My Cheeks Still Hurt

My dad took us to Brian Regan this week.

Pee your pants funny and it never gets old.

Jon, Me, Gurney & Dani after the show

The Olsen fam

Sista sista

Non-stop laughs

Thank you Brian Regan-

...for getting me through every high school break-up

...for changing the way I look at a Pop Tart

...for making everything even MORE funny at 3 a.m.

AND

...for taking us away from the stress of being sick a lot lately, trying to graduate, buying a home, and moving!

Two Words

Offer Accepted!

{Insert dorky cheesy pic}

...Bring on the cleaning, packing, and moving!

{P.S. If anyone happens to know someone looking to rent a place in Provo, spread the word ->
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=475&ad=9804645&cat=276}

Valentines Day: Love or Hate?

I don't know about you, but I have a love/hate relationship with Valentines Day. The cynic in me wants to complain about the commercialization and evolved materialism of the holiday, yet the hopeless romantic in me cherishes a day completely devoted to the celebration of love.

Let's weigh my list of Cons:

• It sucks to be dumped right before Valentines Day. Let's just put salt in the wound, shall we?
• Guys and girls (but especially the guys) feel a fair amount of pressure to convey their love in an extravagant (and often material) way that often sucks all the fun right out of the holiday.
• The agony of anticipation. The "will they/won't they?" remember factor. Last week, I actually started getting grumpy in anticipation of Valentines Day. My mind had determined that Jon wasn't going to do anything for me for to acknowledge the holiday. {Please tell me I am not the only gal out there who sometimes let's these female emotions run away with her mind. I'm glad I can retrospectively chuckle at how lame I am sometimes.}
• Traffic everywhere. No reservation? Forget going out unless you love long lines and waiting with an empty stomach.
• Let's be honest, I think we can all relate to Pam's character in the Office as she earnestly waited for a Valentines Day sentiment from her fiance all day. While no gift for her arrived, she had to deliver an entire flower garden along with every cliche Valentines gift under the sun to Phyllis.
• The occasional gender-related paradigm clash regarding the "perfect gift." Jon's level-headed pragmatism is definitely one of his most attractive qualities. However, the stubborn romantic in me doesn't always appreciate "practical" gifts as much as I should. Case in point: For our first anniversary, he gave me a new pair of running shoes. On the other hand, Jon likely views my overt romanticism as silly. He probably would laugh if he knew I spend at least twenty minutes pouring over the "perfectly worded" card for any holiday. To him, it's just another card that will likely get tossed in the trash within two weeks.

On to the Pros:

• There's usually CHOCOLATE involved. Need I say more?
• On that note, there's typically a pretty delicious meal involved, if you're lucky. {Can you tell I'm hungry?}
• If you're a V-day hater that year, you can kick it with other like-minded friends and have a pretty good time.
• If you're feeling really pouty, it's an opportunity to unfold your most cozy blanket, slip into your frumpy pjs, grab a flavor of Haagen Daaz to satisfy your craving, and curl up in front of your favorite chick flick.
• If you're married, it's a great way to force yourselves to do more than sit in front of the tv and veg for the evening. It gives a set date to remind you that you're lucky to be loved.
• Gives you a chance to shift your perspective and learn to appreciate your differing perspectives on "the perfect gift." In the end, I've learned to appreciate the shoes (and future practical gifts) for the heartfelt gesture they really are. I've also noticed that Jon saves most of the cards that I give him now. It's a beautiful blend of meeting in the middle.
• You get to spend the day with the one who you love.

Case in point: This Valentines Day. We slept in, exchanged gifts, and had a wonderful evening. We had our second annual Valentines Day home-cooked meal at the Walkers. Kevin and I collaborated on a yummy meal and it turned out delicious. We watched Couples Retreat and spent the rest of the night playing old school Mario on the Wii. It was low-key and relaxing.

2nd Annual Valentines Meal with the Walkers

Me making the veggie skewers

Our finished V-day dish

Kevin and Michelle

Jons and Me

So, what's your final verdict about Valentines Day?

Love or Hate? I'm stickin' with LOVE!

{P.S. If anyone is interested, Jon made me this video for V-day. He wanted to make it since we didn't do a wedding video. I think it's pretty cute, but I'm probably a little biased. The last two minutes are especially fun.}

Back To The Drawing Board

{Our story begins...}

4 months of attending a capstone seminar.

Submitted proposal of topic (A- thank you very much!)

Started preliminary research and made a basic design.

3 months of procrastinating working on capstone paper.

(summer is a beautiful thing)

Finally decided I was serious about eventually graduating.

Spent too many hours to count in front of a computer.

Proudly submitted a first draft.

Brutal feedback.

Frustration turned to excitement at the chance to improve.

Back to the Drawing Board.

{Also this month...}

Pre-qualified.

Searched online for the perfect place.

Saw 21+ homes.

Marveled at the beautiful cabinets, tile, and walk-in closets.

Drafted the offer to the bank.

Told to wait 48 hours for the bank response.

Waited 48 hours.

Waited another 48 hours.

Waited more than another week.

Offer rejected.

Back to the Drawing Board.

{Meanwhile...}

Found an interesting job listing.

Called the owner and set up a time to come by.

Updated my resume.

Had an interview.

Called back for a second interview.

Asked to role play a sales pitch.

Nailed it.

Waited.

Owner called and said out of 100 candidates, only 3 got a second interview.

But they wanted some more time to decide.

Sure thing. More waiting.

Extremely complimentary phone call, but they decided to go with the other guy.

Back to the Drawing Board.

{And...}

Yes it's true! I chopped my hair! 11 1/2 inches gone.

Slowing learning how to style short hair.

Back to the Drawing Board!

xoxo

3 New Challenges (paper, job, home) +

1 New Haircut +

Jon by my side=

Pretty dang content with life :)

End Of My Blogging Hiatus

I've been having a battle lately with my inner procrastinator. You all know her well. She's one tough cookie. In an effort to combat my villain of procrastination, I mandated a self-imposed hiatus from blogging until I finish my capstone paper for graduation. I've been making a lot of progress on my paper, but today I decided it was time to rationalize my way back into the blog world. Here's my logic: If I'm gonna sit on the couch watching an episode of King of Queens, I might as well blog at the same time, right? So, without further delay, how 'bout another Top Ten Recap (Holiday Style).....

*Runner Up - We discovered a Shasta machine that produces a 20 ounce bottle of delicious carbonation for only 50 cents. Are we easily amused? YES! Does Tiki punch make my taste buds dance with glee every time? YES!

Photo Copyright Nate Weir 2009- we miss the Weirs

Like a kid on Christmas morning

#10 The Baby Day Expo - A few years ago, Jon's brother Josh created the Utah Baby Day Expo. Jon helped out this year and the event was a success. Josh was able to fly out from Memphis and Jon loved spending time with his bro. Unfortunately, I was camped out on the couch with the swine flu, but everybody else had a fun time!

Josh and Jon running the expo

#9 Halloween - I kicked off the festivities with a trip to Gardner Village for Witches Night Out (see last post). Then we went on the third annual Provo river trip with the Weirs. We were scared for our lives, but our captain was able to direct our vessel through the pirate-infested waters back to safety. We went late for the "private tour" and had the whole boat to ourselves and just one other couple (obviously on a first date). What awkward first date is complete without photo documentation? So I insisted they join in our pictures and we all had a good laugh. On Halloween, we took a bus tour of all the haunted locations in Salt Lake City with the Weirs and Williams. Needless to say, our storyteller was somewhat lackluster, but we still managed to chase down "Clem the ghost." That skirt-chaser. We completed the evening at Starbucks and my pumpkin frappuccino left me in a state of Halloween ecstasy.

Entering the Halloween cruise

Our mighty captain- a captivating poet

Sharing in the joy of the first date experience

Getting into the Halloween spirit

Cheap entertainment

Our visit to Provo's most festive yard

Jon looks forward to October all year long so he can tell Halloween jokes

Looking forward to the 4th annual Halloween cruise this year- you know you wanna come!

#8 Humor U and Tucanos Dinner - For BYU Homecoming week, we got together with some friends for a "married event." Only at BYU... We devoured the Brazilian meat and enjoyed the performances by the local improv group.

The cliche photo op

Our fun group- Hardy's, Us, Wadsworths & Weirs

Marcus and Erica

Me & Jonny

Adam & Aubrey

The whole crew

The girls

#7 ESPN College GameDay - College GameDay came to Provo so of course, we camped out in the rain! I was lucky enough to land myself a spot in the front row and a nice long cameo on ESPN. Jon was close behind too and loved the experience! We enjoyed the rest of the football season. Even though we're seriously missing our front row seats, we're excited it's basketball season.

Holding out strong in the early morning rain

Game day

At the front of the ESPN set

At the BYU Utah game

Our football "family"

The other half of our football group (above)

Paige and Ty (below)

We bleed blue

#6 Thanksgiving - We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. We were able to spend a little time with both of our families and had some delicious food!

The Miller dinner

#5 Danielle's Birthday and Christmas Dance - My baby sister turned 17! I love you Danielle. It's so weird to me that she's that old. The Christmas dance at Davis was the night before her birthday and I went up and did her hair & makeup for the dance. She had a fun group and they made gingerbread houses at our place and we judged them.

On her birthday

Danielle's dance hair- she's in purple

#4 Christmas - We narrowly escaped this year's "Naughty List" and Santa was very good to us. We sure fooled him! We spent time with both of our families, but missed all of our Miller siblings a lot. We decorated our place a little more this year and it was fun to get into the festivities. Jon and I had never been to Temple Square together and we finally went with Brett and Mallory Snelgrove. I'm kinda kicking myself that we didn't take the traditional "temple square trip" photo, but I guess we'll have to wait til this next Christmas.

Christmas Eve at the Olsens

The original Olsen fam

Daddy's girls

The guys

At the Millers

Cuddling after Christmas

#3 New Years Eve - We had an amusing experience as the only sober people at Benihanas in SLC and rang in the new year with Brett and my SP. We watched a few minutes of Hitch, saw the ball drop on TV, and fell asleep on their couches a little after midnight. Obviously we are party animals.

#2 Jon's Birthday - Jon turned 25 on January 2nd. On the 1st, I planned a surprise open house and we had a lot of friends over to watch the Rose Bowl. On his birthday, we had a surprise lunch with our families. After that we headed up to Midway for a yummy Mexican dinner and enjoyed a fun bed & breakfast package at the Homestead. We had a lot of fun!

Jon sharing his birthday treat at Chilis

The family pic at Jon's birthday lunch

Jon getting spoiled up at the Homestead (above)

and me enjoying our cute little room (below)

Jon walking through the Crater at the Homestead

#1 A Night On The Town With The Jacksons - Great Dinner- Check. Great seats- Check. Great company- Check. I really wanted to get a Korver jersey to match Paige and we managed to snag a kids size on clearance. The 60% clearance outweighs my embarrassment that its a kids size :P

Paige & I were drooling over Korver the whole time. We even had our "shot" with him when we walked right by him at half time, but we both choked. We'll be ready next time....

Stopping for a pic at the end of dinner

Paige & Ty sportin' the Jazz gear

Jon, Me, Paige & Tyler

*Photo Courtesy of less-than enthused guy in row ahead of us,

obviously disgruntled that we interrupted him to take the pic*

Korver fan club

Well, thanks for not losing faith in the Miller Memo. My blogging hiatus has officially ended and we're back in business. Say goodbye to the days of the Top Ten posts and brace yourself for more regular updates!