Ok seriously???

Wow...

Wow

It's been a while eh?

I've even started writing two or three posts in the past week, until I realized I had little to say. I'm kind of tired of school these days... and working on longer projects is tiring, so I've got no writing left in me. This weekend was great though. I am so grateful to be able to enter a grocery store and fill up a cart with food. All I have to do is grab it off the shelves and swipe a piece of plastic. Sometimes we don't realize how blessed we are. A girl in one of my classes made some comment about how she's a starving student and I was kind of annoyed. I mean yeah, she's probably not rolling in gold--neither am I--but she has nice clothes, a place to live, food to eat, a good EDUCATION, a brand new haircut... I hardly think we get to complain.

Sometimes I want to, but deep down I know how good I have it. My life is incredible. As stressful as it is to be in school and have a demanding schedule, as scary as it is to be making life-changing decisions for the future... what a wonderful life it is that I even get to make these choices. I have the awful dilemma of getting to chose between a career and having children. Or doing both.

In fact, we're living like kings right now. It really couldn't get much better. (Well, KSL could just decide to hire me straight out of school, that would be pretty awesome. Also, my dad could come for Christmas, that would be cool too. But hey, you can't have everything you dream of.)

Sigh.

But we did have a last hurrah barbecue last week:

aw, ketchup makes him happy

I have to take pictures of myself otherwise it's like I was never there

Look! A sunset!

Or I could make my husband take my picture.
And actually, this "pose" was totally accidental, believe it or not.
It must be my inner repressed fashion blogger.

On a completely unrelated note, I just watched a really good movie. Exam. The British accents probably don't hurt either... But in all seriousness, it's awesome. Go watch it.

Oh also, I learned in stake conference today that I was born to be a homemaker. Awesome. The worst part is that this came from a girl: all the members of the stake presidency gave spiritual, doctrinal talks, but this one girl went on and on about cleaning and decorating. Ugh.

And tomorrow I'm giving a mini presentation on euphemism and hyperbole. Because I NEVER use hyperbole inappropriately. Ever. Ha.

And for a last bit of Sunday night humor:

So this might be silly but...

I'm pretty excited about my birthday this year. It's going to be awesome. Good friends, good food, my husband, General Conference, secret presents hiding in the back of the truck, fall weather, last year of school... and feeling calm about the future, for some strange reason.

Life is good.

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?

Ouch

My poor bank account is hurting right now... it's just like the good ol' days of singledom!

But seriously: nobody can say that we don't love my family. We just got our last tickets to Bordeaux: two more trips and it's over! isn't that sad? We're basically halfway through.

Also, I haven't worn my engagement ring in a month. We live in a... not so wealthy neighborhood and especially when I'm taking trains and metros all over the place I don't really feel like being conspicuous. If I did get mugged, I would feel so bad! (Don't worry parents, we're safe and sound and nobody's bothered us yet--we're good at keeping a hawk's eye on our bag/purse and blending in) But I guess I kind of miss my engagement ring, although I feel a little bit like a hippie or something with my simple wedding band. Ha.

Also I just ran out to bring Andrew something (well ran out is an understatement, since it's a 2 hour round trip...) and I must admit I'm terribly jealous. He goes to work everyday in the most classy area of Paris and today he's escorting U.S. Senators around.

Gosh, I have nothing all that exciting to say. So in no particular order, here are a few thoughts running through my head:

It's rainy today. Really rainy. I like it, but it's a lot gloomier in this old house than it is on rue de Rivoli...

Crying babies and meowing cats sound remarkably alike.

I really, really need a new haircut and highlights, or at least just highlights. It's getting bad.

I like my nail color. I had an epiphany the other day: my nails grow better and are healthier when they are protected with nail polish. You'd think I'd have figured it out earlier.

Andrew and I might go on a mini boat tour of the Seine river. That should be fun.

Also, it's for sure this time: we're going here. I'm excited!

I think I might want to let my hair grow for a while.