I'm Pregnant!

Just kidding. I'm NOT pregnant. I'm also not quite as skinny as I used to be, but just to set the record straight - no pending babies here, although I do plan regularly to kidnap my brother's baby once he's no longer nursing. You would too if you saw this kid smile. I digress. The real news is.....drumroll.......we bought a house! We're moving in this week! It's so exciting! I can't use enough exclamation points!!!! !!!! !!!! See what I mean!?! Needless to say, we're very happy although now completely debt-ridden. This was us last night after the necessity of buying a fridge and a washer and dryer:



And yes, I do get that dressed up while appliance shopping. You dress for success, you know? On a side note, washing machines are looking more and more like those escape pods on Star Wars. Is there a reason for that? Should I be afraid? I'll post some pictures soon before my sister kills me. I'll also have some other updates. Spoiler alert - on Sunday, Adam and I saw Santa Clause's real mode of transportation. Love to you all!

12-hour work day

Ah, November. I have so many mixed feelings about you. Election day - I felt proud to be able to exercise my right to vote. Veterans Day - another patriotic holiday. Thanksgiving - LOVE it! Spending time with family, having a delicious meal, and did I mention two whole days off of work? I can't wait! On the flip side, this is my busiest month of the year as far as work goes. I've been doing web training sessions with international areas and today, Adam and I left the house at 5 AM so I could be to work by 5:30. I made it on time (no small miracle) and then worked till 5 PM. So, I'm tired and loopy and blaming November as if it's the cause of all my problems. It's not, but have you ever noticed how as soon as November 1st comes around, the number of cloudy days increases exponentially? I have. It's just weird. On top of that, there's the whole you-can-never-count-the-weather thing and the landscape begins to look really dead. I thought of another plus though: Adam and I busted out the hot chocolate on Sunday and have enjoyed a nice comforting late night snack every night since. This was done in spite of the fact that one night, I turned the AC on because it was too hot in our apartment. Like I said, mixed feelings. Maybe it's the lack of sleep.

A year and one day......

So, Yesterday was my one-year wedding anniversary! I really cannot believe how quickly this year has flown by. What did we do to celebrate our anniversary? We had all sorts of grand plans leading up to it, but since we're looking to buy a house and wanting to save our time-off for a trip to see my family at Christmas, we settled for spending Thursday and Friday at a hotel downtown, dinner at the Melting Pot and lots of sentimental speeches interspersed through out the weekend. ("You're pretty. No, you're pretty! And the like...) Can't you just picture us?

In all seriousness, this past year has been so great and so eye-opening, and I mean that in the best sense! I've learned so much about myself, how I communicate, and what it's like to not always do things my way. It hasn't always been easy, especially since both of us were single adults for more than a decade. There were some things that I thought would be difficult to adjust to (sharing a bathroom with a man, etc) that were surprisingly easy. Who knew that the real challenge would be realizing that the fact that we both speak English doesn't mean that we interpret things exactly the same way? ("So when you say that you're upset, that's like my version of slightly annoyed. It doesn't mean that you want to throw your hairbrush?") Some of you don't know Adam very well. Let me tell you what kind of guy he is:

1) The kind who listens, really listens to everything a person says
2) The kind who thinks before he speaks (I don't always do that well)
3) The kind who would buy a book on Mathematics and another about Gandhi in the same trip
4) The kind who loves to cook with me even when it takes until 9:00 to eat because we can't understand the recipe
5) The kind who doesn't realize he has the nose of a Greek god (that's how I describe it anyway) and isn't vain about his glossy brown curls

Hopefully nobody who reads this is dry-heaving. I'm really more of a private a person when it comes to things I feel deeply, but I wanted to at least say this much. He's great and we've been happy and grateful for the miraculous circumstances that led to one year ago (it might be thanks to my grandma Kate - you just never know). For any of you who may want to relive the joyous day:

http://picasaweb.google.com/zundelje

Nooooooooo!

This was going to be my weekend to rest. The long anticipated mornings where I could sleep in. The countless hours of leisure (I'm a leisure addict - I don't know what I'll do when I have children). This was my chance to fully heal from my monster cold (still coughing). What did I get instead? Too few hours of sleep last night, and a sore throat! This better be some slight little blip because I live in a semi-arid region of the United States and not an indication that another virus is preparing to stage a full-fledged attack on my already weakened immune system. What happened to Jedi-knight white blood cells? What about my pioneer constitution? Time will tell, I guess, but as Sunday night draws to a close there is one unhappy camper in my house and her name isn't Adam!

On the upside, we've been enjoying lovely Fall weather, there's plenty of apple cinnamon herbal tea for me to drink and our voter registration cards came in the mail this weekend.

What do you think I should be for Halloween? Seriously.

Last pics from NYC, sickness, and Liam!

So, I got waylaid in my quest to report on my trip to NY. Ravaged by disease is a more accurate description. Some people (ahem, Lis) have teased me in the past for being slightly dramatic when I'm sick. I'm coming to the realization that there might be some truth in this. For example, at the first sign of illness, I go to the grocery store, buy OJ, lots of soup, throat drops, lemons, cold medication, tissues and anything I can think of to help treat symptoms. This time, I was able to send someone else out while I laid on the couch bemoaning my pitiful state. Yes, being married has it's advantages and this is one of them. Poor Adam. I did promise to spoil him rotten after I recovered, which I define as being symptom-free. Since I still have a rather convenient cough, he's still waiting on that promise.....

You'll note that I'm calling him Adam now. My less than clever alias was ruined when, as he pointed out, I forgot to use it in the last post. So, instead of being the simplest form of matter (is that right?), he's a regular old Joe..........except that he's a genius and super awesome.

So, I just don't have the energy to give a real play-by-play of my last day in Manhattan. Suffice it to say, we saved the best for last and spent most of the day in Central Park. It was great! The weather was beautiful! We basked on a blanket in the sunshine for awhile eating a lunch of bread, cheese, fruit and cookies, browsed at a book fair, watched the regular crew of roller skaters as they boogeyed to some music, ate some free Ghirardelli chocolates and roamed around the park. It's nice for these city-dwellers, these pavement junkies, to have their own green space:



I loved those roller skaters! I would have joined them if I could, but I was lacking skates and a cool enough outfit. For those of you who don't get to hang out with my best friend, Liam:

NYC Part Deux

Soooo...day two of my brief sojourn in Manhattan began at around 10:00 in the morning. Luckily, Abby didn't have to go into work for the rest of the weekend which guaranteed that Lis and I could at least be spared countless wasted hours on the subway. Since we weren't able to get tickets to Mary Poppins on Broadway, and we'd already toured one art museum, today was dubbed "wander-around-and-shop" day. We grabbed some pastries for breakfast and our first stop was the CO Bigelow's Apothecary, which was full of fun things like jasmin mint toothpaste and this perfume that I will probably always regret not buying because it had the most heavenly fragrance. I've already tried to look for it - argh!

We then headed over to Union Square, meandering through a Farmer's Market on the way. I bought Adam a t-shirt, we enjoyed sampling apple cider, and slowly made our way to the Strand Bookstore, which is the home of 18 miles of new, used, rare and out-of-print books. Needless to say we enjoyed our time there. My sister would probably disappear in this store never to be found again. For the sake of her children, I won't ever encourage her to go.


As we were walking, I saw this building that had a hole in the middle of it with smoke coming out. I asked Abby what it was and her answer was, "I think it's art, actually." She couldn't remember what the concept was for it so I did some research later and apparently it is called, Metronome. It's a public artwall, and it's supposed to symbolize the intangibility of time. It does seem rather intangible.....

The next stop was another one of Abby's favorite stores - I can't remember the name, but it was chalk full of old-school candy such as atomic fireballs and these "gourmet" lollypops that I remember classmate of mine selling in high school for fundraisers. If I hadn't already indulged in pastries and an order of sweet potato french fries, I probably would have loaded up in the name of nostalgia. I settled for taking a photo.


We eventually ended up eating panini's at a fun restaurant on the lower east side and heading to Soho where some more serious shopping ensued. I've come to a realization that my pictures aren't all that exciting - mainly street scenes in the neighborhoods we went to, but I love all of the different building facades and just the feel of the city as you walk around.


At this point of the day, Lis and I were beat. Our feet weren't as tough as Abby's NY feet, who by the way, walked around in heels while Lis and I wore the most comfortable walking shoes we had. We discussed walking to see the Brooklyn Bridge, which probably would have been really cool to see and in the end called it quits for a siesta back at the apartment to rest up before going to dinner. Abby suggested this Japanese restaurant, Ippudo, where you can get ramen. All this time, I've been thinking that ramen is the cheap food you buy when you're in college! My bowl was (insert Japanese word for delicious, here)!


We capped off our evening by going to a piano bar to meet some of Abby's friends from grad school. Picture, a super crowded bar, with a piano in the middle and tables all around. There were two men and one sassy lady who would alternate serving drinks and singing numbers like, Son of a Preacher Man and Love Will Keep Us Together while the drunken patrons (except us) sang along with them. We sang ourselves hoarse, and I'm quasi-serious about pursuing a career in piano bar singing - I'm pretty sure that my Son of a Preacher Man was better than Natalie's. Just sayin'...

NYC Trip Part One...

This is for you, Dad:

Atom's birthday present to me was trip to New York City with Lis to visit our dear friend, Abby. This is why I really like him. It was our first time apart since we got married, and it was so hard to leave! We sat on the couch before going to the airport and both of us cried like I was going away for a year. Do you think our children will be dramatic at all? Luckily, I was only going away for three days and four nights (counting the red-eye flight), and so we put on a brave face and if you'd seen us part at the airport, you would have thought we were old hats at the whole saying goodbye thing. So, the trip begins....

with a torturous flight that left at midnight, Salt Lake time, and was due to arrive at JFK at 6:15 AM. I am not one of those people who can sleep on an airplane. I think I might have dozed off for a good 7 minutes, and that was about it. We arrived at JFK on-time. Our bags were miraculously the first ones out at the baggage claim and before we knew it, we were in a cab on the way to Abby's apartment. I fell in love with her neighborhood in Greenwich Village with all of its old buildings:


After we crashed for a couple of hours, Lis and I got ready to meet Abby for lunch in the financial district. Abby left us very detailed instructions regarding how to get to the subway and which lines to take. One thing we neglected to take into to consideration: the lines travel both ways. We knew we should be heading downtown, but we neglected to check which train we were getting on and ended up on the upper west side instead if downtown. It took about another half hour to remedy that mistake but eventually we made it. We walked along Wall Street and saw about a million people taking pictures by the stock exchange, and some fun old ships along the water front, but we didn't linger too long. We had decided to go to see the art collection at the Frick mansion. It's a smaller art museum, but with a very eclectic collection. First, we had to get there. It took about an hour longer than planned, and a brief foray into Harlem, but eventually we made it. (We didn't tell Abby about our trip to Harlem - too embarrassed.) The museum was amazing! I partcularly enjoyed the Whistler paintings in the last room that we walked through. Here's one of my favorites:

I finally mastered the subway map on the way back downtown (no small feat in my mind), and we made it to the apartment with no problems. We went to dinner at a Spanish restaurant where they only serve tapas, or appetizers. We tried about a dozen different tapas ranging from grilled quail to pork empanadas. It was fantastic, and after we rolled ourselves home, we promptly hit the sack. Stay tuned (if you care) for Day Two...

Hail to the Chief...

So, probably like many of you, Atom and I have been absolutely fascinated as we’ve watched the presidential campaigns unfold this year. We can’t get enough of it. We talk about it all of the time when we’re together. I’ve always been interested in politics. Those of you who know me well know that when I was 11 years old, I read a biography about our 41st president - George Herbert Walker Bush, and I loved it. Since that time, I felt a certain kinship with him. I have t-shirts, commemorative coins, photos, newspaper clippings and an autograph. I need to make sure you know that every single item was given to me from someone who knew that I really liked him, and are not the results of my own endeavors! No crazy people here, okay? When he lost his re-election campaign in 1992, I still remember walking into the kitchen the next morning and asking my mom whether he had been re-elected. When she told me no, my heart sank, I was so disappointed! My fascination didn’t end there – I’ve read at least a little bit about every American president, although I can’t say I remember very much about some of them (William Henry Harrison – my mind is blank). My favorites? I would say John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, and George H W Bush (duh). I have a profound respect for that office, and the demands of such a position.

I received a forwarded email from a co-worker recently with images of suffragettes such as Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul who fought so hard to give women the right to vote. I’m so grateful for strong, intelligent women who have made my life so much easier through their struggles. I feel like I come from a long line of them myself!

Since this is my blog, and consequently my opportunity to share my voice, I’d like to encourage everyone to not only vote, but to get educated about the different candidates and their positions. Don’t rely on forwards or political commentators, do your own research. Below are two links to get you started, if you haven’t already. I like the CNN one because it’s easy to navigate, but I also tried to find one not affiliated with a news organization – it seems pretty unbiased, but I could be wrong. There are probably better ones than these, and if you have any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Googling a candidate’s name and then going to their campaign website is also a good place to start. Happy hunting!

http://www.issues2000.org/Issues.htm

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/

The Countdown...

Ten days from now I will reach a significant birthday milestone - 30. It's weird. I act really melodramatic when I talk about it to other people, like I'm facing impending doom, but that's mostly an act. I don't think it will bother me that much. Here are some reasons why:

1) People have to take you more seriously once you turn 30 - especially at work.
2) I think I've gotten more graceful with age (family members are strictly prohibited from
commenting on this statement) - maybe by age 40, my movements will be so smooth and fluid, I'll be ready to perform at Lincoln Center.
3) I also think that I have more poise than I did ten years ago (close friends are strictly prohibited from commenting on this one).
4) It's a liberating thing to finally face something that society has taught you to dread. It's usually anti-climactic, you wonder what all the fuss was about, and then.....you're free!
5) I doubt that I will feel any different on my actual birthday than I did the day before. To be honest, most days I still feel like I'm about 14 years old and there is that mantra about how you're only as old as you feel....

Aren't you glad I ran through that list? Me too. Now to other things:

This is me killing two birds with one stone. Now y'all can see the new hair cut (for a length comparison see pics below) and how big this new nephew o' mine is getting.

He smiles a ton! He's on my cute grandma's lap right there so he has a lot to be happy about.


I love this picture! He's a lucky great grandson, that's all I have to say.

So I haven't really touched much on the day-to-day lives of Atom and JZ. Let's see...poor Atom is at work right now. The video game he's been working on is due to be released this fall, along with the movie it's based on so that means lots of long hours and no time off til October. My work at the COB continues. Ironically July is my slowest month so I took advantage in small ways: leaving early on Fridays to hang out with friends who also weren't at work, catching a movie or two, etc. All while Atom slaves away. I try to make him feel better by telling him that I didn't have any fun at all and buying him ice cream (the man is an ice cream fanatic) - I think it works sometimes. Don't feel too bad for him though. We've both been able to log some decent poolside hours and we laugh and frolic as often as possible. Two of our favorite hobbies this summer: watching episodes of the West Wing (Bartlett for America!) and YogaBurn (do not try it an hour after eating - not good), and planning our future vacations! Finis.

Name Change

I had to change the name on this blog. I always had my doubts about it, namely because I've never been hard core (is that one or two words?) and so why even imply it? I actually have a lot of fears. When I worked at my old job, my boss used to tell me that my five biggest fears were spiders, sharks, snakes, bears and long-term relationships. He was right, although I guess I can finally remove long-term relationships from that list. To be honest, I think the moment that Atom fell in love with me was the night of our first date when I told him that if I ever ran for office, one of the highlights of my political platform would be to rid the world of sharks and create jobs at the same time. At least that's when I like to think he fell in love with me. I hope that I haven't offended anyone by my anti-shark stance. I try to view them as a beautiful component of the circle of life and then I read some article about a shark attack in Florida or Australia and I regress. It's rather sad because if I could be anywhere right now, a beach with soft white sand and crystal clear water is at the top of my list. I would still go in a heartbeat. I just wouldn't swim very far out......and never at dusk. That's my advice for the day.

Anyway, I'm not in love with the new name either so if anyone has any suggestions/feedback, I'm all ears. I'm trying to be better at posting on this blog. This week is birthday week for Atom and I. My brother's wife Tianna's birthday is tomorrow (Friday) and Atom's sister's birthday is on Saturday
so we're looking forward to a lot of good family time. I'll get to see my cute new nephew and go to the new Batman movie with Atom's family. Maybe I'll try to give a review next week......

Who says that?

It's been a while since I posted. I blame the fact that our laptop imploded about a month ago. I also blame my loose grip on reality. There are so many imaginary posts that I do in my head every single day. How am I supposed to remember that I never actually posted about the new shoes I was enraptured about for about a day until I realized they really hurt my feet? Or the the tribute to my lovely friend Ingrid that I had planned after the comments she left on my last post? Be warned, Ingrid...it's coming! The list goes on and on. So here it is, July 13th and now I will get to the meat of this particular post:

I got my hair cut. Not just a trim either - this was a full-blown transformation. My hair used to be well past my shoulders in length. It now barely comes past my chin. After I left the salon, things seemed to go well at first. I liked it, Atom liked it, Lis liked it. I went to work the next morning feeling simultaneously nervous and excited. Would anyone say anything? The first half dozen comments were all very positive. The world is rose-colored. Enter one normally very nice lady from finance:

finance lady: "You got your hair cut."
Me: "Yeah, it was time for a change."
finance lady: "Did you cut it yourself?"

Did I cut it myself? What??? Who says that?! All of a sudden thoughts are swirling around in my head. Does it really look as though I cut six inches of my own hair by myself? Is it because of my cowlick? I know what my hair would look like if I cut it myself because I used to do it all the time when I was about four. Now, I'm pretty sure that this lady did not mean to cause so much angst. Maybe she just didn't know what else to say and is trying make conversation. It gets better about four hours later:

same finance lady: "So, are you trying to look your age?"
Me: Well, since I'm turning 30 next month, no, I hope I don't look exactly my age."
same finance lady: "Some people were talking about your haircut. They think you look older."

Awesome. I look older. Again, not something I want to hear as I exit my 20's. And on top of that, people are talking about my hair out of earshot. Self-esteem plummeting.

You'll be happy to know that I've recovered and really like the new 'do. Like I said, I really don't think she meant any offense and hopefully this will be viewed as the humorous anecdote that I meant it to be. But still......who says that?

Misc.

Man, what a crazy week! Between my fabulous parents flying in on Tuesday, Atom working SUPER late this week, visiting my brother, sister-in-law and their new baby and celebrating King Kamehameha Day (yes I have to look it up to spell in every time) at work, I am spent, simply spent.

It's so great to have my parents here, though. I went to lunch with them the afternoon they flew in and it was just me and mom and dad. I was so excited thinking about all of the places I could take them, and where did they decide they wanted to go? Crown Burger. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a Crown Burger fan. Those french fries, the special sauce they put on their burgers....I try not to think about how I usually end up feeling after I eat there. Still, I'm a fan. It was just a slightly anticlimactic moment for me to hear their decision after imagining all of the places we could have gone. I digress. As I watch my mom cooking up fabulous meals for my brother and sister-in-law and I listen to my dad showing Atom his latest Linux gadget (I'm sure it has an actual name), I'm reminded of how awesome my parents are and how fortunate I am.

Another highlight? King Kamehameha Day at work. My co-worker brought in dark chocolate Mounds bars, I played the Hawaii 5 0 theme song for every person who entered our workstation - a fabulous day. I am in love with those Dark Chocolate Mounds bars! Buy them! You won't regret it.

Auntie Mame

I am a very proud auntie today! Not only do I get to claim these adorable tots:

But I now have a new one to worship! His name is Liam (I think - they were undecided for a while), and he was born on May 29th at 4:58 PM. He had a pretty rough time of it and spent the majority of yesterday in the NICU, but he is a fighter! He surpassed everyone's expectations and is doing great. My little brother is a dad! Weird, wild stuff....

Yeah, so, I've had ambitions of creating a blog for sometime only, I'm kind of a procrastinator so I was really proud of myself the first time I created a blog. Imagine my dismay when at work I find out that my blog page has been blocked due to a suspect key word. I swear I did not intentionally put this questionable word on my blog. I had to think long and hard about what could possibly have caused this problem. Then, my sister kindly pointed out that it could be the alias I gave myself. Who knew that she was more up on urban slang than her only recently married sister? At any rate, this is my second blog attempt and I sure hope you won't judge me. Il faut soufrir pour reussir!