jael loves....

First stamp in my passport.

2012-01-22T14:27:00.009-07:00

Also known as "our five year anniversary gift to each other."

Or, as Paul asked me the other day: "Hey, remember that time we went to Costa Rica and spent 10 days doing NOTHING?" And I replied, "Yeah. That was awesome." It really was. So a couple of years ago we decided to go to Costa Rica, and this month, we finally did it. We spent 9 whole days (plus a day of travelling on either side of that) in a beach town on the caribbean side called Puerto Viejo, with the only objective being to relax and spend time together, and maybe do a couple of cool things, if there was time.

Best. Vacation. Ever.

I was nervous since neither of us spoke Spanish with any sort of authority, but between my "dos boletas," "lunes," and "por favor/gracias," we were at least able to buy two bus tickets on Monday, please/thank you, and while we were there I would order by pointing at the menu and throwing in lots of "por favor's/gracias'" and smiling like a stupid tourist. It was great. I seriously cannot describe to you what an amazing time we had, and this post may get kind of longish, but I want to remember our vacation! I brought a notebook with me to write in while we were there, and I jotted down exactly 0 words.

So, we left our house at 2:00am on Friday morning and drove from our house to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Apparently the airport at Tulsa is so small it doesn't even open until like 6:00am. So we hung out, ate our McDonald's and read the newspaper until we could go check in and go through security and everything. Our flight left Tulsa at 6:40am and we headed to Houston, TX and from there to San Jose, Costa Rica. We got to Costa Rica at 12:50 and had a driver waiting for us to take us to the bus station. I am so glad we had somebody waiting for us who knew where we needed to go, it was a little overwhelming to step out of the airport and have throngs of people waiting, all yelling at you "taxi? Taxi?" Luckily we could just say no and look for my name on a card.

Our first picture together in Costa Rica! In the taxi.

Does this remind anyone else of Tucson???

Anyways, we got to the bus station and our driver had bought our bus tickets for us for the 4:00pm bus, but we got to the bus station at 1:52 so we decided to see if we could make the 2:00 bus instead. Paul waited with our bag downstairs and sent me to see if I could get tickets. OMG. Jael+2years high school Spanish=6 usable words, not including numbers. The guy at the counter probably spoke exactly as much English. Somehow, we got tickets on the 2:00 bus and got on before it pulled away. I sat next to a very nice old woman who tried to make some polite conversation, and Paul sat next to a very silent native man. Paul also had to hold our bag. Fortunately the only luggage we had was a carryon and a backpack each, or he would have been much more uncomfortable.

Paul on the bus. Poor guy.

We got to Puerto Viejo around 6:30 that night and it was pitch black out. We walked off the bus, and this time I was glad there was a guy there saying "taxi? Taxi?" We took a cab to our hotel, checked in (our English-speaking hostess was at dinner with friends, so we were walked to our bungalow by her non-English-speaking gardener) and dropped off our stuff, debated whether we were hungry enough to try to walk and find somewhere to eat, and decided we weren't, so we crashed at 8:00pm. Whew.

The next morning we woke up with waves in our ears. Ahhh. The first place we stayed for 3 nights was called Casa Viva, and it was ON a beach called Punta Uva, a couple miles outside of Puerto Viejo. We were in a duplex-type bungalow and it was amazing. We had a view of the ocean from our porch and we fell asleep with the sound of the sea in the background.

Us in front of our bungalow at Casa Viva. Ocean is what looks like the sky behind those trees.

This hammock on our porch was blissful.

The grounds of this property were also stunning. It was neat because the lady who runs the place has 3 little casitas, plus her own house, on her property, and they're spaced out really well so you can't hear your neighbors. We were in a duplex, of course, but we lucked out and had fantastic people staying next door: it was a retired couple who spend their winters in Costa Rica, they stay at Casa Viva whenever they are in Puerto Viejo, and they had their fluffy little dog with them. Punta Uva is a fair distance from Puerto Viejo, so we rented bikes while we were there to get around.

Costa Rica was awesome because I felt like there was wildlife EVERYWHERE. We were riding our bikes to get a few groceries our first morning there and we stopped to see what these other tourists were taking a picture of, and there was a troop of monkeys up in a tree along the main road! I use the term "main road" loosely, cuz outside of Puerto Viejo there's really only one road, but still. It was awesome.

Paul looking at monkeys.

the monkeys.

Dinner on Saturday we walked down the street to a place called Selvin's and had a delicious dinner. I had traditional caribbean jerk chicken and Paul got a red snapper. We also saw another monkey on the 5 minute walk to the restaurant!

Paul's dinner. He was really hungry, hence the glint of crazy in his eye.

He's pointing at the monkey, in case that isn't clear.

So am I.

We loved everything about Casa Viva, but I think one of our favorite things is that it was on a beautiful beach. Sunday morning I think we walked from our bungalow to the beach, and then we walked along the beach to Puerto Viejo. It was so neat. The jungle met the rainforest in several spots, so we had to climb through trees to continue on. Of course, we found plenty of driftwood trees and whatnot to take pictures on.

Paul running from the wave.

Me falling off this tree. It was very wobbly.

Paul not falling.

Paul climbing through the jungle.

Us on the beach.

Monday we did a zipline tour, the only thing Paul we requested we do whilst in Costa Rica. I HATE heights (almost more than I hate spiders) so I was pretty happy I didn't pass out or pee myself. We booked our tour through Terraventuras and they were fantastic. All the guys on their staff were super fun and just made it a really enjoyable experience.

Us passing each other on the ziplines!

Lolz. This guy ran into Paul.

Also, the guy they had pick us up/drop us off at our hotel was amazing. On our way back we stopped like 6 times for him to point out different animals to us! We were just driving down the road and he'd stop and say "look, there's a sloth!" Or, "look in those trees, see that iguana?" It was funny because I couldn't even see the animals while I was looking where he pointed until after a good couple minutes of visually searching, and he was able to spot them WHILE he was driving down the road. Craziness. Anyways, the zipline tour was super fun and I am so glad we did it! Definitely a highlight, and it was a beautiful drive through back roads to get there. I also got to feed a horse. There were random horses hanging out by the little building at the start of the zipline platforms.
On Monday afternoon we also moved to the next hotel, Finca Chica. I wish we could have stayed at Casa Viva longer, but alas, they were booked. Maybe next time. Also, this is taking a super long time, so I will post part 2 later this week.

Magic.

2011-12-14T15:42:00.008-07:00

I bet everyone thinks they have fantastic taste, but seriously, I only watch above-par television. Like White Collar, or Psych, or Lost. I don't watch my TV in quantity (usually only a few hours a week total), but what I do watch is definitely high quality. And after this weeks episode of Once Upon a Time, I seriously feel that I cannot keep this gem to myself. I want EVERYONE to watch it. It is amazing, and intriguing, and absolutely magical. It is also quite well-cast and visually beautiful, as well.

The tagline for the show is "everything you ever read about fairy tales is true." What a neat premise, right?! Anyway, the basic idea is that instead of a "happily ever after," the evil queen won and everything that was good in the lives of the fairy tale characters was stripped from them and they are now living in another world where they have forgotten the magic and who they really are--our world, in a town called Storybrooke, where they are normal, everyday people. Sound weird? I promise it's awesome. In each episode there are flashbacks to the fairy tales, so as the show progresses and you meet the characters now (Snow White, for instance, is an elementary school teacher and a dedicated hospital volunteer. Of course.), you also get to see their fairy tale story.

It is such a good show, so funny and sweet. Paul loves it too. We were driving somewhere the other day and he says, "Ya know, Once Upon a Time is one of those shows I can see us owning and watching together as a family when we have kids." Amen Paul. Amen.

And right now, ALL the episodes are still online, so you can watch from the beginning, which I think is critical. Have fun.

Puppy.

2011-11-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

My dog. He loves himself the Arkansas.

Well. So do we.

I love having outside space. My dream is to put up a tree swing. ♥

I have a brown thumb.

2011-11-04T11:45:00.000-06:00

I got it from my mother.

The only thing I think she has ever successfully grown is aloe, which is sort of like a weed anyway, so really easy to grow, really hard to kill, right? I think at one time we had like six pots of aloe on the front porch because they kept proliferating in the night. Everything else though died that slow-motion, fade to yellow then brown, panicky-what-can-I-do-to-fix-it sort of death. It's possible I have inherited this quality.

In Cedar last year, I tried to grow a garden. I really really wish I had a picture of that awesome fail.

In Ftown, there is a neat farmer's market that we sometimes go to on Saturdays, where we like to buy cheap basil, among other things. But the farmer's market is closed for the season in a couple weeks, and with basil being $4 for 7 leaves at the grocery store, we went to the nursery last weekend and bought a couple plants, a couple pots, and some dirt. I am super excited about it, and I hope they live! This is what we made with it on Saturday:

oh it was delicious. I used this recipe and when Paul tried it he told me, "this is the one." I've been searching for the perfect pizza dough for a while now, and this.is.it. I actually made myself a pizza for lunch today too. So good.

So. Good luck little plants! I will sing to you every day. And give you water and other such things.

Cozy.

2011-11-02T13:27:00.002-06:00

I have never cared much for fall. The shades of brown, the freezing mornings and hot afternoons, and the impending doom of winter have never really endeared themselves to me. But right now I am experiencing what I feel is a real fall, and kids...I think I'm in love. It's hoodie weather, but it's also cardigan and tights weather, and there are leaves changing color and falling, and it's time for soup and fresh bread, homemade applesauce, hot tea, cuddling under blankets, cheery fires, scarves, and all things tasty and pumpkiny (like these, which were delicious, although I used a plain cream cheese frosting).

Anyway, I started a new job last week (YAY!) and I'm back to working 12's, which means that on my days off Paul is either at school or studying (when I was working Mon-Fri he got most of his studying done while I was at work). So this is a view inside our cozy stone cottage on a typical lovely fall evening:

He got pretty upset with me for interrupting his studies by distracting him with my camera, but I love this picture. It makes me feel all homey.

So happy fall ya'll. Which is apparently how people say it in the south.

stuff I've learned about Arkansas.

2011-09-26T15:11:00.007-06:00

Which is a lot. I think that currently I have multiplied how much I used to know about Arkansas by about 40, but only because before moving here the only thing I knew about it was the capital. It was one of those midwestern states somewhere that you rarely, if ever, think about. And now all of a sudden I live here.

1. Chicken is big. And that is not a joke. I'd heard the "southern people love themselves some chicken" stereotype, but the number of fast-food chicken places here is ridiculous. For example, you know how in Tucson, Chick-fil-A is kind of ghetto, like you can only find it in mall food courts, and in Vegas/Southern Utah I'm not even sure they exist? Chick-fil-A is a big deal here. Everybody eats there. Even for breakfast. And then you have your Slim Chickens, AQ Chicken House, Church's, Foghorn's, Charlie's Chicken, plus your KFC's and Popeye's. Wow.

2. People are serious about them Razorbacks. So you know how in other towns/cities/states, while the local university is probably the best represented, there are people who wear paraphernalia and support schools from other areas. Like, even though most people in T-town are diehard Wildcat fans, you also have your Oregon duck fans, ASU scum devils, and even some Duke lovers, although they mostly stay in the closet on that one. But here in northwest Arkansas, the Razorbacks are the one and only. And I swear to you, I have never seen anything like a football game day here. It is madness. There's a whole parking lot dedicated to people tailgating in RVs, streets are clogged with traffic, everybody's out wearing their red and black, grocery stores play the game instead of music on the radio, grown men weep after a loss, cars are decked out in Arkansas magnets/flags/paint all weekend. I literally have yet to see a t-shirt worn representing a school besides the University of Arkansas.

yes, this is a razorback mailbox. I'm starting a whole folder of pictures on my phone labelled "crazy razorback stuff."

*side note: In Utah I had a whole folder for pictures of "polygamists at WalMart." No joke. I used to text them to my sister.

3. There are tarantulas. I thought these little guys were a desert creature, but when I nearly stepped on one on our walkway one evening last week, I discovered my error. First I yelped and jumped back, then I got MAD that nobody told me there were tarantulas out here. I should be prepared for these things. Also, since I didn't get a picture of the little bugger, you get this gem:

don't be fooled by the grin. I hate the things. Look how it's trying to attack me.

4. Historically significant Civil War sites are within easy driving distance. When we were living with Paul's great-aunt by marriage (that could be a post by itself) she took us to Prairie Grove, where a battle took place which essentially secured Arkansas (or at least northwest Arkansas?) for the Union. It was pretty cool. We watched a video, walked around the battlefield, had a picnic lunch outside the old old Elkhorn Lodge, and, you know, took some pictures on a cannon. Honestly, it was rather sobering to think about what happened there so many years ago, to see the battlefield and to think that thousands of men died there.

5. It is much more difficult to figure out where the ghetto is. In Tucson, you KNOW when you are in the ghetto. In Vegas, 96% of the city is ghetto. But in this town, we were driving home a couple weeks ago, and we were passing bail bond joint after liquor store after bail bond joint, and we were both kind of looking around and then said to each other, "do you think we live in the sketchy part of town?" It was hard to tell, cuz the whole town is just so dang cute! There are no telltale signs of the "bad" part of town, you know what I mean? My coworkers have confirmed for me that we do, in fact, live in a questionable neighborhood, although our street is quite adorable, and it's very quiet. We quite love it.

this is our cottage! It has a deck, a woodburning stove, a clawfoot tub, 700sq ft, a big backyard, a beautiful red door, and about 4000 daddy-long-legs and other spiders. We love it! (except for the spiders bit)

That's kind of all I've got so far. Yes, five items is 40 times more than I knew before.

I was never particularly patriotic.

2011-09-11T15:55:00.004-06:00

Til about, oh, ten years ago.

I don't care if it's cliche, and I don't care that I have nothing new or insightful to offer on the subject. I remember.

I was a freshman in high school, in my first period math class.

I had no idea what was going on, or what it meant.

We watched the news in most of my classes that day.

Thinking about what happened still makes me cry.

It didn't matter that what was happening was going on thousands of miles away.

It felt oddly personal, just by being an American.

Reading about the coverage, about the kids growing up who lost parents 10 years ago, about the men and women who worked at Ground Zero on that day and the days and months that followed, who are suffering severe health problems, it makes me sick.

The last 10 years have been hard for our country.

But I am proud to be an American.

I love my country.

this picture gives me hope.

Sudden torrential summer downpour to get soaked in? Yes please.

2011-08-21T19:57:00.008-06:00

We are in Arkansas! It is green, hilly, and yes, very humid. I'm told though, that my skin will wrinkle less so I'll be grateful for the humidity in 30 or so years. I didn't tell the nice lady who gave me this tidbit of info that I don't particularly plan on living in the humidity long enough for it to make a huge difference in regards to my future wrinkles.

Anyway, Paul starts his first official day of school tomorrow and I start my first official day of work. We are both quite apprehensive, but I'm hoping that after the first week is over, the fear of the unknown will dissipate somewhat... Then it will just be the fear of holy crap what have we gotten ourselves into. No, bit it should be fine. I mean, I haven't heard that many horror stories about law school or psych nursing.

As a sort of aside, can I please give you a piece of advice: if you are ever thinking about driving through New Mexico, DON'T DO IT. I am almost completely convinced that the entire state is ghetto. It is dead and brown and ugly but not brown like Tucson is brown. Tucson is brown in a beautiful desert sort of way. New Mexico is brown in a desolate, dead, god-forsaken wasteland sort of way. But we made it, through 6 states and 20something hours of driving and countless replays of T-Swift and are here living with Paul's cousin's grandma until our rental house is ready.

Here was my view through New Mexico:

(I apologize for the size of the pictures. Camera phone and whatnot, but I couldn't get it to post from my phone, so you can't really see the details. Basically, it's our trailer, through various landscapes).

My view through Arizona:

My view through Texas:

My view through Oklahoma:

Finally, Arkansas:

Yup, saw a lot of that trailer through various bits of the USofA. I wished the back of the trailer was a changing advertisement. Mix it up a bit.

And apparently, there is a Las Vegas, NM??? Weird.

And my Texas-shaped waffle, when we stayed over in Amarillo! I thought that was pretty funny. Apparently Texans love their state. So I hear.

That is all for now. Once we are moved into our cute little house I will take you on a tour. Also, sometime I need to post about GFR'11, and my adventure at the Springdale Senior Center, and....other things I can't remember right now.

♥

Next chapter.

2011-08-02T23:02:00.004-06:00

I officially gave my notice at work, so I can make it common internet knowledge. By this time next week I will be going to bed in preparation for my last day of work at the hospital. I am sad and excited at the same time.

I'm sad because I really love my job, my coworkers and (most of) my patients. Oh, and I didn't get to have a baby for free. Which I would have, with my rocking awesome insurance. Instead, I start a new job (with cruddier insurance. Sigh.) in....wait for it....Arkansas. Yes, kids. We are moving to the Midwest. Holy Moses, I don't know what we were thinking.

Paul starts law school at the University of Arkansas (Go Razorbacks?) THIS MONTH (can you believe it's already August?! I'm going to stop overusing parentheses now.), so we are packing our lives into a tiny trailer and leaving the desert behind, for the first time in my life.

Growing up, I used to hear comments, mostly from visitors I think, about how "well, yes it's hot, but it's a dry heat." I never really thought much about that, not having any idea what they were talking about, or having an experience with any other type of heat to compare it to; but my husband said today that the high in our future Arkansas town was 104 with 100% humidity. Is that even possible?! That's disgusting.

Anyway, we are excited for our new adventure. And stressed. And nervous. But mostly excited, especially because the sooner it starts, the sooner it can be over! I hear law school is awful, so I can't wait for it to be done. Although I'm sure in 25 years or so, we will look back on these college days with fond memories. We have a "cozy" 700-sq ft cottage we are going to rent, I have a job, and we've gotten rid of 87% of our furniture. Tomorrow, I pack. If anyone wants to come help, I am totally open to that. Or if you want my couches. Or half of my kitchen stuff. You can have it.

I will leave you with an awesome picture I took at a restaurant whilst visiting Arkansas back in May:

I think every person/business in this town has school spirit. It's kind of cute.

PS I think Arkansas *may* have fireflies. I hope so hard. It is on my bucket list to go out into a field and catch a jar full of fireflies. My fingers are crossed.

If it's summer time, and the wind comes from the east.

2011-07-27T23:13:00.005-06:00

I will give you an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie if your name is not Caitlin and you can give me the next line to that song.

So last month for our birthdays/just because, Paul and I went on a little vaca. Originally the plan was So Cal, but since the temp was in the 60's that week (!!!), we decided to go to Phoenix, where it was a bit warmer. At first I was against Phoenix since, um, growing up in Tucson, Phoenix isn't so much a vacation spot as it is a place to eat In N Out. Except that now there are several In N Outs in T-town, so why go to Phoenix at all??? But I digress.

So we vacationed in Phoenix and had a lovely time. We got a hotel in Scottsdale and had fun going to Bookman's (although it was not nearly as good as the Tucson ones, which was disappointing), swimming, shopping, and holding hands. One night we went to Farrelli's, which is a dinner movie theater, and it was seriously one of the most fun dates we have had. There are comfortable chairs around tables and you order before the movie starts and your server brings your food out as the movie plays. There's a button on the table so you can call your server if you need something, and although I didn't use the darn thing just because I know how effing annoying call buttons can be, Paul did have to push it one time. I don't even remember if he had a reason. Sigh. But anyway, it was seriously cool, and we were the only ones in the whole theater, which was fun. We went and saw Hanna, which we both really enjoyed, but the opening scene is of an elk being hunted and gutted, which just happened to be when we had started eating our first course. It was sort of graphic.

We also went to a waterpark, Wet N Wild. We went when the park opened at 10am, just planning on staying until we got bored. We stayed.all.day. It was such a blast! It was a cooler day, for Phoenix. I was shivering in line at one point, but we had so much fun. There's Breakers waterpark in Tucson, but that's ghetto compared to Wet N Wild. The lines really weren't too bad, and we went on every slide at least once, even the one where I almost peed myself I was so scared. It was one of those that drops almost straight down, and I had my eyes squeezed shut the whole time, and my hands were stiff when we got off because I had gripped the tube handles so tightly. But we survived! Honestly, the reason I haven't posted about this trip until now is because we brought a little disposable waterproof camera with us and used it on one of the slides that was like a roller coaster-up and down, up and down, and I really wanted to develop and post those pictures! But we haven't used the camera up yet, so it'll have to wait.

Other things we did: walked around the temple grounds, ate REAL Mexican food, went to an awesome bakery where I got a large box full of delicious Mexican pastries, had a nice chat with an Italian man while we waited for our delicious pizza to bake, and went to World Market where we found a drink Paul loved in Australia: Peachee, and sat outside and drank it while waiting for our movie. We did a lot of eating, apparently. Overall, it was a very relaxing, fun couple of days. I cannot waaaaait to do it again. Oh, and I got a picture with a saguaro: because I love/miss them:

Grateful.

2011-06-25T06:28:00.002-06:00

Do you know what's awesome?*

Being healthy. And being young--although I admit I have a little less control over this one. Also, having all of my extremities is awesome, too. So is being able to run, if I feel like it. And not being obese. And having all of my organs function according to their design. And being able to control my bowels and bladder.

Working with people who are in the process of healing can be difficult at times, for a variety of reasons. For example, having a patient with a new amputation; she's just lost a limb, she has to deal with a new body image, manage extreme pain, relearn how to use her entire body, cope with feelings of frustration/depression/anger/helplessness/thingsIdon'tevenknow. How do I care for her adequately, giving her the right amount of help and compassion while teaching her how to do things for herself?

Or the patient on dialysis. To be hooked up to a machine for 4 hours, 3 days a week, every single week for the rest of your life. Or the patient who's had a stroke and can't speak, feed herself, or move her right side. Or....there's too many to list, an infinite number of diseases and disabilities and chronic conditions and acute illnesses. It's been making me think lately, and mostly what I've thought about is how incredibly grateful I am to have my health.

Being healthy is one of those things people typically don't think about until it's in jeopardy. We can take it for granted so easily. Being around people in less than ideal health has made me appreciate what a wonderful gift it is to simply feel good. Realizing this has actually made me happier with life in general.

I live ridiculously close to the hospital, and to take advantage of my recently realized health I've started running my commute a couple times a week. At first I thought that might be stupid after a long day at work, but instead it's usually invigorating. Being locked up inside all day long, being around people who can barely stand on their own (if at all), by the time I'm in my shorts and heading out the door I feel like flying home (at a 10min/mile pace? ha), breathing as much (Las Vegas) fresh air as possible in the process.

I am so grateful to have a body that is capable of running, and on my quick jaunt home, that is mostly what I am thinking about: how happy I am to be outside, running, free. What a blessing.

*when I ask a question similar to this (know what I like? Know what I want to watch? Know what I want to eat?) to Paul, he never says "what?" he always responds with answers like "puppies," "Psych," or "ice cream." And if I say no to whatever his answer was, he comes up with something else (your husband, White Collar, green beans) until I either just tell him or say "Paul, just say 'what!'"

He's so cute.

Squints.

2011-06-05T19:39:00.005-06:00

I feel like Arthur. I feel old. I feel homely. I feel weak and diseased and slightly vulnerable. All because of this:

please ignore my chapped lips and post-Sunday-nap hair. Gross.

Yup. Just call me four-eyes. Currently being in possession of excellent health insurance, Paul and I are taking full advantage of our benefits and getting caught up on all the cavity-filling and various checkups that we have not had done for the last 4.5 years.

Folks at work (even patients) have been commenting on my squinty-eyed behavior lately, so I reluctantly decided it was time to get checked out. Lo and behold, I am, in fact, aging. It's okay though, I guess. My coworkers call me the baby all the time, and conversations about my age are fairly common, so I feel like my glasses help me look more mature....right? I did get a comment noting a new air of sophistication resulting from said glasses, as well as one about sass.

I still haven't completely accepted that glasses are a full-time gig, so don't expect them at social functions. Or the grocery store. Or if you stop by my house. But I, you know, wear them sometimes....

In the same vein but on a different note, any other glasses-wearers found new glasses to be completely disorienting?! I put them on and the world is skewed. Clear, but skewed. Also, when I go outside I feel like I should take them off. Or when it's night I feel like they shouldn't be on my face, much like sunglasses--a "why am I wearing glasses in the dark?" sort of feeling. It's also odd because while they help my vision, I sometimes want to take them off while I'm doing something where I want to have unobstructed vision. Does that make sense? Like say I'm inserting an iv at work: I want to be able to see well, so I take my glasses off because even though they help me, at the same time it's hard to shake the feeling that there's something covering my face that shouldn't be there and I want it OFF so I can SEE! It's very frustrating. How long does it take to get used to them?!

Also, I feel ugly with them on. There is that.

PS I am making these right now. It's okay to come over; I'll share.

state of affairs.

2011-05-30T20:39:00.002-06:00

Behold my office makeover.

I guess I only have a "before" shot, cuz I'm still working on it. But this is what is happening to my office currently! What is happening to me? Did I have an attack of spring cleaning fever? I wish. My whole house could use an overhaul. But no, this purging is forced. Why? Because my sister is coming to live with us for the summer!

I am super stoked. It has been a long time since we've even lived in the same state, but we grew up sharing ~~a room~~ everything so I can't wait to be close to her again. It'll be an adventure, for sure. Plus I can't wait to dress myself from her closet again. Girl's got style.

The Princess Bride.

2011-04-30T21:33:00.003-06:00

Is a wonderful movie. One of the few movies which I feel is actually better than the book. Come to think of it, it's the only movie-trumps-book example I can think of right now. Regardless.

Unfortunately, I missed the wedding of the century due to the call of sleep upon my body, but have since been catching bits and pieces of it. "Royal wedding" and "Kate Middleton wedding dress" may or may not be in my google search history (and I may or may not have killed an hour on youtube watching wedding-related clips). I think every girl in the world was made giddy by this wedding. What I keep thinking though when I think of Kate Middleton (ahem--the Duchess of Cambridge) is the Princess Bride. Specifically, Prince Humperdinck introducing Buttercup to his subjects. And I quote:

Prince Humperdinck: "A month from now, our country will celebrate its' 500th anniversary. On that sundown, I shall marry a lady who was once a commoner like yourselves. Perhaps you will not find her common now. Would you like to meet her?" Proper British accent/voice inflections completely necessary when reading the preceding quote. Go back and try again if you failed to do so.

Well? That's really all I have for today.

Me: laughing hysterically Paul: "Jael, it's just the opening credits..."

2011-04-10T14:20:00.005-06:00

First of all, I would just like to start by telling you I entered this. Because Mary is awesome, and so is her blog, and so are her kids, and so are books... To continue:

Hello springtime.

I really really wanted my next post to be about summer being here. Being in the desert, I don't think that's jumping the gun too much. Growing up in Tucson, the rule in our house was always "no shorts until March!" Meaning, not even if it was 76° in February. This week, unfortunately, it snowed. In April. In Las Vegas.

Well, last month the weather here was lovely, and Brityn invited me along to go to Lake Mead with her and a friend, and their kids. I was stoked to go (I cannot WAIT for summer) and forgot that when you have kids, nothing is passive. So I, childless, was bummin it in the sunshine, watching the mothers chase their kids around. It was fun, and definitely made me both want to have kids and enjoy my childless time.

Also, just a side note: I got malasadas after the lake. Haupia filled. NBD. Not as good as Leonard's, but still legit.

Have I ever mentioned that I like it here? Not only can I find things like malasadas, but people like to come visit! That never happened in Cedar. A week or two ago my beautiful friend Tina came and stayed with us because her Wesley had a conference here. I, unfortunately, was lame and worked the entire time they were here, but we did have a chance to chat about chickens, the acreage we will each have in Wyoming/Montana, and general catching up. It was lovely. And Brityn and Maxwell came over one night and we had a party. A very short-lived party, seeing as how I have a strict bedtime, but it was super fun. Paul said to me afterwards, "I have never seen you talk so much."

We enjoy each other's company. A lot.

So, remember my Brityn friend? Yes, I talk about her a lot. Only because she is amazing and one of my favorite people ever. Well, she and Max got us tickets to go see the Blue Man Group last week! Because she is awesome. And I don't know what I ever did to deserve friends like her. Well, I have never been to a show before, and apparently Paul has wanted to see this particular show for years, and we had a blast. We had tickets in the "poncho zone," which are the first few rows of seats in front of the stage. When you get to your seat you get a plastic poncho to put on, in case paint or....other stuff....flies out into the audience. Which it did. We didn't get paint on us, but jello/twinkies/Capn Crunch and other things were flying around. It was pretty funny. Overall the show was definitely the most fun thing we have done since being here. I highly recommend it.

Us all poncho'd out.

PS the post title occurred while watching Psych, probably season 4, since the credits for season 1 are not funny.

I am having such a lovely morning.

2011-02-22T09:46:00.005-07:00

Just sitting here, sipping on my peppermint tea, puppy at my feet, catching up on my blog ~~stalking~~ reading. Prior to ending up at my desk, I read my book, took my puppy for a walk, uploaded a bunch of pictures, washed the dishes, and kissed my husband goodbye as he left for work. It has really been such a lovely morning. I absolutely love my days off, and I am fully prepared to savor this one.

My family came and visited us this weekend, and it was such fun, although too short. They got here Thursday night but we met up Friday morning to go hiking at Red Rock. It was a blast. Doing things like that is really fun with my family, there's typically a race involved, and who knew, Maile won (she's 7). Nobody fell down (well, Maile did like 4 times, but no injuries) and scampering around on the sandstone with my siblings was great fun. Even Toka loved it. We took him off his leash for most of the time, and except for once when Aleigha had to push his butt from behind while I coaxed him from above, he didn't get stuck and made me think he might be part mountain goat.

Top picture/Left/however your computer does it: Kendric climbed up into that cave and Toka decided to follow him.
Picture on the right/bottom/whatever: Toka hopped down, but it shows how high he had to jump to get up there! Crazy effin dog.

The crew. Except for my dad, being photographer, as usual.
me and my madre.

It's weird that I love my dog so much. I used to hate dogs.

That night after Paul got off work we went down to the strip. Paul and I haven't done this since we've been here, so it was fun to go with my family. We did some strippy sort of things, like watching the water show at the Bellagio and going to M&M world. It was a good day.

Saturday we went shopping, then went to eat at a buffet by our house and then went back to our place for games. Sunday they came to church with us and then left. It was too short! But we had tons of fun together, and hopefully it won't be another 9 months before I see them again.

PS I still can't find my sewing machine pedal. This is starting to grate on my nerves.

PPS I never win ANYthing. I am always the loser. But I won THIS! As Paul so lovingly pointed out, yes, I had to pay for shipping, but I cannot wait to get my box of mail-related goodness! Don't worry, I will post pictures of my spoils. Or perhaps you're one of the ones who will get something from me in the mail. ;)

I've heard it both ways.

2011-02-16T10:17:00.002-07:00

I like it here in Vegas. Really.

Of course, I stay away from the ghetto and the weather has been lovely and not muscle-cooking/blood-boiling hot, so that helps. But we like our little condo and we like the people and Paul loves our ward and we love being close to one of my best friends and I like my job (I just got a $0.40 raise. Word.) and we really like being convenient for people to come visit! I think that is maybe my favorite part. We are a couple hours away from Cedar and a couple hours closer than we were before to my family, plus we are in a locale that people apparently like to visit more than Cedar. Which is weird, because Cedar is beautiful.

So far since we have been here Paul's brother Matt came to stay with us for....a whole week. Haha, it was fun though, and good for those two bros to spend some time together cuz Matt just got his mission call to Brazil! We are super excited for him, he will be a fantastic missionary.

So while Matt was here we went to Chuck E Cheese. Just cuz, you know, we are cool like that. We tried to find a Peter Piper, but apparently they were out of business. So Chuck E Cheese it was. It was so fun, I haven't played Skeeball in forever. Paul won tickets for me, and I used them to 'buy' tootsie rolls and nerds. The prizes were way cooler when I was 8....

mmmm. Chuck E Cheese pizza.

Skeeball champs.

We also went go-kart racing. I just kind of went along for the ride (hahaha. Ha. Ahem.), Matt and Paul were the ones actually racing each other. Paul lapped me once. It was sad.

Paul won. Go figure.

Tallen and Crystal also came over to visit! Well, not really. They came to Vegas to celebrate Lover's Day, but they stopped over and had dinner with us when they got into town. We ate and played rockband and got ice cream and generally had a grand old time for a couple hours until it was my bedtime (which is now 10o'clock, rather than 9. I'm growing up). Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of this event. I may have to steal Crystal's off her fb.

ALSO, we went hiking at Red Rock with Brityn and Maxwell and Madeline. I know, we have been having tons of fun lately! Red Rock is cool, it is nice to have some nature 10 minutes from our house. Living in Vegas I feel claustrophobic sometimes, like there are too many people and too many houses and I can't BREATHE fresh air and have some peace and quiet. So this hike that we went on was so invigorating and refreshing and lovely and we bought a year-pass and I can't wait to go back. Of course, it's no Zion or Cedar Mountain, but beggars can't be choosers.

one-two-three-weeeeeee!

Wild burros!

A man and his dog. Dead sexy. The man, not the dog. Sickos.

Family portrait.

Hiking aftermath.

And THEN, my family is coming into town tomorrow! Or, I guess, Friday morning, or whenever they decide to mosey on over. I haven't seen them since....holy crap, like last summer?! That is horrible. I think the last time I saw my whole fam was last summer. Wow. Kimo lived with us during the summer, and Caitlin came to visit us, and I just saw Tallen and Crystal, but Moses. It has been a long time since I have seen my parents and the kids who are still living at home (there's only 3 left at home. Weird.). That is kind of sad. So I am super excited to see them! The kids are crashing at our house and the 'rents are staying in a hotel (he he) so we are going to have a super fun slumber party, complete with homemade muffins for breakfast. Cannot wait.

This is a super long blog post, thanks for sticking with me til the end, but I just want to say that my husband is FANTASTIC. The whole student teaching thing didn't work out (long story) so he has been trying to find a job for the last month while applying to grad schools, hopefully to start in the fall. And yesterday he went in for an interview and got a job as a paralegal with a law firm here. I am so proud of him and know he will do great, we bought Mavis Beacon yesterday for him to learn how to type. Haha. I love Mavis. She is from my childhood. Anyway, today is his first day and we are super excited. The end!

Just a funny picture. Toka had to sit on Paul's lap while we drove to the trailhead. And it's awesome that Toka is licking his nose.
♥

My wall is going to be super.

2011-01-26T07:03:00.001-07:00

I got this little beauty in the mail last week:

Because, really, how awesome is a fingerstache? True story: let's say that, hypothetically of course, I were going to get a tattoo. It would be either 1) Paul's name on my ring finger or 2) a moustache on the crook of my pointer finger. No lie. So. I saw this picture and couldn't NOT get it. The end.

And soon, I will have one of these of my very own. See? My wall will have so much lovely on it. Can't wait.

Not sure what else will fill up the space (it's a big, empty wall) but I'm sure I'll figure something out. Anyone have any suggestions, perchance?

I still can't find my sewing pedal.

2011-01-24T12:46:00.004-07:00

I probably stuck it in some "safe," obscure spot during the move. So, I decided to blog instead.

The last several weeks have been....interesting. We are more or less settled in our apartment, we love our new place and Paul tells me our ward is great (I work Sundays, so I've only been once. But I'll take his word for it). Our life has taken a couple of unexpected twists recently, but for now I must be cryptic and will explain as things work themselves out. No, I'm not pregnant.

Christmas was fun. I worked Christmas Eve/Christmas day, so we stayed here in Vegas and celebrated alone. I don't know how I neglected to take any pictures of our present opening fiesta, but I did. I did, however, manage to take a picture of the SNOW that we got a few days later! The first 10 days we were here the weather was gloomy and rainy and cold. It was so weird. And funny, because in Cedar, I would have been going "UGGGH! Stupid effing snow." But here, while it's not like I was happy about it, it was cool because it was pretty, but then....it was gone! You could just enjoy the beauty of the falling snow for a few moments, and after a couple hours it had all melted away. No filthy slush to trudge through, no black mounds in parking lots, no endlessly soaked jeans. It was perfect.

I have such a good husband. He took the dog out to do his business in the snow while I stayed inside. So sweet.

On the topic of husbands, we celebrated our 4-year anniversary last month. We had a lovely time just enjoying each other's company, trying a couple new restaurants, and doing a little shopping. Relaxing and perfect.

Insert Charlie Brown Christmas music here.

2010-12-06T11:17:00.007-07:00

Moses, it's already December. But big things are happening, people! Well, not exactly, but exciting/new things, for sure. For instance, Paul is about to have his last undergraduate week of finals this week, and then he starts his student teaching next semester! I am ridiculously excited for him to be done with school and moving on to Big Boy things. He's pretty excited as well.
Also, he will be doing his student teaching in....Las Vegas! I know, I know. Most people go "Ewwww" to that, but we are pretty darn happy about it. First of all, 5 years in Cedar is enough for me. Gah. I am done with the cold and the snow/slush and the 50 minute commute. We move into our new apartment on December 15 and it cannot come soon enough. For now, I am staying with one of my besties while Paul finishes up school because....next big piece of news: I have a job! Ha. No but seriously, I am stoked about it. It's at a hospital on their rehab unit and I had my first day on the floor yesterday. It went pretty well, except that Paul and I had played soccer the day before and since I'm a genius, I rolled my ankle pretty darn good. As soon as I did it, all I could think was "EFFFFF. I work tomorrow." Also, I have never cursed my car for being a stick before, but I did then. Luckily, I survived my first shift, although my hobbled walk was obnoxiously slow compared to how fast I normally run around when I'm at work. But my first day was great! I left feeling pretty confused, but that is normal and will work itself out, right?
Anyways, we are excited to move and for the changes coming our way. Ooo, and did I mention that our new place is 1.5 miles away from my work?! Bliss. And, if anyone wants to crash at our house, we have inherited a futon. :)
One more exciting point I must mention because I just want to tell everyone about it: my new job has BENEFITS. What a concept. And good ones, too. The girl sitting next to me in orientation said, "I've never seen someone get so excited about health insurance," cuz I was sitting there exclaiming in surprise and delight at everything the HR rep was saying. I thought to myself, then you have probably never lived for several years without it. What a blessing. So if I go and get myself knocked up, don't be surprised. My insurance completely covers the cost of delivering, and copays for prenatal care are 10 bucks. Word.
In other news, I look like a jungle book character. See exhibit A below.

Hahahahaha. And, the official Before picture:

On a completely different note, November was unusually cold this year:Hahahahaha. He was just trying to keep warm, poor boy. ♥

I have a complete lack of self-control around anything sweet and delicious.

2010-10-11T17:19:00.003-06:00

Typical afternoon scene at the Pellegrini house:

Aren't they just so cute? Also, I would like to point out that Toka never gets on the couch without being personally invited. I know some people are super anti-animals on the furniture. I go both ways on this one. He is forbidden from ever being on our bed, which includes even putting his front paws on top, but he never just lays on the couch for the heck of it. If we pat the couch next to us twice, he jumps up and cuddles us (he tries to get as near to our faces as he can before we say "Toka! Go!" while pointing to the opposite end of the couch). I am happy with this arrangement. Personally I very rarely invite the dog up next to me, but he and Paul take many a happy nap together. It's quite cute.
Also, for those interested, the cauliflower soup turned out superb, although next time I will add less cheese. Tonight: beef stew. Right now it is considerably warmer out than it was this morning when I was having romantic thoughts about cuddling up with the hubs while devouring steaming hot beef stew. Oh well.
And another thing: does anybody else buy Halloween candy a bag or two at a time, so you don't spend $20 all in one go to have some candy for the kidlets? Cuz I do that, and today I bought what will probably be my last bag, so I figured I would just dump it all in my Halloween bowl, rather than having it sitting in bags on top of my fridge. What a mistake. I have now consumed more than my fair share of the kids' candy. And Halloween is still weeks away. Maybe I should have Paul hide that bowl....

edit: I just realized it might look like those are Paul's g's....they're not. Just white soccer shorts. Also, he suggested I put a star or black box over his nipple. While that idea made me laugh, I decided to not go with it.

Rolls are a'risin in the laundry room.

2010-10-05T14:57:00.004-06:00

Currently that is the warmest place in the house. We haven't turned on our heat yet, and today is the first drizzly, gloomy, chilly fallish day we have been around for. The rain and gloom are quite lovely today. So because I have the day off, I have made rolls and cream of cauliflower soup, which is currently simmering deliciously on the stove. One of the very few positives about cooler weather is that it is soup season. Me and Paul both love soup and take turns making different kinds. Or will start doing so again, now that fall is here. I hate Halloween, but October is a delightful month.

family picture.

It's amazing how little there is to post about, even though I haven't posted since July. Although my sister did come visit us, which was a blast, and we went hiking in Zion and apple-picking and made applesauce, went four-wheeling, and went up the mountain to one of my favorite spots in the world and had dutch oven chicken and dumplings and made s'mores. It was super fun.

candid, capturing my joy in the perfect marshmallow.

Something I love about being a nurse is having multiple days off in a row. I usually have 3-4 days off at a time and I love it. For instance, today I have been bumming around in my sweatpants all.day.long. I cozied up in my bed and read a book, made the aforementioned rolls/soup, wrote to penfriends, and have been browsing crafty sites to my heart's content. All with the drizzle going on outside. Lovely.

if friends were boogers, I'd pick you.

2010-07-07T11:54:00.009-06:00

My friends are awesome. Last month I was lucky enough to host our annual Girlfriend Reunion and it was a blast. They converged from three different states to spend the weekend at my house and we had an awesome time painting our toes, cruisin main street, rocking out with Rockband, picnicking, watching girl movies, reading magazines, and laughing so much that my abs got a fantastic workout. I love these girls so much and I love how once a year we are all able to get together and laugh and talk and catch up and our friendship is just as close as it always has been. Forgive me for getting corny for a second, but I have felt so incredibly blessed to have these girls in my life for the past 10-15 years. I know that I would be a very different person if I had not had their influence and their friendship to guide me and help me. They are the best friends a girl could ever possibly ask for and they have been there for me through everything.

And, just for fun, a couple from our growin up years....

Nicole, Brit, and me on the pioneer trek during Young Women's (Lecia and Lindsey went too, but for some reason I don't have one with all of us).

Lecia, me and Lindz on a class field trip to the rodeo! I have no idea what grade this was in.

Mountain View class of '05! :)

we all met up for conference during our first year of college. It was grand.

I could scan in pictures forever, but basically, these girls are my best friends*.

*Besides Paul. He would get upset with me if I did not mention him. ;)

homemade applesauce for breakfast.

2010-05-19T08:11:00.007-06:00

(With a side of kalua pig and rice.)

Good morning world. I've been too busy/distracted living life to blog about it, so a couple of significant things have happened since I was last here.

First of all, we moved! We love our new place, even Toka, who now has a little backyard to romp around in. He loves it. I love it too, cuz I started a little raised gardenbed and am already having fun in it. Once more things start growing I will post pictures. Backyards rock.
Second, I officially graduated from college. I am still lovin the fact that my nametag says "RN." My parents flew up to spend 1.5 days with us which was awesome and the only sad part was that the whole family couldn't come because two days later....

Tallen got married! Yeah, I know, I never thought it would happen either. They got married in the San Diego temple and it was awesome to be able to attend. She is beautiful and is so good for him. He is sweeter with her than I have ever seen him be in my life. I love it. I'm excited to have a new sister and am so ridiculously happy for them.
Oh and also, thanks to my mom, I believe I have found the quintessential blueberry muffin recipe. Big day for me. It was so good I decided to share. I have made them twice already (which is a big deal when you live in a house of only two people, cuz I freeze them and they last forever).

Oh, and also, my dog is a cute little spaz. So I will leave you with this pic.

Googly eyes? Check.

2010-04-07T10:41:00.003-06:00

Sombrero-wearing, maraca-shaking, moustache-sporting, saguaro on the front of the most awesome card ever? Check.
Guys. So I gained a couple of letter-writing friends from my last post and am super excited about it. Although I am also super lame, since I have not written to anyone yet....but yesterday I got home from work and opened THIS piece of amazing:

Yeah. A long-lost friend from elementary school sent me a little piece of Tucson and I squealed out loud when I opened it. Paul came running to see what had happened and when I tried to show him how wonderfully fantastic this card is (she even sewed it) he was not nearly enthusiastic enough to suit me, so I decided to share it with the internet world. The only problem is that now, whatever I send her back will be completely mediocre by comparison.

In other news, we hiked Angel's Landing at Zion last Saturday.
Again.

After last time I swore I would never subject myself to something so terrifying ever again.
I guess I'm weak. Actually, I think I really want couple friends. And we were invited by a couple. And they are both super nice. It's so hard to find a girl I can be friends with and a guy Paul can be friends with, who just happen to be married to each other (hey Lynley, you guys moving back to Cedar any time soon??). So anyways, we succeeded in avoiding death, we had a blast on our hike, and afterwards we had dinner and pie in Springdale. It was an awesome day.

Sydney and Ben and us at the top. I'm sad that my camera was on some stupid sort of setting and this picture turned out retarded. It's kind of hurting my eyes actually.

Oh, and in OTHER news, we have to move. Sigh. This will be our fourth move in 3.36 years of marriage. The townhome we are renting is being foreclosed and we have to move out sometime....soon.

And one other thing: I started my second job recently. So far it's going okay, except that everything is paper which is crazy stone-age and so slow, but I'm excited. And tired all the time.

Oh, also, I want chickens. One day, in my house that will be on 7 acres with the barn in the back and that perfect tire-swing tree out front, I'm also going to build myself a coop and get 5-9 chickens. One of which will be named Millie.

to get a letter, send a letter.

2010-03-17T07:56:00.009-06:00

I'm bringing back snail mail. For myself, anyway. One of the reasons why I shop online is because I just love getting GOOD mail. Something that isn't the grocery ads or insurance statements or car payment bill. Something that makes me smile and race back to the house to open it. Occasionally I send letters/postcards/packages to people but they never write back. Which is sort of sad. So last week I joined the Letter Writers Alliance in an attempt to meet other people who write letters. Yup, there's a whole alliance. And then I signed up to be on their penpal list. So now I have a penpal in Texas! And then I did some blog googling and came across the Penpal Projec t. So I spent a solid hour browsing through the comments and picked two more penpals (or is it pen pal? I haven't the foggiest). One in Australia and another one in Texas.
I'm super excited. I went to the post office and bought stamps and went to the craft store and got paper and stickers and labels. Then yesterday I turned on some Ben Folds radio on Pandora and spent a couple hours tracing, cutting, folding, and gluing envelopes so I have a ready stash of them.
So. Do you want some snail mail? Write me a letter! I promise I'll write back, and it'll even come in a cute little handmade-by-me envelope. I don't care if I barely know you, if I've never met you, if you live in the same town as me, or if I see you every day. Just write me a letter and I'll write you one back. I thought about posting my address on here, but then my trust in mankind wavered a bit and I decided to just have you email me (jkpellegrini[at]gmail[dot]com) and I'll send you my address. Kind of ruins the element of surprise though, doesn't it. But it does cause anticipation, so I guess it's all good.

image from sarijk

Also, Paul has my camera in Italy....so no cool pics of my LWA welcome letter (it even came with a button!)

Run, Forrest.

2010-03-05T20:32:00.008-07:00

So last weekend one of my best friends and I ran a 5k. It was my first one ever and it was such a blast. We decided to do this together in November, so yes, I have been training hard to work up to 3.1 miles for 4 months. While that may seem quite sad/pathetic, I am so glad I had that much time to get prepared for it. I mean seriously, some people could train for a marathon in 4 months. But whatever. I had a ton of fun, AND I even accomplished all my goals: 1) Finish without walking, 2) Don't trip/get trampled, and 3) Do it in less than 30 minutes.

I am so happy that I did it! It seriously felt so good, and being in the race atmosphere was awesome. We ran in Vegas and stayed Friday night with Brityn and Max, and raced Saturday morning. On Friday afternoon when we went to pick up our packets I started freaking out. There were SO MANY envelopes, each representing a person who would be running with us. It was then that I made my goal to not get trampled, because how bad would that suck?! Anyways, I was ridiculously nervous all night and all morning, until the race actually started. Then we started going and I made Brityn laugh by leaping over some cones hurdler-style, and I finally calmed down and got in my joggin' groove.

We ran our first mile in 10:28 and I was freaking out about not accomplishing goal #3, but I think going slower the first mile was brilliant cuz the last 2.1 miles I was passing people, bwahaha. Overall it was super fun and I can't wait to do it again. I need a new fitness goal to motivate me to keep working out. Because as of right now, I haven't ran since the race. Oh, and the funniest part of this whole experience was that I placed. Yup. I got second in my age group. That is not even a joke. I would have won something, but we didn't stick around because, uh, I wasn't exactly expecting a gold star for my stellar time of 29:32, yaknowhadimean.

this is my finish line picture. I think it's a keeper.

spread your wings and flyyyy

2010-02-15T12:04:00.003-07:00

So last week was the first time in my nursing life when I was completely on my own. No preceptor, no trainer, no following another nurse around. It was crazy weird, but liberating at the same time. I was also super nervous: What if someone coded on me, what if I screwed up an order, what if I put that piece of paper in the wrong spot, what if I made an idiot of myself while talking to a doctor/pharmacist/patient, what if someone DIED?! Luckily, only a couple of those things happened this week, and I'm sure I asked enough questions to make the other nurses sick of me, but it was my first week! I'll get better. So for now, I'm just trying to enjoy the fact that I am done with school and working in my chosen profession and that I never have to pay my bills with the money made from tips ever again. It's a wonderful feeling.

Also, an interesting little side note: for two days this week, I had nursing students following me around. Students. I was like, "honey, you really don't want to follow me. I promise." but he/she did anyway. Guess their student to nurse ratio was a little high, but seriously. I was a student two months ago. It was my first week by myself without a trainer, and I had students with me. Moses. Thought that was pretty funny.

new favorite shirt.

2010-01-28T20:24:00.002-07:00

This shirt my sister made was included in the package my mom sent me the other day. I wore it running the day after I got it. Enough said. Thanks Cait.

something positive salvaged from my SUU uniform.

2010-01-16T10:09:00.002-07:00

A few months ago after clinicals a friend and I went fabric shopping and I got this adorable fabric from the Shade Garden collection. Mushrooms and snails, what's not to love?! Anyways, I was excited because I finally got around to making it into a scrub top yesterday and promised my mom I'd post pictures.

So when buying the fabric, I hadn't actually considered what bottoms would match it, I just bought it because of its adorableness. Then I had this "Ohmigosh!" moment when I realized that my SUU scrub bottoms would match perfectly. So much for never wearing those things again. Although since the uniform for school cost $100, I'm happy to get a bit more wear out of the bottoms, at least. Yay for cute scrubs!

Paul loves Justin Timberlake.

2010-01-14T19:32:00.006-07:00

The last few weeks have sort of been madness, but today I am feeling ridiculously happy, relieved, and accomplished. Why? Because if you go here and type in my name and check the box that says "nurse" and then click search, you will come to a page which shows that I am a licensed registered nurse. It is a fantastically amazing feeling. The actual licensing exam was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of my life (for instance, I had an audio question. Wtf. Those weren't supposed to be on the test until April, so that threw my brain for a loop. Screw you, NCLEX people) but it is over and I was successful and I never have to take another practice question for it again.

Also, I have a big girl job which I start on Tuesday, and I am super stoked about it. I will be working at a long-term care and rehab place, so not exactly my dream job, but I am so happy and grateful that I have one. The only downside is that it's 45 minutes away, but the upside is that I wouldn't make the commute more than 3 times a week. Oh, the other downside is that my vehicle is not exactly a gas-sipper, but I guess the upside of it is that I can drive more safely in the snow. Okay that's enough of that.

I just feel like my cup is overflowing right now. I decided I wanted to be a nurse when I was a freshman or sophomore in high school, and it feels great to have accomplished that goal. PLUS, I have a full-time job, me and Paul will have health/dental insurance in a few months (Paul hasn't been to a dentist since before we were married), I have a wonderful husband who adores me, we're both healthy, we have two cars in perfect working order (a huge blessing, if you ask me), we have a great apartment, a cute puppy, and families who love/support us. Did I just make you gag? Sorry. Having a really great day over here. ♥

these were sent to me by my MIL on the day I found out I got my job. Isn't that sweet?! I thought so too.

PS Paul wanted me to mention that he also likes manly music. Like Elvis Presley.

Lucky I'm in love with my best friend.

2010-01-12T10:00:00.001-07:00

Date night is a big deal for me and Paul.
Not a big deal as in a huge production, but as in we HAVE TO HAVE a date night every week.

Back when I was still working at the Wingding, with Paul working at the Garden House, it was hard to find a night we both had off. So we started asking for one specific night off per week so we could go on a date. I love date night! When, at the start of the week, we decide when we're going to do it, I look forward to it for days. It's so nice to just relax and spend time together.

We can always use new ideas for dates though, especially living in a small town where there really isn't a whole lot of stuff to do. So I decided I would post a list of some of our favorite date night ideas, and then ask you to share an idea or two with me! Cuz I know there are at least 4 married people who will read this, and I am sure you have some fantastic ideas. :)

1. Use a ton of blankets and pillows and make a bed on the floor of the living room. Cuddle and watch a movie. We love doing this, and sometimes we end up sleeping in the living room that night, but Paul claims he is getting too old to be sleeping on the floor all night long. 25 is when your body starts breaking down, ya know.

2. Go to the grocery store then come home and make dinner. It counts as a date if you're doing it together, right? Plus it's really fun.

3. Go to the movies. Haha, I think we overuse this one a bit, but seriously, Cedar is small. We do make it a point to go the theatre that has the armrests you can put up though, so we can cuddle effectively.

4. Browse a bookstore, then come home and read together. We love love love bookstores. And we are starting our own little book club! Not really, I'm just going to read a series of books that Paul recently finished, which will be fun because then we can have discussions about them. Maybe even make a lunch date out of it.

5. Play games! It's fun when we have other couples over, but we like playing games by ourselves too. Ticket to Ride is a particular favorite. Oh, and Mancala.

6. Take the dog on a walk. We aren't completely lame, it's not like this is the entirety of our date night, but when the weather is nice we like to take the dog on a nice long walk in the evening. There aren't any distractions, we just hold hands and talk. I ♥ it.

7. Pop some popcorn on the stove then watch some Modern Family/Lost/the Office. Our favorites.

8. Go for a jeep ride. There are some beautiful places around Cedar, and taking the offroad route makes it more fun. Plus, Paul is quite talkative when he's driving.

9. Go to a play! One thing that Cedar does have is the Shakespeare festival, and we had a blast this summer going to a couple plays. The cool thing is that there are different shows and performances going on pretty much all the time.

10. Um, I'm trying to keep this PG, so let's see....I think a lot of our dates involve food. One fun thing we like to do is get all the fixings for banana splits then come home and make hardcore sundaes together. Another fun thing was instead of having a normal dinner, we went to the store and got different appetizers: wings, potstickers, some cool salsa, spinach and artichoke dip, and then came home and shared our appetizers. So good.

11. Go hiking. Another positive for Cedar: we're super close to the mountains and a national park, so there is no shortage of beautiful hikes.

12. Play racquetball together. Sometimes I make Paul play left-handed to make it a little less of a blowout.

That is all I can come up with right now, but if you have a fun date night idea, I would love to hear it. We always need new ideas!

ps Sometimes I think it's lame when people use song lyrics as their facebook status and whatnot. And sometimes I like it, for blog post titles and stuff. ;)

"I still love you. Even when you don't shave."

2009-12-31T19:55:00.007-07:00

Three years ago this last Tuesday I married my hunky husband Paul. I wanted to title this post something lame but totally true like, "I have the best husband in the world!" or "My husband is cooler than yours," but didn't really want to deal with anyone trying to refute my claims or telling me why blahblahblah, their husband is also sort of cool, so instead it's a quote from Paul. Let's move on to me telling you why MY husband is awesomest, or at least some of the reasons why I love him so much.

Numero uno: HE tells ME when I'm being unromantic. For instance, when I burp. Or when he tries to kiss and cuddle me and I feign death. He's such a sensitive soul, and a romantic guy, which I love. He watches 'girl movies' with me and strokes my hair and whispers in my ear. Sigh.

I think it's adorable how in love with our dog he is. I can't imagine how head over heels he'll be for our children. ALSO, when Toka was a puppy-puppy, Paul got up EVERY TWO HOURS to take him out to pee so he wouldn't go in his crate. I slept through most of this. And am therefore extremely appreciative.

When I ask him how much he loves me he says something like "87." The number changes every time. When I point out that the number today is lower than the number two hours ago he explains to me that it's scaled so he actually loves me more than he did two hours ago. What? Okay, you love me a lot. Got it.

He is so nerdy it's adorable. For instance, he's a math major. Also, he owns and wears not one, but two Transformers t-shirts (I bought him one of them, but still). He's been to some Star Trek exhibit in Vegas and saw the movie three times in the theatres. Oh, and he named our dog after a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle character.

He kisses me on the forehead.

He cooks for me. He actually cooks more than I do, which was sort of a blow to my womanhood when I realized that, but I got over it somewhere between the caprese and some kind of delicious tomato sauce he made. Mmm.

We can do nothing and I still have fun with him.

He makes me laugh, he folds the laundry, he scrapes the ice off my car, he makes me tea when I'm sick, he is smart/hilarious/playful/sweet/thoughtful and he never lets me forget that he adores me. And I'm pretty crazy about him too.

this is Paul the very first time we hung out. This is also the bridge he proposed on. :) What a cutie!

and this is one of the more recent pictures of us. Taken whilst climbing Picacho Peak. Fun.
♥

I did not purchase a useless $50 pin. What a great decision.

2009-12-28T12:46:00.007-07:00

I've wanted to post about such exciting things as graduating from nursing school, going to Tucson for Christmas, and....well that's kind of it, but I have been avoiding it because I DON'T HAVE A JOB YET, and I felt like graduating from school was kind of useless if you don't have a job. Woohoo, I'm a college graduate! And I'm unemployed! YAY! Ugh. So since I only found out last week that I didn't get the internship I was going for, today I'm trying to find a job, weeks behind other classmates. I'm only blogging because it's lunch hour, and nobody's in their offices right now, mmkay?
Moving on. I did, in fact, graduate. Sort of. SUU is lame and only has a ceremony once a year, in May, so I don't actually walk until then. But we did have a 'pinning ceremony,' and my mom came for that, which was super fun. I rarely have time just with my mom. We played racquetball while she was here and despite the fact that she pegged me in the back, I thoroughly annihilated the woman who hasn't played in 25 years. Victory.

Anyways. The picture uploader for blogger is being retarded and it's irritating me, so I'll post about Christmas later. I know you're on the edge of your seat...

I sometimes find myself eyeing strangers' arms thinking to myself, "I could totally hit that guy's veins. Easy."

2009-12-10T11:30:00.003-07:00

As I wrap up my nursing school career (just took my last final ever--it's like I'm high) I've been thinking a lot about the crazy experience I've had the last two years. Nursing school was far more challenging than I ever would have thought, but I'm so glad I did it. I guess I can say that easily, now that it's over, but I've honestly had some great experiences, and I've met some awesome people. Our class of 32 has been the same since day 1 (with one addition second semester) and we're pretty tight. It's amazing how you can bond over early morning carpools, summer study groups, and shared feelings of terror. The one and only thing I will miss about school is my classmates. Me and my nursing bestie just had a celebratory brunch, and then she's moving up north in two days. Sad.
But as I think about the last two years and the things I'm supposed to have been taught, I am realizing that some of the most important things I've learned were not from my professors. So I made this list of things I actually learned in nursing school; those priceless little lessons that have nothing to do with lab values or drugs. ;)

1. You can never have too many alcohol wipes.

2. Gutting a fish really isn’t that gross. But I would still want gloves to do it.

3. I can touch anything as long as I have gloves on. Anything. Give me a face mask and I’m invincible.

4. Waking up at 0500 is awesome compared to 0345.

5. Military time. Only took me two years to get it down pat.

6. Those little bottles of 5-hour energy have absolutely no effect on my body. That was a sad discovery.

7. If a patient says they are going to throw up/poop RIGHT NOW, it is in your best interests to believe them.

8. There are much worse things than giving a suppository.

9. Male foleys CAN be tricky. #*@$! prostate.

10. Being a great nurse does not make you a great professor.

11. My body was designed to sleep at nighttime. It does not like night shifts.

12. How to appear confident. I learned it's best to act confident, as it causes patients considerably less anxiety when they think you have done this before.

13. I hate mouths. I can deal with poop and blood but holy cow, I have seen and smelled mouths that make me want to retch more than anything else.

14. I've worked with good nurses and bad nurses. I have learned what qualities I want to foster in myself and what kind of nurse I want to be, and don't want to be. I have learned that the best nurses are not always the ones who know the most. More often, they're the ones who care the most (and who can multitask like mad!).

It's been a long, rough ride. Now the real world awaits. :) Assuming I get a job, of course.

PS fellow nursing students: anything you'd add? What little gems did you learn during school? I'd love to hear them.

Hi, my name's Jael and I'm a blog lurker.

2009-12-01T22:40:00.003-07:00

Common conversation in our house:

Paul, peeking over my shoulder: "What're you reading?"
Me: "A blog."
Paul: "Do you know her?"
Me: "No."

He shakes his head and tells me it's unhealthy, and just plain weird.
They aren't just well-known blogs like How About Orange or Sew Mama Sew, or even All Things G&D (although I definitely stalk these), but did I know you in elementary school? Did you go to my high school, are you a friend of a friend? It's possible I've lurked your blog. It's an illness.

But I like reading other people's blogs. If they're interesting, I'll browse through the archives. If they're not, I'll pick a friend off their sidebar list and read their blog. In fact, if you're a friend of mine and you have a blog, I probably creep it. If you have a sidebar with links to your friend's blogs, I've probably read all recently/frequently updated ones at least once. Sigh. Maybe one day I'll seek professional help. Until then, please don't make your blog private; support my habit.

pumpkin carving extravaganza

2009-11-15T13:19:00.003-07:00

Periodically Paul reads my blog. I think he is my most faithful reader. After the last post he said to me, "Jael, there are not nearly enough pictures of me in that last post." I told him he was right.

So. A couple weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch at the Staheli Family Farms in St George. It was a super fun date night. Then for date night a few days later we carved them. Paul makes me laugh so hard. He was cleaning out the guts and telling me, "this is the most disgusting thing I've ever done. Ew. This is so gross. Will you do it for me?" I almost threw pumpkin guts in his face.
And then his finished product was awesome. It took him about twice as long as it took me. I'm sure you can tell why. I carved a cute little generic face into mine, with the spunky addition of earrings. Very original. Paul carved.....a vulcan vampire.

Yup. Pointy ears, intense eyebrows, and fangs. The kid's got talent.

it must be fall if there is pumpkin bread in the oven and applesauce in the crockpot.

2009-11-07T15:18:00.005-07:00

As was the case a couple weeks ago. Mmm, our house smelled so good. I've decided that homemade applesauce is one of my favorite things ever. It's even delicious when it's still hot from the crockpot. I'm eating some right now....
Anyways, some things that happened in the last month:
-We went to the pumpkin patch and carved our pumpkins. I don't think I could handle carving a pumpkin that was from the grocery store. I love going to the pumpkin patch, and it's way fun with Paul.
-Brityn came to visit! And I got to play with Madeline, who was way more interested in Toka than anything else. She is getting huge and crawling all over the place! Such a stinking cutie. Paul even held her, which was super funny. He has this thing about holding babies: he doesn't like to. ;) He thinks he will break them.
-I went to a student nursing conference in Phoenix which was pretty fun. The best part was getting to spend the night with my family. We had a blast.

these jumping in the pool pictures were so fun. We took about 13 of them.

this is most of my nursing class.

Also, I graduate from college in five weeks. I am literally freaking out. Finding a job is incredibly stressful in this tiny town, and it's difficult being a new grad anyway because for most job postings employers want a minimum of 1-2 years experience. The way to get around this is to get hired for a residency/internship thing specifically for new graduates, but these are really competitive and honestly, I'm a middle-of-the-pack student. Sigh. Being a grownup is hard (you're laughing at me, aren't you mom). And I've realized that I am, in fact, a grownup. Don't know when that happened. Maybe sometime between getting married, finishing college, getting a Costco membership, buying a car, paying the electric bill, purchasing life insurance....but right now I just want a Big Girl job. Anyways, that's what's sucking up my life right now. :)

sheep say "aaaah" not "baaaah."

2009-09-27T21:40:00.003-06:00

or so we learned in class last week. Our professor brought in a cooler full of sheep hearts and lungs for us to play with to go along with our respiratory and cardiac discussions we've been having. It was pretty sweet. She intubated the trachea and showed us how a PEEP valve actually works, exactly why a pneumothorax is no bueno, and a bunch of other things. And I've played with body parts before, and I've taken anatomy classes and whatever, and I'm in my last semester of nursing school, so why is it that I just NOW discover that lungs are not hollow?! That was a crazy revelation. Also, the atria of the heart are like little flappy things, not the solid thick muscle I thought. The ventricles are super thick muscle, but I thought the whole heart was like that. Wowsers. Overall, a great learning experience, and it was super fun.
Oh, gross side note: the esophaguses (esophagi?!) were still attached to the backs of the tracheas, and I pulled some grass out of mine. It smelled super bad.

our professor, with the lovely Chelo doing the bagging.

everyone got to play! The redheaded gal with the super excited expression is my best nursing-school friend. She's awesome.

this is what I did with my last day of summer.

2009-08-25T20:39:00.004-06:00

or really, two days. Plus part of today, which was actually two days after the last day of summer.....but anyways, she took forever but I LOVE her and decided to show her off just a little. My mom had me take sewing lessons when I was like 14 or something and I made a pair of pajamas and then when I was 18 she gave me a sewing machine for my birthday and I was all, "um...cool" but now that I'm all old and everything, I love sewing stuff. I suck at it, so don't look too closely, but from far away she is super cute. And super practical. :) Thanks mom.
look at this next picture: do you see that zipper? That took me like 2 hours, no lie. I do not foresee a career in sewing stuff in my future.

Also, I got the pattern here: http://jennalou.typepad.com/ Just in case you were interested. :)

100.

2009-08-21T17:51:00.007-06:00

Since my blog IS called 'Jael loves...' I figured I should make a list of things that I love. I saw a friend do one on facebook, but I don't really like posting things like that on facebook.

So, in no particular order, 100 things that I love:

1. Paul
2. Oreos
3. my puppy
4. temples
5. slippahs
6. summahtime
7. my mom8. pedicures
9. holding hands
10. the sun
11. volleyball
12. pizza
13. Olive Garden
14. baking
15. Christmastime
16. the day after finals
17. Jane Eyre
18. cuddling
19. laying in the sun
20. Caity21. sewing
22. Kelly Clarkson
23. rocking out to KC
24. shopping
25. cheesecake
26. stuff with strawberries on top
27. crafting stuff
28. looking at pictures
29. taking pictures
30. my dad31. getting mail
32. Arctic Circle
33. Brityn's grandma's cinnamon rolls
34. Lecia Marie Melville35. The Wedding Planner
36. walks
37. travelling
38. and coming home
39. my BED
40. orange
41. picnics
42. Kimo43. Poipu beach
44. babies
45. reading
46. grass
47. tree swings
48. a clean house
49. Maile50. Heavenly Father
51. and Jesus Christ
52. ice cream
53. America
54. saguaros
55. icee's (a lot of these are food...)
56. Brityn Hunt Smith57. sleeping in
58. touches of whimsy
59. flowers
60. old movies
61. Aleigha62. rice crispy treats with sprinkles
63. Sundays
64. vacations
65. planning vacations.
66. Nicole Nokleby
67. Christmas lights
68. the smell of celery
69. naps
70. Kendric71. boogieboarding
72. air conditioning
73. roasted mallows
74. camping
75. fireplaces
76. Tallen77. hymns
78. shave ice79. musicals
80. the furminator
81. Christmas music
82. Lindsey Lou Joslin83. our house
84. pink toenails
85. baby clothes
86. good dreams
87. kissing
88. etsy
89. musicals
90. being tan
91. Lost
92. sleep
93. prayer
94. Bookman's
95. old Mini's
96. driving with the windows rolled down
97. my aviators
98. pretty fabric
99. Eegee's100. my husband.

if you just read this entire list, tell me and I will bake you some brownies.

love,
Jael

Play Day

2009-08-06T22:17:00.004-06:00

my delicious tart! I actually got three of them.

Last week was super fun. My dad came to visit on Monday because he had some hacker conference he was going to in Vegas (no seriously. A hacker conference. So you can keep up to date on the latest methods, apparently) so he stayed one night with us. It was really nice to see him even if it was just for a short time. This picture is at my fave Chinese place. Just fyi.

Also, there is something you must know about my husband: he talks to people. Like, a lot. Anyone, anytime, anywhere. You know how at the grocery store, most people who are standing in line to check out just....stand there and wait? I'm one of those people: I load my stuff onto the conveyor belt, I check out the new gum flavors, ponder over whether I should redbox something, etc. Paul is not one of those people. He strikes up a conversation with the guy behind him who's buying pickles and dog treats. Anyway, Paul and I are both servers, and you can imagine that we both have a different take on our job. I'm more of a "Hi, how are you doing, what can I get you to drink" sort of server, while Paul is more of the chatty sort. He is amazing though, people love him, and people give him their business cards on a regular basis. He has had people invite him over to their houses to watch a soccer game, he's been offered jobs, all kinds of stuff. Recently, he was waiting on a guy whom he recognized as the guy who played Tevye at last year's Fiddler on the Roof that we went and saw, and naturally they started talking. Paul ended up with the guy's business card, who told Paul that he would get him half price tickets to any play Paul wanted to see. Basically, that is how we got to go see two plays last Wednesday at the Shakespearean Festival here in Cedar. I picked The Secret Garden and Paul wanted to see Comedy of Errors. He ended up loving Secret Garden though, said it was the best play he has ever seen. I loved it too, I would love to see it again, but I thought it was cute how much Paul LOVED it. He talked about it for days. So, here are some pics from our Play Day.Paul and the director of the whole festival.

us and Will.a picture a nice old lady took for us.

GFR 200niiiiine

2009-07-21T13:10:00.006-06:00

slightly random post ahead...

So a week ago me and Brityn drove down to Tucson for our annual girlfriend reunion. Nicole is home from her mission to California so we were all there. It was such a blast.

Thursday night I had at home with my familia. It was funny because we did my birthday presents and stuff. Cait's and Kimo's lovers came over and we played games and had dessert and it was just fun. We also set off the fireworks I brought with me, which was hilarious.

Friday night: Lindsey was our wonderful hostess/planner this year, and we met at Lindsey's parents house to have dinner and Nicole was the last one to arrive. When she knocked on the door I opened it from behind and Brit and Lindsey made a two-man 'tunnel' and when Nicole came in she ran through it and started doing a touchdown dance. I was laughing so hard, it was like she had never left. Anyway, we just ate and hung out and went swimming and when it started monsooning on us we all got under a blue floaty, (like a lounger type thing you lay on?) and maybe you had to be there, but it was the funniest night. We started playing Lindsey's favorite pool game, submarine, but on the very first round, Lecia went under water and konked her head on the big round filter thing on the creepy crawly. She had a big ol' goose egg but she was still cracking up. After Brityn and Lecia left to put their babies to bed, me and Lindsey and Nicole stayed and talked for a while and it was lovely.

Saturday it was just me and Lindsey in the morning. We went to a garage sale and went swimming again, and then we went over to our old Seminary teacher's house to watch the Seminary videos we made our senior year when we were all on Seminary council. It was ridiculous, we had so much fun. We were all pretty retarded.
We went over to the Nokleby's and made pizza and then other people came over and we played games and ate food and talked.
I feel like this post is really boring, but it was a fabulous weekend. Although I decided that I HATE being the driver the whole way to Tucson and back. It makes me really cranky, you can ask Paul. :)

Sunday morning Nicole spoke at church, so parts of my family went to our old ward, which was really weird. But she did a great job, and I'm hosting GFR next year--can't wait!

ps Lecia: I capitalized stuff. Are you happy?

summahtime.

2009-06-24T22:59:00.011-06:00

since paul felt the need to publish a post for me, i took that as a hint that it has been a very long time since i have written anything. i do, however, have quite a bit to update about and therefore this has the potential to be a very long post indeed. i'll try to keep it short for those with only a mild interest in my life and happenings.

first of all, probably the most exciting thing that has happened since my last post is that school is out for the summer! i do realize that it has been over a month and a half since the last day of school, but the novelty of my last summer break has not worn off yet. holy moses, i needed a break so ridiculously bad. i have not started studying again yet, but i will let you know when that event occurs. so far i have checked out 3 nclex review books from the library. that is as far as i have gotten. i am super stoked to start my last semester of nursing school though, and even more stoked to finish in december! i can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is blinding.

second, i spent a few days down in tucson at the end of may for my little bro's graduation. it was momentous. i seriously cannot believe how old he is and consequently, how old I am. but he was so stinking cute in his little cap and gown and i had a blast spending time with my family. a few days a couple times a year is not nearly enough time. one of these days we are going to have to move closer to them. although it is funny how excited everyone gets to see me when i come visit. maile started crying one night before dinner because she didn't get to sit by me. ha ha ha. cutie.

oh, and maile 'graduated' from kindergarten the morning after kimo graduated from high school. my mom was tripping over that one. personally i thought it was hilarious.

paul didn't come with me to tucson so we spent a couple weeks apart (which i am terrible at) because two days after i got home from tucson i left for hawaii. it was seriously amazing. this is where the whole 'long post' thing is going to come into play because i have tons of pictures i want to share. :) the excuse for the trip was a family reunion on kauai, but we were only there for like three days. we spent the other five days or so on oahu, where my grandma's side of the family lives. my grandpa's side of the family is the kauai kine.poipu beach, kauai

waikiki, oahu

anyway, we had a freaking blast. on oahu we stayed at a hotel right on waikiki, which is actually the most boring beach i have ever been to. during the winter i guess is when the waves are bigger, and we went during the boring summer. anyway, we still had a blast eating and shopping and eating and visiting family and eating. i crave haupia malasadas now. num num num.

leonard's bakery

bathroom sign outside of poipu

after a couple days on oahu we flew to kauai (funny side story: kimo was talking to his girlfriend on the phone while we were in the airport and she asked how far away kauai was from oahu and kimo said about 40 minutes and his girlfriend was all, 'why don't you just drive?' ha ha ha ha ha.) and we stayed right on poipu beach. i freaking loved it there. the first night we were there it was already getting dark but we went to the beach and me and caity and kimo did a little boogieboarding and i saw a sea turtle swimming under me. at first i was all, "holy cow! a sea turtle! that is so cool!" and then i started freaking out because if a sea turtle was swimming under me, other stuff could be swimming under me. in my mind, sharks. so i swam back to where i could touch.oahu family

kauai is beautiful. it is jungle hawaii. oahu is fun and there is a lot of stuff to do, like the swapmeet and a thousand places to eat and stuff, but kauai is hawaii how i picture it in my head: driving through the jungle to get to our condo, green mountains, trees, gorgeous beaches, delicious waves, everything. i loved it and i am IN love with poipu. the first morning we were there me and caity went to the beach at 6a and boogieboarded til lunchtime. i didn't want to leave.

the actual family reunion was kind of awkward. i had never met that side of the family before so mostly me, caitlin, kimo, and ridg just hung out. that's really all i have to say about that.

guy blowing glass

mom and cait left for home from kauai, which was really sad. me and kimo though flew back to oahu and spent a couple more days there. we stayed at one of my mom's cousin's house. they are seriously the nicest people i have ever met. my aunty cris cooked me and kimo portuguese sausage and eggs and rice for breakfast every day we were there, and one day when my grandma ditched us our uncle jimmy took me and kimo around the island. it was awesome.

so that was my trip to hawaii. i loved every minute of it, but i was so happy to get home to paul. :) now i have to convince him to go back with me.

also, YES, we got a puppy. we actually moved from our apartment into a townhome specifically so that we could get a dog. we aren't ready to have kids yet, but i seriously need something to cuddle. also, i realized that i am REALLY not ready to have kids yet. taking the dog out three times a night so he can potty really interferes with my sleep cycle. i can't imagine feeding a baby 29 times a night.

anyways, that is all. right now i'm just working at the restaurant still and paul is busy taking summer school classes and working and making me happy. :) thus is our life.

Tokka is dominant.

2009-06-05T11:30:00.004-06:00

Jael has yet to put a picture of our puppy up on her blog so I am going to do it for her. That is really all. He is a border collie. His name is Tokka. The name comes from the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II. Shredder gets a hold of some of the ooze that transformed the turtles into the awesome fighting machines they were. He then proceeds to do something similar to a wolf and a snapping turtle. Tokka is the wolf. That is where the name is from. The End.

oz.

2009-04-11T16:05:00.005-06:00

one of paul's mission presidents and his wife, and paul's aussie friend

paul's mission reunion was last weekend and one of his mission friends was coming from australia so we decided to go. i was excited cuz we got to stay at brityn's house and play with her and lecia's babies. it was a short visit, but it was so much fun. i can't believe how much bigger the babies are, and we just saw them less than two months ago! i decided that i'm going to have to visit often or else one time i'll show up and they'll suddenly be talking and walking around. also, i was sick and didn't want to get the babes sick, hence the mask. just fyi. i also got paul to hold madelyn and kennedy! if you don't know paul, just know that that was quite a feat. :)paul and kennedy

me and kennedy

paul and madelyn

paul's other mission president couldn't make it, but his wife and daughter were there.

babies!

2009-03-02T17:11:00.005-07:00

so brityn and lecia have both had their babies. brit's babe was being blessed on sunday so we went up for that and to visit lecia and her little girl. it was so much fun. first of all, i haven't seen either of them since they told me they were pregnant, so it was awesome just to see them. second, their babies are SO ADORABLE.
i could not believe how much hair brit's baby madelyn had on her little head. it was ridiculously long. she also had the cutest little chin i have ever seen. lecia's girl kennedy was a doll. she had this fine blondish hair on her that i had to keep touching. and she had lecia's asian eyes! love it. anyways, paul wouldn't hold either baby cuz he was honestly afraid that he would hurt them. he was kind of funny. max asked paul to stand in the circle at the blessing though, which was neat. paul had never done that before and he was excited. it was cute.
well, that was all i had to share about that. i love both girls and am so excited they are here. what cuties.

on a completely different note, funny story about saturday night. it was supposed to be date night but that morning paul's boss called and asked him to pick up a quick catering shift. we need the money so paul took it but asked if i could come so at least we could spend time together. his boss said that was okay so i went to work with paul. it was funny and the entire time we were at the catering thing paul kept telling everyone i was his wife, and that it was date night. oh, and i had to borrow a pair of paul's black pants cuz i couldn't find my one pair. i felt like a man.
but it was a funny night. and paul's boss put the catering tip in an envelope at the restaurant with my name on it. paul took it anyway.

i love my paul.

2009-02-13T17:03:00.005-07:00

this is my story:
so tuesday i had clinicals in st garge at 530a, and since it was snowing i drove up monday night and crashed at a friend's house so i wouldn't have to drive through the horrid icy snow at 430 on tuesday. little did i know that whilst i was gone, paul was planning a valentine's surprise for me for when i got back on tuesday night. we both work at restaurants, so we both work on saturday night and we decided that since tuesday was our three year dating anniversary we would just celebrate valentine's day that night as well.
when i got home and got out of the shower on tuesday night, there were tons of candles lit on our entertainment center and presents from paul next to them. he got me a box of chocolates, a princess jasmine pez dispenser (she's my fave princess and pez is my crack), a pair of black shorts because he's decided that the ratty old ones from my high school ex were just too disgusting, and my favorite valentine candy: a tin of necco conversation hearts, with all the purple ones thrown away because they're nasty and he knows that and he's cute.
he had also planned and cooked me dinner, complete with appetizer and dessert. i'd been craving lasagna for weeks, and even though he doesn't really like it, we had lasagna for dinner. and he had gotten me a cheesecake with strawberries for dessert because he knows i am in love with cheesecake. my favorite part though was the appetizer. he made us a caprese, and it was SO GOOD. he took slices of crusty bread and spread them with pesto and pan fried them with a little olive oil. we ate it with sliced tomatoes and fresh sliced mozzarella with chopped fresh basil on top and drizzled with a mixture of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and black pepper. oh my GOSH. i could have just eaten that all night. my italian boy, he spoils me.
oh, and if you haven't seen "lars and the real girl" i highly recommend that you go rent it. actually, just buy it, because it is hilarious. we watched that after dinner and i was dying. i bet the neighbors could hear my horrendous laugh, but i couldn't hold it in. holy cow.
anyway, that was my wonderful night.
if you didn't want a play by play, i'm sorry, but i wanted to gush about how much i love my husband for a few minutes. i like him. ♥

my candy!
see? no purple. hoorah.

Brityn's baby!

2009-02-06T10:47:00.003-07:00

i am just so stinking excited that all my friends are having babies! brityn had her baby GIRL, madeline nicole, yesterday and she is just so adorable, i cannot get over it. me and paul are going to go up for the baby blessing in a few weeks, and maybe lecia will have her baby by then, so that would be even more exciting. it is just so amazing that all my girlfriends are moms, or will be in a matter of weeks! sometimes i feel a little 'behind,' but we'll catch up. :) in the mean time, i'll get to play with all their adorable little minis.
hip-hip!
i reckon she looks like max.

noel.

2009-02-03T22:03:00.003-07:00

she's my new fave. so noel is a girl i work with, and seriously, she is one of the funniest people i have ever encountered. that picture should give you an idea as to her personality. but so she blogs a lot, and today i went in to work to get me some food, and she stated that i should update my blog sometime soon. i agree. and i like making lists, so i stole this from shelly larimore/cook. :)

4 Things I was doing 10 years ago
1. i was 11, so let's see. sixth grade. i was still hanging out on the playground.
2. i was playing soccer.
3. i was crushing on luke/justin/tena. bah ha ha.
4. i have the worst long-term memory...

4 Things on my list to do today...
well, it's after 10 at night so i'll do it for tomorrow.
1. read chapters 16 and 19 in my mother/baby book.
2. read chapters 11-13 in my geriatric book and finish my assignment.
3. read chapter 8 in my community book and start the assignment.
4. make cookies.

4 Things I love about my husband
1. he loosens me up. he probably doesn't think he does, but when he's playful and happy with me, it makes me less stressed.
2. he always tells me he loves and gives me a kiss before he leaves.
3. he is super smart and really motivated and has a life game-plan. it involves puppies.
4. he once watched the 6-hour pride and prejudice with me. that is a huge deal.

4 Jobs I've had
i think these are in order...
1. the snack bar with caity and kami pullen! that seriously was the best job ever.
2. Moutain View Retirement Village. i was a server. and didn't get tipped. one time, i accidentally spilled an entire iced tea over a really shaky parkinsons lady. and she was one of the nice old people.
3. the movie theatre. i made commission for selling combos. except there was this one really tall, thin, foreign black kid who worked there who was way better at it than me.
4. cleaning the student center at the university at 6 am every day. when i started dating paul, i started sleeping through work sometimes. eventually i gave up that job.

4 Books I've Read More Than Once
1. pride and prejudice
2. ender's game
3. jane eyre
4. hershel and the hanukkah goblins

4 Places I've Lived
1. tucson, az
2. las vegas, nv
3. tacoma, wa
4. cedar city, ut

4 Places I've Been
1. various beachy california places
2. zion national park. it's a cool place.
3. hawaii
4. forks, wa. just kidding. i've been in the same state though.

4 Places I want to visit
1. italy, with paul.
2. new york city
3. texas. before we move there.
4. canada. okay not really. maybe more like australia.

4 TV shows I watch
1. LOOOOOST. yes, i am an addict.
2. jon and kate plus 8.
3. house hunters. it's mine and paul's 'thing.'
4. anything with paul in it.

4 Things you may not know about me
1. i have a glass shard in one of my toes from months ago and a piece of pencil lead in my right big toe from years and years and years ago. i stepped on a pencil in the dark one night when i was sick and couldn't be bothered to get it out.
2. i own two maternity shirts.
3. we have put down a deposit with a breeder for our future puppy.
4. i really like to sew.

the end. ♥

hmm.

2009-01-15T21:36:00.002-07:00

those pictures are really big. my bad.

listening to some weezyweezer.

2009-01-15T20:32:00.010-07:00

mi familia^

well, school is back in session. i thought that the rest of the program couldn't be worse than last semester. and i still think i'm right, but that doesn't mean that this semester won't be rough. it will be very different from last semester. last year seemed to be really focused on tests, like that was the majority of our grade in almost all of our classes. this year, we still have ati tests (standardized tests with nclex-type questions), but we also have lots of projects and smaller assignments and hundreds of clinical hours and TONS of presentations. it seriously feels like i've been in school for so much longer than two weeks. moses. it's okay though, cuz i'm a SENIOR! i think i've been a senior by credits for a while, but this is officially my senior year, i graduate in december and i am totally stoked. a girl i went to high school with just graduated with her nursing degree and i am fully jealous. i can't wait til i have a grownup job. and puppies.
anyways, since it's been a while, i reckon i'll put up a couple pics from christmas and stuff. we went down to t-town for christmas and it was a blast. i miss my familia, so it was way fun to see them. and then for our anniversary me and paul stayed for a couple nights in vegas. it was nice to relax by ourselves for a couple days before school started again and we hardly see each other.
anyways, i will try to be better about updating this thing semester. no guarantees, but just so you know that the effort is there...or at least the thought.

maile was excited. promise.tallen and natasha. eating stuff.my mom is jolly.

cool snake kendric.

kimo's action shot. and we went to lunch.

maile is semi-pro.that's way cute aleigha.unco jared!

this was at the restaurant on our anniversary. two years?! we're getting old.

i suck at this.

2008-12-06T12:10:00.002-07:00

by this, i mean this whole blogging thing. i haven't done it in over a month. although really, i don't know that people really read it anyway. so here's what's going down, in case you're interested in the life of jael: next friday i will be done with finals. at that point i will let you know if i actually passed this semester or if i will have to take a class over again (a frighteningly real prospect at this point). anyway, until then, have a nice week.

kalbi.

2008-11-02T16:17:00.004-07:00

this is paul cooking lunch for me.
so my mom sometimes makes this meat stuff that is delicious, and i have been craving it for weeks. so i finally decided that i had to have some, but the problem was that at my house, we just called it 'meat on a stick.' kind of hard to find a recipe for it. anyway, so i finally called my mom to find out how to make it, and i cooked some up for my in-laws for lunch today. it was delish. i think next time i'd want it a little more tender, but it was definitely tasty.i had to take a picture of me skewering the meat, or my dad would never believe that i touched raw meat. i sliced it too, dad. and i didn't even cry.

espn

2008-10-23T21:14:00.003-06:00

espn was finally good for something.
i just found out that lute olson has retired as head coach of u of a's basketball team. a piece of me has died inside. no joke, i am so sad. lute olson IS arizona basketball. the only thing consistent year after year. he is absolutely amazing and every year practically since i can remember, we as a family watched u of a basketball. one year we made my mom stay in her room during games because if she came out we lost. when we won the national championship in 1997, i remember my mom bought all of us t-shirts from some guy selling them on the side of the road. there were a couple of years my dad took us to a couple of events where we got to meet some of the players, like lame for a game and the red/blue scrimmage and a couple of exhibition games and stuff. those were some of the major highlights of my childhood. and teenhood i guess. and throughout it all, lute olson was the glue, the backbone of the whole program. i love that old man. in high school, me and caity did i think it was some sort of fundraising thing for our soccer team where we directed traffic or something at mckale for a couple of the games. we were so hyperactively excited. caity moved the cones so that lute could park his silver lexus in his spot, and we memorized his license plate number. and we got a picture with him. i love that picture. it seriously was one of the coolest things to happen to me. lute olson is a legend, he has had a spectacular career, and i personally will miss knowing that he is directing 'my boys' and seeing him on the sidelines. i'm gonna start crying! gah. anyway, i have no idea what to expect from the upcoming season, and i'm more than a little apprehensive. there is nobody in place at arizona right now who could take lute's spot, and how hard will it be to find a new head coach, one who can follow lute?! ucla sucked for years, decades, after wooden left. i am kind of thinking that will happen to my poor wildcats, and it makes me sad. anyway, i'm getting myself all depressed, so basically the point of this post was just to say that i love lute and i will miss him. go cats.

clean desk

2008-10-10T16:51:00.000-06:00

there is something about a clean desk. do not be fooled, this is not what my desk currently looks like, but what i wish it still looked like. as of right my desk is a bit of a wreck. tomorrow will be a cleaning day though, cuz my dad is coming to visit on sunday! very exciting. anyway, i saw a quote from someone somewhere sometime recently that said a clean desk can hinder efficiency. i feel that is a lie. my desk is ridiculously cluttered right now and i don't feel that it is enhancing my efficiency. i actually think it's making me study on the couch or the spare bed or anywhere besides my desk because it's so messy and i don't have enough space. that's all i have to say about that.

while i was at it taking pictures of my newbie snake the other day (she still doesn't have a name, i'll leave that up to kendric but i want her to have a name NOW!) i took a couple of gil. he's so pretty. and he's getting big!
off to work.

kendric's christmas present!

2008-10-07T21:25:00.001-06:00

this little girl is so gorgeous, i wish i could keep her. but there's no way paul would go for it. he's actually not too thrilled that i get to keep it until christmas, when i'm giving it to kendric. speaking of which, i don't think he's figured out yet what his present is, so if you see him, don't tell. k? cool. anyway, she's so tiny, and her color is so pretty! a light pinky color. when she grows up she'll be mostly white with probably some yellow down her sides and on her head and stuff. well, i'm excited to have this little girl for at least a couple months.

i fell down a hill.

2008-10-03T19:35:00.000-06:00

so....last tuesday...like, last LAST tuesday, not this tuesday we just had, i was taking a break in my studying, and decided to go for a little hike in the hills behind our apartment. yes, by myself. everyone has told me how dumb that was, but i really didn't think it was a big deal. i was right behind our apartment! anyway, so i'm climbing all these hills, and then i realize that i'm going to have to come back down. i look back the way i came, and it was really steep, so i decided to keep going to see if i could find an easier way to come down. well, i couldn't, so when i found a little path down the side of a hill, i just decided to scootch down on my hands and feet, crab style. no big deal, but it was taking a really long time, so when i started to get towards the bottom 15 minutes later, i decided to stand up and start walking, taking it really slow. well, there was still an incline, and i started to pick up speed. i still had a ways to go before the ground leveled out so i knew i wasn't going to be able to stop, and then....i ate it. really really hard. it's okay to laugh. if i had seen somebody get wasted by that hill like how i did, i would have laughed at them too. anyway. there are only pictures of my injured leg, because i felt like posting pictures of my scratched up back and sides and thigh would be a little awkward. anyway. here they are.

this was immediately after arriving home. no mom, i didn't cry. i'm a big girl. oh and so this girl in the nursing program with me lives in the same apartment complex, and i went to her with some grippy forceps and little scissors and had her help me cut the skin off my hand. cuz i am not left handed. and...my living room in the background.

after i got it cleaned up a little in the bath. oh and holy effing crap, after paul got home, he had brought me some hydrogen peroxide and i poured that on my leg, and it was more painful than anything. and after that i did some research on it and found that hydrogen peroxide is not necessary for wound cleansing. just fyi. don't put yourself through the pain. it does damage to your tissue as it's trying to heal as well as any bacteria.

eight days post incident. it's healing up nicely. and i'm not limping anymore, which is positive. and it's not swollen anymore, which was making paul nervous.

this is the hill.

well...more or less. i think if you moved both of those exes down a titch it'd be more accurate.
dude everybody keeps telling me that they looked at the pictures of the hill and don't get how i managed to eat it so hard. um....it's steeper than it looks, mmkay? you should see it from the top. or the very bottom i suppose, since i probably won't be hiking up there any time soon to get a really great picture from the top. just cuz i did it once doesn't mean i will be able to avoid falling again, ya know what i mean?

funny story....first iv stick

2008-09-11T19:34:00.000-06:00

so before a nursing student is allowed to initiate an iv on a real patient in a real care setting, she has to successfully initiate an iv on a willing volunteer in the practice lab at school. sounds like a good idea, huh. um...yeah. it is.
so today i initiated my first iv on a real person-my lab partner from last semester, melissa. so we get an instructor to supervise us and melissa signs the release form and i gather my supplies and we go in the lab. i get all set up, and i'm feeling pretty good. i've watched an instructional video at least nine times, read the steps about sixteen times, and even watched melissa stick me yesterday. so really what i'm worried about is missing the vein.
i have the tourniquet on, the skin has been cleaned, my gloves are on, my needle is ready. i can do this. i pierce the skin and pray. a flashback of blood! yes! i hit the vein! in my relief, i can't remember what i'm supposed to do AFTER i get the needle in the vein, and i prematurely retract the needle. with the tourniquet still on. how many times did i watch those videos? blood squirts out of the empty catheter end and my instructor starts saying "no no no!" a little too late. i start shrieking apologies to melissa, who is laughing her head off and undoing the tourniquet while i try to put pressure on the vein above the catheter. oh my gosh, i can't believe i just did that. did i seriously just do that?

don't worry. about 10 minutes and a dozen alcohol wipes later, i successfully initiate an iv in melissa's other hand. without forgetting any steps.