Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Mark his words

"I feel like making a big purchase today"

That's what Chris said to me on Monday. It was rainy, cold, and we had no plans for our afternoon off. We headed into Circuit City hoping to find some screaming deals on flat screen TVs, but left unimpressed and empty handed. So I suggested we hit up the music store down the street. Which is where I fell in love with this baby:











I'd been talking about buying a keyboard already for months. Lucky for me, the music store had a huge selection. And they were having a President's Day sale. The perfect storm.

Although it would be great to have a real piano, at this point in our apartment-dwelling lives I am really excited about my Yamaha mm8. It has a full keyboard with weighted, graded keys, a lovely grand piano sound, and hundreds of other sounds and features for songwriting, arranging and recording, which is what really sold me. Hooray for big purchases! (and thanks for indulging me Christopher, I know it's not exactly what you had in mind...:)

V-Day





















Happy Belated Valentines! My offering of love came in the morning, with heart-shaped pancakes for my DH. I think it's so funny when people use that acronym.

Christopher went above and beyond this year and packed the day with activities that he knew I'd love. We drove out to LA to the Getty Museum, which I'd wanted to visit since we moved here. It was a dream fulfilled. Beautiful.















































































Wednesday, February 11, 2009

25 Things

We're somewhat settled into our new place and I will eventually send a mass email with our new address. A few updates:

-I took a random quick business trip to Utah last week and got my first rental car...felt old & cool.

-Chris has been a top-scorer in his church ball games lately, but unfortunately injured his shoulder in last week's game. He seems to be recovering well though, although we still can't determine if his injury was a "stinger" "burner" "strain" or "sprain." (Can someone please explain the difference?)

-I bought a whole apple pie from Marie Callender's the other night on a whim and have been slowly eating it all on my own.

-We decided against getting a cat. And a couch. I don't want to forever deter my parents from coming to visit and our old sectional fits perfectly in the new living room.

-Design Miser is alive, which is where I will post recent design work and inspiration. Check back when you can.

And, for those of you who are not on Facebook here is my list of "25 things" as a bonus:

1. I work from home and my grooming habits are slowly falling apart. Right now I have bed hair and am wearing stretch pants.

2. My freshman year in college we had a fire alarm go off in the girls' dorm early one morning. I fled the building in my pajamas, barefoot, only to wait outside for an hour in freezing weather and snow. Other people were smart enough to put on shoes and a jacket before saving themselves.

3. When I was in 5th grade my teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and published it in the yearbook. I said "an artist and pianist." Wanting to be true to my word I majored in Design and minored in Music.

4. I once went through a phase where I ate the same thing for lunch every day: An onion bagel with mayo, feta cheese, cucumber and tomato. It was strangely delicious.

5. I am a horrible multi-tasker. I cannot talk on the phone and do anything at the same time. Or even talk to Chis and drive (well) at the same time. One thing I can do: Work and watch The Bachelor at the same time.

6. I love a fresh, white sheet of paper and an inky pen.

7. Before we started dating, I had a middle-school style crush on Chris. My way of making this known was to purposely not talk to him and then tell all my roommates I thought he was cute. Somehow this approach worked for me.

8. I was an industrial design major for one year in college until I discovered that my 3D visualizations skills are non-existent.

9. I have always been interested in starting my own business. When I was a kid, I had a business plan for a company called "Almost Edible" Soap...soap that smelled so good you would want to eat it.

10. My parents are both French speakers and my mom has taught for years and been involved in the French community. When I was young, I used to love when she would bring home leftover cheese, baguettes and eclairs from a class or get-together. I love French food, culture, language...but I've never been there.

11. My sister in law Jessica and I are so much alike I think we were destined to be related.

12. I passed up a job to work as a nanny on the island of Corsica for a summer and instead took a job in San Diego to be close to Chris. And I don't really regret it.

13. I have always been a fan of a classic prank call and pulled one very recently.

14. I was Washington's Junior Miss '03 and had to be judged on impromptu public speaking and interviewing. Instead of making me better, I think it ruined me for life...to this day I hate public speaking.

15. On the same note, my nickname in senior year English class was "Miss America" and I also hated that.

16. I had a paper route when I was in 8th grade and people were always shouting/heckling/honking at me from their cars. Once it startled me so badly I crashed my bike.

17. Chris and I were married just after Christmas and I can't think of a more romantic time of year to be wed.

18. My mom and I have always been close and I used to come home, sit on the kitchen counter, and talk to her for a couple hours every day after school.

19. I love the internet and my computer. It is like an extension of me and I feel completely out of sorts if I can't regularly check my email, blogs, news, download podcasts, watch free episodes, etc.

20. I once jumped off the 50 ft. bridge at Molten Falls and hurt my back so badly I thought it would never heal but I was too scared to tell my mom I thought I needed medical attention.

21. Portland is and always will be my favorite city.

22. The most fun date I have been on was one where we rented scooters and then proceeded to take them up Provo canyon, off-road, and across a shallow river. We basically destroyed the scooters and had to pay to have them repaired. But man, was it fun.

23. I love to eat out. It doesn't matter if it's something fancy or just Hometown Buffet, I always get really really excited to go out to eat.

24. Chris and I share one car right now. I hate the idea of buying another so I continue to make decisions on where I'm going to go any given day based on if I can ride my bike to it.

25. I am terribly distractable and need to stop doing this and get back to work.