A conversation

On g-chat roughly 1 minute ago.

Erica: babysitter is a funny word
Sent at 4:53 PM on Thursday
me: what does sitter even mean
Erica: i was just wondering
me: I also can't stop thinking about how the phrase "were found missing" doesnt make sense
also I think the word "week" looks weird
Erica: also i like the word "bed" because it looks like one


This is what happens when it gets closer to 5 o'clock.

A Week of Fridays

Every night this week has felt like Friday night. I love Fridays so its been awesome! The only downside has been it not being Saturday the morning after and still having to wake up and go to work. On Monday Nate's friend Lee and his wife Becky came into town. Nate and Lee are friends from computer engineering at BYU and Lee is helping Nate work on his big entreprenurial programming project. Those two can talk for HOURS about crazy computer stuff. I get bored with the conversations about C++ and interface modules but we did talk about some cool things like how the Kindle works, why its hard to take pictures in the dark, and how to simulate the flight patterns of lady bugs. On Monday we got dinner with Lee and Becky and then went down to Torrey Pines to check out the red tides. The red tides are a seasonal thing where algae in the water glows in the dark and you can see it when the waves break. We saw the lights in the waves and also noticed the sand lights up when you step on it! So cool! I felt like I was in Avatar. On Tuesday night I got off work, ran to Costco, stopped at home, picked up my friend who is also a young women's leader and made it to the YW activity I was in charge of. Right after the activity I met my friend Molly at Cheesecake Factory. She just graduated and was visiting some family in San Diego before heading off on an exciting trip to India! I had an amazing piece of key lime cheesecake and we had a great time laughing and catching up. After we went back to my apartment and hung out for awhile. You can't beat college friends! Last night after work I rushed home and packed a bag to spend the night at the boat. Nate, his Dad, Lee and Becky sailed the boat over to Mission Bay earlier that day and will be docked there for the next couple days. I parked as close as I could and walked to a spot on the beach to wait for Nate to come pick me up in the dingy. I probably looked really weird standing on the beach, fully clothed with a suitcase.

Me waiting.

Oh hey Nate!

After Nate picked me up we got warm clothes on and went for a cruise on the dingy around the bay (just the two of us!) to look at all the boats and the bridges and such. We saw the sunset and it was romantic and fun :) Then we went back and drank hot chocolate and sat around the boat talking to everyone. It was a great night! Like I said, the only problem was waking up early this morning and having Nate drop me back off at that beach so I could hike to my car, go home, get ready for work and make it on time. Right now everyone is still chilling on the boat. And I'm sitting at my desk. I wish I was there!

Its been a fun week! And best part is I still have the real weekend to look forward too!

Project File Cabinet

Over the past few months "file cabinet" has been at the top of our list of home improvement projects to tackle. When we first got married we put all of the important documents and papers about our life into an "important papers binder". That binder turned into a binder and box of important papers, and more recently a binder, box, and drawer of important papers. Needless to say it was getting out of control. So I began browsing around Craig's list for file cabinets. The most inexpensive filing cabinet from Ikea is $99 - yet in an anti-Ikea spirit I decided to try and find something more attractive. Who says they have to be made of ugly, gray metal and pinch your fingers? I found this wood filling cabinet on Craig's list for $30. It belonged to a nice old man who recently passed away. He collected all kinds of antique things and is donating his house to the city. But they were trying to sell some of his things and after 2 unsuccessful trips of trying to pick the cabinet up we bought it for $30! I thought it had great potential.

Ugly wood and ugly handles - but great structure!

Nate's Dad has an awesome wood shop. Wood working is his hobby so we had access all kinds of tools and expert help for every step of the process! The wood was pretty old and dirty so it took a lot of sanding to get it smooth. Luckily Nate's Dad had an electric sander...



I didn't take pictures of every step of the process but we spent a whole afternoon working on it. It took sanding, one coat of shellac, 2 coats of paint, cleaning the old hinges of the drawers, and lots of other work. It was so fun!

Laying on the first coat was so fulfilling. We bought Martha Stewart paint in the color "egg shell". These pictures don't really capture the color because some of them were taken on Nate's phone but it turned out a nice Robin's egg blue.

We also knocked off those ugly handles and got some pretty ones from Anthropologie with mother of pearl embellishment.

The finished product! I'm happy with how it turned out. It will take the place of Nate's bedside table in our apartment. We also got a piece of glass and put it on top to keep it nice. All and all I think we spent under $100. And got a much cooler result than an Ikea filing cabinet. Now I have to do the not so fun part and fill it up with all our "important papers". Up next is project Armoire...

Some things we've been up to...

Working on fun projects for our apartment...

More posts to come on these two projects!

Learning to garden...

Picking oranges from Nate's parents trees...

Trying new Indian recipes...

Hanging out with the youth in our ward...

Going to the Gladys Knight "Saints United Voices" concert. She was absolutely amazing and really brought soul to our church's music. I loved it!!

Getting bread and sandwiches at our favorite rustic bakery...

Can't beat their Turkey Cobb sandwich...

Eating the sandwiches at the marina...

I love this city!

Trying to take the dingy out for a cruise around the bay and having the steering not work...

(These birds crack me up -I think they really funny for some reason. I can't explain it. Nathan thinks I'm weird...)

But we made friends with a seal when we were trying to fix the boat so it was worth it!

The End. For now!

A favorite quote

"Women of god can never be like women of the world.
The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender.
There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind.
There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined.
We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith.
We have enough greed; we need more of goodness.
We have enough vanity; we need more of virtue.
We have enough popularity; we need more purity."

Margaret D Naudauld, 2000
Young Women General President

I love this quote! That is all I wanted to say.

Uncertain.

For the first 18 years of your life everything is planned for you. When you are in 3rd grade, you know next year you will be in 4th grade - and so forth all the way up to 12th grade. Then you graduate from high school and everyone takes their own path. But for the most part these different paths are still composed of basically predictable parts. I went to college where I knew after freshman year came sophomore year and so forth. I even followed a planned "course map" mandated by the food science department. Now that phase of my life is over and I'm married, working, and living on a foreign coast - and everything seems a bit more uncertain. Not uncertain on a day to day basis as most of my weeks are the same, but uncertain in the long 5-10 year run. Part of me thinks this uncertainty is exciting. Nathan and I can make whatever we want out of our lives. We can go anywhere, do anything, and decided for ourselves. A lot of times I sit and think about all the possibilites and adventures we have in store. Its just a matter of realizing what goals are most important and going for them. But another part of me feels really anxious about all this uncertainty. It seems like we have a lot of big decesions to make in the next year or so in regard to careers, where to live, family, and so forth. I feel blessed that we don't have to make all these decesions on our own though. Thanks to prayer that is. It is crazy to think that unlike the last 10 years of my life, I have no idea where I'll be in the next 5 even 2 years! But how awesome is it I get to decide? Because there is no 23th grade.

I Love Weekends...

Nathan and I had a lovely weekend this past week! We have both been busy busy (nate working 70+ hours a week, my 9-5 job, nate going to a beach campout with the YM, both of us going on buisness trips, working at the temple, family get togethers, friends, me finishing an online class, YW/YM activites during the week, planning lessons, going to the gym, trying not to let our apartment become a disaster, and more!) so it was a nice break to just spend time together just the two of us. I thought I would have endless time to do whatever I wanted after I graduated from college - but boy was I wrong! I think every phase of life is busy for everyone. Because who am kidding? I'm sure life now is nothing compared to when we have 3 little kids running around. But I think having things to do, places to be, and people to love and spend time with is what makes life full and wonderful.

On Friday after work, Nate met me down at the beach in La Jolla by my work. We bought wet suits last week and Nate wants to teach me how to surf! I am excited about it but have never experienced anything like the waves on Friday. They were HUGE. I grew up going to the beach in North Carolina every summer with my cousins - and the Atlantic Ocean does NOT have waves as big as those in the Pacific Ocean. Nate thought it would be good to swim in the waves without surf boards first so I could get used it. When we got to the beach and into our wet suits Nate zen-fully sat me down on the beach and explained that I need to first "understand the ocean" and "learn to feel the rhythm of the ocean as the sets come in". I don't think he realized quite how organic he sounded - but it was a good pep talk. Then we went swimming and boggie boarding for few hours. It was great! I was still slightly terrified but that wore off the longer we swam. That night we went and got Italian food at Tommy's and there was a live jazz band! It was a surprise to us but I guess every Friday night they have the same band come. I loved it!

One Friday night/Saturday morning my sister-in law Angela had a baby girl! Her name is Alice Marie Collins and we are still waiting for pictures of the newest member of the Collins family! On Saturday night Nate and I also went to his neighbor and friend from high school's engagment party. It was fun to meet a bunch of Nate's old friends and get a glimpse into his "high school" self. Little known fact about Nate is his high school superlative was "best personality" (and he also got nominated for "biggest heart" but choose the personality one because he was embarassed) and I have to agree!

There was a party shuttle taking people up to the party!

Why didn't I think of that?


On Sunday we made dinner for Nate's Dad and Grandma. Nate's Dad is living bachelor style while Helen is visiting the Grandkids in Virginia and waiting to visit her newest granddaughter!So he was happy to have company! We made pot roast, salad, and really good brownies! Yum!

I just love weekends! I think thats all there is to it :)