Movies make me happy.

Saturday

This weekend I also saw two movies. (You know my life is coming back together when I'm current on my movies!) The first was
Nights in Rodanthe. I saw it by myself. Because I wanted to. There were people I could've gone with, there were other things I could've done at the time, but going to the movies by myself is something I like to be able to do. And something I make sure I can STILL do every now and then. (One of my sisters can relate to this)

I did not really like this movie. But I'm not really a fan of sappy romance movies to begin with. Something about falling completely and crazy in love after knowing someone 4 days just doesn't sit right with me. I can't get into it. And listening to cheesy love letters that would never be written in real life gets annoying. I can't help but think about all the women in the audience who will want that in reality and mistreat the man they have because HE doesn't write them such gooey letters. ew. I did love admiring the little cottage bed and breakfast in the Carolinas and the beautiful kitchen cabinets. Something about the cute vintage southern charm of the Carolinas really intrigues me...

The second movie of the weekend was Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais. I can't give it a high enough endorsement! I was laughing so hard so many times. And yet it was serious and made me think. An all-around great film which I highly recommend. (I didn't see this one alone, that would've detracted from the hilarious-ness)

Great music too! (Which Way Your Heart Will Go by Mason Jennings, Please Be Patient With Me by Wilco, The Heart of Life by John Mayer were my particular favorites.)

How unoriginal.

Friday

I love Fridays (I know, who doesn't..). Usually, I don't have class on this day which means I have the whole day to do with as I please. Last fall I had a class on Fridays that required professional dress. Unlike most of my complaining classmates, I don't mind dressing up, especially when dual purposes can be served.

It was that fall semester I established the habit of going to the temple on Fridays. I figured I was already Sunday dressed and could take advantage of the lack of crowds in the temple in the middle of the day. This is probably one of the best things I've ever decided to do with my Friday.

In the spring I hiked the Y for the first time with Haley. I can't believe it took me 5 years in Provo to get this done! It certainly is a challenging walk (why do so many suggest to hike the Y on a first date? Or as a proposal location? um no thank you...) but it's short and manageable. I decided I wanted to incorporate that heart-pounding climb into my exercise routine and have climbed it almost every week since. I like picking something like that to use as progress-tracking.

Last Friday in particular my purpose was to figure out why there was so much discoloration under the zig zag of the trail. (I heard there was a fire sometime this summer.) After climbing up to the Y I can confirm that there are a lot of burnt shrubs along the trail. The discoloration comes from the burnt-brown leaves.

Friday evening I went with Sarah and children to Pizzeria 712 for a delicious meal. Thier pizzas are unique and tastey (even though our waitress didn't think substituting ricotta cheese for the bleu cheese on the butternut squash pizza would be any good at all). On the way home we stopped by one of Provo's Historical Landmarks the old County Courthouse to check off some of Brenden's boy scout stuff. (Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera for any of the above mentioned activities...)

Desk debacle

I wasn't planning to share this story for various reasons. But in an effort to protect my karma I've decided to explain what happened. (I already complained about it to enough people, now I must express gratitude so I'm balanced with the universe right?)

A few weeks ago I ordered a desk from a store in SLC. They didn't have it in stock so they had to order it in. I could pay an extra $40 to have the desk brought to my door but decided (hah! someone else decided for me actually, I'm far too indecisive to do it alone) to save the dollars and make a trip up to SLC. Afterall, I could combine the desk pick-up with a stop into Anthro and a delicious Hire's veggie burger. Done.

I waited and waited and waited longer than they told me I would for the desk to arrive. One Wednesday night they called to say it was in store. Thursday evening I met up with the Wiley's in Sandy on way up to Trolley Square.

Keep in mind how very much I hate driving to Salt Lake. And keep in mind how excited I am to finally have my new desk and complete putting my room together.

Friday morning I began assembling the desk only to discover they forgot to give me one of the boxes - I was missing half the pieces! I was SO annoyed!! The assembly came to a halt and I quickly called the store. The girl on the phone was less than kind about the whole situation. She checked the warehouse and verified that they forgot to give me one of the boxes and told me I was "welcome to come pick it up whenever I wanted". Gee, thanks. I was frustrated, but just accepted it. I understand that it was an innocent mistake on their part, but why do I have to just accept the consequences?

I called the national line to see what is usually done for customers in this situation. The woman was very nice and gave me instructions to follow to get the situation better resolved by the store. I called the store back but they refused to budge a bit. Their fault, my problem.

Saturday I drove BACK up to Salt Lake after the football game. (Remember how I drive a really gas-inefficient SUV? And remember how much traffic there is after the football games?) I picked up the box from a grumpy warehouse worker. I was 98% sure I was going to leave the situation alone because how important is it all in the grand scheme of things anyway. But with some encouragement, I reported the situation to the national customer service line. Turns out that was a smart move!

"Kimberly" at corporate was kind enough to listen to my story and

REFUND ME 30% OF THE COST OF THE DESK
AND
SEND ME A $100 GIFT CARD FOR THE STORE!!

Who even knew stores did stuff like that?! I am so glad I persisted and didn't passively sink away as I normally would. I feel 1000x better about whole situation (Ken said now aren't you SO glad they forgot to give you that box?) and the discount brings the desk much more comfortably into my price range. I probably would've been happy just with the store credit but I'll take the refund too!
Anyway, here is the (fully) assembled desk in my room. I tried to take a photo with me in it but it cut off my head and I was too lazy to redo it, sorry. By the way, the extra piece on the left is the side cupboard unit from Downeast that inspired the whole purchase.


P.S. There is only 1 part of the room left to show. It has a dresser with knobs similar to the desk (red and all). But I'm thinking I will buy new, fun knobs for both the dresser and the desk, just to dress it up a bit and tie them together even better. Bad idea? Good idea?

This and that.

The days are just flying by. I absolutely love fall so I'm trying to make sure I fully appreciate my last experience with this season in Utah.

Things I love:

Fall colors up the canyon. Last weekend I went with my friend Trevor (from Jerusalem) up to Sundance for brunch before the football game. The leaves are just beginning to turn colors, it is so beautiful. Sundance is one of my favorite places to be, with all the memories that are connected to it. I always drive past the little accounting department house and think I should probably be working there. They listed a full-time position recently, but don't have any need for part-time help. Too bad.

Student life. School is in full swing. Which is fine. It's better than having NOTHING to do. I enjoy the schedule of student-life so much. My time is basically my own to decide what to do with. I don't have to be in the office for all the good hours of the day. I have time to exercise and cook and organize. My friends who have already entered the corporate world are singing a much different song. (So sorry KHill, Court, etc!) I fully realize this is a luxury in life that I will almost never see again. Gotta live it up.

Waking up to new emails. It just makes the morning better to hear the alarm, pick up my phone, load the emails and find new love from friends and family. The ONLY good thing about having a sister in Korea is waking up to her emails, which come because of the vast difference in time zones.



Dinners for two. I'm finally all settled and organized in my new house which means I can cook again. Last night was Chicken and Corn Chowder (hurry! farmer's markets and fruit stands will only be open a couple more weeks...) See the recipe here.




Educational discussion. The law school is kind enough to provide its students with an open lunch hour, which happens to coincide with my lunch hour over at the Tanner, which has meant Ken and I can meet up for lunch basically every day. He has always impressed me with his knowledge of current events. With friends (formely) employed at Lehmen Brothers, the fall of the investment bank and the general economic condition has been discussed a lot recently. Thanks to Dave Ramsey's clear explanations along with great accounting professors, I have a pretty complete and well rounded view of the situation and potential solutions. Basically, this all happened because people were living beyond their means. Buying houses they couldn't afford and going into debt frivilously. I love when church council becomes popular council (how long did the church talk about health and the word of wisdom before the secular world caught up, same goes with the Proclamation on the Family, and now experts all over are shouting get out of debt - something the apostles have been telling us for years).

Running new races. Fall brings tons of little races throughout Utah County. Which helps get me back into the swing of things after taking a whole summer off to travel. The current plan: Rose Bowl 1/2 Marathon in December. Can't wait!

I'm not a reader but...

I do get swept away in a story from time to time. Such is the case with Persuasion. I know I've already mentioned it, so I won't dwell on it much more.

But I am such a fan of Ms. Anne Elliot. I loved her character. She was so graceful and proper and kind. She was reserved and cautious in her demeanor. She was clever and smart. She was well-loved and respected. Does it get much better than that?
I loved how she was cautiously optimistic. For those who don't know the story, Anne and Captain Wentworth were quite in love, engaged in fact. It was the happiest part of her life. But he was still more "potential" than "achievement" so she was convinced to let him go. Throughout the next 8 lonely years of her life, she hadn't ever found the same love and connection as existed with Captain Wentworth. She maintained a pleasant, confident attitude while surely aching for a different life.

After eight years, the two found themselves back into the same social circle. The story of Jane Austen's life showed in Becomming Jane was pretty depressing so I was worried Anne and Captain wouldn't find a happy ending. But this was not the case. Captain Wentworth finally proclaimed his love for Anne which she happily reciprocated. In the end, she got to be with the only one she's ever loved. She wasn't destined to a life of lonliness, she didn't have to find a second best. That is great.

Jane Austen said her characters would always get the happy ending her life never had. (The two portraits above are said to be Ms. Austen)

And so completes my second great novel of the year. (I know, not very many but better than nothing). While in Europe this spring I read The Fountainhead (Drew's reccommendation) . I could not put that book down! (Read: I could not turn my ipod off!) It was completely engaging. The writing was great, the characters were so intriguing, and it really made you think. (Which is better - Peter Keating with his positive view of humanity and drive to impress those around him, or Howard Rourke with his absolute honesty with himself and courage to live a life consistent with his personal values, even when making him an outcast?)

I don't have lots of time for leisure reading, but having a good book to turn on while driving, cooking and cleaning makes me so happy. So what should be next? More Ayn Rand? More Jane Austen? The book about the dictionary?

Better late than never.

So.. sorry for the lack of posting over the last couple days. I've spent every spare moment on this:
Jane Austen's Persuasion. This was Annee's Book Club selection for family Beach Week 2008. At that time I purchased the unabridged mp3, but the week didn't turn out to be a great reading (listening) week for me. I've picked it up again over the last couple weeks and I can't get enough!!

What will Ms. Anne Elliot do? Is Captain Wentworth really coming back to her? Will she regret dismissing Mr. Elliot? Ahh! I'm only 2 hours away from knowing all the answers. Church starts in 5 hours. Hmm...

Mini Home Tour - Fall 08

So, I feel like I've done a lot of surface level posts recently. Posts about things instead of ideas. This post won't be any different. There's a time and season for everything. For now, I'm keeping it light.

Besides, I've promised my sister-afar-off that I would send photos of my room as it shapes up. So here you go!

This is my bedroom in its current condition. (Sorry, bad lighting on the photo..) The new rug from Shabby Chic has arrived and is much loved. It's pretty faint so here's more of a close-up shot from the website. I think I will paint the headboard white, and somehow embellish it a la Shabby Chic/vintage style. Obviously the walls still need to be taken care of, and all my decor accessories need to be arranged throughout the room. But those decisions have yet to be made.
I still enjoy using the white dresser and mirrors. The mirrors need to be hung on the walls and I need to properly accessorize the top of the dresser. Can you see my hat box in the corner there? (Ignore the still shrink-wrapped red desk accessory, that's for a post-to-come.)
I found this beautiful hat box at Decades Vintage Clothing in Salt Lake a couple years ago and LOVE it, but I've never really done it justice. I need to find a great place to showcase it in my new bedroom.

Now, how great is this green chair!
It was here in the house when I moved in and happens to go perfectly in my room. I love having a reading nook (although face it, I mostly read blogs and online news and only listen to conference/Dr Laura/books on tape. I'm just not a big reader...). Thank you to Haley for the beautiful vintage pillow cases the I will be putting to proper use shortly.

Lastly, my most recent find at the Springville Antique Mall:
Isn't that a darling message? "Let a smile be your style" - truly words to live by. (Flower candle picked up at Zara Home in Madrid, pair of birds from SAM.) And for $6 it will be even more delightful to look at as I walk out the door.

So there it is. I only have 13 days left to hit the move-in-and-fully-decorate-in-30-days goal. This weekend I'll need to tackle the various sewing projects (bedskirt, family room pillows and curtains, etc) and figure out what to do with my walls. And prepare for my Trust & Estate Tax exam.

It's official!

After much contemplation and decision and indecision and rethinking and planning and endless discussion, I have made up my mind about where to go when I graduate. As many of you know, the options most seriously considered were LA (back to the hometown area), Dallas (Drew has done a good job selling me on the city), and Washington DC.

My internship in Boston produced a full-time offer with PricewaterhouseCoopers that I have been working to transfer to another city. As of this morning, I have been officially accepted into the McLean, Virginia (DC Metro) office! Starting next fall, I will be working at Tyson's Corner. Anthropologie is 200 yards from the office. Beautiful.

In the next several months I'll have to figure out where to live and figure out how to move across the country. I think a trip out to DC will be in order. Because Steve works in the PCS group they told me I will have to work in the Core Tax group - for independence reasons they can't have siblings working in the same group. It would've been fun to have Steve as my boss (I think?) but I'm sure I'll still be able to see him. It will be so much fun living near the SAZband family!

I'm excited to finally have something solid to look forward to. Now I just need to finish my masters and take the CPA exam, ya know, no big deal...




P.S. Have you ever heard of this cool website polyvore.com? You can mix and match images from anywhere on the web, to create outfits, interior designs, or any kind of collage. It's quite a fun distration when you need to take a break from Word Whomp.

I'm a wimp

"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?"

Another year older and wiser too

The end of summer brings the first of the Zackrison Fall Birthday Series, with Christine turning 21 on August 30.

Woohoo!

We had a fun family gathering on Sunday night which included a delicious and deluxe grilled steak dinner along with a stack of coordinating gifts.

My favorite gift is the pair of dictionary earrings Sarah found on Etsy to go with the book of mystery and intrigue about the writing of the Oxford dictionary (The Professor and the Madman - waiting on CZ's upcoming book review). This gift was based on Christine's excitement over her visit to Oxford, England earlier this year (see the end of this post). Clever right?
But when CZ opened the gift, there was a bit of a denial a la Barbie-color-forms type* about her love for Oxford and dictionaries and earrings overall. So we'll see if she uses them. We had a great time putting the gift together, and that's all that matters right? ;-)

*There may or may not have been an incident in my childhood where a set of Barbie colorforms was purchased for me for Christmas which gift brought tears and accusations to those assumed to have added that item to my Christmas list. I still stand by my position - that was not my handwriting.




























Happy Birthday CZ! Here's to hoping it's your best year yet.

One last trip...

I owe Courtney's family a huge thank you for inviting me to CA with them at the end of August.

Kirstin (my new roommate!) had already started law school and wasn't able to join them for the week of family vacation in Newport. I was lucky enough to fill her spot!

On my first night in CA, we headed up to Malibu to visit the Frames for dinner. It was a lovely evening! And great to catch up with Haley before she heads out to DC for the semester. You really can't beach being right on the beach, outside, listening to the surf.

Courtney (former roommate) and I enjoyed walking around Crystal Cove, pedicures and plenty of time by the pool.
Zack and Ana were SO nice to come out of their way to visit me! It really made me feel special and loved. And great to see Jack! You can't help but smile when you look at that kid.

Kristen joined us for a night out to dinner at the hip and swanky Javiers. (Rumored to be a hot spot for cougars. It did not disappoint!)

After dinner was over, we contemplated what we should spend the rest of the evening doing... Thank you corporate perks for answering that dilemma for us! We headed up to Anaheim for an evening at Disneyland to enjoy the best part of Kristen's corporate finance job. It was tons of fun.

Little hands, big fun

I forgot to post these pictures we took on the last day of my moving. Wanted to be sure to put them up here. These kids are tons of fun. Thanks for all the help!
May I also introduce you to my new coffee table (from Pottery Barn, pictured here in Downeast Home where I found it). Isn't it cute? Pictures of the room it goes in to follow...

Can't stop thinking about Nienie

NieNieDialogues is one of the first blogs I started reading being referred by my sister Sarah. (Sarah was spotlighted as one of NieNie's Friday Faces a couple months after Scott was featured. Check them out!)

I was instantly captivated by her style and charm. (LOVED this collection of beautiful vintage things. I love secret glimpses into her life like this one. )

And inspired by her cheerful, yet realistic, depiction of motherhood. (All-time favorite story: the Lock Out. I plan to use this one, particularly during the hours of 4-6 when kids can't think of anything to do other than TV. I was pretty guilty of this as a child. I long for a feeling like she felt on this day:

Today's highlights included:

1. the deadly combo: listing to motab (love is spoken here) + changing a diaper = sobbing my eyes out. sobbing because of the confirmation i received that I know what i am doing in my life right now is exactly what i am supposed to be doing right now.its awesome.

And by her fun and flirty depiction of wifehood. (Have you seen their love letters?)

I'm jealous of her blog and how beautiful it is with such an established style. I can't imagine how she has time to edit all her photos and put together such fun posts.

And most of all, I LOVE her home decorating with silhouettes. Look at what a great idea this is!

I haven't been able to stop thinking about the plane crash Stephanie was in with her husband Mr. Nielson. It's quite surreal and really makes you think twice about your life and the path it will take. The life path of the whole family has been altered which makes you wonder, is there something huge and life-altering in MY family's path?

Anyway, I participated with the 100s of others who released balloons of hope in her honor. (More from Sarah here) And I was delighted to bid on the charity auctions held to raise money to cover the costs of their extensive burn treatment. I fell in love with these beautiful fabric banners. I'm not sure exactly what I'll do with the dream banner yet, but I'll find a way to fit it in.
I know I'm behind in posting about this, but I didn't want to let the time pass without adding my echo of love and support. You can follow the story on Nie's sister's blog cjanerun.