So yeah, we did the thing where we didn't blog for awhile...

...and then tonight, sinus-infected Britt thought it would be a great idea to update the blog for our adoring fans!

Life's been hard. I say that semi-sarcastically because, duh, all things considered we are super-duper-over-abundantly blessed. But for now, the weather is weird, we're sick, we're tired of work and school, and completely in a funk. I re-commit to being more productive and more awesome every day, and come up short every day, and get mad over and over every day, and it's getting really, really old.

I can't decide where to focus my efforts. What's most important? Keeping the house clean? Catching up on school work? Getting ahead on my lesson plans? Being a nice, helpful wife? Finding a job after graduation? Staying in touch with friends and family? Trying to keep my body healthy? Doing our taxes? I don't know. So I try to do a little bit of everything and somehow end up doing a whole lot of nothing.

Totally looking forward to: Springtime. Cherry Blossoms. Spring Break with my family. Graduation. Starting my CAREER (!) Outer Banks with Joe's family. Playing with my new camera. Getting a new nephew (any day now!) Christmas in the Caymans. BYU games. Friends and family coming to visit. Not going to class anymore. Learning how to cook. Yoga. Having phone conversations.

Okay, phew. Life is fine. Just needed a reminder. Totally might regret this woe-is-me post in the morning, (and Joe you have permission to bug me about it later) but for now it helps keep things in perspective. I should go try that sleep thing again; we'll see if my sinuses let me.



Post-edit: Weird. Maybe I just get depressed every March?
http://joeandbritt.blogspot.com/2009/03/six-years.html

Lent

photo from here

Last year I had a Catholic co-worker who gave up something for Lent; I want to say it was candy or soda or something, and I promised to do it with her...and I'm sure I did sometimes, and whatever. I get that the practice of Lent has changed a bit over the years, but I like the idea of giving up a vice...and since I've proven to have very little self-control lately, Lent seemed a good reason to quit coming up with excuses.

The night before Ash Wednesday (Fat Tuesday?) I told Joe I wanted to give something up. He spouted out a few of my vices a little too quickly, and they were all things I was not willing to part with. Then finally he said, "You could give up the snooze button," which is kind of funny because I was never a big snoozer until I started sharing a bed with Mr. Snooze Button himself, but whatever.

So yeah, the last couple of days I've actually gotten up when my alarm went off. Weird. It's kind of nice to start my morning not running around like a maniac because I NEEDED those extra couple of (or 45) minutes of sleep. I mean, I probably do need those minutes...but ideally my body could get on some sort of schedule (WHAT?) and maybe I could start going to bed earlier. And maybe if this week hadn't been Daylight Savings this would have been the easiest thing ever to accomplish...but waking up when it's dark sucks. Oh, well.

seriously, google calendar?

For the past few years, Joe and I have been successfully using Google calendar to keep track of just about everything. We have options to view any combination of either of our work, school or social calendars. It's super helpful, and everything has been awesome until I synced my Blackberry the other day and ended up with 30+ of everything in my personal calendar. Google's help site just has a few other complaints, but no helpful advice yet. I guess this is why some people are afraid of the internet.

Because I'm sure this is what she had in mind...

My mom got me a ridiculously nice camera for my birthday, and I can't wait to take the time to learn how to use it. Until then, I'll just take pictures of the cats. These are some of my favorites. The last few were taken on the deck with the help from some cat-nip.

Happy Birthday Kitties!

Valentine's Day is super special for us because it's the day we got Lucky and Destiny! We can't believe it's been 2 whole years since we've had them. I tried to set up a photo shoot with my new camera, but they were too excited about their special treat to give me much to work with. Here are some fun things they're doing:

DESTINY: appx. 8 years old. Still very independent, but lets me pick her up mama-cat style (behind the neck) and sits in my lap and falls asleep, (after head-butting everything in the area). Happy to be by herself sometimes. Prefers sleeping at the foot of the bed. "Owns" the ottoman and red living room chair. Also "guard-dogs" the outside of the bathroom when I'm getting ready in the morning. LOVES, LOVES, LOVES chasing string. Like she could chase string all day. Also loves catnip and rolling around in it. Meows when she needs something, or just sits nearby and looks really pissed (if the cat food is low, she will sit a few feet away from it and just glare). Loves treats, but can't find them so you have to show them to her like 10 times. A HUGE beggar of people-food...she's relentless. If we're cooking, (which is never,) she will sit and wait patiently for you to drop her something. Super, super cute.

LUCKY: appx. 5 years old. BABY. I'm considering getting one of those front-carrying baby slings for him...I really think he would love it. Lucky likes sleeping at the head of the bed, or on one of our heads. He is a CUDDLER. And a licker of necks, (or just my neck). Sometimes he will fall asleep between Joe and me, and try to make sure he is touching one of us with his front paws and one with his back. Lucks is the funniest combination of scardy-cat and panther-on-the-prowl. He's willing to stalk a bug for like 2 hours without ever doing anything to it. His spots are flopping over the backs of chairs. He loves blanket caves. He's terrified of anything that sprays. If we pick up the can of Dust-Off, he stops whatever he's doing and runs under the bed. Two words: LASER POINTER. Lucky will follow the laser in 20+ circles and then fall over. Then he'll follow it some more. Squeaks when scared. Pretty freaking adorable.

We really, really like these guys. Like, a lot. They make these long, crazy days a little more bearable...and are great companions when all I wanna do is take a nap :)

Edible Arrangement

I received my first Edible Arrangement for Valentine's Day this year :) The picture I took stinks, so I stole this one from the website. The one I got was like this, but had chocolate-dipped apple slices, too. Joe had this sent to work, which was a fun surprise and obviously made him look like super-hubby! I was glad it didn't get sent to to the house because I was able to make a few friends and not gain too much chocolate-related weight.  

Birfday

I was so spoiled this (and every) birthday! I had been feeling kind of down...the snow days and weather really threw me off, and we have been warned many (MANY) times that this is an especially hard time for the interns in our program because things just keep piling up and it's hard to keep perspective. BUT, with all that being said, I was excited to spend a very low-key evening with some of the great friends I've made at school. We busted out the chocolate fountain and watched my favorite chick-flick "Love, Actually." It was the perfect way to end my week.

The Chocolate Fountain spread

So glad to meet this girls through school!

My every-day birthday present :)

Minute to Win It

Our students get to participate in "Fun Friday" activities for the last 30 minutes of school on Fridays (duh). Each classroom has a different activity, and ours always hosts a "Minute to Win It" game. If you go to the site, there are tons of fun things you could adapt to do at home. After we watch the blueprint, everyone gets a turn to go. We don't always quite get it done in a minute, but usually have fun trying :) This activity was done in partners; using a piece of dry spaghetti (and no hands!) we had to slip it through the soda tab and move three empty soda cans from one table to another without breaking the spaghetti. My partner and I were successful on this one!

Blogger Meet-up

Joe and I both have a good number of blogs we follow through Google Reader. One of the blogs I've been reading the longest is Man vs. Debt . Baker's motto is "Sell your Crap...Pay off your Debt...Do what you Love." Long story short, he is traveling the country in an RV with his wife and toddler, and his first stop was in DC. It was really neat to meet him and others who are passionate about getting rid of your stuff and doing what you love. After the meet-up, we got to "tour" the RV :)

SNOW DAYS

We got some snow at the end of January. Like usual, it was fun for about a day...then ruined everything by causing delays and school cancellations that we had to make up and blahblahblah. We went night sledding once with our friends Pete and Renee, and Pete wore this AWESOME snow suit. Then I went a few days later with a few of my great co-workers. I'm soooooo glad I splurged at Costco and got some sleds! And that's the only cool stuff that happened over the snow days :)