Still Learning

We've been married almost 11 months...an eternity I know. :) Yesterday I was overly stressed and overly emotional. We came home and my depressed mood was obviously noticeable to Jake. He asked me what was wrong and tried to cheer me up, but despite his loving actions I was still feeling low.

As I sat in our arm chair, cuddled into a ball, I was thinking about marriage. It's not always fun. It's not always full of lovey-dovey feelings and flowers. It's so much more. It's about supporting each other even when you don't know how to help. It's spending a few extra minutes in bed, even though your hair won't look as nice if you do, because your husband like to cuddle. It's being OK with eating egg rolls and popcorn for dinner, because your wife really doesn't want to cook.

I'm so grateful for our marriage. I'm so grateful for a husband who sings in the shower, who puts ear plugs in my ears every night, who holds me when I'm scared, who tries so hard to be good, who tells me he loves me multiple times a day, who is always the optimist, who helps me overcome my challenges and who, in the words of Sister Hinckley, gives me wings to fly.

The Modern Housewife

Sometimes I think I would like to be a '50's housewife. I find the idea charming. Fiesta ware, little checkered aprons, hair curlers, waffles in the morning, kissing my husband good-bye when he goes off to work, vacuuming the house and watering my plants while listening to Dean Martin. How quaint... lovely.
Last night when I was doing the dishes I realized how grateful I was for a 1950's hero, Josephine Cochran.

Don't recognize the name? Well I'm sure you appreciate what she contributed to the kitchen. The dishwasher.

The dishwasher ranks on my top 5 list of best inventions ever. It's right up their with indoor plumbing, soap and centralized heating. The dishwasher is amazing because you can fill it full of dishes and run it, or just put a Wok, a frying pan, a mixing bowl and a plate in, (as I did last night) let it do it's thing and go cuddle with the husband.

So last night and every night from now on, I plan on paying homage to Josephine Cochran. I invite you to join me.

:)

The Next Best Thing

Last night I was spending quality time on the phone with computer tech guys trying to diagnose our laptop's current aliments. I was transferred to different departments a least 5 times, so I made a lot of new friends. I met Nahj from India, Won from China and Jabar from Pakistan. I was finally transferred to the right department and from the other end I heard "Welcome to Lenovo computer support center, this is Brad Pittman how may I help you?"

Brad Pittman

Very similar to Brad Pitt don't you think?



So while I never actually meet Brad Pitt, I can say I met the next best thing. Brad Pittman, who helped me solve our laptops aliments.

Brad Pitt might not have been able to do that.

Christelijke Kerk van Laatstgenoemde Dag Heiligen

We have a tradition in my family. We go on missions. My Dad, Japan. My Mom, Brazil. Me, Germany. John, South Africa. And the most recent addition to the list - Jane who will be serving in the Belgium/Brussels/Netherlands mission. YAY!!!

(In 18 months she'll be in this picture:))

She reports February 10, 2010. I couldn't be more proud of her. Her decision to go was a challenge for her. We talked frequently and I was always amazed at her confidence in Heavenly Father. She never doubted that she was supposed to go on a mission, although at times she was overwhelmed with the idea. Jane has a unconquerable spirit. During her struggles, she said to me, "If I didn't go on a mission, I would feel so terrible for all of the people I could have told about the gospel." She will be a great missionary because she cares about others and their happiness.


I will miss her because she is my sister. But she'll come back an even more amazing women.

Alma 17:11 And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.

True Story

So the other day I was in Walmart looking at their movie selection, when all of the sudden I hear, "Bella, Jacob..."

Immediately I think, "Edward???"


I turn around and an older man is calling for his two little kids, Bella and Jacob (whilst in Walmart's movie section, ironic?, I think so). I thought it was so funny. I started laughing to myself.

I think it is incredibly sad that those books/movies will forever change the way I think about the names Bella, Jacob and Edward. (Especially in succession like so. I mean, I give the man credit, his kids are over the age of five, so his wife couldn't have gotten the names from Twilight. Well, hopefully not)

And that's a true story.

G-Day

I graduate from college in just over a month. On month and then my almost 18 years of formal educational experience comes to a screeching halt. I don't know how to feel about this. Should I feel a delirious cocktail of imagination, confidence and new freedom raging through my veins? Should I feel nervous, anxious, apprehensive? For the past few days I've thought maybe the freedom will be great, no homework, no staying in the library till and unhealthy hour, and then came the Ally McBeal moment; my theme song comes to a screeching halt in the middle. What NOW?

How can I go on from here if I don't know the answer to ANYTHING?

Have I even figured out WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE?

Then I thought to myself: "Give yourself a break; turn your theme song back on."

And then the thought came to me, "Newsflash: There is no such thing as graduation, only a series of small graduations, continually."

Hopefully, there will never be a time when I wake up and say: Now, I'm finished. Now, I'm ME.

I've realized we are always graduating from something, and moving on to something else.

So carpe diem to the future.

:)

We iz da Millers in the hood

We've goddit all. Our bling, our tattoos, our walk. Don't mess wiff us. We may be whitey, but we've got uh different side too. You bettah believe it.

Got sumfin ta say ta us?

Just cuz We be gansta don' mean we's don' like no doughnuts.



This doughnut's wack.
Word to ya motha. Peace out yo.

Remember, Remember the 5th of November

As yesterday was the 5th of November we attended the annual V for Vendetta party. (Don't worry mom, it was the clean flicks version.) Rarely does a movie produce a character that motivates us with a desire to stand for something. The title character, known only as "V," is a masked avenger of sorts, wearing an all-obscuring mask of a smiling Guy Fawkes, the would-be seventeenth-century revolutionary who attempted to blown up the houses of the British Parliament with gunpowder. V's crusade is against the British Parliament for a series of terrorist-like attacks that the government had committed against their own people.

V exemplifies commitment to the greater good. His ideals and commitment center around to freedom from fear. He inspires, teaches, and loves those who are trapped by bonds that others have subjected them to.

I loved this movie. V's character touches your conscious and motivates you to stand for something. Regardless of how seriously some may take the messages in V for Vendetta, the film can be taken in many ways - as allegory, as a thriller, as a fantasy, as an action flick. Or maybe it's all four. It succeeds, to one degree or another, in every way. Whichever way you see it, you can't lose.

"Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof."