It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

 

The past few weeks have felt like a whirlwind. Lets start with the week before Thanksgiving . . .

Let me start off by saying that this little 4 day trip I took was actually the longest time I've spent away from Matt since we got married. It was way harder than I thought! I never thought I'd be "that girl," but there you go. Loved the trip, but missed my husband every second of it.

On November 15th, Rachel Fay Woodbury got MARRIED! We were roommates our freshman year at BYU and we've been best friends ever since. I'm so grateful that I was able to get a couple of days off work to fly out to Mesa for her wedding. She was such a beautiful bride. It was also the first temple sealing that I've been to, other than my own. It was an incredible experience.

Congratulations Rachel and Dave!

 

 

I also got to hang out with this girl! It had been too long.

 

 

Since I had the next week off, I decided to extend my trip and drive back to California with Em. We took a side trip to see my friend Elliot, who was supposed to have a baby that day. Luckily Camden waited to make his appearance so that I could have a quick visit with his mama. He's here now though and I'll probably have to make another trip out to Tucson asap...

 

And then we drove to Glendora! I hadn't made any concrete plans, but everything worked out perfectly. I got to see all of my people--grandparents, aunt, as well as my "second families." Most of my friends have moved away now, but we spent so much time at each other's houses growing up, that seeing the Spencers, Jacobsons, and Hartwigs was truly like visiting with family. It was very strange to be back there now that my parents and siblings have moved away. It was the first time I had been back since my wedding 2 years ago. Nothing has changed though, and Glendora will always feel like home. I also got my Sergios and El Merendero, so I'm calling it a success.

 

A couple of days after I got home, the Scotts flew out from Utah to spend Thanksgiving with us. We had such a great time! We threw together a fabulous dinner, despite my teeny tiny kitchen, and enjoyed the time we were able to spend together. We saw a couple of movies, drove out to Galveston, went to a Renaissance Festival (quite an interesting experience), ate lots of delicious food, went to the Arboretum, saw Matt's school, went to the Museum of Art, and saw lots of Christmas lights.

 

Thanksgiving morning at the arboretum. It's really hard to be so far away from my own family right now. That will never change. But it would be so much harder without the love and support that I feel from the Scotts! I'm grateful to be a part of this family too.

 

 

And now the Christmas season is finally here. Here are a few pictures of our little Christmas-fied apartment!

 

 

Wouldn't be Christmas without the Simpsons Village, right?

 

 

 

 

We obviously downsized this year when it came to the tree. But I'll be darned if we didn't cram in as many ornaments and lights as it could hold! I think it's beautiful.

 

 

Despite the 80 degree weather, it's beginning to feel like Christmas. Hallelujah. And Houston doesn't skimp on their lights and decorations either. It's going to be a good one!





A Med School Kind of Halloween

So apparently the folks over at UT Medical School have a complete and utter disregard for proper Halloween celebrations. Matt's block exams are this week, and his biochemistry test is tomorrow so hanging out with me, watching Hocus Pocus, and going to a Halloween party was out of the question for tonight. There will be plenty of future Halloweens though--I wasn't too bummed. And I pulled together a pretty good celebration of my own:

1. Carved the most amazing pumpkin of my life and plunked it on a fence spike so it would look like a floating head.

2. Set up shop for the trick or treaters.

And then they never showed up! Not a single, blessed, soul. Darn it. So what's a girl to do but take the candy bowl upstairs and indulge her Friday Night Lights addiction?

Hey, it's better than what Matt's been doing all night . . . this is a video of one of his lectures last week. Phosphora-what??

CollegeHumor's Favorite Funny Videos

 

 

Central Market: Trader Joes' Cooler Big Brother

picture courtesy of weddingmapper.com

We have been receiving ads for Central Market since we moved here. The ads were cute, and the food looked exciting. So, we made a date night out of it and went in search for something unique to make for dinner. Turns out that Central Market is one of the coolest places we've been to! Think Trader Joes only bigger, with a whole array of gorgeous fresh flowers (half the store smells like fresh roses), 10 million different kinds of cheeses, a wall of gourmet chocolate, an entire bakery section with a display of tarts that could have been straight from Paris, a deli that was so crowded on a Friday evening that it had to have been good, and samples.

We put together a delicious spread of grapes, fresh guava, black bean hummus, pita bread, baguette, brie, and ancho chile/monterey jack burgers on fresh ciabatta rolls. Random? Yes. Delicious? I think my overly excited expression in this picture says it all :) Another hidden gem! Keep em' coming, Houston.

Is it really here??

I am so excited for fall that I can hardly stand it. I've spent the last couple of weeks envying facebook pictures of my friends wearing their scarves and jackets at BYU football games, the instagrams of the beatiful fall leaves in Provo canyon, and countless blogs posting recipes like dinner in a pumpkin and crock pot soups. A little depressing, until Matt surprised me by breaking out the Halloween decorations while I was at work! That settled it. I was going to welcome fall properly, regardless of the 90 degree weather--pumpkin bread and all.

And then this weekend happened! We've been in the 60-70 degree range for the past couple of days. Sure, the leaves are all very green, and it's supposed to get back into the high 80's tomorrow, but I wore a scarf and had soup for lunch today. That will be enough for now.

3 weeks until Halloween.
6 weeks until Thanksgiving.
12 weeks until Christmas.

Thank Heavens for Columbus.

I don't know what it was, but man. This week was long! Progress reports came out a couple weeks ago. Which means that I had to notify parents of failing grades. Which means that I now have quite a few kids coming to after school tutorials. The good-teacher side of me knows this is a good thing, but the tired-teacher side of me knows that that's two more hours of teaching after a long day, and two more hours of prep and grading to get done at home. Plus, there are only a couple weeks until report cards go out. And we just got some new information about the big test the students take in March, and now we basically have to overhaul our entire year plan. So let me just come out and say it. This job is overwhelming and hard. I love it, but it's overwhelming and hard. Luckily Columbus pulled through, sailed the ocean blue, and gave us a three day weekend right when I needed it.

Here's my Monday activity :) Grading! It's a ton, but it will be so nice to get caught up.

On a brighter note:

Matt knew I was having a rough week and surprised me with a trip to the zoo on Tuesday. It was so nice for both of us to take a break from everything, and enjoy a rare cool-ish evening outside! We were both impressed by the size of the zoo and the variety of animals. And it's only 5 minutes from our house. Score.

This weekend was General Conference!
"General conference is a semiannual gathering of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During general conference weekend, Church members and others gather worldwide in a series of two-hour sessions to receive inspiration and instruction from Church leaders."

As always, it was a welcome respite from the world. I was able to take a weekend off, relax, and enjoy the inspired messages that were shared. I needed this!

 

"There's something in each day to embrace and enjoy . . . let us resolve to be happy, regardless of our circumstances."

- President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

 

"The Lord is in the details of our lives."

 - President Thomas S. Monson

Happy Birthday To Me

23!

 

Why my birthday was awesome:

1. Matt gave me an array of randomly perfect things that I have been wanting for awhile. You know the little things that you want to buy, but everytime you see it you think, "I'll pick it up next time," or, "I don't really need it," but never pick it up and you totally do need it? Well he bought them for me. All at once. Awesome.

2. My friends at work gave me presents, Kit Kats, and wrote a message on my board telling all of my students they better be nice to me on my birthday. The best part? My students actually followed directions.

3. Matt made me dinner (California rolls and fried rice) and did the dishes.

4. Mom Scott came to visit! Yes, she took me shopping at the outlet malls, but that's not why I was excited to see her. She's so much fun, can't you tell? :) We have really missed spending time with Matt's family. It's been great having her here and we're looking forward to them all coming for Thanksgiving! (2 more months, guys!)

It's going to be a great year.

Thoroughly Inspired

Every now and then I get in these really good moods where I feel thoroughly inspired. I think that's the best word to explain the feeling. Through and through, head to toe, inspired. There are various things that can trigger these feelings of inspiration. An uplifting church meeting, quality time with my husband, a trip to the bookstore, a needed conversation with a friend or family, being impressed by a character in a book/movie/show, delicious food, Boden catalogues, reading a blog, beautiful scenery, the perfect weather . . . I mean, some of this may seem silly, and everyone's "list" will be different, but this is me. You know what I mean? I hope you do. It's all the little things that, together, leave you feeling hope, happiness, and contentment, so strongly that you just feel happy to be alive.

 Now don't get me wrong, my life isn't all sunshine and butterflies. Just a few days ago I was breaking down in tears over a bad day at work. In fact I had broken down at work, not during class, thank heavens, and things definitely didn't seem as bright and shiny as they usually do. I cried all the way home, even. But those moments always pass, and when they do it feels like a breath of fresh air to sit back and be inspired by something. To allow myself to "feel intensely" as my friend Elliot says in her recent blog post.

Here are a few of the things that have inspired me these past few weeks:

My faith. A hymn that is particularly meaningful to me, and the book containing the truths that lay the foundation for my faith and for my life.
"Reverently and Meekly Now"
The Book of Mormon

These blogs inspire me to enjoy every second of my life and to fill it with the things and the people that I love.
Enjoying the Small Things
Eat Live Run
Andrew and Carissa

This short video speaks for itself. Magic.
Ode to Summer by Kinfolk

Planning out my future flower garden

I know this one is weird, but Downton Abbey! Matt calls it my soap opera, and it sort of is, but I love how poised and graceful these women are. I want to carry myself like Lady Cora and Lady Mary do, have the strength and determination of Anna, and the innocence of Daisy . . . you Downton-ers know what I mean :)

Books that uplift and inspire
Fire of the Covenant: The Story of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies
Cooking for Mr. Latte

From the Ground Up

My Life in France

And, of course, this guy :)

Find something that inspires you. Have a wonderful week!