New Years Eve Plans/ Garbage Ban

I ate like most people do at Christmas when they go home. A lot. of crap. Like peppermint ice cream with peppermint oreos. And sugar cookies. And birthday cake. You know. Enough that by the last day my body was like, "Help me! Help me!" So Brad and I are swearing off crap for a month. Kind of like no sugar, but not exactly. I can eat jelly. And yogurt with sugar. But not anything that exists for the sake of being junk food. Which has been great since the 27th- three days- but was so hard yesterday. I got home from work on Sunday morning at 8 and was ravenous. So I had cereal and slept. Woke up at noon for church and was ravenous. I ate a toasted pita with peanut butter and bananas on the way there. After church I was convinced I was going to die if I didn't get tons of food in me as soon as possible. It is hard to come up with healthy stuff that's as easy to stuff in your mouth as fast as a handful of chocolate chips!! I threw together a spinach salad with kidney beans and really good cheese, the whole time convinced I might pass out on the floor. Luckily, while I was eating Brad made Pozole, which is a Mexican soup you can buy in a can which somehow has a lot of fat but tastes healthy and seems healthy and has lots of protein and fiber and which I have every intention of continuing to eat and I ate that. And I put frozen fruit and milk in a bowl but then fell asleep before I could eat it because I was so tired from work and my 3 hours of sleep. But I was hungry when I slept, too, because I distinctly remember eating 4 different times during my dreams. I ate the fruit when I woke up at 10:30. (I had put it in the fridge.) And I made chicken with butternut squash and peas. And a peanut butter apple. Whew! And now I'm hungry again. :o)
For all this and for working out on the 26th, the 28th, and the 29th (and not working out any other time during last week), I have gained 2 pounds. I love my body. Whatever. :o) Really it's fine. I'm not reverting to the high school craziness. I promise.
Oh, and Jessicca, this is for you (mostly)! I am going to see the Boise Steelheads play hockey today at 3. "How," you ask "is this possible?" Because they are playing the Phoenix Roadrunners. Yay! I'm going with Doug, who is friends with me and Brad and is 30. I thought this was going to be an evening thing that turned into a midnight kiss, which I am okay with, but, now I don't know who on earth I'm kissing at midnight, which I am not excited about. We'll see what happens. If I end up with a bunch of dumb 22 year olds at the church ice skating party I will not be thrilled.
Back to hockey, though. I've never watched a game before and was always a little sad that I never got to see Boise play. So that will be super fun. All right, I think that's all. Later!

I almost forgot

I have, in my life, created three art projects that have turned out pretty well. So this year, as Brad would say, I decided to "go for broke" and paint this picture for Ariana. In it, she is listening to her favorite CD with her favorite Nike poster on the wall, eating an apple, and doing her calculus, which she "finds soothing." My mom said, "It looks like one of those pictures that people pay a lot of money for and you think 'hmm. I wonder why they paid a lot of money for that.'" Candice said it was "special."
I had fun. Ariana thought it was cool.

Family Picture

We haven't taken a picture of our family since 2000, I think. So here's the one we took yesterday. Remember, Candice is 5 months pregnant!

Christmas Morning

I got to be a nurse this morning. Someone in my dad's ward called right before we opened presents. Her husband was flailing around acting weird- he's about 82. We ran over. I checked his pulse, talked to him, had him smile to make sure one side of his face wasn't paralyzed, and basically calmed him down a bit. But he was acting weird, so we called the paramedics. I didn't know he was diabetic- I forget this with some of my own patients unfortunately- and they checked his blood sugar, which was really low. They just gave him a shot of dextrose while I held his hand and he calmed right down.
When we got home, everybody was ready to open the presents. Kaitlynn was on the top of the world because she got a "Kitty-so-real" that blinks and purrs and meows and blinks his eyes. And growls if you pull it's tail. Which scares Kaitlynn half to death. It growled when she set it down one time and she was like, "You are so naughty! Don't you growl. Don't you be naughty!" She brought that over to my mom and dad's house and we opened all our other presents. hmmm... the coolest thing is that my dad got my mom a trip to Prague that they are taking in August for their anniversary-she's never been overseas. Brad and I got cool cookbooks. Jessica got me mine. I got Brad his. Otherwise it was just normal Christmas stuff, but definitely a fun day.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Oh! And I got Kaitlynn 2 books- Pinkalicious and There's a Bird on My Head- which I highly recommend to any little kid. They are quite cute and funny.

Kaitlynn and I took a little Nap

This is just a picture of me and Kaitlynn taking a little nap on the 23rd. Lucky for me, I can always go to sleep, so I get nominated to help Kaitlynn take a nap. The next day, Kaitlynn wanted her dad Adam to take a nap with her "''cause she sleeps better that way." When he said he couldn't, Kaitlynn said, "But Dad, Mary sleeps with baby Jesus some times." awww...

Carbiener Christmas Traditions

A couple things that the Carbieners do each Christmas:
1- Watch the cartoon "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
2- Read the Christmas Story out of Luke 2 and put each piece back into the nativity as we read the story.
3- Read the Polar Express

As many of you know, there's only one grandkid in this family, and she's almost 3, so we were all a little excited to see how she would be this Christmas. As we read the Christmas story about the angel, my mom explained that the angel told the shepherds not to be afraid. Kaitlynn held the angel up and said, "Don't worry shepherds. Jesus is here. He won't hurt you. He loves you so much." It was so cute.
My Nana and Grandpa live in Idaho Falls, but are staying near my parents for a few months so my mom can help them out. My Nana is getting kind of old and doesn't think quite as quick as she used to. She used to read aloud to schools and kids and still has the best reading voice ever. One of the most special things this Christmas was listening to Nana read aloud the Polar Express. It was the most magical part of Christmas this year.

Birthday French Toast

I turned 28 on Christmas Eve, which luckily was less traumatic than turning 27 (nothing bad happened; it was just a shock to my system to not be 26 anymore...)
Anyways, Kaitlynn's birthday is the 26th, and with all the sugar that is already associated with Christmas, my mom was like ""do you really want a birthday cake?" So I thought about it. And I thought about a conversation I had at work about stuffed French Toast. I had never had stuffed french toast, nor had I heard about it. Something with Cream Cheese inside and folded French Toast. And I decided to have Stuffed French Toast for my birthday.
We all got online on food.com and found a recipe that called for chocolate chips, cream cheese, and bananas inside the french toast, covered in strawberry or raspberry puree. It was super sweet but very good. And with a candle in the middle, every bit as good as a birthday cake. Especially because my wonderful amazing fabulous father slaved over a hot stove to make it for me. Of course.
Happy Birthday to Me!! :o) (Oh, and please just ignore the huge zit in the middle of my forehead on this picture. I didn't think about concealer for breakfast. :o) )

Christmas Shopping

A little bit about how fun Christmas shopping was this year: So fun! First I went to Borders which had the cutest fairy wrapping paper ever. Unfortunately, I hadn't bought anything there so they couldn't gift wrap it for free for me. I asked, though, if I could buy some. "How much do you need?" the nice old ladies said. "I don't know," I said. "I haven't even bought anything yet." They started ripping me off sheets and said, "Hurry. Get out! The manager's right there!" hahaha. It was so fun. Then off to Crate & Barrel and a few other places. Deseret Book had a cute Santa Claus book and calendars that were half off, and a cute bag I needed was also the only one in the store that was half off. So, really, Brad and I had an awesome time shopping.
I got Kaitlynn 2 books: Pinkalicious and There's a Bird on my Head, both of which are super fun. I love an excuse to sit in Barnes & Noble.

Freakin Pappadeaux

So the plan for this week's party involved alligator appetizer, gumbo with cornbread, and sweet potato pie. Pappadeaux- the still amazing seafood restaurant-- told us two months ago that we could buy frozen alligator from them. We called and checked like 4 times. And then at 11 on Saturday night they gipped out on us. Freakin' a! We were so mad.
Just us, though. Everybody else didn't care. It was actually a very awesome week. For this one, the bishop and his wife and one of the councilors and his wife (The Mathesons and the Smiths) came over too. Also, Travis, Layton, Jared, and Ariana. Everybody left about 11. Just a sweet awesome time.
Travis made fun of Ariana for liking Nike commercials, Travis got grilled about dating, Brad told the bishop about our idea of playing Spin the Bottle at church activities to spice things up, and Brad was called to be the Marriage Counselor in the ward. Not really on the last part. But really on everything else.
None next week. 'Cause it's almost my BIRTHDAY!!!
I'm almost 28!! sosososo old.... :o)

This was Too Funny...

You Were Nice This Year!

You're an uber-perfect person who is on the top of Santa's list. You probably didn't even *think* any naughty thoughts this year. Unless you're a Mormon, you've probably been a little too good. Is that extra candy cane worth being a sweetheart for 365 days straight?

Were You Naughty or Nice This Year?

Lenny Kravitz, Finger Eleven, and Emerson Hart

So for Christmas Brad got me tickets to go see Lenny Kravitz last night, and we went together, which was fun. There were two opening acts- Emerson Hart was first- he used to be the lead singer of Tonic ("if you could only see how blue her eyes can get when she says....when she says she loves me....") He was actually very good. We bought his CD and met him and this is our oh-so-amazingly dorky picture that we took together. Which I'm only sharing because we both look equally dorky and I love you guys.
Finger Eleven was loud, and I thought I didn't know who they were, but they sing "I'm not paralyzed but I seem to be Struck by You" and "If i gave it all away..for one thing...wouldn't that be something." You know, those songs. They were very entertaining performers and did a great job.
And Lenny Kravitz was just amazing to watch. Partly because he thinks he is, and he carries that with him. And he dresses great, although I'm sure that every girl there agreed he was wearing way too many clothes. :o) Does he really need a jacket, a scarf, and sunglasses in Arizona? He didn't play very many songs, and he spent a while telling us all to let love rule and change our global consciousness. But he's hot and he sings great, and I had a fun time.
What a fun present! Thanks, Brado!

I Made Google

So finding this blog used to be impossible, but thanks to Maria, I made google. You see, now if you "google" my name, Maria's comment about dusting fairy wands with me comes up, linking the whole world to my blog. Makes me think about how much I can divulge without getting in trouble.... :o)

My Irreverent Personality

Travis put his on his blog, so I thought I'd do it to. It's fun, even if only 99.9% accurate :o)

You Are An ENFP

The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends. You are also unconventional, irreverent, and unimpressed by authority and rules. Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives. You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're quite the storyteller! In love, you are quite the charmer. And you are definitely willing to risk your heart. You often don't follow through with your flirting or professed feelings. And you do break a lot of hearts. At work, you are driven but not a workaholic. You just always seem to enjoy what you do. You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist. How you see yourself: compassionate, unselfish, and understanding When other people don't get you, they see you as: gushy, emotional, and unfocused

What's Your Personality Type?

Christmas Tree Shopping

I should have posted this last week, since we got our tree exactly a week ago, but here's two pictures of it. The guy who sold it to us is from Oregon and helped us tie it on my Altima. Sweetness! :o) The shirt I'm wearing I bought at Target for the party. It says "Kiss" (the band) on the top of the back which made it even cooler. There's a little snowman from Jack in the Box on the top left of the tree. It was my first ornament my first Christmas on my own in 1998 :o)

Thai Night- LemonWood and Cabbage Wraps

First of all, Brad did a very good job shopping for all the crazy stuff this night called for. He even enlisted the help of a Thai lady at the Asian store who helped him get all the right curries and the tamarind. He also bought the prettiest head of lettuce I had seen in a long time. Which turned out to be cabbage. Which didn't register with either of us until everyone else pointed it out. However, they are much sturdier in lettuce wraps than lettuce ever is, so there were no complaints.
So...this dinner party was crazy nutso.
The appetizer was marinated shrimp with lime juice. The lime juice was supposed to "cook" the shrimp. Like Peruvian "cerviche"- the fish version. It took about 15 minutes of that before I realized I was sauteeing those shrimp. Gray shrimp meat is not appetizing. In fact, it's about disgusting. So the appetizer was that shrimp mixed with ground pork, strips of cooked egg, and lemon grass. Which has the texture more of bamboo than grass. It went in the food processor pretty quickly once I realized how hard that stuff actually is. It was surrounded by "lettuce" leaves, celery leaves, and cucumber slices. It sounds weird as can be, but was very good. And it had a cool dipping sauce which is also complicated and involves citrus leaves, tamarind, and shrimp juice.
Out next recipe was Red Beef Curry, which also calls for citrus leaves. Luckily, citrus grows great here in December on Orange street, one block south so I sent Brad to steal a handful off our neighbors' tree. Actually, I told him to knock and ask. He didn't. Whatever. That turned out to be our main meal, served over rice.
We also had Siamese fried chicken- a lot like killer good chicken nugggets- which was easy and very tasty.
And we had banana splits for dessert. We were going to have fried bananas, but we ran out of oil.
This week we really didn't know ANY of the people who came over, and they were all totally fun. We laughed a lot- the guys especially were hilarious- so we had a very good time.
The food required so many burners that our kitchen looked like a tornado hit it! Oh well! It was great!
(The cute little ornament place holders on the table we got from Crate & Barrel. We are using them exactly twice, but they are so much fun.!)

Chestnuts Burning In the Roaring Flames...

So Brad and I threw our first party. It turned out pretty fun. It was definitely a mormon party and was pretty mellow, but fun for sure. Soo...Brian (from the two hot guys my age party. We hang out a lot. Nothing is going on there, tho. Which is ok. ) and I went shopping earlier for all the stuff. He told me I needed to buy lots of soda in case lots of people showed up. We have about 7- 2 liters left over. haha. We started sending people home with them near the end.
We also went searching for a chestnut pan. To roast chestnuts on an open fire, according to everyone on the internet, you have to cut little slits in them and put them in a saute pan with holes in it. You can order one on Amazon.com, actually. But that was expensive. So Brian and I looked a few places, and I was finally like, let's just go to Marshall's. Brian's like, "If Bed Bath and Beyond doesn't have one, Marshall's won't."
And I was like, "You never know; That place has random stuff."
And they had a copper grilling saute pan thing with holes all up in it for 8 bucks. Sweet!!
We had everybody bring an appetizer so we ended up with mozzarella sticks, buffalo wings, quesadillas, and veggie trays. We started the first fire in our fireplace, which was less scary than I anticipated. And roasting perfect chestnuts was way harder than anticipated. About 1 in 5 turned out good. They taste a little like sweet baked potatoes. No one had ever had one before, though, so everyone was excited to try them. Apparently, also from the Internet, in Thailand and England (and France) they sell them in the streets and they are amazing. So... Cim, while you are over there, could you please find out the magic tricks to make perfect chestnuts. Please?
Brad got the only mistletoe lip kisses. Vanessa O and Ariana. That livened things up a bit. I kissed three guys on the cheek, one who blushed like crazy, which was fun. Oh, and one couple kissed once. Ariana told Brian and I to, but that didn't happen. Who knows with that whole thing...
We all played Twister on my bed, but that ended up being not as popular of an activity as I thought it would be. I definitely had fun.
Also, Brad has a projector in his room so we all piled in and watched ELF and Polar Express. And then I read The Polar Express to the 9 people who were left at the end.
Overall, a very good first Christmas party. :o)

Do Something Nice...

So I don't put too my church stuff on here generally speaking. But today the 97 year-old President of the church said in a Christmas devotional, "Maybe 'Merry Christmas' is the wrong thing to say. Maybe we should say, "It's Christmastime. Is there anything I can do to help you?...Are your burdens too heavy?" I loved it, and it seemed very much in the true spirit of Christmas.

Mistletoe Party

On Saturday Brad and I are having a mistletoe party. That means: Twister, Polar Express and ELF movies in Brad's room, Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and about 6 mistletoes. Yay!!!!

I banned myself from Whole Foods

I realized the other day that I spend way too much money on groceries, especially on fun things I find at Whole Foods and Wild Oats. So I banned myself from going inside anymore. This led me to greatly appreciate Trader Joe's, which, it turns out, I didn't like so much my first trip, but this last time I bought a ton of stuff for like 40 bucks and am thrilled about it.

Heavy on the Antioxidants

Tonight's party went really well. A couple things:
Lychees- little chinese fruits that taste a little like fruit cocktail grapes. In a can. Not that great, but not bad
Cornish Game Hens- I've cooked these 3 times before, always one or two, and I've never defrosted them. However, if you're cooking 6, defrost them first, or dinner will take a lot longer than expected. Oops.
Brie- The first time I had it, GROSS- I hated it. But Trader Joe's Double Cream Brie is absolutely wonderful. Soo soo good. It's like $3.50 for a huge chunk. Sweetness.
So the appetizer was grilled chicken breasts on arugula with brie and blueberry sauce. Dinner was Game Hens with Raspberry Hens. Dessert was a coconut ice cream banana split with mango sauce and lychees.
Here's some pics!

If you give a mouse a cookie....

it might ask for a glass of milk.
And if you make Ariana your running partner, you might find yourself running up a mountain in the middle of a November rainstorm. Or walking, in my case, as she danced at the top.
Honestly, it was amazing. I kind of woke up at 2 thinking, "it will be fun to run in the rain today." Ariana was possibly ecstatic. We ran around the lake and up this mountain nearby which is very small but very steep.
It rained all day today, and let me tell you. Everyone at the hospital was so excited about it yesterday- the patients, the doctors, everyone. It was a beautiful rain, and we were both totally soaked at the end, but it's the kind of thing that makes you feel lucky to be alive. Happy December everyone!!

Christmas Kicked In

We hung up the Christmas decorations today. Oh, how exciting. So the last two Christmases I spent with my roommates in Boise, whom I totally love to death. Together, we went a little overboard for Christmas, hanging gads (a word? I think so.) of lights everywhere, down the hall, under the fireplace, across every entryway. We had beautiful vaulted ceilings and a plant shelf on which we laid cranberry garland wrapped in icicle lights. We had 4 big stockings, one for each of us, and two baby socks for the fish and the bird. Together on Christmas Eve, we gathered around the couch and Jessica, Tara, Craig, and occasionally another friend or so graciously indulged me in the Christmases of my childhood (not that anyone really minded. Christmas rocked at our apartment.) We read the Christmas story together and put together the nativity. We read The Polar Express and each shook a jingle bell. And we read "Jolly Old Santa Claus," the 1960's edition you can find only on ebay that is quite possibly the definition of a truly real Santa Claus. Then we all climbed into bed and took turns sneaking out and filling each others stockings.
So you can imagine that when I opened my Christmas boxes today I missed them all so much. I have everyone's stockings somehow (I need to find out if I need to send them back). If not, they are already hung on the fireplace. The garland is up, the books are on the coffee table, and Kenny G Christmas music is in the air.
Oh, and the snowflakes are up. The snowflakes almost deserve their own entry, as they definitely have their own stories. I got these 3 foot silver snowflakes from Target 5 years ago. (They were actaully Target's decorations). They have been loved by roommates, hated by roommates, and have ultimately gone up every single year. They have been tacked to walls and hung from ceilings in 4 different apartments. They have wrinkled "arms" and one is even missing, but they have character! And so, even though I swore I wouldn't do it again, the snowflakes are hanging.
Christmas is on its way :o)

Arizonians Love Their Winter Clothes, too

Last night was in the 50's. And today was a mere 65. And you should have seen the winter clothes. People are in sweatshirts, jackets, scarves, and hats. So excited to be dressed up in winter clothes. I put on my J.Crew hoodie from last year before going outside because Brad said it was so cold he was shivering. I found out later he was shivering because he was in a t-shirt. I was in my car with the AC cranked up so I wouldn't pass out. So funny.

Come See Me!

So...Phoenix is Southwest Airlines' featured destination until Dec. 3rd, so if anyone wants to start planning a trip....

So Many Babies!!

A list of the fun babies of friends that just arrived or will soon be arriving in this world.
Byron and Tara both just had their babies this month...close together enough that I got their pictures in my email on the same day.
Candice, my sis, is due on April 27th. It's a boy!
Katie, my best Texas Aggie friend, is due December 5th.
Chase, my Bay City 3 years younger than me friend, had his first baby yesterday. His little sister had her 2nd 6 weeks ago.
My grandparents will have 4 new great-grandkids by May.
So many fun cute little babies! :o)
Congrats everyone!

The Best Thanksgiving Ever

So...
Even though I worked on Wed, Thursday, and Friday, this Thanksgiving was still one of the best I can remember. First off, on Thursday I woke up at 4:00 just in time to watch the 4th quarter of the Dallas Cowboys beating the Jets 34 to 3. On Friday, Ariana brought me 4 different slices of pie from her family while I watched Texas A&M beat the Longhorns (Thanks to the Lord for letting these games both end at 5 before I had to go to work.)
Basically, I haven't watched a cowboys game in a while, and I always seem to miss A&M and the Longhorns and usually (sadly) they lose. So to have them both win while I ate apple and blackberry pie with blue bell on top was pretty much bliss.
And then on Saturday Brad and I went home, and my little niece Kaitlynn is always so excited to see me. Her eyes sparkle and glow so much with excitement when she hugs me and looks me in the eye that you think for a second she might explode. But she doesn't (whew!). So we all ate a really nice thanksgiving, and then Kaitlynn and I went into her room and took a nap together. She wrapped her little hand around my arm, sang me Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and went to sleep. I woke up sick (I think it's just a realy bad sinus infection), and ended up skipping out on church the next day, but altogether, it was really a great Thanksgiving.
I played guitar for my family on Sunday, and Kaitlynn played Jingle Bells, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and I am a Child of God on guitar. She is almost 3, so the guitar part sounded exactly the same each time......
Love it all.
cc

The Worst

I've spent a lot of time lauding the best of everything on this blog. For example, while cleaning the tub tonight I even thought how great Comet Spray is and that I should dedicate an entry to it. But then...
So first off, I am sick. Crappy, achy whole body, ears hurting throat sore kind of sick. And nothing seemed better than a hot bath. So I ran it, and put in this sweet little glittery bath bomb thing and crawled in. And thought, "This isn't quite warm enough." So I did that thing you do with your toes and let out some of the water and then turned the hot water back on. I did this 3 times. Then I sat up and realized that we were out of hot water. How, on earth, when you've been gone all day, do you get out of hot water in one small bathtub in ARIZONA? I had a decision to make. 1- I could get out and declare my bath a total disaster and go to sleep because it is 1 in the morning. or 2- Crawl my tired achy freezing cold body out of the tub and go boil some water for my bath. Which I did not want to do.
But I did.
And the water is boiling right now.
Adios.
cc

I'm Dreaming of a Warm Christmas

So last night at work I was hanging out changing the bandages on a patient who was listening to country Christmas music on his TV and I caught a little Christmas spirit. I actually don't really like country christmas music that much, but for some reason I got all excited and happy inside. Now, when the annoying Applebee's Christmas music came on every December 1st, I never got excited. But we didn't listen to a lot of Beatles in my house growing up.
And I realized something. When Bing Crosby sings, "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas just like the ones I used to know" he knows that the Christmases you grew up with are the best Christmases of all.
And for me that means 60 degree Christmases that I had for 15 years. It means biking down the street in my jeans and shirt on Christmas day and looking at Christmas lights with the AC on just a little bit.
And maybe that's why, unexplainably, two days ago I felt the Christmas magic that I wait for until December 23rd some years in Idaho. Maybe there I really am so focused on not freezing to death and trying to enjoy the coldness that I miss out on some of the giddiness of the season. But now, for my first Arizona Christmas, I can plan a Christmas party and dream through Crate & Barrel and wear my shorts and have a few little sugar plum fairies dance through my head in late November as I look forward to my first Warm Christmas in 12 years. Yay!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
Today I am thankful for:
all of you
my cute niece
my cool roommate
my gorgeous pregnant sister
our sweet dinner parties
the fact that none of my patients hit their call light once last night
my job
my sweet family who put off Thanksgiving dinner until Saturday when I could be with them
my amazing bed
the fact that my Altima's still chuggin' along
and...
peace

Kohinoor's Cuisine of India

Tonight Travis from my ward (he's commented a few times) took me out to eat at Kohinoor's Cuisine of India. As far as I can remember, I have never had Indian food. I mean- I've had curry, but never real Indian food at an Indian restaurant. And it was fantastic. I had lamb dopiaza. I felt like Cim, our friend in India. Just kidding. I don't really think I felt like Cim. She's probably much less messy when she puts the food on the Naan and eats it. Basically I ate a lot of food that tasted great and I had no idea what it was. Yum. I also had a drink that I think was called a Punjayi Lassi. But I'm not sure. I tried to memorize it for y'all, but you know.
Also, then we came home and watched About a Boy with Brad and Ariana 'cause we had never seen it and Travis really likes it. It's one of those movies I wanted to see for years and nobody wanted to watch it with me when it first came out, but two people told me this week I need to see it, so we did. And it was great. Besides the fact that Hugh Grant looks a little bit amazing in it.
:o)

My Favorite Food So Far

So we got so excited about the food this week, we forgot to take pictures. It was so good, though! It's from Rachel Ray:365. It's Turkey Cutlet Parmigiano with warm grape tomatoes, pesto, and fresh mozzarella melted on top. Jessica and I made this for Thanksgiving 2 years ago when we didn't go home for Thanksgiving and needed a fun turkey recipe. I almost forgot how amazing it was. In fact, I'm considering sending the recipe out with Christmas cards instead of a letter, because, well, you all know what's going on in my life, and it's very useful. I really think that when I have babies and kids and, you know, a husband, we'll still be having this for Thanksgiving dinner. Because I like it way more than plain turkey.
What else was fun? We had some brownies, I did a guy's hair, and there was just lots of love in the room, and that is what it's about
every
single
week

Testosterone is My Favorite Hormone

This week seems like it has been an exciting one. The dinner party last week was fun, and then oh, I had my date. We actually ended up going to Joe's Crab Shack, not "The Other Place". Lots of times I've been there and it wasn't great, but this time it was. This is what to get: Crab-stuffed mushrooms, Crawfish half and half, and Bananas Foster. Absolutely perfect. Ben was nice. We're very different people, but he was so fun to talk to and get to know. Brad's friend Bryan was here from Idaho which meant 24 hour testosterone in the house, and that was very fun. AND Brian from the ward stopped by last week and is being very nice AND one guy I met on the Internet finally called after a month and a half. And that whole thing seems a little iffy, but suffice it to say, this week has been pretty much way more exciting than most others. And I had a little head cold on Friday so I called in sick to work. And working only 2 days a week is very fun. Ohhh!! And we went to sushi (Brad, me, Bryan, and some of their friends) on Friday and I had Chilean Sea Bass, and it was great!
And, I went to Crate & Barrel today (which is positively DRIPPING in Christmas magic) and on my way in a guy yelled at me from his car. "Hey! You! You are so Hot! You are Beautiful! You made my day just by walking by!" And he was actually kind of hot. Now did I go over there? No. Of course not. Because that's not what you do. But still, it's kind of fun. And another reason why testosterone is my favorite hormone.

Perfect Day

Today is about as close to a perfect day as it gets so I thought I would share a little bit. First off, last night was my guitar lesson and I am learning to play a song Hallelujah, and I love it. I love it so much I have tiny little callouses/blisters on my fingers because I played it so much last night. When it sounds amazing I will make a little video and put it on here. :o)
Also, I've gained a couple not-cute pounds right around my waist the last few months, and some of it is because I haven't been running regularly, and some of that is because I don't have a river right next to my house that I can run to and around. So I talked to Jessica yesterday and Boise who said, "Isn't there anyone who knows where to run there?" So I called Ariana, because I knew she would know, and we went on a great little run (2 miles?) around Tempe Town Lake, and it was perfect. Yay!!
And...if you click back to June to the entry "Couple More Things" there's a picture of some little seedlings I planted. Usually I plant seeds and they all die in about a week and I'm okay with that, but these ones have grown HUGE. And the best part is that a couple days ago I noticed an actual FLOWER. Wow. And today there is a little white one starting! How cool is that! I've never actually grown anything from a seed.
And lastly, both Oprah and Glamour magazines came today. And nothing really makes my day like Glamour. So even if I'm about to go get in the shower and go to work, work will probably be okay, this weekend was fun, and things are good.
AND..one more thing..I have a date with the Elder's Quorum Pres. who is 22 and his name is Ben and we're going to a restaurant called "The Other Place" (I think) on Saturday. How cool is that?
Love y'all,
cc

See Jane Run and Bee Movie

First off, See Jane Run is a tiny exercise clothes company that I really like, so if you feel like supporting one, go to them. I just bought a green hoodie from them that I love that says "Super Jane" on it (they sent me a $20 of coupon in October. How could I not use it?). Anyways, they're seejanerun.com

Secondly, Jessie, the girl who does Jalloween, invited me to go see a movie today and we went and saw Bee Movie, and I totally loved it and everyone should go see it.

DWP Grilled Cheese

The other day I tied Brad down and made him watch The Devil Wears Prada. In it, the boyfriend eats this grilled cheese sandwich that looks and sounds amazing. And while shopping for cheese the other day, I found Jarlsberg, which is the cheese he uses. And I just ate a Jarlsberg grilled cheese sandwich, and it was amazing.

A crepe-making contest and two hot guys my age

Tonight's dinner party was a fun one, although I appreciate what a help Brad is. So...Brad is in Idaho visiting some friends. And I needed a cooking assistant. Well, when I very first moved here, I volunteered to help at the church's cannery/storehouse (not the syrup time..before that). And I met a guy named Mark who seemed nice and we talked for a while. (The one I asked to the luau who had already been asked. Anyways, so this seemed like a fun first date and he came over. He is a really cool guy (and cute!), and was so awesome of a help. This week was red apple, walnut, and stilton cheese salad, chicken with mashed carrots and potatoes, and crepes for dessert.
The other people who came over were:
Brian- who just moved into my ward and I met at softball a few weeks ago. He is also 28 and very cute and is the one at the table in the pictures not smiling. He got stitches in his lip on Saturday when his friend elbowed him and put Brian's tooth through his lip. It hurt to smile, so he had to try all night not to.
Allison- from Tucson
Brandon- a sophomore? from Oregon
and
Vanessa- who suggested the crepe-making contest, who nobody really won, but provided endless fun. This made for awesome pictures of everyone being very excited that they just flipped their crepes.
Afterwards, we all just sat around for a bit. Allison and Mark left (what? you're leaving? we haven't even kissed yet! ) Brian and Brandon were the last to leave. Brian took Brandon home and I'm helping him move later on today.
So much fun.
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I needed Stilton Cheese

The show got over about 8:30, and I went out grocery shopping for dinner. I thought stilton cheese was a pretty common one, but apparently it's not, because I went to 3 stores, and none of them had it. But I was right near a Whole Foods. Unfortunately, it was 10:04 and they closed at 10:00. So I stood at the exit (the entrance was locked) and got ready to beg. But the guy bagging groceries just looked over at me and could tell what was coming and said, "Just come in." I found the cheese in like 30 seconds, and grabbed 3 more things in 2 minutes (maybe 1). When I came up to the checkstand he was smiling, and I was like, "I love you!!" I love you too, he said.
Sweet.
I got the cheese.

The Fashion Show

On Saturday, I woke up about 4 and started getting ready for the fashion show. Of course, I had to look very good, because (at least in my mind) this was going to be every bit as exciting as the release of the Versace fall collection. I bought a designer shirt on clearance at dillard's last week and went with a girl named Mandy from our ward. She works at a boutique, and I call her my fashion consultant. She always tells me if I look fashionable at church. And I thought she would have a fun time.
This fashion show was held outside and lots of local boutiques bring their clothes and jewelry. And three of the boutiques are modeling their cothes, which is where Nelson came in. He was running around with all the hot little girls helping them to get dressed (rough job!) and lining them all up. It was very fun just to watch. One of the boutiques was a swimwear shop. Only in AZ do people parade around outside in bikinis in November. The pictures didn't turn out very well, but I'm putting some up anyways. Including 2 of myself being a dork in front of my computer. (I really liked my shirt, and I tried to do my eyes all smoky for the first time. hehee.) Plus, I was alone, and we all know I have to take pictures of my outfits when I'm bored and alone. :o)

Remnants of Last Weekend

Sometimes our weekends get really busy, and Brad and I seem to be cooking a lot. This is why last weekend we must have gotten a little carried away. I think every single dish we have was dirty. We spent a few hours in the kitchen on Monday cleaning it all up...

I did 2 Pull-ups!

So even though I haven't been awesome about working out here and have gained a few pounds, I have been doing a lot of assisted pull-ups. And yesterday, Brad hung up his pull-up bar and I did 2 in a row, which I've never done before. In fact, I can't really remember the last time I did one. So I did one about every hour all day long 'cause I was so excited. :o)

Quail and a little smoke

First off, remember how when Brad first moved in and I said 1+1 makes things easier? This is still true. However, if I didn't sleep during the day, I could have helped him on the quail hunt by telling him when I wasn't half asleep to check the Asian supermarket. Instead, this is how tracking down quail went.
First, I tell Brad to go to a meat market 19 miles away (on the freeway) because they said they had 10 for $2.99 a lb. So Brad goes on Friday, and they don't have any. So he comes back on Saturday and they say they have 2 and really they're cornish game hens, and they say it right on the package. So Brad calls a couple more places who don't have quail, and Albertson's and Albertson's distributor who sells them in packages of 100!! But even the 100 can't get to us before Tuesday. So he asks the distributor for a couple ideas and the guy says, "Maybe you could try the Chinese Cultural Center."
When I woke up Saturday afternoon, Brad was still in a state of shock from this place: the crowded fish tanks, the rattlesnake meat, the live eels. Totally crazy. But turns out you could buy 6 frozen quail for $10 and he bought 12. And I was a little bit scared to eat them but they were great.
So we had to get ready in kind of a hurry today because there was a baptism after chuch so we had about an hour. I was ripping apart a pomegranate for a grapefruit-pomegranate salad (I've always wanted to buy champagne vinegar because it comes in the prettiest bottles, but I never had a good reason (ok, any reason). Turns out this recipe calls for it. Which I found out too late. So we used raspberry white wine vinegar. So sad.) and Brad was tying little quail legs together (for some reason I know Jessica does not like this part..) Well, we made 14 quail (we found 2 expensive ones a month ago) and Brad had stacked them all up on a cutting board that he placed on a burner on the stove and then accidentally turned that burner on. Dinner was a little late 'cause it took a while for all the smoke to clear. I ran the salad into the living room so it didn't absorb the taste. So crazy.
Funny, though. It was the only catastrophe we've had so far..
We also had some figs that I had frozen last month (figs are a pain in the butt to find...have I already written that?...)
Anyways, Brad did an awesome job of sauteeing all the quail and the figs before finishing them off in the oven (doesn't that sound fancy?) He was really nervous, but they turned out perfect. And beautiful. We served white and green asparagus on the side. Turns out quail are totally messy to eat and you basically pick the whole bird apart and eat it with your fingers and feel quite carnivorous, but there really aren't any good options. It made everybody really comfortable and casual, though, and that was fun. We had Pear and Oatmeal "cobbler" for dessert. Brad forgot to get ice cream, though, but our friend Ariana brought over Toffee caramel ice cream, and most people wanted that. I put french vanilla yogurt on mine, and it was good. At 9 we all watched the rebroadcast of the CES fireside that we missed because of dinner. It was Elder Oaks, and it was really very good. It was a very fun time today. Lots of laughing, and, really, that's what it's all about...

Micah Did Something Awesome

So for really no reason except I'm not working out all that much (maybe), I felt a little stressed and overwhelmed about life this week, and I did not practice my guitar at all. And instead of getting pissed, Micah took me to Chipotle. And we got stuff for Jennie, too, and stopped at Starbucks, and then we all just sat around and talked for like an hour before I actually had my guitar lesson. It was awesome. How cool is that?
So I practiced really good yesterday. And all my patients hated me for the first few hours when I got to work. How not awesome is that? I won 2 out of 3 of them over.
OH!! And Micah might come out with his album by Christmas and then I can get them for you guys for presents. Whoo-hoo!
:o)
cc

Phyllis & Frog Prince

So the Institute had a fun little Halloween party last night. Mostly it was a dance, and mostly the fun part was dressing up and seeing everyone's constumes. I was Phyllis from the Office with a sign on my sweater that said "I love Vance from Vance refrigeration." (Meredith was also there with her lollipop, her 7-11 cup, and an ACE bandage on her pelvis with JIM HALPERT on it. Pam was there, too, and looked great.) Our friends Sam and Ariana were a nurse and a rebel. Brad was the Frog Prince, and looked great. He was sooo sad 'cause he was feeling sick and couldn't kiss all the girls so he handed out little rainchecks "for a life-changing experience." Good Times.