I am Happy it's Friday?

Why? Here are some reasons...

- It has been a REALLY long week.
- Nate downloaded The SIMS on the laptop and I am having to physically stop myself from playing because I'm at the library... after 3:00 this afternoon, I can play! Yay!
- I'm catching a cold or something and I'm ready to rest and see if I can shake it off... that's hard to do for the week...
- I'm planning on spending a few hours at my parent's house - hangin' out with my mom!
- We're making our first appearance at our new Ward...
- We're buying a few more totes to make our end of unpacking official!
- I'll have a nice, clean apartment by the end of tomorrow!
- Friday is our date night... but since Nate has to study tonight, I'm going to surprise him with lunch!
- My Friday work day lasts 2.5ish hours.
- I've survived another week of school!

Yup... Sure do love my Friday's... and Saturday's... and Sunday's...

Disconnected

We have been without the Internet and Cable at home for over a week now - and we are still alive... I must say, I'm quite shocked! It's a good thing I'm going to school (which is where I'm posting from now) and get free access to the internet, because I've been going pretty crazy without it at night! We are getting a lot done though! We have made dinner every night this week (yes, homemade meals - quite a shock), we have read a couple of books between the two of us, and we are spending SO much time together! The only problem with this scenario is that I feel so disconnected!

Those of you who know me well know that I really don't enjoy talking on the phone and that e-mail is the way to go when you are trying to get in touch with me! On the nights that my phone doesn't ring at all, I itch for some connection to the web, just to make sure I'm not "ignoring" anyone... I'm not sure when I made the change to being a big e-mail user, but I can't seem to live without it...

Just another couple of weeks - I think I can... I think I can... I think I can...

Interesting Info...

So, I'm taking an Infancy class this semester and I've learned a couple of things that I thought were interesting that I wanted to share with you all... mostly because I'm listening to an on-line lecture and I'm bored, but also because it is interesting...


This is a picture of a baby sucking it's thumb in the womb - I learned that when you are pregnant, the tastes of what you eat are carried over into the amniotic fluid (the fluid that surrounds the baby in the womb) - so as the babies suck their thumbs and take in the amniotic fluid (which is a good thing), they are tasting what you eat... do any of you have kids out there that love, or hate, something that you ate a lot of during pregnancy? (I'm just curious)

We also talked about the "Mozart Effect" in our class! Playing babies Mozart in the womb does not make them smarter, however, it may have a calming effect on them... my Professor, when her first child was born, played Pachabel's Cannon in D with head phones on her belly for her child... after he was born, if he was upset and she couldn't think of any other way to calm him down, she would play Cannon in D and he would calm right down. He is 12 now, and she still uses Cannon in D to help calm him when he is stressed. It's like giving your child a security blanket before they're even born. I don't know if this would work with every baby, but you can be sure that when the day comes for us, I'll be giving it a whirl!

Anyway, just thought it was interesting - maybe you've heard it before, maybe it's brand new to you... doesn't matter because I'm posting about it anyway :)

All Settled In

Well, we made it! We survived the weekend of packing, lifting, cleaning, unpacking and box collapsing! We are so, so, so grateful to those of you who took time out of your lives to help us do all of the above - you know who you are! We love the "lil place" and the fact that it is starting to take on our personalities!! We have pictures up on the wall, soap in the shower and we even made our first big meal last night... it kind of feels like we are newlyweds all over again! That's funny... I was just thinking of us as newlyweds and because I'm in public, I'll refrain from laughing out loud to smiling nostalgically!

On a different note, I was able to watch and witness the historical event that occurred today... (for those of you who don't keep up, the Inauguration of President Obama)- it kind of feels funny for me to say that - I am excited to witness history and cautiously optimistic about the future!

On that different note, I'll end as I have homework to get to!!

The Pursuit of Happiness

I am in the midst of packing - apparently very intently - and as I was cleaning out my "craft corner" I found an ugly scrapbook page that I did a few years back... This is what the title of it said:

"In the Fall of 2006 I took a Philosophy Class at ... (College shall remain nameless because I'm paranoid) ... Although there were some points that I didn't agree with, there were a few that really stuck with me! Enjoy!!"

Now, since I'm using this blog as a journal and to "memorialize" things that mean something to me, I'm going to turn the ugly scrapbook page into this post and just post the quotes that I like... So, without any further adieu, enjoy some philosophy on happiness and the pursuit thereof!!


- "A belief is nothing but a more vivid, lively, forcible, firm, steady conception of an object than what the imagine alone is ever able to attain."

- "The unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates

- "Something cannot come to be out of nothing." -Descartes

- "We are free to create value for ourselves."

- "Men are unhappy because they cannot sit in their room for an hour and do nothing." - Pascal * Note * How true is this! When I took this class, my Professor asked us to try to remember the last time we sat in an empty room with just our thoughts... I couldn't remember... I still can't, but I believe that being able to be alone with yourself is very important and it is something we should all learn how to do!

- "The attitude of wonder is imperative to the good life."

- "Costume yourself for the role that you are playing - not for the role that others create for you." * Note * I really liked this one... through most of my middle school and high school years I felt like I needed to be what everyone else thought I should be, not what I wanted to be... I had a really hard time coming into my own and learning who I really was... Now that I am an adult (I think...) I feel that I have finally become comfortable in my own weird skin with my crazy thoughts and quirkiness.

- "Choose your myth. Don't inherit it."

The final quote is more of a definition that we came up with at the end of class after studying Descartes, Pascal, Socrates (and I know there were a couple more)... Our goal in the class was to define happiness... this is what we came up with and is something that I really agree with.

- Happiness Is... activity of the soul in accordance of reason in conforming with virtue (excellence) over a complete life with sufficient external goods.

Good luck trying to decipher that! Maybe on a day that I have more time I'll come back and break it down for you! Enjoy!

Today I LOVE...

- Nate - for helping me pack last night even though he is sick and wanted to sleep!
- The Wellsville's - yes... the mountains... one of my favorite things about coming up to campus every day is being able to see how the Wellsville's are lit up by the sun, covered by clouds, or just sitting there in all of their beautiful glory...
- Hailey - I was driving to school this morning & saw the Dutsons walking their cute dog! I rolled down my window and she pulled Eric over to say hi! Such a sweet puppy!
- Happy News - this also has to do with the D's! I read Eric's blog today that gave some good news about the kiddos and it made me very happy! Check his blog out to see what I mean!!

What things are you loving today?

Movin' On

Well, the time has come! We are moving into a new apartment! Well - the apartment's not technically new, but it is to us... so yes... a new apartment! Anyhow, we were extremely blessed to find the cute little apartment that we did, so off we go!

If anyone feels like unpackin', give me call!

Caught Red Pawed

When it comes to clean sheets and blankets, I'm kind of a freak... we wash our sheets at least every week and 1/2, and we keep a blanket on top of our bed spread so Rascal won't get on our nice blankets and our pillows...

Well, Nate & has been sick this week - he has rested a lot - watching TV & movies in bed, sleeping, reading... you know... the things you do when you are sick... today he pulled out the X-Box to help him relax for a bit, and he borrowed my pillow that I use to keep Rascal off my real pillow to get a little more comfy, but he forgot to put it back... I walked in the room a little later, and this is what I witnessed:


Yup - a cat on my pillow...

If it's at all possible for a cat to look guilty, she's got the look...

No wonder it always feels like we are doing laundry...

"Sew" Busy

I had a few projects I needed to finish before I could let school control my life... the past two weeks have been full of sewing... here is what I have been up to:


I wanted to make a "Summer Quilt" - a quilt that was heavy but not warm... I took my scraps of fabric and created this! Sorry I'm such a cheesy model... the quilt has a sheet in between the top and the back - which is perfect for those summer days when you're not really cold but still want to snuggle up...


On our last shopping trip Nate & I were a few bags short, so I whipped up a couple more for us and a few for my sister in law... they are easy to make, but when you do 10 or so, they take some time!


So, imagine this bear is a new born baby with a cute little bow or a beanie... are you picturing it? Okay... this awesome snuggli is actually called a "Cocoon." My friend is brilliant and learned how to make them, and apparently I am brilliant as well, cuz this one was all me baby! They are so cute and would make AdOrAbLe props for Photo Shoots!

As you can see, I've been extremely craft over the last few weeks - now I have to clean up my mess and pull out my brains!! (That sounds funny, but you know what I mean!)

Girls Nights = Awesome!!

Food, shopping, creating... what a great, late night! Thanks Britt! Love ya!

Walking Across Campus in January...

Is colder than it looks... Brrrr....

New Year, New Semester

Well - it's begun! The New Year, the New Semester, the New Stress, the New LATE Hours! This is how dark it was when I got home from work today:


(Incidentally, this is my photo of the day as well)

To be fair, I got off at 5, went to the store for 20 minutes, and that is when this picture was taken! Last Semester, Nate & I were done with work AND school by 3:00 - this Semester I won't be getting home, most days, until 5:30 - perhaps that was the reason I was dreading the start of the new Semester...

Anyway, it's begun... I'm not that excited about it... but... it's gotta be done so I'll do what I gotta do...

For now, I'm off to bed! Good night!

New Years Eve

We rang in the New Year with our good friends! We ate some tasty food, played a good and silly round of "Things" and chatted the evening away! We counted down with Dick Clark & Ryan Seacrest, shared midnight kisses, drank quite a bit of caffeine and a little sparkling cider, and had a great evening!


We hope you all had a wonderful night and are excited for the possibilities of the new year!