Halloween: the stolen holiday

 My generation has completely turned Halloween into an adult's holiday. Everything's scarier, sexier, bigger, smaller, the candy's better...

I love it. There's only one bad thing about Halloween, and it's that I always procrastinate finding a costume. I always want a costume that's a total contest winner, but for three years in a row, I've waited to long and used my fall-back costume: greaser.

Easiest costume ever. If you are a semi-up-to-date twenty-something (or thirty) female, then you have the leggings, the heels, the plain black or white t-shirt, and some kind of cardigan or satin or leather jacket that would pull the outfit together.

However, I'm getting sick of this old classic. My main reason for not going out and spending money on a newer, cooler costume, is because of the price and the modesty factor.

Like I said before, everything is bigger (prices and boobs), and smaller (outfits and confidence). It's hard to find something that will work for a poor, confident, modest person that hasn't been way overdone.

And I know I've vented about this in several prior posts, but LADY GAGA COSTUMES? Really? REALLY? I thought we were all done with that. I'll gladly accept costume suggestions. At this point, I'm willing to spend a little money.

She's a Real Character

For my Creative Writing class, I had to write a descriptive piece about a character that is "real", or someone I know. I wrote about my mother and her experience with losing her sight.

It got me thinking, she's totally incredible.

In the 15 years that her sight has been gradually failing, she never acted frustrated or bitter about her trial. She is so happy, and always thinks of others. My siblings and I never knew any different, so having a blind mom was normal. But I look at how strong our family is because of it, and am amazed. It was never something we had to "deal with." We just adapted and it became our life.

Sometimes she would do funny things, like fall down stairs or bump into a pole or trip over a fire-hydrant (how mean that I think those things are funny), but she always laughed it off. Even more awesome was that she was never even embarrassed. Not even when she used eyeliner as a brow pencil and walk around with purple eyebrows. Or when she used hair gel as body lotion.

So great.

Christmas pictures

My cousin-in-law is a great photographer, and is doing a giveaway for a family portrait session!

Conrad and I haven't gotten pictures taken of just the two of us since our wedding, so its definitely time!

Here's the link to Elise's blog. you can look at her photos and enter the giveway.

When it rains, it pours.

I really have such a wonderful life.

Sunday, we went to church and went to Conrad's family's house. I love going there. It's like going to Disneyland, only the food is cheaper and the people are cooler.

Monday was my sweet husband's 25th birthday! I can't believe it. I get to spend eternity with this smart, handsome person who loves me as much as i love him. I tutored in the afternoon, then got home right as Conrad was getting home. We went to CPK with Conrad's sister and her boyfriend, and they were so generous to buy our meal! The delicious food included margarita pizza, chopped BBQ chicken salad, Carne Asada pizza, and garlic fettucini alfredo (that everyone thought was gross except me). I ate way too much as usual.

Tuesday, I had French class in the morning. I came home in wonderful rainy weather, checked my email and saw that i had a request on my etsy account! another one! Before my next class, i went to Marshall's and Ross to pick up some discounted onesies for the order. I didn't have time to get the ribbon i needed before my next class, so i made a mental note of what to buy, and headed to school. After class - which went unusually well and fast - i went straight to tutoring again (just to be clear, i am the tutor, not the tutee). Happy to say i'm really racking up the hours. Came home to my dear, drove to Michaels with him to get the ribbon, and the rest is a blur. Busy day means early bedtime. Dinner was pasta with pesto sauce.

Wednesday, I made the onesies. 10 to be exact. click here to view. I love some of them so much that it hurts to think i might have to give them to someone else's baby. At least now i know how easy it is to ruffle a onesie and make them for my own little girls! While i was tinkering away at my sewing table, i watched some Pushing Daisies, and one episode of CSI that was way too scary. I have officially sworn off that show. For the most part, it wasn't a busy day. I didn't leave the house except to get some whipped cream for the strawberry pie I made. Unfortunately the pie didn't set, so I have a runny, jiggly thing in my fridge waiting to be tossed. Dinner was salad and pizza.

Today, I had school again. I also had tutoring, and it was near my school, but it wasn't for several hours after my class. So I drove to the nearest happiest place on earth: My in-laws! I got there and it was a bizarre situation. My aunt-in-law was there showering (she doesn't live there, she lives up the street) because her house was being sprayed (???)... I didn't ask any questions. Then she left, and one Norah Jones song on the piano later, my sister in law Libby came home. We made cookies together and bonded over politics. I loved it, because we hadn't really bonded before that.

When I was leaving to go to my tutoring session, I set the plate of hot cookies on the elbow rest between the driver and passenger seat. One second later - I don't know how I forgot so quickly - my elbow was scalded and cookies were crushed. I ran back in, through the rain, I should add, to wash it off. I discovered that I had not only burned my skin, but chocolate was all over my cardigan. So I took it off to rinse it, and a button fell off. Geez! I did my best to handle it, and I wasn't even late to tutoring!

Dinner tonight was cereal. As the week goes on, the meals get simpler and simpler. Tomorrow might just be crackers.

Hilarious Twist of Fate

When I was at school in Idaho, I was in a psychology class. I attended study sessions that were led by a guy named Kevin. Kevin and I became friends. One day, he set me up for a double date with his roommate. We got chicken wings and went back to their apartment to watch Amelie (which is now one of my favorite movies). Nothing frisky happened. We only went on the one date.

TIME JUMP:

Today was the wedding of a friend from Conrad's and my old singles ward. A bunch of friends showed up who also knew Sean (the groom). Hannah, one of our other friends, was there with her boyfriend. We were all talking, lightly socializing, small-talking... when i realized that i recognized Hannah's boyfriend. He was the guy I went on a blind date with in Idaho, two years ago. He grew up in Idaho, graduated college, and moved to Claremont for med school.

What are the odds that I would ever see him again? What are the odds that he would now be dating one of my friends? How symmetrical, that I would be in his home state for school, go in his car, to his apartment, got chicken, then two years later, he's in my home state for school, and his same car would be parked outside my house, he would be in my apartment, and we would get chicken again, only this time with our respective partners?

So we realized that we knew each other, and the group of us came to our house for some hanging out after the wedding. We also went to Denny's. It was a great night. I realized how much I miss having nights out with friends.

In other news, I sold some baby onesies on my etsy site, etsy.com/tesiahframe. Exciting right? except for the shipping fees, which I seriously miscalculated, and now am only making $7 from the transaction. I really should have looked up shipping costs to Australia.

What a fun day.

Advice from 21 years of life

1. when someone makes you a quilt, use it. don't just shove it in the closet with all the others.

2. put chips in your sandwich. also, dip fries in chocolate shakes.

3. kindles are horrible. screens are no replacement for real books. No wonder we're all going blind.

4. Drive slowly. speeding tickets will kick your butt.

5. AlkaSeltzer is the worst. Theraflu is good, so is Pepto. It doesn't matter how many Ibuprofin you take. 9 will make you feel just as good as 2.

6. shaving your legs is never mandatory.

7. when you lean your chair back, and the front leg crushes your toe, any person has every right to say "i told you so"

8. the BRAT diet sucks. and it doesn't work. eat whatever you want when you're sick.

9. take pictures. all the time.

10. If you wouldn't say it to your dentist, don't say it.

11. rottentomatoes.com cannot be trusted.

12. candles are good. incense are bad. no matter what scent they are, they smell like pot. don't use them; you'll ruin your carpet for the next tenants.

13. sometimes, all you can do is let your basil die. (there was nothing i could do. i had neglected it for too long)

14. sexy halloween costumes are the worst. i never look at a girl in a playboy bunny costume and think, "she looks smart. i have respect for her. i bet she owns real estate."

15. Everyone needs therapy. Everyone.

16. hair is not like fingernails. You can't change the color everyday with the delusion that you won't go bald.

17. you think that when you get married, you're all grown up. but your parents are still your parents, and they can still tell you what to do. or get you in trouble.

18. If you know you're afraid of sharks, don't watch Jaws. If you know you're afraid of asian kids, don't watch the Grudge. If you do, you're asking for it.

19. We all love america, but really, the 4th of July is one of the more boring holidays.

20. obviously, never place a candle below a smoke detector.

21. Monopoly is a device created by Satan to tear families apart.

Feeling better

I got a flu/cold thing a couple days ago, and have been trying to kick it since. I started getting symptoms Thursday evening, and was totally sick on Friday. I woke up this morning, still sick, and had to go tutor a little boy for a couple hours. I took a bunch of medicine, and did fine for the 2 1/2 hours of tutoring, but when I got home, I was exhausted and nauseous and headached and such.

After the second half of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, we went to Subway, split a footlong, and went for a walk on the beach. I felt better and better as we went along. We came across this tide pool where a bunch of little families were exploring. Of course I was barefoot, so I was kind of squirmy (I don't like stepping on squishy stuff, namely in this case, sea anemones). It was fun to poke stuff and find a giant red crab, and make stuff squirt, and when we were walking back I felt a LOT better.

I always thought that when you're sick, you're supposed to stay home, rest a ton, watch movies, etc. But getting fresh air, walking around, and exerting the sickness out of your body works significantly better.

So here I am, on my flannel sheets, with wet hair, chapped nostrils, and no more flu/cold (I seriously can't tell the difference), telling you that if, at all this season, you feel sick, exercise instead of staying in bed. I can almost guarantee that you'll get better faster.

Also, I feel like a million bucks after I throw up.

Happy Life

Some things I love today:

red pens

whole cooked chickens from the grocery store

sweet chili jelly

my sewing machine

my mother in law

cinnamon and clove scented candle

the Hunger Games series

brown paper

Some things Conrad loves today:

bacon and cheese mashed potatoes

programming

his wife

wind

seeing the ocean from the train/bike

diet coke

Some things we look forward to:

flannel sheets

having a house

surfing in the winter

drinking herbal tea

our colds going away

our apartment smelling like Christmas

losing the holiday pounds I gained 2 years ago

Night Fight

Growing up, I was kind of a thrasher. I kicked and moved and spoke and walked around, and did all kinds of high-functioning human activities while I slept. I finally got my own queen bed, at which point my condition worsened because I had even more space to move around.

Oddly, the day I got married, I stopped thrashing. I still spoke, ate, etc., but as far as sleep-violence, I was good. Then last night, I woke up, extremely frustrated in the middle of the night, with Conrad sitting on me pinning my arms down. I was apparently beating him while he slept (kicking, pushing, and breathing heavily, which, if done correctly, can be offensive). Then I told him to move over because he was pushing me off the bed.

I went back to sleep, which means, more sleep-slapping ensued. He told me today on the phone that I had, at one point, ripped his pillow from him and thrown it across the room (which isn't actually that far). I also recall him sharply insisting that I "Shut up" (yes, my dear tells me to shut up when necessary). I woke up this morning, having skinned my bed down to the mattress.

Has my rest rage returned? I've always been an active sleeper. I'm told I can even conduct a legitimate conversation. So today, when I called Conrad to ask him what in the world happened, and why I woke up in a tiff, he explained that we were both in some kind of half-asleep stage, and that we did, in fact, have a night fight. I was amused. I'm interested to see how this develops.

Conference Weekend

There are a handful of times in the year when my family's home feels like a holiday: Christmas (obviously), Easter, Thanksgiving, and both Conferences.

There is no other time of year when we get to stay in jammies all day, eat monkey bread, and spend time with family.

Since Conrad's family is going to Utah for Conference, we'll be going to my parent's house for the weekend. It's like a sleepover, only weirder.

These are the things i have to do before we leave tonight:

- superglue my favorite plate back together

- go to the library and return the books and check out new ones

- do a load of laundry

- pack clothes. note to self, remember Conrad's suit and shoes and tie and everything.

- pay rent

- try to use whatever in the fridge will go bad over the next 3 days.

I finally feel like it's fall. Yesterday, despite the 80 degree weather, there was a massive lightning and thuderstorm at school. It started pouring rain, and minutes later, it was over. Then we had cloudy, slightly rainy weather into the night. I love rain.

Some news! I'm a tutor. I tutor any level English course. Despite all my grammar/spelling/punctuation/capitalization errors in this blog, I'm actually a good English student. So I'm helping someone with her class! Any of you San Diego readers who might need help in English, let me know!