Hope the day is great!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
treasures
I was looking through some old files trying to come up with a writing sample for something, and look what I found....
Sisterhood of the Seductive Sweater
Rules:
1) The sweater cannot be worn around the shoulders
2) No holding animals while wearing the sweater
3) No drooling while wearing the sweater (if you nap and think you might drool, take the sweater off first)
4) The sweater must never be lent or loaned to anyone outside of the Sisterhood of the Seductive Sweater
5) While wearing the sweater you must never purposely ignore anyone of the opposite sex
6) Never wash the sweater
7) The sweater can NEVER be worn with socks and sandals (NOTHING should ever be worn with socks and sandals… If the thought even crosses your mind, you should be excommunicated from the Sisterhood of the Seductive Sweater)
8) If you ever lose the sweater, your life will be forfeited
9) No sweating in the sweater (if you think you might sweat, take the sweater off – but never wrap it around your shoulders… see rule #1)
10) When you are done wearing the sweater, record all life-changing events and/or unique experiences that happened while wearing the sweater (these can be fact or fiction) including the following details
a. The place you spent the most amount of time while wearing the sweater
b. The cutest boy you saw while wearing the sweater and your attempts to seduce him
c. Any comments or compliments received about the sweater
11) Never, ever deny the power of the sweater
12) When your sweater-wearing-turn is over, pass the sweater, along with the journal on to the next member of the Sisterhood so their adventure can begin and they can unlock the power of the sweater
Sisterhood of the Seductive Sweater
Rules:
1) The sweater cannot be worn around the shoulders
2) No holding animals while wearing the sweater
3) No drooling while wearing the sweater (if you nap and think you might drool, take the sweater off first)
4) The sweater must never be lent or loaned to anyone outside of the Sisterhood of the Seductive Sweater
5) While wearing the sweater you must never purposely ignore anyone of the opposite sex
6) Never wash the sweater
7) The sweater can NEVER be worn with socks and sandals (NOTHING should ever be worn with socks and sandals… If the thought even crosses your mind, you should be excommunicated from the Sisterhood of the Seductive Sweater)
8) If you ever lose the sweater, your life will be forfeited
9) No sweating in the sweater (if you think you might sweat, take the sweater off – but never wrap it around your shoulders… see rule #1)
10) When you are done wearing the sweater, record all life-changing events and/or unique experiences that happened while wearing the sweater (these can be fact or fiction) including the following details
a. The place you spent the most amount of time while wearing the sweater
b. The cutest boy you saw while wearing the sweater and your attempts to seduce him
c. Any comments or compliments received about the sweater
11) Never, ever deny the power of the sweater
12) When your sweater-wearing-turn is over, pass the sweater, along with the journal on to the next member of the Sisterhood so their adventure can begin and they can unlock the power of the sweater
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wedding!
Whitney! We're all dying to hear about and see photos of your big day! I'm sure it was fantastic... I can't wait to hear allllll about it! Congratulations girl!photo via flickr vintage weddings pool
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
When the economy is bad...
...take a vacation. I'll explain in a minute.
I feel like I killed the blog with my last highly philosophical and too diatribe-ish entry, so I'm going to make an effort to rejuvenate things. Then again perhaps the blog's death isn't my fault: some people are busy with weddings/newly married life and others are busy with new jobs. I'm busy with the following: nothing. School ended on Friday and about time I might add! After corralling my ninth graders into one room for 1.5 hours, keeping them entertained until their refunds came, and being called a charming, though overused, expletive by a departing 14 year-old, I was ready to leave. I arrived home around 2:30 (after cleaning, sorting, organizing), sat on the coach, and read. However, my husband is still in school right now, meaning staying home alone would be fairly boring. I have to complete six planning days during the summer anyway, so I decided to get them done early. I've been at work by eight since school got out. I have a conference in two weeks, and then the entire summer is ahead of me.
So June is wiped out, but July is looming large. Why? Because we decided to put our Uncle Sam fund to good use. Rather than bolster the sputtering American economy, though, we're going to dump that refund check into the already-strong Euro. That's right: we're flying to Europe. We're going to stay with my brother and family in Germany, head up to Poland, and then swing down to see Rachet in Zurich with some side trips in between. Yes, I know the dollar is weak, but we're young, childless, and insured. Plus, we own stellar backpacks, we don't mind being smelly with each other for two full weeks, and we don't start grad school payments until next year. When is that combination going to happen again? Needless to say, we're looking forward to the trip.
Whitney, how are wedding plans? Are you excited?
Thursday, May 01, 2008
The "Jo" Side of Me
I'm experiencing a Jo-assaince: a renewal of interest in all things international. Now, don't assume that I've never considered the outside world before--my views have never been purely Amero-centric. However, in the past several weeks, I've found myself gravitating towards movies and books which have international origins. My guess is that my brain is going through withdrawals of the constant updates I received about the world from my friend. My body's sensed the lack and is hungry for all things international. I listen to NPR daily, waiting for sound bites of Iraq and Africa. I watched a beautiful/depressing Indian film titled Water about widows trapped in a caste system, and I wept at the end. I finished one of the only written accounts of an honor crime survivor, Burned Alive, and found myself reading passages aloud to my husband, ranting over the inequalities towards women that plague several areas of the world. And I just completed a mentally stimulating yet emotionally exhausting read: Persepolis. You all need to read it. I have a new pet topic for conversation as a result of this read, but I won't bore you with that. (I'll give you a hint, though--negative perceptions of all people in the Middle East without any actual understanding or knowledge of that area.) Now I'm trying to find the movie. Anyone know where I can get it?
Luckily, my oracle of the globe will be here in two weeks. I'm so excited! I bought new sheets and everything. Don't worry, Sarah. I will not ruin your wedding day with a tirade on my latest world discovery.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Three Weeks
So, in approximately three weeks and two hours I will be a married white mother! Except, with no children. So, this is fantastic because -- THREE WEEKS! And also slightly worrisome because -- THREE WEEKS! The worry factor comes in when I realize I still haven't picked up my dress, figured out my hair, found a veil, determined if we're doing cookie favors or a candy buffet, scheduled my bridals, figured out my makeup, made the DVD slideshow thing, burned the music CDs for the reception, finished Spencer's wedding gift, started moving my stuff to his condo, or finished writing thank you notes from the first showers. That's where the "holy cow!!!" feeling starts to pile on and I get a little buried in it. But then I remember that I'll be in Hawaii in a month... and I can start to relax again. :)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Remember
Do you ever go through the archives of your life just to see what you were up to one, two, five, ten years ago? It's one of my favorite things to do. It's always an awakening that I need to be better about keeping up on today so I can have something to look back on one, or two, or ten years from now.
I was glancing back through our blog to our first entries. They were almost two years ago exactly. Remember? Remember driving to Salt Lake to watch the Joseph Smith movie and hitting The Belgian Waffle and Omelette Inn on the way back? Remember talking to Seth about random music in the car? Remember the Employee of the month wall? Remember how the next morning (only a few short hours later) we gorged ourselves on Magleby's Fresh? Remember how those were our last few hours together as The Four White Mothers as roommates?
It's crazy to think of that as the jumping off point. The place where we each began to follow our own uncertain course to where we are today. Who knew that since that time Jo would have had life-changing experiences in Africa, Jenny would have decided to stay in Hampsted after all (and it's a good thing!), Whitney would have had inner-city teaching experience, and I would be working less than a mile from The Belgian Waffle and Omelette Inn? My, how life surprises us.
I was glancing back through our blog to our first entries. They were almost two years ago exactly. Remember? Remember driving to Salt Lake to watch the Joseph Smith movie and hitting The Belgian Waffle and Omelette Inn on the way back? Remember talking to Seth about random music in the car? Remember the Employee of the month wall? Remember how the next morning (only a few short hours later) we gorged ourselves on Magleby's Fresh? Remember how those were our last few hours together as The Four White Mothers as roommates?
It's crazy to think of that as the jumping off point. The place where we each began to follow our own uncertain course to where we are today. Who knew that since that time Jo would have had life-changing experiences in Africa, Jenny would have decided to stay in Hampsted after all (and it's a good thing!), Whitney would have had inner-city teaching experience, and I would be working less than a mile from The Belgian Waffle and Omelette Inn? My, how life surprises us.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Four Funerals and a Wedding
So I guess since everyone posted their current status I might as well join in all the fun. Things have pretty much been out of control this semester. I love that when I was in school I thought life was crazy but really I had no idea. Jobs = stress. That's all there is too it. Most my nights have been restless this entire semester because I have just been stressing over everything. I just think how behind Stevie is in reading, or why Jordan won't turn in any assignments. For some reason Brianna has no friends, Mark's mom decided to come to my class simply to swear at me and attempt to make me cry, and for some reason my class can never have substitutes. For some reason my kids can't seem to grasp how to find the area of a circle or circumference, and I don't have time to reteach all of it. AHHHHH! So nuts. The next area of stress is going to be social studies because I have to figure out my next unit on WWII. Bleh. I want it to be summer I think. But besides all the joys and bliss from worry all the time, Jeff and I have been experiencing probably some of the most stressful things in our lives right now. So...here it is.
1. In February I found out that my Papa in NC died in a car accident. It was quite tragic. I had a really hard time with it actually, and I found out at Jeff's apartment so everyone else knew as well. It's one of those things that you always watch on t.v. but never really know how you will react until it actually happens to you. And then it happens exactly like they portray it. Sobbing. Uncontrollable sobbing. At least it did for me. And it was just embarrassing to have it happen in front of other people since they don't know what just happened. Anyways, I was unable to attend the funeral, which I think I will always regret. I had just always hoped that my Papa would live to see my wedding. He wasn't in bad health or anything. We'd had a scare last year, but nothing major since then. When I was in NC for Christmas, I just kept thinking how much I wanted my Papa to meet Jeff, and it was hard knowing I wouldn't get to see that. But the thing that I just can't escape, and still haunts me if I let it, is the look in my Papa's eyes when I said goodbye in December. He knew. He hugged me so tight, looked at me, and told me he loved me. He started getting pretty emotional, and I didn't want to think about him dying anytime soon, so I just made some joke and walked away. I wish I'd really really said goodbye to him there. But I know that it was better this way. He never wanted to grow old and have to have other people care for you, so it all worked out I guess. Quick and well it wasn't painless, but fairly quick.
2. In March, I got engaged, and I was finally able start telling people. That's when all the official wedding planning began...it's all so insane.
3. This month was full of more unexpected news. The first week or so of April we found out my cousin Jenny died. She was pregnant with her fifth child. Her amniotic fluid got into her blood stream and caused her to go into cardiac arrest. Her son wasn't due until June, but they had to immediately get him out. He was on life support, and she went into a coma. This all happens when the placenta detaches from the uterus, so there was also excessive bleeding. They had to give her an emergency hysterectomy to stop the bleeding. There was a chance of survival with Jenny having brain damage; however, she died the next morning along with the baby. She and her family were supposed to be getting sealed together in the temple on April 12th. The most tragic part of the story was their family was unable to afford insurance at the time. Her husband is left behind with four children under the age of nine and hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. The funeral was paid for by a generous member in their ward, and the family has received lots of support, which is all good news. My mom flew out for the funeral, so we all went to the viewing together. Mother and son were buried together.
4. The next week Jeff found out his grandma passed away. He is in the middle of tests and finals stress, but had to fly home for the funeral. It was difficult for his father to lose his last parent.
5. Jeff returned last Friday, and I picked him up. I'd stopped by my sisters on my way to get him, and she told me how my grandma and grandpa were now in a nursing home. My aunt and uncle care for them but they were going to their daughter's (Jenny) sealing the next day. Due to the sealing, they had to put grandma and grandpa in a home temporarily. Natalie told me that our mom wanted us both to go visit them in American Fork. I nodded and said we'd have to go sometime. The next morning my mom called me to inform me that my grandpa had died early that morning. It was kind of hard to hear. It was exactly two months to the day since I'd found out my Papa had died. So crazy. Before this year, I had never lost any grandparents, so to lose two in two months seemed kind of unbearable. It was also for the best though. My grandpa had been suffering for a while and had been wanting to die and move on. My mom will fly in on Monday night, so she can attend the funeral.
6. Jeff was at an O Chem review when I called and told him on Saturday morning. When he got off the phone, he turned to his friend Aaron and told him the news. Aaron said, "I thought her grandpa already died?" Jeff responded that it was my other grandpa that had previously died. Aaron quickly stated, "Man, if this is what happens when Whitney gets married, I hate to see what happens when she gets pregnant." It made me laugh pretty hard when he told me.
7. Jeff and I got jobs as RA's at the Branbury. Evan and Bridget moved and we took their jobs. We will be getting free rent and the job is really easy. We are both way excited.
8. I will be finishing up teaching 6th grade, which is a huge relief. I will also not have to worry about all my crazy students. I am specifically thinking of one extremely delinquent kid. Two weeks ago he ran away from school. Like jumped the fence at recess to get away from the principal. He also got the cops called on him last week too for his behavior at school. These fun incidents will soon be over. Thank goodness!
9. In August, I will begin teaching 2nd grade in Mapleton. YAY!
10. I found the perfect wedding dress and bought it last week! No alterations necessary! So exciting!
11. My sister is planning my bridal shower for May 10th and I am way excited about that too!
12. I am going to get a passport for our honeymoon! I am soo excited. I've never had one, so it's so wonderful that I need to get one. We are going to the Western Caribbean to Belize and Roatan Island and three other places there...so now I just have to find a new swim suit!
13. I got my haircut and did something way risky...I got bangs. But I like them I think. Jeff loves the new look, so I guess it all worked out.
14. We printed our invitations and they look so great! Well, I love them at least....
15. There is a lot more I want to tell, but I don't want to write anymore and I am sure you are sick of reading (if you read all the way to here...ha ha ha).
So...I love you all. I am grateful that when tragic and stressful things happen, we are also blessed with happy things that can take our minds off it all! Life is good. I am happy, and I hope you are all doing well too!
1. In February I found out that my Papa in NC died in a car accident. It was quite tragic. I had a really hard time with it actually, and I found out at Jeff's apartment so everyone else knew as well. It's one of those things that you always watch on t.v. but never really know how you will react until it actually happens to you. And then it happens exactly like they portray it. Sobbing. Uncontrollable sobbing. At least it did for me. And it was just embarrassing to have it happen in front of other people since they don't know what just happened. Anyways, I was unable to attend the funeral, which I think I will always regret. I had just always hoped that my Papa would live to see my wedding. He wasn't in bad health or anything. We'd had a scare last year, but nothing major since then. When I was in NC for Christmas, I just kept thinking how much I wanted my Papa to meet Jeff, and it was hard knowing I wouldn't get to see that. But the thing that I just can't escape, and still haunts me if I let it, is the look in my Papa's eyes when I said goodbye in December. He knew. He hugged me so tight, looked at me, and told me he loved me. He started getting pretty emotional, and I didn't want to think about him dying anytime soon, so I just made some joke and walked away. I wish I'd really really said goodbye to him there. But I know that it was better this way. He never wanted to grow old and have to have other people care for you, so it all worked out I guess. Quick and well it wasn't painless, but fairly quick.
2. In March, I got engaged, and I was finally able start telling people. That's when all the official wedding planning began...it's all so insane.
3. This month was full of more unexpected news. The first week or so of April we found out my cousin Jenny died. She was pregnant with her fifth child. Her amniotic fluid got into her blood stream and caused her to go into cardiac arrest. Her son wasn't due until June, but they had to immediately get him out. He was on life support, and she went into a coma. This all happens when the placenta detaches from the uterus, so there was also excessive bleeding. They had to give her an emergency hysterectomy to stop the bleeding. There was a chance of survival with Jenny having brain damage; however, she died the next morning along with the baby. She and her family were supposed to be getting sealed together in the temple on April 12th. The most tragic part of the story was their family was unable to afford insurance at the time. Her husband is left behind with four children under the age of nine and hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. The funeral was paid for by a generous member in their ward, and the family has received lots of support, which is all good news. My mom flew out for the funeral, so we all went to the viewing together. Mother and son were buried together.
4. The next week Jeff found out his grandma passed away. He is in the middle of tests and finals stress, but had to fly home for the funeral. It was difficult for his father to lose his last parent.
5. Jeff returned last Friday, and I picked him up. I'd stopped by my sisters on my way to get him, and she told me how my grandma and grandpa were now in a nursing home. My aunt and uncle care for them but they were going to their daughter's (Jenny) sealing the next day. Due to the sealing, they had to put grandma and grandpa in a home temporarily. Natalie told me that our mom wanted us both to go visit them in American Fork. I nodded and said we'd have to go sometime. The next morning my mom called me to inform me that my grandpa had died early that morning. It was kind of hard to hear. It was exactly two months to the day since I'd found out my Papa had died. So crazy. Before this year, I had never lost any grandparents, so to lose two in two months seemed kind of unbearable. It was also for the best though. My grandpa had been suffering for a while and had been wanting to die and move on. My mom will fly in on Monday night, so she can attend the funeral.
6. Jeff was at an O Chem review when I called and told him on Saturday morning. When he got off the phone, he turned to his friend Aaron and told him the news. Aaron said, "I thought her grandpa already died?" Jeff responded that it was my other grandpa that had previously died. Aaron quickly stated, "Man, if this is what happens when Whitney gets married, I hate to see what happens when she gets pregnant." It made me laugh pretty hard when he told me.
7. Jeff and I got jobs as RA's at the Branbury. Evan and Bridget moved and we took their jobs. We will be getting free rent and the job is really easy. We are both way excited.
8. I will be finishing up teaching 6th grade, which is a huge relief. I will also not have to worry about all my crazy students. I am specifically thinking of one extremely delinquent kid. Two weeks ago he ran away from school. Like jumped the fence at recess to get away from the principal. He also got the cops called on him last week too for his behavior at school. These fun incidents will soon be over. Thank goodness!
9. In August, I will begin teaching 2nd grade in Mapleton. YAY!
10. I found the perfect wedding dress and bought it last week! No alterations necessary! So exciting!
11. My sister is planning my bridal shower for May 10th and I am way excited about that too!
12. I am going to get a passport for our honeymoon! I am soo excited. I've never had one, so it's so wonderful that I need to get one. We are going to the Western Caribbean to Belize and Roatan Island and three other places there...so now I just have to find a new swim suit!
13. I got my haircut and did something way risky...I got bangs. But I like them I think. Jeff loves the new look, so I guess it all worked out.
14. We printed our invitations and they look so great! Well, I love them at least....
15. There is a lot more I want to tell, but I don't want to write anymore and I am sure you are sick of reading (if you read all the way to here...ha ha ha).
So...I love you all. I am grateful that when tragic and stressful things happen, we are also blessed with happy things that can take our minds off it all! Life is good. I am happy, and I hope you are all doing well too!
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