Thursday, August 21, 2008

Pop Quiz....

Home from work sick again +
Trying to get rest so I can get better without dieing of boredom =
Another Blog Post!

So, here's the question of the day:

What does one of our favorite summer shows
Iron Chef
have to do with my summer job at
Sugar Sweet Corn?



Drumroll.....

MELONS!

That's right-the "secret ingredient" on the last Iron Chef episode we watched was melon! The main melons they used were watermelon, cantaloupe, and crenshaw-the same melons I sell every day at the stand.

It was really fun to see all of the different dishes made with melons at the forefront. They bruleed, grilled, pureed, and baked the melons into several succulent dishes. It was especially interesting because each of the dishes required a frozen element--the Commisioner seemed to be craving a brain freeze.

Despite the fact that there are a lot of cynics out there complaining about how Iron Chef is a lot less challenging than it appears because before each episode, the chefs know in advance if they will be chosen to compete and have a list of possibilities of what the "secret" ingredient will be, I still love the show. The cynics can change the channel, but leave me to enjoy Iron Chef- blissful in my naivety that the chefs never fall short of instantaneously creative culinary genius.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

And Now For the Fun Part

Well I am home sick and thought I would take this chance to follow up on my promise of pictures. The good news is that the picture drought is over because during our moving process I managed to find our camera cord, so now I can upload pictures so more will follow, but for now, enjoy a small collection of some of our favorite engagement shots...






































































Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Where Do I Begin?

Not only have I not blogged for the last oh, five months--it has probably been the most meaningful time of my life. Slacker. Slacker. Slacker. Oh well, we're going to move past that now and pretend I was more diligent. Had I been... these are some of the things I would have mentioned to you, our wonderful friend:

1. Being engaged-wow, I'm sure glad that's over! Don't get me wrong, I was ecstatic to have a ring on my finger that meant "I'm taken and he's mine" but it was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me. The highs were higher and the lows were lower- its a miracle that Jon didn't throw in the towel on some days and run while he still could! But I'm sure glad he didn't. Our official engagement was only six weeks long, predominantly the crunch time of winter semester, including finals. I know- what was I thinking? Jon sure left me head over heels. I think I shocked A LOT of my closest friends when it was finally official (we were pretty good at keeping it a secret- in fact Jon's roommates didn't know until he pulled out the ring on the way out the door to propose). Anyway, my engagement period was just another testament of the fact that my sweet mom is WONDER WOMAN! She was so much help and it was great because after week three, the whole wedding was planned minus just a couple little last minute details we pulled together as soon as we could. Can I please repeat, my mother is amazing. I think one of the most fun parts of being engaged was taking pictures with Jon and designing the invitations... I will include those.

2. Bridals- I took them on an extremely windy day. I'm not gonna lie, I don't think I have ever been shy in front of the camera and we had a lot of fun. My photographer even got some fun shots of me and my mom trying to run out of the dust storm that the wind caused. I will post some of those next as well.

3. The wedding day. May 9, 2008. Alright, please forgive me for being so cliche--best day of my life. The Millers hosted a beautiful wedding breakfast at the Lion House, and it was wonderful to have almost all the people I love and care about most in one room together. The temple sealing was beautiful. The reception was exactly how I imagined it, and it ended with my family and close friends there for a whole lot of fun as we danced the night away. Everything went perfect and at the end of the day, I was married to my first high school crush, the person who pushes me to be my best, my other half, the support who cheers me up at the end of a rough day, the man I want to be with forever, and my best friend.

4. Honeymoon. Well, since we met at DisneyLand back in 2003, we thought it would be fun to make a trip back again just the two of us. We had a lot of fun hanging out on the beaches in California and being newlyweds at the happiest place on earth. I have some fun pictures from the honeymoon that I will post as soon as I find my camera cord.

5. New roommate. Wow, can I just say, I love my new roommate! He's clean, kind, and actually acknowledges me when I come into the room. Some of you may not know that I had a hard time with my living situation for the last year, sufficient to say--my roommates weren't exactly friendly to me most of the time. Good learning experience, but I am so grateful to actually feel welcome and at home where I live. We have enjoyed being newlyweds so much. The first part of our newlywed days revolved around the NBA Playoffs. We didn't miss a single Jazz game-even on our honeymoon! It was a bit sad being out in California while we were losing to LA though. Anyway, after the Playoffs were over, we didn't seem to know what to do with ourselves. (I hope you all catch the sarcasm, but in a way, it was kind of true.) Luckily, we found a new obsession in the fun American Idol-like series The Next Food Network Star. Every Sunday night we would get everything together for the week, get ready for bed, and try our best to keep our eyes open til 11 pm. Ok, I know thats not very late, but we are usually asleep by 10:30 or 11 ish. I'm not afraid to admit it, and neither is Jon-we're lame. Anyway, we would stay up til midnight every Sunday night because we absolutely loved this show. Every show they would have a challenge for the contestants to showcase their personalities in front of the camera, and then the best part...a cooking challenge. I was rooting for the former Cougarette, Kelsey but Jon and I also love the guy that won- Aaron. We are way excited about his new show Big Daddy's Kitchen. Ok, those of you who are making fun of our Food Network addiction-have you ever seen IRON CHEF??? They are hardcore. Alright, you can still make fun of us. We were also happy that when the Next Food Network Star competition was over, the Olympics were right around the corner.

6. I love my family! How blessed am I? I have the best parents and sister in the world and I couldn't have married into a more wonderful family if I had handpicked every single member of it! And one more shout out to my husband... Jonny I love you, you are so wonderful!!!

Obviously, blogging is not exactly my strong point...

Ok, so many of you may not know this about me, but I am a bit of a perfectionist. This has always been very problematic for me because I also tend to be an avid slave to my procrastination. These two dynamics of my personality compete vigorously within me 24/7--especially during the school year. And while I can't blame my long lapses between posts on my procrastination, I have to admit my stupid perfectionism sure has been a roadblock to my blogging bliss (along with the recent disappearance of our camera cord). I have two scapegoats to point out to those who have complained that I drop off the blogging planet for long periods of time--well other than that my husband is so adorable all I want to do is play with him all the time. : )

First off, I don't consider myself a totally technological illiterate, but despite several searches, I just can't seem to find a blog template that I like. Second, I think I was an absolute failure at just making one myself. I always think to myself "I will post about my life when I finally have made my blog cute." Then I thought that sounded too similar to when people say "you know, I just think I will be happier with my life when...fill in the blank." So not to add to an attitude that I don't appreciate, I am going to live content in the moment, and content enough with my blog. Suggestions for help with my blog would still be greatly appreciated, though!