Dinner disaster

In a previous post I explained the video Morgan and Cecile put together for our bridal shower in which Morgan answered a variety of questions. One of the questions asked: "What was the worst meal Jenny ever made for you?" To which he responded he couldn't think of any bad meal but if he had to say something it was probably something vegan. Well, thanks to tonight's creative outburst, I now know what his answer would be.

So I don't know what's wrong with me, but somewhere between new supplements (magnesium and chromium for sugar cravings), a desperate attempt to diet, and strong advice to avoid wheat, dairy, sugar and red meat for clearer skin, my cravings and energy levels have gone somewhat awry. Now I'm not the best at following a strict diet, and though I have lessened my intake of those suggested vices, I have definitely not expelled sugar and wheat; cookies are a permanent part of me and I will never give them up. That being said, I have definitely been a lot better, but as is the case any time you reduce your calorie intake and deny yourself certain foods, my cravings have been less than ordinary.

This afternoon, Morgan came home to find me asleep in his bed - I was supposed to be running. Apparently, a sudden onset of exhaustion flooded over me as I was changing into my workout clothes, and my quick nap seemed a much better use of energy than running. At any rate, upon waking me up I realized my hunger had reached this sort of sickening low, and my cravings were running rampant. I offered to make dinner to make up for the embarrassing fact that I had been napping while he was working. As I approached the kitchen, thoughts of fruits, fats, breads, and beans flooded my mind as I tried to acclimate my diet with Morgan's pantry. What came next was a disaster, not for the weak in stomach:

Makes 1 serving:

1 tortillia (corn or flour depending on your ability to handle wheat and/or advice to consume it)

1/4 avocado

1.5 tbsp almond butter

1.5 tbsp strawberry preserves

a lot of turkey slices

1/2 tomato

1/4 mango - diced

On Morgan's I included... (oh I am so embarrassed to admit this) 1 tbsp mayo and 2 slices of provolone.

Roll it all up and ENJOY!

Sweet wonderful Morgan ate the whole thing, and I enjoyed mine too considering it was apparently what my body wanted at the time. For the record I would have included spinach, but men don't seem to ever have green things in their fridge outside the form of pickles and moldy cheese.

Morgan kindly told me (after some prodding) that he would prefer that I not make the creative wrap again, and I agreed. I feel like we have accomplished something here: I have officially made the first most awful meal of our life together. Oh so many more firsts to come.

"These days there's dudes getting facials..."

Morgan always quotes this song by Brad Paisley whenever I chide with him that his jeans are denim versions of sweat pants... and not just any sweat pant, but like the serious ghetto pant which could conceal a skateboard, an oozie, a few boxes of pizza, or perhaps an entire extra person. The song is called "I'm Still a Guy" and Morgan uses it to remind me that he refuses to wear anything... constraining... at all to maintain upmost manliness.

But yet, some things can change.

In an effort to make my skin radiant, youthful and unusually void of my age-defying ocasional pus-filled pore (IE acne) my mom has gifted me with a series of peels, facials, LED light treatments, eletrocuting glove thingamabobbers, and so forth. As much as the acid, the extraction and the electric shock therapy are quite the opposite of relaxing, my skin is feeling noticeably better and wonderfully shiny.

This weekend we were showered with advice, kitchen supplies and bedding at a beautiful wedding shower on Bainbridge Island. Morgan came over to the Island with his mom and me, but was obviously not invited to the shower. Since I have been frequenting Bainbride for my skin treatments, I advocated Morgan paying a visit to Vernell at Athenique for a... "dermatologist appointment"... Though skeptical at first, with a bit of encouragement, Morgan did it, he signed up for a facial, and though he is embarassed to admit it, I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it almost as much as I do... especially the extraction part - if you don't know what that is, look it up and enjoy.

During the shower, and while Morgan's pores were being exfoliated, I was out at Hilary Newbery's beautiful beachy home talking with old friends (old as in I have known them for a while... not exactly regarding their age) and getting some wonderful advice. Furthermore, we ate beet-chocolate cupcakes that were to DIE for, and I promise as soon as I get that recipe, not only will I personally bake and eat 2 dozen more, I will post the recipe on here.

I LOVED talking about Morgan, and despite the fact he joined the ranks of "dudes getting facials" I pretty much think he is quite the man - and truly a manly man, uber guy, or however else you want to say it. I get giddy telling stories about him, and I guess as the days grow shorter, I am getting more and more lost in love and am still overly, completely, and 'jubiliantly' twitterpaited.

One hot shower

So apparently I am not the best blogger. Life has been so fun and so busy, but boy when that sun comes out (as it has been FINALLY doing around here) I shy away from computers big time and get outside. However, since Morgan has written a bunch of blogs in a row, I feel it is time to begin my much overdo contribution.

Let's talk about sex.

Just kidding.

But I got you going didn't I?

So as the days are getting closer, that oh-so-anticipated night is approaching, and to warm me up to the idea, my friends threw a super sexy bridal shower for me on Thursday. Kaetlin Miller, all the way from NYC spear-headed this thing, with Cecile Farmer being her hands on the west coast, and Lachelle Francis taking charge of the invite duties.

I have AWESOME friends.

In an attempt at getting me some first class education, Kaetlin's original idea was to have the shower at a "toy" shop, which was tamed to just have the toy shop lady come to the apartment. In sort of a bridal shower, not-supposed-to-have-any-part-in-the-planning-process-but-I'm-terrified-how-this-may-go-over-with-some-of-my-naive-friends panic, I vetoed the decision and reigned in poor Kaetlin a little more. The thought of a 19 year-old sweet little impressionable LDS girl engaging in one of those conversations definitely had us squirming out of discomfort.

Fortunately, Kaetlin kept up the creativity, and turned this party into a fantastic and memorable night. Cecile put up all sorts of decorations and made party favors while Kaetlin baked a cake in the shape of a giant... well I'll leave that up to your imagination. The girls brought all sorts of fun gifts and between that and the discussion, I am definitely feeling a little bit more educated and ready.

Cecile and Morgan put together a you-tube video where he answered a bunch of questions like, how we met, what our favorite things are about each other, favorite meals etc. So Cecile would ask me a question, I would answer hoping to match his answers and then we'd play his video getting to see what he had to say. Sure enough, we matched on almost everything! One of the only ones we differed on was our celebrity crushes, and since neither of us have one, both of us tried to guess somebody random, when really, we both only have one crush: each other. Morgan was so cute and more than once the girls sighed in unison as he would say the perfect thing... like I am pretty sure he always does.

It was truly a blast, and with less than two months left before the wedding, I CANNOT HOLD IN MY EXCITEMENT!!!! So many wonderful friends will be able to make it, even those far away with babies! This Saturday is the adult-friendly bridal shower, which I suppose is more centered around cooking stuff. I do find this funny seeing that this group of ladies would be far more versed in the night-time stuff than my younger group of friends... but I think I'm thankful for this setup, despite the apparent contradiction.

Life is wonderful. Wedding plans. Showers. Birthdays. Summery days. Long Runs. Blogging.

Sheesh. I really like this no-job stuff.

Ward Spotlight

Just thought I'd share this ward bulletin that Allen Brand posted about us (click on the image to see it better)...

My Preeeeecious

After I proposed to Jenny, she immediately took to her ring very well. I loved to see her wearing it immediately and trying so hard to keep it clean and looking nice. It's almost like she has already been wearing it for years. She has even said that she feels naked when she doesn't wear it for things like wake-boarding. It took me a few weeks to pick out the best possible diamond for the most important person in my life, and it's really neat to see that she likes it so much.

We have been having fun with her new engagement ring. Having seen poor Gollum's obsession with a ring in Lord of the Rings, we tend to also call Jenny's ring, "The Precious." Ok, it's kind of weird/cheesy, but it makes for fun jokes during sacrament meeting. Sometimes she will let me hold it and polish it with my handkerchief. But she is like Frodo, and is the only one worthy of holding The Precious for any extended period of time.

When we are actually married, she will have two pavé wedding bands stacked around the actual engagement ring. What will we call that? The Triple Precious, of course!



Jenny is my Precious.

Learning to Love What She Loves

When Jenny and I first started dating, she never ceased to make it very clear what her expectations were. One of those stipulations was that if we were to end up together, I would have to learn to appreciate camping.

Having become an Eagle Scout, I have had my fair share of camping experiences. Through the years, I have grown to have a special hate for the activity. If I have a free weekend, the last thing I want to do is sleep on the hard ground outside in the cold after walking five miles with 80 pounds on my back. Not to mention the lack of showers, comfort, good food, and being woken up at 4 in the morning to the sound of chirping birds. Oh, and did I mention that's just when the weather is good? Unexpected snow, rain, hail, etc. can only exacerbate an already excruciating camping excursion. I remember one occasion in particular in the Boy Scouts where we were trying to camp in snow caves on Lookout Pass in Idaho. It rained that night. Snow caves and rain do not mix. That, and many other experiences have led to my distaste for camping. Why spend the weekend being miserable (i.e. "roughing it") when you can have fun doing something cleaner and more relaxing?

This was not going to sit well with Jenny. Her experiences have all been good. So, last summer, she orchestrated a trip for us to the Olympics and Washington coast, much to my distaste. I wasn't helpful at all, but she pressed forward....

....and I had a great time! We had a nice, long drive towards the coast, and had one of the best burgers I ever had at Smitty's along the way. After arriving as far west as we could go, we took a short hike down a cliff to Shi Shi beach, where we did some exploring. Jenny educated me on the wonders of tidal marine life, and I had a blast prying starfish off the rocks to inspect. We later spent the night on another beach somewhere else and woke up to a sunny day and low tide that must have gone out a mile or so. I couldn't believe it, but I was enjoying my time camping with Jenny.

Later in that trip, we also took a hike to Sol Duc falls, spent some time at a hotspring (that was commercialized to be populated more like a water park), and went cliff-jumping at beautiful Crescent Lake.

When it was all said and done, I had to admit that I had a really good time and loved Jenny even more for it. Camping still isn't my preferred weekend activity, but if it's with Jenny, I know I'll have a good time. In fact, if any activity is with Jenny, I know it will be fun. She has a way of waking me up to new experiences that I learn to love.

The Perfect Wink

As of today we have been engaged for one month and one day. HOLY SMOKES has it only been that long!?! All the hard, time-consuming wedding stuff is done, and now we're just playing some terrible, tortuous waiting game.

Ugh.

Patience, young grasshopper they say... well never in my life have I wanted to see a summer end more than this one. I'm just so tired of saying goodbye, of driving home, and of morning texts. I can't wait to begin our forever.

When Morgan and I first started dating, we kept it a secret for various reasons for almost two months... Well, I think we thought it was a secret for that long, but I would venture to guess after a month, most people saw the twinkle in our eyes. At any rate, one of my favorite memories is of our first Sunday back at church after the first time we kissed. I walked into the chapel, talking to a few friends at once, and Morgan was discussing something important with the relief society president. As the door opened and I walked right past him, both of our conversations paused for a split second as our eyes locked, he winked at me, and my heart melted into oblivion. I remember feeling as if the whole world had paused and gone silent for a minute as my entire cardiovascular and respiratory system stopped functioning all because of that little wink and knock-out smile. But as I came to, shaking myself back into reality, the conversations continued, we wandered into church and found seats expertly placed a few rows apart, so that nobody would notice. Ha... how naive we were.

The Luckiest

One time a friend in a somewhat condescending tone rebuked me for having been knocked so far off my feet I saw little else in the world beside Morgan. Apparently my world was revolving around "us" and she saw this as a problem. For a split moment I was taken aback, maybe she was right, but then I realized how wholeheartedly I disagree! Yes, I am topsy turvy, completely enamored with Morgan, and yes, my life now does revolve around "us" but my goodness I would never want it any other way! I firmly believe because we have this sense of a joint universe, we are the LUCKIEST!

Imagine, everybody in the world is the center of their own universe. They realize their thoughts, they act according to their own sphere of influence, and such is life. What Morgan and I have discovered, as I would hope most couples truly in love have, is that these two 'centers' are in fact so close to one another, their spheres almost entirely overlap, and we can share this new center of the universe together. I am A OK with that.

So mushy mushy stuff aside, I have TACKLED this wedding head on. Since last blogging, I have booked a photographer (Redbox Pictures), I have bought my wedding dress, bought the bridesmaid dresses and some accessories, began the alteration process, met with the wedding planner, purchased the wedding bands, the invitations, and am starting to truly check things off the list. With Hilary involved (the wedding planner - which yes I watched last night, and no she doesn't quite look like J-Lo), I can now hand over all responsibility and begin thinking about getting a job - a very unattractive concept, but money does seem to be somewhat necessary in this overly capitalistic world.

Anybody know of any awesome government relations/ political affairs positions or internships around here?

Would the company care if I was gone the last half of September?

Yea, maybe I should just enjoy the summer... which perhaps will one day come to Seattle.

Tomorrow is Morgan's birthday, and for the first time, I have realized the terrible irony of buying someone birthday presents with your (shared) money. We haven't melded bank accounts yet, but I guess what's mine is pretty much ours now anyway... this has a unique advantage seeing that I don't currently have an income. Morgan and I are both turning 25 years old this year, which means we only had to live 1/4 of our lives without one another, assuming a 100 year life-span. If I keep eating cookies at the rate I've been going in the last week, this span may decrease significantly. BUT, that means I will have spent a greater portion of my life with Morgan. So, I suppose, no matter how you look at it, we really are the luckiest.

Inspiring Others to Love

A few weeks ago, Jenny and I attended a fund-raising breakfast for a non-profit that is also a client of mine. At the breakfast was someone I work with on a fairly regular basis at the bank named Sharon. I spoke with Sharon this week about an unrelated matter, and part of our conversation went essentially as follows:

"Morgan, Byron tells me you have some good news!"
"Yep, I'm engaged!"
"Oh, that's so exciting! When I saw you two lovebirds at the breakfast, I knew something special was brewing. You two are so adorable together!"
"Aw, thanks."
"You know what I did after I saw you guys at the breakfast? I pulled out my cell phone, called my husband, and told him I love him! You guys inspired me!"

Much like anything having to do with Jenny, it made me smile.

I don't know how you do what you do.....I'm so in love with you

So the honeymoon is supposed to be up to the groom, right? I was all over that, but with me not being a big traveler, not having much time outside of work, and not being fond of seeing prices for such an endeavor, I found it best to outsource said responsibility to Jenny. Don't get me wrong, I'm still paying for the great escape, but Jenny was so good at reading my mind and offered to take over in the planning. Oh, how I love that woman.

It looks like we'll be spending a little over a week in Costa Rica at a couple different venues. We'll be spending three nights (give or take) in a beachfront cottage here: http://www.hotelplayahermosa.com/index_eng.htm and four nights in a romance suite here: http://www.paradisus-playa-conchal.com/ And for the first time in my life, we'll be flying first class! I may be looking forward to that the most. Ok, second-most. Being with Jenny is a hands-down #1.

Jenny has taken on a whole new form now that we're engaged and I don't know how she does what she does. I get so tired just thinking about the honeymoon (probably the easiest part), yet she has all this energy to plan that, the reception, the invitations, the logistics, the dress, the designs, the pictures, etc.

She's on fire and I'm in love with her more and more every day.