July 11, 2009 at 5:00 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized
As the job search continues, future husband and I are slowly making progress towards moving in together. On my own, I am progressively throwing or giving away things I know I won’t take with me. Although I am not a hoarder, I am a sentimental saver, so it’s not the easiest thing for me.
For example, instead of throwing or giving away old shirts that I know I won’t wear again, I have decided that at some point I will make one of these. When? No idea. How? I’ll figure it out at some point–it’s on the list.
But for a more uplifting note, we were doing some furniture browsing today and happened to find a dinette set we love at a great price!
We had originally planned on finding something secondhand, but between the price and the idea of having something new (both our couch and bed are used and already in storage), we bought it. We’ll pick it up tomorrow, and I can’t wait to eat my first meal on it. In just a few months, we’ll be married and in our own place. Now if I could just find a job…
So I am a horrible blogger. Nearly a month later, and nothing. In my defense, for ten of those days I was gone on vacation in Minnesota. The other ones…I was probably sleeping in, reading, watching movies, and oh yeah, applying for jobs; because as a recent graduate I am unemployed and uninsured. I did recently find some part-time work, so I can now say on my applications that I am currently employed, along with making some money to replace what I keep taking out of my bank account.
But hopefully I can update this more, and make it a bit more exciting. I had originally started this whole thing as a wedding blog to apply as a blogger, but now I think I will appreciate more if I just make it a life blog (and maybe just apply to do a guest post on that wedding blogging website).
Now for proof of two things:
1) I finally went on the yearly family vacation after not going since 2006.
2) I had a friggin awesome time.
June 10, 2009 at 3:16 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized
(aka Random fact #3: I did drama in high school.)
I actually did it all throughout high school. My freshman year I was in a production that performed at a few local elementary schools. My sophomore year, I performed in two abridged Shakespeare productions. My junior year, I was in a combination of fairy tales and fable stories, and I avoided the spring musical like a plague. But my senior year, I loved our fall production of Harvey, and suffered the audience through my performance as Snoopy in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (yes, there was singing AND dancing.)
While my time spent in drama awarded me a little recognition in school (I won “Most Likely to be a TV Star”), the greatest thing it ever did was introduce me to my future husband.
I actually first saw him when he won a our high school’s talent show. He was in a band of nothing but freshmen, covering a Linkin’ Park song, and my older sister was hosting the show. I would have seen him then for the first time, but it was another year before I saw him again and had a name to match a face; this time, he was a sophomore when I was a freshman, and he was dating a girl I knew. I saw them walking around, holding hands, and I remember thinking, “That’s ____ ____, the sophomore–her boyfriend.”
But the first time we really spoke to each other, it was complete improv. That’s right, our Drama Production instructor called out both our times to come to the stage for an improvisation. From there, I gathered my guts than I think I had ever had in my life, came on to him in the skit (don’t worry, only actual touching was hug from behind), and he gave it right back. Our friends were crying with laughter by the time our teacher yelled out, “Stop!” and we ended our few minutes of a couple fighting then making up. As far non-improv conversation goes, after we walked back to our seats he called my name to get my attention. Once I turned around he said, “Good job.” I think I responded with a terrified, “Uh-huh.”
But once the communication boundary had been broken, we were friends. Then flirty friends who became close friends, then close friends who became more than friends, and after he suggested we went on a date, we were an official couple.
After that, I suppose you could say we were, very, um…hands on.
George: Drive carefully. And don’t forget to fasten your condom.
Annie: Dad!
George: [shrieks in embarrassment] Seat belt! I meant, I meant seat belt.
(I love their house; if it had a wrap-around porch, it would probably be my dream home.)
Matty Banks: Can I put Cameron back on the list if he promises not to eat?
George: You know, that’s not a bad idea. Who else can we ask not to eat? My parents and your mother.
Annie: Why don’t we just charge people? That way we can make money on the wedding?
The Wedding Singer (1998)
Sammy: Somebody left a jacket in the back.
Robbie: That’s Julia’s jacket! She took off on Notson Street, remember? She said it wasn’t jacket weather anymore.
Sammy: Uh-oh… You like her!
Robbie: No, I don’t.
Sammy: Of course you do! She’s a cool chick with a hot ass.
Robbie: How about this? You talk about her ass again, I’ll break your neck.
Julia: Not porno tongue. Church tongue.
Robbie: [laughing] Church tongue, I like that.
Robbie: Hey, psycho – we’re not gonna discuss this, OK, it’s over. Please get out of my Van Halen t-shirt before you jinx the band and they break up.
The Wedding Planner (2001)
Mary: Y’know, “those who can’t do, teach”? Well those who can’t wed, plan.
Mary: I can treat that jackass like any other faceless groom! And that’s just what I’m gonna do! Why? Because he’s nothing… because I love a challenge! And because I am a goddamn professional! My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Toula Portokalos: I had to go to Greek school, where I learned valuable lessons such as, “If Nick has one goat and Maria has nine, how soon will they marry?”
Toula Portokalos: Ma, Dad is so stubborn. What he says goes. “Ah, the man is the head of the house!”
Maria Portokalos: Let me tell you something, Toula. The man is the head, but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants.
Toula Portokalos: Nice Greek girls are supposed to do three things in life: marry Greek boys, make Greek babies, and feed everyone… until the day we die.
Wedding Crashers (2005)
John Beckwith: [about Chazz] He lived with his mom till he was forty! She tried to poison his oatmeal!
Jeremy Grey: Erroneous! Erroneous! Erroneous on both counts!
Jeremy Grey: Have you even shot one of these things before?
John Beckwith: The whole 17 years we’ve known each other I’ve been sneaking off to go on little hunting trips around the world. No, I don’t even know what the fuck a quail is!
Jeremy Grey: I feel totally ridiculous. Like why do I have to be in camouflage? So the big bad quail doesn’t see me?
John Beckwith: I know. Why can’t we hunt something cool like a hawk or an eagle, something with some talons?
Jeremy Grey: That’d be awesome. We could get something like big game. Even like a gorilla or a rhinoceros or a fucking human being! That’ll get you jacked up.
Jeremy Grey: I’m not perfect, but who are we kidding–neither are you.
Chazz Reinhold: Oh, come in, sit down, I was-hey, you want something to eat?
Chazz Reinhold: HEY MOM! CAN WE GET SOME MEATLOAF?
Tuesday was a day of baking. I had wanted to bake since moving back home after graduating, but I hadn’t gotten around to it (or other things, like unpacking, but I digress). Unlike myself, FH does not love banana bread. Which is just a damn shame, because it is one of things I have loved since childhood, possibly even more than pumpkin bread in the shape of Christmas trees. However, FH’s grandmother recently made a “banana cake” that he did enjoy, and the bite I tried of it was pretty delicious.
On Monday night, FH’s grandmother offered me a few a bananas she had (they were on their way out), along with the ‘banana cake’ recipe, since she wasn’t going to have time to make the cake herself.
I, of course, grabbed the bananas, the handwritten recipe, and ran.
The exact title for this beauty is technically “Banana Coffee Cake,” but I think it will be known as Banana Bread-Cake in my future household.
The cake got nibbled on the moment it cooled.
And hours later it was nearly gone, having fallen into the hands of hungry younger sisters fresh out of school.
If that wasn’t enough baking for the day, my younger sister had to bake an apple pie for her cooking class. She mentioned she had to have pictures taken of her doing certain things, so of course me and my Canon point-and-shoot volunteered. As I am sure y’all don’t care to see pictures of her cleaning off the counter and whatnot, but I will share some goodness of the finished project, as well as her lovely plating.
Recipe for Banana Bread-Cake
Ingredients:
½ cup of butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
¾ cup of mashed banana
1 ¼ cup flour
¾ teaspoon of baking soda
½ teaspoon of salt
(Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees)
1. Cream butter and sugar till fluffy.
2. Add eggs one at a time.
3. Stir in banana.
4. Mix dry ingredients together. Add to banana mix.
5. Use 9×9x2 pan, bake 30-35 minutes.
As much as I consider myself a hopeless romantic, I am also terribly practical. Given that, I have a hard time understanding the idea of ‘love at first sight’ or relationships that develop instantaneously.
In case I haven’t mentioned it before, Future Husband and I talked for months before becoming a couple, were together two and a half years before getting engaged, and will have been together for over five and a half years when we get married.
(Our story is a bit more similar to this, but more on that on another day.)
I think what I find difficult about these quick relationships is that people change. The relationship I was in at two years was very different at six months and four years. By being with someone longer, you take the time to understand and realize what you love about your partner and how much you love them; obviously if someone becomes abusive or an addict you would leave the relationship, but what if their personality changed? He or she became less out-going? Changed political views? Religious views? Especially being in my early twenties, people change so much every time I see them, and you may not recognize someone after just a few years.
While nearly every Disney film has a couple meeting and falling in love within the first half hour (of knowing each other and the film itself)*, my heart does go out to a few films that show relationships that aren’t formed in less than a week; rather than being built on immediate romance, these relationships tend to be built on solid friendships.
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Favorite Lines:
(from book) “Sometimes she thought that all the people she had ever known were strangers except Rhett.”
Rhett Butler: With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.
Rhett Butler: …Never mind about loving me, you’re a woman sending a soldier to his death with a beautiful memory. Scarlett! Kiss me! Kiss me… once…
Rhett Butler: No, I don’t think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That’s what’s wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.
Rhett Butler: Did you ever think of marrying just for fun?
Scarlett: Marriage, fun? Fiddle-dee-dee. Fun for men you mean.
Rhett Butler: I can’t go all my life waiting to catch you between husbands.
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Favorite Lines:
Harry Burns: There are two kinds of women: high maintenance and low maintenance.
Sally Albright: Which one am I?
Harry Burns: You’re the worst kind; you’re high maintenance but you think you’re low maintenance.
Sally Albright: I don’t see that.
Harry Burns: You don’t see that? Waiter, I’ll begin with a house salad, but I don’t want the regular dressing. I’ll have the balsamic vinegar and oil, but on the side. And then the salmon with the mustard sauce, but I want the mustard sauce on the side. “On the side” is a very big thing for you.
Sally Albright: Well, I just want it the way I want it.
Harry Burns: I know; high maintenance.
Harry Burns: The fact that you’re not answering leads me to believe you’re either (a) not at home, (b) home but don’t want to talk to me, or (c) home, desperately want to talk to me, but trapped under something heavy. If it’s either (a) or (c), please call me back.
Harry Burns: …And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.
Someone Like You (2001)
Favorite Lines:
Jane: Man, She really did a number on you didn’t she? Well, don’t shit on my broken heart just because you converted to some warped brand of romantic atheism!
Jane: What are you thinking?
Eddie: I’m thinking the same thing you are, Jane. You and Ray are gonna’ live happily ever after with matching volvos and chocolate labs. See you monday.
Jane: Did you have *any* friends growing up?
*I do love me some Little Mermaid, and Sleeping Beauty, but I have yet to see it play out in real life.
I graduated college this month! Come September, I will physically have a diploma for my Bachelor’s Degree in English. With all the hustle and bustle of the day itself I will remember that:
-It was hot as all hell before we put on our black gowns for the outdoor ceremony. Anywhere I would usually apply make-up quickly became sweat.
-The student speeches were much more interesting and inspiring that the speaker’s.
-I had a great time sitting with friends and near my roommate’s awesome family.
I am still waiting on one last final grade for my John Milton class, but other than that I’m sure it won’t feel truly finished until I have my diploma (September) and my yearbook (October).
Growing up, I was very introverted, and at times I wished I was an only child. It was just that there wasn’t always someone around, there were always FIVE someones around. That’s right, MsSnowflake has five sisters.
(Note that this picture is very rare now that we are all growing up, getting jobs, married, etc. I requested their presence and a picture of all of us when I came home for my birthday after being away at college).
When I mentioned this family fact to someone at my English major orientation at college, she responded with, “Oh, like Little Women?”
I shrugged and said, “No, more like Pride and Prejudice.” From there, I started trying to think of each character that would be most appropriate for each sister (with myself as Elizabeth, of course), but only one or two really worked.
But life with my sisters has been exciting, to say the least. In addition to sharing formal dresses, there have also been moments of crazy competition.
And we are forever in each other’s business.
But, despite all that, I love them, and now that they are rarely all around at the same time, I like ‘em much more than I did as a kid.
Every proposal story is different, or at least I would hope so. For as much of a hopeless romantic as I am, I also despise the cookie cutter-ness that romance has become. Come Valentine’s Day every year, I can’t help but roll my eyes at every girl who gets your standard roses and chocolate then acts like her significant other is the most thoughtful person in the world. (For the record, I’m not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day in general and only request the little Necco hearts with sayings on them every year, pretty much because that’s when they are available.)
So when FH (future husband) started talking to me about marriage and proposals and rings, I had to give a punch of reality before he tried to copy anything from a movie. As far as rings went, he found a company that allowed you to design your own, sent me the link, and I designed our ring myself. Is that strange? I imagine I would have been content with whatever he picked out, but for something so personal I was very happy that he let me choose.
As far as proposals, aaaaaaahhhhh. I cringe a little at even the thought of them now. Believe me, I am someone who doesn’t mind attention (actress in high school, myspace, facebook, this blog) but the idea of a public proposal still gives me hives. So that was the first thing I said: no big public proposals. Don’t write something in the sky, don’t do it in a restaurant, don’t do it in front of my family, and don’t do it on Christmas. As uncomfortable as any of those situations would be, it is also the practical side of me that pushes for a private proposal because, well…there’s always a chance a girl could say no. Think about that guys (and ladies–as shiny or big as it is, you don’t have to say yes). And the only thing I can imagine that is more painful that a rejected marriage proposal? Having an audience for that rejection. Do try to avoid that.So after discussing it and showing him the ring I wanted, there was waiting. There were months of waiting. I knew that he knew what I wanted and what ring size I was. Heck, I even knew at one point that he had already bought the setting to the ring (but not the center stone). So I waited. And waited. And that little punk still managed to surprise me.
Early June 2006. We were in Disneyland with his family. It’s hot, it’s crowded, and he knows that heat absolutely kills me. So we take breaks from walking around, and we are drinking water almost as much as we are taking breaths. Then, for probably the first time in our (then two and a half year) relationship, he claims he’s tired and feels a little sick. He wants to sit down–and the nearest sitting area? Right in front of the castle. And I still had no idea.So we sit down. I offer him a Cliff Bar, he’s turns it down but chugs some water. Then he mentions that he got something for me, and it’s in his backpack. Honestly, at that moment I thought it might be the ring. I unzipped the backpack, and looked around for a ring box–but there was no ring box. Boo. There was, however, a small white cardboard box that was sized perfectly for something miniature. Since he knew I was a huge fan of miniature things, I figured he just saw something that he knew I would love and bought it for me. I take the box out of the bag, open up the top part and look inside. It was a bit dark in the box, even though it was nearly noon on that day, so I took the item out to get a better look.
What was in the box was a little crystal Mickey on a little circular mirror. Now, I try to be very gracious with gifts, thanking whoever a few times while not admitting whether or not I hate it, because I see nearly all gifts as thoughtful. But as far as this one went, I felt the urge to tell him to take it back. It was cute, of course, but Mickey was never my things as far as a Disney character I was particularly fond of. Then I noticed there was something going on with Mickey; he had something wrapped around him. It took me a few seconds to realize what it was, and I believe my first words were, “OOoooohhhhhhh.”
From there he took the ring, put it on my finger, and started talking. What he said, and what I can remember him saying, was personal and sweet and I said yes. Now, over three years later, we will be getting married in October. But that’s where the road to the wedding started, with his sweet proposal. (My favorite picture of the ring, edited and whatnot by my future husband himself.)
Oh, Cheeseboard Pizza. If you are ever in Berkeley, you have to try it.
Since I have always been a “Pepperoni and nothing else, please” girl as far as pizza is concerned,
I definitely hesitated with this all vegetarian pizza.
The place is always pretty busy, as you can see from the line.
They only serve one type of pizza a day, but it is almost always delicious. Here’s what they had the day I went.
Since the seats inside fill up pretty fast, and the live music is pretty loud, a lot of people choose to eat outside.
And many people actually sit out on the median and eat, right next to the sign that says not to be on the median.
I didn’t get any good close-ups of the pizza I ordered…because I ate it pretty quickly. Yeah, I was hungry, but here are some pictures I found on flickr to give you an idea of what to expect.
