Change is Good

So they tell me. And I'm trying my darndest! That's right folks, I'm holding my very own "What Not to Wear". I've completed the easiest part--the hair. Yes my friends, I am the proud owner of an A-line bob. Shorter than I've ever gone (the bottom of the back is shorter than my husband's!). And HIGHLIGHTS!!! My first ever. I'm not sure if it flatters my nose. With that picture, however, EVERYTHING is unflattering...so I'm safe. Really, you have to see it to believe it. So come see, cuz I like it and I like seeing you!

So, I've solved the perma-ponytail. My hair will no longer fit in a ponytail--I HAVE to do it. I feel like I'm pretty okay on Makeup, but I would LOVE to have Carmindy do my eyebrows. But you see, that brings up one of a couple of problems.

Problem: I don't have Stacey and Clinton and Carmindy to fix me up.
Solution: I do have some fabulous friends with great fashion taste. I'm not going to make you pluck my face =) but I would LOVE it if you could send some style tips my way.

Problem: I don't have a Visa card that has $5,000 and my name on it like I would in the show.
Solution: ...nope. I got nothing. I suppose I will simply have to be frugal.

I'm a couple steps ahead of the people on the show, though, right?
Step 1: I KNOW I have issues. Admitting is the first battle.
Step 2: I KNOW what is wrong with my wardrobe. More than half of the stuff in my closet is leftover from high school. They were cute then (just nod and smile), but after years of washing and wearing, they are shrunken and shapeless.
Step 3: I am willing to spend a small amount of money to get high quality (read long lasting) pieces that are timeless and flattering.
Step 4: I know my problem areas. If you don't know what they are already, I'm not going to tell you.

So HERE is what I'm asking. I need tips. What are your favorite staples and where can I get some? Tips for camouflaging my particular problem areas. And I'm hoping there's a few charitable souls willing to come with me on my daunting quest. Will you come shopping with me?

Thanks.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

I couldn't help it when I saw this:

Unfortunately, it's for my scrapping blog. Go figure. This blog is high school level. HIGH SCHOOL??? This is worse than that celebrity picture thing...

=D

YAY! I'm FAMOUS!

Well, you know. Kind of.

So...this one time, I got addicted to digital scrapbooking. I LOVE it. k, so I haven't actually made very many pages.
*Rewind*
This one time, I got addicted to collecting Freebies for Digital Scrapbooking. Yeah...that's a little more accurate. Suddenly though, I found myself offering to CONTRIBUTE to a freebie kit. You know, play "graphic designer" for a few weeks. The kit blossomed into one of the most successful freebie kits on the web today--my fellow collaborator's blogs shot to the top of all the scrap-blog ranking sites. Anxiously I awaited my turn to share my own meager contribution. I stressed over the texture on the papers I designed (I never really got them right, but I ran out of time...) and re-designed the ornament tops again and again.

But today's the day my friends. As in, I was supposed to post around 9:00 so that everyone could snap the freebie up early. Because in Australia, that's WAAAY into tomorrow. And you know, that's just the kind of traffic these freebies are attracting.

*SHREEEEEEEEEEEIIK!!!*

I can't handle this kind of PRESSURE!!! I was LATE. I posted at like, 12:30 am on the day I was supposed to! now I'm going to get people commenting on how "its almost more headache then its worth, some times you girls don't post your freebie on time, some people have limited PC time and to keep going back to see if she finally posted gets a wee annoying..Then one blog says go here and nope its some where else. More headaches..." Because that's what happened on one of the other lady's blog...

I forgot to mention. This freebie...it's FREE for crying out loud! And we've promised not to take the links down. EVER! So for those who only have a wee amount of computer time, I will let them come back next YEAR and download it if they want too. AND I will apologize if I accidentally make them click a couple more times than strictly necessary to get this kit. Ah well. Scrapping wolves. You can't make them happy.

I'm over it.

What I REALLY came here to tell you was this:
I just put a real, live, digital scrapbooking FREEBIE on my scrapping blog (which I started so I didn't have to bug y'all that don't CARE about scrapbooking for heaven's sake).
And it would tickle me to no end if you felt like downloading my hard work and checking it out.
And if you happened to get addicted to scrapbooking digitally, then I would have one more friend to fight the wolves!

And don't worry. When I'm a famous scrapping designer, I will make sure to continue to write here. Because YOU are the ones that started it all.

It's HERE!!!

I just wrote this whole post and it got deleted. When you get to the end of reading it, you will feel my pain.

We have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink!!!!!

And on Monday the linoleum man comes, and then we get a DISHWASHER and a STOVE!!! But the most important part is the sink.

I've been meaning to post pictures the mess that is my "soon"-to-be kitchen. Soon should be taken with a grain of salt. A very LARGE grain of salt. Perhaps several, very distasteful spoonfuls of very LARGE grains of salt. Just for good measure.

Because the *goal* for completion was before the birth date of my cute son. As he just hit the five month mark (can you believe I've kept him alive that long?!?) I'd say the estimation was a tad unreasonable. Especially since it was going to be a "one day job."

You want to know the whole story? Well, you asked for it.

After hearing rumblings that the cabinets were sitting in Bob-the-builder's* garage and he was eager to get them out so he wouldn't trip on them, Bob called mom and said he would come Labor Day week (two full months after Baby G's debut). So Mike speedily moved all of the stuff that USED to be in that half of the room into this half--very crowded, organized (but only because Mike did it) chaos.

THREE WEEKS later, Mom told Bob about our messy situation, and he felt "really bad" but he couldn't do anything yet. Because he couldn't believe the electrician still hadn't come to do HIS job yet. This is the part where I should have said, "you know what? Forget it. Sorry, you don't get any money for those cabinets and we're done." Because I didn't realize how stinkin' GOOD we had it! We had a sink! And a counter!

Mom called the electrician, who was startled that Bob was waiting for him...and HE came over the next day to get a look-see. Being the good kid he is, his job was done within the week. this included doing the part of the job Bob hadn't gotten around to yet--he tore out the sink and counter. Which was okay, because the electrical stuff was done, and the cabinets were in Bob's garage, and SOON my world would be so much better!

Do you pity my naivety yet? If you've been doing the math, you realize we have TWO months to go...

The cabinets were finally installed..."Wait, we're missing one. OOOH, we weren't supposed to put that one over the fridge...ooops. Tear it out...put it over where it's supposed to go." "Wait, these cabinets don't line up at the bottom...who could have measured these wrong? Well, maybe they won't care..." "Oh, you DO care Mrs. Blackham? Well, we'll make a new one. I'll put a rush on it..." Right, like the rush he put on so they would come before the baby did.

But life was much better. Because we spent a whole Saturday putting everything from our chaotic world into those cabinets and rearranging the furniture, etc. Now all I really missed was the counter and the sink. Because you'd think that since we had a since upstairs in Grandma's kitchen, it wouldn't be too hard to get dishes done. Try carrying anything upstairs when that includes your wriggly son and three hours of sleep the night before, eh? So that's my excuse for the piles of dishes which would grow on our dining room table until every spoon was used, every plate and bowl coated with last week's dinner, and every fork filthy. Gross? DISGUSTING?!?!? Yes. I hang my head in shame.

But Finally, two or three weeks later (I lost count around there), we got a counter top. All we had to do was wait for the plumber to fit us in, and we'd have a real live sink again!!! So we waited some more. and more. and more. On Tuesday, Mom called someone that wasn't Bob's usual plumber, since the normal one was supposed to have "gotten it done by Thanksgiving" said Bob. Well, new plumber said SURE he could squeeze us in and we had a sink by the end of the day!

We have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink, we have a sink!!!!!

*Bob's name has been changed to protect the not so innocent. Not because I think he deserves protecting, but because I want to get the crown molding and new cabinet before we all go and egg his house...

Enchanted

Can I just tell you I LOVE this movie? All time FAVORITE right now. Thanks to Jamie and Carson (Mike's cousin and her husband, for those of you who don't know her) for introducing me to it. You guys are going to laugh, but this movie inspires me. Sigh. I love, love, love it! SO, I thought I would share one of the coolest songs ever from it. The movie works the same way as this music video--animated to real, and it is adorable!




Did you see how Carrie goes through making everyone's lives better? THAT's how this inspires me. I want to be like THAT! Someone who goes around lifting people up instead of bringing them down. Now you guys out there, you'll probably at least enjoy this movie--even if you don't ADORE it like most of you girls will. Mike and Carson both liked it (Carson even went to see it with us even though he'd seen it the night before!), so grab a girl and go see it. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't go to far into detail. But I love the way it paints the line I want to walk between fairytale outlook on life and cynicism. It's for the prince or princess in all of us!

Okay. That's enough. Mostly I wanted to put this music video on my blog so I can listen to it every day. They won't let me buy it on itunes without getting the whole album. =D

Here's Hoping You All Had An "INCREDIBLE" Halloween...

I can't take any credit though--it was all Meagan's idea. Poor Gregory wasn't too happy with us. He wanted his parents back, and he'd had enough of these weirdos with masks. You'll notice that I am holding him facing AWAY from both of us, because every time he looked up at me, he started screaming...poor kid. He got used to us by the end of the night though--phew! Doesn't Mike make a cute blonde? Of course, HE doesn't need a costume to be Mr. Incredible, does he?

This One's for Meagan!

I always knew my husband was a handsome devil...

Dream Come True

My girlish heart cherished many dreams. One such dream was that I would marry a tall, handsome man with an incredible voice, and we would star in all of my favorite shows opposite each other. Or at least, we'd sing all those crazy, quirky love songs and dance around our house. Well, I got the tall and handsome part--and a whole lot of other wonderful things too! But my darling husband had never even heard of a lot of my best-loved musicals--let alone seen them! I'm slowly but surely "educating" -slash- indoctrinating him. He has a great ear, and can remember most of the tunes and lyrics after hearing the song once. But alas, my husband is shy, and it's not very often that he jumps up and springs into song and dance (perish the thought)! He does sing to me though. He even knows some Westlife songs! But now my dreams have changed a little bit. And tonight, watching my husband singing my son to sleep (and Gregory was singing back--so cute), I realized once again that they have all come true!

Take THAT.

What can I say? I only get a little tired of hearing that my baby "looks just like his dad!" In all actuality, I think the reason he is such a handsome devil is BECAUSE he looks like his father. But let's defer to this "state of the art" technology (hey, it's free).

And the results are in:

So...the picture of Gregory does NOT really look all drunk/winkish when it's big. Just thought you all should know! =D

Sometimes Life Just Comes Too Fast

So...That's basically my life right now.

But This:


Makes it all WORTH IT!

Finally!!!

He's here! After many months of waiting and preparing, the cutest darlingest and a lot of other -ests has arrived to greet the world.

Finally he's here, and Finally I am blogging it.

So you can see him and talk in really high voices about how fabulous he is!

Maria wanted a pregnant picture--so here you have it--and I still had a couple of weeks to go!

Here I am trying to get Gregory's Room ready for him. Many thanks to the experts we called in (a.k.a. Meagan, Annie, and Sara)!

And now, drum roll please!!!
That's him! That's my baby!! I am bawling my eyes out because they just put my screaming child into my arms. Then I said, "Hi, baby!" and he stopped, looked up at me, and totally relaxed. Sniff, sniff. He knows me!

And here, for your very own, is a picture of Gregory Kayden Richardson
Born July 4, 2007 at 10:09 pm
9 lbs, 3 oz
21 inches long
Officially the most beautiful baby in the world

Torn.

My favorite kind of pizza is not a common, every day kind. None of this pepperoni business. I like extra cheese with tomatoes on top--fresh, raw, juicy, yummy tomatoes. Because who wants cooked tomatoes on their pizza which already has tomato sauce (i.e. cooked and smashed tomatoes) on it? My apologies if you are someone who happens to like that... If said pizza happens to have a Papa Johns crust, so much the better! Yay for Starving Student cards! It's not that difficult really. All they have to do is make an extra cheese pizza and add tomatoes after they cook it. Which is what I ask for. Alas, the message often doesn't get through. Somehow, my delicious fresh tomatoes manage to find their way onto my pizza before said pizza finds its way to the oven. So, I've finally changed my tactics: "Can I get an extra cheese, and then have tomatoes on the side, please?" Sure, ma'am, we can do that for you. Now that I'm married, I have to get used to being called ma'am--I can't be upset about it anymore, right? I got my pizza Saturday night--Extra cheese with fresh, raw, juicy, yummy tomatoes sitting right on top. Sigh. Should I be annoyed that they didn't follow my instructions, or delighted that I FINALLY got my pizza just the way I wanted it?!?

Hit me baby...one more time!

My bladder is a punching bag.
My ribs are a xylophone.
There are times my belly turns oddly angular in places.
Comfortable is a thing of the past.
My stomach is so crammed that I have difficulty keeping anything inside of it.
I wake up in the middle of the night because my body has been thrown to the other side of the bed.

But a wise woman once told me that I will feel a little bit lonely once I no longer have a living creature within.
And the really weird thing is, I believe her! I'm really going to miss getting kicked, punched and rolled around in. Huh. Whoduhthunk?

You don't even know it's there...

I just got a new computer! Wahee!!
Cuz of course, my old one blew up. Which is only a slight exaggeration--there were flames involved.
Anyhow, it's super quiet. It sounds like it's off when it's really on. I'm desperately trying to think of a funny metaphor, but failing abysmally.
The REASON for this blog, however--

Okay, there's more than one. First one being that I'm SUPPOSED to be doing my take-home final...and this sounded like lots more fun. So did reading everyone else's blogs...twice, and delving into facebook...AND...well. Just about everything.

But the REASON I stopped reading random facebook wall-to-walls and laughing at Kat's witty life was because I have been trying to get my computer to the way it should be. Which included deleting all of the dumb music they saved on here just so I would have something to look at when Windows Media Player came up.

But I couldn't delete Mozart. It seemed like sacrilege. And I needed to tell someone. So I thought you should know--I have one song saved on my computer. And I'm really not even a Mozart fan...

Pah ha ha ha. I just posted this and went back to WMP--because I need to add more songs, right? Only it's not Mozart. It's Beethoven. I feel a little better and a little worse. I think I need a pickle.

So...this one time...

I accidentally bought a car.

The day started out simple enough. Dad was having the priests over for breakfast after their weekly temple trip, and we were invited. I love Swedish pancakes! As the boys finally ate their fill and started leaving, Mom turned to me and told me that Steve (the Priest's advisor) would probably be the one who would find me my graduation present--a car (Oh boy!!!). Of course, I was very glad to meet him.

Suddenly, I was halfway up the canyon test driving the car he had just bought for a screamin' deal for someone else who decided to get a van instead. It's a forest green Subaru Outback in great condition for a very good deal.

We liked.
And now suddenly, I will have my own car. For the first time in my life.

Just like that.

I love deadlines.

I like the sound they make when they go whooshing by.

I just came across that quote, and it reminded me so much of myself that I couldn't help but blog it!
PLUS I was supposed to have my part of a group project done by Monday, and it wasn't done by then.
Why? You ask?
Well, there are of course, piles of excuses I could give. My favorite lately is that I'm pregnant. Get over it.
BUT
This assignment turned out a lot harder than I thought it would be. We are writing a narrative mime, which basically means a play for elementary school kids where everyone has multiple parts, easy lines, no pressure costumes, etc. My job was to write the storytellers' parts--basically, the whole story, keeping in mind that I needed to leave room in the story for the actors to say stuff.
Because, you know, that's an important part of acting.
Saying stuff.
However, as I reworked the story we had chosen, The Six Swans, life got a lot harder. I was trying to envision how the actors' lines would work with my story (I'm supposed to have THEM written by yesterday), when I realized:
The main-est character of the story cannot speak for most of the fairytale.
The other main characters spend most of their time as SWANS. Which don't talk, even though this is a fairytale.

Huh. Actor's lines. I'll get on that.

One of THOSE...

There are good days.
There are days that are rough.
Then there are the really bad ones.
You know, where you walk around with a cloud over your head and even glare at the beautiful sunshine outside.

Luckily the Lord sends friends to sit you down and discuss completely safe topics. Like spanking...and Thai food.

Thanks.

Happy Birthday Dear Blog...

It's been two years since I first blogged...sigh. How I've grown.
No really. Have you seen my belly?

But truly, that's not why I'm blogging today. My last blog wasn't as clear as it should have been. I am pregnant. So's you all know. I am having a little baby boy (probably named Gregory Kayden Richardson--the only part we're sure about is the Richardson...) on or around July 4, 2007. And yes, I am excited (that's the first thing everyone asks me).

But he's SO CUTE!!! So I wanted to show him to you.

I know Ultrasounds can be hard to decipher, so I've added my own special touches right above so you can kind of tell what to look for.
Awww! And he kept opening and closing his mouth...I think he was talking to me...

Oh, his darling little foot, toes and all! He's gonna have his Daddy's feet.
HUGE.

His little hands held right in front of his face. Poor little guy. No one likes a camera shoved into their faces. Except people on reality shows I guess. But at least they give permission first.

I couldn't do this one justice with the paintbrush--but it's pretty clear anyways. He's got such a cute little nose! and you can see his arms there too, if you look close.

And last but not least, something my little child may hate me for when he grows up...proof of gender.

And if that's not enough, we got a video! AND we get another one in 6 weeks because there's something they want to check up on. Double the fun!

Okay. Enough parental excitement overdose. You can all go back to normal and stop speaking in high squeaky voices.

Is this test Open-Baby?

Okay, kid--one kick, and it's "a." Two, it's "b."

It's a he.

Death of the perma ponytail

It died. I want everyone to notice.

I'm writing this because nobody HAS.
well, actually, one person, someone that has only known me for a month noticed...

Which is not to say that all of the people I see every day should have noticed.
It's just proof of what a perma ponytail can do for you.
When you cut 8 inches off of your hair and it's the shortest it's ever been, and you come home in triumphant glee, lightheaded and actually excited to do your hair, and your grandma says, "Oh, what have you been out doing?" And you shake your head so your newly clipped locks bounce around...and she says, confusedly, "did you get it trimmed?"
Perma ponytail.
Grandpa didn't notice either, although I proudly pulled the rubberband out with a flourish.
Perma ponytail.
I've been at work, talking to people, being my normal (although slightly sickened) self and--wait! Someone noticed! Lots of people noticed! Everyone is noticing.
Sigh.

I feel better.