Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Ruminations...

Do you ever have one of those days where you just wonder how you got here? I have to say, I’m not really on the path that I thought I would be on. It’s a pretty good path – no complaint really – just not the one I expected.

Today at work, I have been dealing with spreadsheets, numbers, and vendors. My degree is in English with a minor in vocal performance. I planned to get married and stay home with kids. How did I fall into spreadsheet madness?!? Seriously, this is just freakish. My favorite thing about getting my degree at BYU was testing out of basic math and taking the foreign language option so I wouldn’t have to deal with numbers. It seems I can’t escape them though.

It does all make me wonder how much of my life is chance (or fate, or what have you) and how much is deliberate. And if it’s not deliberate, is it because I didn’t try hard enough or because life just doesn’t work that way?

That’s my philosophical question of the day.

Now back to the spreadsheets.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

The Ol' Ball and Chain

Technically, I think I might be the ball and chain. Even if I am, I’m the best damn ball and chain the DH has ever had. Hands down. How’s that for confidence?

We celebrated our first anniversary last month. It was pretty cool. We went on a trip to Mt. Rainier and then to Sun Mountain Lodge near Winthrop, WA. It was beautiful on both trips and we had a great time. The food, the hikes, the scenery, and the hot tub were all great. We even had fun going to church in Twisp. They have a branch with less than 20 people. They bring in speakers from wards in the area and the second speaker was literally the worst sacrament meeting speaker I’ve every heard. It was hysterical.

I also had a first on the anniversary trip. On the way out of town, we bought a fishing rod and license for me. On Monday, we went fishing and I caught my first fish (in memory at least – sorry dad if you ever helped me catch a fish and I forgot). It was actually fairly entertaining and I’d do it again as long as I had a chair to hang out in instead of standing on the shore the whole time.

Good times! I highly recommend the anniversary.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Of festivities and fishing

Last weekend was the annual sister’s get-together. We invited the sisters-in-law as well, like we sometimes do. The middle sister moved this year and the younger sister is unemployed, so we decided to get together in Boise on the cheap instead of going somewhere else. Of course, the best time to get together in Boise is the weekend after Labor Day because that’s when you get Art in the Park.

We all showed up in Boise on Friday and then spend the better part of Saturday at the park looking at all kinds of arts and crafts made by vendors from all over the place. A lot of the vendors are the same from year to year. I always get a kick out of doggy designer clothing. It’s there every year without fail and has been as long as I can remember. Of course, the potters and jewelers are all there too.

This year, I decided I was going to purchase real art. I didn’t have a real budget, but I knew I wouldn’t spend more than a huge load of money. That’s fine, right? I was getting discouraged by most of what I saw, but finally found several things by one artist that I really liked. He’s Karl Pace out of Salt Lake City. The art is representational and hopefully looks good in my house. That would be the best part.

We all went to dinner at Cottonwood Grill and had wonderful, tasty appetizers, dinner, and dessert. Yum! Even the chocolate banana bread pudding was great. After dinner and a phone chat with the DH, I went back to Art in the Park to purchase my art. I bought a painting called “Low Bluff” that has nice hues of blue and tan with a touch of green. I think it looks pretty good and I really hope the DH loves it when he finally sees it in person.

Low Bluff


After dinner, we just hung out at the parent’s new house and chatted and had a nice evening. It was really great to just relax with such wonderful people. I’m lucky to have two great sisters and three wonderful sisters-in-law that were all together for the weekend. You can’t get much luckier than that.

On Sunday, we had my all-time favorite dinner of fried chicken, new potatoes, and gravy. My mom does the best job on this dinner. I love it! The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have the DH there as well.

The DH, on the other hand, spent his weekend fishing. It was the annual work fishing trip. He might have had fun, but of course he missed me too much to really enjoy himself.