Christmas is watching Charlie Brown Christmas with your husband while you eat grilled cheese for lunch.

Hounding your mom for recipes like cinnamon rolls and rocky road to make your apartment feel like home.

Ringing bells like crazy with your sunbeams at church while they belt out "Stars Were Gleaming"

Insisting that Christopher stay away from the guest room, laundry room, and entry way cupboard where unwrapped gifts are hiding. Since these place cover major square footage in our apartment, he is getting anxious for me to buy some wrapping paper.

Searching far and wide for Bendaroos and finally finding them on Amazon where they were previously sold out. Yay for having such great sisters to give presents to!

Texts from Jessica about Christmas songs I miss hearing so much at the MTC. :)

Magnolia's grill--the famous restaurant here in NC where Christopher and I are going for dinner on the night of our little Christmas party.

Appreciating the fact that Christopher gets enough time off from school that we can spend so much time with our families this year. We can't wait to see everyone.

Setting up and decorating a Christmas tree in a beautiful new apartment. When I turn on the lights every night it doesn't matter that the temperature hit 75 during the day. It feels like Christmas is really here!

A close-up of some of our decorations for Mom. :)

Thanksgiving

We had the best Thanksgiving. Really. We got to play with Christopher's family in Memphis and then spend a day in Nashville with my sister. We played with babies, ate ridiculous amounts of food, got stuck in even greater amounts of ridiculous traffic, studied GRE vocab during the traffic, and loved every minute of it (Maybe not the traffic.) We really appreciate our awesome families and their genorosity!

Maybe this is what held up traffic. Ha ha.

One of the best parts? Coming home to our spanking new apartment. We've been working on it ever since and it looks beautiful. My advice for anyone who is renting a little place? The first day that you move in, invest in this showerhead. It's less than $20 at Home Depot and it will change your life. The showerhead that our apartment complex installed is a joke! But Christopher put this one in the other day and it. is. the best. Now I totally get the appeal of living in your shower.

We're putting up our Christmas tree tomorrow, so pictures are coming!

Moving!

So Christopher and I (okay, mostly just me) began to wonder if we could really make it until August in our little apartment. And being the champion problem-solver he is, Christopher marched down to the apartment office and asked if we could move to a different one. Without selling our lease. Thankfully, they said yes! There is one unoccupied apartment in the same building we're in now. It has high ceilings, a second bathroom, a laundry room instead of a laundry closet, a view of the pretty trees instead of the swimming pool, a coat closet, AND most important, seven windows. Our current apartment has three and since the view is of the pool, we mostly have to keep our blinds closed.

Since it's November and the apartment market is really slow, they're allowing us to transfer and our rent will only raise $20 a month. So we'd be crazy not to do it...right?

We'll just have to keep telling ourselves that as we take down the pictures Christopher has painstakingly hung, and unpacking the cupboards that I have arranged just so. Mostly we're just getting really excited for the weekend when we can start transferring our things to our new place. Come and see us soon!

Pretty please...

Maybe it's the fact that Hurricane Ida has been drenching NC with buckets and buckets of water for days, but I really want these boots. I spotted them in Nordstrom the other day and it took more than a little strength of will to leave them behind. I'm not even a huge boot person, but I think I could actually enjoy the extended rainy season in this place if I could count on these lovelies to get me through.

I'd take them in the pea green, or the pretty plum. Aren't they great?

Challis Inc.

Yesterday I drove Christopher to school. I do this almost every morning and depending on what time it is, we're either bleary-eyed and not quite awake, or full of energy. On the energetic days we usually sing really loud to "I've Been Thinking About You" by Londonbeat (Shi-pow-pow!)

But yesterday when I dropped him off, I told him that I felt like we'd just finished up a business meeting. We talked about everything we needed to get done, people we needed to contact, health insurance, possible dentists, mailing problems, maintenance issues in our apartment, and of course, money. Instead of giving him a hug goodbye I felt like a handshake was much more appropriate.

I thought about it (don't worry, I still gave him a big hug) and I realized that we have to talk about that stuff sometimes. Even if it's way more fun to laugh about Londonbeat's terrible song, or stare out the window when we're tired. Sometimes a marriage is like owning a little business and even if that isn't incredibly romantic, a successful business is something to be proud of. I'm proud of ours!

Happy Halloween!

Christopher and I went to the much-awaited Statistics 2009 Halloween Gala on Saturday night. We danced our hearts out, had a blast seeing everybody in costume, and drank a lot of cream soda in order to fit in with our more alcohol loving friends.

Before the party. Christopher's mustache was a huge hit.

.

The professors went all out on their costumes

Christopher with friends from the program

Our good friend Jared as Dwight. As soon as I get a picture of his girlfriend, I'll put it up. Her costume was amazing!

Christopher with one of his professors. In the fish tank. We were laughing so hard after this picture, because he begged us not to make fun of him. He didn't understand that we really thought his costume was great!

Hallelujah

When we left Utah, one of the toughest things about the move was leaving behind the family and friends we had close by. Also, it was tough to leave behind Red Mango. I fell in love with their yogurt near the beginning of the summer, and Christopher took me their ALL the time. The small serving size only has 125 calories, and if you have them sprinkle strawberries or pineapple on the top, it isn't much more. Rich, creamy, tangy, and delicious. It was a heartbreaker to drive away from all that.

Once we got to NC, we discovered that a Coldstone creamery was practically next door. So that became our frozen treat destination. I'm not sure how many calories fits into a small Chocolate Devotion, but I'm guessing it's higher than the 125 region. Yes, much higher.

I knew we had to change our ways. Last night we went to a nice earthy little shop called Local Yogurt. And it is so similar to my beloved Red Mango, it's uncanny. The yogurt is so luscious and buttery, I would say it's downright sinful. :) Also, it's a little lighter on the wallet than Red Mango which made Christopher happy. After finishing my yogurt accompanied by fresh strawberries and a few chocolate shavings, I nervously approached the laptop in order to read up on the nutrition facts of this heavenly treat. The results? 125 calories for a small cup.


Since we moved here, I don't think I've been happier. Now I just need to convince them to provide punch cards...

The Wright Idea...

Christopher and I got to visit Kitty Hawk on our way home last week. Fact: I did not have the best attitude about this. I was hungry, and it was raining, and I had sand in my shoes. But deep down, I really did want to visit the Wright Brothers Memorial and Christopher and I are both glad we did.

We hiked up Kill Devil Hill where Wilbur and Orville did most of their early glider experiments. It was raining pretty hard by the time we made it to the top so we didn't get the best pictures, but a couple turned out. At the foot of this very hill the first flight took place. Pretty amazing. I am so grateful for these two men right now! Especially since I just went on Expedia and booked a flight to visit my family in Connecticut next week. Their glider has come a long way!

Also, as soon as we left the Wright Memorial, Christopher and I bought a pizza and I changed into my sweat pants in the car. So everything turned out okay after all.

Outer Banks

Christopher and I had the best time during our weekend at the Outer Banks. I realize that this is a lot of pictures. There are tons more so you can all look forward to that in the future. :) Maybe we're just hoping that they convince you guys to come with us on an Outer Banks trip next time. Spring Break, anyone?

I got to see a cotton field for the first time in my life. An old farmer told us to go ahead and pick some, so we did. And it was cool. It turns out that cotton on the plant is pretty much the same thing as the cotton balls under your bathroom sink.

We had to take ourselves and car across Pamlico Sound on a ferry in order to get to Ocracoke Island. So gorgeous. We played Scrabble to kill time and I won by one point. It was a sweet victory.

We rode these bicycles all over Ocracoke. We were glad we went in October because some people told us that before Labor Day it's so crowded on the streets, you can't very far on a bicycle. We rode them to the lighthouse, all around the harbor, and to the ice-cream shop.

I had no idea Christopher was taking this picture.

We went kayaking in the Sound, and discovered a really cool trail on the nature conservatory section of the island.

I love this picture of Christopher.

On our way home we stopped at this famous lighthouse in Cape Hatteras and climbed to the top. It was so so cool. I hummed Pete's Dragon songs the whole time.

On the way home we also stopped at Kitty Hawk and checked out the Wright Brothers Memorial. I'll definitely post pictures of that later. We really did have so much fun playing on the pier and eating pancakes at our little B&B. Happy Fall Break!

Fall Break

In celebration of Fall and the fact that we have survived NC for over a month, Christopher and I are going to take a ferry out to Ocracoke Island next week, where we'll be staying at this little beauty...

Can you tell I'm excited?

Crash with us

So I'm not so sure how I feel about North Carolina yet. Things are definitely getting better, but I still sometimes ask Christopher if we can move back to Utah. He always says yes, but I know we should stay here. :(

I'm being a whiner. What I really want this post to be about is......the new guest room! Which means that Utah (and Connecticut, Tennessee, Hawaii, Kansas, and Alaska) can now come to me!

I have to tell you guys--remember this post? How we almost killed ourselves bringing the mattress back home? Okay. After driving that very mattress across nine different states and buying a lovely bed to place it in, we discovered that we had a full-sized mattress in a queen-sized bed. And just in case you are wondering--that makes a big difference. Just one of the many mistakes we've made since moving. After many tears, we decided to rent a van and drive the stupid mattress to the nearest IKEA--in Charlotte NC which is 2 hours away.

You know what? We had a great time. We spent a ton of money. We returned the too-small mattress and bought one that fits perfectly. And now the guest room is completely finished and we need to advertise it so we can get some visitors soon.

Ta-Da! We can't wait for you guys to see it in person. :)

North Carolina

Okay you guys, we made it. And there is so much to report, I feel bad it's been so long.

1-Our apartment. Small and cute, second floor, with all windows facing the busy complex swimming pool. This is not my favorite feature. As of this moment, I can hear kids playing some crazy tag game that involves a lot of squealing. But it hasn't been such a big deal. I mean, who really cares if it's noisy during the day? Everyone is really good about leaving when it gets dark except for this one large man who murks in the pool after hours and always creeps us out. But it should cool down soon and be less of an issue. Right...? Right?

2-Christopher's first couple weeks at Duke. Awesome. He's made friends, become a Stats 101 TA, and is even challenged with homework occasionally, which is great. He works really hard at school and then comes home every night to hang pictures.

3-The job hunt. Yikes. The market here isn't great, and there are all kinds of rumors about hiring freezes and high competition for the few jobs that are available. But I'm doing fine-I've applied all over the place and work hard to find a job every day. And I'm taking the time without employment to fix up our apartment and become acquainted with NC. Also to watch America's Next Top Model...don't judge.

Every day gets a little easier. I'm getting used to the lack of Mexican food available both at restaurants and grocery stores. Maybe I can turn my attention to the overabundance of Asian stuff instead. The weather is graciously cooling down a little. We're being nice to people and making friends. But we miss Utah like crazy!

oh my gosh...

According to mapquest, the drive from alpine UT to durham NC should take 32 hours and 17 minutes. With a moving truck stuffed to the brim, it will take hours longer. We've got books on CD, podcasts, music, and I'm in charge of treats, so obviously, they'll be good. Also, Christopher's generous father is coming to Utah to help us get as far as Kansas City. Hallelujah! But what will really get us through is seeing this little baby...

and this not so little baby...

We can't wait!

moving

We have exactly one week before we head out to Durham, North Carolina. In Durham we will become DUKE Blue Devils which will be quite a change from BYU Cougars. Especially since with BYU's honor code and the way they convert every building into a church house each Sunday, they could easily be known as the Blue Angels. Ha ha....

Needless to say, we're busy packing and playing with friends before we leave. I told Christopher last night that we will be eating every dinner at Cafe Rio and getting Red Mango every day before we leave. He didn't take the news well.

The good news about our move is our apartment has 2 bedrooms and we're already working hard to convert the spare into a fabulous guest room. That means everyone who reads this blog needs to plan on visiting if they would like to remain friends. (Or sisters, in most cases).

We even bought a guest mattress at IKEA the other day, since they offered a deal we just couldn't pass up. However, in all the excitement, we forgot that Christopher drives a small Mazda 3. Yikes. But we secured our new purchase with all the free rope IKEA could offer and headed home. The mattress was safely tied on the car, but both ends hung off the roof and we had to hold on to the rope from the inside. We drove about 50 mph on the highway, and EVERY SINGLE CAR laughed and pointed as they drove past. I was positive we were going to a. die b. get arrested c. both. It was the longest drive home I have ever experienced. When we stopped at a red light, a man next to us rolled down his window and laughed hysterically.

When we (finally) made it home, Christopher was laughing too. And he insisted on taking a picture. In the picture, I do not think this is a funny story yet. It's taken awhile.

library

This summer hasn't been all play. A tiniest portion has been dedicated to work. I just finished clearing out our family library, which includes not just books, but movies, journals, audio books, violin music, piano music, strings for instruments, manuals, vases, pictures, a large number of fake plants in baskets, and a collection of magazines dating back to the seventies. Phew! The thing is, I could have finished a long time ago if I didn't have the need to sit down with every book and re-read it. Now that I think about it, I was probably the worst person for the job.




Anyway, my favorite thing about this project was seeing all the books that have been ripped into four or five sections due to hard wear. Beverly Cleary paperbacks just don't stand a chance when four daughters read them over and over through the years. I found six pieces of Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. Pride and Prejudice was missing its cover and back cover, and I found the Babysitters club book that I spilled tomato soup on when I was nine. What's the moral of the story? Maybe invest in hardcovers. I don't know. But I'm glad I come from a family of big readers, even if it meant that I had to search through piles of rubble just to find the missing middle section of Harriet the Spy. I probably should have been cleaning anyway. :)

Christmas in July

When you marry someone like Christopher, you have to accept that for every birthday and Christmas, when you ask him what he wants he'll probably say nothing. And he's SERIOUS. My lists are always endless and detailed so I don't understand this at all. So for Christmas last year, I was so fed up trying to think of a present that he would actually like, I bought him a paragliding flight. He hasn't ever expressed interest in paragliding. We had never even talked about it. But a paragliding trip is what he got. That's what happens when you don't a-s-k.

Luckily, he liked the idea, and insisted that I come along with him. The weather was finally good enough for us to go last night and we had an incredible time. Here's a video that Christopher took of me in flight.



If you are wondering if we felt sick after half an hour of flying like that, the answer is yes. But it was totally worth it. Merry Christmas!

one year!

On July 15 2008, I married Christopher. I feel like we've celebrated for an entire year, but we had the best time on our anniversary.

Chris left for work on Wednesday morning promising that he would be back around 5:00 so we could go out... 10 minutes later he rolled back into the driveway with beautiful lilies and a plan to play in Park City all day on the zipline, alpine slide, and the new alpine coaster. He took me to breakfast at my favorite bakery and then we got nice and sunburned playing in the mountains. During Harry Potter 6 (which I LOVED) we had a picnic lunch, and then found our quaint little bed and breakfast. We strolled main street and shared a caramel apple. Heaven.

The best part of the day was when Christopher completely surprised me with gorgeous diamond earrings. They sparkle like crazy and I can't believe they're mine. I open the box they came in every time I pass by, just to check them out.

I feel so lucky to have this guy for another year!

summer

I thought our Fourth of July festivities would be lonely. And admittedly, I really did miss boating and eating my mom's potato salad. But Christopher and I did pretty well for ourselves. We had pancakes with coconut syrup at our ward breakfast bash and laughed at an old guy wearing a flag imprinted gangster bandanna over his bald head.



Then we hiked to Timpanogas Cave and marveled at the stalactites before heading home to clean up and make it to Ruth's Diner for dinner. You guys. If I ever find out that you went there and didn't order the banana bread pudding for dessert, I'll be speechless. So so good.





After fireworks and listening to our talented friend Suzy Lind sing, we headed home and I fell asleep before we got there. Chris swears I was singing in my sleep to 'Mama Mia' but I'm sure he was imagining things. :) God bless America!

payback...

Here is my extra hot husband who made my morning by shaving off his beard in stages.

I'm nice

So today, just because I'm the best, sweetest, most gorgeous wife on the planet, I got up early and cleaned out Christopher's car for him under the pretext of being on my morning run. What can I say? Sometimes I just can't contain the goodness flowing through me.

changes

Since Latin is long behind me, I decided to change my blog title so that every time I look at it, I'm not reminded of Virgil and Ovid, even if mensa secunda does mean dessert. Christopher and I debated long and hard before I chose the super original title...Melissa and Christopher. I know, I know.

I'm back...

I think Christopher missed me while I was back East...

Because when I got home he took me here to eat the best pizza of my life, and then to Singin' in the Rain at Hale Center. The show was darling, and everyone got really wet.




On Saturday evening we went to the Utah Arts Festival at the SLC library. If any readers are ever in town at the end of June, they should definitely not miss this! We spent hours browsing the booths and talking to artists. We went to the Utah film show and voted for our favorites out of the top six short films of the year.






We went to the micro-writers booth where they provide a prompt and only let you write about it for 60 seconds. Not easy! It was hilarious to read everyone's finished products. Here was our favorite from the prompt "When she sat on the purple velvet couch..."



We left after eating steak tacos while listening to the finalists of the poetry slam. (yikes) and we talked about our favorite artists the whole way home.

It's really good to be back!

summer update

It's been awhile--thanks to my mac crashing and erasing it's hard drive when I had it open on the counter making a new chicken recipe I found online. Don't worry, the chicken pulled through, but my pictures, music, and papers probably won't. The nerve...

But I still wanted to update. On Memorial Day Christopher and I hiked and pickniked on the Pine Hollow trail in American Fork canyon. It was absolutely beautiful and it was great training too, because we're leaving for Havasupai tonight and that hike is going to be a million times harder. I got a pedicure to mentally prepare.

And here are a couple pictures I promised Lacey. We made candle jars for a barbecue we held last week for my cousin Danielle. The bbq probably canceled out any training the hike mentioned above could have done for us because we ate queso dip, chips, and ice-cream cake all night. Below that are some flowers I planted just to see if I could keep something alive. So far so good!

The Town of Hill

A couple months ago Christopher and I went on a little date in downtown Salt Lake City. We went to the Dodo restaurant and got a delicious toasted cream cheese appetizer with fruit and crackers. We shopped around Gateway and he bought me ice-cream on the way home to eat while we watched The Office. 

But before all that we went to Sam Weller's used bookstore and completely fell in love with it. It has a sturdy wooden ladders hooked on the all the tall shelves, and tons of great art on the walls.  Christopher found a couple classic sci-fi novels from the 50's, and worked really hard to find me a perfect source for my research paper on Proust. I spent most of my time in the poetry section, not because I know a lot about poetry, but because the books were so pretty!  I ended up with a slim volume called "The Town of Hill,"  by Donald Hall (former poet laureate.)  The book is beautiful, but as a bonus, the poems are great too, so I thought I would share my personal favorite. Don't worry, it's nice and short.  

Breasts

There is something between us.

:)  I love it.

Graduation!

I know this happened a few weeks ago, but I decided to post some pictures of the big day.  I loved BYU but was definitely ready to go.  My dad came out from Connecticut which was awesome, but stressed me out a little because I was worried that I wouldn't actually get the diploma--I was convinced I was getting a D in Latin, and would have to go spring semester. Miraculously I got a B- which Christopher and I both believe was mathematically impossible. I will never forget this last parting gift.  :)

Christopher and my sisters threw me a surprise party that evening, and my dad bought me cake and a bouquet of pink tulips.  It was the best day.  

DisneyWorld

Christopher and I had an awesome time this past week finding housing in NC and taking a little detour in Orlando to play in DisneyWorld.  Christopher is a perfect traveling companion.  He gamely ordered cran-apple juice and mixed it with my ginger-ale on our flights making the perfect little cocktails.  He gallantly squished the cockroaches waiting for us in our $23 a night hotel room every evening while I sat on the bed cheering, and sometimes crying. He held my hand as we rushed through the parks and insisted on wearing the backpack filled with our supply of cheez-nips and granola bars the entire time.  He was just the best.  

Here are some other trip highlights besides Christopher.

1-Finding a perfect 2-bedroom apartment in Durham that is in our price-range and doesn't appear to have a critter problem. 

2-Choosing to go to DisneyWorld over 2 days that were record-breaking empty. We honestly ran right on almost every ride we wanted to.  We waited in two lines. 

3-Hearing an old man yell at his grown daughter because she was rushing too quickly when Magic Kingdom opened. He shouted that people were cutting him off and looked at us. Guilty.

4-Seeing as many types of mickey hats as there were people in the actual parks. Pirate hats, newly-wed hats, various princess hats, and uncomfortable looking coonskins.

5- Witnessing every child in DisneyWorld completely fall apart around 3 in the afternoon.  We learned that this was the best time to go on rides in Fantasyland, and the worst time to get ice-cream. 

6-Finally, we loved watching the fireworks over the castle from our log boat on Splash Mountain.  The workers let us ride it again and again without getting out. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful vacation and we felt so lucky. 

We're so glad we went, but we're happy to be home!

Hollywood Studios

After we got soaked on our last Splash Mountain ride

By the Castle