M.I.A

I've been MIA...and I am going to be for a while more too. School has of course been the main culprit for my absence. Have a final today then have to type a take home essay on the fly so I can get packed and clean our house before we go out of town this weekend. This week is crazy!...not cray...which is actually kray....which actually means hard to find. FYI (urban dictionary). While I am MIA enjoy this M.I.A music video. It is one of my favorite songs ever. Her newer song "Bad Girls" is good too, but this one just always makes me happy.

Birthday week

Woo! best time of the year baby! Birthday week officially commenced this weekend. Here's what happened...

                                                     I went to school. Took a final.

Found a food cart with green smoothies!

Joey got a new laptop for school. He is SO excited about it.

I got a card in the mail with some mula! Thanks dad! Also thanks Nana for the card and mula from when I was in town a couple weeks ago!

Made chocolate almond croissants for a baptism...that I forgot what time it actually started. Thought it was at 12, sent Joey to drop them off...yeah baptism was at 10 am. FAIL. Sister Missionaries sure got a lovely treat though!

We are training Gertie to be able to go on walks with us with out a leash. She did pretty well, but gets distracted sometimes and likes to wander a little bit. We just lure her back with a tennis ball.

We went to the movies at my favorite theater. Sundance cinemas. They are seriously the best! So glad we will have one in Houston too!

We saw Moonrise Kingdom. Best movie ever at the moment. This is the film of summer 2012. Go see it.

Kitty/Ethel likes to hang out in our cupboards.  She also has an undying love and friendship for computer cases. She has been pretty serious with my case since I got my laptop. Now there is a new guy on the block since Joey got his laptop. She is letting my case down easy not totally quitting it cold turkey, but she doesn't leave big black's sight for much. I thought she would appreciate me merging her two loves into one spot. I think it is safe to agree that she does.

I have an addiction to sweets. I also have an addiction to pancakes. I was seriously craving some almond flour pancakes yesterday, and these little minis did the trick. I should have waited to eat pancakes for later, because I want to try a pinterest "funfetti" pancake recipe on my bday...is that too many pancakes in a week? Prolly. Oh well. Happy Birthday week to me!

float like a hummingbird busy like a bee

Holy smokes it is summer people and yet I am more busy with school now than I am during regular school session! This week is a tough one because my 1st summer course is overlapping with my 2nd course. They are super intense and require reading a billion pages a night. I am exhausted after 7hrs of school and 4hrs of work. So no sleepies yet! I have to read/start prepping for my final on thursday.  Nothing cool to report here other than I am loving being super stressed out for summer school...On a happier note I can get my hair in a high pony! woot! there is a mini mullet going on in the back, but still I am making serious progress. Top bun is gonna happen to this girl! haha

happy to be home

 Hey everyone I am back! I spent an incredibly incredible and incredibly fast weekend in Utah. Posts to follow. Just had to give a quick post so you guys don't think I gave up on this blog forever. My blogging urges usually come around when I have things to procrastinate in school, which is why in the summer I haven't been posting much. The urge came back today though because I have a paper due tomorrow. Haven't even started it. #winning. One thing to mention from my trip is that I got my self some serious technology. An iphone and a new camera! SO SPOILED EXCITED!. Can't wait to start figuring out how to use all the cool features on this huge honker.

 

As much fun as I had back home, I am so happy to be back with my sweetheart. I don't know how I am going to do 5 months with out my man....not thinking about it, not thinking about it, not thinking about it! We have 7 weeks left. That means at least 7 date nights that I need to take full advantage of. Any good ideas for fun/cheap date nights? Would love to hear from my sconnie friends for fun local ideas.

Sunday Funday

Happy Blessed Sabbath brothers and sisters. haha jk. Days like today are my favorite...minus the fact that I need to type two papers and study for a test....ya I need to get on that soon. It is a favorite though because it is a stormy day! I love rainstorms, and in Madison we get really good ones. The kind of storms that stop the speaker in church and all the little kids are like "OOHHHH!" after a ginormous thunder clap. I love the dark gray sky and its contrast to the vivid green flora. It makes the house so cozy to me. To add to the coziness theme I put some vanilla in an oven safe bowl in the oven at 300 (thank you pinterest) to make the house smell delicious...then I got real and made some knock you naked brownies (again thank you pinterest). They are in the oven as I type, and cannot wait to nibble on their chocolatey caramelicious faces.

 Yesterday was Cinco De Mayo! To celebrate I made cilantro lime chicken tacos which were so EASY and TASTY. What could be better right? It was just 3lbs BS (boneless-skinless) chicken breasts, 16oz salsa, two limes, 1 packet taco seasoning, mix all up in the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8hrs. We loved them. Hated the tortillas I bought, but at least the meat was good.

Freddy food plate got a bean fro, rice beard, and taco ears.

I used cilantro and tomatoes from the farmer's market to make some mean pico. mmm.

So I mentioned in my last post that yesterday was also Mifflin. What is Mifflin you ask? One of the biggest parties of the year in Madison like around 20k people big. It isn't a party that necessarily supports our morals, so we didn't go,  but I find it entertainng to see how excited everyone gets for it...and the drunk facebook messaging/status updates that follow from my friends ;)

Mifflin is a block party held every year on the first weekend in May. Originally it was a war protest in the 70s but now is an excuse to let loose and get really drunk. This year there was drama with the Mifflin party because it fell on the same day  as Cinco de Mayo. The party's theme combined the two celebrations, and of course people got offended (someone always does). It ended up being that the Dean of UW sent out a really awkward video telling students not to go to the party. That opened pandora's box. If you go on Youtube you will find a bunch of videos making fun of the deans video with dubstep remixes, memes from movies, etc. I just find it hilarious. This was my favorite meme

The whole situation just makes me laugh, because this stuff is from another planet compared to what student life is like back in Provo at BYU. It is so funny how opposite these two schools are. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to go to the party just a tinsy bit, but whatcha gonna do. Back to studying!

Most Unanticipated Friday

Weekends from now to the end of the semester aren't really awaited with much excitement. Friday and Saturday just means I have a whole day to sit in the library slaving away at papers, memorizing billions of images, and reading. Glad I get to teach a lesson this Sunday in Gospel principles too.  There better be a new episode of SNL or I am going to cry.
Cheers to the freakin weekend?

 Sorry Joey for leaving you all alone at home, but I can't study around so many distractions like you can.

Happy National Pretzel Day!

I forgot to post about my trip to chicago last weekend...probably because I forgot to take any pictures. I was too busy following my professor around and having my own personal tour guide! It was AMAZING. Best way to go through an art museum if you ask me.

The UW Art History Department usually takes a bus down to Chicago's art institute once a semester for a "field trip". It is basically a free bus ride to Chicago though. Once you get there you are on your own, you don't even have to go to the museum if you don't want to, but I'm a nerd and that was all I wanted to do. I am embarrassed to say this, but I even turned down going to Zara with a bunch of girls...NERD ALERT.

I stayed with my modern art professor who was with a couple older ladies and a girl in high school. The older ladies spoke french (one from Belgium and the other from France) and they were so tiny and adorable! The younger girl was a foreign exchange student from Italy and her name was Francesca. She became my bestie for the day. The five of us trekked all of the modern galleries, had duck confit for lunch, and toured the Millennium park gardens before getting back on the bus to get back to Madison. Easy to say I had a cultural feast last week.

Our reflection in the bean with Francesa and Professor Buenger

Middle of the bean.

It was such a perfect day for a wedding in the city! So gorgeous!

The trip was great fun, and We were exhausted after walking ALL DAY LONG. Francesca and I slept the whole way back, became FB buddies and now I have a little Italian friend! I am glad I found her to hang out with because my other friend ended up getting food poisoning so I wasn't going to have any buddies on the trip, since Joey didn't want to go either (party poopers).

 To celebrate National Pretzel Day Joey and I went to the mall to have an Auntie Anne's pretzel. I got the garlic, and he got cinnamon sugar. Joey couldn't finish his because it was "too sweet". I didn't know such words could come out of his mouth haha. No pics of the pretzels tonight though I forgot my camera, and I have a bunch of zits on my face right now so don't really feel like sharing that (thanks stress).

Good Listen

Break it Yourself has been out for a little bit, but it is still pretty new. Joey introduced me to Andrew Bird when we were dating. He is probably our favorite musician ever. Mr. Bird is LEGIT. If you haven't listened to him before get his stuff he's great. I am loving this album. He will be in Chicago in May, and I am crossing my fingers that we can go!

Speaking of Chicago I can't wait for this week to be over because I am going to Chi town with the art history department to go to the art institute! pics to follow fo sho.