new look for spring

Spring is in full bloom and summer is right around the corner. Especially here in North Carolina where a taste of the summer humidity is visiting us this week. In the spirit of the season, I decided to try out a new look here on my little blog. I think this is more pleasing to the eye but still has my favorite color green! I'm pleased, although I may tweak a few things here and there. What do you think?

back to work

Last week, after 3+ months of unemployment spent moving, unpacking, planning and executing a wedding, and enjoying a blissfully extravagant amount of time with my husband, I finally re-entered the American workforce. I now carry the oh-so-important title of Temporary Office Assistant for the Geriatrics and Special Care clinic at the School of Dentistry. And am disturbingly making more money than I did as a Producer/Assignment Editor at ABC4.

My day goes like this: I arrive between 7:57 and 8:03, say hello to Dr. Samuelson (who calls me either Katrina or Kristina or Christine depending on the hour), say hello to Christine (the reason for his confusion of my name, I suppose), and then have her log me onto the computer. I then spend the next 4-5 hours surfing the net, reading a magazine or book, and answering the occasional phone call from one of Dr. Samuelson's elderly patients. "Speak up, miss. I can't hear you!" I have learned to schedule patients and mail out confirmation slips and that's about the extent of my duties. I take lunch around 1 p.m. Depending on the day, Jared will come meet me or I will just go enjoy the sunshine outside while I eat my pb&j. After lunch I have another 3 hours of web surfing/reading/phone answering. And yesterday, I even got to put gauze into little sterilization packets. So exciting!

But lest you think I am complaining, let me say that I am not. How can I complain when I get paid to sit here and write this post, catch up on all my news, and even read a good book? No, sir, I have no complaints.

I don't know how long I will be working here. I was told originally 2 weeks, but I think it will be longer. I am filling in for the office manager who is "on leave" for some reason. A mystery I have been trying to figure out...clue by clue. I sit at her desk all day long surrounded by her pictures of animals and grandkids and wonder who she is. Of course, I haven't been told anything, and no one seems to know when she will be back, so who knows how long I'll be here?

Wedding Photos!!!

Here is the link to our beautiful wedding photos! These are all the ones the photographer took the time to edit. We will be getting all the photos taken--edited and unedited--on a cd in the mail. I'm so excited!

One Month Married!

Tuesday was our one month anniversary. To celebrate our first month of wedded bliss we decided to go out to dinner. However, the afternoon got off to a rocky start when I left my phone on vibrate on the carpet and not hearing it, missed nine calls-- from Jared. He was calling to let me know that I could pick him up from school early. But after an hour of fruitless calls, he ended up taking the bus. He was about to get on it when I finally realized where my phone was and picked it up to check it and finally called him back. Poor Jared. :-( So by the time he got home, he was tired and kinda cranky. I felt really bad for being so neglectful.

I regained points though with the card I made Jared. I busted out my water colors and painted him a card! I didn't too shabby for my first water color in two years!

Off to dinner we went--sorta. I had really wanted to Indian food because we hadn't had it since my birthday in January. Jared looked up a restaurant that he'd been to before, but it was about a half hour away and ten minutes into the trip we had second thoughts. So we turned around and went back home to rethink our plans. We finally decided on a restaurant close to home in Carrboro--The Spotted Dog. Its a really cute little place with lots of yummy vegetarian options.

A good meal and then a fun walk through Weaver Street Market cheered us both up. We bought two delectable varieties of ice cream: chocolate gelato and organic blackberry. Back at home we settled in to watch Frequency and enjoy our ice cream.

It turned out to be a really wonderful evening with my really wonderful husband. I absolutely adore him and adore being married to him. Every day is such a joy with him. It doesn't matter what we're doing, I'm content to be doing it with him. Nothing is better than living life with your best friend, who also happens to be a boy with fantastic benefits! :-)

Bridal Shower and Honeymoon Pictures

Although I am relatively new to blogging, I am not new to the internet and its ingenious ways to keep us all connected. One of these is Facebook, which started as a college networking site and has now expanded. I have had a Facebook page for sometime now. It is full of pictures and keeps me connected to friends. Until now, you had to be a Facebook member in order to see my pictures, but no longer. They now provide a link so that I can link my photo albums elsewhere. So here are my two latest albums with pictures from my bridal shower in Utah and honeymoon to Florida.

planet earth

For those of you unaware, Discovery Channel has the most amazing series on right now. It's called Planet Earth. It is an eleven part documentary about our little blue planet and its inhabitants (but not us) that took five years to make. Creators used the latest in cinematic technology to capture never before seen parts of life on Earth. Photographers hung out in the arctic for a year just to film polar bears, and others braved -60 degree weather to capture male emperor penguins guard their eggs through four months of winter.

Last week was the first week it aired, and Jared and I LOVE it! It is so fascinating. There are not words to describe to it. I join with Oprah in saying that this is the best thing I've ever seen on television.

Tonight we watched a starving male polar bear desperately try to hunt a walrus, only to finally succumb to death himself. And we saw desert lions travel hundreds of miles for food. Last week we saw elephants swim and birds in the rain forest dance. This truly is giving me a whole new view of our planet. We will definitely be using some of wedding money to buy the DVD.

Planet Earth airs Sundays at 8 p.m. Eastern time through April. Check out planet-earth.com for more info.

Parineeta

That's what I am now--a married woman, which is what parineeta means in Hindi. Its the title of one of my very favorite Bollywood movies. A must see.

I am back home in North Carolina after a week in sunny Florida for our honeymoon. I'm now attempting to get our house back in order. So fun. I mostly wanted to post a couple pictures I have.... for those of you who made it to the wedding, you saw these there. I am still waiting on the rest of my wedding and bridals. But if you'd like to see a few more check out bellephotos.com/photoblog. My photographer is amazing. I highly recommend him.

Vegetarian Confessions

I haven't eaten meat in three months. The last time was at a Brazilian steakhouse in Albuquerque when I was home for Thanksgiving. I was there with my family, and I had one bite of sirloin steak. The funny thing is I didn't even eat turkey on Thanksgiving, but I ate that one bite of steak.

Jared is a vegetarian. He became a vegetarian on his mission to Madagascar. When Jared first told me this, I asked him why. He chose to be a vegetarian for several reasons, mostly to be more healthy, but also because he feels it better follows the health guidelines of the LDS church. He had me read this article about it. It definitely made me think.

I decided to try a little experiment. I had Jared give me some ideas for vegetarian meals--a week's worth. One week turned into two turned into three. I found that I didn't even miss the meat. I even found a great substitute for hamburgers--black bean burgers. I was so excited the first time I made them. I bought this great spicy pineapple chili sauce to put on it. Absolutely delicious!

I found that as I chose vegetarian options, I chose healthier options. The result was that I actually lost weight and felt better all around. And it was so easy. I wasn't a perfect vegetarian--I still occasionally gave into convenience and had chicken and rice soup or chili. I even very strategically went out for a big juicy hamburger with fries and a shake. That was in October-- the last time I had a hamburger.

Now that Jared and I eat every meal together, there is no reason to eat meat. I am the lucky girl to be with a man who is an absolutely fabulous cook. Plus, we both really enjoy all different kinds of food. We do eat fish and seafood. We also eat tofu at least once a week.

I have even ventured out into the world of vegetarian "meat". We bought Morning Star Bacon Strips. Now that was an experience. It is amazing how real it smells, even if the texture isn't quite right. I also finally tried the MorningStar Grillers Prime burgers. And I must say they are quite tasty. Pile on all the fixins and you can hardly tell its not real.

Last night for dinner we had chicken nuggets. I must say that this was the best fake "meat" I have had yet. Given that real chicken nuggets are rather questionable as meat anyway.... these were fabulous and healthy!

I still don't call myself a vegetarian, although I'm getting closer. I am not morally opposed to eating meat, and I probably will eat it again at some point. But for now, I don't miss it. It just doesn't really appeal to me anymore. Not even Cafe Rio pork. :-)

A blog of my very own

Hello, friends! I call you that, because if you are reading this, you must be a friend. I don't think strangers would find my life all that interesting. I have created this blog mostly for my own sake. You see, I used to be a very good journal writer. Sure there were the times that I went weeks or even months without writing, but usually I wrote several times a week--for years. Then for some reason, the past year and half or so, I have not written at all. This fact is quite distressing to my very soon-to-be husband, Jared. He is a meticulous journal writer... recording thoughts and events multiple times a day on his trusty laptop. Throughout our relationship, we have written many emails and so my need for an outlet in writing was met. However, Jared is still appalled that I have not recorded my own thoughts and feelings privately along the way. I've found that I am better at writing with an audience in mind and so decided to start this blog. My hope is to write here at least once a week and through this outlet get back into the habit of recording my life. Not that I am going to write every intimate detail here for all to read, but I hope by starting this, I will also start writing those personal thoughts as well in a journal.

So, friends, within the vastness of cyberspace, I hope you visit my little blog every once and awhile.