Let me tell you a true story from my own life. A few nights ago, I was cuddly warm and happy in my bed, but my stomach was growling growling growling, and I knew I wouldn't be able to get to sleep until I got myself a snack. But it was so cold outside of my covers!!! I was extraordinarily hesitant to get out of bed. I realized there were some warm clothes on the floor right by my bed and I was able to reach them without letting too much of my heat escape. Obviously, I had to warm them up under the blankets a few minutes before I could put them on. Once that was accomplished, with great trepidation, I went to the kitchen, but started shivering so much I couldn't do anything until I found a heavy sweatshirt to put on.
At this point, I became curious as to the actual temperature. Luckily, my hubby insists on having a clock (with seconds, set by the atomic clock daily) with an inside and outside thermometer in every room. (I thought he was crazy when he first started setting them up, but now I don't know how other people live without them.) Shockingly, it was 70 degrees inside the house, so not really "cold" by any standards.
I made a sandwich and went back to bed to eat it. In my bed, I discovered my husband happily and comfortably asleep WITHOUT a blanket and wearing only his underwear. I heard once that marriage is spending the rest of your life in a cold bed next to someone who is too hot. That seems to be the case with us.
(PS The night after that I literally woke Matt up with my shivering [cold air had gotten into my cocoon when I reached for my heating pad], and he was again outside the blankets with no pajamas and happy as a clam.)
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
My fancy new job
It occurs to me that I never did a blog report on the new job I started February of 2011, but I quit that job in February of 2012, so I guess that's a moot point now.
But NOW I have a super fancy job I really like right downtown. (oh, because Matt and I moved to Salt Lake. I"m not sure I mentioned that.)
I am a personal assistant to a lawyer, and it is awesome. I spend my days taking dictation of letters, helping run a cancer foundation, buying fly fishing equipment, coordinating housecleaners, taking expensive cars in for oil changes, and whatever else he needs. I love it because it's always something different.
I have my own office with a window and a door. Here's my view:
And I have a name plate for my door, which is especially exciting because it's my first one with my fancy new name.
Yes, life is good. After five months of blissful unemployment, I was hired at this job within two weeks of deciding what I wanted to do next (work at a law firm downtown). It is kind of amazing how everything worked out. I actually originally interviewed for a position as a legal secretary, but the interviewer liked me so much he fired his old personal assistant and gave me her job. Which is awesome, because I LOVE being an executive/personal assistant. I feel so blessed that things have worked out so well.
But NOW I have a super fancy job I really like right downtown. (oh, because Matt and I moved to Salt Lake. I"m not sure I mentioned that.)
I am a personal assistant to a lawyer, and it is awesome. I spend my days taking dictation of letters, helping run a cancer foundation, buying fly fishing equipment, coordinating housecleaners, taking expensive cars in for oil changes, and whatever else he needs. I love it because it's always something different.
I have my own office with a window and a door. Here's my view:
And I have a name plate for my door, which is especially exciting because it's my first one with my fancy new name.
Yes, life is good. After five months of blissful unemployment, I was hired at this job within two weeks of deciding what I wanted to do next (work at a law firm downtown). It is kind of amazing how everything worked out. I actually originally interviewed for a position as a legal secretary, but the interviewer liked me so much he fired his old personal assistant and gave me her job. Which is awesome, because I LOVE being an executive/personal assistant. I feel so blessed that things have worked out so well.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Hey There, Delilah
This morning I heard "Hey There, Delilah" on the radio. I think we can agree that it is about the best love song ever.
That is why it was so distressing to me that at the Plain White T's concert Matt and I went to several months ago, they announced that everyone in the band was single.
What happened to Delilah?!!!! I thought you two had a deep, abiding, and timeless love?!!
It's so depressing to hear that song now.
(They also said that Utah was the first place in the country to play that song on the radio. I wonder if that's true or if they say that to all the states.)
Also, most of their songs are not particularly catchy and some or sort of weird. Not that I'm necessarily opposed to "weird," it's just not what I was expecting based on their four songs that I know.
Also, two warm-up bands are too many.
Also, I took pictures of the event, but they are on my phone that died.
Also, my phone died on the day we moved and I lost all my contacts, pictures, and notes (this is actually what I'm most sad about). But my sweetie bought me an iPhone 4S, which was awesome until they made me upgrade the operating system. Now I hate it.
This blog is an attempt to start a new habit of blogging when thoughts occur to me.
Sorry there aren't any pictures. It's my dead phone's fault.
That is why it was so distressing to me that at the Plain White T's concert Matt and I went to several months ago, they announced that everyone in the band was single.
What happened to Delilah?!!!! I thought you two had a deep, abiding, and timeless love?!!
It's so depressing to hear that song now.
(They also said that Utah was the first place in the country to play that song on the radio. I wonder if that's true or if they say that to all the states.)
Also, most of their songs are not particularly catchy and some or sort of weird. Not that I'm necessarily opposed to "weird," it's just not what I was expecting based on their four songs that I know.
Also, two warm-up bands are too many.
Also, I took pictures of the event, but they are on my phone that died.
Also, my phone died on the day we moved and I lost all my contacts, pictures, and notes (this is actually what I'm most sad about). But my sweetie bought me an iPhone 4S, which was awesome until they made me upgrade the operating system. Now I hate it.
This blog is an attempt to start a new habit of blogging when thoughts occur to me.
Sorry there aren't any pictures. It's my dead phone's fault.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
It was amusing to me
I first saw this photo in a deli or bodega when I lived in New York and I have loved it very much ever since.
Isn't it awesome?!! I just love the way it shows the city just popping out of the ocean (well, technically a bay, but let's not worry about the details).
For the last several years, they have had a nice, framed, canvas 55"x39" print of this photo available at Ikea. It costs $50, and although I'm sure that's a good price, I had no interest in paying that much.
Good thing my dreamy husband and I love making frequent trips to Ikea to browse the "As-Is" department. We found this print for $25!!!! I instantly knew that I must have it!
Matt carried it to the checkout,
and then to the car-- but it didn't fit in the back seat!
It didn't fit in the trunk, even with the back seats put down (not pictured).
But luckily, my hubby was not only determined to get the purchase home, but also very talented at making knots
(I love that Ikea has twine and protective cardboard just waiting there for whoever needs it)
The roof was the obvious solution
Good thing we live so close to Ikea (and don't need to get on the freeway)!
We drove the four miles home slowly, with each of us holding our side.
Now I have it at home, and I am so so so glad to have it! Even though it is just sitting on the floor behind our TV because we don't have a wall big enough to hang it. Someday, it will decorate my house. Someday!!!
Isn't it awesome?!! I just love the way it shows the city just popping out of the ocean (well, technically a bay, but let's not worry about the details).
For the last several years, they have had a nice, framed, canvas 55"x39" print of this photo available at Ikea. It costs $50, and although I'm sure that's a good price, I had no interest in paying that much.
Good thing my dreamy husband and I love making frequent trips to Ikea to browse the "As-Is" department. We found this print for $25!!!! I instantly knew that I must have it!
Matt carried it to the checkout,
and then to the car-- but it didn't fit in the back seat!
It didn't fit in the trunk, even with the back seats put down (not pictured).
But luckily, my hubby was not only determined to get the purchase home, but also very talented at making knots
The roof was the obvious solution
We drove the four miles home slowly, with each of us holding our side.
Now I have it at home, and I am so so so glad to have it! Even though it is just sitting on the floor behind our TV because we don't have a wall big enough to hang it. Someday, it will decorate my house. Someday!!!
Saturday, June 23, 2012
All the News That's Fit to Print: The Honeymoon Report
Subtitle: The totally G-rated version of the best 10 days ever. (Warning: it may not be explicit, but it is a long post)
So, you mostly already know that I got married twelve months ago and how awesome that was. Now I've decided that I want to document the awesomeness of our honeymoon for posterity, even if it is after the fact. Because I am going to be a better blogger, for serious this time.
We left our unbelievably awesome reception around 9:00pm and drove up to Park City, where my awesome husband had booked us two nights in a suite at the incredibly incredible Waldorf Astoria. Wow! If you've never been to a five-star hotel.... Just Wow!!!
You can't even imagine all the little touches they add to make it a luxurious experience. It would be impossible to describe the experience, so I will just say that my favorite thing was that when you call the front desk they would answer, "Hello Mrs. Harker. How can I help you?" Here is a video Matt took showcasing our room (notice that I am wearing the fancy Waldorf Astoria robe):
The next morning we had breakfast at their fancy restaurant, and I can't remember the details, but I'm sure it was very delicious and very fancy. Then we got ready to go to Matt's mom's surprise birthday party.
First, let me explain that as soon as I started to realize that Matt was actually going to succeed in his goal of convincing me to marry him, I started eyeing Friday June 24th as the perfect day for the wedding. When I brought that up to Matt, he told me that his sister Kari had reserved that weekend several months ago for a huge, blow-out, surprise birthday party for their mom. Before we were even engaged, he called Kari for permission to add another event to the big weekend and got her blessings. It turns out perfectly because the out-of-state relatives only had to make one trip. So on Saturday afternoon, we took 'er on down for the big party. It was pretty much THE event of the year. From what I could tell, everyone who had ever met Pat was there. It was a PAR-TY. Pat was very, very surprised-- especially to see us there! Plus, it was awesome because I got to meet the mother-in-law of mother/daughter-in-law duo who originally set up me and Matt. I hadn't realized before that she was involved, so I was very glad to get the full story.
It also worked out because we got to stop at my house and Matt's house to pick up a few things we had forgotten. And we went to his parents' house to get some of the leftovers from the reception. Yum!!! We hadn't gotten both flavors of the wedding cake the day before (except I had eaten some crumbs with my fingers while waiting to leave which just left me wanting more). We got some hot dogs, etc and brought them back with us. (The cake was SOOOOO delicious, and we enjoyed eating it the next few days.)
Then we went back to The Waldorf Astoria (I just love saying it!) and enjoyed the awesomeness of our suite (including, but not limited to, the personal jacuzzi) and of the whole place (including, but not limited to, the swimming pool with the marble bathhouse).
The next morning was Sunday. We had a relaxing breakfast on the beautiful balcony of our room,
then packed up and headed out on our cross-country adventure. We stopped and attended sacrament meeting in Wyoming, which was cool, and then just kept driving.
I have made the cross-country drive more times than I could count, and it has always followed the pattern of three to four hour shifts of driving, then switching. After about three failed attempts of asking my sweet husband if it was my turn to drive, he finally said, "In my family, I never saw my mom drive if my dad was around. He didn't want her to have to worry about it. I'd like to continue that tradition." I'll tell you, I was surprised by how loved and cared-for that made me feel. It was a 22 hour drive to our first stop, and I only drove three hours (so Matt could sleep). If I'd known he was going to insist on doing all the driving himself, I would have scheduled a hotel stop, but since he is accustomed to being sleep-deprived, it didn't turn out to be a big deal. And it was awesome for me to chill and not have to drive. We had such a good time just being together and talking and we listened to the relationship CD I got from his mom at sisters at my shower. (As a side note, let me say that CD was awesome!! We highly recommend it to everyone, and it is what we give for every wedding we go to.) We both love road trips.
Now you KNOW I'm a mid-west girl through and through, but after a few years in Utah, I just get so surprised and excited to see how green everything in that part of the country is. I took lots of pictures trying to capture the green, lush, wonderfulness of it all, but of course the photos don't do it the least bit of justice. But this one did the least bad job:
We arrived in Gurnee Illinois, home of Six Flags, around noon and they let us check in early. We had a nap, then got some Chicago style pizza and explored the town a little. We went to bed early to get ready for our action-packed day at Six Flags. We both love roller coasters, so we decide to schedule that in to our honeymoon. We walked to the park from our hotel, stopping for breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (Yum!! Matt had never been! Love their hot chocolate!!) and spent the day having so much fun riding their way-better-than-Lagoon roller coasters. I noticed right away that in all the lines for the awesome rides, there weren't any other people our age-- just teenagers and middle-aged people. I guess it is because most of the people our age were on kiddie rights with their offspring. I thought that was interesting.
In addition to the awesome thrill rides, Matt won me an awesome hat. I'd seen people wearing them all day and I really wanted one. I intended to include a picture here, but I can't find one, so just imagine an awesome orange octopus that you wear on your head, and you'll generally have the idea.
After being at Six Flags from opening to closing, we were pretty tired, but we mustered our energy so we could go to Steak and Shake (again, Matt had never been. Why, oh why, don't they have Steak and Shakes in the west?). I love Steak and Shake so that was a big treat for me. We even went there again for breakfast the next morning.
We left the next morning and drove to Michigan City, Indiana. I wanted to spend a day on a beach of Lake Michigan (which, in case you didn't know, is GORGEOUS). My Aunt Sue recommended this city, plus I was glad to honor my roots by spending some time in Indiana. The beach was BEAUTIFUL!!
Everybody who's anybody has a photo of themselves on their honeymoon at a beach, am I right?
Apparently, Matt enjoys burying himself in the sand.
We stayed at a hotel overlooking a river and could see the fish swimming in the river from our room. I thought that was pretty cool. (You can even see them in the photo if you look for them.)
We went to Red Lobster, which seemed a fitting end for a beach day
Love the cheesy bread!!! (it's was Matt's first time)
They also had a nice outlet mall, so we did some shopping, and I learned that it is great to have a husband around to carry your bags! Much more effective than doing it yourself. I love being married!!!
And what is a honeymoon without a chocolate fountain? Our hotel had a buffet restaurant, and the chocolate fountain totally sucked me in. Now, I did not know this about my husband before I married him (and PROBABLY it wouldn't have affected my decision), but he apparently does not care for buffets at all. (Crazy, right?) But he took me to the buffet because he is a good man and he loves me. Here is the proof we were there:
After our two relaxing and beautiful days on Lake Michigan, we headed to our last stop--my parents' home in Saginaw, Michigan where my Aunt Sue and Uncle Dave hosted an incredible reception for us. I lived with my parents in Saginaw for two years after my mission, so even though I didn't grow up there, it feels like home.
The reception was in their backyard and it was one classy event, let me tell you.
(can you even believe the awesome fountain in the pool?)
My cousins and various friends from the ward brought different kinds of yummy salads
A lady I used to visit teach carved a swan out of a watermelon and filled it with fruit salad. Classy, classy!
And we had more wedding cake!
And so many of my Michigan friends and family came. It was so much fun! And so beautiful!! Thank you Aunt Sue and Uncle David!!!
And my husband looked so handsome that day, I had to capture it with a photo
Honestly, I could just pass out and die from his hotness.
After the reception, we got to spend some time with my folks:
And then right after church Sunday we started on the 24-hour drive back to Utah because we wanted to be back in time to enjoy the fireworks on the 4th of July. So, we took off driving. Again, we really enjoyed being together in a confined space for such a long period of time. I slept a lot. Matt listened to the relationship CDs again. We discovered some new ways that our minds work the same way. We just had such a good time together.
We got home by about 3pm on the 4th. We called Matt's parents to have them save us a place at the fireworks and then took a nap. Unfortunately, we were awoken to the sound of fireworks going off in our own neighborhood, so we missed the family gathering that we had been looking forward to. But, that's okay. We were excited to be together in our house and to start the "serious" part of our life together. Matt went back to work the next day. I took the day off to get settled in after the trip.
The honeymoon was busy, but we got to do so many fun things and see so many of the people that we love. Matt got to experience a little more of the Heartland. We loved being in the car so much together. It was really just perfect!! And a year later, our honeymoon is still going strong. I am so so lucky I married Matt!
So, you mostly already know that I got married twelve months ago and how awesome that was. Now I've decided that I want to document the awesomeness of our honeymoon for posterity, even if it is after the fact. Because I am going to be a better blogger, for serious this time.
We left our unbelievably awesome reception around 9:00pm and drove up to Park City, where my awesome husband had booked us two nights in a suite at the incredibly incredible Waldorf Astoria. Wow! If you've never been to a five-star hotel.... Just Wow!!!
You can't even imagine all the little touches they add to make it a luxurious experience. It would be impossible to describe the experience, so I will just say that my favorite thing was that when you call the front desk they would answer, "Hello Mrs. Harker. How can I help you?" Here is a video Matt took showcasing our room (notice that I am wearing the fancy Waldorf Astoria robe):
The next morning we had breakfast at their fancy restaurant, and I can't remember the details, but I'm sure it was very delicious and very fancy. Then we got ready to go to Matt's mom's surprise birthday party.
First, let me explain that as soon as I started to realize that Matt was actually going to succeed in his goal of convincing me to marry him, I started eyeing Friday June 24th as the perfect day for the wedding. When I brought that up to Matt, he told me that his sister Kari had reserved that weekend several months ago for a huge, blow-out, surprise birthday party for their mom. Before we were even engaged, he called Kari for permission to add another event to the big weekend and got her blessings. It turns out perfectly because the out-of-state relatives only had to make one trip. So on Saturday afternoon, we took 'er on down for the big party. It was pretty much THE event of the year. From what I could tell, everyone who had ever met Pat was there. It was a PAR-TY. Pat was very, very surprised-- especially to see us there! Plus, it was awesome because I got to meet the mother-in-law of mother/daughter-in-law duo who originally set up me and Matt. I hadn't realized before that she was involved, so I was very glad to get the full story.
It also worked out because we got to stop at my house and Matt's house to pick up a few things we had forgotten. And we went to his parents' house to get some of the leftovers from the reception. Yum!!! We hadn't gotten both flavors of the wedding cake the day before (except I had eaten some crumbs with my fingers while waiting to leave which just left me wanting more). We got some hot dogs, etc and brought them back with us. (The cake was SOOOOO delicious, and we enjoyed eating it the next few days.)
Then we went back to The Waldorf Astoria (I just love saying it!) and enjoyed the awesomeness of our suite (including, but not limited to, the personal jacuzzi) and of the whole place (including, but not limited to, the swimming pool with the marble bathhouse).
The next morning was Sunday. We had a relaxing breakfast on the beautiful balcony of our room,
then packed up and headed out on our cross-country adventure. We stopped and attended sacrament meeting in Wyoming, which was cool, and then just kept driving.
I have made the cross-country drive more times than I could count, and it has always followed the pattern of three to four hour shifts of driving, then switching. After about three failed attempts of asking my sweet husband if it was my turn to drive, he finally said, "In my family, I never saw my mom drive if my dad was around. He didn't want her to have to worry about it. I'd like to continue that tradition." I'll tell you, I was surprised by how loved and cared-for that made me feel. It was a 22 hour drive to our first stop, and I only drove three hours (so Matt could sleep). If I'd known he was going to insist on doing all the driving himself, I would have scheduled a hotel stop, but since he is accustomed to being sleep-deprived, it didn't turn out to be a big deal. And it was awesome for me to chill and not have to drive. We had such a good time just being together and talking and we listened to the relationship CD I got from his mom at sisters at my shower. (As a side note, let me say that CD was awesome!! We highly recommend it to everyone, and it is what we give for every wedding we go to.) We both love road trips.
Now you KNOW I'm a mid-west girl through and through, but after a few years in Utah, I just get so surprised and excited to see how green everything in that part of the country is. I took lots of pictures trying to capture the green, lush, wonderfulness of it all, but of course the photos don't do it the least bit of justice. But this one did the least bad job:
We arrived in Gurnee Illinois, home of Six Flags, around noon and they let us check in early. We had a nap, then got some Chicago style pizza and explored the town a little. We went to bed early to get ready for our action-packed day at Six Flags. We both love roller coasters, so we decide to schedule that in to our honeymoon. We walked to the park from our hotel, stopping for breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (Yum!! Matt had never been! Love their hot chocolate!!) and spent the day having so much fun riding their way-better-than-Lagoon roller coasters. I noticed right away that in all the lines for the awesome rides, there weren't any other people our age-- just teenagers and middle-aged people. I guess it is because most of the people our age were on kiddie rights with their offspring. I thought that was interesting.
In addition to the awesome thrill rides, Matt won me an awesome hat. I'd seen people wearing them all day and I really wanted one. I intended to include a picture here, but I can't find one, so just imagine an awesome orange octopus that you wear on your head, and you'll generally have the idea.
After being at Six Flags from opening to closing, we were pretty tired, but we mustered our energy so we could go to Steak and Shake (again, Matt had never been. Why, oh why, don't they have Steak and Shakes in the west?). I love Steak and Shake so that was a big treat for me. We even went there again for breakfast the next morning.
We left the next morning and drove to Michigan City, Indiana. I wanted to spend a day on a beach of Lake Michigan (which, in case you didn't know, is GORGEOUS). My Aunt Sue recommended this city, plus I was glad to honor my roots by spending some time in Indiana. The beach was BEAUTIFUL!!
Everybody who's anybody has a photo of themselves on their honeymoon at a beach, am I right?
Apparently, Matt enjoys burying himself in the sand.
We stayed at a hotel overlooking a river and could see the fish swimming in the river from our room. I thought that was pretty cool. (You can even see them in the photo if you look for them.)
We went to Red Lobster, which seemed a fitting end for a beach day
Love the cheesy bread!!! (it's was Matt's first time)
They also had a nice outlet mall, so we did some shopping, and I learned that it is great to have a husband around to carry your bags! Much more effective than doing it yourself. I love being married!!!
And what is a honeymoon without a chocolate fountain? Our hotel had a buffet restaurant, and the chocolate fountain totally sucked me in. Now, I did not know this about my husband before I married him (and PROBABLY it wouldn't have affected my decision), but he apparently does not care for buffets at all. (Crazy, right?) But he took me to the buffet because he is a good man and he loves me. Here is the proof we were there:
After our two relaxing and beautiful days on Lake Michigan, we headed to our last stop--my parents' home in Saginaw, Michigan where my Aunt Sue and Uncle Dave hosted an incredible reception for us. I lived with my parents in Saginaw for two years after my mission, so even though I didn't grow up there, it feels like home.
The reception was in their backyard and it was one classy event, let me tell you.
My cousins and various friends from the ward brought different kinds of yummy salads
A lady I used to visit teach carved a swan out of a watermelon and filled it with fruit salad. Classy, classy!
And so many of my Michigan friends and family came. It was so much fun! And so beautiful!! Thank you Aunt Sue and Uncle David!!!
And my husband looked so handsome that day, I had to capture it with a photo
After the reception, we got to spend some time with my folks:
And then right after church Sunday we started on the 24-hour drive back to Utah because we wanted to be back in time to enjoy the fireworks on the 4th of July. So, we took off driving. Again, we really enjoyed being together in a confined space for such a long period of time. I slept a lot. Matt listened to the relationship CDs again. We discovered some new ways that our minds work the same way. We just had such a good time together.
We got home by about 3pm on the 4th. We called Matt's parents to have them save us a place at the fireworks and then took a nap. Unfortunately, we were awoken to the sound of fireworks going off in our own neighborhood, so we missed the family gathering that we had been looking forward to. But, that's okay. We were excited to be together in our house and to start the "serious" part of our life together. Matt went back to work the next day. I took the day off to get settled in after the trip.
The honeymoon was busy, but we got to do so many fun things and see so many of the people that we love. Matt got to experience a little more of the Heartland. We loved being in the car so much together. It was really just perfect!! And a year later, our honeymoon is still going strong. I am so so lucky I married Matt!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
The Year in Review (2011)
Well, I may be 3 months late posting my year in review for 2011, but this is another tradition I don't want to break, so let's do this thing.
2011 was a big year for us individually and collectively. Here are some major accomplishments from Holly:
*Kissed three different boys (this number may seem low, but remember that I became exclusive with Matt in February)
*Managed to work for the same company (but in two different locations in three different positions) for twelve straight months TWO YEARS IN A ROW (but quit my job two months in to 2012)
*Had five different renters in the area of my house I rent over the course of 2012, in addition to the handsome man moved into the area where I live
*learned the real meaning of love and learned how to be in a healthy/blissful relationship
Major accomplishments/changes for Matt
*went from being in a funk in the beginning of January because I (Holly) had shot him down romantically, to being given a second chance in mid-January, to convincing me to be exclusive with him in February, to persuading me to marry him in April. (typing that makes it sound like it all went by pretty quickly, which really I guess it did, but I felt like I put up quite a fight for quite awhile.)
*worked his same job for the 8th year in a row (he is a lot more stable than I am)
We also fell in love (well, I guess Matt, technically was already in love), planned the best wedding reception ever, got married by Matt's grandpa, had an awesome honeymoon road trip including two nights at a five star hotel in Park City, Six Flags Chicago, a lovely beach trip at Lake Michigan, and visiting my family/second reception in Saginaw, Michigan.
Now I will just quickly share the pictures I've taken throughout the year for the purpose of eventually sharing them on my blog.
We took my three nieces for the weekend (this was pre-wedding) (and a nephew has been added to the group this year)
Matt did a lot of work on the house (pre and post wedding)
I almost bought a convertible, but then didn't (which, ultimately was the best decision). Someday!
I managed to find a wedding dress, which was pretty much the most stressful, tear-inducing thing of my entire life up to that point (for reasons of my mental sanity, I have decided against sharing a picture of the shopping process)
I enjoyed having three awesome wedding showers!!
One with my work friends 
(can I also just say that when I started my new job in February of 2011, there were six single teachers and as of today, only one of those people is still single. I am good luck!!)
And a shower by my super awesome sisters-in-law (two of the three hostesses shown here):
And a shower by my sisters and Cousin Sally (which I don't seem to have any photos of).
We got married, which I already told you about.
The flowers I planted in December of 2010 came up beautiful in the spring:
We went to the Crawfish Extravaganza at Ikea (turns out I don't particularly care for crawfish)
We went to the State Fair and ate "Rocky Mountain oysters," frog legs, and alligator. Then we saw Weird Al in concert. 
On the one year anniversary of our first date, we got to recreate the whole thing (but with kissing and groping). It was awesome!
Us in 2010:
Us in 2011:
We celebrated our first Halloween together, and although not one single trick-or-treater came to our door, we did have a jack-o-lantern carved and ready to go. 
For Thanksgiving, we went with Matt's parents to visit his sister's family in Las Vegas. It was very fun, but not well photographed by me.
I was very excited for Christmas, and put the tree up shortly after Halloween. I've been collecting ornaments for years, but this was my first time putting up my own tree with my own decorations (shown here is the collection of Hallmark ornaments I've been receiving from my friend Jamie for every birthday for more than a decade):
For Christmas Eve, we had Matt's parents over for a traditional Scandinavian rice pudding dinner, which was awesome. I had a tiny little sore throat while they were there, which turned into chills and fever (my first ever!) shortly after they left, and eventually evolved into me being sick in bed with a fever of 103 for more than a week, unable to swallow anything without extraordinary pain, causing me to miss Matt's family's Christmas gathering AND my family's New Year's Eve Party AND a week of work, which ended with me in the emergency room because (after giving me two liters of intravenous fluids, pain killers, and antibiotics, then oral steroids, then a chest x-ray) my doctor (who only four days early had told me there was nothing to be done and just go home and suffer) decided I might have blood clots. Well, I didn't have bloods clots, and my fever was down to 99.5 by January 3rd, and I went back to work. (sorry that my sickness/near death ended up being the longest story for 2011!)
For Christmas Eve, we had Matt's parents over for a traditional Scandinavian rice pudding dinner, which was awesome. I had a tiny little sore throat while they were there, which turned into chills and fever (my first ever!) shortly after they left, and eventually evolved into me being sick in bed with a fever of 103 for more than a week, unable to swallow anything without extraordinary pain, causing me to miss Matt's family's Christmas gathering AND my family's New Year's Eve Party AND a week of work, which ended with me in the emergency room because (after giving me two liters of intravenous fluids, pain killers, and antibiotics, then oral steroids, then a chest x-ray) my doctor (who only four days early had told me there was nothing to be done and just go home and suffer) decided I might have blood clots. Well, I didn't have bloods clots, and my fever was down to 99.5 by January 3rd, and I went back to work. (sorry that my sickness/near death ended up being the longest story for 2011!)So, that was 2011 for the Harkers! Our wonderful first year together! Love! Romance! Weddings! Vacations! Holidays! Everything a girl could want, and more! Stay tuned for more adventures!
Friday, January 27, 2012
Birthday Review
Do you realize that I only blogged FOUR times last year? That is what I call pathetic. (I am, of course, not counting wedding blog entries.) Of those four blogs, one was to announce my engagement, one was to introduce Matt, and one was to announce that I had switched blogs. That leaves only ONE blog with updates about my life and that one was a review of 2010. I guess my personal records for 2011 will just be lost in the sand of times. Except for my wedding stuff, which clearly is the most important thing anyway. Except I am super sad not to have a better record of our courtship. =( But no use crying over spilled milk. Let this be a lesson to us all. I think my life has settled down now and I will hopefully be getting into a routine of blogging and general computer use.
It was the perfect perfect perfect gift because two years ago, I really wanted a gold chain for Christmas, but my boyfriend at the time couldn't be bothered to go buy me one, so I bought myself one as a reminder that I couldn't bank of anyone else taking care of me and needed to take care of myself (you might remember me telling the story here. Wow! That post is AWESOME to read, knowing where I am now and remembering where I was. Everything I hoped for happened!). It is so so nice to have a man who really really wants to take care of me now. To me, the necklace was a great, tangible, symbol of that. Plus, the gift was especially perfect because there's a lifetime warranty if it breaks, and I have a tendency to break things (the necklace mentioned in the blog post above actually broke twice before I gave up on it). I love my husband!!
I hate to break my streak of blogging about my birthday (every year since 2007!), so I will take some time to discuss that here.
My birthday was on a Sunday this year, but the celebration started on Wednesday when my work surprised me with a day-long celebration. I walked in to open the office at 7:00am and was greeted by this:
And some super cute preschoolers came and sang to me:
My boss even surprised me with a lunch party for the whole office. To make things even better, Matt called to invite me to lunch that day to celebrate him being done with finals, so I got to invite him to come to the party. It was very lovely, but unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures.
So, all of that was very pleasant and unexpected.
As for my actual birthday, I was super excited to spend it with my husband. But I could never quite decide on what I actually wanted to do the day of, so when my in-laws called and invited us for dinner, I thought that sounded pretty awesome.
The day before my birthday Matt and I stayed up watching movies and around 11pm, I decided that in honor of my birthday, it would be super fun to go to Denny's. I have a not-so-secret love of going to Denny's at midnight and watching the weirdos there. I even worked graveyards at Denny's one summer in college for that very reason. Matt, however, had never taken a late night trip to Denny's. Between the excessive swearers, the insanely pierced, the angry-looking fellow who kept staring at us in an obvious attempt to intimidate us, the awkward double daters, and the extreme PDAers (that one might have been us), and the fact that (in true midnight at Denny's fashion) it took about an hour for us to get our food, the trip did not disappoint. It was everything I had hoped for. Matt, for some reason, did not see the fun in it like I did. Maybe it's just something you have to grow up with (by which I mean "experience in college").
After Denny's we stopped at Walmart to get some stuff to take to my birthday dinner the next day. It also turned into a Christmas shopping trip, since Matt had been working 60-hour weeks and hadn't had time to do non-internet shopping. I was delighted to discover that my sweet, wonderful husband had been keeping a list of everything I said I'd wanted for the past several months (which really was smart of him because I would never think of saying I wanted a tortilla warmer except when I am warming tortillas). He had a very comprehensive list full of things I never would have thought of when asked. We had so much fun shopping together.
When we got home, Matt decided to give me his birthday gift. He pulled out an expertly wrapped maroon box, which since becoming a married woman I have come to recognize as a box containing expensive jewelry from Shane Company. He bought me a BEAUTIFUL gold chain!
It was the perfect perfect perfect gift because two years ago, I really wanted a gold chain for Christmas, but my boyfriend at the time couldn't be bothered to go buy me one, so I bought myself one as a reminder that I couldn't bank of anyone else taking care of me and needed to take care of myself (you might remember me telling the story here. Wow! That post is AWESOME to read, knowing where I am now and remembering where I was. Everything I hoped for happened!). It is so so nice to have a man who really really wants to take care of me now. To me, the necklace was a great, tangible, symbol of that. Plus, the gift was especially perfect because there's a lifetime warranty if it breaks, and I have a tendency to break things (the necklace mentioned in the blog post above actually broke twice before I gave up on it). I love my husband!!On my actual birthday, I got to wake up to this:
It was my first time waking up next to this studly man on my birthday, so I took a picture (good thing I sleep with my phone under my pillow). We went to church, taught our Primary class, took a nap, and then went to Matt's parents' for dinner. As always, it was a delightful evening with the best in-laws imaginable. They even bought me a birthday cake from the same bakery that did our wedding cake!
It was very fancy! And they even remembered my love of mint/chocolate combos. And the artist was clever and added holly leaves to the edging. I love when people do that. 
I have loved reading my birthday post from last year and compare it to this year. As hopeful and optimistic as I was, I never would have guessed things would work out so perfectly or so quickly. It is CRAZY how much can change in 12 months. My 31st year really was the best one ever. This year, I for sure am going to do a better job recording life as it happens. Especially because I'm pretty optimistic that 32 is somehow going to be even better.
I have loved reading my birthday post from last year and compare it to this year. As hopeful and optimistic as I was, I never would have guessed things would work out so perfectly or so quickly. It is CRAZY how much can change in 12 months. My 31st year really was the best one ever. This year, I for sure am going to do a better job recording life as it happens. Especially because I'm pretty optimistic that 32 is somehow going to be even better.
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