Dude... why me...

I'm tired. After work I went to school to meet with someone at 5:30 until class started at 7:00, then I stayed until 10:00 working on my IDEA project because I was afraid to save and try to finish it later cuz I didn't know if I'd lose my work and have to start all over. Anyway, around 8:00 I got really hungry cuz I missed dinner so I went to the candy machine to get a bag of chips and...

Seriously?

It took about five extra minutes and some pounding, but eventually they fell down.

General Conference

This morning I had the great privilege of going to the Sunday morning session of General Conference with my hubby and little sister. Geoff has been once before, and it was mine and Danielle's first time, ever. My uncle, who lives in Arizona, managed to get some tickets, and then he ended up not going so he gave three of his tickets to us.

It was pretty exciting. It starts at ten, but we needed to be in our seats no later than 9 for Music and the Spoken Word, and we sort of overestmated the timing of the crowd, so we got there way early. Got great parking though. Now, I don't generally just listen to Mo-Tab for fun, but in the MATSW they sang two songs that I just love love love. My Shepherd Will Supply My Need and Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. I really enjoyed it.

The conference itself was really good. I enjoyed all of the talks, and we're for sure going to buy the conference session of the Ensign because there were a lot of really good talks. President Eyring and President Monson both spoke, and there were others.

The one thing that was really funny about the whole thing was that there was someone sitting quite near us that had the worst gas I have ever had the misfortune of being around. We sat there for nearly four hours, and it was happening right from the very start and getting worse with the passage of time, to around every two or three minutes. Whoever it was was a master SBD-er, cuz I never heard a sound to help me figure out who it was, although I had my suspicions. Anyway, we were happy to get outside afterward but aside from that, it was a great experience. And I'm glad my little sister could come with us.

Cheesy is my thing, I guess

It's 9:30 Friday night and I'm about to fall asleep sitting up. And Wally is picking cat food up off the floor because his food dish is empty. Sometimes when that happens and he gets really hungry he jumps on the giant bag of cat food in the kitchen and meows to get our attention. He's pretty smart.

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Got a weekend of conference and homework homework homework ahead. Will be fun. We decided we should really start doing a weekly date night again. So last night was our date night for this week and we went to a seminar called Crucial Conversations, hosted by United Way to raise $$. I actually thought it was very beneficial and am glad we went.

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The presenter talked about that one guy who, in his research, could watch a couple have a heated conversation for 20 minutes and predict with 90% accuracy which couples would be divorced within five years. It was the third time I've heard about this dude, but I think I learned the most out of tonight. His predictions were based not on all the good things couples do to strengthen their relationship, but how they handle their disagreements - in other words, the way in which we handle our disagreements is important! The four behaviors observed were Invalidation, Criticism, Escalation, and Withdrawal. (Similar to the "four horsemen:" Criticism, Defensiveness, Contempt, and Stonewalling).

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Anyway, he said that studies have shown that when your emotions heat up, the part of your brain that processes logic and reason shuts down, and your muscles get all tensed up, posing you for fight-or-flight. And usually what happens is we end up saying and doing things that are harmful to the other person and ultimately our relationship with them, and nothing gets resolved. So he said - and I could really stand to practice this - is when something is said or done and you feel your emotions spark up, the first thing you want to do is 1) stop, realizing that you've stepped into a "crucial conversation," and 2) think of questions. Specific questions: "What do I really want to get out of this? What do I want for them? For our relationship?" Thinking the questions through brings your brain back into the picture and gets you to calm down, and gives you direction and focus. When your interaction is through and you want to evaluate it, ask yourself if you got closer to resolving your problem, and if you are closer as a result of the interaction. So anyway, Geoff already has the book because he went to a two-day training when he first started his internship, and I want to read it eventually. (He says there's a lot more stuff in the book and it goes a lot more in-depth.) I'm sure the whole process is much easier said than done, (and probably easier understood when presented by them and not me) but I want to try it for sure.

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Okay well now I'm really falling asleep. Oh, one more thing I wanted to add because it was a poignant moment for me:

A few mornings ago I was just really having a hard time of it, and mom emailed this picture to me. My aunt found it and we'd never seen it before. That's me at whatever age, and mom and dad. It struck me the moment I looked at it at what a happy child that is. You can see it in her face and body language, happy and excited, untouched by fear hurt and anger, and there she is surrounded by mom and dad, just chillin'. It reminded me of just how blessed am and have been and how many things I have to be grateful for, and how a bad morning really isn't that big of a deal. I feel so much gratitude to Heavenly Father for my awesome 'rents, and just really everything, for such love and blessings too many to count. I know there are many that aren't so fortunate, who endure some horrible things, and my heart just aches for them. It's the least - the very very least - I can do just to be grateful for what I have.

Yes, I know I'm cheesy. SO cheesy. :)