SOLD!

We bought a house! I can't even express how excited we are to get the heck out of apartment living (really smoky neighbors, loud neighbors, barking dogs, etc.). It's being built and we'll move into it in about 6 months. I wish it were sooner, but I'll take it. After searching around for a while, we realized that we could build a new house for about the same price as buying one that's been around forever. So obviously we chose to build. This last weekend we went and picked out everything: wall colors, carpet colors, doors, cabinets, flooring, and exterior colors. It was a lot of fun and made me WAY too anxious to get into our new house. Anyway, it's nothing too fancy, but definitely nice and will be perfect for us right now!!

Les Miserables

Last night we went and saw Les Miserable in the beautiful Ohio Theater. For Christmas, Ryan got me a gift certificate to see a Broadway play here in Columbus sometime this year. We knew Les Mis would be playing but we couldn't actually buy tickets yet. We finally figured out that you could buy a pack of three plays together and purchase the Les Mis tickets right away, along with tickets to two other Broadway musicals: Marry Poppins and Jersey Boys! The price we paid for the set of three was only a few bucks more than what we would have paid for just the Les Mis tickets alone, so we felt like we got a great deal and now we have two more plays to look forward to as well!

Might I also add that Ryan willing signed up for these tickets knowing full well that it was during his favorite time of the year (March Madness) and taking the risk of missing great games... which we did! I think he deserves a shout-out for that. We didn't want to feel like we missed out on everything though, so when we got home at midnight, we turned on the BYU game and watched the whole thing! It was worth it.

Now on to the embarrassing story of the night, because there is one. I have a small bladder and despite my lack of water-drinking beforehand (just to be safe), by intermission (I keep wanting to say "halftime") I had to go again. Knowing this would happen, I asked a worker ahead of time where the best bathroom was to use at intermission. She informed me all the way down in the basement and on the other side because they had the most restrooms there. So, as soon as the lights came on, I booked it down our stairway. Unfortunately, I was wearing heels and going down the stairs on very slippery carpet and my feet totally gave out under me. Not gave out as in I fell back onto my bum and then got right back up, but gave out as in my feet slipped behind me, causing my knees to fall forward, followed by the rest of my body and before I knew it my entire body was sprawled out laying face first in the stairs. It was not graceful to say the least, and of course it made a huge thump, and I think that everyone within a 20+ person radius from me gasped super loud and all started mumbling and getting up to help me. So I did what anyone else would do in a situation like this where you have lost any and all pride: I got up as fast as I could, bit my lip hard and didn't look anyone in the eye, and then walked out as fast as possible, all the while acting like nothing happened. And then started uncontrollably laughing... by myself. Yeah, I was a freak show.

Then, to make matters worse, just as I got back to our section the show began again and the lights all went out. I could not see a single thing, but I knew everyone else could see me (or my shadow, at least) in front of them. I got to my aisle and started walking up but realized I had no clue how far up my seat was. So I stood there like a deer in headlights trying to find Ryan. When that became useless and panic started to set in, I did what any not-normal person would try to do in a moment of desperation like this and opened up my cell phone and held it in the air for light. That proved to not only be a useless tactic, but one that drew even more unwanted attention to myself. Finally, I saw some waving out of the corner of my eye and realized it was the couple sitting next to us flagging me down. Apparently they had been trying to get my attention for a while and finally the man just stood up and waved his arms. Awesome. Anyway, I made it back to my seat and enjoyed the rest of the play while hoping no one else bought the same package of three plays that we did and that I would never see them again.

That's the end of my embarrassing night. Just keepin' things classy, you know. The end.

New Car

I was supposed to start work the middle of last week, which did not happen. The reason why? Because I still had not found a car. Thankfully they have been really flexible with this situation. It seemed like every time we finally found a good car to go look at, there was either something wrong with it or it was bought a few hours earlier. So just in the nick of time I found this Toyota Camry in great condition and for a great deal, so I jumped on it. Thank goodness, or else I would have been walking to work tomorrow!

Leprechauns struck

Somehow our dinner turned green last night... must have been some leprechauns sneaking around. ;) Green salad, green beans, green gravy on the chicken, and green jello. I kind of think this picture looks unappetizing since everything is a different green, but oh well.

So on Monday night Ryan realized that St. Patrick's Day was on Thursday and asked if we were going to eat our traditional green dinner. I then reminded him that we have never had a green dinner, but I was happy to do one (apparently his family did this every year and that's what he was remembering). I'm always up for a fun new tradition though!

Employed!

That's right, I will no longer be sitting at home eating bon-bons all day like some people thought I was doing. ;) I was really applying for anything and everything, HR or not, in hopes of making myself useful somehow. And lo and behold, I ended up with an HR job! As much as I really wished for a job from the minute we got here, I feel like it was a little blessing in disguise that I didn't get one until now because my body still majorly felt the aftermath of the surgery up until a few weeks ago. But I prayed a lot and had faith that everything was working out the way it should... and it has!

So, that being said, I am now in the Office of Human Resources at The Ohio State University as a Talent Management Program Coordinator. I can't wait to start and have something to get up and go do everyday. Speaking of....

why is it sometimes hard to appreciate what your life is like sometimes? Like how I complained for so long about being at home with nothing to do, and now I'm getting nervous about how I won't be able to sleep in, and wondering when I am going to make dinner and do laundry, etc. (and yes, I realize that this is nothing to really stress about and that tons of people do it everyday- I'm just not used to it). I guess the whole "joy in the journey" thing is a work-in-progress for me sometimes. But when I think about it, I really have enjoyed each step of the process!

I start the new job as soon as I buy a car to drive myself to work with (seriously). haha. Any suggestions?

We celebrated with some tasty shakes and some BYU Basketball! We were actually waiting in line at Coldstone, but the line was long and slow and we didn't want to miss any Jimmer action, so we opted for a drive-through with no line. :) And we were too busy cheering to take a non-blurry picture... haha.

And speaking of employment, Ryan's current place of employment was handing out t-shirts in the shape of a dog bone to announce a big meeting. It makes me wonder what he would get if he worked in the chocolate division of MARS. Someday maybe....

Pizza! Pizza!

Yesterday was quite a busy day and all of our original plans had to be moved around. By "original plans" I mean we had to run home in the middle of said business to record the BYU game that we would have otherwise missed. Priorities.

So, by the time we got home for the evening, our stomachs were begging for food and our t.v. was begging to be watched. What do we do now? Why, order pizza, of course! Luckily we had a coupon for a free pizza at a local place that we hadn't yet tried. I called in our order and after waiting for 15 minutes, I looked up directions and headed off to get it.

Problem numero uno: there are no mountains in Ohio. What does that have to do with pizza? Well, how do I get to this place when I left without actually writing down the directions and I can't even tell which direction is east and which is west? It's more impossible than you think. Even Ryan can't figure it out and I swear he comes with a built-in compass. So of course I got lost.

When I finally got to the right intersection, I immediately recognized the pizza place, ran inside, and asked for my pizza. Problem number 2: they don't have my pizza ready, OR my order... at all. They looked for it by my name, my phone number, and even by my address that they didn't ask for when I ordered the pizza so how would they know anyway?! Still not there. So after 15 minutes or so of huffing and puffing and blowing roofs down, I impatiently demanded to know where my darn pizza was, how they could have lost the order, and if they even knew who Jimmer was?!?! The patient pizza man responded by asking what number I called to place my order. I gave it to him, he called it, and then pointed directly across the street to the other pizza joint. Don't even tell me that I should have at least noticed the name of the place was wrong.

Problem three: I finally made it to the right pizza place, they got my order that was now cold, and when I went to pay, I realized I did't have the gift certificate and there was no free pizza without it. Of course. So I drove all the way home (which, with correct directions is only 4-5 minutes away), got it, and drove all the way back... this time WITH pizza.

So the point(s) of this story: at least the BYU game was worth it, because the pizza wasn't. Also, I was sick of looking at that ginormous hot dog headlining our blog.

Eat your heart out

This bad boy was a full pound of hot dog (a.k.a. the Dawg pound)... good thing we split it and didn't order any sides because we couldn't even finish the whole thing and we left stuffed! I would have been just fine with the kid-sized hot dog at this place, but it was fun to try something new around town. We actually didn't have our camera with us but anyone who orders one of these gets their picture on the wall and on their facebook page, which is where I got this one from. It's truly an honor to be recognized for our unhealthy eating habits. :)