Happy Halloween, Matey.

With some last minute runs to the dollar store and Hobby Lobby, we were able to have costumes this year. It was a Halloween miracle!

Best part of our ward Halloween party was when a very concerned looking 8-9 year old girl asked Jordan, "Is that hook real??" To which Jordan replied, "Absolutely."

Happy Halloween!

Remember when Halloween was fun?

Am I the only one that's noticed weird stuff about Halloween this year?? What happened to this holiday?!

Weird Thing #1: People being UNSURE what day to go trick-or-treating. A few weeks ago I was talking to one of our youths about our up-coming ward Halloween party and how there would not be any "trunk-or-treat" but games instead. "But WHY?," they asked. "Well, all kids do with trunk-or-treat is go around and get candy, and they do that anyway on Halloween." One of the youth replied, "Well, probably not because Halloween is on a Monday. That's a school night." Whaaaaat? "Um, so? Everyone still goes trick-or-treating that day." She scoffed and said, "Nope, bet most people won't go." Whatever, I thought.....until TODAY! One of the nurses at work asked us, "Hey, do you when they are doing trick-or-treating this year?" I replied, "Uh, on HALLOWEEN!" She looked at me like I was stupid and said, "Well, not always. That's a school night." WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD???? (or Tulsa)

Weird Thing #2: This weird craze where children hand out thank you cards with their candy when they trick-or-treat. Read about it here. It is basically sucking all fun out of trick-or-treating and turning it more into a chore....and ends up with tons of litter.

Weird Thing #3: My apartment is hardly decorated. I began pulling out all the crap I used from last Halloween, but decided not to put it up until my parents came so my mom could see what my apartment looked like without all our ghostly junk. Now my parents are gone and my apartment just looks like....September.

Weird Thing #4: WE DON'T HAVE OUR COSTUMES YET!!!! I usually plan our costumes at least by September and begin assembling them as soon as October hits. (I know what you are thinking- you plan them that far in advance? Why do they look like you made them in 20 minutes?) But between parents visiting, ER visiting, and being busy in general, we are currently costume-less and it is driving me crazy. Any last minute suggestions?

Here's the deal

It's amazing how things that I used to really love BEFORE I began working full time have turned into SUCH A CHORE ever since I began working full time. For example...

COOKING: Before work, this was so much fun to try new meals. Since work, this sucks, I come home and the last thing I want to do is be on my feet in the kitchen making a mess.

SHOWERING: Before work, I looooved to shower. It was relaxing "me time". Since work, it is one more thing that I have to squeeze into my night. I can't do it in the day time because that would require me to wake up early enough to shower and blow dry my hair. Um, no way.

PUTTING ON MAKE UP: Before work, this was fun! I liked being able to out my face on while I listened to music. Since work...Ok, I'll admit I still have fun with this one on the weekends, but any weekday I tend to cut corners, skip steps, and leave feeling less than pretty. Usually I feel like I am racing the clock to get back in bed for a few minutes. "Hmmm, if I choose not to put on eye shadow, I can get done faster..."

And lastly,

BLOGGING: Before work, it was fun! I liked thinking of different blog posts that I wanted to write, whether they were funny or serious. I liked creating birthday posts for my family. Since work, it feels like a cloud that is hanging over my head. Anytime I read someone else's blog I automatically think of all the posts I am behind on. Melissa's wedding/my trip to Utah that was months ago, my trip to Seattle, my cousin's wedding, my parent's visit.... It is beginning to feel more like another job. Then I get overwhelmed and decide to "start fresh". Oye. Plus, I average about 1 comment per post which makes me a little less motivated.

I'm not declaring an end to my blog or trying to get sympathy. I still like blogging and I enjoy reading past posts (and cringing at the typos that I refused to proofread earlier). I guess I am just coming to terms that this little blog is not going to be a journal of my life and more a place I can share little anecdotes. That will make me feel a little less crazy and maybe like blogging a little more. That is all.

I should get sick more often...

Jordan woke up with a horrible fever and shakes this morning. It was less than perfect timing too, as he had to take his comprehensive exam for his entire OB/GYN rotation. The good news is the test is over and his fever is gone.

The bad news is Jordan is apparently untouchable when he is sick. Within the last hour, I've heard the following:

*While I jokingly do my hoochie dance right in front of the TV while it is showing some sort of football hoo-ha* "You can't do that to me; I'm sick!"

"You have to be nice to me; I'm sick!"

"You can't make fun of me because I'm sick."

Hmmmm.....this sickness seems to be some sort of pass for any mistreatment. Jordan, hurry up and heal so I can be mean to you again.

Travelin' fools: Tuscon Edition

Poor neglected blog.

Over the past month, Jordan and I have been traveling. We went on a vacation to Tucson in early August to visit my brother and his family. It was sad how refreshing the Arizona weather felt to us. (Tulsa is always in the summer, but THIS summer it was record breakingly dreadful.)

It was a short trip. We flew in on a Friday night and left on the following Tuesday. During that time, we were able to cram a lot in. Such as...

Getting in touch with our Southwestern roots.

Getting arrested.

"I didn't do it!"

Snuggling.

Boating/ Wakeboarding. (This was Jordan's first time wakeboarding since a one-time attempt when he was a teenager. He did AWESOME. He was able to cut through the wake and even tried to jump. Mucho impressive!)

(this picture was proof that Nancee was there. This is the only picture we have of her and we have none of Troy. Whoops!)

Cactus-sight seeing.

"It's the CIIIIRRRRCLE OF LIIIIIFE!"

Practicing yoga (this move is the mootooshu, which is Yoga for "Holy crap, how can you do that?")

We also swam a ton, played ponies, watched movies, and ate delicious food. We had a great time and I promised we hung out with Troy and Nancee...they just didn't seem to make it into any of our pictures! Sorry!

We love our adorable nieces!

Stay tuned for pictures of Seattle! I may post them in the next year or so...

You know you're a muggle when...

every time you read a facebook status that states how jazzed someone is about HP and/or HP7, you think they are referring to some sort of computer update.

OOOHHHH, We're halfway there...

And yes, we are living on a prayer.

Today is Jordan's LAST day of didactics (aks classes). He takes his last finals today, has a week of training and then begin his clinical rotations. Clinical rotations happen at the 15 month mark of P.A. school meaning....Jordan is halfway done! How exciting. His next 15 months will be dang busy but pretty cool. Jordan will be rotating and observing different doctors in the various medical fields. His first stop: OB-GYN. Lucky duck.

At this time I am also *approximately* halfway done with my supervision and clinical hours that I need before obtaining my LCSW. This month marks my one year mark as a therapist for my company. Pretty crazy. It certainly has NOT gone by fast, but I am grateful to be here. I am not too far behind on my path toward my LCSW. I estimate that I will be done with my hours around September or October 2012 (of course now I just jinxed, I am sure of it).

Sister, Sister: Oklahoma edition

Two weeks ago, my sister Molly and her 6 month old daughter Saige came to Tulsa for a week. We. had. a. BLAST!!! I was so excited because we hardly ever get visitors (subtle hint to family members) and Molly was my first sibling to come to visit since we moved here (much less subtle hint). We had so much fun and the week went by insanely fast.

We managed to eat Josh's sno-cones (I picked peach cobbler. mmm), eat at Steak n' Shake, eat all you can eat ribs at the Rib Crib, and all you can eat ice cream at the Taste of Summer festival (Yes, it's true. Eating is the best part of Oklahoma.) Saige got to taste her first bite of ice cream and popsicle.

MMMM.....high fructose corn syrup....


We did more than just consume calories. We went to a Drillers game (our minor league baseball team) and watched them get creamed.

"In this heat it is important to stay hydrated" ~Dr. Baby


"Higher, Uncle Jordan. I still can't see the outfield!"


We visited the Philbrook Art museum and walked around the beautiful grounds


We went swimming in our apartment pool



We also went to the dog park, human park, and Hobby Lobby. Molly and I knocked out a bunch of crafts to the tune of 30 Rock episodes.

Saige seemed to love Oklahoma so much, she could hardly contain her excitement. Oh, did I type excitement. I meant PUKE! She was able to throw up on at least 4 different pairs of my pants. sigh.

Saige was a trooper, despite her bulimia flare ups. She soaked in the culture so much that by the end of the week, she was able to line dance better than ever! I tried to up load the video of it on here, but of course there was an error. I successfully uploaded it to facebook if you want to see it.


It was so much fun. We can't wait until the rest of the family decides they love us enough to come to.(just kidding..kinda)

"Yeeha! I love Tulsa!"

Ok, now it's just getting ridiculous

On Friday, we went to the art museum for the day. While purchasing tickets, the patron stated, "Ok, so you're under 18, right?"

Someday I'll be big.

Cruisin'

Hey! Remember how we went on a cruise…A MONTH AGO??? Ah, geez.

Jordan and I LOVED our vacation siiiiigh. It was wonderful and very much needed! Here it is in a nutshell:

We drove to New Orleans on Friday, May 13^th and stayed the night at our friend’s house in Little Rock (thanks, Bob!!). In the morning, we headed the rest of the way to Louisiana. We had to drive through Mississippi for a while, so there’s ANOTHER state I can check off (been to 26 states now).

On our way to New Orleans, we stopped in Madisonville and visited my good friend Brittany and her cute little son! Brittany was one of my co-workers and close friends at college. She and I would sit at the front desk at work and talk about food a lot. She was also nice enough to listen to all the boy drama from my single days. It was so fun to catch up and see her.

Here’s her cute little boy. She is expecting another boy this summer and looks great!

After we left Madisonville we headed to Harvey, LA where we stayed at the ever so luxirous Travelodge. You know it’s a fancy motel when the door doesn’t close all the way. Yikes!

Luckily, the door locked so we headed out to the Big Easy. And I LOVED IT!!!! As soon as we parked our car, we saw an informal parade. It looked anyone could join, so marched along them on the sidewalk and took some pictures. This guy was enjoying himself…

I LOVED the architecture of French Quarters. It was so adorable. I felt as though I was walking in a city of dollhouses. I kept walking around saying, “Awww!” and “How CUTE!” New Orleans is definitely unique. There seems to be very very little chains and tons of one-of-a-kind stores. Also, there would be random houses in between stores in the city. So cool.

There were tons of street performers too. This guy behind me was holding that pose without blinking!

Several people suggested we hit up Café Dumont for their beignets. We were not sorry we listened to them. Droooool. One funny thing about New Orleans dining is you don’t wait to be seated- you seat yourself! We didn’t know this so we stood around like a bunch of buffoons while servers walked around us as though we didn’t exist. We saw other people sit down at a table so we copied them and sure enough, we got a waiter. It was same thing at dinner. (Is this normal, Brittany?)

There were tons of Psychics and Tarrot card readers….don’t you think with all these gifted citizens, someone would have seen Katrina coming? (too soon?)

The next day was Cruise day! We went to a branch in Harvey for church and headed to our port. It was so exciting to know that we were minutes away from our cruise that we booked six months ago! The moment we got on our boat we chucked our carry-ons in our rooms and headed to the buffet…and we never left.

The next day was our two year anniversary (augh!). We spent it relaxing at the pool and getting all dolled up for dinner. The waiters sang for us and gave us an anniversary cake. Very nice. (And you can’t tell, but we are seated with a view of the ocean. Very cool!)

The next day was Costa Maya day. We hopped off the boat and headed toward the exit of the port. One of the port workers/ travel “experts” asked us where we were going. We explained that we were going to Placer to see our friends. He warned us that it would cost us $50 to get there by taxi. Jordan explained that our friends who live in Placer told us the cab fare is $20 to Placer. The worker just said, “Well, maybe…make sure you act what you are doing or else it will cost more.” Ugh!! So frustrating. Luckily, Jordan could remember enough of his 10^th grade Spanish to ask the nearest cab to go there in Spanish. Throughout the whole cab ride (which was about 20 minutes) neither one of us spoke in fear that we would look vulnerable. At the end- $20 for the ride! Aha! Us-1, Shady Mexican-0.

We were so lucky to go to Mayan Beach Gardens, which is owned and run by family friends from our home ward. Marcia took us on a snorkeling tour where we were able to see schools of fish, a ray, and a barracuda. Yikes!

After the snorkel trip, Marcia let us relax on her private beach. We were the only one out there, and it was magical! Her staff also gave us a tasty lunch that we ate right on the beach. I could get used to this.

Thank you, Bales! We loved it and we WILL come back!

The next day was our Roatan day. This day was much LESS magical. We thought we would be at a different port on the island that was close to a beach, so when we got to the port we were totally lost. The locals were pretty aggressive in trying to get you to use their businesses. We thought we could find the beach by walking so we walked by a populated street and passed lots of houses. They were cool but I was too terrified to take out my camera. We finally gave up and let a taxi driver rip us off and drive us to the beach. (Fun fact: In Honduras, taxi drivers have a method of getting business: 1. Honk, 2. Slow down to a crawling speed and follow pedestrians, continually telling them they need a ride 3. PULL ONTO THE SIDEWALK, blocking the pedestrians, get out the cab and stop the pedestrians…)

We ended up at a very populated beach where we were constantly asked if we wanted to have our hair braided. But the water was beautiful there, so that was nice.

After the beach, we headed back to the city and looked at some local shops. We bought some bracelets and a Fanta and said goodbye to Roatan.

Next day was Belize. Belize was simply beautiful. I would LOVE to return. We were told that Belize City is pretty dangerous so we decided to splurge and purchase an excursion. We went snorkeling (again!) and our tour boat took us to Banister Island. It was an amazing, peaceful private island. The water was warm and the island had a bunch of floaties for use to play on. The island also had free kayaks. I kept saying over and over, “I can’t believe we’re kayaking in BELIZE!” It was so much fun.

Another fun thing about Belize was the plentiful supply of cheap Coach bag knock offs. I treated myself to one…and it already broke. Oh, well. When you buy something that is 90% cheaper than the real deal, you can’t complain!

Our last port was in Cozumel, Mexico. We bought tickets to a national park called Chankanaab. We were able to snorkel (no, we weren't sick of it yet!), watch a sea lion show, and play on their beach. It was a great place because we felt safe and didn't have to travel far. I wold love to go there again!

Our last day of the cruise we spent eating, relaxing, and watching shows….then we ate..and ate. Sigh. I miss that food.

It was such as wonderful vacation and it was so hard to come back home and start work again. We definitely plan on cruising again. In fact, we have made a goal to go on a cruise at least once every five years. Anyone want to join us?