thats a dealbreaker ladies

tonight i had the golden touch.

first we went to tj maxx to return a coat i bought two weeks ago but decided against. [this whole buying-clothes-for-winter thing is much harder than it looks.] naturally i'd lost the receipt, and when i tried to explain this to the moronic teenage boy behind the counter he refused to do a store credit. also his voice sounded like minnie mouse on helium.

so i asked for the manager, who approved my store credit on the spot thank you very much.

then on the way to sunflower market, b made an impulse decision that he needed a hot-fresh-now krispy kreme, so we hit the drive thru. instead of giving us two glazed and one pumpkin spice we got TWO pumpkin spice & one regular, so i ran back in to ask to switch a donut out. [for him, not for me. i'm not into sweets right now for reasons i will explain in a future post.]

not only did i get my second glazed -- the lady filled the box and i exited with a complimentary half-dozen. WOOT.

and THEN i saw this -- in n out, just about to open, less than a mile from our apartment. almost feels like home!:



yeah. basically i'm in a phase to get HOOKED UP. guess i'm a deal-maker these days.

this is halloween

[barfing pumpkin...my hands-down favorite pumpkin sighting this year.]

turns out halloween kind of sucks if a.) you don't dress up for any big parties and b.) you don't have any little kids to dress up and take trick or treating. we don't qualify for either of those this year, so halloween was kind of lame.

friday night we went to our ward's chili cookoff / trunk or treat. we are both on the activities committee so really we HAD to go [and set up and take down and all the fun stuff], but it turned out great. we ate dinner at a table full of kid-less, costume-less new friends and had a really fun time. best part was that we were cleaned up and home by 8 p.m.! most successful ward activity ever, in my opinion.

on the actual all hallow's eve, b went to the utah football game in salt lake and i stayed home to sew. i also took an ill-advised trip to the mall to get a last-minute birthday gift and saw a whoooole lot of freaky costumed people. it made me want to retreat to my apartment and stay there.

i did venture out once more to go to my new friend nichole's house [yes, i AM making friends in utah!] and we ate soup and watched my-favorite-halloween-movie-of-all-time, hocus pocus. it was fun.

maybe next year b and i will actually dress up and get more into the halloween spirit. i'm taking costume suggestions now :)

cranky pants

b was in a bad mood for, like, five days straight. a finance midterm and an accounting final will do that to some people i guess.

no problem, really, because most of the time he'll just shut himself up in our little office and leave me to sew / watch tv / read / bake. however last week he started taking his aggression out on ME which is not okay. don't worry, he wasn't beating me or anything -- he was just snapping at me for no reason and being bratty overall.

enter my mom. she is famous for making the world's best sugar cookies [i have the recipe, but have never made them...i'm sure they wouldn't be as good] and she makes them in different shapes / colors for every holiday. and sometimes she mails me a box of them when i live far away. she is the BEST.

last week we got a little box full of halloween treats from mom including five sugar cookies. b and i decided that meant we each got 2 1/2 cookies and not a crumb more. my share was gone in about...oh, two hours. b is the type that's not addicted to sugary desserts [puh] and easily saved his for a few days.

sunday he was being particularly bratty and went to our room to take a nap. i was mad at him and had to make dessert for dinner at the in laws and i was tired TOO, so i was a little cranky myself. then i saw the box of sugar cookies on the counter with one left. what did i do? ate half of his only remaining cookie. mwahaha. it was delicious.

he didn't notice until monday and i had to confess. he just laughed at me. yesterday he got the not-so-hot results of his accounting test back and IM'ed me to say he was in a bad mood again. this was the following conversation:
L: sorry :( don't worry, you'll be ok
B: i know, it just sucks
B: i'm in a bad mood
B: but i won't take it out on you
B: cuz you'll eat my cookie again

HAHA. yep, that's your punishment if you do something wrong in my house. watch out for those treats.

friend visits

i have been so spoiled lately with an influx of pasadena friends coming to visit!

last week our bff's the mcmullins came up so jeff could attend a conference at byu...and luckily melanie & henry decided to come too. they lived next door to us in p-town and we've spent many a night playing ticket to ride, painting and discussing football plays. i didn't take a picture of their visit but here's one of adorable henry, my favorite little guy [shamelessly ripped from their now-private blog]:



a week earlier, i'd had a fabulous girls' brunch with new-and-old pasadena friends -- all of whom blog, so you know we're perfect for each other. sachia came to town and planned the get-together [thanks again, friend] -- and turns out my lovely friend jen just moved to OREM of all places, so we carpooled up together with her two cute girls. at brunch i finally met laura, who moved out of pasadena right when i moved in [but i've blog stalked her ever since, so i feel like we're real friends...ha]. AND i met sachia's friend amy, who has no association to pasadena but is just a cool girl.



yeah...three high chairs, four kids meals, and plenty of fun girl talk. i was, of course, the only non-mommy there, but i had fun watching the moms try to corral their children. i was wiped out when i got home -- i don't know how these girls do it!

here's me, sachia and amy -- SO glad to know there are cool girls already living in utah. i have a feeling amy and i will be great friends:



anyone else care to visit utah county? we have a whole extra bedroom just waiting for you :)

p.s. if you're needing to cross a good deed off your list this week, i'm hosting a card drive on my paper blog. feel free to join in!

look who's coming round the bend...

[photo from last year's christmas cruise]

christmas is coming! okay, not really. halloween is actually coming. but i am totally in a christmas mood.

we've been planning for the holidays at work and i'm surrounded by paper and ribbon with snowmen and santas all over it, so that helps. but also today i am starting my christmas preparation!

for gifts, i've decided to try to go all handmade. we'll see if this actually happens. my new sewing machine [and some very helpful online tutorials] have inspired me to try to make something for every member of our two families. i figure starting in october will help me feel less stressed out.

also...christmas cards. i'm feeling pressured to have something AMAZING because, you know, i work for a freaking scrapbook company AND i have a blog all about paper and stationery. yeah. we'll see how that turns out too :)

so, basically, i'm spending this beautiful fall day planning out the aforementioned activities -- but NOT listening to christmas music [i will still stick to my principles and not bust that out until after thanksgiving].

and then we're going to the byu/tcu homecoming game tonight! woo hoo. college game day from espn is filming in provo today and you should SEE the little co-eds running around with delirious excitement. you'd think they'd never seen a camera before.

and p.s. -- christmas also means the 3rd annual cookie exchange! yaaaay. except that i have made maybe 4 friends here in utah, so i'm guessing it won't be quite as huge as years past. feel free to drive up for the party :)

last year's feast:


oh, and p.p.s. -- 10 points if you can name the song that contains the title of this blog. jean, i'm looking at you.

hooray for the holidays!

provo fall

**i ripped this photo from here. sorry for stealing, but that picture is just way too gorgeous not to share! and when you see MY photos below, you'll understand why i steal from others more talented than myself ;)

i cannot get over how amazing the fall colors are around here. who knew fall was so incredible??

sure, when i left for work this morning and there was ice on my windshield [and i was wearing a sweater, scarf and thick woolly jacket], i started missing the perpetual 70-degree weather back home, but...sorry, california. your palm trees got nothin' on utah's fall foliage.

this is a giant now-yellow tree right outside our apartment:

my favorite thing so far is that some trees and bushes turn BRIGHT red for fall. i get so excited whenever i see one -- they are so vibrant. [excuse the bad cell phone shot -- took it while driving]:

check out this cute post from nie for more photos of beautiful provo fall. yes i live in the same town as her and no i haven't run into her [but i DID see her sister last night at dinner! ha].

now if you'll excuse me i need to go dive into a pile of leaves.

three.

today is our THREE year anniversary.



three reasons i'm glad to be married to b today:
one. he sent flowers to me at work. but they weren't just flowers -- they came with chocolate too!! major bonus points. i think after three years of marriage b knows me quite well. i told him next year to skip the flowers and just send candy.
two. he makes me laugh. and can quote movies with me all day long. today we g-chatted jurassic park quotes throughout the afternoon.
three. he didn't even bat an eye when i decided to wear my purple tights + ankle boots to dinner. that man has more style appreciation than half the people in utah county.

b is thoughtful and appreciative and always tells me i'm pretty no matter how un-cute i'm feeling. he doesn't get mad when i eat the entire bag of halloween oreos. he plays mario kart with me even though i suck. he is my best friend.

to celebrate, we went to dinner at spark -- a swanky new-ish nightclub / restaurant in town. it was deeeeelicious. they specialize in non-alcoholic cocktails -- b had a mixed berry martini and i had a shirley temple [yes, with cotton candy on top].




dinner was filet mignon for b, cornbread-stuffed chicken for me. for dessert we shared a guava panna cotta and chocolate mousse / hazelnut ice cream / carmelized grapefruit. yes i'm still drooling.



annnnd to continue the celebration, next month we're going to see billy joel + elton john in concert. does that mean i like to hang out with 50 year olds? maybe. but i am SO excited about it. i've always looooved billy joel, and i think seeing him play with elton will be amazing.

so i guess we're giving a birthday-month touch to anniversaries now and making them last a month...which i am totally okay with.