the go-kart month-iversary

Not up for some newlywed, in-love potentially sappy celebration? Skip this post. Friday Josh took the day off from work so we could spend our day together, because, you know, it was our six-month-iversary.

I already had plans to go to the outlets, and Josh wanted to come too.

Even though he spent most of his time reading outside on his Kindle, I liked it that he came along anyway.

We went to Manzana's for dinner, our special-occasion restaurant (we went there after Josh proposed, on my birthday, and on another month-iversary). Afterward we went to Bullwinkles, where we mini-golfed.

And drove go-karts.

We were pretty fast.

Obviously.

We topped off our night with snack-size McFlurry's, Netflix-streaming, and stretchy pants.

Pretty much the best day off ever.

a very non-crafty Easter outfit

:: headband, CJW
:: earrings and necklace, Grandma (or CJP, if you prefer), also worn at my wedding
:: white cardigan, Gap, $15
:: green shirt, DownEast Basics, $10.99
:: polka-dot skirt, CJW
:: taupe shoes, Ann Taylor outlet, $42 on sale

No comments on any skirt craftiness said all day. Success.

All skirts and vanity aside, Easter was wonderful. It's probably my favorite thoughtful holiday. I'll reference last year's Easter post here. This time is a time of pure rejoicing--and we have so many reasons to rejoice. He lives, and He triumphs. What better reason to celebrate than that?

six months

I read this article and thought that six words for six months of marriage would be fitting:

{I've never been so in love.}

Or this:

{Best six months of my life.}

Or this:

{Feels forever, in the best way.}

Or this:

{I can't find the right words.}

Or this:

{How about just one word: happy.}

Happy half year, love. You know I am so head-over-heels.

a long awaited Friday

I haven't had an official day off since Christmas. Not Martin Luther King Day. Not Presidents' Day. But Good Friday I have off. Tomorrow. A three-day weekend.

I've been planning out my Friday all week long.

Outlet malls, sewing, Big Gulps.

I have waited a long time for this. Freedom!

a fringe benefit

I've received lots of feedback and questions about my free Nike Frees I mentioned in my 12 of 12 post.

I don't think my feet have grown since the ninth grade. My feet are just small enough to not fit into my mom's and sister's shoes—and trust me, you wish you could wear their shoes too. While I normally wouldn't complain about size-7 feet, I sometimes feel excluded from shoe sharing.

We deal a lot with shoes at work. In fact, Nike is one of our key clients.* And Nike's sample size? Size 7. Last week I had a project manager come down to my desk with two brand-new pairs of Nike Free shoes just for me, the leftover shoes. Two pairs. One in hot pink and one in aqua. Sure they're running shoes (and my relationship with running is rocky), but they're cute enough to be real shoes. So I've been wearing them with outfits. {I have been using them to work out in too—I feel like I'd be disgracing the real athletes out there without using them for some form of exercise.}

Size-7 isn't feeling so discriminated against anymore.

I wonder what I'd need to do to sign Steve Madden as a client?

*We're a retail design firm. I know—that tells you next to nothing.

Friday delight

Josh was invited to a guys' night tonight, so who do I invite over?

Rhett Butler.

That's right--Gone with the Wind is Netflix-streamable, in all its dashing, I-don't-give-a-damn, four-hour glory.

Can you think of better way to spend this husband-less time? I couldn't either.

a penny for my thought

I'm going to let you in on my biggest KitchenAid secret: it's refurbished.

Here's the thing: I've wanted a KitchenAid forever. Here's the other thing: they're expensive. I penned in a KitchenAid on my big wish list and let it sit there. Then when our tax return money came in, I started thinking about moving the mixer from the wish list to the buy list. But $350 is still a lot of money, even with a tax return (and especially when you're trying to pay off school debt).

Then I remembered a conversation I had over the summer with my friend Breanna. She bought a refurbished KitchenAid mixer and was more than pleased with it. So I did some research into the idea. Turns out that KitchenAid is in charge of refurbishing their own mixers. So I'd be buying a KitchenAid from KitchenAid for a fraction of the price. Done.

At that moment I defined one of my key money philosophies: make it do.

I'm blessed that Josh and I have similar financial approaches. We both want to live within our means and provide for our current and future needs. I love the doctrine of provident living. I love the present and future freedom promised by saving and modest spending.

Perhaps abiding strictly to "making it do" would be making do with my hand mixer instead of purchasing a stand mixer. But I think that for a splurge—especially when the numbers said I could afford a brand new one if I wanted—I splurged in the spirit of making it do.

12 of 12: april 2011

01. My MAC paint pot. Bare study, to be exact--an absolutely necessary tool.

02. Breakfast of champions--Carnation Instant Breakfast. I make both mine and Josh's.

03. TriMet MAX line

04. The single-cup serve coffee machine at work. It makes cocoa. Free cocoa. Are we both seeing the same problem here?

05. The conglomerate Cheez-It

06. See that?? Sun

07. Powell's during lunch

08. Sending Nike Fly Wades abroad

09. Bad luck at lights

10. Working out with new Nike Frees that I got for free--yeah, that's right.

11. Playing on the Wii with Josh

12. My vitamin D supplements--with so much gray, my body needs them!

the cutest investment

We got a modest return on our taxes this year, and with a small portion of that return I bought a KitchenAid. Seriously, guys, I haven't been this excited since Josh gave me my sewing machine last Christmas.

The first thing I did when it arrived on Thursday was to try my hand at bread baking (inspired especially by the Bread Brigade). Alas my first legitimate bread-baking effort was sabotaged by my forgetting an ingredient.

Saturday, though, I tried again, and was successful. And Sunday night I whipped up these delights for our young-married FHE group.

{Peanut butter, powdered sugar, butter, graham crackers all topped with melted chocolate--yes. Also, next time I'm going to substitute graham crackers with pretzels. Double yes.}

So clearly, I've already gotten a return on this investment. 

I've also felt an added meaning in my culinary domesticity lately since the first anniversary of my grandmother's death. She was an expert in the kitchen, especially in bread- and cake-making. Susan sent this sign to several of us in the family in remembrance of Grandma.

I think it a more-than-fitting tribute. I like to think that Grandma would be really excited about my pear green KitchenAid mixer. You can expect lots of baking to be happening at the Wilsons'.

exercise reward

I've started working out again. I found a highly rated workout DVD that lets me exercise at home. That's my kind of exercise: convenient.

So because I worked out today, I treated myself to a Snickers Easter egg.

Obviously.

{On an unrelated note: I've been going back and forth about whether I should take down yesterday's post. See, I've always found Tyrone Wells's "Hate Song" a piece of musical comedy, so I thought I'd imitate. But then after posting my own hate song and reading it through a couple times, it sounded way more complain-y than I intended. Yesterday's Apple Store excursion was more exasperating than upsetting. I didn't communicate that the way I wanted. So, yeah. No more hate songs. They make me sound more whiny than I-am-slash-want-to-come-off. Thanks for reading, even when I complain.}

a hate song, or some well deserved complaining

Hate Song 04.08.2011

I hate people who try to burgle workplaces and end up ruining computers.
I hate taking 15 minutes to drive five blocks because of traffic and too short lights.
I hate the Apple store.
I hate cancelled GeniusBar appointments.
And I hate having to wait half an hour for another GenuisBar appointment.
I hate having to wait with my million-pound computer in tow.
I hate the Apple store refusing to hold on to my million-pound computer.
I hate not being able to shop while I wait because of aforementioned million-pound computer.
I hate talking to Apple store employees.
I hate exiting crowded parking garages.
I hate people who cross on red lights.
And I hate cars that stop at green ones.

Stretchy pants are so happening tonight.

{my inspiration}

disconnection

So this morning, I forgot my phone at home. And even though I'm at a computer pretty much all day, without my phone, I feel, dare I say, isolated. I know. I felt ridiculous even typing that. How is it possible that I feel isolated without my phone when I have so many other media outlets? Regardless of how you could spin this, it's been kind of a lonely day.

I want to pick up the phone and steal away for a few minutes to talk to Josh, and I want to make the usual call to my mom on the way to the bus stop. But today my communication stops at the keyboard. I watch ABC news videos about women with too much plastic surgery all I want, but this lonely sensation will subside only when Josh picks me up from the bus stop and I go home to make a real dinner, which we'll eat to The Office or The X-Files (tonight, I'm rooting for The X-Files).

{Update: We spent our evening eating carrot/shallot pasta with a cookie pie for dessert while streaming Toy Story 3 on Netflix. Bliss.}

a weekend in spring

This weekend I bought some herbs for an herb garden.

And I made a run to Goodwill, where I bought the pots for the herbs and a wooden picture frame that I painted white.

And I painted the frame white so I could hang up this (from here).

And I knitted a few Easter eggs.

And I spent all weekend listening to General Conference, where I listened to these men, among many other men and women. Their words temporarily removed me from the world and left me renewed, reassured, and strengthened.

So, yeah. It was a pretty great weekend.