cont'd...

1. Hoping I don't have the swine, and that some sun-bathing will cure my fever.
2. Waiting for someone to email you back about a car you really, really want is awful - harassing phone calls are about to begin.
3. So much going on tonight, I have no idea where I'll end up - just hope it's not in bed, alone, all night until Roberto comes home to tell me how amazing the ocean was. Thank you Tahiti.
4. I want to see Topol in his farewell tour of "Fiddler on the Roof" SO bad.
5. Robert and I are slowly becoming theatre snobs.
6. I can't wait to go spend time with the fam at Nadia's 2nd Birthday tomorrow - and am prepared for her to run away and say "nnnn-oh!" as I try to snuggle her last few precious moments of baby-hood.
7. I got paid today - that's lost its magic since I got married.
8. Happy Pioneer Day - I've always wanted to be in Salt Lake on this day, but I at least wish I was participating in a cake walk.
9. Should we push for it and move to Tustin...I would feel more settled and I think I need that.
10. Am I really? I can't believe I said that last night...but all nerves aside, I think I am, I really, really am.

things.

1. The chicken in my Lean Cuisine is ridiculously dry.
2. Every time I see a bright red car I start to get emotional.
3. I hate every car besides bright red Pontiac Vibes. or a certain dark blue Toyota corolla.
4. I'm wondering about the possibility of Nona (said blue Toyota corolla) took revenge on me for switching to a better, newer car and therefore Nona bewitched said better, newer car in which case it was totalled.
5. #4 leads me to believe I've been watching too much Harry Potter in preparation for watching the new one this weekend.
6. I can barely sit down in excitement for our weekend getaway.
7. I'm going to the circus tomorrow.
8. I dyed my hair this morning and it's not as blond as I wanted.
9. Water parks and my hair don't mix, Robert is in for a big surprise this weekend.
10. Lean Cuisine is gone, I'm going to need some ice cream now.

what's new cupcake?

The obsession is slowly setting in. How I long for the days to:

1. have a kitchen big enough and 2. have the money to spend on every baking tool I desire. (cakeart.com)

But for now I sit and gasp and drool over Bakerella's skillz...

But mostly, she won me over today with this:

and I think I'll make a variation of these for 4th of July:

She needs to be on a Food Network challenge, I'll be her assistant and we'll kick Bronwyn's bootay! (as outlined in many of my dreams)

Now I'm going to go buy one of her t-shirts.

no pomp or circumstance.

Remember how I've been telling everyone that I was done with school...well I was done with the schooling part, but the lost transcripts, misunderstood GE's, etc. etc. part? Well I wasn't done with that. So for the past 6 or so months I've been battling with CSULB to give me my friggin' degree already...well as I do once a week I checked my account - this process is always somewhat depressing as it often says "Request Reviewed" because what is to be reviewed people?! But guess what?? This is what it said today:

: Kari Simonsen

- - - - - Degrees Awarded - - - - -
Degree : Bachelor of Arts
Confer Date : 2009-05-29
Plan : Major: Art: Art History

I GRADUATED!!! I officially am a proud owner of a Bachelor of Arts degree!

I got married one month before finishing school so it all kind of got lost in the process, so I just wanted to let everyone know that it's true I'm a college graduate!!!

at what age...

So as I sat for my self-manicure today I strummed through my nail polish box and came across something I had completely forgotten about...

So I ask you, at what age is it not okay for a girl to wear neon pink nail polish...

Maybe when she starts to get wrinkly's? Check out those crow's feet around my eyes! Also, I've found extra lines around my mouth when I smile...at least they're just smile wrinkly's...for now.

modest weddings, etc.

Mormon girls have it made these days when it comes to wedding dresses. The possibilities are endless!! Plus with these little lovelies on the market...it makes it that much more pleasant.If I had only stumbled upon these 10 months ago...but I did love my wedding dress...don't get me wrong.

Other things I'm craving a sewing/craft/office room filled with things like this:

What will August hold? (I know what you're thinking...what about JUNE and JULY? -- we all know what that holds--SUMMER greatness, i.e. watermelons, pool/beach times and bike riding to Balboa--DUH.)

-For my mom: a new home! My mother is the proud owner of a humble little mobile home in a 55+ community equipped with a pool and other lovely amenities. same city, just different ward, I'm so excited for this new adventure of hers! Sad to leave our old home (August will be our last big fam dinner there)...but this means so much happiness for her!

For us: New apt? The Mexican Riviera? Who knows?! -- no really, if you do, please fill me in.

dang you achilles.

So this coming up Memorial Day has me dreaming of the days when I'd run 6 miles like it was nothing...and getting flashbacks of running through Laguna Hills with a sense of accomplishment! But thanks to my achilles issue...this will never happen again. It was a nice thought while it lasted. But the memory of being sore for 3 months straight helps me stick to my 3 mile runs.

BUT this Memorial Day also has me very excited that Summer is HERE. Well, almost. But a BBQ at the bro-in-laws with pool-time and most likely Bob Marley playing in the background can only mean one thing...hello my friend, my summer friend.

often.

photo cred: Marth Stewart, not me.

I often feel the need to bake just so I can make something beautiful. It's not the actual result I crave--if I crave anything, it's the batter.

Recent accomplishments: sugar cookies with royal icing, white chocolate raspberry cookies, key-lime cupcakes and double chocolate cupcakes.

That's all my gloating for now, I'll learn to document my culinary adventures before they get eaten up someday...
Also, it doesn't hurt to have the most adorable dishes and serverware ever. Always high on my list.

heartbroken.

So, for as long as I can remember when asked that fateful question of "Whose your favorite actor/actress?" I would say "Tom Hanks"...but now I feel just like I felt when I had a misunderstanding with a best friend and ending up losing that friend in the process (love you mega.)...Tom Hanks has broken my heart.
When news came out about what the show "Big Love" was doing, I followed the path of most of those of my faith and ignored the situation, not fueling the fire.
In this process I was ignorant to the truth behind the show was that Tom Hanks was the executive producer. Not only this but I stumbled upon some hurtful things he said concerning The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in their support of Prop. 8.
One of the worst parts about this heartbreak is I had always heard that he was such a nice guy that was never mean or too snoody...well guess that changed.
I can't even say anymore--I'm honestly hurt, it's so strange. But just to name a few, here are some of my favorite movies, all involving Tom Hanks...

-Toy Story(s)
-You've Got Mail
-That Thing You Do!
-Forrest Gump
-Sleepless in Seattle
-A League of their Own
-The 'Burbs
-Big
-The Money Pit
-Splash

ughhhhh...this is awful.

memories.

note to self: do not go back to 3 years ago on your blog and read each post as a reminder of: how you've gotten no where with your goals, how you don't talk to the friends you had then that much anymore, how you weren't addicted to TV, how you loved your Moorpark professors 100x better than your Long Beach ones, how Luey has past, how the sun and wind flow through your mother's house on a Spring afternoon and doesn't in your tiny apt., how you'd take adventures to LA and all over just because, how you appreciated sunlight and green grass because you were surrounded by it-unlike this urban jungle.

just don't do it, you'll get sad.

too late.

a few things.

1. High-waisted skirt(and a skirt everyday this week for that matter), flip-flops, no sweater and 75 degrees before 10am made my day this morning.

2. I actually charged my ipod today, my ipod is about 4 years old-really old in computer years and no longer holds a charge for longer than an hour, therefore it requires me to charge it often, which doesn't often happen.

3. Listening to MY music on the way to work, really brightened my day, it's what's been missing.

4. Today is a happy today, today is Thursday night date night! This used to be a tradition between Robert and I when I worked at Bloomingdale's and would often have to close BOTH Friday and Saturday nights, moving our date night to Thursday. It's nostalgia, it keeps our romance alive.

5. I went to our Stake Women's Conference last night and Sister Kathy Clayton spoke (married to Elder Clayton of the Seventy) and she spoke about the long tradition of women wanting to control things and listed things that we CAN'T control, things we SHOULDN'T control, and things we really DON'T WANT to control. It was really good and eye opening, it's amazing what marriage does to you as a woman. I have this child, who is grown up and won't listen to me, but he shouldn't we need to make decisions together and that is what I'm grateful for, having married someone who is smarter than me.

6. I ate an artichoke last night for dinner while watching Pride & Prejudice, I finished the artichoke but not the movie and cannot wait to indulge myself further in it today.

artist check.

If you have a chance check out this guy's work. His name is Peter Funch and he 'creates mind-bending images by setting up his camera in one spot, shooting pictures for several days at a time, then using Photoshop to blend the separate photographs in thematic ways.'

love.

there comes a time...

...in every girl's life that she gets so hair pulling bored that the last 30 minutes before her husband comes home are pain-stakingly awful.
So here's my situation, I work part-time still in my office job, this usually consists of a schedule of something like 10am-2pm. Wonderful, I know. And when I first graduated it was grand, I'd get off at 2pm, do some errands, then get home in time for my early bird husband to get off of his 7am-4pm shift at work in Irvine and come home and we had the entire evening together.
And now he got put on a new project where he commutes to LA everyday (via the Metro and Metrolink trains--also why he has to work in LA, that's where their offices are). Which is totally a blessing in disguise because he's getting more experience and doing really well and his company is thriving.
But here his wife sits. I get home at 2pm (sometimes more like 4pm if I have errands to run) and clean up around the house, watch an episode or two of Jon and Kate plus 8 and by this time it's about 5:30 or 6pm. And this is when I haven't heard from my husband yet to tell me he's on his way home. And this is also about the time that I haven't had interaction with another human being for approx. 4 hours. Which is usually fine, except that this happens everyday--who knew I was such a people person?
I finally hear from him that he's on the 5:40 train...this means he'll be home at 7, this gives me time tables on making dinner and doing anything else I wanted to get done before he comes home and this is probably the best part of my day.
He comes home, we have the rest of the evening together, and those painful hours of him not being home and me being desperate for another person to talk to (I have zero cell service in our apartment) have all vanished...as if it never happened.
Now, I'll be honest, this doesn't happen everyday. Somedays I pick him up at the Anaheim station and we go to Disney all night (well until about 9pm) and somedays I get a surprise and he gets on the 3:30pm train, and somedays we go to the Temple and so he has no choice but to be home by 6pm. And so really...these loathsome days of running errands and sitting at home by myself and having just enough to do that I don't call anyone to bug but then end up with way too much time on my hands...they only happen 2-3 times a week.
And now I know what you're thinking "...get a full-time job!" Well you see, I fell through yet another loop hole with CSULB and have not officially graduated. But after much confusion with transcripts and a trip to Moorpark College I should have that fancy degree by the middle of next month. Until then--as in when I can apply for a full-time or part-time job (substitute teaching anyone?), I am in this routine...and am learning to loathe it, I mean love it.
I do have things to keep me busy but none are as fun as having Robert home with me, and that is just the truth.
I'm sticking to it.

mr. and mrs. mallard.

who really goes to Disneyland for the rides anymore anyways?

offspring. This really made my day, in the Spring this is what I live for. Little webbed families pawning off of Disneyland goers for leftover french fries.

on marriage. of someone else.

My brother Trevor is getting married tomorrow with the festivities starting today and it all has me thinking. Where has the time gone? But I know where it went, he went on a mission, I started college, then he started college, etc. etc.

But on the years when we grew up, you know when it really counts, when I was a very insecure 12 year old at a new middle school and he was a insecure 16 year old at a new high school. and even before that, we were always best buds.

I remember my mom letting us--after much begging--to share a room together when i was about 5 years old i think. I would always play GI Joe's with my two brothers, they were so cool.

Then we moved to the valley and summers started with traditions such as me bouncing on him every morning around 9am to watch I Love Lucy because he had a TV in his room. And there was my obsession with Bagel Bites, but any time i'd walk away from them he'd eat all 10 or so up in one bite just to be funny. Most of the time he wasn't even hungry!

And countless afternoons in the pool hunting for toys at the bottom and playing with our fun-noodles.

And time went on and we grew up, I got a little more "hip" and so did he, but things were still the same.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not sad he's getting married, oh never Daniaelle is SO great and fits into our family absolutely perfectly, I'm just having fun looking back at our lives together and realizing this is yet another beginning of something great!

Ok so I'm probably going to ball my eyes out at the wedding. oh well.

what i did over my summer vacation...

I really want to finish that sentence this fall with a story about an amazing vacation. I keep bugging Robert to take me on a cruise to the Caribbean.
There are SO many options but I'm really liking the 6 or 7-night Western Caribbean cruises that leave from Florida (Ft. Lauderdale or Tampa) and hit these beautiful places:

Stop #1: Labadee -- Royal Caribbean's private island Stop #2: Ochos Rios, Jamaica

Stop #3: George Town, Grand Cayman Stop #4: Cozumel, Mexico

And yes, I am fully prepared to gain 10 lbs of cruise food and use my snorklies again--this time without hyperventilating.

Help me convince Robert, I'm dieing for some fun in the sun before babies, houses, etc. etc. come along.

cough. shrug. cry.

don't worry, my immune system has failed me once again.

today's goals: thank you cards, avoiding the cold windy weather, laundry, and getting better!!!

if you find me later with tissue stuck up nose and on episode 3,432 of tivo'd Jon and Kate...send in reinforcements.

loves and not-so-loves.

I have returned from my long weekend in Utah and though a post well-equipped with pictures is soon to be upon us all, I thought I'd quickly list my loves and not-so-loves from my weekend:

loves:

• Meeting Ms. Kirsi, one of the sweetest, well-behaved babies I've met.
• Finally eating Tucano's and tasting Brazilian cuisine.
• The french bakery on State St.
• Burger Supreme with gems like Jeris, Suzanna and Chris Carney.
• Easter morning drive up Provo canyon.
• Playing "Bang" until the wee-hours of the night, also one of my new favorite games.
• Attending the baby's blessing. (and getting her handed off to me for about 15 minutes :))
• Enjoying way too many Brassfield chocolate chip cookies.
• Playing farkle, even though i lost. both times.
• The moment Robert and I realized we were home and rolled down the windows to a moist sea-scented breeze. aaahh.

not-so-loves:

• The massive stomach ache I had after Tucano's
• The not so comfy air mattress.
• The one hour it took us to drive the one mile separating us and IN-N-OUT in Vegas due to some serious road construction (it still gives me shivers).
• Not having time to see everyone I love up there :(

And just for the record, the weather forecast for this weekend...

PROVO:

NEWPORT:

polish savvy.

When I was a teenager I remember mixing nail polish colors together trying so hard to get the right color that I couldn't find at any store and then...I discovered OPI and Essie and have never been dissapointed.

Last summer it was my obsession with finding a mustard yellow nail polish color...and thus appeared like something out of the heavens as I was wandering my way through Ulta (spending way to much money already) this little beauty.

It was the color on my nails that following weekend when Robert proposed to me...
And today, once again Essie did not let me down as I once again was at Ulta buying my much need face lotion, etc and as I stepped towards the cash register I found this little devil...
Oh it's so turqouisey and wonderful I can barely wait to get home and paint my nails and toes. seriously. Oh and there was a bluer one just waiting for me...next time.

oh etsy.

On etsy looking at things like this:

and feeling the urge to create, create, create!!!

It has been far too long since I've painted something beautiful. There was one semester when I painted my heart out and realized I had a gift, not for unique scenes or making my "mark" on the art scene, but for color and lines and creating crisp edges. I got an A in that class and let my teacher keep all my work so she could use it as examples for future students. I didn't want it selfishly for my portfolio, the reasons she wanted it were more satisfying than any dust gathering portfolio I could have owned.

I will admit...Nienie's post helped me by sharing this little gem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhLlnq5yY7k