dinner

This is the result of our collaboration on dinner tonight. Tofu, brown basmati rice, carrots, onions, and red chard with Kung Pao spices, soy sauce and some other stuff to spice it up. Beautiful and delicious!

two months of wedded bliss

Two months can go by so quickly and yet feel like forever. In the two months Jared and I have been married, here a few (25) reasons I'm grateful for my husband...
1. He makes the bed every morning.
2. He carries me to bed at night when I fall asleep on the couch at 10:15 during a movie and then brings me my toothbrush and a cup so I can brush my teeth.
3. He cooks me amazing meals. (see here)
4. He scratches my back whenever asked, which is at least once a day.
5. He thinks my french toast is the best he's ever had.
6. He tells me I'm beautiful every day, even when I look like crap.
7. On the days I do make an effort, he raves about my gorgeousness and counts his blessings at having such a "hot wife".
8. He watches and thoroughly enjoys Grey's Anatomy with me.
9. He insists on carrying way more than his fair share of groceries inside, usually leaving me with only the very lightest bags. This is his idea of chivalry.
10. He drops me off and picks me up from work every day.
11. Every morning while I am doing all my girlie stuff to get ready in the morning, he packs us both a lunch.
12. He walks across campus to eat said lunch with me every day.
13. He loves my body and tells me often.
14. He likes to have me watch him do push ups and pull ups (and he always takes his shirt off for these exercises, which I don't mind at all).
15. He lets me put my cold hands and feet on him, but then won't let me return the favor.
16. He loves it when what we are wearing on a given day coordinates, like having a similar color scheme.
17. He thinks I'm artistic.
18. He loves candles.
19. He always scoots his chair as close to mine as possible at dinner.
20. He kisses me in the middle of prayers.
21. He misses me between drop-off and lunch time and lunch time and pick-up.
22. No one believes me when I say he is 29.
23. He really, really loves my red hair.
24. Each morning when the alarm goes off, he turns it off and then snuggles with me for another 30 minutes.
25. He tells me he loves me many times a day.

I love you, Jared! I am so happy to be your wife!

who I want to be (random sampler)

In no particular order and with or without set time frames I want to...

1. keep my house tidier.
2. read my scriptures more.
3. be a mother.
4. make an oil painting I would want to hang in my house.
5. sew a dress.
6. plant a garden... or at least a flower box.
7. be a better photographer.
8. sing a duet in Church with Jared.
9. own a home and paint my walls fun colors.
10. exercise more.
11. own a piano.
12. buy all organic dairy products, eggs, and produce.
13. cook more creatively.
14. bake bread.
15. do more random acts of kindness.
16. learn Spanish and/or French.
17. be a world traveler.
18. take a ballet class again.
19. write a book (and have it published).
20. be in the temple with my husband surrounded by our children.

Who do you want to be?

good reads

I have been meaning to post about Stephanie Meyer's fantastic books for some time now and am finally getting around to it. First let me thank Suzy for recommending them. Neither Jared nor I could put these books down until the last page was read. Twilight and New Moon are MUST reads!!!They are actually young adult novels as the characters are in high school. And I'll admit to being sceptical at first when Suzy told me they were about vampires and werewolves. (Of course, Jared jumped all over that!) But believe me you don't have to be into the supernatural to love these books. Meyer does an amazing job with the characterization. I love Bella and Edward--the novels star-crossed lovers--and want them to end up together, with all that means. At its heart this is a love story... with PLENTY of tension to keep you guessing. The books are pretty long, but quick and easy reads since you will not want it out of your hands until it's done. And the best part: the third book in the series, ECLIPSE, comes out August 7th! I can't wait.... and you won't be able to either!!!

no more limbo

Big news out of the Vatican... babies can go to heaven! The Pope released a 41-page report last month saying that unbaptized babies no longer have to go to limbo--a place somewhere between heaven and hell. Now they can go straight to heaven. It's only taken the Roman Catholic church 800 years to figure out that excluding innocent babies from heaven doesn’t seem to “reflect Christ’s special love for the little ones.”

This really is big news for a former Catholic school girl (I went to a Catholic school but have never been Catholic). Theologically, this is a HUGE change. It seems to call into the question the idea of Original Sin--the reason for infant baptism and limbo. Limbo being a step up from going straight to hell, as Catholics believed until the Middle Ages. I doubt it will have any practical implications. Catholics will still baptize their babies out of tradition. After all, we all need baptized, so might as well do it then, right? The Mormon notion of accountability at age eight is not in their radar.

As a Mormon, I do find it so interesting that the Catholic theology can be changed by a committee and then sanctioned by the pope. I mean, they can't believe that before this babies went to limbo and now they don't, right? So what do they believe is reality? It's not likely that this report will change any actions taken by Catholics. It is just changing the Church's official belief on the nature of God and Heaven. As Mormons, we believe in revelation that can change Church policy and practice, but not this total reversal of theology as seen here by the Catholics. Thoughts, anyone?

nothing like a new haircut

I love that fresh from the salon feeling of getting a haircut. I love the smell of the salon products. The silky-smoothness of the professional blow-out that I can never quite get at home. All this is enhanced by the fact that I always wait until I am completely desperate and absolutely despising my hair before I make an appointment. I hold out as long as I can. This time I waited longer than I have since adolescence--6 months! I didn't even get my haircut before my wedding in March!

So, Tuesday when I went to Hair Expressions in Chapel Hill to freshen up my neglected mane it felt like heaven. The stylist, Carol, was a hoot. She is several years past middle age, a single mother to two adult daughters, and a bit of a hippie. She had a picture of her "guru" framed by the mirror and spoke of taking frequent trips to Florida to learn from him. I never found out what his exact philosophy is. Carol was also full of stories from living in San Francisco and studying a type of massage therapy that is supposed to release suppressed memories from one's muscles. I have no idea how that works, but it sounded nice. As for the haircut, you can see for yourself that it turned out well. My only complaint is that it took about an hour and half. Carol was not a fast cutter, which made it a very good thing that she was so darn fun to talk to!

ode to blogs

Look at what computers used to be!!! We've come a long way, ladies, and now the blogging phenom continues to catch on as more and more of my friends are putting their stamp on the cyber world. This past week I have had no fewer than 5 friends launch new blogs (check out my links)! And it really makes me smile! I love seeing pictures of your families. I love hearing about all the exciting, boring, terrifying, or lesson-teaching events taking place in your lives. I love getting the inside scoop on all of you who live so far away, especially since I have become horrible at keeping in touch through that old contraption the telephone. Thank you blogspot for bringing us together in the digital age! Happy blogging to you all! What's your favorite thing about blogging?

my took home chef

I have my very own personal, live-in chef. Move over Curtis Stone-- Jared is my hot chef of choice. And I get him all to myself! My chef doesn't cook every night. After all, even chefs deserve a night off once in awhile. Fortunately, he also has a wife to cook for him every now and then. But I do admit, that he cooks more than 50% of the time, and his meals are usually better than mine. He's so much more creative in the kitchen than I am. He's a culinary artist.



Case in point: Friday night, we got home from work and school and Jared wanted to go out to eat at our favorite little sushi place--Akai Hana. I, however, did not want to go out. I wanted to stay home where it was cozy and not face the Friday night crowds. So, my ever creative culinary friend came up with the above meal. During our last trip to Costco we had splurged on frozen sashimi-grade Ahi tuna. To go with that, Jared also made the most delicious noodle stir-fry with red cabbage, carrots, bok choy, snap peas, and cashews. Yum! He fried all that in a sauce he whipped up with soy sauce, hot sauce, peanut butter, spicy mustard, and some Thai spices. Then he seared the tuna steak leaving it rare inside. He also made a sauce for the tuna with mustard, hot sauce, and soy sauce. It was SO delicious! The picture does not do it justice--not even close. It was definitely one of the very best meals my chef has made me yet--and he's made some darn good ones! (Like my favorite salmon and red potatoes.)



What did we have for dinner tonight? Here it is:


This I can take some credit for. The rice and beans was my idea. But since I've been sick the past two days, my darling husband/chef made it. Man, did it hit the spot! Thank you, Jared!

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?