STELLA

Meet Stella! She is our grumpy, neighborhood watchdog.

Here are the facts about Stella:

1. We rent out apartment from an awesome family named the Richardsons.

2. We live on top of their detached garage.

3. Stella is the Richarsons chiwawa.

3. I love Stella.

4. Stella hates me.

Every time I come home and Stella is outside she growls at me and barks like crazy. She does this to everyone (or so I tell myself). As soon as you walk towards her she barks really loud, puts her ears down, and backs away. I just love her and wish she wouldn't be so scared of me. One time she let Nate hold her. I was jealous.





Also - this is our cute yard! It has been SO nice outside these past few days. 75 and sunny. To celebrate spring are going to have a barbecue and get fresh fruit from the farmer's market this weekend. Can't wait!

Birthday Fun!

Yesterday was my 22nd birthday! Nathan had planned on taking me on a picnic at the beach on Saturday to celebrate - but due to the rain (another rainy weekend!) he changed the plans took me to my favorite breakfast place, "The Original Pancake House" in Rancho Santa Fe. I ordered chocolate chip pancakes (and felt like a 5 year old) and Nathan got the famous "Flap Jacks"! Both were delicious. I think going out to breakfast is the best! I would rather go out to breakfast than lunch or dinner any day of the week.


After breakfast we drove around the fancy, Rancho Santa Fe part of San Diego. It is GORGEOUS! After the drive Nathan took me to the mall so I could pick out a new outfit!I got a few cute things and Nathan was nice enough to watch me try stuff on and dig for things to say about each item of clothing (even though I know he really doesn't care). He has certain colors that he associates with people or things I already have in my wardrobe. For example, whenever he sees anything coral pink he tells me I already have that shirt. Even though it is nothing remotely close to anything I own. Every time he sees anything the color dark purple he says "Kasee has that shirt". And anything with blue and white stripes is something Jessica owns, etc. It's very endearing. After the mall we came back and I had a surprise package from my Mom on my doorstep! She sent me a cute dress and shirt.


That night Nathan's parents took us out to my favorite Hawaiian fusion restaurant called Roy's in La Jolla. It was delicious as always! After dinner we went back to his parents house and had cake and hung out for awhile.

Nathan, me and my new dress!

Cake :)

Great in-laws!

On my REAL birthday I wasn't expecting much because we had already celebrated over the weekend. But Nathan sent gorgeous flowers to my office at work! I wish I had a picture because they are so beautiful! Last night we also went to see the movie -"The Young Victoria" which I loved and got dessert at Extraordinary Desserts in downtown San Diego.

Extraordinary? I think so..

I got delicious white chocolate mousse cake with vanilla bean soaked pound cake and raspberries.

It was a great birthday! I told Nate that I am actually excited to be 22 because it makes me just one year closer to a socially acceptable age for being married. Just kidding! Kind of...

Trendy Pineapples and Kasee Visits!

This past weekend my good friend Kasee and her husband Jason came and visited us! They are currently taking a semester off at BYU to do internships in LA. So lucky for me that means Kasee is only an hour and a half away for a few months! They got in around 8:30pm on Friday and that night Nate took us on a driving tour of the beach cities (PB, Misson Bay, etc.). We also stopped and looked at the seals sleeping on the beach in La Jolla. Most of all it was fun to talk and catch up with old friends and see how they are doing! Kasee and I could literally talk all day about life matters (and kitchen things of course), its great! Then we came back and watched a movie and ate homemade salsa and muddy buddies. She also brought me a cute housing warming gift AND birthday gift! The house warming gift included a pineapple (trendy?), warm homemade banana bread, and a special sparkling pomegranate drink. Yay! The birthday gift was also from Miss Jessica Veater and included fun kitchen tools from Williams Sonoma like spice cups, a jalapeno corer, and VANILLA BEAN PASTE! Thank you SO much Kasee and Jess!

The next morning we all slept in a little and woke up to rain. We had planned on going to the temple in the morning, but the rain foiled our plans of going sailing and to the zoo later that afternoon. Guess Kasee and Jason will just have to come visit us again now! The temple was great! It is so fun to be able to go there with friends.

Yay friends!

Us wishing we had a pineapple at the moment.

(Sorry I keep repeating the same inside joke)

He likes me.

(And also I know it doesnt look like its raining but it was really heavy on and off...)

Afterwards we got lunch, went to Coranado, and can back and hung out at our apartment. Thanks for making the trip down to see us Kasee and Jason! Can't wait to do it again soon :)

Reasons Why I Feel Like an Old Person...

Lately I have been having a lot of "when did I get so old?" moments. For example:

1. I sit in traffic for 2 hours a day.

2. While sitting in that traffic, I listen to talk radio - thats right - boring conservative talk radio.

3. As a result of my talk radio exposure I come home and vent to Nathan about things like the federal reserve and graduated income tax.

4. I wear "work" clothes everyday for my 9-5 job. No more jeans for me.

5. Girls at church who are 3 years younger than me call me "Sister Collins".

6. I am now older than the average missionary.

7. I have to worry about things like health insurance and filing for tax returns.

8. I asked Nate for a new set of silverware for my birthday. And I'm excited about it?
(Who else used to think Moms were weird for wanting things like that?)

9. I get tired if I stay up past 10:30pm.

When did all this happen? I keep having to remind myself that I am only 21 years old. I have noticed that Nathan and I do subtely irresponsible things like stay up till midnight watching the Olympics or buy and eat an entire pound of See's Candies in one weekend to relish in the fact that we are so young and cool. But when I really think about it we have definately moved out of the college kid era into the world of real of adults. Aside from the limited number of vacation days, the adult world definitely has upsides - like not having to worry about homework and actually having a savings account. And next week I will be 22! So I guess I am going to start embracing the adult world!

As long as I get my silverware...

"The Seven"

Lately I have been missing my lovely best friends from college. We all met freshman year in Taylor Hall at Helaman Halls. We became really good friends winter of freshman year and have been best friends ever since. Its fun to think back on all we've been through together - parties, late nights at the Harold B. Lee, sonic runs, boy drama, freshman wards, sophomore apartments, weekly dinners, girls trips, and missions/marriages of course. As time has gone on we have all been pulled apart to various places in life.

(From left to right)
Susan (Dusan):Lives in Hawaii with her husband and an adorable 6 month old baby girl.
Me: Working in San Diego with my handsome husband.
Molly: Currently in Provo but graduating and going to India this summer and then moving to D.C.!
Kasee: On an internship with her hubby in L.A. - why have we not hung yet?!
Ellen: On a mission - Spanish speaking D.C. South (the mission I grew up in!) she just sent me a letter with some pressed fall leaves and I just about died.
Jessica : Happy newlywed finishing up school in Provo :)
Caroline: On a mission in Utica, NY

I feel so lucky and blessed to have made such great friends at college! Its fun because I know we will all stay in contact and be friends for years to come. We are all so different, but thats what makes it fun!

Love and miss you girls!!

Dear Life,

Dear Job,
Would you consider moving 30 minutes closer to La Mesa?

Dear ModCloth.com
Why do you have such cute clothes?

Dear Nathan,
I love you.

Dear Weather,
How bout a Southern California snow day?

Dear Whole Foods,
Please stock your shelves with Vanilla Bean Paste.

Dear Friends and Family,
Please move to San Diego.

Dear Sebastein,
You are such a good little car. Thank you for never breaking down.

Dear Future Children,
Please be happy and good at church.

Dear Modern Appliances (washer, dryer, dishwasher),
I miss you and all the time you used to save me.

Dear Party Chip Icing/Fun-Fetti Cake,
I crave you.

Dear Michael Jackson,
I wish I could have seen "This Is It" Live.

Dear Bachelor,
You make my Mondays better. And yes I watch the whole 2 hours.

Dear Ocean,
I want to learn to surf you.

Dear Pioneer Woman,
You have the BEST recipes.

Dear Life,
You are awesome.

Life Updates

This is my attempt at blogging about everyday life. I unfortunately have the bad habit of only writing about things when 1) I'm upset or 2)A big event occurs in my life. Since I wouldn't write about when I'm upset on this blog - I only have entries about big events. But not even really - my entries are usually just really long photo montages about a series of important events I failed to blog about previously. If you think that's bad you should take a look at my journal. I have kept a journal since I was 6 years old and besides birthdays and holidays - 90% of the entries are about something I'm upset/angry/worried about. Writing has always been a good outlet for me. The downside of that is that my posterity will think I was a complete nut case. The other day Nathan (who has also kept a journal his whole life) and I thought it would be cool to gather up our journals and see if we had past entries on the same days. That way we could see what we were doing at the exact same moment years ago! All of his entries were deep, spiritual, and profound. Like seriously, he was one deep kid. While mine were all about a girl I was upset at or the drama with the boy I liked and so forth. I even didn't let Nathan read some of my entries because they were so embarrassing. So needless to say I will keep those heated (yet hilarious) journals tucked away. Probably forever.

But anyways it has been incredibly stormy here in San Diego the past week or so. Its funny how flustered a city can get about a few inches of rain. It did rain really hard at times and there was even some hail - but comon' San Diego - its just RAIN. Not snow, sleet, or ice. My commutes home from work have been awful because nobody knows how to drive when its not sunny and 70 degrees outside. I have been loving my new job at NatureGen though! I like what I do a lot and I love the people I work with. It is more of a business job that is related to food science/nutrition than actual product development or anything. I really love it though and think its an exciting company to be part of. Nathan continues to work really hard at his job. I admire his work ethic so much and am grateful he works hard to ensure the future of our family. Its a tough world out there! Other than work our lives are consumed with activities at our church. I am the 1st counselor in the Young Women's (girls age 12-18) and Nathan is the Young Men's advisor (boys ages 12-18). On Tuesday night I have YW activites, on Wednesday night Nathan has YM activites, and on Thursday we are ordinance workers at the San Diego, CA LDS temple. We love serving at the temple and think it is a valuable experience to have before we have kids and can't work there anymore. I also love the young women in our ward. Last Sunday one of our girls got baptized! It was a very special night and she is a wonderful girl. I got her a journal for her baptism. I think she will write about more important things than I did :)! When we are not at church activities Nathan and I are so content to just hang out and chill. Our Friday nights are sacred and we love that night for just the two of us. I would much rather be busy than bored any day so life is good!