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Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
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4:26 pm - Belize Drive-By
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Okay, I admit it. I have been procrastinating writing about our trip to Belize. Ten days of sun and sand and ocean and awesomeness is hard to summarize! I have a bunch of notes that I handwrote while I was there so I could remember the smaller details, but writing them all out seems so tedious! Sorry, I don't mean to be a crankypants. Belize seems like a long time ago already, we've gotten so absorbed into our new lives and schedules since we've been back. That part has actually been really awesome, but I'll try to get to that in the next blog post.
For now, you get Belize Highlights: Machine Gun Style!
-- Flight delay of several hours due to thunderstorms in Houston leads to us catching a third flight to Ambergris Caye a mere 10 minutes before the last flight left for the evening. Our bags do not make it to Belize and arrive 24 hours after we do.
-- Xanadu Resort is even more beautiful than the photos suggested. We stayed in a two-bedroom villa right on the beach, where the view out the window was so incredible I could hardly stand it.
-- Stressed out by all the travel, Brandon gets totally plastered on one very large Long Island Iced Tea on our first night in Belize. A good way to start out the trip.
-- One of those germy wedding guests that insisted on either hugging or kissing me gave me a cold, so I have a cough throughout the trip but fortunately never get any sicker than DayQuil and Claritin can cure.
-- Our second night we hit up a bar that is located on a pier for Taco Tuesday. They run out of the tiny delicious tacos before we can order a second round, but we have fun listening to the live country music including my favorite song of the night: "Just another Gringo in Belize."
-- Reading on the private pier or in the hammock on our porch, and swimming in the ridiculously gorgeous garden setting pool are just a few of the awesome things I get to do all day while we are here.
-- Brandon keeps making me play card games and wins every time. It is very annoying.
-- The Belize Zoo is a fun trip because they let you pet the animals there! I get to know some tapirs and a white-tailed deer. We also see some excellent spider monkey action and also a jaguar, ocelot, and some huge harpy eagles. I am in heaven and Brandon takes a ton of great photos.
-- Cave-Tubing is one of my very favorite bits of the trip. We hike up along a river for a bit and then plunk down in some inner tubes and float through three or four underground caves with headlamps on to see some of the cool formations. It is a little freaky but very very cool. There is a mascot "cave dog", a German Shepherd named Lucky, who swims alongside us and stops to rest on invisible ledges throughout the trip. I rely on her to protect me from the imagined cave trolls in my mind. On the drive back to the boat ride home, our guide hands around glass bottles of Coke and frozen Snickers bars and I am blissfully happy.
-- Coolest/Scariest snorkeling ever at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. 3-6 foot nurse sharks and stingrays 3-4 feet across are everywhere! Our guide is really cool and teaches us how to put a shark in a headlock. I pretend I have conquered my fear of sharks, even though nurse sharks aren't really dangerous because they are bottom feeders. Also saw a half-dozen sea turtles, including an enormous Loggerhead.
-- Checked out some Mayan Ruins at a site called Lamanai. They let you climb up the largest pyramid there, and I actually do it despite some very steep and sketchy "stairs" and it being very high up. Brandon laughs at me a lot, especially when I scoot the whole way down on my ass.
-- All of our day tours serve us the same damn lunch: stewed chicken, rice and beans, and coleslaw. What was once mediocre becomes truly disgusting by the 4th time I am forced to eat it. Coleslaw may never look the same again.
-- Final day trip out to the famous Blue Hole (Google it!). The boat ride is long and sick-making because I forgot the Dramamine, but the snorkeling is incredibly gorgeous and worth the truly terrible ass-sunburn I get. The color of the ocean is just beyond description, but Brandon got some good photos to prove the point. Caribbean blue indeed.
-- Lots of great food throughout, but by far my favorite meal is breakfast on our last day. We eat at a place on the beach with a sand floor. Brandon has pancakes and bacon with a fresh watermelon smoothie, and I have eggs scrambled with ham and salsa and "fry-jacks," a combination of sopapillas and Navajo fry-bread. We chat about our future and are nauseatingly adorable and I get so excited to go home and start our lives together.
I think that about covers the highlights that are internet-appropriate! Sorry if you were looking for the novel version. Now we can return to our regularly scheduled programming. I will be back soon with my thoughts about living with a boy.
current mood:  nostalgic
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| Friday, November 13th, 2009
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2:13 pm - The Wedding Blog
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How do you blog about your own wedding? I've been considering this for a few weeks now, and the idea of sitting down and trying to put together some sort of comprehensive narrative about the whole event and the week leading up to it – it's incredibly daunting and generally impossible. Not to mention my mind-blowingly awesome honeymoon trip to Belize. Now that we're home and starting back at work, the whole experience seems like remembering a surreal drug trip from a really long time ago.
Of course, there's no real secret to why my bachelorette seems like a dream, I can explain it to you in one word: soju. Soju, type of rice wine, is the answer to every question one might ask about my night out with a dozen female friends in a private room at a Korean karaoke bar. Did I really close the night belting out Beyonce's "Single Ladies" while simultaneously demonstrating my own take on the music video? Soju. Did my sister and I wake up unbelievably hungover the next day, with me dry heaving for half the morning and her throwing up out the door of my car on her way to the zoo, with no memory of several of yesterday's hours? Soju. Did my mother really dance around and give her best rendition of Copa Cabana? Soj-- actually, she did that totally sober. I was very touched at how many made the effort to come out, despite having jobs and lives to get to the following day. The night ended with me, Mom, my sister, Sara, and Alex – a pretty perfect combination. Closing the night standing out in the parking lot with that group was the icing on the delicious cake that was my farewell celebration to my single self.
I've probably been looking forward to my wedding day for about 20 years. I can honestly say that it lived up to all of my hopelessly idealized high expectations. It is immensely satisfying to find that all those years of daydreaming did not lead to disappointment, that your wedding day really can turn out to be everything you wanted it to. It's too big a task to ask me to recount the day moment by moment, so you'll just have to settle for some snapshots.
( Wedding Day Snapshots )
That's not everything I remember but it's generally the important and most memorable bits, I think. Getting married is awesome and I have so much more to write about! I'll try to be back soon with a least a portion of the honeymoon trip to Belize!
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| Saturday, October 17th, 2009
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6:53 am - Farewell to single living.
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It's my last day in the old apartment! I won't even actually be here for more than a few hours; Brandon and I are headed up to Pasadena for my friend DJ's wedding today. We'll have to leave early, though, because tomorrow my parents are arriving bright and early to move the remainder of my stuff over to the new place!
I'm not sad, exactly, to leave this apartment, because I am very excited about what I am leaving it for. Maybe I am just feeling prematurely nostalgic about it. I've lived here for just over 4 years now, which in the grand scheme of my move-riddled life, makes it the the #3 place I've lived in the longest. This allowed me the opportunity to accumulate simply outrageous amounts of junk, most of which I've tried to remove from my life as I transferred the rest over to the new apartment.
I threw a mini Single Living Send-off party for myself last night, and celebrated with a falafel sandwich and frozen yogurt. Sadly, I didn't have any of my chick flicks here to watch, so I had to settle for Castle and Dexter episodes from Netflix.
Anyway, I am feeling too distracted about my life to write much about the old apartment, but I have loved living here.
Top 5 Greencliff Apartments #103 Moments, in no particular order.
Bringing Gatsby home from the Humane Society. She hid in a kitchen cabinet for several hours.
My bridal shower.
That time I came home and there was a mouse in here and it totally freaked me out. I just cleaned out the cabinets under the sink and found the traps the pest guy came and set up. One was sprung, yikes! Apparently my friend tried to come back for a second visit at some point.
The invention of the wine-fueled solo kitchen dance parties.
New Year's Eve 2008. Brandon and I discussed getting engaged for the first time.
Bye, Apartment 103! I hope your next tenant is better at keeping you clean.
current mood:  excited
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| Monday, October 12th, 2009
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8:45 am - Long Beach Half Marathon
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Back from Long Beach! My dad and I had a nice couple days hanging out and doing what we do best -- running at moderate speeds for an insane amount of time. Back in July or so, I decided to sign up for the Long Beach Half-Marathon. Partially, I just wanted to race again, but I also wanted to make sure that I was still making time for exercise as the stress of the wedding and move set in. It worked out pretty well -- I didn't train my hardest for this race, but it definitely kept me running and from obsessing too much over small details.
I'm very glad my dad decided to sign up for the race as well. We always have fun doing races together -- this is our fifth distance race we've done together: OC Half-Marathon in 2004, LA Marathon in 2005, Disneyland Half-Marathon in 2006, and the San Diego Marathon in 2008. We've evolved past him actually having to run with me, though, which is nice for him because then he can be all speedy, and nice for me, because then I don't have him pressuring me to run faster the whole race! I'm also glad he ran with me because Long Beach is kind of sketchy and I wouldn't have liked having to make my own way around very much.
The race itself was all right -- it wasn't particularly well-organized. Not enough port-a-potties, crazy chaotic start, etc, and most importantly, no orange slices at the finish line!! The first 6 miles of the course were very twisty and boring, but the last 7 were all along the beach with the wind in your face, and the race finished on a long downhill, which was great. I finished in 2:18:43, which was better than I was expecting but still about 8 minutes longer than my current PR. Definitely did not do enough speed training. The fun part was that I finished only about a minute or so behind the full marathon winner, so as I was headed toward the finish line, all of the spectators were cheering really loudly and I could pretend quite easily that all that cheering was for me.
I'm off to start packing up the kitchen. 12 more days to go!
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| Thursday, October 8th, 2009
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5:34 pm - I didn't mean for this post to turn out so full of thinky thoughts.
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I found out today that a volunteer at my clinic is leaving because she's moving back to Arizona to live with her parents. I wasn't sure what kind of emergency necessitated this decision, but she emailed me today to let me know that it's because she is separating from her husband. This is very sad news and made me feel very awkward. Although I've tried not to obsess over my wedding to anyone who will listen, we definitely had a few conversations about it since I've known her. It just makes me feel weird for her in retrospect that the whole time I was happily spouting off about invitations and vows and taco bars, she was in the process of deciding to end her marriage.
Another part of the issue I found interesting was the response of the other attorney, who my volunteer also worked for in a different clinic. Basically, she said "I take marriage very seriously. I just think that if it's not working for you, you should get out as quickly as possible. So if that's the case, good for [Volunteer]."
I didn't really respond to this comment, because it seemed so ridiculous and incongruous that I wasn't even sure what I should say. How can you say that you take something seriously while also advocating its destruction for such a vague reason as "it's not working for me anymore." I don't know if it goes without saying to point out that this attorney is unmarried. She made a claim that her single status is partially due to the fact that she "takes marriage so seriously", but it makes me wonder whether it might also be due to her attitude on relationships. If you don't see any consequences of ending your relationships, then where is the incentive to work at them?
I suppose everyone has a different approach to relationships, and if her opinion is that long-term relationships and marriages are improbable and not worth the effort it takes to sustain one, it's certainly her right to hold that opinion. It just made me sad for her, that she lives in a world where that is what relationships are like.
Maybe some people find the idea of being "stuck" with someone for the rest of your life to be a restriction on their freedoms, but I don't feel that way at all. On the contrary, I find that deciding to commit to Brandon on such a permanent level to be oddly sort of freeing and comforting at once. Having someone decide that you are worthy of that level of commitment, and feeling the same way about them is the most amazing affirmation of my own value. I don't mean to say that because Brandon loves me, it makes me valuable. It's just that his wanting to marry me gives me the freedom to be totally and completely myself with someone, because he promises to love me no matter who I am will become.
I've been contemplating that feeling of freedom resulting from my deciding to be "tied down", and it reminds me of something my pastor was speaking about at church this week. He was preaching about the new life that Christians have in Jesus, and how we often have a hard time fully embracing that life and abandoning our old life. People see becoming a Christian, he said, as "a demotion rather than a promotion." If you focus on all these "rules" you now "have" to follow, you can see how following Christ can seem like a restriction on your life. In reality, though, the freedom, comfort, and trust that you receive from accepting Jesus as your personal Savior and the ability to be totally open and honest with someone is so much better than whatever trifles you give up in return. And I think the same is true with a marriage -- I may be giving up petty worldly "freedoms" but put in perspective, my life is much richer and freer with Brandon as my partner than if I were to continue my life as independent and alone.
A couple disclaimers:
1. Obviously my relationship with Christ is quite a bit different than my romantic relationship with another flawed human being. I was simply pointing out a few parallels I see between the dichotomy of "free" versus "bound", when keeping in mind a common worldly perspective on marriage.
2. I really didn't mean to make any unmarried friends feel sad or uncomfortable. A life lived alone can be easily as rich and significant as one lived in a partnership. This is just my personal opinion based on my own experience as a single person and a soon-to-be married one.
current mood: thinky
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| Friday, October 2nd, 2009
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3:50 pm - A string of unrelated thoughts is all I am currently capable of.
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Moving is a bitch. So are seating charts.
I think "Glee" is amazing. I had to watch this week's episode twice to fully absorb all the Chenowethy goodness. The second time I waited until Brandon wasn't there so I could watch properly (i.e., by lip-synching and flinging my arms around very dramatically.)
I can't stop dreaming about the zombie apocalypse!! I know it's just a sign of all the stress I'm carrying around right now, but fighting the undead in my subconscious all the time is becoming exhausting. I'm also occasionally afraid that I might be seeing into the future a teeny bit, a la Flash Forward. Watch out for brain-eaters, everyone.
All of Brandon's groomsmen got their tuxes fitted on time! I am blown away. None of them read this, but good job, guys! Still need to get Brandon's nephew fitted; hopefully that will happen this weekend.
I took all the pretty things off my walls to stop myself from thinking of this apartment as my home. It is so depressingly white in there now that I have gotten a ton done on the move in the last two days.
My friend Erin is having a boy! That makes the score 3 boys to zero girls for my little high school group. I think they are going to name the baby Ethan, which sounds nice with their last name. She is going to be a great mom because she is already a great nanny. She's also an amazing singer, which is why I asked her to sing my favorite hymn at our wedding ceremony!
I am leaving soon to go to the Salvation Army and the gym but I just wanted to post a quick update to say that I am still alive and kicking for now. Gatsby is not so sure about all the commotion and has taken to hiding in the closet. Looking at the remaining to-do list, joining her doesn't seem like that bad of an idea.
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| Sunday, September 27th, 2009
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4:36 pm - Pre-Wedding Madness
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I've gotten a lot done on the remaining wedding pieces this week and am feeling a lot less stressed about what we have left to get done in the remaining 27 DAYS (!!!!) before I marry Brandon. I had to wait to update until I was back to feeling happy instead of stressed. I feel so obnoxious complaining about getting to plan my perfect wedding to marry my favorite person in the world so I try to keep the whining to a minimum.
Chief on the updates (to be filed under Mild but Necessary Disappointments) is that our rehearsal dinner will no longer be held on the beach (sad face). It was just becoming a logistical nightmare in terms of set-up and clean-up and supervision and lighting and a dozen other tiny details that I really didn't want to have to deal with anymore. So on Friday, following a semi-fight with my fiance and a fair amount of tears, I rented a smaller room at the same conference center where the reception will be. It's really a cute room and I think we'll all have a lot of fun -- me in particular since I won't be having to worry about it anymore. There's even a tiny stage in there that would be the dance floor if it were someone's reception -- if I had a different sort of family or we were going to be serving alcohol at the reception, I'd totally rent a karaoke machine. But as it is, we'll still have lots of yummy barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs and best of all, a stress-free bride-to-be. Big props go out to my dad for coming up with the solution to this mini-disaster.
Other glaring errors I have committed recently: ordering 17 bottles of 1/4 size champagne, thinking I was getting an amazing online bargain for full-size bottles. Oops. I can't even tell you how stupid I felt when all these tiny wine bottles showed up on my doorstep. Sigh. I'm going to use most of the tiny ones by giving individual bottles to everyone at the head table, so it won't be too much money wasted. Plus, I found 12 bottles for $2/bottle cheaper at Trader Joe's today, so I made up most of the cash I overspent on the tiny ones. Just need to track down another half-dozen bottles of the champagne and I can check that box off the list! Oh wedding champagne, bane of my existence. Hopefully most of you like the sweet red Italian sparkling wine that Brandon and my parents chose. I think it's quite delicious.
Wrote our vows the other day! I will reprint them here after the wedding, but for now they will remain a mystery. Not sure how much Brandon likes them (he is mostly to the point now of just wanting to be married already, so it is hard to get much enthusiasm about anything wedding-related from him these days), but I am extremely happy with them. No reference to obedience or warm homes or anything, but lots of lovey schmoopiness. Hooray!
Okay, my friends and family, I'm not sure if you've heard the 60% rule? This rule states that usually about 60% of any given list of invitees will actually attend your wedding. On my side of the invite list, I invited about 68 people. Like 60 you are coming -- what the hell, guys?! Just kidding, I am actually beyond psyched and totally touched that everyone is making such an effort to attend our wedding. The total guest count is right around 100 now. I anticipate it inching up to maybe about 110-120, which is absolutely perfect. The only problem (if you can call it that) is having a room full of so many people that I love so much and only having 5 hours or so to see and talk and party it up with everyone.
Now that the wedding is getting straightened out, I need to put in some serious hours on this move situation. I'm about to go do that right now. Brandon is working today so now I'm off to put in some solid hours clearing off the desk so we can move it and making some sense out of the natural disaster that has become my bedroom.
27 days, guys! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.
current mood: excited
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| Friday, September 18th, 2009
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10:06 pm - Baptist wedding vows of . . . .awesomeness? Horror? I can't decide.
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Can't stay but a minute -- getting up ass-early tomorrow to walk with Brandon and his work peeps in some 5k walk -- I think to raise money for heart disease? All I know is that I will be wearing a poo-brown Sharp shirt and will not be running.
Mostly was just reminded of this gem when I was talking to Brandon this evening. I've been looking through some vow and ceremony books that our pastor lent us as we start planning out the specifics of the wedding ceremony. There are vows from many different denominations. Brandon and I were both raised Baptist, and identify as that to some extent, although generally we just call ourselves Christians. So what do you think -- should I use the suggested Baptist wedding vows?
Take a peek:
Husband:
I, Name, take thee, Name,
to be my wife in Christian marriage.
I promise God,
and I promise you,
that I will be Christian in my actions and attitudes,
I will serve the Lord with you,
I will provide Christian leadership in our home,
I will work to meet our financial responsibilities,
I will be faithful to you and you alone.
I will weep with you in sorrow,
rejoice with you in blessings,
and be your faithful companion until Christ calls us home.
I make this vow to you, so help me God.
Wife:
I, Name, take thee, Name
to be my husband in the Lord.
I promise God, and I promise you that I will cherish you.
I will obey you, I will love you,
I will provide a shoulder to cry on,
a heart that understands,
a warm home for you to live in,
and open arms for you to lean on.
I will pray for you and encourage you,
I will weep when you weep,
laugh when you laugh,
and be yours and yours alone
until our Lord separates us by death.
This I solemnly and joyfully promise,
so help me God.
You'd think it would be all the obey nonsense and providing of a "warm home" that would bother me the most, but what I really want to know is: why the hell doesn't he have to laugh when I laugh?
So, vows -- check. Am I right?
current mood: amused
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| Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
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5:13 pm - Wednesday randomness.
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So much for that updating more often thing.
My Labor Day weekend was rather uneventful. Brandon and I did have a fun evening at our friends Amy and Ty's apartment eating a dinner of appetizers and playing Trivial Pursuit with them and other friends Rony and Jaimee. I am awesome at Trivial Pursuit, btw, as long as you only ask me questions about art, literature, or entertainment. Or dinosaurs, obviously. We won by a nose, which made the evening even more fun. Next time, I suggested Trivial Pursuit drinking game -- every time you miss a question, you must drink! I'll let you know how it turns out.
We have gotten such awesome wedding presents so far! Today I spent about an hour picking up a bunch of boxes from UPS and then unwrapping all our new dishes and margarita glasses and various kitchen decorative accessories! I love the new dishes so much. Luckily, Brandon liked them too, which is good since I chose them and put them on our registry without his approval after our first choice was discontinued. That said, I did choose beautiful blue dishes so I was pretty sure he would like them. We also recently received a spice rack and our new duvet cover, both of which are awesome! I can't even tell you how excited I am to move into the new place and start setting up our home.
Getting all the little yellow RSVP envelopes in the mail is awesome. We got two mystery RSVPs -- two sets of 2 people who said they are coming but didn't put their names on the card! I think I may have to disinvite them when we discover who they are because they are obviously too stupid to attend our wedding. (Just kidding, stupid friends. Please tell me who you are!)
The job is going well, although it's all become a bit routine. I don't mind it for now, but it is definitely not challenging enough for the long run. I just have to remind myself, this is only for the short term! I don't need to run an eviction clinic for the rest of my life. My old boss called today and asked if I'd like to volunteer to help another special education attorney at a due process hearing in a couple weeks. I told her definitely yes! I've never even seen a due process hearing and I think it would be a great experience, paid or not. Plus, another special education legal contact to add to my collection!
Other than that, I have just been enjoying bumming around all the time and getting things in order for the move and the wedding. It's a little boring but I'll try to enjoy it. Some day (far far in the future) when I have a full-time job, I'm sure I'll look back fondly on this period of my life.
Time to go make some fajitas for Brandon. Gotta keep him fed or he might decide to find someone less cranky and more successful to marry.
current mood:  cheerful
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| Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
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4:26 pm - Tennis; or, My Progress toward Awesomeness
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Brandon is not the biggest fan of conventional exercise (running, gym time, etc). He does, however, really like tennis. When my old job finally ended, one of the first things he asked about was whether we could try going to play tennis. My thought process went about like this:
Reasons Why Elizabeth Shouldn't Play Tennis
1. I have abysmal hand-eye coordination. Scratch that. I have abysmal coordination full stop.
2. I really enjoy conventional exercise and am in fact training for a half-marathon right now.
3. My upper-body strength is almost as embarrassingly poor as my coordination; this is a quality that competent tennis players would seem to require.
Reasons Why Elizabeth Should Play Tennis
1. I love Brandon.
Dammit, that one always trumps. Thus, I agreed to try tennis. I love being active and I want Brandon to be able to have active things that he enjoys doing as much as I enjoy running, and he can't really play tennis by himself. So, double workouts it is -- I was just saying how much I wanted to fill up my off days! Wish granted. So we headed off to our nearby tennis center -- $6/person for 2 hours of court time.
I'm not going to lie -- our first day playing, I was pretty horrific. The few points I managed to accumulate were almost entirely due to Brandon hitting something out of bounds or similar. I can't really serve or hit backhand . . . or hit it in bounds, or even inside our court, really.
That said -- it was pretty fun! It was nice to hang out with Brandon not in my living room watching TV or in a movie theater or eating. He is a very patient teacher and very encouraging about my nonexistent tennis skills.
So we went back this morning! I'm happy to report a huge improvement in my playing ability. Granted, I still lose about 90% of the games -- but I did win three today! That's a 300% improvement over Saturday. No comment on whether the improvement was due to the fact that on Saturday, I ran 11 miles before the tennis and today only ran 4.5. It is definitely a fun time, and both cheaper and better exercise than bowling or miniature golf, our other occasional activities.
Hooray for tennis, I guess? Trying new things makes you more awesome!
current mood:  energetic
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| Friday, August 28th, 2009
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5:40 pm - End of an Era
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I had my last day working at the USD Legal Clinics today. It wasn't even really a "day" -- I just went in for a final meeting with my supervisor and went over all the organization and stuff I did to her office over the last two weeks. I was supposed to finish on August 14, but she had me stay through the rest of the month after my replacement had started to finish going through all of her 7 years of accumulated files and reorganize everything and get rid of the crap. It was a little monotonous, but I love to organize and it was nice not to have to deal with clients and interns for a little while.
I can't believe I ended up being at this job for nearly a year! I started last year around the third week of September. It's definitely not what I expected for my first year as a law school graduate, but it was definitely a blessing to have it for this long. I think I actually set a rather depressing record as the longest-term clerk the clinic has had since the program started. My supervisor even spoke to me today about keeping me "on call" in case the new clerk is overwhelmed with the 8 interns and nearly 30 cases going on (I usually dealt with 4-6 interns and 12-18 cases, by comparison). I'm fairly certain that my replacement will be able to handle everything (thinking back on all the hours I spent on Facebook with nothing to do), but I certainly won't say no to a few extra hours of work between now and the wedding (especially since USD apparently offers contract attorneys twice the hourly wage of their clerks)
I don't think I ever mentioned it here, but after the honeymoon, I may be filling in full-time for an attorney going on maternity leave. It's still up in the air, and I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but even a couple months of full-time work would be awesome. I really like the organization I am working for now, even though they are notorious for paying their attorneys some of the lowest non-profit salaries in the area. I'm very lucky that Brandon has such a great job so that money considerations aren't as all-encompassing for me as they would otherwise be, however depressingly non-feminist it feels to be anticipating financially depending on my husband. If it weren't for Brandon and the impending marriage, I'm sure I would have moved out of San Diego already or left the non-profit world for firm work. I am sooo happy this is not the case! Yet another example proving that having Brandon around makes every aspect of my life better -- which is I guess how it should work when you're deciding to tie yourself to someone for life. Even if he is not that talented at loading the dishwasher.
So since that option is on the table, I've decided to wait out the next couple months at the 2-day-a-week gig, enjoy having the free time to finish planning the wedding and pack up and move to the new place, and then start seriously looking for full-time work once this maternity-leave fill-in thing has ended. Hopefully, this will be around the start of next year. I thought about trying to find some volunteer work to do, but I'm not allowed to volunteer at the organization I work for, and I can't really offer only a 2 month commitment to anyone else.
This leaves me with a lot of time on my hands for the next 56 days! I am determined to use it productively and not have any days where I admit to watching 8 episodes of The West Wing in a row. Since I got off work at noon today, I already moved a bookshelf to the new place, unpacked books to fill it, did some laundry, then came back here and filled 4 garbage bags with stuff to send to the Salvation Army. After I finish blogging, I am going to tackle the trash filling the bathroom cabinets.
I'd also like to go crazy and do a little painting/writing/Spanish, but I'm undecided whether this counts as time wasting. It probably does, a little, but there's only so much packing and wedding loose-end tying I can do before I run out of tasks, so maybe I can fit in a little fun occasionally. I'm sure I will be finding a bit more time to update this poor neglected blog, though!
All right, off to face the ugly truth of 4 years without clearing out that under-sink area. This could get very messy.
current mood: contemplative
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| Sunday, August 23rd, 2009
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8:22 am - Bridal Shower!
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Had my bridal shower yesterday! It was so much fun, I can't believe it is already over.
My bridesmaid Amy was wonderful and organized everything and threw the party, with some assistance from my mom, who was in town. I wanted to keep it very small and casual, so we limited it to just a few San Diego friends and then my bridesmaids. We ended up having 10 people total, which I think was the perfect size. I was extremely excited that Alex was able to drive down from Los Angeles to attend, and also psyched to have so many people who wanted to come celebrate with me.
I do feel like a bit of a hypocrite for agreeing to a shower in the first place. I've always railed about how greedy they are and lame, etc. I just couldn't help myself! It was so awesome to have all these great women there to get excited about my impending marriage, and you know I loved the attention. My mom got me a Disney Belle plastic tiara to wear, and also a hot-pink feather boa. The boa actually dyed my neck pink a little bit because it was so hot in my apartment with all those people, but it was worth the sacrifice. We also had some yummy snacks and my favorite white wine sangria with peaches and raspberries.
Amy planned some mellow games about trivia about me and Brandon, and she had people write down marriage advice and favorite memories of me. It was cute. No toilet-paper wedding dresses! I had put my foot down about those sorts of things. ;-) Also, everyone brought me some freaking gorgeous lingerie! Everything is so pretty, I spent an hour last night trying it all on. It is going to be hard to keep myself from wearing any of it for the next two months.
I think that's about it. Hopefully people took lots of pictures that I can steal. So sad it's over already, but also excited because it means my wedding is that much closer! 62 days to go!
current mood:  giddy
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| Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
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1:52 pm - My Housewife Cooking Report Card
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I've been continuing my quest to try and cook a little more often; real cooking, not just heating. I still strongly prefer easy recipes that don't require a lot of ingredients or time, and mostly just stick to the Crockpot. My track record is all right; usually everything turns out at least edible and occasionally I make something very delicious. Let's do a quick run down of the recent stuff, from grossest to most delightful.
-- Barbecue Pork Chops: Totally gross. Learned two very important lessons on this one. 1) Do not leave barbecue sauce in the Crockpot all day. It will not turn out good, it will turn out gross and burned-smelling. 2) Do not leave chops in the Crockpot for more than 4-6 hours. They are too thin and will totally dry out. Now I stick to roasts, chicken, or stews: these are the only things I've found that can hold up to 8-9 hours in the slow cooker. This is essential since this is how long I am gone during a work day. Grade: D
-- White Beans with Smoked Sausage: This one did not turn out that great, but that was mostly my fault. I put it way too much seasoning, not thinking it would make much of a difference. Not a huge amount more; the recipe called for either 2 tsp of fresh thyme or 1 tsp of dried, so I threw in about 2 tsp of dried. Yuk! The beans and sausage were cooked perfectly, but the broth tasted absolutely gross and over-seasoned. I am going to try this one again, though, and try not to ruin it, I think it has great potential. Grade: C+
-- French Dip Sandwiches: This turned out well. It was just a cheap roast we got at CostCo, and you throw it in the Crockpot with beef broth and a beer and let it cook. I also carmelized onions to put on the sandwiches, and broiled the rolls with butter before making up the sandwiches. I thought they turned out great; Brandon wasn't as big a fan, apparently he doesn't like to dip sandwiches in stuff that makes the bread soggy. He liked it fine, though. The problem with this one was tons of leftovers, but the au jus part doesn't keep. I think I ended up throwing away quite a bit of the meat, which is disappointing, although I think we did make grilled beef/cheese sandwiches on 4th of July. Eat it Now grade: B+ Eat it Later grade: B- Overall Grade: B
-- Chicken and Dumplings: This is a good thing to make in a Crockpot. It's almost too easy, you just throw in chicken, cream of chicken soup, onion, and some spices, basically. Then about an hour before you eat, put pieces of refrigerated biscuit dough on top for the dumplings. It turns out really delicious, but I don't think it really counts as cooking. Note: I like it much better when you leave out the vegetables. Grade: B+
-- Homestyle Potato Soup: Another winner. Brandon bought a 15-pound bag of potatoes last time we went to Costco, and I've been cooking up potato-heavy meals ever since trying to use that shit up. I think the potatoes are actually reproducing or something, because I have at least 5 pounds still left at this point. Anyway, this is an easy one. I ruined it the first time I tried it because I put the milk in in the morning along with everything else. Bad idea! It curdles if it's in the slow cooker too long. The second time I didn't put in the milk until 30 minutes before it was done cooking. I also added a bunch of bacon. Yumm! I definitely ate up every scrap of leftovers on this one. I think I should use baking potatoes next time, though, instead of the Yukon Golds I had on hand. Grade: A-
-- Chicken Alfredo Calzones: Gasp! A non-Crockpot meal! This resulted from a sort of last-minute dinner party Brandon and I had last weekend with our friends Ryan and Ali. Brandon had grilled a bunch of chicken on our new/old propane grill, and I thought calzones would be a great experiment. We filled ours with chicken, garlic, fresh basil, spinach, alfredo sauce, mozzarella, and some parmesan. The pizza dough was very difficult to work with, but eventually Brandon got them stretched out, and then folded over. I think we baked them a smidge too long, but other than that they turned out great! I'd love to try again with different fillings (and maybe access to a rolling pin). Grade: A-
-- Pulled Pork: I decided I wanted to make this one for my Bible Study group. It couldn't really be easier; I just threw some salt, pepper, and chili powder on there and left it in the Crockpot. Then, come back in 9 hours or so, took it out, removed most of the excess fat, shredded it, and left it in there with a bottle of barbecue sauce for another 30 minutes. Then I toasted up a bunch of small dinner rolls with a bit of butter to make sliders! Oh my goodness, these turned out fantastic. Brandon also whipped up some potato salad, and I think there were grapes and Ali brought some melon and prosciutto. That was the best Bible Study ever. Sadly, no leftovers. Grade: A
Now, please don't go thinking I am some cooking-crazy domestic type. I usually only manage something like this about once a week -- most other days I am all about heating up meat or pulling something from Trader Joe's out of the freezer. It is a lot easier for me to think about meal planning and stuff, though, when I am cooking for both myself and another person (most of these dishes I make on Wednesday, when I know I'll be eating with Brandon). Hopefully this means he and I can do more of it once we're married and living together.
Lastly, please note that this is a Cooking Report Card only. My Housewife Cleaning Report Card would have significantly fewer success stories on it.
current mood: chipper
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| Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
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9:30 am - A little work procrastination.
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My mom has started tagging me in notes on Facebook! Will wonders never cease. In other news, she and my dad have been married for 31 years today! Yay for them! When I have been married for 31 years, I will be 57. Kind of exciting.
Three names I go by:
1. Elizabeth (ideally)
2. Elle (Brandon only)
3. Llamaface (better left unexplained)
Three Jobs I have had in my life
1. Coldstone Creamery ice cream skank
2. Non-profit attorney
3. Professional Awesome
Three Places I have lived
1. Albuquerque, NM (childhood home)
2. London, England (favorite home)
3. San Diego, CA (true home)
Three Favorite drinks
1. Half-lemonade/half-iced tea ("Arnold Palmer" -- it's like summer in a cup!)
2. Wine (any and all!)
3. Diet Coke (the default)
Three TV Shows that I watch
1. Better Off Ted (criminally underwatched by the masses.)
2. Jeopardy (most fun to watch with Brandon)
3. Dollhouse episode 13. (I am pretty much obsessed)
Three places I have been
1. Kenya (most exciting place I've been)
2. Orlando (most romantic place I've been)
3. Rome (place I most want to go back to)
People that text me regularly
1. Brandon (way more than any one else who may also appear on this list)
2. Everyone else, the texts seem pretty sporadic compared to the volume that arrives from Brandon.
3. See above.
Three of my favorite foods
1. Cheese
2. Bread
3. Chocolate (honestly, do you need anything other than these three?)
Three friends I think will respond
1. No one
2. Their friend Nobody
3. Neil Patrick Harris (my mom's answer, but I'm hoping he responds to mine too)
Three Things I am looking forward to
1. My wedding
2. Belize
3. Having a stable full-time job.
current mood: amused
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| Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
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10:11 am - I don't believe there's a power in the 'verse can stop Kaylee from bein' cheerful.
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I am in a great mood this morning. Plenty of work to do (although not so much that I can't take this break to update my poor neglected blog), a good day with the eviction peeps yesterday, a good run this morning. I even got to see Brandon for about 10 seconds when I dropped by his/our place on my way to work to give him back some groceries I'd borrowed for Lifegroup. It wasn't exactly quality time, since he was so sleepy I'll be surprised if he even remembers I came by, but it still brightened up my morning! Just think, soon he'll be there every morning when I wake up! I'm getting pretty excited about the move, I've started packing up my books and winter clothes and other non-essentials to jump-start it. The plan is to have just about everything over there by the time we do actual Moving Day on the Sunday before the wedding.
I also got the invitations back from the printer yesterday, so they are all ready to be constructed! By printer, I mean Kinko's. Whatever, they turned out fine enough and it cost less than $30 to get them done! Please don't judge my rustic invitations. At this point, I'm thinking Evites would have been a better idea. Oh and "rustic": I've started using this instead of "ghetto." I think it's a cuter way to describe not-quite perfect whatevers. Anyone up for an invitation construction party this weekend? ;-)
We also finally started our premarital counseling on Sunday with our pastor, Joe. I thought it was pretty fun, but then, I've always loved to talk about myself. I think it went well -- we are still engaged at any rate. Next session in two weeks! Only 81 days left until the wedding!
Um, I am sure there is other non-wedding stuff going on too, but it is mostly very boring and some of it is depressing. So today we're going to ignore it! Yay!!!
Okay, I'm going to go be cheery somewhere else now. Enjoy the extra-special return of the subject line quote!
current mood: cheerful
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| Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
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12:02 pm - Aggravated and bored.
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Someone is knocking, seemingly aimlessly, on the wall between my office and whatever loud-laughing people populated hell lies beyond that wall. Combine that with the inability of any school district employee in the entire universe to return their phone messages, and it results in some serious midday aggravation. My supervisor is gone this week, and while I have some loose ends to tie up for my interns, I mostly find myself -- sitting. Which is actually more aggravating than anything, because I have a massive pile of things that need to get done outside of this office. But I don't get paid to go get my invitations printed, or buy cat food, or do laundry, or get the car washed, or start packing up my apartment. I get paid to sit here and sign into Facebook every five minutes, waiting around for assfaces who don't answer their phones. The day goes so much faster at my new job, it's incredible. Just makes these other three days extra annoying.
In other news, I had a great time in Houston with Sara. We hung out, and mostly escaped from the heat. Did some grilling and some excellent drunken Guitar Hero-ing. There are some really embarrassingly awesome photos floating around somewhere that I simultaneously want to show off, and destroy all evidence of. We didn't make cupcakes or T-shirts, but did bake some cookies and geek out over Twilight in general and the Comic-Con New Moon footage in particular. Had some Texas barbecue and went to a Houston Dynamo game. An all-around good weekend.
Since I've been back, I've been doing a great job of productivity -- worked out the last three days in a row, packed up some boxes to take to Brandon's/our apartment, even did a little Spanish yesterday. It's been getting quite hot here, as it does every year from about mid-July through mid-October. My apartment is pretty unpleasant during the summer, but I am enjoying having the pool to take advantage of for the next couple months. We got our first wedding present last week! Pretty exciting stuff -- I need to go buy a pile of thank-you notes so I can get started right away. My sister was done with hers within a week of her wedding. I won't make that deadline, but I am determined to be done well before Thanksgiving.
I guess it's time for my "lunch break." At least I have a yummy leftover stuffed bell pepper to eat. Then a mere 4 hours left before I can go home and check on my Crockpot potato stew and make my guacamole for tonight!
current mood:  cranky
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| Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
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9:29 am - A little list of happiness
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I feel like I've whining a lot lately. Too much! So here is a list of happy things in my life.
List of Happy Things
1. Brandon making me dinner on Sunday while we watched 50 First Dates and drank a bottle of our wedding toast wine.
2. Getting to spend time in Houston this weekend chilling out with Sara.
3. Free lunch tomorrow at Panera with the interns to celebrate the end of the summer semester.
4. I am slowly teaching myself to French braid my hair. Got about halfway last night! It's only a matter of time.
5. Swimming in my apartment complex pool in the late afternoon on really hot days, and having the whole pool area to myself.
6. Making pulled pork in the Crockpot tomorrow for the Bible Study peeps.
7. I haven't been sick for over a month now, following ColdFest 2009.
8. Sending texts to Brandon's work pager amuses me. Plus, I know he'll always read them right away!
9. Summer fruit! I love plums. And peaches. And strawberries.
10. Leaving for Belize in 97 days. Oh, also: Getting married in 95 days.
11. This hypnotizing Youtube video that a friend posted on Facebook: Kuroshio Sea
12. Being torn between which awesome book I want to reread: Deathly Hallows, The Host, or Atlas Shrugged.
13. The delicious Hot Pocket waiting in the work freezer to be eaten for my lunch.
14. The existence of Disneyland.
15. Getting 9 solid hours of sleep last night. I feel like a whole new woman!
16. Being a member of our really excellent church.
17. Listening to Brandon brag about how cool our wedding is going to be.
18. The excellent run I went on yesterday, and making it up all the hills.
19. Beginning to plan out the upcoming move.
20. My life being basically awesome.
current mood:  hungry
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| Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
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4:07 pm - Midnight Harry Potter and etc.
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This entry will be spoiler free, but I will be discussing the movie generally.
Loved it. I particularly loved that they took the time to fit in the more frivolous storylines, like Quidditch and relationship stuff. There wasn't hardly any of that in Order of the Phoenix, and I missed it. I think it was particularly nice because there really isn't much of that in Deathly Hallows, so it was nice to have some of that on film before we run out of childish fun and concerns. I laughed a lot in this movie, which might not have necessarily been the case if the director hadn't gone out of his way to include a lot of those funnier moments. Two thumbs up and an A from me. Can't wait to see it again.
Brandon went with me to the midnight show! It was actually his idea to go in the first place! I am way too old to be staying up until 3am on a weeknight, but I did take an hour nap beforehand and then went into work an hour late today, so I'm not feeling as zombie-like today as I expected to feel. It was very fun to go to the show. Brandon got off work around 9 which was awesome because then we headed to the theatre together at 9:30 and I didn't have to go wait in line by myself until 11:30, when we were planning on him to arrive. There were a few costumes, but nothing too intense. I love midnight showing audiences, though, because they are so quiet and well-behaved and laugh in all the right places.
Other news:
-- No news on the job front, but I am feeling less frantic about it after talking to Brandon and my parents.
-- Brandon and I got our wedding bands this weekend! We worked with a really nice saleswoman at Robbins Brothers who found me a great band to go with my fairly oddly-shaped engagement ring without having to pay for a custom made anything. I think they look great together, and I really like the palladium band Brandon picked out for himself. We are going to have very styling left ring fingers in a few months.
-- Had dinner with Amy on Monday, finally! It had been way too long since we'd seen each other. It was nice to get all caught up on her life. Get to see her again this weekend for her birthday party so, yay!
-- I am going to Houston next weekend! Not sure what sort of shenanigans Sara and I will get up to, but I am very excited about it.
-- Basically, life is way too busy, but good! I find myself getting used to all the busy, which depresses me a little. I must be raising my tolerance.
current mood:  busy
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| Friday, July 10th, 2009
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1:53 pm - And you thought I was done whining about employment.
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Finally sat down with my boss at the old job to discuss my end date. August 7, officially, although she mentioned my being "on-call" until the new clerk starts on August 19. It's a little weird to have the actual end finally arriving for this job, even though it was always the sort of job that had a definite end-date as part of it. I really like the new person who is going to be taking over for me -- she was one of my interns last fall and was really good (probably better than me) so she'll do a great job and I'm sure will spend far less time on Facebook than I have while on the clock.
So now that I am starting to feel settled in my new job, it's time to start thinking and planning and trying not to worry about finding something to fill those other 5 days of the week in which I will be unemployed starting in mid-August. The main problem is that I'd really rather not give up this great position that I just started at, even though it's for so few hours. It's a great organization to work for, and I'm going to get great experience running my own clinic and training volunteers and getting comfortable with a new area of the law. The problem: how to find a second part-time job that will let me work on days other than Mondays and Thursdays. I don't even care if it's legal or not -- I'd even be willing to work some weekend hours, although minimizing Brandon-time is not a great idea.
We've been talking in Bible Study about not worrying about things and trusting God to work out your problems. This really is a good idea -- both of my current jobs pretty close to fell in my lap, and none of my own job-seeking efforts have resulted in anything but utter failure. Elizabeth 0, God 2 on the job search front. But I don't know where the line is on sitting back and letting God take care of it, and taking responsibility for your own life and making an effort to find employment. Not a single one of the dozens of resumes and cover letters I've sent from jobs discovered on my own have gotten me a job, but just stopping the search altogether and sitting in my apartment waiting for another miracle seems -- I don't know -- reckless?
Thinking about this is upsetting me, so I'm going to go finish up some actual work and then see if a run will make me feel better.
current mood: cranky
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| Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
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4:18 pm - The Top 25 Played Songs on my iPod
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blah