How reading a book can improve your life

After a week of sobbing, feeling sorry for myself, visiting people I love (and am secretly jealous of), taking a super stressful 1-day road trip, and eating too many carbs, I got a good email.

"Your reserved book has arrived at the Solana Beach Library. You may pick it up at your earliest convenience."

I won't divulge what book, as I realize I do way to much product placement on this blog. However, I will say, I'm only on page 25 and I'm attached. I love it. Its lifting me out of my rut. I feel lighter, more creative, and motivated to work out more, eat better, and see the world.

I get these stupid notions like "now that I'm married I can't do anything without my husband" and "if I go somewhere/have fun without him, I'm breaking some kind of rule."

Well, one sans-husband wedding reception, 2 books, and 3 bowls of spaghetti later, I'm feeling pretty good about myself. There's something in every character that we either want, or already have. For me it's one or more of the following:

- a young, quick, and still happy marriage

- a delayed education

- lack of thought prior to decision making

- the ability (superpower, I should say) to see the world as dramatically as I wish

Some of my good friends (in the form of bound pages) have helped me see how I need to re-prioritize. Instead of pitying myself about not being able to finish school right now, I decided I can still learn. So I applied for cosmetology school. BAM. You didn't see that coming, did you?

I'll let you know how it goes.

My Best Friend's Wedding

Elyssa Squires is marrying Chris Kirkham on July 30th in the St. George Temple.

My husband can't go because of work. Its weird. I feel awkward attending without him, but really want to be there. So I've been soliciting for my sisters (of blood and marriage relation) to go with me, and just have a girls night in Vegas.

If she (either sister) came, we would drive all night, sleep in St. George somewhere, and she would wait outside the temple while I'm inside, husbandless. Then we'd go to the luncheon or whatever is going on, drive to Las Vegas for the reception at 7, stay the night (?) and go home.

Is this weird? Is this not as weird as I feel like it is? What should I do? Has anyone attended a wedding post-marriage, but stag? Is that allowed? I feel like I'm breaking a rule I didn't mean to make.

I mean, husbands and wives are allowed to do stuff seperately, but going to a wedding solo, when you have a date-for-life?

At the zoo

Conrad and I bought San Diego Zoo/Wild Animal Park year passes! Today we went, and I discovered that everyone has their favorite animal that they could watch all day.

My animals were the gorillas. Up until about a year ago, I had no idea that apes and monkeys are completely different. Monkeys have tails. Apes are highly intelligent, and almost human-like in their interaction with each other - they can learn sign language, bond with other species, etc. While we were walking on "Monkey Trail" (I should have pointed out to someone with authority that gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans have no place on this trail), I noticed some of the huge behavioral differences between some of the monkeys and the apes. The monkeys jumped around, swung on trees, played with each other, and did not acknowledge that people were watching. The gorillas, however, laid in the shade with their backs to the glass. The mommy and baby cuddled - but weren't sleeping - and the daddy (who was obviously the "big one") laid facing them watching. They knew we were there. The emotional bond they have with each other is really sweet. I was so in love I didn't even think to get the camera out. (I thought it might offend them... hehe)

This is a picture of a woman taking care of the koalas. She came out, rubbed them a little to get their attention, made sure they knew she was non-threatening, and picked them up like a baby under the armpits.

Conrad's favorite was the otters. They loved the attention they were getting from people. They did back flips off of logs into the water, swam around really fast, and even stood up to pose for pictures. All the while, they never stopped looking up at the people for praise and approval. very funny. We learned who nature's attention seeker is (aside from humans).

Since we had passes, we felt no hurry to see the whole park, but we saw tigers, all kinds of birds, crocodiles, hippos (which Conrad deemed "water pigs"), meercats (which sit slouched like a fat drunk man), Macaws (which screamed really loud), a Komodo Dragon, and lots of snakes, lizards and turtles.

I love animals. I love the fact that when animals are happy, they make humans happy. Watch how much cows love this. Its a machine that washes them, similar to a car wash, and milk production is higher because these cows are happy.

This weird new side of myself

I've always considered myself creative, but never "crafty." All I do most days is chill at home, run some errands, read, wait for the love of my life to come bounding through the door on his trusty steed (read: bicycle), etc. Thing is, I get super bored. then I get grumpy and sad and feel like I never accomplish anything. So lately I've been doing little crafts; small, short-term projects that, once I'm finished, make me feel like I did something productive with my time.

I'M ADDICTED.

I can't stop making things! I want more books on the subject, I read craft blogs... and Conrad suggested I turn it into something profitable. So I decided to take my wreath to a consignment store, and I'm actually really excited about it! Even if I don't sell it, I feel like I took the necessary steps to be productive and make money.

Something else I really like (get ready, this is unusual) is selling stuff on Craigslist. I have an etsy account, Conrad has an ebay account, which is all great, but those sites charge fees to sell your stuff. Craigslist is fun for me because its free and SO user-friendly.

There are so many things I want to make, this may turn in to a craft blog.

The millionth day of job searching

So it ended up not working out with Pete. Long story short: too far to drive; the money I made didn't cover the gas I used. So now I'm back on the market! I should put an ad up somewhere.

Crafty young housewife seeks fun, easy, low effort job with high pay.

But realistically, I want to work. I'm a good employee. I hate sitting at home looking for a job, not making money. If I can't be in school for now, I MUST work!! I feel like my last job was super easy to nab. - it was - I worked for them before, and kind of just picked up where I left off.

Some disappointing news:

I got into Chapman.

I'd love to go there. It's a beautiful campus, I got into the English department, I'd graduate in under 2 years... but no. The drive is an hour and 15 minutes, the train ride would be 2 hours, and tuition is $35,000. Quite the price for a degree I'll probably never use. So I will not be attending school for a while. We'll see how that turns out.

Why did I even get in? God is teasing me. My choices are kicking my butt.

Book Page Wreath

And am currently selling it at a local consignment store. For $70 dollars. I was pretty shocked that they would sell it for that high. I might go tomorrow and have them lower the price.

Contact me if you want one. I'll definitely go lower than $70.

Things i've learned or relearned today

1. being skinny is not an achievement.

2. there IS such thing as "too many buttery sauteed mushrooms." your diarrhea will testify.

3. have a set place for car keys so there isn't a mix-up.

4. don't shove the bed spread into the dryer with everything else, or nothing will dry.

5. having other people's attention/approval almost never matters.

6. "promise you won't freak out" really works on your husband.

7. shaving legs sucks, but so do spiky legs.

8. old, saggy bathing suits make for the most righteous wedgies.

9. keeping a private journal is not the same thing as keeping secrets.

10. Heavenly Father really loves me a whole lot.

I got a job! I'm a caretaker/friend to Pete! He's 28, but looks and has the mental capacity of a 12 year old. My job is to play with him and do fun stuff, like biking, movies, and concerts and stuff.

Pretty cool. I meet him tomorrow.

BRUSCHETTA

Tonight I made the prettiest, cheapest, yummiest (and almost easiest) meal ever! Bruschetta.

Ingredients:

4 Roma tomatoes

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 yellow or orange bell pepper

olive oil

big handful of fresh basil

small shallot or 1/4 red onion

1 can of Cannellini beans

1 loaf French bread (not a baguette, they are too hard)

butter

2 whole garlic cloves

Start by roasting your garlic. This is the easy way:

Peel all the cloves, toss in olive oil (1 Tbsp), salt and pepper. Put in a small baking pan. Pour in 1/2 cup of water into the pan and cover tightly with foil. Bake at 375 F for 1 hour.

While the garlic roasts, dice the tomatoes, bell pepper, and onion (or shallot). Drain and rinse the Cannellini beans, and add to mixture. Toss, and set aside (refridgerate for a nice, cold topping).

You can either toss in olive oil and top with chopped basil, or, what I did, food process it into a sauce and toss.

Cut the French bread into 1 inch slices. Melt 1/4 stick of butter in a stove-top pan, and fry the bread. For less calories, do it grilled cheese style: spread butter on both sides of the bread and fry. You could also bake or grill. The leanest way (but not as flavorful) is to spray a grill with Pam.

Once the garlic is done, it will be a pasty, spreadable substance. Spread some onto each slice of toasted bread, top with the cold tomato mixture, parmesan cheese (only fresh is allowed, ever), and chopped basil if you didn't make the sauce. So good!

You'll feel the urge to brush your teeth after eating this. So garlicky and delish.

Beach Living

We've gone surfing twice in the last 24 hours. Last night, with Conrad's dad and sister, and this morning with his cousin. I surfed last night for the first time in just under a year, and was too sore to surf this morning, but Conrad did it. What a beast.

It's been overcast, but the water is super warm. Thank you global warming.

Taking electricity for granted

Yesterday afternoon, most of Solana Beach lost power because of a ruptured line of some kind. I learned these things:

-keep tons of candles in the house, not just for romantic purposes

-also keep plenty of matches/lighters. what good are candles if you can't light them?

-keep enough batteries for whatever flashlights you have (the correct sizes would also be useful)

-never place your candles directly under a fire alarm

-don't get mad at the power company. they try as hard as they can to fix the problem, and humans have survived without electricity before...

-put simple games, like UNO, in an easily accessible place. we played by candlelight.

- DO NOT open your fridge or freezer. you'll let all the cold escape. the food will be fine unless you open it and let all the refrigeration out, or unless the power is off for more than a few hours.

-go out to dinner. nothing works in the house anyway, so let someone else stress about it. Bonus: you don't have to clean up.

What's funny is how dependent I realized I am on electricity. When I got home and tried to turn on a light, the first thing I thought is "oh no, what are we going to do?"

We ate at CPK, came home and lit candles, played Yatzee and UNO (I quit Yatzee early to prevent a tantrum as a result of no luck) and went to bed. We actually had a really nice time. We talked, where on any other night, we would have turned on a movie and droned out.

Plus who doesn't look FABULOUS by candlelight?!

No wonder so many babies are born 9 months after a city-wide blackout!

Celebrating the 4th of July

We went to Conrad's parent's for the 4th of July, and partied with Mema and Pepa, the Frames, and the Rohners, and even my parents came! We were a little far away from the fireworks, so they were small, quiet, and half hidden by trees and clouds. I loved it though. I got to spend 6 hours with all of the people I love the most.

Today the Frames (us included) are all going to the beach, and I'm going to make these spiced nuts.