pictures..

I got my camera AND the internet!  First things first, congratulations to my beautiful sister-in-law! She got married today!

Second: This is my niece Jane.  I can't believe how big she is! She's almost 6 months old!

She's so cute! I got to take care of her last night, and she's such a happy baby.  I want one :)

Remember the craft I was telling you about?  

Craft paper and Mod Podge.

Last thing: YUM.  Cookies and Cream Rice Crispy Treats!

A New-ish Look

I decided the blog needed a face-lift...well, i'm kind of attached to my gray-and-yellow theme, so I just gave it a hair cut and changed  the makeup a little.  Speaking of hair-cuts, i love getting them.  My hair is super thin and fine so it gets damaged easily.  I love getting the  "dead" ends chopped because it makes my hair feel so much healthier.  that feeling usually lasts about 2 or 3 weeks...

So...Brennen has 3, that's "THREE"  more interviews for PA schools!  Two schools in Pennsylvania and our first in the West...ARIZONA! Hot, sunny, dry "AZIRONA" and my good friend Tess calls it. I would love to live there...We're pretty stoked. Brennen applied to like 18 schools, and so far has had 5 interview offers.  We had to turn down the one in Connecticut because it's getting a little insane money-wise.  Can't wait for a call from ISU. Cheapest. Intervew. Of them all. Luckily we are blessed with generous family members. :)
In other news: after 22 years of being a girl, I have finally gotten in touch with my crafty side.

 About time! 

Oh, Porters, you will be the death of me! [or at least my bank account.]  I think went in to buy stuff like 4 times in 2 days.  Shoot. And that was just for one project.  [Pictures to come].  We don't have internet at home [i know, its like we're amish.] and i can never seem to get camera to come with me whenever we go somewhere with internet. I'm determined to take more pictures because, well, a picture is worth a thousand words, and i'm sick of writing 1,000,000,000,000 word blog posts! And you're sick of reading them.  That's right, I know my last post only got one view.  Someday i'll get it together. Someday.

She's alive!

So, yes.  It has been almost a MONTH since my last blog.  Welp.  Can I tell you how INSANELY crazy this last month has been? Well, it has been pretty busy.  Brennen flew out to WV for that interview, and HE GOT ACCEPTED! Yay! We don't really want to move out there, but it's our in-case-everything-else-fails plan.  Right now he is just studying for finals and preparing for his internship.  He leaves in 1 month and 20 days....i don't really want to think about that right now.

 Me? I've been working up a storm at the Plasma Center.  Livin' the dream.  P.A. School interview are 'spensive. I'm freaking out about this PRAXIS test I have to take on Saturday because I signed up for the wrong one...and missed the deadline to switch my tests.  This last week has been especially crazy because I picked up an extra shift at work and then got all my finals and threw my sis-in-law a bridal shower.  She gets married in 2 weeks.  This next week i have a ton of crud due, plus this test.  I have not been able to log into I-Learn for the past 2 days which makes submitting finals very difficult.  I have also started having spider nightmares again. Hooray.. For those of you that don't know, my #1 phobia is spiders.  No matter how small or how big (except for tarantulas, don't ask why).  Recently we have found a few in our apartment, which didn't  happen last year.  One morning I woke up with three bites on my foot and had no idea where they came from.  I thought maybe it was a week-old mosquito bite(s) flaring up.  Then the next night I found a spider resting a few feet from my head.  EEEK. I made Brennen get rid of it. Nights have been tough at our place.  It's been hotter than hades since they cut down all the big shade trees in front of our windows.  We've even used our AC occasionally.  Yesterday it rained all day so that sent the temps to about the 60s, which made things a lot better.  I ended up falling asleep on the bean bag in the living room with the window open.  Around 4 am i woke up to this weird crying sound.  It sounded like a cat doing one of three things: 1] Multiplying and replenishing, 2] giving birth or 3] dying a slow, painful death. It was REALLY loud, and i'm not the only one it woke up, either.  Some neighbors across the street woke up too. It was disturbing, so i sought refuge in my significantly warmer-with-the-window-closed bedroom.

So, ya. there is the month-in-review. Not much exciting going on. Counting down the days until our Disneyland vacation! one month! And trying not to think of Brennen leaving so soon.... :(

Marriage...is what brings us TOGETHER

I've been thinking a lot lately about this marriage thing.  Brennen's on his way back from West Virginia and I kinda miss him..a lot.  Last night as I was about to go to bed (around 11:30) there was this guy yelling  in the street.  Sounded like "MARY!! MARY WHERE ARE YOU?!" or something to that extent.  The street is blocked off due to construction or else he wouldn't be out there.  At first i thought he was just drunk or something.  Then I thought maybe he lost a dog or something.  As the minutes went on, he kept calling for this "Mary" and became more panicked and upset.  Then I thought he might have lost a child.  After a few more minutes of calling and searching, I realize he was looking for his wife.  I could tell when he found her because he became angry.  I was a horrible person and listened in on this whole ordeal.  I wondered if I should call the police or tell them that they needed to go do whatever they needed to do privately so as not to disturb everyone living on that street and so that they would not have the whole neighborhood listening in on their conversation.  But I just found myself listening and praying for them.  I know what that's like.  To have a fight and want to just leave.  Luckily during an argument Brennen has never let me leave--except for once.  He's one of those get-it-solved-here-and-now guys and that has been a great blessing (and sometimes a curse, haha) in our marriage.  Sometimes I get so worked up that I need a little space.  The one time I left, I took my book and headed to who-knows-where.  I ended up at Beaver Dick Park. I don't know why, that's just where I ended up.  Just as I got comfortable in the reclined driver's seat and started reading my book, movement in the rear-view mirror caught my eye.  Well, it was Brennen.  He hadn't followed me, I'd made sure of that.  He found me.  Don't ask me how because I never would have driven to Beaver Dick if I had been anything but upset. And he has been finding me ever since. So I listened to this couple argue in the street.  I couldn't see them, and I couldn't understand anything the woman was saying, but the man was really loud.  Then he started to just sob phrases like "Please don't leave me" and "You are my entire life".  I started to feel like I needed to leave, but I just kept listening and praying (I'm terrible!).
How is it possible to go from this :

To wanting to leave?  Marriage, I don't think, has ever been easy.  Since the beginning of time. Think about Adam and Eve.  The first married couple on earth.  Do you think their marriage was easy?  I don't.  I have had the hardest time with giving up the notion that marriage is never anything less than blissful.  I was so naive.  But I'm grateful for the lessons that life has taught me in the last two years, two months, and three days.  And I'm still learning. My definitions of communication, compromise, love, friendship, compassion, empathy, understanding, appreciation, admiration, and intimacy have definitely changed since the day I got married.  John M. Gottman said in his book The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work,"In the strongest marriages, husband and wife share a deep sense of meaning.  They don't just 'get along'--they also support each other's hopes and aspirations and build a sense of purpose into their lives together.  That is really what I mean when I talk about honoring and respecting each other" (Gottman, 23).  Pretty profound words if you ask me.  I don't claim to have a perfect marriage.  No one can.  I'm a pessimist.  Listening to that couple last night has really made me think about my marriage and how much Brennen and I have both changed since April 16, 2010.  It has made me really appreciate what we do have, and put a hold on pining for the things we don't have.  I guess the moral of my story is this: No one is perfect, and, therefore, no one has "the perfect marriage."  If you and your spouse are having a rotten time at it, look for the good in your relationship and in each other.  And it never hurts to send a prayer heavenward.

Bliss

Black Cherry snow cone.  That is all.

The Weirdest Thing Happened to Me Today

So I was at work, just screening a donor like normal.  I went to put a pen into the pocket of my lab coat when I whacked my elbow on the little rectangular organizer on the wall.  On the corner too! Can you say owwww!?  I've done this before, and reliving the experience is never pleasant.  So I grab my elbow {still have a donor in this awkward little booth} and say "ow" and whatever.  Next thing I know, I'm fighting to stay standing because suddenly I get crazy lightheaded.  Like seriously.  I usually only get lightheaded after I stand up from laying down for a while, and sometimes it's really bad like I totally loose my vision.  It's kind of funny because everything kinda fades and then I have to try to stay on  my feet and find a wall I can hold on to until it passes. This was worse.   I've never passed out before, but I'm sure I should have.  It was weird to come out of that screening.  I had to sit down because I was still feeling a little woozy.  Weird that a little bump would do that to me.

Doing Nothing

Right now I'm doing nothing.  That's right, nothing.  Hard to believe, right?  Well, believe it or not, that's what I like to do best.  Haha, it's relaxing to just do nothing for a while.  But, I had the day off, so I've pretty much been doing "nothing" all day.  So I decided I would do something.  Blog.  About doing nothing. Some things going on right now:

{1} NBA Finals
{2} Wondering if my friend is REALLY having triplets, or if she just left her Facebook open.
{3} Found my camera!
{4} Looking for cars...still
{5} Learning how to drive stick
{6} My sister-in-law being engaged
{7} Brennen goes to WV on Tuesday
{8} Registering my bro for college
{9} Tearing out the trees that guard our living room window and feeling exposed.
{10} Most awesome road construction in front of our apartment.  Get to drive right past the "ROAD CLOSED" signs to get home..feeling so cool.
{11} Teaching Kindergarten--having difficulty w/discipline because they are so stinkin CUTE!
{12} The "7" key coming off my laptop-again.
{13} Not being able to read AUDREY'S blog! Woman!
{14} I was right...no triplets.

The End.