spring has sprung

Hello everyone! Since the sun has finally decided to make an appearance, I've begun doing some spring time things. Oh, how wonderful it is to be able to walk outside and feel warmth on your face! Everyone here keeps telling me "oh, you haven't seen anything yet", on account of this supposedly "mild" winter, but it's more of a winter than I've ever had and definitely the longest I've been without sunshine. I couldn't be more happy that we came this year, of all years! Let's see...

To soak up some of this sunshine, Michael, Gizzy, and I decided to go to Grays Lake. It's only about 2 miles away and it was absolutely wonderful; I have no idea why I haven't been before! There are miles and miles of trails, a huuge lake with a decent beach, and dogs are allowed! Michael didn't have too much time to get away from his studying, but we were able to take a nice walk. Now I'm just looking forward to when it gets a little warmer so I can take Gizmo there and he can swim around a bit in the water. Also, once work picks up a bit, we're going to get some bikes and start going riding on all of the local trails. Ah, how I've missed the outdoors!

 hahaha Michael looks crazy- it was super windy!

I've also taken back up some gardening. I don't exactly have a yard or anything, but I've really wanted to get some plants to make the apartment feel a little more lively. I've been wanting to all winter, actually, but none of the stores here sold any plants because of the cold. Then today, I went to Walmart and they had herbs, so I figured that would be perfect. I planted my green onions that I've been growing in plain water, rosemary, basil, and cilantro. I buy fresh herbs for my cooking almost every week, so I'll definitely make use out of them. I also bought some planters and seeds and am growing green and red bell peppers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and green beans. Now I'm just anxiously waiting for them to sprout! 

Another project I took up was homemade pretzels. I absolutely LOVE mall pretzels, but by the time you get one and a dipping sauce, you end up spending $5...pretty ridiculous. So today was all rainy so I couldn't take Gizmo for another walk and I happened to already have all of the ingredients, so I figured why not. They turned out really good! Not quite as good as mall pretzels, but really close and definitely worth making again. The recipe made 10, so I even got to freeze some raw pretzels for a snack later. After I made some honeymustard dipping sauce, it perfectly satisfied my craving. It also reminded me of the many shopping trips I've taken with my mom, when we always stop and get a pretzel. If only my mom could have been here to share them with me, they'd be even better!

Just ignore my extreme ugliness in this pic.

As for my wonderful little fluffball, he has taken up a new hobby of hanging out under the couch. He randomely just crawled under there one day and has since, spent much of his time each evening going in and out from under the couch, over and over. 

ignore the stuff on the floor. He also likes to shred things into little bitty pieces to give mom something new to clean up every night...lovely!

So that's pretty much all there is to write about. I'm of course still missing everyone back home, but skype has been keeping me alive and life in Iowa gets a little easier everyday. This week, work went even better and I learned alot more, but I still have such a long way to go. Tomorrow, my boss is taking the whole office out to lunch at Cheesecake Factory and I'm psyched! It's definitely one of my favorite restaraunts, plus I get a chance to get to know my co-workers better. I get along well with and like everyone at my office so far, so lunch should be good. Also, Michael's last test before spring break is Tuesday, so after that I will have lots and lots of time to spend with him, for the first time since our honeymoon! I'm so incredibly excited to get to come home from work to a husband who can eat dinner with me, take Gizmo on a walk with me, watch a movie with me... ahhh perfection! :)

home is where your heart is...your heart is where your husband is

So this week was my first week at the new job. So far, I love it! Or I guess, I can't say that I love the job; I like the job, but love the opportunities it opens up for Michael and I. I can't wait until I learn everything I need to in order to really get started on my own, separate from my trainer. Nothing is ever too enjoyable when you don't know what you're doing. Every morning when I get up, I think of how much sooner we'll be able to pay off Michael's school loans, build a home together, and all the places we'll be able to travel together, if I do well. It's pure motivation to put forth my best everyday. I'm just so tired of Michael and I having to constantly remind eachother that our current misery will pay off years down the road. I want so badly to be able to afford Michael some great adventure during one of his school breaks. He's honestly just so so deserving. With that, I suit up and head to work.

Though I've learned so much in my first week at my new job, the thing that sticks out most in my mind is simply how incredibly blessed I am. Everyday I meet with seniors. Some of them extremely obese and unable to even really get up off the chair, spending all day watching TV, being reminded of life with only the tiny bit of sunshine that makes it's way through the snowey weather and into the window. Others that I've seen aren't immobile, but they have no money. They're living in run down wooden-frame houses, off the tiny amount that the government gives them and can barely afford day-to-day expenses, much less anything fun. I can't really imagine being in that situation. When I think of retirement, I imagine ample time to enjoy all the things about life that we won't have time to do with jobs and kids. Life surely isn't everything I would hope it to be, while here in Iowa. It's cold and lonely, and I sometimes I feel like I'm never going to feel the sun on my skin again. Still, I have my health, my family, my husband, money in the bank, and hopefully a bright future ahead. My new job has reminded me of this everyday. My goal is to never become numb to those around me who are so much less fortunate.

Aside from work, this week hasn't been bad. Aaron, my awesome trainer, is eager to show me more of the area and has been really helpful in suggesting some cool local spots to try. Since there's honestly nothing to actually do here, he told me about two of his fav. restaraunts, Tasty Tacos and Zombie Burger. Tasty Tacos mainly only has puffy tacos and isn't really anything extraordinary, compared to the food they have in TX (though it is good), but it's really unique for the area, so it's become kind of a local legend. Now Zombie Burger, on the other hand, is awesome! It has Zombies set up inside, creepy candles on all the tables, and the menu is on the back of an old-fashioned newspaper article of a zombie envasion...very unique. The food is even better! My burger had fried macaroni patties instead of the actual bun, with macaroni oozing out of the middle, grilled onions, ranch, and several other yummies. I figured Michael would get his typical burger, plain and dry, but this time he actually stepped out of his box. I was so proud haha! His had fried pickles, chicken-fried bacon, "cheese curds" (aka: fried balls of motzerella), and normal burger toppings. They both probably had more calories than I would have normally consumed in a 3-day period, but it was worth it! We'll definitely be going back!

Other than that, things have been pretty much the same as always. Michael has gotten into poker, since playing on his phone, so he ordered himself a nice poker set and an electronic card-shuffler with his Christmas money. It came in yesterday and he was so psyched. He has so little excitement from day to day, the look on his face made me feel like it was Christmas. He's just so sweet :) Can't wait till he can take a break from studying and we can play together!

I got really homesick on Texas Independence Day, after seeing everyone's Texas pride displayed all over facebook, and wished I could be back to the great state. I continue to miss all of our amazing family and friends, but I try to remind myself to just focus on being thankful to even have such wonderful people in the my life to miss. During times like this, there's only one way to take life- day to day.

"Oh the places you'll go..."

"Oh the places you'll go!...You're off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting so get on your way!" -Dr. Seuss

Michael's gift this Valentines Day was inspired by this quote, which I have loved since first reading the book "Oh the Places you'll Go". Although the book was presumably written for kids lol, I found it pretty inspiring for my new life as an adult. Since Michael has really never gotten to travel and so desires to, I thought the perfect gift would be a pin-board map for us to keep track of all of our world travels, plus a promise to experience the many wonders of the world. Though the map looks a little pathetic with 5 pins on it, one day it will be covered with little colored dots and we can proudly display it in the office. Hopefully at this point, it will also be framed haha ($200 just seemed like too much to spend on a frame, considering I'm between jobs)! In addition to the map, I got lucky and found a star-wars heart box of candies and I made homemade scratch off lotto tickets. I think he was probably most impressed by those.

 I made this as a menu board, to keep track of the meals for the week, but Valentines Day seemed more important at the time

While trying to make the day all about him and less of a mushy, made-up holiday, I attempted to incorporate manliness into everything we did. For breakfast, I made hashbrowns, heart-shaped sausage and egg casseroles, and chocolated covered strawberries decorated as footballs. Though breakfast wasn't quite ready on time...more like an hour late...we both enjoyed it and Michael appreciated me taking the time. After breakfast, Michael had to get back to his studies and I had a kitchen to clean, so we really didn't do anything else until that evening.

Sticking with my manliness theme, I made nachos for dinner with homemade salsa and "adult" rootbeer floats with vanilla vodka, and planned to take Michael to a local hockeygame. He loves hockey and I thought it would be something different from the norm, but at the last minute we randomely decided to go bowling instead. Unfortunately, when we got to the bowling Alley, the wait for a lane was over an hour and we get so little time together, we didn't want to just wait around, so we decided on a movie. Yep, there were lots of changes of plans! Anyway it was the first time we've been to the theaters since moving here and we really enjoyed it.

My Tulips opened up!

I got us both kissy-face lollipops haha

Soo, that pretty much sums up the events for the week. Other than that, Michael has continued to study and I was able to do some deep cleaning because I had the week off. Since I'm starting my new job tomorrow and I will probably have less time, last night I picked up some chick-fil-a for dinner and Michael took some time off so we could watch a movie on netflicks together. Lot of excitement going on here ;) Well, guess I better head to bed...tomorrow is a big day!

Fom past to present

Howdy Everyone! Today begins a 10-day period of absolutely no work, on account of my new job! It really wasn't on purpose; I put in my notice at work and then I wasn't able to schedule my licensing exam for as soon as my new boss would have liked me to because of an overbooked testing center, so I can't start my new job for a little while. Either way, I started working on my very first day upon arrival in Des Moines, so it will be kind of nice to have a chance to do some stuff to the apartment that I have yet to find the time for...plus, I have the time to jot some thoughts down.

Well, lately has been busy, busy! I've been working, of course, but then I also had studying for my licensing exams, which has taken every moment of my free time. I really didn't anticipate the material being as difficult as it was, but it worked out fine because I took both exams yesterday and passed! haha I can't even tell you what a relief that was! I was so nervous I was going to have to call up my new boss and tell him that I failed the very first task he gave me as his employee.

Michael has also been super swamped and overwhelmed. He’s had multiple tests per week for several weeks now. I have never seen him at such a low. He had to pull 2 all-nighters in 3 nights and the one night he did get some sleep, it was only about 4 hours. I thought I was completely exhausted for having work and then hours of studying but all the work I was putting in paled in comparison to everything he had to do. The only times I saw him was when he was coming out of his office to get food or pop some caffeine. It was pretty depressing going to bed every night so exhausted, knowing Michael was in the other room with WAY less sleep and would be going for several more hours. Anyway, his tests for the week were finally over yesterday morning and he came straight home and went to bed, while I finished up the last of my studying. After I got back from my tests last night, it was the most amazing feeling to come home to my husband, who doesn’t have another test for an entire week, and be able to cuddle on the couch together and do nothing. We watched The Office all night and played a game of monopoly. It was bliss.

So aside from all the work Michael was doing, he also managed to find a way to show me some love for Valentines Day. Last weekend, he ran to the store to grab something and when he got back he asked me to come in the kitchen to help him with something. When I got in there, he was on his knee, with a tiny vase of roses and asked me to be his valentine. What's a girl to do?...of course I accepted hehe. I'm a total sucker for cute and cheesy! We had no time do actually spend time together, so I was thinking the roses were probably about as big of a v-day celebration as we were gonna have, but on the actual day, he also had 3 dozen pink, white, and red tulips (one of my fav. Flowers), and chocolates delivered to me at work with a sweet note from “Fireman Dan”. Fireman Dan is a character that my mom originally made up when I was a kid, for the made-up bedtime stories I would always beg her to tell me. Sometime at the beginning of mine and Michael’s dating relationship, I told him about Fireman Dan and for our very first Valentines, he gave me the cutest homemade card ever, and it had a pic of Fireman Dan on the back. It was sweet that he remembered!

This pic is of the roses and tulips Michael got me and the bouquet of flowers my boss got me for my last day at work. I love all the fresh flowers!

On account of our schedules, we decided to push the Valentines date I am planning to this weekend. If you know me, you probably know I LOVE planning things, so it’s a lot of fun for me to have plenty of spare time to spend preparing for our date. Out of consideration for the holiday, I thought I would take a look back over our past Valentines Days together as a dating couple J. To tell you the truth, Michael thinks V-day is really dumb; it was even once the cause of a big argument early in our relationship hahaha!

Without asking what I think of the holiday (which it happens to be one of my favs, since I’m a huge fan of super cheesy romance), he went off on a rant about how stupid it is and how he has no intention of ever celebrating it. Annoyed that he obviously didn’t even care if I wanted to celebrate it or not, I let him know how much it hurt my feelings that he cared more about making a point than how I felt about it. It’s so funny to look back at that argument. I think all things considered, he’s done an awesome job showing me that he cares, through the celebration of a holiday that he hates. So in order to show him that it doesn’t have to be “a holiday made up by card companies, for the sake of making money”, I’ve always given him homemade gifts, which could never be found in the Card or Seasonal isles of stores. I think I’ve done pretty good too J.

For our first V-day, all of the pics I have are saved on an external hard drive at my parents' house, so I don't have any to post, but it was a really nice day! I woke up at around 5am and Michael's room mate let me in their apartment so before class, I cooked him a breakfast in bed, consisting of heart-shaped pancakes, eggs, and bacon. He was so tired because it was so early, that he basically ate none of it, but hey, it's the thought that counts, right?? I also gave him a scrapbook I made with pics of the two of us going all the way back to sixth grade, when we were in the youth group together, and a shell necklace that I had made him.

The story behind this necklace: for my graduation present, my parents rented my friends and I a beach house. At the time, I happened to be dating one of Mine and Michael's mutual friends, Matt. At some point over our trip, Michael, Bethany, and I got away from the group and went shopping at some beach shops, where I bought Matt a shell necklace. Apparently jealous, Michael told me not to bother, because Matt would never appreciate it like he should. So, I thought it appropriate that Michael have one of his own beach necklaces from me, only his was better because I made it J. He did love that necklace. In fact, he wore it until it was too old and messed up.  

Later that night, he showed up at my dorm with a really beautiful bouquet of multicolored flowers that he had designed with the florist. It was definitely not the traditional V-day bouquet; it was fall colors and beautiful! He had chosen a bright orange-ish rose for each month that we'd been dating, one of some other kind flower (that I obviously cannot remember lol) for each day in addition to the months that we'd been dating, and then some random small flowers that were just there for looks. He didn't know he had to make reservations in order to eat at any restaurant on that specific day and the wait at every place was like 3 hours long, so we ended up just walking around the park and got Marble Slab ice cream. It was a sweet first Valentines!

For our second Valentines, I made Michael a sugar cookie bouquet and a stuffed bear, with a heart patch that I sewed on his foot, with "Happy Valentines Day, 2009" stitched on the patch. He got me a giant stuffed dog, a huge box of chocolate, and some chocolate covered strawberries that he made. For dinner, I had made reservations at a really expensive and fancy steak restaraunt in College Station, but when we got there, the service was horrible and we ended up leaving before we ever even got to order our food. There was just no sense in paying $40 a person for dinner, if we were going to get the same service as we would at McDonalds. We ended up going to Chick-Fil-A for dinner (which was pretty much "our place" in college lol) and then went to Grand Station and played video games, black-light put put golf, and lazer tag. The night ended up being alot more fun!

For our third V-day, I made Michael a heart-shaped cake, that I decorated with buttercream roses. This probably doesnt sound like a big deal, except that I had no idea how to make buttercream roses. I taught myself over a tutorial I found on Youtube. It was not fun, my friends. I only had a handful of roses on the cake, but it took me HOURS. Then, when I finished at around 1am, I set the cake on the table while I cleaned up the kitchen, throwing away all the piping bags and frosting, and as I did this, my room mate's stupid dog took a huge chunk out of a section with lots of roses. I was livid. My roomie offered to help, but it's not like she knew how to make the roses, so she went to bed and I went to the store to get more frosting and proceeded to spend several more hours trying to cover up the hole in the cake haha! It turned out looking flawless and Michael loved the cake!

This was the year that he got me a gift that I thought was very true to him. He ordered me a bean plant that had "I love you" printed on the beans, so when they sprouted, you could see it. It was really awesome and I loved it! For our date, we met up with some friends and went to an Aggie baseball game. It wasn't a big event, but it was alot of fun!

For our 4th V-day (omg, I did not even realize we dated for that long before getting married!!!), I have no idea what we did haha! I have no pics and no recollection whatsoever! It's possible that we did nothing because Michael was living in SA while I was finishing school at A&M, but I really doubt that. Anyway, this is precisely the reason I'm recording all of these memories on my blog. Most of you probably couldn't care less about what we did for all of our V-days, but I really want to look back and be able to see all the fun times we've had, even if I can't remember them on my own hehe.

I'll repost after the Valentines date that I'm planning, should be alot of fun! I hope everyone was able to be with the ones they love for the special day! Time for me to get to cleaning and running errands!

pushing on

I’ve got to say, tonight was a fairly different compared to most typical nights in the King home. It started out as an average night with Michael studying his life away and me watching Netflix alone, as I study for my licensing exam, but where it left me is a place completely void of feelings of loneliness.

Let me start out by just saying how wonderful I’ve always known my husband is. He’s not just a hopeless romantic, prince charming wanna-be (I swear he is), but he’s also very empathetic and since the beginning of his days as a high school boy pursuing his princess, he’s always been attentive to my hours on end of pointless babbling, so as to win over this heart of mine. Needless to say, I love this about him. Tonight, I treasure this paramount characteristic in him, all the more.

Exhausted from the job that I despise, bored from studying so much for the licensing exam for my new job, and lonely from endless hours of being by myself these past few weeks, I relapsed into my homesick self from last semester and started crying like the 15 year old girl that I am in the inside. So what else would a prince charming do, but scoop me up and lay me on my bed so he could serenade me with his beautiful voice and guitar playing. First song he sang/played happened to be Deliver Me, by David Crowder. Still, I’m really not sure why he decided to play this because I’ve never heard him play it before; I didn’t even know he could play it…just lucky I guess! I don’t know if you’ve ever heard this song, but the words are so powerful. In case you want to listen to it yourself, here’s a link to a youtube video with lyrics included: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOAxRKY0KZE

The song calmed me and gave me exactly what I needed- a reminder that He is here. Michael and I are in such a different place and I’m so bad with change; it makes it easy to give up and feel sorry for myself, wondering why in the world God brought us here. But as I listened to the song, I started thinking how much different things could be if I stopped moping around and began to use all of this empty time I have to spend more time in his word or in prayer or worship. What could this do for my faith?...wonders, I can only guess, since I haven’t actually done any of this with the extra free time that I have.

After that song, Michael sang a couple of other songs that he wrote for me in college, which is always guaranteed to get a smile out of me. Laying on my bed, with my black tears still dripping down my face and staining my pillowcase, I began to think about how lucky I was to be married to him. This moment literally could not have existed if I was with any other man in the world. He not only knew exactly the song I needed, spiritually, to hear, but he also threw in a couple of my favs of his very own, which brought nothing other than comfort and calm to me. So there I had my answer. God didn’t bring us here so I could be miserable and alone and sit around feeling sorry for myself; he brought us here so I could be miserable and alone and, therefore, would seek Him. In the past, I would immediately turn to my family if I was feeling homesick, but tonight through Michael, I learned that I should go to God first.

To my husband, I am thankful for the reminder and the continual encouragement. I don’t really know what I would do if he was the type to get stressed out and go crazy. I guess this is why I need him- he is my rock and the exact opposite of me. Love, if you’re reading this (he does every so often), this song is for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iXqEkgnpSs

I can’t play guitar or sing, though I may pretend to be able to, but I can certainly youtube you a song hehe J Thanks for being you!

Okay, so apart from that quick update on how God is so good, I also actually followed through with my New Years resolution this year and got a new job! I'm now an outside sales rep for America's Senior Benedits and I couldn't be more excited or proud! I really think this job could be perfect for me. I'll be in a professional atmosphere, get to wear cute business clothes, and get paid really will get paid really well, but won't have to sit at a desk all day! I'll actually be out in senior's homes discussing different life, long-term car, carcer, etc. insurance options with them. Plus, the needs of seniors is something I'm very familiar with because of my parents' company.

To tell you the truth, it's the perfect time I've really had anything to be proud of myself for since I graduated from A&M. In college it's so easy to have pride because your success is numerically measured out for you through grades. In the real world, it's not as easy. Anyway, so I had those two itnerviews last week (as I mentioned in my last blog). They went really well, but one of the companies told me they were interviewing 15 of the top candidates and would only be choosing one and the other company said they interviewed dozens of people and would be selecting two or three,. I was hopeful, but i knew my chances could be better. After a few days, found out that I got second interviews with both companies, one of which was a field demo, where I would be spending a whole day with the terrirory manager going to his appointments.

I was so nervous at the beginning of the day, though I didn't let it show. Then Shane, the terrirory manager, told me he is the Mayor Pro Tem of Des Moines...yikes! Thankfully, he ended up being super awesome and I relaxed. He even shower me a couple of magic tricks haha and stopped at the house that John Wayne grew up in, on our way to an appointment with a customer. Here's a  couple pics...

Oh yah, while trying to hop over a huge puddle of snow and slush, I also managed to split my pencil from the slit in the side all the way up to my waistband. I would do that haha! Luckily, I had on a long coat, which covered my whole bottom half, when buttoned. I guess I was still able to make a good impression because I got offered the job, along with the other one! so exciting! they are both really great companies with alot of benefits and endless growth potential, but I enjoyed the atmosphere better at the one I chose. That was honestly the only real difference, in my mind.

So now, I'm just working on getting my licenses to sell health and life insurances. It is actually alot more info than I ever expected, and it takes about 3 hours a day of studying, but it'll be over in a couple of weeks. It's a small price to pay for the opportunities it will create for Michael and I! This new job really does feel like such a big blessing; it will hopefully allow for alot less loans from Michael's podiatry school, more money to visit family and to travel, and can help us save alot more month each month...which leads to being able to have a family younger hehe  J

 Hm....nothing else too much going on. It snowed about 4 inches this morning, so I really won't be going out much today. Maybe go to Hobby Lobby to get some stuff to make Valentines and possibly groceries, but not too much. Oh! I did try  a new salsa recipe I found on pinterest, which  literally only took about 5 minutes (or maybe less) and tasted delicious. Michael and I have been keeping it fully stocked in the fridge, for a kind of healthy snack (healthier than other dips hahaha). Here's the recipe if you want to try it yourself:

 http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/06/one-minute-salsa.html
One Minute Salsa
*Note: This salsa is unbelievably good with a couple diced avocados mixed in just before serving.
*Makes about 3 cups
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 small red onion, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup drained jarred pickled jalapenos
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
DIRECTIONS:
In the bowl of a food processor (or a blender), pulse the onion, cilantro, jalapenos, lime juice, garlic and salt until coarsely chopped.
Add the drained tomatoes and pulse until combined. Don’t overprocess in this step if you want your salsa to remain chunky – just give it a few good 1-second pulses until everything is mixed. Place the salsa in a fine mesh strainer or sieve and drain briefly. Transfer to a bowl and serve. (The salsa can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days.)

I ended up adjusting a few ingredients the first time I made it, so I could use the stuff I already happened to have and it actually tasted alot better to us. I reduced the onion to 1/4 small red onion. I love onions, and it was still a bit too strong in that department. I also switched out the diced tomatoes for two regular cans of cilantro-lime rotel tomatoes. When I made it the second time, I used the exact recipe and we didn't eat half of it. Okay, friends, that's all for now! Hope every in Texas enjoys a snow-less weekend :)

Better Every Day

Since we've been back, Michael has continued to come through on his promise to set his studies aside for some quality time with the dear ol' wifey. Though we don't exactly have time to go out and do anything, he does dedicate about an hour a night to spending time together. Lately, our time together has primarily consisted of dinner together and a couple episodes of How I Met your Mother. I know, not terribly exciting, but I appreciate any time we have after such a busy last semester and we've become rather addicted to the show. There's just so much comfort in coming home to your husband and spending some time relaxing and watching your favorite show.

One new thing we tried a couple weeks ago was making homemade pizza crust for the first time. I got the recipe from Pinterest (duh!!) and figured we could try it. It turned out to be a really enjoyable time and the pizza turned out yummy! Here's the link if you want to try it for yourself: http://annies-eats.com/2010/04/29/perfect-homemade-pizza-crust-tips-and-tricks/. We've also started back with our tradition of getting Buffalo Wild Wings every Thursday. This began back in college with friends and as it went on, it extended to my fabulous boyfriend at the time. I've also been trying alot of new recipes from Pinterest, but I'll post about the results of those later. I know you're probably thinking how wierd it is that when writing about what we've been doing lately, all I have to write about is food we've eaten. Well, I guess it's time you all find out what my hubby did on our honeymoon with the all-inclusive gormet food- I'm a fat girl at heart. Plus, half our time together is spent eating, so it seems appropriate that I write about it haha.

So anyway, all this time together has made me enjoy being a wife so much more than I did last semester. I'm so content and don't feel so homesick (with the exception of last week when we went to a local "mexican" restaraunt, which doesn't really even hold a candle to Taco Cabana back home). I just recently talked to my best friend, Lauren, and we got to talking about how being married pushes us to better ourselves or to stick with something we wouldn't have otherwise. It really is true! If I didn't have a husband who depended on me to bring home the bacon, I would have quit my job about the third day (haha, I kid you not!). He told me to stick with it and I ended up loving it...until very recently, that is. Now, He's been a constant support as I look for a real career. Michael believes in me, and this is enough to keep me going until I find what I'm looking for. At times, our opposit interests and personalities have made things difficult, but I'm appreciating our differences more and more as time goes on.

His faith in me was every more apparent last week on the day that I had my first interview. I was nervous and before I left, Michael took me by the shoulders, told me how confident in me he is and made me repeat "you is kind, you is smart, you is important", the famous quote from The Help, which we just watched with my parents over our visit to TX. Though he was halfway kidding, he was also serious. If someone as smart as him believes in me, then I had every reason to be confident in myself. As I mentioned before, my interview went well, but wasn't a position I was interested in taking.

To show Michael how appreciative I am of his support, I made his favorite entree from our wedding. It took a while to make it, but it was totally worth it! We had bruschetta, garlic cheese mashed potatoes, chicken stuffed with jalapeno and cream cheese and wrapped in bacon, and a salad served in a martini glass, just like at the wedding. Everything turned out great and Michael enjoyed it alot!

Lately it's been really snowy up here- unfortunately. It snowed most of last week and 3-4 inches a few days ago. Friends, lemme tell you, snow is beautiful and when you see it in pictures, you think you want to live in a place where the ground shimmers from the glittery white fluff, but it certainly isn't worth the mess it causes. Let me tell you about all the things I've learned about living in a place where snow is a typical occurance:

• you would think drivers here are used to driving in the snow and, thus, have become good at it...you would be very very wrong. Now it is possible that Iowans are only terrible at driving in it because they are terrible at driving in normal conditions, but it's hard to tell for sure
• Dogs don't like to do their business in it, especially when it's deep enough to touch their butts. At least Gizmo doesn't. He requires a place be shoveled for him to go in complete comfort
• people who are used to snow don't take advantage of it. It's pretty sad really. I have literally not seen a single person or family play in the snow the entire winter, and houses don't have fences around them here, so you can see the entire front and backyards. This even means that I've seen ZERO snowmen in yards. So wierd!
• It is entirely necessary for short people like myself to have those foot pedal extensions (the kind that little people use) for their cars because the chances of you sliding into a car or off the road seem to be about 50/50 and if the airbag deploys while sitting as close to the steeringwheel as I do, they probably won't come out of it with a head.  Please note: I base the 50/50 stat on the dozens of cars I see off on the side of the roads and laying at the bottom of hills on my way to work everyday. Not a pretty sight.
• As I mentioned, snow is beautiful. Ice, however, is miserable and so is the slush that is left after enjoying the snow for just a few days

Though I'm clearly not thrilled about this fluffy white substance, I'm determined to enjoy it as much as I can. After all, it really does make for a fun-filled time! A couple of days ago I even surprised Michael with some pretty cool new sleds, which we got to break in a couple of days ago. We had such a fun time and I think Gizmo had even more fun than we did. We ended up having to cut our time short because Gizmo had frozen balls of ice between the pads of his feet and was limping, poor baby! Needless to say, we will no longer be using those plastic bin lids for winter recreation :)

As for what we've been up to the past few days? Well, we finally got real internet!!! Up until now we've just been using our phones as hotspots. With our new internet though, Michael was able to hook up the kinect I got for Christmas. So for the past couple of days we've been playing that for a little bit in the evenings; it's been alot of fun! Also, I had two job interviews with two different companies that I really like as an outside insurance sales rep. They both went great and I ended up getting a second interview with both companies! I have a field interview with one company next Tuesday and I meet the other agents and partner of the second company on Thursday. Wish me luck! Oh, and I found out there is a krispy kreme here in Des Moines, while driving to one of my job interviews yesterday and I told Michael about it when I got back. Today, I came home from work to the best glazed donuts ever made :) So sweet!

So, life isn't incredibly exciting with a hubby in podiatry schoool and not much of money to blow on entertainment, but one day I know everything will be worth it. In 5 years, I want to re-read all of these posts and be so thankful we went through it all. I also hope to be thinking how boring life was at this stage, in comparison to all the thrilling adventures and travels we'll be having int he future lol!

New Years!

Well, now that michael and I are back in Iowa alone, we were able to think about some changes that we should make- as individuals and as a couple- in light of the new year.

As I may have mentioned in previous blogs, I never really saw Michael last semester. Since he was studying so hard, we rarely every got to enjoy any time together. I almost got used to being alone. I would come home from work and do crafts while Michael was in the other room and then I would go to bed alone, while he stayed up until all hours of the night studying. I was lonely, but I didn't realize just how lonely I was until I went back to Texas for Christmas and was surrounded by all the people I love. When my parents were telling me goodbye, I had a lump in my throat as I held back the tears. Standing in the airport, with a million people around, and I didn't want to escape from my parents' embrace. Needless to say, I gathered myself and said goodbye.

I'm a social person; I truly don't need alone time, ever. I want to be surrounded by lots of people at all times. Michael recognized this and as a part of his New years resolution, he promised I wouldn't be going to bed alone anymore. He's also going to take one evening off every week from studying to spend time with me. He told me our marriage is much more important than being at the very top of his class. So far, he's remained true to his word. Since we've been back, we've been spending about an hour together every night and we had a little extra time last weekend. Last night, he even pulled an all nighter, so we would have alot of the weekend to spend together. I think this semester will be much better than the last :)

In addition, I've decided to really push myself to find a better job, where i can utilize my education and abilities. Every week I am going to apply to as many places as it takes to get a job interview and I'm going to try to have one interview scheduled each Thursday (my day off) until I find the right place for me. So far, I've done this. I had one interview yesterday, which went well, but the pay is 100% commission and with me being the sole bread winner at the moment, that's not very ideal. I've also received several calls about job interviews, which I will schedule for next Thursday. Wish me luck!

Other than those two main goals, Michael and I are both trying to work out more often and eat more healthy. I also want to have a new outlook. I don't want to think of Iowa as a prison. I want to think of it as an open door, full of adventure and possibilities. If there is light in this state, I will find it.

In 2011, I graduated from what I believe is the greatest university on earth, married the man of my dreams, and moved to a new place. 2012, show me what you've got!