May 14 - Scott Wiley - Producer extraordinaire

Now, I know this may embarrass him. But I can't resist posting this!!

So in January I started streaming The Mormon Channel while at work. There are only 3 hours of Dr Laura per day and Pandora channels play the same few songs over and over and I felt like I should give God more air time than NPR so I started streaming LDS radio. And much to my surprise, it's actually pretty good!

Anyway, there's a radio show called Everything Creative, where they've covered a wide variety of topics such as Mommy Bloggers and Creative Ways to Show Love (awkward), and Orchestra at Temple Square to name a few.

Imagine my surprise to hear my very own brother in law, the one and only SCOTT WILEY featured on a whole episode! As one who has listened to A LOT of MC, I can say this was a particularly great story! I may have even teared up at one part. I am so proud of him. What a great interview to have captured for posterity. Click on over to have a listen.

The upside to the humidity of NoVA - the plants thrive!

P.S. I also really enjoyed this cheerful interview with Heidi Swinton, the author of Pres Monson's biography and oh my gosh this interview with Meg Johnson had me WEEPING on my laptop, how does she stay so positive?! Actually maybe I should list all my favs in a separate post...

May 13 - This is a joke right?

Do you see that forecast? I'm not sure my plants can make it through that onslaught. I mean I know they're native to the outdoors and all but still, that's harsh!

With all the rest of blogdom I had a post up yesterday about our 6 month anniversary that has disappeared. Maybe it'll come back soon.

Today I was late to work because I ran out of gas on the way there. Lame. Also, today was Ken's last day at the US Court of Federal Claims! And this week he finished the current batch of Kaplan class teaching! Next week he begins his daily LSAT prep class during the day and won't be teaching at night. Which means for two whole blissful weeks we will get to hang out between the hours of 6-10pm without conflict of tax return or standardized test!! I am so excited.

Now if you'll excuse us, there's one last episode of Mad Men that's calling our name. :-)

May 11 - Not much to say today

Just a regular day.

Ken had a doctor's appointment at our fancy Executive Health place
through work which is basically a spa where they take your vitals and
also feed you breakfast. He came out to Chantilly and met me for
lunch, we chose Chick Fil A because people here just LOVE that place.
It was a beautiful sun-shiny day. I stopped for an eyebrow wax after
work, picked up the rest of the knobs needed for the kitchen and
watched more Gilmour Girls until Ken got home from work.

Just a very regular day!

May 10 - I'm sorry Banana...

But this pretty tiny headband is not worth $30. Can you believe it? Sad. Because it was really pretty. But only like $5-8 pretty.

We stopped by the Apple Store for FHE because 1-the map feature on my phone stalls when I need it most and I've come THIS CLOSE to chucking it out the window and 2- my computer and Ken's computer are both about to bite the dust and so he has stars in eyes about a MacBookPro or an iMac or something like that. Personally, I'd rather go to Bermuda but we'll sort that out later!!

I've started a preliminary layout for the photo wall in out bedroom. The pictures will be swapped out for gooey wedding ones and I'll add more frames and move things around a few more times, but posting a "before" now forces me to finish and post the final "after" product later.

The photos below are a bit of my inspiration...

Source: littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: rowboatpress.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Now that I see the two side by side, I think I should mix bigger frames into our wall and space them closer together. Can do.

Although, I also love this look below. Maybe I should be doing something like that on our wall instead?! We could easily put up black or white shelves.

Source: habituallychic.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Did you notice that came from my Pinterest account? I can't stop pinning! It just makes so much sense. Can I follow you?

May 9 - I won!

Can you believe how lucky I am??

This gift card will make Luckett's barn sale Spring Market next weekend SO much more enjoyable!!

If you're in the area, want to come with me?

May 8 - Welcome to the No Fritter Zone

Obv, I don't mean apple fritter.

Since we've been married, Ken has developed a love/hate relationship with the word fritter. It took me a while to articulate just what I meant, but finally at the end of a Saturday full of no lists or accomplishments, I explained to Ken as I plunked down despondently on the bed, "I just really, really hate FRITTERING the day away." And thus No Fritter Zone Weekends were born.

Luckily, I heard a talk by President Monson (given at BYU, talks about the 5 "gates" of life, must find link...) where point #2 was "Don't fritter your time away. You must have a plan or life will pass you by." With the prophet on my side there's just no losing!

I don't know where it came from, but I really need a list and a plan and usually a schedule to feel accomplished. The items on the list don't need to be substantial (ex. Item 4 on today's list "Watch Laker's game") but there needs to be a plan for the day. Especially days without any structure like Saturday and the latter half of Sunday. Without a plan, the day just slips away with Pawn Star reruns and cuticle cutting. I really hate getting to the end of a day or a weekend without getting anything done, especially since free time is so scarce these days. This doesn't mean days are full of work only, the list frequently includes "Get a pedicure" or other such leisure, but at least it's written down and thus more likely to actually happen. Is this so crazy??

This weekend, we tackled our two storage closets. We had done a preliminary sorting and stashing when we moved in, but I've been dying to do a full sort and purge ever since. Today was finally the day!

Did we realize we had NINE suitcases in our closet!? Each of these has a smaller bag inside. Wow! We must move a lot.
And oh the hangers. I really, really hate buying hangers. Because why should they be so expensive? And who has to buy hangers?? Hangers are just one of those things that exist in your closet, until you leave home and no longer have hangers and must face the fact that 1-you don't have a home anymore and 2-why is a 10-pack almost $10 and 3-what if need more, isn't CZ moving here soon?? We whittled the extras down to 1 small box. Perfectly reasonable.


In the end, 5 boxes were driven to a dumpster and (illegally) tossed under cloak of darkness.

When we got home Ken said "You know what we didn't do today?"
Me "What?"
Ken "Fritter."

Ahh.... He loves me.

Ie Li has posted our sister update of the week HERE.

Did you see Annee's posting of the sister post last week? It features vintage graduation photos, which means I sorta hate the post, but I'm dealing with that...

May 7 - This morning the sun was calling

Today was a spectacularly beautiful day. Ken was up early to run and go to work so it was up to me to make it a day. After thoroughly sleeping off the work week of deprivation, I got up and started tidying the house. When I stepped outside to throw something to the trash, I was literally stopped in my tracks by how nice the weather was.

Back in the house, running shoes on and I left with no real destination in mind. A mile in I decided to head to the antique store to see if they have received another of the type of chandelier I'm stalking but somewhere along the WO&D trail I made a wrong turn because a few miles later I crossed over the freeway which is 100% opposite of where I was trying to go. Oops!

The upside was passing DePaul's Urban Farm. Their sales must increase 5000% percent on sunny days in the 70's. How could you run past this shop without buying a few plants for your windowbox, and maybe this cute little planter box of herbs and oh how about a hydrangea plant, they do so well in DC humidity.


I closed out the day with Jane Eyre, a strawberry shake and some delightful company.


Tomorrow will have a hard time topping today!

May 6 - Wait I wasn't ready take it again

This year has been a blur.

In my defense, I do operate in a total time warp. Very frequently I have to stop and verify not just the day of the week but what YEAR it is. I guess that's what happens when you spend all day, everyday of 2011 going through records from 2010 preparing returns for the "current year." What we call the "prior year" is actually the 2009 return which was actually completed sometime in 2010. Combine that with the fact that PwC is about to enter year Fiscal Year 2012 for all internal deadlines and you end up with one very confused me.

I cannot believe 2011 is almost half over. In my mind there are only 10.5 months per year because beginning in mid-November it is Christmas and really the year ends when Christmas begins, you know? So the year is half over, and I feel like I just woke up from a very long nap in which I dreamed a daily existence of wishing I were asleep. Ha! That is not really a joke, but who ISN'T tired all. the. time.

This is a long way of saying it's time to start documenting life again. Everyday life. And even though this is the first May in about 5 years that I will not be leaving the country, I am going to resume my Photo A Day In May. Who knows, maybe we'll go to Canada just to keep the streak alive.

On Monday I got TWO calendar invites for dates this weekend. And I'm not talking dates to Costco. How lucky is that!

Anyway, goodnight.

Spring cleaning inspiration

I was reading through Good Housekeeping (random) while getting my hair done today when I read this quote about keeping memorabilia:

IF EVERYTHING IS PRECIOUS, THEN NOTHING IS PRECIOUS.

That just makes so much sense to me! And seems like something great to keep in mind while sorting through old boxes of ticket stubs and rose petals.

Scissor Sisters - Say that 5 times fast.

Did you see last week's update? I think the outfits were especially good. And, um, the headstand photo?? Amazing.

Ok here's the sister update of the week!

SARAH

Last week:
* bought plane tickets for our east coast trip! it's official (5/21 SLC-JFK, 5/26 BOS-RDU, 6/7 RDU-SLC)
* went to bed at 10pm one night
* did some yardwork - re-routed honeysuckle vines, weeding
* did some work to organize volunteers for Rooftop series so I can effectively delegate
* decided not to delegate much of the Lower Lights work. I enjoy it too much to give it up.

This week:
* start new work project. If I don't do it soon, I'm going to be in big trouble.
* practice forearm stand and hand stands for yoga
* work on photo wall - goal to be done before graduation visitors
* don't spend any money this week (wouldn't that be nice?!)
* time to go back to THF

Annee

Last week:

1. By Tuesday afternoon, Darin and I had taken apart the existing twin beds, rebuilt them into the bunk beds. Moved our old queen bed up stairs to Henry’s room, and completely rearranged all the furniture in George’s room to make room for the bunk-beds. Darin had to take his second shower of the day when we were done. It was a tremendous amount of work! When the boys got home from school, they were both so excited about the new bed situation that they volunteered to have some “quiet time” in their rooms that afternoon. Both of the girls came running to find me in tears, because nothing we “new” in their room. You cannot win as a parent. You simply can. not. win.
2. On Wednesday I realized that my most recent pay check had been deposited for the days of subbing I had done last month. Suddenly all I could think of doing was going to buy the longed for sewing machine! Of course, when I got home I was instantly intimidated and wondered if I’d ever figure out how to sew on it. But by Friday I had already sewn two of the three pillows I wanted to add to Henry’s bed, so we’re making progress!
3. By Friday when I had sewn two of the three pillows I had mentioned sewing last week, and bought the sewing machine, and moved all the beds around, I thought that goal setting was my new religion. But then I remembered that I had only run 15 miles thus far in the week, and the week was nearly over. Y’all, we just can’t do it all! And also by Friday I had realized that though I had diligently devoured all four season of Friday Night Lights in just a few weeks, that season five would not be immediately available to me for a while yet, and that had me all sorts of disgruntled y’all.
   

This week:

1. Try my hand at my very first value quilt: http://www.stitchedincolor.com/2010/07/inspiration-value-quilts.html. If a quilt is too ambitious, I will accept trying the technique out on a pillow. Just keeping it real.
2. Attend my first of six machine mastery classes that came with the purchase of the new machine. Tuesday is going to be super fun!
3. Run the tar-heel 10 miler on Saturday. I was sad to hear that I will not finish the race with my face on the jumbo-tron in the stadium because the stadium is in the process of getting renovated! Despite my disappointment, I will still lace up and run my best race, but just know that I’ll probably have to have a repeat performance next year for the big stadium finish!
4. Attend all 3 of George’s baseball games! That’s right guys, he has three games in one week. I’m kind of thinking we signed up for the super ambitious league?!
5. Somehow my weekly goals seem rather superficial and light weight. Seems as though I’m giving myself a pass for the week. Oh well, some weeks are like that, right?!
   

Ie Li

Last week:
-made a new friend at swimming lessons
-did better with P90X
-story time at the library
-maintained tidiness for three days straight
-Cherry Blossom Festival and General Conference

This week:
-visiting teaching
-do better with P90X
-swimming, preschool, and lunch with new friend
-try to relieve some of Steve's tax season stress

Rachel

Last week:

--I worked 83.7 billable hours. Which I only say to explain why I don't have much else to report.
--We didn't get to take any cute pictures with the Cherry Blossoms this weekend, which makes me sad. But there wasn't anything cute about working til 3am on Saturday before an 8am race, you know?
--I did make some hard cuts to my wardrobe. And I cleaned all the floors in the house. Feels great.
--I made cupcakes for Ken to take to the court tomorrow.
--I got a check from the state of Virginia with a $120 refund from my 2009 taxes. Which really doesn't make any sense to me, in fact I fully expected that I would owe more, but I'll take it!
--I didn't pull any April Fool's Day jokes on Ken, but next year I REALLY should. He kept falling for other tricks all day long. I'd get a text about a friend who was in a car crash or a job the law school just posted at a courthouse on a tropical island. But they were all jokes he totally believed. Haha thinking about it still makes me laugh.

This week:

--Really, really try not to work past midnight any night.
--Celebrate 6 years with Ken on Wednesday.
--Make a pot roast on Saturday. It's been way too long.
--Stop by Anthropologie and start planning purchases for the Employee Appreciation Sale which starts April 15.

I know that's a weak list, but it actually feels pretty ambitious!

Christine aka CZ

Last Week:

- Went riding Tuesday and Thursday.

- Helped out at a horse show Friday and Saturday.

- Had dinner at a delicious little French cafe/bakery in Salt Lake, Gourmandise, in celebration of Beth's birthday. It was pretty delicious and our waitress was actually from France, so it felt pretty authentic.

- Enjoyed conference and French Toast casserole at the Wiley's.

This Week:

- Write a group paper for my strategy class.

- Submit any missed assignments for my Spreadsheets class to get caught up before the final.

- Go to yoga.

- Remain in denial about the fact that it's cold outside and there's snow and pretend that it's warm enough to wear spring clothes. I'm hoping that if I just act like it's warm, it will be warm. Not so sure it works that way but I'm giving it a try.

We are alive!

What a month it has been. I formulate blog posts all week long but of course when I sit down to write something, my mind is blank! Boo.

Time seems to be flying by. It doesn't feel very long ago that I hung my calendar open to January on the wall with just a push pin figuring I'd actually nail it up "soon"... I still have dreams (nightmares?) about wedding planning, but we've almost hit 6 months. Crazy!

The good news about time moving quickly is that means there are only 2 more weeks of madness at work. I think I can make it. Then we get to go to Utah for graduation and Easter. And before you know it Christmas will be here, I've started planning exactly how we will decorate the house.

I finally settled on an armoire for our guest room. And Ken built a shelf in the laundry room, totally from scratch. I was so proud of him!



Check out the sister posts of the last few weeks, wherein I talk about wearing my hair in buns, making crock pot recipes and wearing jeans to work. I'll be posting this week's sister update next.

Sister update.

CZ has posted our update this week. Check it out here!

Huh?

I know I owe a real post... but I just must comment. Alice Lane has finished the re-do of Nie Nie's basement playroom and the pics are all over the blogosphere today.


But when I look at the pictures, I don't think it actually looks that good. There is so much conflicting madness! These pictures mixed with the luke warm experience mom has had with AL in her house and I'm left scratching my head. Why does everyone hail them as design geniuses? If you take a really critical look at what they do, it is really all good? Maybe I should just keep that opinion to myself.

Sisters.

Let's try something new here. In an effort to stay connected with each other, we're going to try to keep in touch in a different way. Not sure how often it'll happen, or how long we'll keep it up. But here's a start.

Sarah

last week's agenda:
-took huck to dr - double ear & double eye infections
-2 lower lights shows
-brenden's wax museum project
-oliver's first blue & gold banquet
-rooftop concert series planning meeting at courtney's house


this week's agenda:
-15 loads of laundry - I'm determined to get it folded as soon as it's clean - don't let it sit in a pile on my floor for a week
-lower lights go on tour on friday - pick up tshirts, make itinerary, prepare & train tour manager
-get back to yoga - i'm determined to start up my 6am yoga routine again

Annee

Three things that were on my agenda from this past week:

1. Substitute taught for the Elementary School music teacher all day long on Monday. Not my favorite class to sub for. It was kind of awful.
2. Hosted a Sewing Soiree with a bunch of ladies at my house on Tuesday night.
3. Took George on a date to see the Alvin Ailey Dance Performers on Thursday night at Memorial Hall at UNC campus. Everyone should put on their list of things to do in a lifetime “watch an Alvin Ailey dance performance”. It’s one of the most beautiful performances you’ll ever witness. This was the second time I’ve seen them perform. I hope they’ll be back to UNC again soon.
   

Three things on my agenda for next week:

1. HAIR CUT AND COLOR!! (All caps and tons of exclamation marks...it’s been far too long and my hair is awful!)
2. Run 10 miles at some point in the week.
3. Substitute teach a couple of days at the elementary school.
   

Rachel

Last week:

--I went on a date to a show at The Kennedy Center on Friday night.

--I ran home from work 3 times. That's one of the best things about living closer to the office. I hope it's warmer next week!

--I made 2 comments in Relief Society so people will know I'm there. Adjusting to a new ward is always a little awkward.

--I hung all the dresser trays from our wedding in a collage on the wall in the family room. One step closer to done!

--I tried a new recipe: lemon bars. I feel like as a bonafide Mormon woman I need to have a go-to lemon bar recipe. Better keep searching…

Next week:

--I want to go to the movies. It's been way too long!

--I want to craigslist a big armoire for the guest bedroom. I need to get my clothing situation squared away ASAP.

--I will distract myself from missing Ken while he's in Utah Wed-Fri by working a lot.

--Ask Grandma for the secret methods to her chocolate covered peanuts.

Christine

On agenda last week:

• Ethnic Tuesday dinner with Addie
• grading quizzes
• lots and lots of sleep to get over my current sickness
  

On agenda this next week:

• Sunday dinner with roommates and friends (including a BYU basketball star...)
• finish spreadsheets exam and study for individual taxes exam
• snowboarding and a visit to the Midvale Ice Castles

Oh my goodness I have tons of questions!! Sarah - wax museum project?? That had to be rough.. Are you going on the Lower Lights tour? Annee - how are your knees holding up this time around? Also, is substitute teaching your school's form of having parents get involved? Or is this like an official job? CZ - what did you eat for ethnic dinner? What are you making for Sunday dinner? And.. basketball star?! Further questions and replies in the comments! I'm glad we did this. I love you all.

Next week let's get mom, Ana and Ie Li on board too!

As inspired by this.

Desperate.

Do you see what's in that picture? A 24 pack of green chapstick. What a happy day!!! Every single stick in my supply was down to its bare bottom. My anxiety led me to Amazon and two days later BAM! Bliss.

I can't wait to stash them absolutely everywhere. It'll be a little bit like Easter egg hunting for an adult.

Beginning of a bedroom.

Here's a glimpse of what I'm working on in our bedroom. It just makes me smile whenever I see it. There's obviously a long way to go (curtains, pillows, wall pictures and shelf etc) but I couldn't resist posting a little preview. Do you love that rug from West Elm? I'll link that up when I'm back at my laptop.

I have so much to say about January and February. I wish I had more desire to blog after I get home... I can't believe we're only a few days away from March. And something like 55 days from the end of busy season. But it's not like I have a countdown paper chain or anything...

Dear Valentine,

Love, your honey.

Our internet is alive!

Finally. I've been needing to download a new book for weeks now.

I heard on the radio tonight that the company making Guitar Hero has been losing money because everyone with a game console already has GH so the only way they can expand is through new console sales which is harder to achieve. This is really sad news to me and I seriously contemplated stopping at Best Buy on the way home. I miss playing that game so much! It's high on the list of to-dos for our April trip to Utah.

There was an article in the Washington Post today about these "Barn Sales" that I've been going to out in western VA/MD. This kind of exposure explains why they are getting more and more crowded. Boo! I hope I have more good luck next weekend.

Work is in the strange in between zone where it should be really busy, and you can look ahead and see how bad it's going to be, but the information just isn't in yet. Blah.

Ken and I start a new bootcamp group tomorrow. We scoped it out this morning and it doesn't look as great as our old Utah Bootcamp with Jess, but hopefully it's worth the effort because 6am is EARLY.

I just don't have much to say I suppose... I'm trying not to blog only about home design projects, because that's seriously all that consumes my mind these days.

Superbowl accomplishment.

More "styling" is needed on the shelves before I'm totally satisfied, but this piece definitely helps pull the kitchen together. I wish the light were better so the wall color would show up more.

His & Hers.

I'm looking forward to a weekend of antique hunting in Lucketts. However, I have a deadline of Saturday 6pm to find the truly functional pieces that we need to put our kitchen and bedrooms together. If I don't meet this strict deadline, to Ikea we will go. Which isn't such a bad thing. I did a preview shop last night and I think they have some pieces that would work quite perfectly.

While I get to play around on my last work-free weekend til spring, Ken will be working his 18th straight day without a day off. Yikes! Luckily this is the LAST weekend he'll have to put in with Kaplan before he can choose to teach whichever online class schedule he wants. That will be much better!

Happy weekend to all!