Nolan & Amber Garrity

Baby bump

2011-10-31T21:10:00.002-06:00

Hot baby bump huh?! Thanks to Nolan for being very supportive with everything.

Big Surprise

2011-10-28T10:30:00.004-06:00

Nolan's going to need to start getting used to things like this:Because we're having a baby GIRL! We're totally shocked but we're getting excited. Baby bump picture coming soon.

A look back at summer

2011-09-12T16:33:00.007-06:00

Since graduation Nolan and I have had a somewhat eventful summer. We took a little trip to Vegas to make up for our first 3 anniversaries always taking place during the middle of finals week. Don't worry we didn't waste our time gambling, but Nolan did win $30 off a nickel machine and he was pretty proud of that. It was a great getaway and Nolan is constantly asking me when we are going back. In fact he wants to go back with some cool friends... so if you're cool.. let us know.

In July we had the awesome experience of going to Guatemala with my family for my cousin's wedding. It was such a neat experience and its always humbling to go to another country where the culture is so different and many live in extreme poverty. Nolan was able to meet a lot of my family from Holland that we rarely get to see and it was great to spending time with them.While we were in Guatemala we were able to see some great things while we were there. Nolan spent a lot of time exploring downtown Guatemala City and making daily trips to the market. Nolan and I were also able to visit the historical city of Antigua which was really cool.In our last day in Guatemala we took a short plane ride to the ancient Mayan city of Tikal. The ancient city was located in the middle of a rainforest and it was cool walking through and seeing some monkeys and some crazy looking insects. We had a great tour guide that really explained the Mayan history to us and helped us understand how impressive all the ruins really are.
We were able to climb all around the ruins and temples which was really neat. At the very end of the tour we climbed all the way to the top of the highest temple which overlooked the top of the rainforest canopy.
When we got back to our normal life we found out that we needed to move out of our apartment as soon as possible. Nolan and I were so excited for the push to get us out of that tiny little basement apartment to a more "grown up" place. Our new place still has tons of quirks but we're finally getting settled in. Its away from campus so we're surrounded by all kinds of people and families, instead of just students.

My in-laws, Kim and Rick were able to come over labor day weekend for the blessing of our new nephew. While they were here Kim shared her talents, and her sewing machine, to help me make curtains for our new place. The curtains look great and our place is starting to feel more homey. We still have a ton of unpacking to do, but we're slowly getting there.

It's been a pretty exciting summer and since we're not in school anymore, Nolan and I don't even feel like summer is even over. We're still having fun and staying busy but I'm pretty excited for the fall.

GRADUATION!

2011-05-08T12:09:00.009-06:00

WE'RE GRADUATED! We did it! We wanted to thank everyone for their love and support over the years, and a special thanks to all those who came out to support us at graduation. We really appreciated everything anyone has done for us.

THANK YOU!

My parent's came and champed it.

Almost all of Nolan's family came.Yay! We're done! Now, we are going to take the summer to figure out what to do next in our lives. Hopefully relax, and spend our last few months in Logan living it up.

HEY! Remember us?!

2011-05-03T17:23:00.007-06:00

We're back! Over the last several months we've been far too busy to do anything blog worthy. But good news, our last semester is almost over. Nolan and I only have a few finals left and then we get to figure out what to do with our lives. Trust me, I'm not looking forward to making that decision.

Our anniversary this year fell in the middle of finals week again. Boo. Honestly though, Nolan and I were so busy and had so much other stuff on our mind that we didn't even really remember till my parents reminded us about their anniversary (which happens to be the day before ours). Because times were so hectic we didn't expect anything from each other and we didn't even feel bad about it. The morning of our anniversary I had my first final bright and early and when I finally got home from it I found some flowers, our picnic blanket, and a cooler full of food ready to go. Despite us being so busy and deciding not to do anything, Nolan snuck away during my final and packed us up an afternoon picnic. It was perfect. It just so happened to be the first sunny and relatively warm day we've had in Logan in months!

We love going to first dam and feeding the ducks and geese. I think they're getting spoiled and picky because this time they were not digging our chips. Usually they will eat out of the palm of your hand.
Not sure what I was laughing about but at least you can see how beautiful the day was! We were so lucky too, because now its pouring outside.

Nolan and I will be graduating on Saturday. Both our parents are coming to support and we're excited to get to spend time with them. As to what we are doing next, we have no idea. Wish us luck!

Christmas in February

2011-02-01T17:59:00.011-07:00

I know it's really late to be posting about Christmas but what can I say, Nolan and I are professional procrastinators. Nolan and I were excited to finally spend a Christmas in Portland with his family. It was a much needed break and it worked out perfectly. We were there for a week and did a lot of exciting things, like go shopping downtown, games with the family, a visit to the Nike Headquarters Employee store, and visited VooDoo Doughnuts. Nolan and I saw an episode of Man vs. Food that featured VooDoo Doughnuts so of course we had to check it out since it was famous enough to be on TV!VooDoo doughnuts is famous for their original voodoo doughnut with raspberry filling and a pretzel stick. It was delicious. And of course only in Portland would you find a place like this. They also offered other "specialty doughnuts" which we have a funny story about that but probably not appropriate for my 'PG' rated blogger audience.

But of course Christmas itself was great. We had great food, great conversations, and made great memories (I feel like I should stitch that on a pillow). I officially participated in my first Christmas tree cutting experience. The Garrity's were shocked that I had been deprived my whole life from cutting down our own Christmas tree. I definitely think it was worth it. Real trees do look much better and it's a fun tradition.It was also a treat to have the twins there with us. They served as constant entertainment which made it that much more enjoyable.Rowan really loved the swiffer, as well as a giant cardboard box, and break dancing on the kitchen floor. I loved Keegan's comment about putting Rowan to good use and buy him a metal detector.
We were sad to go. Christmas break is never long enough but we were glad we were at least able to be there.
On another note we came home and spent some time with my mom who had been in the hospital. She seems to be making a good recovery, even though she would say she isn't. We are so happy that she's doing well and so thankful especially around this time of year for our family.This picture was technically meant to send to Sawyer on his mission, but I think it applies to everyone.
Oh and I just thought this picture was funny. This is us getting lost on one of our many adventures in Portland.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-30T20:47:00.010-06:00

Nolan's tender side

2010-09-18T21:48:00.003-06:00

The following was not staged in anyway. This is honestly how I found him asleep.

Cuddling with his teddy bear.

So sweet.

Nolan + Deseret Industries = Sweet Find

2010-09-15T22:25:00.008-06:00

Sometimes my husband's infatuation with D.I. is frustrating, but sometimes he knows how to work his magic. Like when he found me a legit brand new Louis Vuitton for $15.00 and now another amazing find for only $3.00.

A Dutch national soccer jersey. He was so proud.

A Quarter of a Century

2010-07-25T14:47:00.016-06:00

We made Nolan's 25th birthday this year so big that it had to be a two day celebration. The night before we went bowling, dinner and then the summer carnival. Which the carnival was a waste of time. No one ever told me that it was impossible to win those games. Those carnies are silver-tongue devils. Scam artists if you ask me.

But back to the point. Bowling was a lot fun. We were the only ones in the bowling alley which made us feel kinda special and I played an amazing first game by Amber standards. I got 4 strikes! but I balanced it out with 5 gutters.

He takes bowling seriously, always brings his bowling glove.

My jazz hands celebrating one of my many amazing strikes!
Look at that form. You'd think he's pro. But I actually beat him the first game.

On the second day of celebrations (on his actual birthday, the 24th) we met up with our friends Corey and Julie and went up to play at Bear Lake and the Minnetonka caves. The caves were surprisingly a lot of fun. Despite being 40 degrees inside and having a super awkward tour guide it was all worth it being in good company.

To describe how awkward our tour guide was. She told us that she was going to "treat" us to one of her specialties of singing in one of the biggest caves. Corey recognized it as an EFY song which was amazing he recognized it despite her singing it opera style. It felt quite awkward, especially with it echoing in the cave.
We were so glad that Corey and Julie came along with us and we had to give major props to Julie for toughing out those 444 stairs (each way) while being preggers. The rest of us struggled but she didn't even complain. We're so excited/happy for them.
We ended the day with a short trip to the lake to jump in and get wet. We also had to pick ourselves up some classic, Bear Lake famous, raspberry shakes. It wasn't even my birthday and I had a blast!

World Cup

2010-07-11T18:41:00.003-06:00

If only the Dutch could have kicked all the Spaniards in the chest, maybe we would have won. Ha Ha. It was really fun getting into the World Cup this year and watching many of the matches. I was so proud that my home country, The Netherlands finally made it to the finals.

Oh well maybe in another four years....

Which on a somewhat related/girlie note, can I mention that the Dutch produce a lot of attractive individuals. There was not one scary looking player for the Netherlands in fact most were quite attractive. At least Holland has one thing going for them... beauty. Spain, definitely not. I guess that makes them even.

Welcoming baby Lucas

2010-05-17T12:26:00.004-06:00

Last week Nolan and I went out to my sister's in Tacoma, Washington. We went mainly to search for possible summer jobs out there but it also happened to be the same week my sister was planning on having her second child. We got to spend a ton of time taking care of our nephew Bobby while his parents were in the hospital having the baby. Joseph Lucas Clegg (calling him Lucas) was born in the morning on Wednesday May 12. Everything went well, and everyone was healthy. Bobby had never been separated from his parents before so it was pretty rough on him at times, but he became really attached to Nolan and myself and I think it was a big help that we were able to take care of him and dote on him while his parents were gone and the new baby was coming.

While we were there we were able to go down to Portland for a day to see Nolan's parents. They were very generous and welcoming to us. They took us out to dinner and we had a lot of quality chatting. It also turned out that Nolan's dad had to go up to the Tacoma area for the weekend for work. Kim came up for the weekend to stay with him, and on Saturday she was able to come with Nolan, my dad, Bobby and I to the zoo. It was so much fun.

I did get a job offer in Tacoma, however we're still waiting to hear back about jobs out there for Nolan. So were still not very sure what we'll be doing this summer. We're still weighing all of our options and also waiting to hear about some jobs here in Logan. Who knows where we'll end up. At least we have a break from school. It's very needed at this point.

Happy Anniversary!

2010-05-02T16:14:00.002-06:00

Today is our 2 year anniversary! And how are we celebrating you might ask?

By spending the entire day on campus studying for our finals. Yeah, we're pretty wild.

I'm pretty awesome

2010-03-13T00:11:00.007-07:00

This post is dedicated to a few people:

1)My mother-in-law: because her gift card paid for this entire page (and much much more) and because she never gets to see what I scrapbook.

2)My friends: because they are all so crafty and tried to get me to join the scrapbooking bandwagon for years.

3)My old yw leader: For sharing this quote on her blog and always giving me awesome crafty ideas (you can check her out here)

And let me just say for the record. This is by far the best scrapbook page ever.

A Trip Down Stephens Road

2010-03-06T19:44:00.007-07:00

Yes that's right my dad grew up on a street named just for his family(But that's only because they were the only one's who lived on the street).

Last weekend Nolan and I were graced by my parents presence and had a lot of fun. For a while I'd been wanting to go to Bancroft, ID. where my dad grew up to show Nolan and to visit my grandparents grave. Of course my dad was game, cuz who could resist a trip down memory lane?

So we drove up Sunday and visited the grave sites and drove around the full one block of downtown Bancroft (population 300) while my dad relived his childhood. Some of my favorite stories included:
-Locking his band teacher up in the band closet because he had bad breath.
-Burning down the neighbors barn one Sunday afternoon with his buddy trying to smoke some long, dried up weeds.
-And accidentally freezing his tongue to the metal gate on the farm.

We were so surprised to find out that the house he grew up in was still standing. It has been in ruins for years and we were convinced it was torn down. But no, living proof still stands of the tiny two bedroom home. Nolan was shocked by how humble and small the place was, and how tiny the town is.

Believe it or not, but Nolan and I really enjoyed ourselves on this little adventure. It was so cool to hear all these stories about my dad growing up and actually seeing everything. And for me, there were horses involved, and anyone who knows me knows I'm a sucker for animals.

This also actually shows the before mentioned gate in which my dad froze his tongue. :)

Boring update

2010-01-13T21:32:00.003-07:00

Well another year has come and gone. Where does the time go? (I feel like everyone's been saying that lately, sorry about the cliche). Nolan and I have vowed to not make any resolutions this year because we've noticed how those don't really stick. I secretly made some personal "goals" but I'm not telling anyone what they are because I don't want to jinx it.
Honestly, life isn't too exciting for us these days. Keegan asked me what my new upcoming hobby is going to be and unfortunately I couldn't come up with an answer. In the words of Nolan that'd be "LAME -(dash) O!" But I guess for now my hobby, or should I say chore, is finishing up school. I only have three more semesters(fingers crossed) and it looks like I'll be studying for the GRE this summer. No promises though.
Nolan's life's pretty exciting though. His new obsession is hockey both roller and now ice. Unfortunately I found out a little too late how bad hockey gear smells. Seriously, had I known how bad it would contaminate our apartment before this all started I may have put my foot down. But oh well, he loves it, and he has health insurance now so thats all that matters to me...
Well nothing else to report. We're boring college students trying to get by and finish up this chapter of our lives.
But Nolan did take me snowboarding again. We're trying out the "work hard and play hard" technique of life. So far I'm okay with it.

Firelight

2009-11-11T17:30:00.001-07:00

I find this SNL skit done by Taylor Swift hilarious. LOVED IT! Nolan loved it too (for real too not another H.P. situation). Funny spoof of the twilight saga.

I'm not a radical feminist but..

2009-10-31T21:33:00.004-06:00

....what if women could change the world?

I saw this video in one of my classes and I got a little choked up.

Maybe it was that time of the month..

But it got me thinking..

And maybe it'll get you thinking..

False acusations

2009-10-22T13:18:00.003-06:00

So I heard through the grape-vine that I like harry potter. This information is FALSE! I will admit, that for a series of books that are being read to me -BECAUSE OF LOSING A BET- are put together well. I did in fact say that I'd give it 95 out of 100 for its "put-togetherness", but over-all my liking for the books are about the same as when we started. Close to nill. The books still have plenty of faults and are not at all what they were built up to be. I know there are some HP lovers out there, but count me out. The book is way predictable, there are parts that don't really add up and are only explained by "because it's magic", and with an exception to the last 2 books, the rest of the series is pretty repetitive (crappy summer at the dursleys, 9 and 3/4, school, malfoy, dubledork, quiddich, harry saves all, harry is the best, harry's new love, snape is bad, uht oh voldemort, harry defeats him...again, school is over, hogwarts express). Sound familiar? Sorry to all those that love the world of arry potta, but I had to clear this up a bit.

Admitting is the first step..

2009-10-19T22:07:00.002-06:00

Just wanted everyone to know, that Nolan finally admitted that he enjoys Harry Potter. On a scale from 1-100 he gave the books a 95 for story line and put togetherness! (but of course justified it by giving predictability a 30) But still! Seriously this is huge news to anyone who knows how much he denies this publicly and openly ridicules it. I only posted it here because I know he doesn't read our blog. But yes, its true, he's a fan and a true believer.

My work here is done.

They finally got hitched

2009-10-11T19:57:00.007-06:00

So after dating for I think 6 years, Riley and Kelsey (two of my really good friends) finally got married. Nolan and I were really excited to be able to go and be apart of it. Nolan got a chance to get to know all my friends a little bit better, which turned out to be a hit. Some random older couple that we were sitting by at the luncheon, who couldn't stop laughing, commented on how lucky I am to have a husband with an incredible sense of humor. I guess on those occasions when I want to punch him for not being serious, I need to remember how lucky I apparently am.... Anyway's here's a few pics I snapped to document the day.

In other non-related news, Nolan had a few days off from work after the wedding and was able to spend some time in the kitchen again. He made me some delicious broccoli cheese soup and then made an amazing chocolate box. Seriously I felt a little tipsy after..

Secrets of a Shoplifter

2009-09-28T23:47:00.004-06:00

So at my job, my favorite thing above everything else is catching shoplifters. As horrible as that sounds there's something extremely therapeutic about it. I don't know what it is, maybe the adrenaline? Maybe teaching a young teen that they're not "all that." But every time after I catch one I feel like I can take on the world.

Accept for my last one.

I thought it was just another "routine" shoplifting incident. Another minor with a friend making a bad judgment call. But no, I learned something that day.

Everything seemed routine until the parents of the friends showed up. They were furious, a quarrel broke out. The parents were upset that the girl that was caught was blaming it on their daughter. (Which I know that the friend did asked her to shoplift the item for her) Ingenious? Manipulative? Yes. And I quickly found out why.

The parents! Yes the parents. They were pro's at manipulation, and taught their daughter the way. These well-to-do, upper class parents didn't care that their daughter convinced her friend to shoplift for her, they didn't care that their daughter was so cunning and able to manipulate her friend into doing her dirty work for her, they were just mad that "accusations" were being made, and wanted to make sure that there was no way their daughter would be legally involved.

Hate that. Hate watching manipulation spread from generation to generation. I hate that parents can teach their kids these things. Like how in this case, its okay to steal as long as someone else gets caught for it and you seem innocent.

Its learning stuff like this that makes me not feel the adrenaline and ability to take on the world that I usually do. I wish I could take on all ignorant, narcissistic parents out there.. but I can't. I'm not even a parent yet.

Delayed Post

2009-09-11T22:30:00.007-06:00

Nolan and I forgot to post some pictures of our trip to Portland. We had so much fun. We were able to see most of Nolan's family which we don't always get to see.

Ironically we chose the one day that the beach was disgusting. Not fun.
So we went to Historic Fort Stevens instead.

And Nolan got to practice shooting some really big guns.

We also went to frog lake while we were there. Which actually had tons of frogs! That was probably my favorite part because I have a soft spot for small animals. I must have caught almost 50. I'm pretty much a frog catching pro.

This is the whole frog catching crew (besides Kim and Grand Dad) right before we went home with our new pet frogs which we let go in Nolan's parents garden. Hopefully no PETA members are reading this.

All in all our trip was a success. We were so glad that we were able to see all the family and have such a great time!

In Response

2009-09-11T15:10:00.002-06:00

As we all know the major topic of discussion these days is on socializing health care. I recently read this post from Keegan (this is where I'd put that link that would take you to his blog but I don't know how to do that) about his initial issues and opinions on what socializing health care in America would mean. In response to his blog I'd like to share my background and why I am in favor of changing our health care system in America.

As many of you know I was born in The Netherlands which you could say has some sort of socialized health care (technically it's not but let me explain). In The Netherlands they have a dual system (and to warn you I had to look up some info on wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt) in which government health care is required for everyone for serious and permanent health conditions. With that however, most citizens still have the right to have an obligatory (privatized) health insurance that covers basic health care needs.

Now I didn't realize how fortunate I was until I was married and we had to try to fend for ourselves. I don't know many young families that can afford our private health insurance here in America. It was shocking to find out that many of my married peers didn't have any type of health coverage. Scary thought especially considering many of them bringing children into the world with no means of providing for them. How is it that young, tax paying, law abiding citizens(for the most part) who go to a government funded state university cannot afford the peace of mind knowing that you'll be taken care of no matter what comes your way.

When Nolan and I started shopping around for health insurance, we realized that at this point in our lives all we needed was something that would provide for us in case a tragic event or serious condition came up. Honestly we thought we might have to go into debt just to pay for basic catastrophic health insurance. How outrageous is that? Why would I have to go into debt or pay ridiculous costs to insure that nothing serious happens to me? I personally have the mentality (and if you know mine and my families health history you'll know why) that you can never underestimate the importance of health insurance. No matter what, no matter how healthy you try to live your life, something will always come up and to not have health insurance would be devastating. Luckily with my parents help and the fact that I still have dual citizenship I can be taken care of.

Obviously you can see how I am such a fan of this system. Like in The Netherlands and many other European countries our health care system doesn't have to be a scary, purely, socialized system. I would prefer that our country goes for a more dual system because it's still providing basic rights to everyone while still allowing a bit of room for some capitalism (which heaven forbid America can't be America if there's no capitalism).

So there you go Keegan and for those random other few who must be bored out of their mind to read my super exciting and extreme view on this topic. Hopefully I didn't sound too ignorant. I'm always afraid to speak my mind because I hate ignorance and don't ever want to be like that.

Dats ony in da mownin'

2009-09-08T22:21:00.002-06:00

There are a few things that just brighten up my day like steak, phone calls, Nolan and Bubb Rubb. I was recently reminded of this youtube clip, and I just wanted to share with you. Sorry if you've already seen this.

Future?

2009-09-08T00:05:00.004-06:00

Sk8er GurL

2009-08-07T23:12:00.002-06:00

That's right, Nolan's starting to rub off on me. He finally took me out and taught me how to skateboard. I had to get into the mindset by dressing like one. I don't know how much it helped... (I'm sure all skateboarders out there are shaking there heads right now)

But if I can master snowboarding in a few hours, I'm sure I'll get the hang of this eventually...

Ideas?

2009-08-01T12:10:00.004-06:00

So Nolan & I (mainly I) have decided that we need to come up with a new title for our blog. We need something catchy that people can remember so if you have any cool ideas send them our way. We already came up with a few pretty lame ideas (I think we got caught up on only using "G" words). I bet you can't tell which options Nolan threw out.

-G is for Garrity
-The Gangsta Garrity's
-Goodness Gracious its the Garrity's
-The Grateful Garrity's
-The Garrity's of Gryffindor
-The Great Garrity's
-The Griping Garrity's

So if you have any other ideas or think one of these should be the winner send it our way!

Sometimes I feel the same...

2009-08-01T11:35:00.002-06:00

SYTYCD

2009-06-16T00:32:00.002-06:00

So I don't normally blog about things that don't have anything to do directly with Nolan or myself. However, I found an exception. Anyone who knows me knows I used to be quite the dancer back in the day. So naturally one of my favorite T.V. shows is 'So You Think You Can Dance.' Every season there are always a couple of familiar faces to me, however, this year it's more than just a familiar face. Randi Evans (or known to the rest of us Randi Lynn Strong before she got hitched) and I both danced at the same studio and are only a few years apart. And since I can't ever watch the show (we don't get TV reception in our basement) I hope you all vote for her because well she's stinking amazing and she totally deserves it! Plus, I'm sure there are some of you out there that owe me favors! haha Just kidding.

SUMMER!

2009-05-04T23:37:00.012-06:00

So school is officially out for the both of us, and for the first time in what feels like ages we can finally be lazy and do whatever we want without feeling guilty about it. We're actually having a hard time getting used to all this free time but trust me we'll figure something out. We've got plenty of Harry Potter to read before the 6th movie and some serious tennis skills we need to work on to keep us busy this summer.
So I've finally come to accept that we no longer have any real excuse to neglect our blog. So wish us luck and hopefully we'll get this blogging thing all figured out. But here's a little catch up on whats happened the past couple of months..
We went to Portland/Tacoma(WA) for spring break! (Gotta love the Saturday Market crowd)

Finally talked Nolan into visiting the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. Pretty sure he can no longer make fun of my obsession with how awesome glass art is. Don't be surprised if you hear Nolan and I someday becoming professional glass artists. It might happen.

We also got a chance to see my sister and her family again just recently, which is blog worthy because anyone who knows us knows how much we love our nephew Bobby. Definitely our favorite nephew (for the time being.. pretty excited for Keegan & Martha!) Nolan really enjoyed teaching Bobby new innocent phrases which actually sound pretty profane. You can imagine the laughs we had over "dump truck" (hint: sounds like dumb f..) and "push it" (hint: bull.. well you get the picture). Leave it to Nolan to be the first to corrupt Bobby and drug the poor boy with Fun Dip.
But that Bobby sure is dang cute. And really loves his uncle No-No.During the same visit from Vanessa & Chris my family was finally able to take a family picture after 14 years of no offical family documentation.Nolan and I also hit our big one year mark. Thats right, we just had our one year anniversary. Boy how time flies. We were actually fortunate to spend our anniversary by going to the marriage of Nolan's friend Mike Geurts in the Bountiful Temple. It was awesome to have that reminder of what we did exactly one year ago, it was a very neat experience. I wish we could celebrate our anniversary like that every year.
So here's to another year (and of course many more)!
And maybe we'll actually try to blog more regularly this year!

The Time Has Come

2008-12-23T23:11:00.009-07:00

Finally! I know you all have been checking our blog everyday for our next post, waiting all so patiently. Well guys the day has finally come. Buckle up this is going to be a long one, we've got a lot of catching up to do.
We'll start back in November when we suddenly found an opportunity to go to Oregon and visit Nolan's family. It was definitely worth while. It gave me a few days to get away from work and recover from a nasty cold (at the risk of Nolan's family), and get in a bit of bonding time before the holidays especially since we couldn't make it out there :(. Nolan was able to see/hang out with some of his old peeps while I was busy developing my sewing skills with some major help from Kim. Our shabby little apartment definitely needed a bit of a face-lift so I thought some curtains would do the trick. And I must say I am pretty proud of the way they turned out.
We decided to cover two of the window's in our apartment, our bedroom one being very simple (obviously because Nolan and I are the only ones who are ever in there, no need to impress others). I must mention making black curtains is not necessarily a good idea. Granted black curtains blocks out all sunlight and makes the bedroom pitch black, but that only makes waking up and getting out of bed in the morning 10 times harder.
The other curtains however, are pretty darn awesome I must say. It was all Kim who talked me into doing them. I would never have been brave enough to attempt these on my own. I was really glad I had her help.Here you can see the pretty intense pieces and pleats. We're all very proud and now our apartment is much more homey.
Speaking of making our apartment more homey we decided that this year since we can't really spend much time with either of our families for the holidays that we'd buy our own first Christmas Tree. It was really fun and got us excited for the holidays.
Once we finally got the tree up, stockings set and a few presents wrapped(all from Nolan who started shopping early) we spent many nights watching the Rankin & Bass Christmas movies as well as the Disney Christmas shorts while perfecting our skills at oil painting.
All in all, the last couple of weeks leading up to the holidays have been great. We've enjoyed this time together to establish our own new traditions as well as continuing both of our long lasting family traditions.
Love you guys.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Don't Worry

2008-12-03T20:26:00.002-07:00

I know you all are anxiously awaiting our next post. But here's the deal. Thanksgiving was busy for both of us (especially me since I had to work the entire weekend after) and now were in the middle of finals. So don't worry as soon as finals are over and work settles down there will be a post. Then you guys can see our lovely new curtains!

ABOUT STINKING TIME

2008-11-04T21:50:00.007-07:00

Finally. After 3 months of absolutely zero excitement in our lives Nolan and I finally found something noteworthy to talk about. Ok, that was a lie. Our lives are exciting but not necessarily blog-worthy. But thanks to Halloween we were able to find an excuse to update you all.

This year at my new job I was informed that I was required to dress up for Halloween, which turned out to be quite the dilemma since I wasn't feeling at all festive. But thanks to my amazing employee discount I was able to score a last minute costume for only $3.50! That definitely made Halloween a little more exciting. I was just a lady bug nothing exciting but I tried to get into it. I even painted my fingernails red with black polka dots. The day of Halloween Nolan was feeling a bit discouraged because I was all ready to go and he still didn't know what to dress up as. He also needed to dress up for work but didn't have a costume. But he was determined to find something absolutely awesome. And that he did.

Let me just tell you the story as it happened.

So I'm at work handing out candy to all the little kids and I get a telephone call from Nolan. He asked, "Where do you keep your black nail polish? and ugh.. how do you make your eye make up run?" I sat there stunned. I knew exactly what was going on and I didn't know how I felt about it. This is what happened.

He went as an Emo. Oh the shame. Especially when he showed up at my work (as I'm helping some young innocent girls) to buy a magnetic lip ring. But honestly I had to give him credit because he pulled it off beautifully. Well as beautifully as it can get being an emo. He got the swooped hair, bandana, eyeliner, fake peircings, cut wrists, black fingernails, homemade emo band t-shirt all the way down to his grafetti converse sneakers.
This is my favorite because he looks like he's really playing the part but really I just took the picture as he was blinking. He looks so sad :(. Emo through and through.I must say I am proud of my husband. Whenever he sents his mind to something he goes all the way. Never forgets any minor detail. How lucky am I? Way to go babe!

Our big day out

2008-07-24T21:33:00.007-06:00

Since it was Nolan's birthday, and mainly because I needed any little excuse to get out of the office and get some fresh air, I convinced Nolan that he needed a day off. Which actually took a bit of convincing. So besides dictating his right to chose to go to work, I let him decide what he would like to go out and do. We ended up traveling downtown to Baltimore and went to the aquarium right on the harbor. We both really like animals, and fish especially sharks so we had a lot of fun.. Not to mention it was one of the only things to do that didn't require being outside in the blistering sweaty heat.
There were lots of big, angry sharks...
But Nolan's a bad A and scared them all away. But this aquarium had more than just sharks. Besides its gianormous sting rays, variety of fish, and a gimp sea turtle about the size of love sac(it was missing its left fin) they had a neat exhibition on frogs.
This fat one was our favorite. For obvious reasons.

The aquarium also had what they called the "Australian Exibit" where you walked through what felt like an Australian forest. Those are bats that were just flying over our heads. I didn't like that so much and was afraid that I was gonna get rabies. Luckily they already have a cure for that (thanks to The Office). ;)
Then finally after walking for what felt like days we then saw the aquariums 4D spectacle IMAX experience. And it was quite the experience. We got splashed by hump back whales, bitten by snakes and flew over the world's largest water falls.

After our adventure at the aquarium we were pretty wasted so we retired to Edo for some sushi and a bit of cola. After that I decided that I have a ways to go with perfecting my chop stick abilities.

On our way home Nolan decided to drive me through some of the area's that he installs in. It was so sketch. I felt completely out of place. He started driving me through the "less ghetto" areas, which I thought was completely ghetto and not safe whatsoever. Until he showed me the projects. It was definitely a humbling experience. We found these old projects that were boarded up and abandoned that honestly, to me, looked almost like concentration camps. It was so eerie with everything boarded up and trees and plants over grown. It looked like no one had been there in years, despite the fact that this area covered about 15 blocks. We later learned the the government closed down these projects, forcing all those people, which I would estimate to be thousands, onto the streets. It definitely was something I felt fortunate to witness. Helped put things into perspective and helps you realize how truly blessed so many of us really are.
- If you want to see what these projects look like, just look up either Nolan's facebook or myspace.

NOLAN'S 23rd BDAY SURPRISE!

2008-07-24T21:07:00.004-06:00

This year I asked Nolan what he wanted for his birthday and all he said was, "Surprise me." So since I was limited on time and transportation I made a homemade bday poster and added some color to our pad. He was so surprised when he got home...Well actually this is him re-inacting his first responses because I didn't have the camera out in time. Pretty close though.. looks totally believable
He was so excited he even ate his candy before I could document it.. and if you know Nolan, you know he loves candy!

Nolan showing his enthusiasm about the sweet poker set he got for his birthday. Which I'm excited about, because that'll give me an excuse to practice up for my 21st next year. It came in a pretty sweet metal titanium briefcase with foam padding and swede for the chip holders making it look completely legit.

Time for the update

2008-06-24T22:04:00.009-06:00

so i know many of you have been dying to know whats been going on with us as well as see some pictures of our recent adventures. no need to worry, i'm finally figuring out this blog thing and so i no longer have an excuse. after re cooperating from the wedding madness we made straight for the east coast, which also required some re cooperating time because of the incredibly long drive. but we made it and we started working right away. while nolan starting installing for apx i also began working for them in the office which gave me the opportunity to sort of work with nolan as well as kill lots of time. although we've run into a bit of trouble (with nolan not being licensed in maryland) we still both have jobs in the meantime until they kindly find us another office to work in.

since we've arrived here i've become really antsy especially being cooped up in an office all day. i've tried numerous times to convince nolan to go site seeing on our only day off. however, since nolan works really long and hard throughout the week he only wants to sleep on his day off. but i have been successful a couple of times. the first sunday we were here nolan and i went to downtown baltimore to "size it up." the bay area is really fun and pretty with waterfront restaurants and shopping, with huge ships. its pretty neat and we'll have to go back and take some pictures. we were also able to go to washington d.c. another sunday with a friend of ours john cronan. it was really fun seeing all the big monuments and sites but i must admit i didn't know how much walking was involved and i wasn't prepared. needless to say i kinda wimped out.

nolan and i in front of honest abe.

nolan showing his oregonian pride.

the classic view
(which i am here to testify that it is a long walk between the lincoln and washington memorial)

i'm glad nolan and i were able to get a little taste of our nations capitol. its funny how nolan lived in washington d.c. all last summer and never once went to go see the sites. my father would be so ashamed if he knew. we're looking forward to going back and going to some museums and hopefully some other real neat things. i hear the zoo there is amazing.

one of the things nolan and i have decided we are going to do over the years is go through as many different temples as we can. so we were really excited to finally get the chance to go to the washington d.c. temple. its so pretty and old but the best part about it is the scenery outside. it has tons and tons of trees surrounding it with paths that weave in and out around the temple with secret fountains and gardens. it was really neat. what was ironic though is what we saw on our way to the temple.

this would be the seventh-day adventist WORLD headquarters.

luckily we continued on our way and found what we were really looking for.

we're the two ants standing in front of the temple.

all in all our adventures thus far have been fun and good for the both of us. hopefully we'll be able to do a few more exciting things around here before they ship us off to a new office. like go to the original hershey chocolate factory, or see the amish, maybe even NYC. we'll see what we can do!

PATIENCE

2008-06-24T17:55:00.002-06:00

updates are coming shortly.

I'm ashamed

2008-06-17T22:06:00.000-06:00

I never thought I'd get caught up in the world of blogging.. I'm still skeptical but I'll give it a try