my parents on an adventure

My beautiful mother...

And my handsome father...

Recently spent several days backpacking through the Grand Canyon.
How cool are they?


I stole some of their pictures off shutterfly to show you.
It is so gorgeous!

I want to go on an adventure. How about you?

oh fine, i'll play too

Rachael tagged me to write 7 random things about myself. Various versions of this game have been going around, but I decided I wouldn't do one unless someone tagged me by name. So here goes...

1. I've recently decided that my dream job would be to photograph children and families a la Sheye Rosemeyer. Now I just need to acquire her talent and skills.

2. I watch What Not To Wear on TLC everyday during my lunch break. I'm addicted. I love you Stacy London and Clinton Kelly! Can I have $5000 for an all new wardrobe? Pretty please?

3. I hate cleaning. Organizing I find enjoyable on occasion, but cleaning I hate to do. And yet, I really do enjoy a clean house. Although I can tolerate a not-so-clean one longer than some, because again, I hate to clean. I'm beginning to feel like I'm missing some clean gene or something. Why can't I be one of those people who must have the kitchen clean at night or they can't go to sleep? I have actually begun to wish I had more OCD tendencies, so that I would keep my house cleaner. My husband is already a better cook than I am, at least I could do the housework more frequently.

4. In 9th grade I got an excused absence from school and was paid $50 dollars to sing the National Anthem at a state teachers' conference. My one and only paid performance. Well, actually I was paid one other time to dance something from the Nutcracker for a Knights of Columbus party. I think I was 12. So that makes two paid performances.

5. I hate getting ready for bed at night. You know brushing teeth, washing face, etc. I do it, most of the time, but I never want to. I also don't enjoy flossing, but I'm getting better about that.

6. I organize the clothes in my closet by color. Jared was so amazed by this when I first moved to NC that he took a picture (see above).

7. There is a secret part of me that wants a tattoo. But only if one of the ladies from LA Ink could do it. And only if I could get rid of it in a few years when I get sick of it. So maybe I don't really want a tattoo, but I like the idea of wanting one. Makes me feel rebellious.


Vicki, Suzy, and Danielle.... you're it!

learn some words, feed some people

This is great. At FreeRice.com you can quiz yourself on vocabulary and for every word you get right 10 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations World Food Program. It's fun, addicting, educational, and philanthropic. Check it out!

merry christmas to me

Cost of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Standard which includes Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Acrobat from Adobe.com: $1,199

Cost of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Standard which includes Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Acrobat from Student Stores: $206

I'm not kidding. Those numbers are real. I'm doing a happy dance right now. A very happy, happy dance. And singing sonnets.

A week ago I had no idea Jared's student status would pay off like this. You see, before my iMac died, I had Photoshop. But it has been months, and I have sorely missed it. Last week, I got online to check out prices and was pretty depressed to see how expensive Photoshop is these days. Très expensive. Then my darling husband informed me that as a student he can get it for much cheaper. And cheaper turned out to be a SIXTH of the price!!!! I pretty much have been in shock and awe for the past hour and a half. Shock... and... awe. Christmas is coming a little early this year.

Now if only I could get the $1,200 camera I want for $200, my life would be complete. :-) I can dream right?

eight months married and an autumn walk

Saturday marked eight months since we were married. That afternoon we took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and went for a walk/hike at a nearby park. It was so enjoyable to be out in nature and to be able to take a few pictures of the autumn leaves. The drought here has made the leaves less vibrant than usual, but there are still a few gorgeous red trees around.

This totally made us laugh. Read the sign:

We like to hold hands.

I married a looker.

I thought this little red tree was so pretty and delicate.

Evidence of the drought:
We are walking in the creek bed here which was totally dry at this spot.

We are happy. Can you tell?

new blog address

Dear readers,

On Monday, November 12th, I will be changing my url or web address to http://redheadmusings.blogspot.com. I have decided not to use my full name on my blog anymore and do not want to have it in my url. As I've gotten more into this blogging thing, I've realized that I want to protect my privacy a little more. That's all. Better safe than sorry, right? So for those of you who link me from your blogs, please change the url in your link by then. Thanks!

much love,

Katrina

worth watching: the dance

Last night Jared and I watched The Dance, an LDS themed movie made by the same people who made The Best Two Years. As is typical in Mormon films, it even has some of the same cast. And like The Best Two Years it is actually pretty good. It may not have the best actors or the best writing or the best production, but it is worth watching.

The story centers around three different couples on the night of a church dance on Harvard campus. One is a couple married 25 years but having trouble. One is a workaholic bachelor and a divorced mother of two. And one is a Harvard return-missionary and a Jewish dancer. The diversity among these six people and the realness of their challenges is what makes this movie good. I was really impressed that an LDS film included these non-traditional couples. And there were actually moments where the characters conversations and reactions are quite realistic. Of course there were times when they were less convincing too.

This movie is currently on dvd. We Netflixed it and actually had to wait quite awhile to get it. So someone else must be watching it too! If you want a sweet, relatively short at 80 minutes, make you smile and also think a little kinda movie for your Friday night at home, check this out.

did you know?

I read a very chilling New York Times article today: Telling the Stories Behind the Abortions. It is about a female doctor, Dr. Susan Wicklund, who has spent most of her career performing abortions. She wrote a book titled This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor.

The NYT article shares a few of her experiences, some very horrifying, and some astounding statistics. Such as "that at current rates almost 40 percent of American women have an abortion during their child-bearing years, a figure supported by the Guttmacher Institute, which researches reproductive health policy." I had no idea it was that high.

I have no intention of starting an abortion debate here, but I am curious about one thing. With the abortion rate that high, it pretty much guarantees that everyone knows at least one person who has had one. But I am curious, how many of you actually do know that someone in your life has had an abortion? As for me, I only know of one person for sure.

wedding prints

So we finally got the prints of our wedding photos last week. It only took nearly 8 months! And really it wasn't the photographer's fault. He had them ready for us to view way back in April, but I couldn't make up my mind which to have printed. There were 366 to choose from after all. Every time I tried I was overwhelmed with a panicky feeling and gave up. I finally sucked it up, with the help of Jared, and chose in August. And then my photographer went and had twins (via his wife) so he got a little busy. Anyway, he finally sent us the prints and because we waited so long he included 4x6's of ALL 366! Yeah, he was only supposed to print 75! Thanks for hooking us up, Daniel! (Although honestly, I'm pretty sure a motivating factor is that it was a lot easier to print all of them instead of going through and figuring out which 75 of the 366 we wanted. Fine with me!) We also got 6 8x10's and an 11x14. I wish I could post some right here, but I don't have the CD yet with all the digitals, so if you haven't already, go check out the link on my sidebar to see them all on Shutterfly.

Oh, and the photo above was actually taken by my sister, Lauren... and then tweaked by me a little. I really like how in addition to being a great photo of my bouquet, you can also see some of the details of my dress really well.

The frustrating part of this story is that I can't find my wedding album that is supposed to house all these photos. My mom bought me one which we also used as the guest book, and I know I packed it in my suitcase and brought it back to NC... but now I cannot find it! I'm totally perplexed. Our apartment isn't that big, so it is quite a feat for it to get lost. I organized all my photos and spent a large portion of Saturday either looking for or contemplating where that damn album could possibly be. But to no avail! It's a mystery!

he's home!

My love has returned! And what a sweet reunion it was! Even at a very late hour. (His plane didn't land until 11:30 pm) So, I didn't get my 8 hours last night, but it was sure wonderful to have my bed buddy back!

I love you, Jared!