5-7-11

I’m sure most of you are already well aware, but I’ll announce it with excitement just the same…Matthew and I have set the date! Next May 7th we will be married at The Gale Mansion in Minneapolis.  I’ve designed a page using The Knot, so you can check that out too if you’d like.  We’re starting to get serious about our plans, so feel free to leave any tips and ideas that come to mind.  The only thing that’s set in stone is the day and the place, so we have lots of work to do in next 11 months. It’s going to be fun!

Ps: The prime number thing was no accident. We’re nerds…

The arrangement

A few weeks ago, after several weeks of putting off our Spring cleaning, I decided to strike a deal with Matthew. I told him that I’d do the cleaning by my self on a weekend  he was working and in return he’d have to cook dinner every night for one week without my help….and he’d have to give me a food rub.  The Spring cleaning wasn’t so bad, and this week I’m enjoying home cooked meals by Matthew.  I’m sad the week is almost over, but I’m still looking to cash in on a lasagna before the deal is done.

Onward

For anybody who still checks in with our little blog, I’m sorry it’s been so long since the last post. Up until last week, our life was sort of on hold because I still hadn’t heard from all my grad schools. As most of you probably know, I did not get in to any of the programs that I applied to. I don’t see this as a sign that I shouldn’t be in grad school; rather, I see it as an indication that my applications did not aptly express my skills and potential for success in the field of writing. I’ll need to do some self-reflection and think about what I need to do to prepare for another round of applications this fall.

On the bright side, Matthew and I can now seriously discuss our wedding. We’ve decided that having a fall wedding won’t be reasonable if we want to get married any time soon. We don’t have enough time to plan and carry out a wedding this fall (plus I just started my new job and don’t want to ask for a large chunk of time off). If we wait until next fall, then we’ll run into the same problem as we did this year: living in limbo for months while waiting to hear from my schools. So, we’re pretty sure that we’re going to get married May 2011. We’ll do some preliminary planning this summer, wedding stuff will be put on hold while I work on my grad school applications in the fall and winter, then from next January to May we’ll finish planning the wedding. Though it’s not official, I do have my heart set on The Gale Mansion for the venue. Pretty beautiful, isn’t it? More about that later.

About my new job: it’s still awesome. I don’t want to work in a dental office for the rest of my life but, for the time being, I’m very happy. I enjoy all my co-workers, I love that I walk to work (and home for lunch) and the pay/hours/benefits are much better. Matt and I will be able to save much more each month for the wedding/future in general, and that is a relief.

Since its been almost two months since the last update, here’s a brief rundown of what we’ve been up to:

Grandpa came to visit

We attended (and had a fantastic time) at another nerdy board game convention called Game Storm

Had a lovely Easter Dinner with our friends

Visited Matt’s Uncles and Nana in Medford

And my engagement ring got a new look after I had the silver polished to removed the “smoked” effect

So there you have it. Lots of planning and preparing in our future, but we’re optimistic and, most importantly, happy.

Great news!

Friends, Family, Loved Ones: I am excited to officially announce that I have a new job.  I start tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.  This new place is going to be fantastic. I haven’t felt this happy in a very long time.

Who knew boobs were so controversial?

As many of you know, Matthew spends much of his free time browsing a website call boardgamegeek.  It’s a great resource for gamers to share their love and nerdyness for board games.  Matt and I would often joke about the pictures that got lots of attention of the website.  It seemed predictable that any picture feature an attractive (or even semi-attractive) lady got lots of attention.  She got even more if her dirty pillows made an appearance also.  We like to joke that this was 1) because there are not many ladies who play board games and gamer dudes get excited about gamer chicks and 2) because some gamer dudes (you know who you are) don’t get to see chicks or boobs very often.  So Matt and I decided to do a little social experiment of our own.  We posted this picture on the website:

Not surprisingly, it was approved right away.  It received several “thumbs” or recommendations in the first day and a few comments.  To our surprise, many of the comments were negative, e.i., don’t post smut on this website.  By the second day it had more comments and about 50 thumbs.  We thought it was funny but the conversation seemed to be dying out and we figured the buzz was over.  Then, yesterday, the post jumped to over 200 thumbs and spawned another discussion forum.

Discussion Board

To our surprise, the picture also showed up on the front page of the website as one of the top images.

Boardgamegeek.com

And the thumb count is now over 400.

Apparently, Matthew and I started a controversy over boobs and board games.  The forum discussion is really good for the most part.  People are expressing their views and making great arguments for and against the merger of boobs and board games.  We are totally shocked that this picture got so much attention, but we both think it’s cool that it got people talking, which is what we wanted in the first place.

Anyway, I thought I’d share that little adventure with you folks.  I have a feeling that it’ll be fizzling out soon, and I’m not sure how long, if much longer at all, the picture will remain on the front page.  For the moment, it’s been pretty entertaining.

White Christmas?

It’s four days after Christmas, and the snow as finally arrived! This afternoon it decided to snow a little bit and the Portlanders are (as expected) freaking out. It took me an hour to drive 2 miles. From inside a warm and snuggley apartment, it sure is pretty. The big fat snowflakes look so dreamy. I do miss Minnesota winters sometimes, I suppose.

Christmas was lovely. We spent the day with Seth and Nikki and had a lot of fun opening gifts. We all like to have a few laughs under the tree, and our silly dollar store purchases paid for themselves in giggles. I posted pictures on my facebook page. My favorite moment was Matt opening his big present. Me, my mom, my brother, Seth and Nikki all pitched in to buy him the collector edition of War of the Ring. He’d been carrying on about it for months, and he really didn’t think that he’d get it for Christmas. There are only 1600 copies in the world. As a huge nerd, Matt would get even more excited about something like that. I ordered the game back in November, but it won’t actually be here until around March. I wrapped some “decoy” presents for under the tree so Matt wouldn’t get suspicious about only having one gift. Then I wrapped up a bunch of junk from around the house and put a note in the box indicating what his real gift was. I took a video when he opened it. His face was priceless. Here’s the video:

Matt’s Christmas Surprise

After we opened presents, we relaxed for a while. Matt and Nikki made ginger bread houses while Seth and I crocheted. I also did some reading in my book about rats that Seth and Nikki picked out for me. In the evening we watched Christmas Vacation and made stuffed shells for dinner. All turned out very well.

In two days I’ll be getting on an airplane bound for Minneapolis! I have one week to see everybody, enjoy some of my mama’s home cooking, and maybe check out some wedding stuff. Nikki got me the Wedding Edition of Real Simple and I read the whole thing in spite of myself. Now I’m starting to get all excited about planning. It’s going to be tough waiting until March or even April to set a date. I just have to remember to be patient.

Can’t wait to see you cool Minnesotians! We’ll see if I’ve lost all my tolerance for sub-zero temperatures.

Oh by golly have a holly jolly Christmas!

As I posted on facebook, Matthew and I had a glass Pyrex pan explode in our oven. Matthew made a cake for Nikki’s birthday, and mid-way through baking the pan shattered. I know that Pyrex is known to do this if you change temperatures quickly, but it had been baking for at least 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven! I already tried to call Pyrex yesterday, but their phone lines were full and they weren’t taking any more calls. Big surprise. I’ll call them/write them after the holidays. Let me tell you, I am mad. I always endorsed Pyrex as an excellent brand, but I won’t buy another Pyrex pan ever again. On top of dealing with getting a hold of them to complain, we have this delightful mess to deal with:

Anyway, even faulty Pyrex can’t dampen a lively holiday spirit: Merry Christmas! It always finds a way to sneak up on ya. Ninja Christmas. Almost all the gifts are wrapped, and the stockings are hung…on our loft with care. I have a ginger bread candle burning, so it smells like I’m baking even though I’m not. Tonight, I’ll make almond roca. It’s tradition. For dinner I’m making a meatball stew, using Quorn meatballs of course. Those things are so darn tasty. You really need to try them if you haven’t. Tomorrow we are making stuffed shells and pecan pie. Comfort food that will put one foot in the grave. I finally understand why people have New Years resolutions. I used to think that it was about trying to be a better person in the next year, but it’s not. It’s about making up for all the guilty pleasures from the previous holiday season. Good enough for me.

Mom wanted to see some pictures of our decorations, so I took some this morning.

That last picture is my favorite angel. We’ve had her since I was a little girl. I think she’s just on loan for now, but maybe I’ll hide her with all our other Christmas stuff and keep her.

Yesterday I finished my first crochet hat! Thank you dear friends Breanne and Kim for teaching me how! Matthew needed a hat very badly. He never likes any of the hats that we find in stores. I wanted to make one for him, but last year my attempt at knitting one failed. I was sad. But this year: success! No cold ears for my guy this winter.

Lastly, Matt discovered this awesome trivia game on X-box live called 1 versus 100. It’s mostly general trivia, but they also have rounds of specific trivia like “80s” and “Kids movies.” Each round is 30 minutes and you play against other people on X-box live. Usually there are between eight and fifteen thousand people playing at any given time. You get points for answering questions correctly, for getting answering quickly, and for getting questions right that lots of people got wrong. It’s addicting. Anyway, last night we were playing and chatting with Matt’s brother Ryan, and after the first two rounds Matt and I got into the top 10! I don’t think we could have done it without Ryan’s help, but it was still a proud moment. I’d like to share our victorious screen shot (we’re Awesome Dunker):

Well, that’s about it! I hope everybody in Minnesota is staying safe and warm in the big scary blizzard! I do miss the snow, but not that much. Lots of love!

Ps: Did I forget to mention that Matt doesn’t have to work on Christmas? Whoo Friggin’ Whoo!

Jingle Bells!

I can’t believe its already the 19th. Christmas in less than a week! Matthew and I just finished our Christmas cards, and now we’re covered in glitter and our hands are seizing up in severe cramps. Nonetheless, it feels nice to get something big accomplished. I’ve  been pretty stressed out with my grad school essays/applications, and I appreciate those who’ve volunteered to read/critique my work. Last week Matthew and I did find some time to get our place decorated. We had a night of watching Home Alone and stringing popcorn and cranberries. We like to do those sorts of crafty things.

Today at work we had an ugly sweater contest. I actually won! I’m pretty excited. The competition was fierce. I work with some creative ladies. One crafty lady, who was my secret santa, crocheted me a hat that I am really enjoying right now. May never take it off.

Two and a half days of work next week then it’s Christmas time. Matthew MIGHT get Christmas off, but we aren’t getting our hopes up. He’ll find out next week.

In other work news, Matthew got selected to be a member of an animal behavior training force. He’ll be teaching the monkeys to do tricks. Just kidding. He’s going to teach them to stand up and stuff. But it’s really good for him because they only selected 4 techs out of 30 possible candidates. That’s our Matthew being great at his job!

For anybody who hasn’t heard, I’ll be in Minnesota from New Years Eve through the following Friday. I only get a week because my work wouldn’t let me have any additional time off, but we’re going to make the most of it. My mom and I might start looking at wedding venues. We can’t get too excited about anything yet, but it’ll be fun to start some preliminary planning. I do hope to see as many of you as possible while home!

For any non-facebookers, here’s a link to the album with our holiday photos so far INCLUDING pictures of my ugly sweater. Enjoy:

Christmas 2009 Photos

Love, Love, Love, to all.

Oh Christmas Tree!

It seems a little weird to put up a tree the same weekend as Thanksgiving, but what the heck! Christmas is in less than a month. Matthew and I got our tree today and we’re very excited to be getting into the holiday mood. We got a live potted tree as planned, and our apartment is already fragrant with the smells of Christmas. You’re still an awesome holiday Thanksgiving, but it just sucks that you have a way cooler big brother named Christmas.

Yes, those pumpkins are still hanging around. Our apartment is very confused about what time of year it is. But we aren’t: Merry Christmas!

Post Thanksgiving Post

Happy Thanksgiving, folks. I hope everybody’s well-fed and enjoying the leftovers. Matthew and I spent the day with our friends Dan and Kim who were kind enough to invite us over.  Matthew had to work until 2:30, so we ate dinner a bit “late” at 4:00.  Everything turned out very delicious, with the exception of my pecan pie. I forgot the eggs when I went over to Dan and Kim’s, and Kimmy only had one egg, so we used that and some egg substitute. The pie looked smelled delicious, but it didn’t set properly. Just the same it was a nice day.

Matthew had to work today. Neither Matthew nor I have gone out on Black Friday. We usually hunker down and wait for the storm to pass. However, this year Matthew wanted to fight the crowds just to see the train wreck. We talked about possibly shopping before he had to go to work but decided against it. Getting in line at 3 am? Getting elbowed and pushed and trampled? Seeing people at their worst? NO THANKS! Not to say I’m not curious. But I’ve also wondered what’s the big whoop about shooting up heroin, and I’m not about to go do that either.

Tomorrow we have a date to play games with some new friends we met at the game convention. We’re excited to be meeting people who want to hang out and play games and be nerdy! We’ll also probably be going to get a tree some time soon. I’d like to get a small but live tree this year. Having a fake one is easier, and reusable, but it’s just not the same. Nothing says Christmas cheer quite like getting pine needles stuck in your socks all season long. But seriously, nothing does.

Matthew can’t get any time off to fly to MN this January, but my office is closed for a week after New Years, so I may be coming by myself. More to come on that. In the mean time, I’ll be missing you all very much this holiday season!

Ps:

I always feel sad when I write a post but don’t have any pictures to put up. So, here are a couple cute ones of my boys:

Wyatt getting his bath.

Matthew tasting Kombucha.