No longer HomeLESS, Just JobLESS and SchoolLESS

Dan and I are LESS a lot of things right now. Last week I set off to Utah to try to remedy the homeless part. On my lovely United Flight (I HATE YOU ALLEGIANT AIRLINES), I made a list of what I was looking for:

•  Dishwasher
• Washer & Dryer
• Not part of a Giant Noisy Complex 
• Near Public Transit
• Wood flooring
• Allows Dogs over 25 lbs
• Isn't crazy expensive

(Let it be known I've lived without ALL of those things for 3 years, I'm sick of it).
I didn't think my list was too demanding, but I quickly discovered I'd more likely find a unicorn roaming the street of SLC than find an apartment that met all my criteria.

My mom picked me up and we got right to work:  scouring Craiglist, KSL, the institute housing board, and just driving around looking for "For Rent" signs. The first few houses we saw looked a little like this:

Except worse. The very first house was one we found on the institute housing board and met my budget criterea, but offered no information about the home other than "Comes with a Free Boat Ride!" We were intrigued. Turns out the boat ride was indeed the only selling point of that place: basement apartment, holes in the floor, exposed wiring, broken whiskey bottles, etc. etc. The trend continued as we looked at apartments which fell in my initial price range, yet coincidentally all fell in super sketchy areas. Living next door to bees stadium anyone? We quickly developed a "Nothing west of 9th, or south of the I-80" rule. Which led to an upping of price range.

this is what happens when you forget to take pictures and resort to googeling "clawfoot tub"

After a few days of dismal searching, I got a message from a landlord of house I had called on the very first day we were there. It was a darling victorian home in the avenues/capitol hill. Had all of my specifications. EXCEPT no dog. I guess all dreams can't come true. But it does have a clawfoot tub. So we'll make do.

Once we finally found an acceptable option and submitted an application, we proceeded to devour a celebratory half baked cookie at The Pie, and the went straight to the paradisiacal glory that is St. George.

A few highlights from my happy time:

There was frozen Yogurt eating

There was "eastering". My dad is the egg decorating master. My mom is the best easter bunny to ever live. Cute dresses, Glitter Toe nails, money... This bunny hides sweet eggs.

photo courtesy of kiersten

There was this. This is the face of pure evil. It is my sister Anna's ferret, "Finn" or "Satan incarnate". He stole my beloved Garmin watch. Apparently he has a fetish for plastic objects. He took it down the vent.

My father descended into the crawl space under the house and ripped apart the duct work. He recovered my watch, as well as many other things Finn had in his little treasure trove. Not cool.

There was visiting Sister Kiersten and her gentlemen friend in Cedar City and checking out SUU.

There was lunch with an 19 month old who doesn't like me all that much. But I love him. And his beautiful mom, my bff Branda.

I cried when dropped off at the snazzy new st. george airport. I love my family. I love st. george. I love being warm and stress free. I love everything about home. Except that damned ferret. 

Showering "Baby on Board" Sue & Baby Silver Bullet

I love Sue, she is one of the sweetest people I know and has long wanted a baby (It blows my mind, but I can respect it). Baby Maloy was long anticipated, Bonni and I were excited to put together a shower for her. When we began plotting this party Sue had just had an ultrasound where the doctor was "75% sure its a boy" due to "suggestions of a penis".  We proceeded on this information to plan a boy pirate baby shower with the tag line "Ahoy, its a boy!" Well, a few weeks & another ultrasound later and Dr. Walker now was "90% its a girl." hahaha. 

So we transitioned to a somewhat gender nuetral but in all honesty girly palate of spring pastels and easterish animals with a tagline, "A baby is about to hatch!" Then, 2 days before the shower, Sue has a 3rd ultrasound where Dr. Walker now pronounced baby Maloy "99% a boy, look at that man missile!" Despite "baby silver bullet" lack of cooperation, I think the shower was a success!

 For me, any type of gathering is all about THE FOOD! We had Creme Brulee French Toast, Poppy Seed Sandwiches, Fruit & Dip, Banana Bread, Coconut Cupcakes, and Frosted Sugar Cookies! Yeah, I'm still reeling.

I saw mini glass bottles and striped straws on a party blog and could not sleep till I made them mine!

I don't care for coconut, but these cupcakes were too well coordinated to the theme to pass up.

Sue insisted on making her own favors, these darling caramel apples that turned out just like Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory's!

That's right, I sewed a bunting flag banner. I'm one wallpapered closet away from being a mormon mommy craft blogger. Kill me now.

Thank you to everyone who came! There were some really fun girls who supported and I definitely had fun chatting it up. As well as talking, we played the "candy bar diaper game" and a quiz game where we had Sue try to match Rick's answers to baby related questions. 

Sue scored some great presents.

Yeah for Rick & Sue on their upcoming BOY!

May all his gender confusion be over forevermore.

We love you Baby Silver Bullet. 

Congrats!

Another Happy Week Gone By

Happiness in it's many forms...

I got home from a long day at work to discover a lovely surprise package from Branda! Of all holidays, I think Easter has the best candy, by far. And the Reese Pieces Eggs Branda sent me are no exception. They lasted all of 2 minutes in our house. And let's just say Mr. Bitey wasn't eating any...

Conference makes me happy, I really enjoy listening to it and feeling like I need to be a million times better than I currently am. Other thing I love about conference = food. The BYU co-ed in me can't enjoy the first weekend in April without a "Conference Party". Luckily Sue hosted one and I was able to make & devour a Chocolate Sheet Cake. I'd been wanting to make one all week, but decided it was inappropriate to make a jelly roll pan full of cake for one person. Not that I haven't done it before... (Freshman BYU year).....

Whenever I ask Dan what I should blog about, he responds, "Blog about how awesome I am."

Dan is awesome. This week he vacuumed and dusted the apartment, WITHOUT ME ASKING. He test drove BOB strollers with me at REI and agreed they are a necessity before we procreate - thus making me more awesomely in love with him. And at lunch yesterday he let me have some of his french fries, even though I should've just ordered my own instead of pretending to want salad as a side dish.

Let the record state: 

LAUREN FINDS HER HUSBAND, DAN, TOTALLY AWESOME. He makes me Happy. 

And finally, a mixed happy/unhappy thing: Friday was my last day at work.

It's been a good job:

• I really loved my co-worker Natalie. We share a love for Lululemon that no one else understands and go to random classes at the sports center together in aforementioned overpriced gear. 
• Dr. D was great to work for, even if my "mormoness" blew his mind. He was always generous in taking me and Dan out to fancy Carmel restaurants and letting Natalie and I spend his store credit at the fancy Carmel boutique Paloosh. 
• I had good hours, good pay - I can't complain too much. But I still did. There were days when I would have rather poked my eyes out with rusty spoons than fill another Botox syringe for a condescending patient. Most the time I felt like it was just a menial job that I was tolerating for the time being and couldn't wait to move on to bigger and better things....

I really thought when quitting day finally came I wouldn't miss it at all. 

But on friday, I clocked out for the last time and I cried. Maybe it was the hug Dr. D gave me. Maybe it was the fact that I got MY LAST paycheck. But mostly I think it was just the finality of it all. The end of a job means change. And I hate change.

But I better get use to it. Three more weeks, and it all changes. 

Wow, that sounded incredibly melodramatic. 

I should stick to happy thoughts. Until next time. 

Running in the Mud

Way, way back when I used to be a "runner"(like last November), our friends put together a Mud Run team. I kind of forgot about it. And I I kind of stopped running (except for that brief moment a month or so ago when I though we were going to do a 10k). And then all the sudden it was here. And we were on a team. And though I was about as prepared as FEMA for Hurricane Katrina, it all worked out. 

We gathered Friday Night for a pre-race shirt marking/ wholly unecessary, but delicious, Carbo loading team night. You need to eat a lot of brownies to fuel for 5 miles, trust me. 

I wasn't expecting much for our team shirts, being that we threw them together last minute and all, but turns out Rick is an artist. And he owns a airbrusher. All things previously unknown. 

"The Dragon Army" (note: the boys were in charge of names/designs) all ended up with lovely dragon encrusted shirts. It took till midnight. Poor Rick exacto knifed and sprayed them, while the rest of us "helped." The later it got, the funnier everyones jokes got... Let's just say good times were had by all of THE DRAGON ARMY.

Team Line Up: 
The Silver Bullet (Rick), Monster (Pete), Bjorn Jorn (Bonni), Jolly Green Giant (Dan), and Lo ( I lack creativity).

All of these pictures made possible by our lovely 6th teammate/photographer/support crew: 

Sue "BABY ON BOARD" Maloy!

Saturday morning we gathered to more of Monterey's KA weather: cloudy, cold, rain. Awesome. 

We were entertained, as we waited in the rain for the race to start, by the creativity of other teams and their costumes... I have great admiration for the Village people team that ran the entire thing in jean and leather cut offs. Sweet.

The Dragon Army then proceeded to run over 5 miles (I swear it was uphill the whole time) with mud pits, climbing walls, and pushups interspersed. Let's just say I was a bit of a Dragon liablity (being that I can't run, climb walls, or do push ups).... However we were able to make up time as all other teams stopped at the BEER STATION, and the sole Mormons pressed on...

We kept a good pace and I was pretty darn proud as we linked arms
and crossed the finish in true cheesy fashion. 

THE BIG SUR MUD RUN 2011 was actually a legit race (organized by the same people that do the half and full big sur marathon). There were t-shirts, space blankets, medals, and BABY BANANA refreshments.  Though we really could've used some sun/heat/non-monterey blows weather, it was really fun. Nothing brings friends together like running 5 miles. With obstacles. And Mud. Oh, and add rain for good measure.
I would totally do it again next year.*

*Note: If we are still living in Monterey this time next year to run this race again, I. will. kill. myself. 

Not Much Going On, But Let's Be Happy

Let me start out this post by saying that:
 1) I have Pink Eye for the 4.5 millionth time 
 2) We have not had running water in our apartment for 24 hours.

Since I had a recent maniefesto on focusing on the happy things in life rather than the negative, I will not dwell on the fact that I had to shower at the city gym today, without shower shoes, and am on my 4th day wearing glass to mask my infected eyes.. .. Rather I will point out that which is making life Good:

1) I got my first award from Army. Last week, while still sick, I went and gave blood. Probably shouldn't have, but there was no way I was passing on cookies and FINALLY finding out my blood type (I've been on a quest for years since my negligent parents can't supply this crucial info). As an added bonus, since it was my second time giving my life giving platelets to Servicemen in Iraq, I got my hand shook and was given an AWARD in the form of a metal coin. Also, I found out I am O negative. DOUBLE REWARD. Also, I got to eat a ton of Sandies, TRIPLE REWARD.

2) Dan constantly insists he is terrible at French and that his sunday school lessons don't go well. In actuality, he is actually doing well in class (even though stress levels have hit a new high) and rocks being a Gospel Doctrine teacher with what non-existent leftover time he has to prepare his lessons.  However, we're both ready for him to be done with both of these obligations...

3) Since were soon going to be moving soon, I decided the most logical thing to do was to start decorating my apartment. I discovered CB2, Crate and Barrel's Ikea-esque daughter company. My eternal companion gave me these wall scones as a belated Valentine's gift. 

I love them and regularly bask in their glow. 

{ i made these blondies for my sunbeams. they refused them. i was left with no choice but to eat. the. entire. pan.}

4) Yeah, we totally gave up on Atkins. We completed the two week induction phase where you eat nothing but meat and vegetables (and not even all vegetables.) It was pretty rough, the lack of carbs had Dan and I about to claw each other's eyes out at any second - but hey, we lost weight! And then we fell off the wagon, hard. Like eating out everyday (gotta celebrate Chuck Norris' B-day and St. Patricks day and Fat Tuesday...) and baking really ridiculous amounts of treats nightly. Needless to say, I gained back all that was lost. But I figure I'd rather take those 5 lbs back and enjoy life. Though I learned to love brussels sprouts, Atkin's really only taught me one valuable thing: 

 A life without croissants is not a life worth living.

Me and Money

I'm an accidental money saver.
 It's not that I have great moral restraint and like my money safely tucked away in a bond - rather its simply that I want to spend my money on too many things.
I am paralyzed by indecision on which of my many wanted items to buy and thus my money remains in my wallet. For the past year, I've kept an ongoing list of things that I want to save and spend my allowance on.

I have yet to pull the trigger and buy any of these things:

1) Rayban New Wayfarer. In Brown/Brown. Polarized.

2) Lululemon Gym Bag. To carry my beloved spin shoes. 

3) Michael Kors Gold Watch

4) The Cadillac of Fleeces: North Face Denali, in black, of course

5) A Large Cuisinart Food Processor

Until last week! I did it. After going to Costco  THREE TIMES in two days, I finally got the courage to keep my food processor in the cart. Why did I decide to splurge all my long hoarded savings on what basically amounts to a giant blender? One word: NUT-BUTTER.

I read an unhealthy amount of "Healthy Living Blogs". It has become very vogue on said blogs to concoct recipes for gourmet homemade nut butters. As a die hard lover of Almond Butter that is more expensive than liquid gold, I could not let this trend past me by. I NEED to make my own almond butter.  I have made two batches already. I plan to make my own homemade Lara bars with it later today. I also have plans for pesto, hummus, grinding scottish oats.... The possibilities are LIMITLESS!!!!!!

Verdict on my 11 Cup Cuisinart: It is obscenely huge. It is hard to clean. It pretty much takes up my entire counter. It is ridiculous.

And I couldn't love it more.

{see how healthy & happy I am w/ coke? pic from honeymoon in cabo}

In non-food processor related news: Dan and I have both been sick, which basically amounts to both of us laying on the couch, coughing up our lungs, eating naughty non-atkins foods, and watching disturbing Swedish movies (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series). As a holistic person, I shun medicine. I'm fairly certain that reintroducing diet coke and crazy amounts of my new nut butters back into my diet will heal me. Forget Nyquil, a Donut will put into a cough-less sleep. I just know it. 

Partial Redemption

At long last, we set out to rectify last month's bad experience. On Stake Temple Day we ventured to Oakland with the Maloys and Monsons. It turned out to be the first time I've ever gone to the Temple and actually ENJOYED (not merely survived) it. What made the difference? One word: Sealings. We arrived just as an Endowment session was starting, so we weighed our other options and decided on Sealings. It was my first time (well since I got married) to participate in a one. Our Sealer was awesome. He shared several inspirations and thoughts throughout our time with him plus he spoke French. Dan is constantly on the prowl for French speakers to chat with, so you can imagine his elation when we found out our sealer went on his mission to France, and had been the Mission President in Paris. The end of it all was great too. I felt like I had cheated death when after we were done & they ushered us into the Celestial Room. Awesome, all the gain with none of the pain. Good/Spiritual times were had by all.  

Now I just need to learn to replicate this positivity with the Endowment Session next month... 

{dan & pete = not happy, bleu ribbon burger issues}

After my redeeming experience, we ventured to Red Robin that Dan might have his. Sadly, it was not to be. The service was really bad - and the food wasn't great either. We even got off of the Atkin's Induction Wagon for this one meal, so wasn't worth it. Poor Dan, dashed dreams. (I wasn't too heartbroken, I kind of hate RR.) I think someone needs to pick a new favorite restaurant. Cafe Rio has NEVER left me high and dry. Just sayin'...