A little tour

I know you're all thinking "Sure, Lydia, you'll get a job any day now... which is why you've been there for nearly two months." No really I promise, it's just around the corner, I just need to be patient :)

So in the meantime, I'll give you a little photographic tour of our current home. Well first, Andrew's first day of work!

And now: the Miller House. We live with 5 other people -- it's all kinds of fun. The house is actually pretty modern inside, other than the complete lack of air conditioning... yeah, it's miserable on hot days.

I'm convinced this dumpster actually has my name on it, underneath that sticker.

And on into the backyard:

Dock #1 and dock #2. The one on the right is pretty nifty for getting the raft into the water. The one on the left... was a failure.

And our makeshift fire pit! Andrew's eagle scout skills have come in quite handy since living here.

Meet the roommates (well, mot of them)

Well that's it for now ladies and gentlemen, have a lovely evening!

Adjusting

I'm really glad I'm still working as a contractor for my former employer (translating), because otherwise I would definitely go crazy. It's hard to have a sense of purpose while waiting around for a job to open up. Good news is the station just posted an opening today, so hopefully things will speed up now. To be totally honest, I'm still a little bummed about not making the final in the Hearst competition. I'm just feeling it more tonight. Thank goodness for the county library! I officially have a card and have been reading a lot. Although I'm going to have to cut back on the dramatic books because I had awful nightmares the other day...

I bought a good windbreaker/rain jacket today, because I'll definitely be needing it here. The wind is crazy!

It's kind of ominous-sounding at times, honestly. This place is just so wild. Yes, there's a 55,000-people city, but it feels like nature is bent on pushing back just as hard as it can. At least we don't get tornadoes! Although given our proximity to Yellowstone we'd probably be the first wiped off the map in a catastrophic event. Do I sound grim enough for you? :) (sorry, we watched 2012 last night)

We're starting to make friends, slowly but surely. I'm hoping I'll be able to volunteer at the YW camp because that sounds like fun. Ah, and I'll be flying to Las Vegas for my little sister's high school graduation! I'm excited for her: she's singing the national anthem (which is kind of funny considering I'm pretty sure she'll have to learn the words... Growing up in a foreign country will do that!) But I'm sure she'll be fantastic.

Andrew is playing basketball with people from our stake right now, I'm glad he's making friends :) speaking of friends, it never gets old seeing cottontail rabbits in our yard. A big fat turkey even waddled through the other day! Pretty crazy.

And that's about it. Unfortunately I don't have anything very exciting to post about. Maybe I'll put up pictures of our temporary cozy country home :) We visited a SWEET apartment the other day. You guys, it has a fireplace! It was dreamy. And pricey. But man, I dream of cuddling up by the fire on those cold Casper winter days...

Privacy

So yeah, I went private. I hate it, because that means nobody will read anymore. Not that I had hundreds of readers anyway, but my precarious following will all but disappear. Oh well, maybe that's not all that bad... Because sometimes when total strangers read things you have to say, they misinterpret or judge too quickly, or all sorts of crazy things. At least this way I have control over who has access.

So, Lydia's life right now:



Did you pick up on the subtle theme? Things were going fine until I discovered I won that journalism award. Don't get me wrong, I am elated. But now I need to send in more news stories, and I'm terrified of it not being good enough. It would SUCK if I made it this far and then didn't make the final in San Francisco! And then there's the other factor... time. I wake up before the sun is out and I typically get home after dark. WHEN am I supposed to produce these award-winning pieces?! That's a little problem I hadn't factored into my schedule at the beginning of the semester. Ugh. I know, I shouldn't complain because this is an incredible opportunity and I am so, so honored to get a shot at it. But I feel like it's nearly impossible to succeed now, given the time constraints I have. Thankfully, I've been able to get subs for the weather on Fridays, so I at least won't have an obligation then anymore, but that only gives me a precious four hours a week during business hours. Sigh. I can do this right? right?

Ok, Lydia needs some inspiration.



Phew, that's a little better. And I am really quite lucky to have a husband deeply involved in local government, because he's given me two awesome story ideas. And I'm excited. I can do this.

Three years ago today...

Andrew asked me to marry him.

He had accomplices, and Gab was sneaky and filmed the security cameras.

I said yes.

And no, I didn't fall down, I just didn't know what to do with myself towering over him -- it felt weird, so I got down, then felt dumb and got back up. End result: Lydia looks like a ninny.

Some things never change.

Best Birthday/weekend ever

"Birthday week" really felt like it started last weekend with the Relief Society general broadcast -- I went up to see it "live" with my former roommates and turned it into a girls' night out. It was great.

Sushi - mmmm

Then last week was a bit stressful, but by Friday it was good, classes were cancelled, a really awesome research paper is in the works, and we went out for dinner and dancing. And opening presents was quite nice :)

Saturday was awesome because of General Conference and then going out to dinner at Pizzeria 712 (Delicious. It's fantastic.) with everyone! And then all the girls came back home and we hung out while the men were at Priesthood. I'm so happy that we were able to get everybody together, and that Allie was in town and we got to meet Meghan's baby and cuddle them and talk and eat chocolate cake and just... be all together again. It had been SO long! Gosh and now I want babies because let's be honest they're just too cute and I didn't want to let either of them go. Oh dear.

And then today watching conference at Cassi's place and eating fantastic quiche and salad with real vinaigrette and homemade french bread made by Ashley. All kinds of good stuff. What a great weekend!

That dressing was fantastic by the way. A chopped shallot, a few mashed garlic cloves, grainy Dijon mustard, walnut oil, apple cider vinegar, sea salt and thick black pepper. No, I don't know quantities. You want to use quite a bit more oil than vinegar though.

Andrew greeted me with this little number

He knows me too well.

On an amusing note

Andrew apparently thinks that he can do better than our weatherman. It's on. I am most certainly going to stick him on set next time we have a chance and see if he swims or floats. Maybe it'll turn out like this:

Wrap watch

I'm thinking it would be really easy to make your own version of this.

I have an old watch with a similar face that has a dead/broken strap, so all I'd need is to find some good leather and hardware and there you go: a new watch!

Also, as I dropped Andrew off at the airport for a 4-day trip and mentioned that I needed to get something out of the trunk of the truck (It has a separate lock and only one key, so I don't really go in there often), he was forced to tell me that my birthday present is hiding there... You have no idea how torturous that is.

On the art of reading teleprompters

My husband knows me too well. Now, when he does something very husband-worthy, after he's had his moment to bask in the pride of being such a great husband he asks me: "are you going to blog about this?"

Ha ha

So, because he really is awesome, here is the latest feat:

He knows I really, really want to anchor the newscast this semester. It's my last semester, I think I've got what it takes, and I want it bad. So last night I read him a bunch of scripts out loud as practice. Tonight, when I got home, he had prepared a little "exercise" to help get me ready for the audition:

He had found a YouTube video of a teleprompter so I could practice reading the real way. (People, reading from a teleprompter is not as easy as it sounds! And after a summer of not doing it, I wanted to get back in the groove, you know?)

Anyway, it was an awesome idea, and now I'm all ready for that audition tomorrow. Wish  me luck!



And because I need to rant just a little bit... There are fifteen million girls trying out, and about three guys. But of course, they like having a male/female anchor duo, right? So... guys just have it too easy. I feel like I'm in ballroom all over again. Ugh.

Driving myself around is awesome

I'm feeling very grateful today. I'm really glad to have air conditioning. Also, a driver's license, a good car I can use that license with, and traffic rules. Thank goodness for traffic rules. The road is dangerous enough as it is. On the other hand, I am not too thrilled that all the students are back in town and that University Avenue is impossible to go through.

I'm also really happy to have classical 89 -- the crispest, clearest classical music station I've ever heard (and probably ever will hear).

And since I'm listing stuff, here's a few other things/people that make me happy:
my incredibly supportive husband.
my major
my excellent taste in food :)
amazing parents-in-law
the fact that my family is coming here for Christmas
a job that will allow me to graduate from college debt-free
a scholarship
the fact that I get to teach Sunday school tomorrow (maybe it'll turn into a calling? hint hint?)
the gorgeous Utah valley I've lived in for the past 4 years... and counting. I'll really miss our beautiful neighborhood
our awesome apartment that has room for a table!
Dryers. (as in to dry clothes with. Since we got back from France, Andrew has developed a strong distaste for paying for hot air so he's been hanging clothes all around the apartment... it's pretty funny to see the place on laundry days... that being said, I'm very happy to have access to a dryer.)
the view out my window
did I mention our not-ghetto neighborhood?

A while... and a rant (but a rave first)

It's been a while since I've blogged, but I've just been working and enjoying life with my husband before school starts, bringing with it the inevitable end of life as we know it. That, and trying to make major life decisions that don't result in our being haunted by the ghost of Spencer W Kimball. It's so good to be back and be settled in. I love our new apartment, and our neighborhood. South of Center Street was... kind of ghetto, I'll just say that. Now when we go on walks there are gorgeous, ancient trees to give us shade with little children playing in sprinklers, lovely little homes and a perfect park right next door. And my sewing corner is now in our bedroom which gets gorgeous sunlight in the evening, so I have my own corner of heaven. This really is the ideal place to end our time at BYU. I'm sad now that it seems so close: it's been a good life here in happy valley. Did I mention we now have amazingly fast internet? I love it!

So here's a funny story. The other day I saw this girl who looked vaguely familiar. I remember thinking how overdressed she looked (massive heels, too many bracelets, an overly sophisticated hairdo...) The image of a little girl that got into her mother's closet came to mind. Later this week I realized she was a friend of a friend on Facebook and I remembered how I knew her. Minimal Facebook-stalking later and ta-daa, she has a blog. But it gets better: it's a fashion blog. And here's the thing: there were a lot of nice outfits and all, but it just felt... overdone. And there was a "shop" page were she sold old clothes she didn't want anymore. What?

All of this to say: I'm not quite sure what to make of all these so-called fashion bloggers. I follow a few that I like, but I get the impression that these days everybody and their dog is a fashion blogger and writes "what I wore Wednesday" articles and "outfit posts". Meh. You have to have a killer sense of style to venture into that... and an interesting personality. (Also, how are student newlyweds affording an entire bookcase-full of designer shoes? It kind of screams credit card debt--not cute.) For example, I love this girl because she's just really funny. Not taking yourself too seriously is important, especially if you're launching yourself into something as... well, artificial, as fashion blogging.

I'm not a fashion hater; in fact, I really enjoy getting dressed up. I even blog about it every once in a while. But I have little sympathy for fashion victims. There's a problem when what you wear gets in the way of "you." The whole point of wearing clothing (well, apart from covering your nakedness) is to look good, right? But when you're overly trendy or your accessories get in the way of your mobility... you just look like you're trying too hard. I still remember these wise words from a girl in my freshman dorm: "I want the clothes to make me look good, not the other way around."

By now you're probably thinking "how do you get away with being such a style snob?" No credentials, but I do have a trump card: my country basically invented fashion (and after a summer in Paris, I can tell you that middle-aged french women are the classiest ladies ever). I also spent a good amount of my teenage years learning from trial and error. I'd show you photographic proof, but I'm pretty sure my parents were too ashamed of me because we mysteriously have very few pictures from my teenage years...

Andrew doesn't always cooperate too well...

"-Hey, make that face again so I can get it on camera
- No"