I'm growing up!

Hey guys check it out: I figured out how to change the background on my blog! I will be playing around more to find a better background, but this will do for now. Someday I will totally understand how to make a blog, but it is still uncharted territory for me.

Life is pretty good over here for the Platers. It was a slight snowmageddon in Madison. People at Whole Foods were acting crazy getting their supply before we are snowed in. Madison's snow removal isn't like Utah's, and they don't believe in salting the roads which makes driving even scarier. It isn't that bad, but we are couped up in the apartment for the night. Great for getting my homework done...or blogging?

So today I bought Kale for the 2nd time. First time was a bad experience, but I am going to try it out in my green smoothies or even make some kale chips this weekend. I am excited.

Gertie had her first birthday which was so fun!

We had Minsi Gertie's best friend come over for some "pup cakes" you can see the recipe here. I tasted it, and they are pretty good. Just a really dense muffin basically. I put a little dollop of yumbutter peanut butter for the frosting. She wasn't quite sure how to eat her pupcake.


I made Schnauzer cupcakes for the humans. They were way too time consuming so I only made a couple, but they turned out pretty cute!

I haven't mentioned yet that Joey and I went to Houston together for his interview @ Rice University. Up until we had that little vacation I was so against living in Texas. I didn't want to live in the "Big American/ Walmartville" etc part of society. Houston was gorgeous though. A huge city with a fabulous art museum :) Getting to Houston was a nightmare, and to spare you all the details we ended up spending the night in Atlanta and got $1200 in compensation for flight tickets later! Worth the shiz we went through? I would say yes.

Once we landed in Houston due to the "overbooking" delays we had to book it ourselves to the University. We got to the rental car area and the guy (in shorts!!) greeted us with water bottles that were slightly sweating. Remember how it was February when we went? Yes I am liking this Houston heat already. He took us to a row of cars and said we could pick out of the row. Before he could finish his sentence I squealed the FIAT! I couldn't stop giggling and grinning driving out of the parking garage. Such cute cars! I will never own one though-no pick up what so ever.




We made it to the University a half hour before Joey's interview which was perfect. I dropped him off and dashed to the MFAH to check out the King Tut exhibit. It was amazing! I also had enough time to breeze through the rest of the museum and grab a couple postcards of my favorite pieces.

This one is The Corn Poppy by Kees Van Dongen. I couldn't get over how much I loved it! Love the red mmm.

After the museum I headed back to the school to meet up with Joey and the MBA "tour guide" who took us to lunch at a swanky university restaurant. After that Joey and I toured around the campus which was so quaint!
I loved the trees!

I convinced Joey to go back to the museum so I could show him everything I liked...and see some things that I went by too quickly. I love art! After getting our picture as mummies Joey was getting tired of being in his suit so we went to our hotel to check in.

After freshening up checked out "The Village" which is a big shopping district that goes on for miles it felt like! We grabbed some dinner at a local hipster joint- which was utterly delicious. Joey was having pregnant woman strength cravings for coldstone so we asked the waiter how to get to one. He gave us directions that seemed easy, but we never found a coldstone. We ended up running into another swanky shopping area that had a ice cream place similar to coldstone.

There was a cute movie theater there so we chilled at the Barnes & Noble (our frequented spot for date nights) while we waited for The Artist's showtime.


We loved The Artist such a great movie. Highly suggest it if you haven't seen it yet. We went back to the hotel and lounged falling asleep to watching VH1 top women artists. We were up bright an early to the biggest rain storm I have ever seen! Driving to the airport was scary in that little Fiat. There would be moments when we couldn't see anything because we hit a huge puddle...while on the freeway. We screamed a couple times. Other than the rain and getting a little lost we made it to the Airport. All thanks to the kind homeless man outside the gas station that showed us the way. Houston was the perfect little adventure we had been needing. I love traveling with Joey even though I am pretty sure we are cursed with bad luck anytime we travel together.

I went to Chicago last weekend, but I will post about that later. I need to type a comparison essay on Greek funerary pottery fun friday for sure!

ps I am trying to keep it healthy which gets really hard when you are a stress eater and being in college=stress. What are somethings you guys do to keep yourself on track, and keep stress under control?

Alright alright! I am posting! PS I love Madison, WI

First: look at how gorgeous Madison is?! Then appreciate how awesome people in Madison are. That little figure is a guy is wind surfing on a frozen lake. Thanks. Now to business. I'm a procrastinating, lazy, distracted ADD kind of a gal so let's just cut me some slack eh?
I hate posting after a long time of not posting (which is every time I blog) because I never know where to begin. ughhh ok here we go. "Please fasten your seat belts".

This semester is even better than last I LOVE my classes. I am taking three art histroy courses which are incredible. One is a survey course of Ancient art to the Renaissance, a Renaissance course covering from Donatello to Da Vinci, and my fav a German art history course covering 1900-WWII. It is beyond incredible. I love my professors! They are so intelligent, and get so excited when students have interest in their field of work. Since Art History majors are few and far between the professors become tight with students in the major. Another thing that I am loving about school is that I am FINALLY making friends! Yes over a year after living in Madison, and I am fraternizing with my fellow schoolmates. It makes living here so much better and it makes me love my major even more having a small group of pals that are in all your classes. It is kinda like high school again! UW Madison is a pretty huge campus too so it is nice to see people you recognize, and not be a just little dot in a sea of students.
This is my view everyday. In the basement of the art museum only glimpsing to what the light of day may be like. I love it.

I am also taking a women's health and their bodies course which is to say the least interesting. Let's just say I would be experiencing a WHOLE different course if I took this same class in Utah. It is very eye opening, sometimes jaw dropping, and makes me giggle at inappropriate times. It is good for me though I am learning things about my anatomy that I had no clue about. Like do you know what the pouch of Douglas is? I didn't either. I am also learning about social issues that are very interesting. Granted they are heavily biased in the ultra feminist side of the world, but it is good to be around different ideologies. Don't worry guys I am not going to become a man hating feminist activist...but I might gain new opinions towards certain issues after this semester. I have an awesome coloring project that I could share from one of my discussion sessions for the class while learning anatomy, but my in-laws might read this, and I don't want to be naughty ;) -Kiersten you know what I am talking about!

In November I had my schedule for this semester all lined up and perfect to work with my work schedule and the rest of my life. My fifth course was French 101. Which I was soooo excited for! My goal in life is to learn French, and then live in France/Switzerland for the rest of my days. This 101 class was the start of making my dream a reality. How amazing would it be? *scenario-Art History Graduate (like Kate Middleton woot!) I speak french, get a job at some quaint art gallery in France and ride my bike everywhere I go with a basket filled with fresh picked flowers and blackberries. I go to the cafe for some coffee...er "herbal tea?" to read some intellectual book while the children are at tennis lessons....end scenario* Well this track was rudely disrupted by a less than enjoyable professor (a quiz on three pages of a worksheet to have memorized on the 2nd day of class? Which I was not allowed to take because class started at 2:25 and I arrived to a locked door at 2:26? Then was never let into class after the quiz so I missed a whole lecture? You get my point.), and the realization that I didn't really "need" to take French to graduate.

So I dropped it :( but I still had to take a class. You see since I transferred to UW Madison they require that I take a certain amount of credits at their university and a certain number has to be in the intermediate/advance level and in the college of letters and sciences. So three days into school I had to scramble to find a class that fit those requirements and fit my already packed schedule. Found what seemed to be the perfect substitute. A Film Theory course. The catch? It is only one day a week.- Hey that's great!- more or less. It is only on Wednesday nights from 6:30-9pm...and I am young women's 1st counselor. When is young women's? Oh ya Wednesdays nights at 7.

So after working that all out I am no longer in Young Women's and I am a Ward Missionary "assistant". Gotta love those types of callings lol. Actually I am excited for it. Being in the "mission field" I know I will have many opportunities to be a missionary for the church.

Now that my school is all explained. Let's talk aboout Joey's school situation. He is working at CUNA Mutual right now until July and then he is off to grad school for an MBA in health care administration (at least that is our plan) He has taken the GMAT and applied to a bunch of schools. Yes he applied to U of U, but I don't think we will go there. As much as I would love to be around friends and family the University really isn't the best option out there. We are hoping to get into a better school, and so far what is at the top of the list is Vanderbilt or Rice University. Joey had an interview on Tuesday at Vanderbilt. I didn't get to go, but he liked the campus and the interview went really well he said. I am super excited for next week because I get to go with him to Houston for his interview at Rice! Houston has a couple good art museums so I am giddy with joy to check them out. My professor is even letting me do my research project on an artwork at the museum there. Love it!

Between the two schools I am leaning towards Rice which I never thought I would say. I have for the longest time NEVER wanted to be a Texan. I still don't, but I have really good feeling about Texas, and after researching Houston it actually is a really cool city! Warm weather sounds amazing too. It will be nice to be only a few hours from family too. Because of the number of museums in Houston I might even be able to score a job at one after graduating! I won't get too excited about one place though because we have no clue where our lives will be taking us next.

This is such a fun time in our lives right now waiting for our next adventure. It is sort of sad that we will be leaving Wisconsin soon. Which brings up another touchy subject. Joey goes to school this fall, but I don't graduate until after next fall semester. I am NOT transferring schools again! We decided that I will stay behind to finish up my undergrad finally and catch up with him in December. It is going to be so hard living away from my sweetheart! I have no idea where I am going to live, but it won't be where we are now. I can't justify paying the rent that we are for just me..and maybe Ethel (the cat) -we haven't figured out where she is going yet. Gertie will go with Joey though (they are inseperable). It will be really hard. I don't even want to think about it. However it will be worth it. I am so excited to finish school, and hopefully this will end up being an amazing experience that just draws us closer together.

This is our lives in a nut shell right now. I am just trying to stay afloat of my mountains of reading, keeping the house clean, working out more than once a week (bleh/embarrassing) and gradually selling the majority of our possessions. We want to not need to move much to wherever we go, and just start new. So enlightening I know! Don't judge my blog's brown paper sack like appearance. Someday it will be cutsie and adorable. I need you guys to coach me to make it cute and to get pictures on here without taking 5hrs to figure it out. Consider these Platers Updated.-cheesy sign off i know

I have become comfortably numb.

I am in the thick of studying for finals, yet I am extremely calm. I think I surpassed the amount of stress and anxiety a person can go through, and am just in a numbed daze. I am studying but not in the panicked hyper mode I think I should be in. It is a bit nerve recking. Not sure how next week is going to turn out. I have moments of anxiety and want to cry. I just tell myself it is all good, and that it doesn't matter (even though it does on so many levels). I don't let myself think about my rush to graduate so that Joey and I won't be separated for more than a semester when he goes to grad school. I don't let myself think about the possibility of failing logic, and what will happen when I owe for my student loans. Ok I constantly think about those things! Just gotta Take it a day at a time. I have My Italian and Japanese art history final on wednesday. Then I hurry up to type a 6 page paper and finish my last logic assignment over the weekend, all while going to chicago for joey's birthday (why must you be born during finals?!). Then tuesday and wednesday one more art history final (just my survey course) and the dreaded logic final. It pretty much will make or break me passing the class. sooooo holy crap! Can't wait til that test is done and we are flying to Reno for christmas! I will be out of this mental fog, and will be such a better person to be around!

see you after finals!

I'm a new soul

Joey came home from work today and asked me if I wanted a new laptop. I wasn't sure how to answer. Then he said actually you need a new laptop. Guess my mini laptop had finally broke beyond repair. Which really sucks because it is not even 6months old yet. I have a paper due tomorrow so YES I NEED a new laptop ASAP! I have been pushing for a Mac lately, but we all know how Joey feels about Apple products.
We drove to Walmart looking for the best deal on a laptop, but found the selection to be quite like the demographics of the store...GHETTO. Nothing against Walmart though I hate that company, but this particular store is anything but classy. Anyways we trucked it out of there barely being accepted by the receipt checker to make sure Joey didn't steal the Code Red and $5 slippers. We drove across town in rush hour traffic to Best Buy. Had to deal with way too many overeager nerds asking if we need help. I wanted to say back off buddy my man is an ultranerd too...we've got this covered. Scanning over laptops checking to see what had the best "specs" (I think that is the correct term) to price, I kept longingly gazing to the beautiful white apple section of laptops. I kept throwing in there "mac"? " "apple"?, but Joey would just shirk and give a bitter but true remark about their overpriced merchandise while being the same as a laptop. We were making comparisons when the Mac guy came to ask if we needed help. Joey stirred the pot a bit with him, and in turn we had to listen to a 5 minute lecture about why macs are better than pcs. I wanted to be like dude don't waste your time on this guy. We found the laptop and checked out.
While walking to the car I was kinda sad...sulking. Joey was like whats wrong? Me being a spoiled brat (hey at least I can admit it) said I wanted a mac. I was giving my case once again how much better it would be yada yada yada, and finally the unthinkable came. He caved. "If you want the Mac then lets go get it". I said no at first thinking this was some sort of reverse psychology trick. Before we had left the mall parking lot. I turned around and booked it back to best buy. Made the return and purchased a MacBook Air. This lovely little baby is my Christmas/Anniversary/Birthday present, and I love it! I love Joey so much, and am so happy he let me get this! Even though it is overpriced and whatnot I am Mac girl, and once you go mac you can't go bac. Thanks for spoiling me sweetheart! Muwah
yay new computer!
gotta show off my amazing decorating skills for christmas

Dark Cloud Approaches

This has probably been the most stressful semester of my life! UW Madison is hard! As hard as it is though I love it. I love this university and my major (Art history). I am starting to lose motivation to study though with the excitements of the holidays. We are going to Reno for Christmas, and I am going home in January for Jade's wedding! I seriously can not wait! As for now I need to find me some Adderall and push through til December 21st. Then I am free for a month! I will get some pics of our apartment decorated for Christmas, and I need to get a family photo asap! We don't have one with the four of us. This photo sums up my study skills lately. I need a kick in the pants for motivation! Ps once finals are over I need to figure out how to make my blog look less boring...and I need to catch up on all my magazines/ tv shows (VS fashion show!)/ laundry/ physical health.

Happy Birthday Dadio!

Today is Johnny White Junior's birthday. I am at work sitting in the contact center @ UW Credit Union, so my photo options are limited to the internet...and facebook is prohibited (torture I know). I found this lovely photo of my dad on johnwhite&associates.com. He is 62 today? Pretty sure. Well just wanted to wish him a happy happy day, and that he gets to eat some cake! My favorite birthday memory of his is when he turned 60 and my bros made a music video for him. Check out John is turning 60 on youtube...will not dissapoint!

My dad is the best dad in the world, and I am so glad he was born! Love you dad!

...Here is a cake incase mom "forgets" to get you one