things i am loving

+ Cafe Rio. We are nothing if not creatures of habit, and we have been to Cafe Rio every Friday night for the past.. oh.. three months. Last weekend we went Friday and Saturday. Heaven help us.

+ Giving my students raises. Because sometimes there are some really wonderful things about being the boss, and my students are so, so great, and giving them raises is fun.

+ This barley and chickpea salad. And chickpeas in general. Favorite food right thuuur. Poor Jason has been a GREAT sport as I've cooked almost exclusively whole foods, plant based, vegan foods for the last two months. But, I mean, the poor kid would probs love if I'd have a cookie with him every now and then (see previous post re: cookie intervention. Those days are long gone, my friend. Long gone.). Or even served him hot freshly-cooked chicken, instead of keeping a sliced chicken breast in the fridge and telling him to have at it if the beans and grains and vegetables just don't cut it.

+ Spring. Duh. Last night Jason had a four hour class and I wanted him to be home so bad so we could go for a walk. So instead I went for a walk by myself like a dork. I need a dog so it doesn't look weird.

+ Impromptu lunches with Grandma and my cousin Maggie! Grandma came down to go to the Sacred Gifts exhibit at BYU with Maggie and they invited me to lunch and you bet your bottom dollar I was out the door of my office in a flash and a half. It was fab.

+ This year has flown. I guess this could be a good or a bad thing, but I'm counting it as good because (a) it means Brianna is way closer to coming home than she was, ya know, before this year flew by, (b) Jason's aaaaalmost done with school, and (c) it's summer!!!!

cookies and the like

The best part about three-day weekends is that the week after a three-day weekend is almost over before it's started. Four days long? Ain't no thang.

My heart yearns for the day we get Google Fiber. T-minus one month! And then perhaps my TV shows will only be 22 minutes long, instead of 45 including buffering. And I won't have to read all my blogs on my phone. And Jason can read the news to his heart's content, regardless of which seat on the couch he's sitting on. Life will be good.

What sucks is that I still have an hour and forty-seven minutes left of work and I just ate my last snack. It was a pumpkin banana muffin and it was delish. I've been making muffins for the last month and a half to eat as a pre-workout snack on my way to the gym after work. Jason probably hates me because I usually leave the sugar out. But I think they are SO good. My favorite recipes are here and here. I die.

I went to the library on Wednesday and I can't tear myself away from my books now. I love reading. How silly of me not to do it more. Also Jas and I had a Cookie Intervention two weeks ago. We decided we eat entirely too many cookies. We'll eat SO crazy healthy allll dayyy long, and then I make cookies. It was bad for a while there. So we had a Cookie Intervention and decided to put a stop to our cookie eating. I haven't made cookies for an entire week so I would say that's definite progress.

I like this boy.

more thoughts

BYU offers zumba, yoga, and cycling classes during lunch for faculty and staff. I can't get enough of my cycling class. It is awesome and I love it. Also, I can now stiff-legged deadlift and squat 120 pounds, so I'm feelin pretty good about that.

I've been making homemade bread for our lunches and it's delish. Except this week the bread didn't rise cause I killed the yeast, so it's the densest, heaviest bread you can imagine. I mean it still tastes good but this morning Jason asked for his sandwich to be made on the wonderbread leftover from the sacrament on Sunday instead of homemade bread today, so yeah, you could say it didn't turn out that well.

For some reason Jason calls me Bucket. It started when we first were married and he called me Fancy Pants. And then for some reason, Fancy Pants morphed into Fancy Bucket, and then just Bucket. It is now Jason's reflex to call me Bucket. I knew we had a problem when I tripped and his first reaction was, "Ohhhhh, bucket! Are you okay?!" Sometimes I find notes for me around our house with a bucket drawn on the front. I mean I guess it's quicker than writing "Amy"?

Tis the season to be jolly

Life isn't so bad when you have five weekends in a two week period.

Or when you get a new job a few weeks before Christmas and get all sorts of exciting things like benefits and paid holidays and a desk of your own.

Or when your husband gets to quit his job to accept an internship in a hospital.
Or when he finds out he has only 21 more credits until graduation.

Or when your family has been here for ten days and you put 500 miles on the car running between Provo and Lehi and West Valley.
Or when you get to Skype with your sister on Christmas morning.

Or when you're about to have another two days off, only this time there will be no running all around and you get to relax and eat Two Jacks pizza and breadsticks and go to the gym and sleep in and reorganize your living room to fit your new Christmas couch and hang out with your best friend/husband.

Or when you're happy. :) Which I am :)

Lately

One thing I've learned is that turkey sausage is just not good enough to justify buying it, despite its nutritional value. I just can't get over how much I hate it. There are not enough spices in the world to salvage that stuff.

Another thing I've learned is that running regularly again after a three-month hiatus to heal my IT band is the most gloriosu feeling. Foam rolling is fer real, and my knee is almost back to 100%. So yeah, I'd say I'm feelin' pretty good.

I will never in my life have a dog, it's official, but I do kinda miss this little guy. Cristina left Bentley with us while she went on vacay with my parents a few weekends ago, and he grew on me. But, a little bit of poop on the rug was all it took for me to be happy as a clam to hand him off at the end of the weekend.

My cousin and grandma and sister came over on Saturday and we knocked out a rag quilt in six hours to send Bri for Christmas. It was great fun and I am just tickled that we got it done so fast. Mom embroidered Bri's name in Russian on a square, so as soon as that comes, I'll sew the last square in and ship it off to Ukraine! I almost got a blister on my thumb from cutting the seams for two hours, but it's cool. 

Hello again.

My thermostat says it's 68 degrees in here but my fingers are numb so I'm guessing it's broken. I should probably go turn the heat on buuut that would require removing myself from my blankets so it's probably not going to happen.

Last week some my coworkers ranted about how nasty candy corns are. I defended those tasty little buggers, loud and proud. I could never eat enough of those things. Which is probably why they are stashed at the top of the cupboard behind the griddle where I have to a) ask Jason to please reach them for me, or b) drag a kitchen chair across the room to get them. Out of sight, out of mind...or something.

I'm getting my hair done tomorrow and I'm ready for a change. But it seems unlikely that I will have a change because I don't want to cut it and I don't want it brown. That leaves few, if any, options.

I miss blogging and I plan to re-enter the blogging world. I've said that before, but I mean it this time.

Cake

Clearly I am not winning any awards for blogging consistently. Or blogging at all, but whatevs.

Jason started school this week and I did not. So that has been fun, or not, really. I love school to the moon and back so I'm def a little jealous. But, it's cool and I'll develop some new hobbies like sewing and I'll read some books for fun again for the first time in what feels like years and I'm still figuring the rest of my new hobbies out but I'll get used to it. :)

At the moment we have four cakes in our refrigerator. A wedge of Costco chocolate cake, a chunk of homemade cake from Jason's work, a giant red velvet muffin, and a half a peanut butter cake I made. I guess you can tell it was Jas's bday this week or something?

Ten things that have happened in the last two months

You could say a lot has happened in the past two months. In summary:

1. I graduated college.

2. Brianna went to the temple in Denver and Jas and I got to go. It was one of the best days of my life.

3. Brianna left for her mission to Kiev, Ukraine. It was one of the worst days of my life. Ha just kidding but really. I miss that girl.

4. I finished my internship but offered to volunteer during the month of July due to a shortness of staff. So I basically have a job but get paid nada. It's cool.

5. I was called as the Girls Camp director and went to camp. It was awesome. I learned a lot and I was glad to come home. But I had a (really, really) good time and am so glad I got to go. (And so glad I won't be the camp director next year :) )

6. I was called to Young Women's in my ward which is my DREAM COME TRUE. I love Young Women's. And I love my young women, especially after a week with them at camp.

7. Jas painted some furniture while I was gone at camp. I am in love. (with my new furniture, but also my husband.)

8. I decorated some cakes, which was a blast but a lot harder to do in my kitchen (which is about two inches big) than in my mom's kitchen in high school!

9. Jason got a new job as an HR specialist at the MTC. He couldn't be more excited and it will be a great change for him.

10. I got a new job as the activities and marketing director for four assisted living homes in Provo and Orem. I start tomorrow and I am thrilled out of my mind. This has been my dream for a long time.

spring has sprung in my heart

Four weeks from today, i'm donezo with my undergrad forevahhh. I was sad, but now I'm excited. Today a friend from class asked me how my senioritis is. I was so embarrassed to tell her that a) I love school, and b) working hard is engrained in my brain and I have not slacked off even one ounce. Go me.

Girls camp planning is well under way. I am getting so excited. Raise your hand if you ever thought you'd hear me say I'm excited for girls camp! No one? Oh yeah. This is happening.

So I'm interning at an assisted living place, which I love. I'm in the Alzheimer's and dementia unit, and let me tell you, it is a hoot and a half. For example, let's consider three events that have happened in the past week:

1. The activities director Linda is trying to help a man sit down in a chair. She turns around for thirty seconds. The poor man got his chairs mixed up and failed to see the tiniest, frailest old woman sitting beneath a blanket. So he sits on her. And she just kind of wails, "Oohhhh!" in a very tiny, frail voice.

2. A woman calls me over yesterday. "How are you doing?" she asks. "Wonderful!" I reply. She lowers her voice and whispers, "How's your bottom?" Ummm. My bottom is fine, thank you?

3. Sometimes the residents get really angry that we "don't have the key" to let them out the front door. A lot of them have very important things they need to do, such as meet their parents (so sad) or return a walker to their son. So after a while, they get very frustrated. Yesterday one of the residents said to a CNA, "Well, fine. I hope you feel good when my mother and sister die because you didn't let me out." I'm so sure that will keep the CNA up at night.

Waiting

Everything's just a waiting game right now. Waiting for the end of the semester (twwwwo weeks). Waiting for finals. Waiting for the last term of my undergrad. Waiting for the weekend. Waiting for a trip with my parents in three weeks. Waiting to find someone, anyone, to hire to replace me in this office. Waiting for an email in my inbox. Waiting for clarity on future career/education/life plans. Waiting waiting waiting.

On Saturday we invited Jason's brothers over for pumpkin bread and then went to the BYU spring football game. Oh man I love those boys. They are the best and it was such a fun morning. Jason was so giddy to be at a game. Also the pumpkin bread was bomb so that's always a pleasant surprise because it means maybe the general conference cinnamon rolls I'm going to make on Saturday morning will turn out, too. :)

Monday and Tuesday were a bit of a mess because I was busy making up for the homework/papers I didn't do over the weekend. But by Wednesday my week calmed down and Brianna came over for dinner and we chatted for a few hours and the three of us went for a walk and it was picture-perfect-beautiful weather and I went to sleep a happy girl. I am a happy girl. Even if it means waiting.

juice and work and weddings

We've been drinking juice a lot lately, twice a day. I've gotten my juicing routine down each evening. My PR is 30 minutes from the time the fridge opens to the time the counter is wiped clean.

My boss posted my job on the student job board this week. I get six or seven emails a day with resumes. It's weird to think about somebody else in this job.

My cousin is getting married tomorrow. Jason and I took the day off of work, and I excused myself from class. It's our first self-imposed three-day weekend since the summer, I think. On Monday I woke up and said, "Only three more days of waking up this early!" On Tuesday I woke up and said, "Only two more days of waking up this early!" ...then I found out we're picking my parents up for the wedding, so I have to get up that early on Friday anyhow. It made waking up on Wednesday and Thursday a difficult task.

Being married is nice. I'm constantly on the lookout for peanut butter desserts to spoil my husband with. It makes him happy. I don't even like peanut butter that much. But I sure like to eat it with him.

I got to head up Bingo at the assisted living home yesterday. It was the highlight of my week.

Jason and I have been making puzzles a lot lately. I mean, we've made two in three weeks. That's a lot, I guess. We always intend to finish it by Sunday but it never gets done. Which means it sits on our coffee table for the entire week and makes the whole house look messy. I guess that's what happens when you live in a tiny apartment. But, it's fun and I like it a lot.

life.

I ran five miles yesterday for the second time in two weeks. I'm working up to run 20 miles a week. I miss training for a half marathon. But it's nice to have some running goals after almost a year of lifting weights and doing cardio and not focusing on running. I love running.

Sometimes I think we're too smart with our money. We've been juicing for a month now. By juicing I mean making a smoothie and then straining it through a sieve. It takes a long time and I sometimes wish I was a whale so I could strain the baby chunks out through my teeth. Finally we decided to buy a real juicer. Unfortunately that means waiting for a textbook to be shipped to Amazon so Amazon can buy it from us and give us an Amazon giftcard so we can buy our juicer. Huurrrrryyy, UPS truck. It's only one juice a day, just for lunch, but it gives us a lottt of energy and a lot of nutrients. We like it a lot.

Today is one of those days where I didn't realize how stupid my outfit looks until I got to campus. Embarrassing.

I have very mixed feelings about graduating this summer. On one hand, it's pretty exciting and what I've been working towards for the past four years. On the other hand, I like knowing what I'll be doing six months or a year from now. I like staying in my comfort zone, and school is my comfort zone.

On the bright side, I was basically offered my dream internship last night, so that's something to be excited about. And I'm job-shadowing a girl at an assisted living home who is giving me full reins of the art program. Secretly I'm nervous but I'm also excited.

I run out of things to cook for dinner. My number ones are taco salad (okay that's always my number one. Favorite food right thurrr), bbq chicken salad, Indian haystacks, and crockpot chicken. Sometimes I feel like we mainly rotate between those four meals. I get tired of them. So I make goals to make something new every week, and I do for a while, and then I stop again. I'm in a "stop again" phase. So I gotta get on that.

miscellaneous

I am one hundred percent skeptical of any workout that claims to fix anything in "just five minutes a day!" Pinterest is replete with these workouts. I have never pinned one. I will never pin one. ( I just checked my fitness board to make sure I wasn't lying about this. I wasn't. )

Yesterday I made strawberry freezer jam all by myself for the first time in my entire life. This morning I ate some on some toast for breakfast. It was heaven and I was happy. This afternoon I ate some in my Greek yogurt for lunch. It was even better and I can't stop thinking about it.

That being said, I would take chocolate over fruit any time, day or night, regardless of what food it is. Aka, I happen to know Jason has a brownie in a ziploc baggie on top of the stove at home. The chances that I will eat that at some point tonight instead of some strawberry jam are almost certain.

Writing about chances reminded me of statistics, which I took last fall and which Jason is taking this fall, which reminded me of what classes I am taking, which reminded me of the letter my business finance teacher sent out yesterday. It included this phrase: "In order to enhance your [financial] hero potential, we have much do to. We need to start fast and run hard." One simple sentence, and I hate the class already.

Last night Annie and I went to Smart Cookie and ate some cookies. Namely cinammon sugar cookies with a fat layer of frosting on top. Umm delish? Why did I never think to make cinnamon sugar cookies? It's like a snickerdoodle, only a sugar cookie, and with frosting. Hello!!

I like blogging again right now. It's kind of nice.

I am in dire need of a dress to wear to the wedding tomorrow. We have to be there at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Aka, I have about two hours tonight to make a mad dash to the mall and find a dress. I hope it's successful. I'd really like that.

Family and family and more family

Last week, Jason and I had the uniquely glorious opportunity to spend the weekend at Lake of the Ozarks state park in Missouri. There are a few words I can think of to describe this experience. They include hot, very hot, sweaty, and hot. And fun. We had our Jensen family reunion (my mom's side), and almost every family was able to come. It was in the low 100s, with about 99% humidity, I swear, so I'm not exactly sure it could have gotten hotter if it tried. We spent most of the days in the lake, swimming by the dock, which my poor sunburnt cheeks weren't too thrilled about after a while, but which I loved. Working 40 hours a week hasn't left as much time for playing in the sun this summer as I had hoped.

 

I think this picture makes it fairly evident how hot it was... and  Paige, please don't be mad I still have/wear your  John Meyer shirt...love you!!!

 

Anyhow, I was  absolutely thrilled we were able to go to the family reunion and see my aunts and uncles and cousins and especially my parents and baby sister. I had the best time.

Jason's younger brother Bubba left on his mission yesterday. It absolutely broke my heart, especially when Jason and Bubba were saying goodbye. It is going to be so weird without him around for the next two years. He is the sweetest brother in the world. When I couldn't eat gluten, he would regularly buy me ice cream or gluten-free pies to eat after Sunday dinners. What 19 year old boy even thinks to do that?! He is the best and I am so proud of him.

Tonight is my sister-in-law Whitney's bridal shower and Jason's brother Mike's bachelor party, and Saturday is their WEDDING!! I can't believe it is finally here, after all the months of their engagement. And I am so so so excited for them!!! Now that I don't have to think about/plan/stress over my own wedding, I looovvee weddings. They're so fun. And Jason's sister Annie is home from Virginia from the wedding with her absolutely adorable baby, which I am really excited about. This week has been so family-filled and I have loved it so much. Hooray for summer!


Also p.s., I think reduced-fat Oreos are a joke. That's all.

I like showing off

Today I was in the mood to shake things up on this blog a little bit. Not a lot, mind you, just a bit. So I decided to make a nice little sidebar for this blog. And I thought of some things I like and I thought of some things Jas likes and I wrote a little sidebar, and then I kinda decided, "Maybe I will ask Jason for his input." So I texted that boy and asked, hypothetically speaking, if he had to name a few things that he really, really likes, like, for a blog, for instance, what would he say? And this is what he said:

And I laughed a little bit because all of that is very true. Very, very true. I cannot even tell you how many times I have heard Jason say, "Hey, Amy! Watch this!" and then do some really cool trick. "Hey, Amy! Wanna come watch me throw some football in the backyard?" "Hey, Amy! Wanna see me chug this waterbottle really fast?" In fact, the other day as he was leaving for work, he did a sommersault in the living room for me. Like, what the!! It's charming and it makes me want to pat his head and tell him good job and then give him a big kiss.

So that's what I do.

thiiiiiiiiis month is such a special one, it's birthday time for youu

That is the song my husband has sung approximately three times per day for the past month. It starts as a Primary song and morphs into a yo-ho-yo-ho pirate song, and then has a little bit of a improv verse. It's lovely and I'm going to miss it, especially when I very first wake up, because July has been a marvelous birthday month.

I suck at blogging and I suck at taking pictures and that's all whatever. I'm really very happy and that's what matters, I guess. My birthday was on Friday (hooray for being 21) and Jason planned every bit of the weekend to spoil me with my favorite things. It started with breakfast in bed..birthday waffles. Does it really get better than that?

The rest of the weekend consisted of:

• lunch at Zupas
• sealings at the temple
• grilled cheese at Firehouse subs
• a walk around the mall
• a new iPod armband
• seven-layer chocolate cake at Iggy's
• See's chocolates
• sleeping in
• Kneaders french toast for breakfast (!!!!!!!!!!!!)
• shopping at a cute little store and buying a piece to decorate my house
• lunch at Cafe Rio with the Demkes
• a relaxing afternoon
• a trip to Hobby Lobby for loads and loads of craft supplies!
• a surprise visit from Megan and Egan
• Magleby's chocolate cake
• a chick flick
• waking up super early
• Bubba's farewell!!!!! 
• working on my crafts (pictures soon!)
• and lots and lots of smiles.

I mean, doesn't that sound pretty perfecto? I think yes.

Of course we don't really have any pictures from the weekend. SURPRISE!!!!!!!!

The other highlight of my weekend was Sunday night, when I wanted mac and cheese sosososososo bad. But we didn't have any. So we cut up lasagna noodles and poured cheese sauce on them.

Coulda been worse, if I do say so myself.

Anyhow, my weekend was absolutely perfect. Thanks Jas :)

Cars n stuff

This weekend was strictly business.

For the past month, every time we push on the brakes when we're going slow, the car sounds like we're dragging half of the bottom of the car on the ground. (and when I say "we," I mean "Jason," because I basically never drive except twice a month when we pretty much pretend I have my drivers permit again and let me drive to refresh my memory so that someday when we have two cars, I don't kill myself or somebody else with my lack of driving practice. I like it.)

Anyhow, we took the car in and it was going to be a lotta money for them to replace the brake pads and the rotors. Yayyyy for broken cars!

And yayyyy for Jason, because he studied up on YouTube and googled a lot of stuff and decided he was going to buy some brake pads and rotors and do it himself!

And he did!!

My job was basically the tool girl/sit-on-the-soccer-ball-er/water-getter/cheerer-onner/chocolate-milkshake-drinker. So that was nice. I was so proud of him for figuring it out all on his own and saving us a bunch of money!! 

It kinda feels like this week is going to be really long. It feels that way because it's 11:00 and I've been at work for only two hours in real time, but I feel like I have been at work for about twelve hours. Hooray.

Things I am happy about

Things I am happy about right now:

 1. Having a clean apartment! Having a husband who helps out around the house (without even being asked!) is the best, ever ever ever. Last night we deep cleaned and it's all so sparkly and shiny and clean right now and I love it.

2. Going to the gym. I had an awesome workout last night. My legs are hurting more and more as the day goes on and I love that feeling and I can hardly wait to go to the gym tonight. (Who am I? That is not normal.)

3. Writing thank you cards! Because a) it gives me something to do at work (hallelujah), and b) I am so sincerely grateful for every single person who thought of us during our wedding!!! So I'm actually fer real having fun with it.

4. That one of the faculty members offered to help Holly and I move out two giant bookshelves and two metal lateral files from the office we're putting a new professor in. Seriously saved us like two hours of trying to figure out how to move those babies. I'm glad I'm Relief Society, not Elder's Quorum.


Other things of note:

1. It's hot right now in Utah. Today it's 99 degrees, and I just ran an errand across campus. I always struggle to decide whether to walk really slow so that I don't sweat, or walk really fast so that I get outta the heat asap. I still don't really know which is best.

2. This sign was in the bathroom today.

It sincerely concerns me that it's necessary for signs like that to exist. But I can testify: it is important.

That's that

Yesterday was Brianna's golden birthday. Apparently most people don't celebrate golden birthdays? But it's on Wikipedia for it, so it's a pretty real thing. Bri turned 19 on June 19. Golden birthday. I'll turn 27 on July 27, someday. Golden birthday. Easy peasy!

But Bri has escaped the heat of Utah for the summer, so Cristina and I had a birthday dinner for her on Friday before she flew home. Grilled chicken, ribs, smashed potatoes, grilled vegetables, spinach strawberry salad, rolls, and crepes for dessert. Freaking love dessert crepes.

In other news, Jas and I went to our first movie together, ever, last weekend. We went to The Avengers, about a month after the rest of America went to it, but you know what? We were just proud we went to a movie. Jason leaned over to me once and said "Amy! We're doing it! We're laughing! We're fitting in!" It was silly. I liked it.

That's really all that I have to say right now. We need to take more pictures. The end.

Thoughts on Marriage

 

A lot of people are married. A lot of people that I know are married. I don't just mean people my age, I mean at church and in my home ward and at work and at school. A lot of people are married. And I've received a lot of advice about marriage, and about how to make my marriage the best it can be. I'm grateful for all of that advice, and I know I've only been married for a month and there's going to be a lot more to learn, but I think it can all be summed up in two words. Be nice.

Jason's best friend Egan married his cousin Megan (Jason's cousin, not Egan's cousin) the week after we got married. We went to a barbeque the night before they got married, and while we were there, Jason said to Egan's sister, "Your husband is looking so good! He's lost a lot of weight, hasn't he? He looks like he's been working out." Egan's sister got really excited and said, "You should tell him that! He's been working so hard! He would be so happy to hear that you noticed." I thought that was the sweetest thing. His wife was so proud of him, was so excited for him, and wanted him to be complimented and to feel good.



On the other hand, a lady and her friend just walked past my office a few minutes ago. One of them was ranting, loudly, about how difficult it is to have to support her husband when he's lecturing their teenage son, when she wants him to deal with it differently and she just wants to "hit him across the head." I hear women complaining about their husbands a lot, about how they wish they would do something differently or act differently or be different. And I get that marriage is two imperfect people trying to be a team, and that it can't always be easy, and that you're going to see things from conflicting perspectives and want to do things in ways that just don't agree. But I don't think that's an excuse to trash-talk your husband.

I think it's perfectly, perfectly possible to never, ever say anything negative about your husband to him or to anybody else. And that's my goal. That's not only my goal, but my promise to myself. It's just not right. It's just not right because we are sealed for time and all eternity, and I don't want anything to ever, ever, ever get back to Jason that I don't mean for him to hear. Because I think he's wonderful and I want him to know that.

And when it all comes down to it, I think the advice my Grandpa Jensen always gave is the best advice of all. A marriage, he would tell us, is for two people to both give one hundred percent. It's not fifty-fifty. It's not about "well, he did that so I'll do this.." It's just about treating Jason the way that I know he deserves to be treated, to make him feel like the happiest, most spoiled, well-taken-care-of, luckiest man alive.

 

That's  marriage.

All photos via Angela McAllister Photography