Our Apartment: Living Room

Finding housing in Provo is not always easy, especially when you have to find "married" housing. I realize this is really only a thing in Provo but it really restricts things. Also, because every day it seems like someone new is getting married or engaged it's like a battle to the death to get a good apartment. THIS is why Dan and I settled on our cute and very little basement apartment. To give some perspective on how small it really is our entire apartment could fit into the living room/kitchen area of my parents house. We think it might be 700-800 sq feet but we're really not sure. Good news though: we pay like $500 a month + utilities.

Anyway, this place is old. Faux wood paneling and disgustingly awful couch in the living room, awful wallpaper in the kitchen, it definitely needed some fixing. Unfortunately because we're renting and only going to be here for 5 more months we never really cared about making any dramatic changes. But because we do have a lot of stuff and also we like things to look nice we have redecorated some to make things look... presentable. 

Here is what we did to our living room.

So ignore all the crap we have and notice faux wood paneling and the awful plaid couch bottom left. Oh and the curtains on the window left and door.

From the other direction. 

Here's what it looks like now:

New couch, rugs, desk, wall art, table clothe on coffee table, and mini bookshelf 

From the other way: couch and other big bookshelf 

You guys, I love this couch. Yes it's inflatable but it is also suede and has cup-holder armrests. We haven't had a couch for like... 6 weeks and I was looking for jobs in bed for two weeks and it was AWFUL.

Black and white pillows from Ikea and heart pillows from Target dollar section over the years. 

Book case with so so many books and things. Russian banners courtesy of Dan's mission

My favorite wall: art by friend Lyse, venn diagram print from Etsy for our wedding,

scarf hanging- Target, and wedding pictures. 

Desk, wall art, etc.

Over all I'm really happy with how the apartment looks and the living room is definitely my favorite room especially now that we have a couch. The only thing I plan on maybe doing before we move out is fixing the curtains because they're awful. You may have noticed that I did change one of the curtains and that it looks really awkward. Well that's because it used to be a pillowcase and I made it a curtain using my very rudimentary sewing skills. 

Extra since you read the whole blog!

This really doesn't show much of anything except

 those are all boxes from moving and gifts. Piled above

 my head. It was ridiculous and moving is the worst. 

P. I. Z. Z. A.

As of yesterday I have been married to my best friend (cliche) for five months.

It has been the best 5 months of my life, even though it is not always sunshine and lollipops I wouldn't have it any other way. 

When we were dating one of my favorite things to do was cook dinner together. Generally the work was split about 35-65. I am kind of controlling when it comes to cooking so I would usually do most of the cooking but Dan always helped out when I would let him. Dan really is a good cook and the things he does when we cook together are absolutely essential. For example when we make orange chicken I usually ask Dan to thaw the chicken and make the orange sauce which he learned how to do on his mission. It's delicious to say the least. He'll also sometimes be in charge of breading the chicken or flipping the chicken while it's frying. All completely necessary things, especially the orange sauce. I could make it without him but it wouldn't be the same and it would be a lot more work. 

The one thing though that I think we are both completely equal in our cooking efforts is making pizza. My favorite food. We have been making pizza for about a 18 months now. 

Our first attempt was fine but it was also kind of a disaster. Edible but... well... here's a picture. 

You can't really tell but there's like 3/4ths of a inch of crust under the toppings. It was tasty but not quite right...

We now have a very specific way of making pizza. Dan is the dough maker- I don't touch it. That's how it goes. My only job is to dress the pizza. Sauce, cheese, toppings, seasonings. Dan doesn't touch those unless he's grating cheese for which I am always grateful. Together we make a darned good pizza. 

We tried a new recipe the next time we made pizza and that was a true success. This recipe made two full sized pizzas (in retrospect I think the other recipe did too... oops) so we were able to experiment with toppings. Our classic pizza was always a classic pepperoni (tomato sauce, cheddar cheese, pepperoni (extra), parsley, oregano, and red pepper flakes). Our first experimental pizza was a Jdawgs pizza. For those of you who don't know what Jdawgs is it is a delicious hot dog place here in Provo, UT. They make a delicious sauce that's kind of like a sweet and spicy light BBQ sauce. That's really the only way I can describe it other than delicious. This pizza used the Jdawgs sauce as the pizza sauce, pepper jack and cheddar cheese, polish sausage, pepperoni, and red pepper flakes. It was so so so good! 

At first I was a bit nervous basing a pizza off of a hot dog but it really is delicious. 

We stuck with those two over the last 18 months but we decided to make pizza tonight and we didn't have any Jdawgs sauce. We decided on another favorite of ours- chicken bacon ranch (but we substituted bacon for pepperoni). We mainly just didn't want to leave our apartment so it was our lazy man's pizza. Again, I was a bit nervous trying something new but neither of us were disappointed- it was delicious. Dan near perfected the pizza dough and the toppings were also amazing!

We still always have to have a classic (okay maybe that's just me and really as a safety precaution it's a good idea when you're making a new kind of pizza to know you have a good pizza being made)

This was the face Dan did when I asked him to show me how he felt about the pizza. I think it was a winner. 

Definitely love pizza and I even more definitely love this husband of mine. I think I'll keep him.

Scientific Study: Maturity

Last night my roommate c-beer and I were talking and the topic of boys came up. {I apologize Bechdel test} C-beer told me of a conversation she recently had with her friend Nick. They had been talking about how much girls mature between the ages of 20 and 21. Basically part of Sophomore year to Junior year of college. C-beer told me of this rate of maturity Nick was describing- basically the progression of how boys and girls mature from high school to college graduation.

This is what they came up with

**

You'll note that there is a major spike in boy's maturity between the ages of 19 and 21- as this is a speculation on boys at BYU it is important to realize that boys usually go on LDS missions at this point which kind of throws them into adulthood/maturity. But don't worry- they go right back to being 21 year old boys pretty quickly after they get back.

You'll also notice that girls tend to mature at a more rapid rate between the ages of 19 and 21 as well. LDS missions for girls are not until the girl turns 21 so while all the guys from freshman year leave for two years the girls are left behind to deal with all the boys in their grade who are two years older than them. I'll break it down.

Freshman year: Boys 18 / Girls 18
Sophomore year: Boys 21 / Girls 19
Junior year: Boys 22 / Girls 20
Senior year: Boys 23 / Girls 21
2nd Senior year: Boys 23-... / Girls 22-...

Girls are almost forced into a rapid maturation to deal with the new pool of boys to socialize with and date. It's almost like being thrown into a pool of man-eating {or woman-eating} sharks and not knowing how to swim. The little floaties your freshman bishop gave you aren't quite enough to keep you from sinking.
It's really quite fun- trust me {...sarcasm, don't trust me- it was a joke}
But that in my personal opinion is why girls do mature so much between 19-21

What was my contribution to the conversation on boys? It is best described in song. Enjoy!

**not actually a scientific study... complete speculation/bias. all that jazz
Also idea completely came from C-beer's friend Nick Nickslastname

Attempts At Being A Domestic Goddess: Ssaaallllssssaaa

After 3.5 months of Jerusalem without even a hint of salsa {one of my favorite things in the world} I was about to die. Seriously the only down side of Jerusalem. I mean in Turkey they had this really good stuff you'd dip bread into and it was a spicy tomato-y/spicy/pepper flakey paste {actually it was super good- does anyone know what I'm talking about?} and you could always put spice on the shawarma which I highly recommend to anyone that likes spicy food- SO GOOD! {my mouth is all sorts of watering right now- ah I miss Jerusalem}

Back to the point

So after having to live without my beloved chips and salsa for 3.5 months {and actually pretty much all of EFY too- sad story} I was so happy to be reunited with that glorious dipping sauce. Well being the poor college student that I am it gets kind of expensive to buy my own salsa- especially at the rate I go. {Lyse can vouch for me on this one} Well I decided it would be a good idea to make my own salsa- and guess what? I was right! I made my aunt Christy's salsa {thanks to the recipe book my mom sent me a couple weeks ago}

and it was so delicious!

And so easy!
AND so cheap!
Red onion, green pepper, canned tomatoes with green chilies, garlic, lime, cilantro, and salt. What more could you ask for?

{okay I actually ask for it to be a bit spicier so I'm going to add some red pepper flakes and let that kick it up a notch or two}


What made it even better? My roommate Caitlin made homemade tortilla chips. Just fry up some corn tortillas and add salt and you've got some of the best tortilla chips you have ever tasted I swear. Mmmmmm- so good. So that was my dinner tonight- homemade salsa with homemade tortillas. #reunitedanditfeelssogood

Other thoughts of the weekend:
Hannah had her first stake dance! {my mom even sent me pictures}
This weekend was all sorts of crazy and fun and also crazy {#whoamI?}
Cafe Paesan in Orem- spicy chicken pizza gets my approval
I should never assume anything/try to read people ever again

who is responsible?

In light of recent BYU events- which I'm not entirely proud of- I have been thinking a lot about responsibility. Even the recent article in the Daily Universe about a girl raped in Provo ended up talking about what women should do in order to prevent rape from happening to them.

My question is- who's fault is it really? If I have to walk home from campus in the dark because of a test review or for any reason at all and I end up getting attacked is it my fault for walking alone in the dark? Is it a girl who might have underestimated (or overestimated) the length of her skirt's fault for a guy suddenly getting inappropriate thoughts? While I'm not saying girls shouldn't be modest or shouldn't be cautious I also think it's time to give responsibility to those who are actually having the problem. Men and women have to control their impulses and thoughts and that is our personal responsibility. Can we help each other? yes. Men can stop raping women and women can try to wear clothing that is not revealing {easier said than done my friends}.

My friend recently posted this on her facebook wall/timeline thing {why is it called a wall or a timeline? It doesn't make sense...} and I think it finally puts responsibility in its proper place:

Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work

1. Don’t put drugs in women’s drinks.
2. When you see a woman walking by herself, leave her alone.
... 3. If you pull over to help a woman whose car has broken down, remember not to assault her.
4. If you are in a lift and a woman gets in, don’t assault her. You know what? Don’t even ogle her.
5. When you encounter a woman who is asleep, the safest course of action is to not assault her.
6. Never creep into a woman’s home through an unlocked door or window, or spring out at her from between parked cars, or assault her.
7. When you lurk in bushes and doorways with criminal intentions, always wear bright clothing, wave a flashlight, or play “Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed)” by the Raveonettes on a boombox really loud, so women in the vicinity will know where to aim their flamethrowers.
8. USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM! If it is inconvenient for you to stop yourself from assaulting women, ask a trusted friend to accompany you when in public.
9. Carry a rape whistle. If you find that you are about to assault a woman, you can hand the whistle to your buddy, so s/he can blow it to call for help.
10. Give your buddy a revolver, so that when indifferent passers-by either ignore the rape whistle, or gather round to enjoy the spectacle, s/he can pistol-whip you.

Don’t forget: Honesty is the best policy. When asking a woman out on a date, don’t pretend that you are interested in her as a person; tell her straight up that you expect to be assaulting her later. If you don’t communicate your intentions, the woman may take it as a sign that you do not plan to rape her.

The only way to prevent rape 100% of the time is for men not to rape, the only way to prevent attacks is to not attack.

So riddle me this: why should rape and attack on women be a issue for women when it is obviously a problem for men?

A Personal History- Valentines Day 4

And now the end of the saga. My most recent Valentines Day.

My current situation: living in a house with 4 amazing roommates. I have wonderful friends all around from various circles of my life (freshman/sophomore roommates, EFY, Jerusalem, high school, etc.) and of course I am still single {and enjoying it}

Highlights from February 14, 2012:

This was probably my busiest Valentines Day by far. It started with school and homework which was definitely not a high light but I digress. My real Valentines Day started with a Respite Night at Clear Horizons Academy. CHA is a special school for kids with autism- most of these kids are not high functioning and many have difficulties communicating. Respite Night was a chance for the parents of the students at the school to drop off all of their children (whether they're on the Autism spectrum or not) and just have a night off- a rare treat for parents of children with Autism. There were probably 50 volunteers and about as many kids that showed up. My special valentine was a boy named Fawkes {yes, like Guy Fawkes}. I help my friend Ryan watch him on Mondays while his mom is teacher her class. {Ryan says he looks like an Ewok... not sure if I entirely agree but I actually just looked up what an Ewok looked like because I didn't know what they looked like...**} So Fawkes and I were kind of buds before respite night but like any relationship we had our rough patches. For the most part though Fawkes and I had a great time playing with puzzles and flash cards- well Fawkes played and I watched and assisted when called upon by my little darlin. At the end of the night we were both just as happy as could be which is what I call a successful evening.

After respite night I dashed over to my grandparent's house to eat a delicious late dinner {my second dinner of the night} of enchiladas and other delicious Mexican foods. The special thing about that- and the reason why it was so late- was because my uncle John came into town.

Needless to say it was a fabulous Valentines Day. I got to play with kids all night and do a bit of service while doing it and I got to eat dinner with people who love me {even if it's just because they're biologically obligated to}. So not your typical Valentines Day but most definitely one to remember. New Valentines tradition? I think so.

**yes that was probably something I should have kept to myself- hide face in somewhat shame

Mystery Letter

So today we as a house received a mystery letter. When this happens we usually let it sit on our counter with the rest of the mail and just wait for it to get up and walk to it's intended owner instead of us actually doing something about it. But we noticed today that this letter was a little different. It was in this super cool envelope {do you say Eh-nvelope or Ah-nvelope?} and was from the Domincan Republic so we assumed it was from a missionary. Two of us having a current or former missionary felt for the intended recipient of this letter- what a tragedy to not receive a letter from a dear friend from abroad. Well upon further investigation {seriously it took us until 9:00 to realize this- the mail gets here at noon} we realized that it was from 1993 ummm... that was almost 20 years ago! I don't even have memories from that year! So in my immediate curiosity {well actually my friends immediate curiosity} I/we facebook stalked the recipient of the letter and it turned out that a good family friend of mine was a mutual friend {gotta love modern technology}. So of course I messaged this mutual friend and told her the story and asked if she could contact this woman and find out if this letter was actually intended for her.

I'm not really sure what I expected. I thought that at best in a week I'd find out that this woman was in fact the recipient and then I'd mail it to her and then nothing else... Or something along those lines. Well I actually heard back from the mutual friend tonight! Turns out she was a roommate of the recipient and just called her and she did live in the same house that I'm living in now! The woman that sent her the letter was a woman she taught on her mission and got baptized. She lives close to Provo now and I got her number and will be able to get her the letter soon.

Seriously, what are the chances that a letter gets lost for 20 years and once it is finally sent there is someone in the house {that has probably had over a hundred residents since 1993} there is someone that has a connection to the intended recipient. I'm telling you I have a good feeling about this letter-it's important and has it's own purposes of this delay. I can't wait to figure out what it is/if it does.

To be continued...

Oh my food

Saturday is a special day It's the day we get ready for fast Sunday

Yup, tomorrow is fast Sunday and I am most definitely in need of it.
Here was my day in regards to food:
Breakfast: Cracker Barrel- French Toast
love me some french toast
though I would have happily substituted 2 of the 4 slices for hash browns.
Luckily my dear friend Ryan and I ended the breakfast on a good note
by finishing the triangle peg puzzle(It's harder than it looks- we did get a little itty-bitty hint though)
Lunch: Station 22 with some of the original roommates
It was so fun seeing my old besties Macey and Kylee
but seriously this place is delicious!
I got myself the Basil Chicken Sandwich (sans tomato and red onion)
But seriously chicken breast, fresh basil leaves, lettuce, and I think a pesto sauce.
All on a toasted roll of some delicious sort- heaven.
Definitely a cool atmosphere with sort of rag-time music, cool art, and basil water (actually way better than lemon/mint/cucumber water- in my humble opinion)
Lucky for me it's my roommates birthday on Tuesday and we're going again- can't wait!
(it is seriously that good)

Dinner: In-n-out
I know- super classic. So good though.
Basic burger with ketchup, mustard, and lettuce (you guys-I'm {kind of} growing up)
Fries (my first love) and a chocolate shake (my other first love)
It was the perfect dinner to the end of a practically perfect sledding adventure
and a great way to end my wonderful day of eating!

Needless to say I'm ready for a day of fasting!
Shabbat Shalom Y'all!

ps. important to note that several delicious snacks were involved:

NEW DISCOVERY(IES)!!!!!- Triple-double Oreos. Yum.
(Thank you so much Kyle B. for bringing them into my life)(vanilla cream and chocolate creme and 3 cookies- how can you not be in love)

Frosted pink/white animal cookies- I just learned that they actually have animals underneath the frosting. You ever wonder if you're eating a bear or a lion or really any other circus animal- just suck off the frosting and it's there! Magic I tell you**

Red vines are still delicious. Just thought I'd let you know.

(**This is probably just me that didn't know this until today... embarrassing...)

my screams about ice cream

Alright you guys I admit it. I love me some Ice Cream! (I said it. I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeee!)
Recently (Thursday night at about 11:30 pm) I decided that I was craving something creamy, chocolaty, and cold. I decided that I wanted some delicious ice cream (though on the way to Smiths I realized that what I was actually craving was an Oreo Pie Shake from Sammy's but I digress). I went and bought myself some of my personal favorite Ben & Jerry's half baked ice cream. Here's the description for this deliciousness: "Chocolate & Vanilla Ice Creams mixed with Gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough & Fudge Brownies". I actually had to have someone translate it for me because all I read was heaven in pint sized form.

But me and the good stuff don't always get along I'm sad to say. Here are my screams about my ice creams.***

1. When I'm eating ice cream from a cone I always get it on my face. I cannot eat from a cone without ice getting on my nose, chin, mouth (as opposed to in- shwoops). Needless to say it makes getting ice cream on dates embarrassing
2. I always somehow get ice cream on my hands. I don't know what it is- just getting close to my pint of B&J my fingers attract that gooey chocolate and I never know where it will show up. In fact I just was on my computer and ended up getting ice cream on my mouse pad because it was on the tip of my pointer finger- who does that? me...
3. I eat ice cream slowly... it's just a cross I have to bear. If it's cold I can't just scarf it down like I could pizza or french fries.
4. Dreyers and Breyers... can we please get a little more original?
5. 4-5 dollars for a gallon (not even a gallon now!) of ice cream (that one's for my dad)
and finally
6. It's just so good- I always want it but I also want to savor it. It creates such an internal conflict- I know another cross to bear.

All in all ice cream and I have a decent relationship. Sometimes it's a rocky road (couldn't ignore the use of the pun- admitted pun intended) but I still love it.

*** family tradition of getting dipped cones from McD's on the way home from Rattle Snake Lake-
Even in the winter

Oh February

'Tis the season dear Provo. Love is in the air. My roommate got engaged a couple weeks ago, shortly followed by one of my dearest friends Laura, which was just the beginning of the flood. All of these people I am truly happy for- really I am. You should have seen me when I heard Laura got engaged! Silently screaming since it was 12 at night and my roommates were asleep, running outside jumping around. I'm sure I looked like a lunatic- but only because I was so happy. But seriously you'd think it was a commandment to multiply and replenish the earth or strongly encouraged to get married or something... oh wait.
But with all this love in the air my dear reader I can't help but feel... lonely? Sure, we'll go with lonely. I am so blessed to have amazing friends and roommates- always have been. But it is at this time of the year that I wouldn't mind having a little bit of love in my own life. Especially in Provo where if you're not looking to get married in the next semester you're considered a sinner by some church authorities. But back to my love life- I'm not giving you a full disclosure by any means. Please, I'm not that pathetic/ridiculous. But my love life right now is just kind of ridiculous and I couldn't quite find a way to describe it until today on Pinterest (oh, what would I do without you). And without further ado I give you

My love life

Typical right? Another apt "Pin" that my mom sent me (oh- she knows me so well)

so when I get discouraged
(thinking all is lost**)
this is what will carry me through

**if you now have "when upon life's billows you are tempest tossed" running through your head I apologize

Blog transfer

I've made a decision- decision made (name that movie). Instead of going back to my old blog (which we can all admit was only 2 rungs above entire shambles) I'm just continuing this blog to my red lipped adventures of wherever I happen to be at the time.

Update on my life since being back in the good 'ol USA. I'm currently taking classes at BYU and looking for a job. Moved into a new house and I am enjoying everything about it. It's a five minute walk away from campus and the ward is fantastic! I live within walking distance of pretty much all of my friends (well let's be honest within a mile is walking distance for me now). I recently took up cross stitching and re-took up attempting to cook (work in progress). I am slowly adjusting to being freezing all of the time but thankfully Provo hasn't quite realized that it's winter yet. Still trying to get back into the swing of Provo life- who would think that I'd feel more comfortable walking the streets of the Old City than walking the halls of JFSB. I guess we'll see how it all goes!

xx from Provo