They should be paying ME!

Kitchen Sink. Toilet. Bathroom Sink. Tub.

Just a few things that have required frequent, no, constant maintenance here. Tonight the oven wouldn't stop clicking as the pilot light relit again and again and again for an hour. It was fine, just really unecessary, really unfixable as far as we can tell, and really annoying. Then, when attempting to do dishes (which we have to do by hand here to begin with), the water, rather than draining, came up the other side of the sink, bringing with it what looked and smelled like vomit. Lovely. I mean I get that these apartments and their plumbing are 50 years old, (I wish I didn't know that our Bishop's wife was brought home from the hospital to these apartments), but is it really fair that we're paying the same as folks that live in newer, nicer, refurbished North Wymount? I submit that it is NOT!

A Great Father

Being a great father is a tough job. A great father must wear many hats. He is and does many things. Fathers carry on traditions with their families, like watching July 4th fireworks by Lake Peachtree.

Fathers travel and do fun things with their families.

Fathers are excellent sandcastle builders. Diligent and meticulous, their work is always admired by hordes of beachcombers.

Great fathers are classy,

but are also adventurous and not afraid to take risks!

Great fathers work hard at their professions to provide for their families...
....so they can go to college...and maybe buy a few things.

Great fathers dance with their daughters,

and love their grandsons.

So, Happy Father's Day to MY Dad who perfectly emulates a great father! I love you!

Because it's been awhile

Today I'm grateful for:

1. Busy work days. Now that I love my job, I prefer it that way.
2. Oh, did I mention I quit my other job? Well I did. No more useless call centers for me!
3. Naps in the late afternoon.
4. Finding fun or inspiring new blogs. Like this one.
5. SUMMER!

Hotter than Hades

Have you ever experienced a day when the A/C in your office wasn't working, and the A/C in your car wasn't working, AND the A/C in your apartment wasn't working? And it was almost 90 degrees outside? If you've been to Costa Rica or Brazil or Central Africa then you would understand. See, I haven't. Maybe it's just me, but in this nation of wealth and plenty, I don't think I should have to say "well, at least I have indoor plumbing!". Sorry for the ingratitude. That's the heat talking.

Memorial Day Campout

Over the weekend we went camping with our friends Mike and Katie Matthews. I guess you could call this our "2nd Annual" Memorial Day Camping Trip, and like last year, we had a great time! We love Diamond Fork Canyon, especially our little secluded campground by the river, and even better than last year, we had great weather! Last year was met with huge thunderstorms just after getting our camp set up, (and let me tell you, a tent as shelter is about as assuring as just sitting outside in the storm - aside from the rain), but this year we actually enjoyed a clear, starry night, warm fire, and real s'mores. Here are some more pictures from the trip:

Our tent

The Matthew's tent

Making breakfast

More of the campground

Memorial Day afternoon we hiked up the Hot Pots (natural hot springs) a little further up the canyon. It was surprisingly hot for being a somewhat cloudy day, and I paid for it later by getting dehydrated. This picture was supposed to show an awesome canyon view with the river far below, but you can just take my word for it: it was beautiful!

Us with the Matthews

The Hot Pots! Thankfully there is an ice-cold mountain stream that runs beside, because it takes a bit before wanting to get into a sulfuric hot spring after an hour of afternoon hiking.

The view from the hike down.

We even met one of these guys on the trail! Is it red on yellow or black on yellow? So much for retaining Girl's Camp knowledge. He was a nice little fella, though. He saw us coming and took off back into the woods.

At the end of the trip, I knew I was really excited to come home to a cold glass of water, but I don't remember being that thirsty. All I know is that I was feeling really beat, and although we had hiked a few miles that day and I was a little sunburned, it seemed inconsistent with how I was feeling. It was like I was suddenly fighting the flu. Sam's quick sense and medical knowledge kicked in, and after a few glasses of water I was back to being myself. Funny that it didn't dawn on me sooner. It seems camping trips would not be camping trips without some kind of hitch, but that's the nature of spending time in nature I guess. Overall it was a great trip and I'm excited for more trips this summer!

Beware of corniness

I have a love-hate relationship with a lot of things right now.

1. Work. I love my new job and I love doing marketing, but after months of being sick and working only part-time I forgot how tiring it is to work full-time, even when half of it is spent doing what I went to college to do. It also doesn't help that I'm not actually working full-time at one location. I have two part-time jobs, so my lunch break is spent driving 30 minutes to job number 2, then I have to log in and mentally shift gears. It does provide a nice break in my day, however, and makes the day seem a little bit quicker. But, then again I have two sets of company policies and job descriptions, two sets of bosses, and two sets of things to stress about. Can you see where I'm going with this?

2. Party-planning. Not as a whole, but certain aspects, like how my blog has become somewhat of another job. Rather than just doing whatever creative I want to do whenever, I sort of have deadlines now as well as an image to uphold and clients to create inspiration boards for. I know, I shouldn't be complaining since this is just where I hoped things would go and I'm very grateful, I'm just very tired these days.

3. The Bachelorette is my guilty pleasure. No real need to explain the love-hate relationship here; it's hokey, over dramatic, and totally contrived....but somehow it's addicting.

4. Working out. It de-stresses me like almost nothing else, yet I'm so tired at the end of the day (and I mean tired) that I just can't bring myself to change, drive to the gym, power through a session on the dreadmill or almost anything else. I truly love working out, and I hate that I never have the energy to do it, so I love relaxing at the end of the day, but hate that I'm not doing myself any favors physically.

One thing I don't have a love-hate relationship with: Samuel. He is nothing but 100% supportive of me, my passions, my dreams, my and my obnoxious quirks.

Julia Child had Paul.....

....Queen Victoria had Albert,

...and I have him.

Yes, I just used current movie examples of historical figures, and yes, I will always be this corny about the man I married. Get over it.

The second best day of my life

Today is two years from the day Sam and I got engaged! It could still have been the second best day of my life if he had only proposed in my driveway after a long day of work, but instead he rocked the opportunity to propose and gave me a perfect day! The day after my birthday, he took me to Savannah (my favorite in the world!) for the day and had a whole itinerary planned. We left early in the morning and got to the historic district around noon...

We had a picnic lunch in Forsyth Park right under a Live Oak tree with a perfect view of the fountain at the center of the park. He spent days preparing our lunch: shrimp cocktails, homemade brownies and fudge, fresh fruit, and sandwiches on croissants. Delish.

Then we walked down River Street since I hadn't been there in years. It had been kind of cloudy and rainy all day, so in the afternoon it was way hot and humid and we didn't end up staying too long, but it was fun to tour the art galleries, shops, and an open-air market at the end of River Street...

From there we drove out to Tybee Island to tour the lighthouse, which neither of us had actually seen. We got there just as tours had closed for the day due to the rain, so we took a picture out front anyway.

After the lighthouse we drove back up the coastal highway to Uncle Bubba's Oyster House for an early dinner. Our appetizer was really good as were the views, but we were still too full from lunch to eat a whole dinner, so our stay ended fast.

...Then the part I had been waiting all day for: the beach! Since the weather had been yucky off and on, he asked if I still wanted to go, and for the first time all day I questioned whether he had planned to propose or if the day trip was simply a birthday present.

Of course I still wanted to go, so off to the beach we went. We parked just down the road from the lighthouse and walked past some beach cottages to the boardwalk and down to the beach, (you can actually see the ring box in his right pocket). I'm more of a Gulf Coast person, but Tybee really is so beautiful! Because of the weather and the early season we were the only people on the beach among the sand dunes, driftwood, and surf.

Our view from the beach.

More view of the beach. The last picture taken before my camera very conveniently died.

We picked up shells and were having lots of fun when suddenly a pod of dolphins surfaced probably 10 feet from the shore. If I wouldn't have minded getting totally wet, I probably could have waded out and touched them! It was the first and only time I've seen wild dolphins that close before. Then, as if the dolphins had been planned, I turned around and Sam got down on one knee and proposed. Of course I said YES! Right after we got engaged, the sun peeked through the clouds for the first time that day and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the way home. Not to sound obnoxiously cheesy, which I probably do a lot, but it was absolutely perfect! I couldn't have planned a better proposal myself even if it were up to me. In case you were doing the math, yes we got engaged just over 2 weeks after he got home from his mission. No, it wasn't planned, it just happened that way, and I've never regretted it. Plus, look at that bling! Best birthday present ever!