BIRTHDAY TIME

Earlier this week Tyler and I were brainstorming birthday card ideas for his sister Nicole (card-making is probably my new favorite creative outlet). One of the first things I found out about Nicole is that she has favorite times of the day—all these different number combinations that make her tickled pink (her favorite color I might add). Tyler came up with the brilliant plan to make a birthday card with all of her favorite times. We spent the night at Lynchland for enchiladas, present opening and cake. Happy  early birthday Nicole! (Times from left to right: 2:22, 3:33, 4:44, 5:55, 12:12, 1:23, 12:34, 2:30, 9:11, 1:11, 7:11, 11:11 and on the inside 4:11—her birthday time.)

REAPING

I woke up super early this morning—well, attempted to—in order to help my dear friend Stephanie move out of her parents' abandoned house to her new apartment. It rained all morning as we moved things from the house to the moving truck (all of her siblings were moving things out of the house too).  As people were saying yea or nay to various things I noticed this gigantic polished wood clock with embedded jade gems for the numbers. I proceeded to ask if it was a family heirloom… waited for the laughter and then asked if I could snatch it up if no one else wanted it. SCORE—it came home with me. Before it literally came home I met up with Tyler's mom to go shopping for Nicole's birthday bash tomorrow. The men went to the priesthood session of General Conference while we scoured the racks for clothes, accessories and shoes. SUCCESS—we found everything for Nicole in one store. After our shopping trip she treated me to some Cafe Rio while we caught up on all that has happened lately. Now that this baby is home, I realize its heavy, almost two-foot self will never hang in this apartment; its permanently fastened three-inch bolt would plow down our sheetrock like a vertical plantation being tilled for the season. It is so heavy, but so essential to our unofficial clock collection.

COUNTING DOWN

Stephanie and I had plans to go to a book sale (my very favorite) after work at the Whitmore Library. Unfortunately, it closed an hour before the library closed so we were too late—phooey. We went back to her house to prep for her big move tomorrow: unloading cabinets and drawers, hauling furniture all into one room and packing up bedroom things and such. We then made a short trip to H&M (due to a not so lovely jean-splitting incident of mine) and IKEA (Stephanie wanted to go coffee table shopping). Tonight, I helped Tyler make a paper chain counting down the hours he has left at his job. Can you tell how excited he is to get out of there? Probably not by this picture—he's so focused—but because of the fact pictured above. (Do you recognize those links in the paper chain?)

SLIT

I felt well enough to go into work, only to receive a disconcerting text from Tyler in the early afternoon. Through a series of unfortunate events, our prospective new job fell through. Tyler told me the news today and we both had mixed feelings. After work I called him and we talked it out; it's probably for the best. It was a good opportunity, but without it, the pace of our lives will be much more manageable. Before going home, I stopped off at my parents' house to check on all of the presents I've been having delivered there for Tyler's upcoming birthday (it's on May 1, but I want to be extra prepared this year). I opened every package to make sure only the best had been sent for my man. I then came home to him and we took a long walk to talk out our next step together. Even though this job fell through, we really feel like it's the right thing. Now that it's out of the picture it was back to the drawing board on what needs to be done next; I can't wait to continue to build my life with this guy. Man, did I score, or what?!

CHUNKIN' IT

Again with the nausea this morning, resulting in me staying home from work altogether. Tyler woke up extremely late as well from staying up all night finishing his homework. I tried to get some work done, but my body and my internet wouldn't have it, so my day was filled with Netflix and resting. Tyler came home to make himself some dinner and found multiple bags of rotten produce. Oh rotting tomato, how perfectly you sum up this day. We both end this day with the mentality that we are kind of, as we like to call it, 'chunking it' as of late. Tomorrow we will do better, be better and… look better.

CAVED IN

Our week has only gotten worse with the closing of this day. Tyler's work is crazy and his homework is only piling up more and more. I felt extremely queasy this morning (dumb medicine) and made my way into work terribly late. Since I was so late I had to stay even later to make up, thus missing my weigh-in (not like it would have been that successful after all the horrendous cheating I've been doing…oops). I got home to our dark cave of an apartment; it's only lit up like this for about a half hour from the sun going down and then it's back to black with our only light source being lamps. We really need a screen door.

FOOL ME ONCE

Tyler and I both had nightmares last night and work was equally unpleasant. We got home to each other and decided to make our way to our favorite restaurant: Applebee's. We had a gift card, and since we've had such great luck before, we knew it would be a meal to remember. We were greeted by a strapping young lad and an even more dapper server. We asked for drinks and he obliged to our request. Next came the appetizers; they made the appropriate changes so that we could have the starters we wanted. Then came our piping hot entrees; my fries were perfectly cooked and Tyler's garlic mashed potatoes could not be beat. The check was had and we left feeling satisfied and knew we would be back in the near future. The end.

APRIL FOOLS! Everything but the first sentence is a lie: our greeter was scary looking; our server would not budge for any of our requests; they only carried Pepsi products; they wouldn't switch out sliders for onion rings; my fries tasted like cardboard; and Tyler's potatoes were watery. We're being a little dramatic and I guess it wasn't that bad, but if we hadn't had a gift card we certainly would have gone somewhere else—the end.

Side Note: We're scheduled to meet with Tyler's aunt and uncle on Thursday to hash out all of the details of our soon to be new job. WOOT!