One of the Reasons

That I LOVE When Summer Changes Into Fall...

My September magazines come to me and they are HUGE! The postman had to give me the key to the bigger mail box. I love when that happens. I don't know why. They will be my faithful treadmill companions for several weeks to come and I'm pretty excited. I was getting a little bit bored with my current iPod running mixes and these will keep my mind off that for a while.

Making a new mix (that will keep me motivated for a full hour) can wait. Hallelujah.

Dear Smokers That Live Below Us,

One of the perks of living in California is that you rarely have to use your air conditioner, you just leave your windows open and have fans going. I would like it if I were not on your smoke break schedule having to run around closing doors and windows so that I don't have to smell your DISGUSTING habit. It makes my house smell AWFUL if I have gone away and you've taken one of your habitual breaks. I am burning my Volcano candle way more than usual and those are not cheap, my friend. Also, I am up at 1:30 because I have the nose of a blood hound and your STUPID cancer causing habit made me wake up and have to close everything up for the 4th time since dinner. Seriously?!?! Also, you make Stuart in a bad mood. Which rarely happens. And that's no fun for anyone. I'm going back to bed now. Please let your next nicotine craving not hit you until at least 8am. I'm begging you. It's Saturday.

Sincerely,

"Live Smoke Free" Campaigners Living Above You

I.Love.This.Picture.

This picture is just so amazing to me. I just had it sent to me by my Grandma and it immediately became my screen saver, I thought I'd share. The incredibly fashion-conscious woman on the left is my great-grandmother Betsy "Beema" Barry. She is still alive and well living in Huntington Beach, just a little way away from us. She is NINETY-EIGHT years old and still quick-as-a-whip, she can re-call her favorite memories of when she was 6 years old and she is just so fun to listen to! The woman on the right is my great-great-grandmother "Nanu". The great thing about this picture is that this was very typical, they were always dressed up (fur coat, red lipstick, hat, and corsage...) and ready for anything. (As I write this I am wearing a questionably large t-shirt and Stuart's basketball shorts. Awesome.) The white suit is Chanel {sigh} I really just can't get enough of this picture.

This is my random thought with my random picture.

This Kid...

leaves tomorrow. I'm so excited for him, but it's been a pretty emotional day. And getting Scott ready to leave is on top of having Stuart be in San Diego while I'm here in Mesa :(. Stuart had his first day of law school today and so yesterday after Scott's "farewell" talk he drove back home while I stayed here to go with my family to the airport and drop him off. He'll be in Brazil for the next two years spreading the gospel and I am just so proud of him. He'll be so missed: his amazing impressions, his witty banter, our text message conversations, just about everything. I just love him.

Wicked!

We went and saw Wicked the other night at the San Diego Civic Theatre. I've never seen it before and it was ama-a-a-zing! I cried. Anyway it was our first "explore the city" rendezvous and we had a really fun night. The ladies that took this picture of us had asked us to take their picture first and said that the 3 people they had asked prior to us had left out the "Wicked" sign... which was the whole point! They were so grateful for my photography skills and I think they took a pretty good picture of us.

Two Completely Different Ends of the Spectrum

These movies are not even in the same categories but I want to see both of them.

Wedding in Vegas

Our friends got married yesterday! Brian Scurr to Ashton Hawker. We set them up not too long ago and all I can say is that I'm so happy for them! I didn't really have time to go to Vegas for a long weekend so we only went for a day, we also didn't want to buy expensive plane tickets last minute so we drove. Needless to say, it was a whirlwind. We left at 5am for the 5 hour drive to make their 11am ceremony. Then we hung out with our friends Dan and Katie all day and went to the dinner that night at 7. Stayed for 2 hours-made the 5 hour trek back. We're so glad we went and they are just darling together!


After their ceremony waiting for them to come out of the temple.



The happy couple.


If we look washed out and tired... that's because we are.


Typical.

I wish that I had taken more pictures, but of course I didn't. They had their dinner at this "swanky" place called Vintner Grill (*since I didn't take pictures here is the web address: http://www.vglasvegas.com/). Everything was done so pretty and she had this peacock theme going. Loved it.

First 7 Days in San Diego

Our Last Day in Provo:


Packed up and ready to leave.

1st day in San Diego: We had so much help moving into our new apartment and we are so grateful. A lot of Stuart's family was in town for his Papa's 80th birthday and they came to help us unload our U-haul. It was empty in 25 minutes, not kidding. I was seriously so happy that they were there. It made things so much easier.


Days 2-7:

*Papa's 80th birthday pizza party celebration.
*In-n-Out twice... that will have to change immediately.
*Went grocery shopping because of excessive In-n-Out, had to use Garmin to get to grocery store, because I don't know where I am in this city.
*Ikea twice and I don't even love Ikea... but it's down the street and I don't get lost driving there. Thank you for braving the maze with me Abby.
*Costco 3 times: once to buy our bed (where Scott and Stuart made me lay on it in the middle of the aisle to make sure I liked it, I was so embarrassed), once to buy groceries and a fan, once to buy a second fan identical to the one we bought the day before, it was sold out, will have to go again when they've re-stocked.
*Discovered "Happy Berry", their coconut frozen yogurt is SOOOOO good. I've been craving it every day since we had it.
*Dinner at Chart House with Scott, Abby, Kate and Stephanie. Amazing. Thank you!
*Worked on projects late into the night:


The "Petersons" sign is a wedding gift from my sweet Belmont ward bishop and I decided to repaint it. The flatware holders are the result of moving in and discovering that the drawers in my kitchen are 9" wide and I didn't want to use 3 drawers for my silverware.
*Went to Body Worlds at the San Diego Natural History Museum with Kate. Not sure how Stuart liked it but Kate and I did! It was my 2nd time. The 1st time I went was when the exhibit was in Phoenix and my mom and I decided to go.


Also discovered the BIGGEST. TREE. EVER.


Then of course there is always playing at the pool (and the beach, but I'm sure there will be plenty of those pictures over the next few years).


Here's to our new adventure in our new city!

All I want to do is cook...

Saw "Julie and Julia" last night. So good! But it made us so hungry to watch it. Now all I want to do is buy Julia Child's cookbook and learn how to do all of those recipes. Seriously.