Deck the Halls

It was Saturday and,

My house still needed picking up. 

The laundry was slowly but surely getting done.

Groceries still needed to be put away. 

I'd yet to shower, and it was after four. 

John was studying. 

And all I wanted to do was make this, so I did:

Homemade Christmas decorations?

Why not, after all, I am my mothers daughter, 

and I'm trying.

I can't believe it's almost Christmas.

Which means, it's that time of year again.

Thanks to my ever so talented sister, 

here is another Candrian family year in review, 

video style...naturally.

Enjoy!

Expensive mistakes

Maybe this will expose my personal hygiene, my personal embarrassments, my personal blond moments, my personal self...or lack thereof at times, but can't we all learn from others mistakes, or our own for that matter? So, consider this,  lessons learned.

Never wear the same thing to work two days in a row (sick right?), even if you work at two different locations, no matter how big of a hurry you're in. Even if the quickest outfit you have to throw on is yesterdays. Even if you rarely work at both locations on a single given day. Because really, you just never know if you'll get called to come over to the place you were working at the day before. And believe you me, It's quite embarrassing when you stumble into the office wearing the exact same thing you were wearing when you walked out of the office the night before, hairstyle and earrings included...
Perhaps it's wise to act cold and just leave your coat on the entire time. Perhaps!

When you move to a new state, establish residency fast, especially if you just left a state that makes you pay county fee's for your possessions. You just never know what county bills you'll get charged for from your old place of residency. Oh, and when you call to find out how to get out of said bills, make sure you repeat, 20 times if necessary, what you were told on the phone. Apparently repeating only a few times still leaves room for error.
Leave the past in the past. How silly of me to want to hold onto my Virginia license plates as long as possible...or at least until the end of the year, when my registration ran out, and it would be time to renew anyway. Silly. Expensive. Idiot!

When your husband, or anyone for that matter, asks you where your car registration is, never say, "I don't know?" Just fake it until it's found.

Why do I always seem to learn the lessons the hard/expensive way?

One year ago...

Exactly one year ago today, I sat at work longing for the day to finally be over. I couldn't concentrate. I was anxious. Extremely nervous. But oh, was I excited, because today was the day that a certain Mister was flying out to send the weekend with me. We'd been on exactly one date. Spent maybe a few hours in each others presence. But boy, did we have the phone calls down.

Exactly one year ago we started dating. 

And exactly one year later, we've been married for almost five months. 

Seriously? 

It amazes me what 365 short days can do to ones life. 

In fact, it's kind of scary what can happen in one years time.

But I wouldn't change any of it.

TGIF!

Oh, and boards are over. 

Thanks for all of your prayers and good luck wishes, I know he appreciated it.

Getting my craft on

Anyone who knows my mom, can't deny the fact that she's one of the most talented and creative people there is. When it comes to her talented juices of creativity, she's pretty much amazing at everything she does. I may have inherited most of my looks from my mom, along with a few other things that I need not mention, but her creativity, and talent with the arts, well, that one somehow took a backseat in my creation. I try. But I will never reach the level of excellency like her. I've come to terms with this long ago. Yet, despite that understanding, I still take a stab at it, all the while, probably making 10+ phone calls to home, asking her what to do next.

Recently I've been trying to shift my backseat creativity into the front seat, while limiting the phone calls home. I've found that sticking with the basics generally works best.

My sisters and I may have gotten crafty over the Thanksgiving break, and put together a little front door decor:

 

And being the nice aunt that I try to be, I thought I'd crochet my little nephew a new beanie for his first birthday. Don't let that face fool you, he loves it! Or so I tell myself to make my efforts feel appreciated:

Really, I just wanted an excuse to post this picture. I laugh every time I see that face.

I hope to one day make it to my mom's level. But with her quiet book, stained glass windows, homemade Christmas stockings for all of her future grandchildren (I guess she thinks she'll be getting more), sock puppets to entertain her primary class, pop-up cards, homemade journals, and quilts for grandson 1 and 2,  not to mention her craftiness with my wedding preparations, and turning old things into new treasures--and that's just all in the past year or so--it may take me a lifetime and beyond to get there. She should win an award. Like most talented and amazing mom ever!

Bored with Boards

Tomorrow is a much anticipated day. John will finally be taking a test he's been studying for since our honeymoon! Yes, that would be since July. And yes, that would be nearly five months ago. In his defense, I told him I was ok with him studying while we lounged on the beach, why not make good use of time, right?

 

I can't imagine spending months and months studying for a test. I highly doubt I ever managed past a few days of studying for any test I've ever taken. Probably one of the reasons school and I were never great friends. But hey, I still graduated with a B.S. and a fairly decent GPA at that. Go figure. But that's beside the point. The point is, in 24 hours, the boards will be behind us, or him, for at least two more years. What's the big deal, it's just a test? Maybe so, but a test to tell him if he's got what it takes to continue on with dental school, and dentistry nonetheless. I know he'll do great. He gets A's in most of his classes. He's on the Deans Honor Roll List. And he's been waking up around 5:30am almost every day since we've been married to study for this oh-so-fun test. So, needless to say, I know he'll rock it. But hey, if you happen to be thinking of him around 8am tomorrow morning and wanted to include him in your prayers, I kind of think he'd appreciate it. I know I would.

I can't wait for him to be done with this test. I will no longer have to be a mute in my own home. Although, finals are in two weeks, so maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up just yet...

Good luck babe, you're going to do awesome!

A heart full of thanks

What better way to spend Thanksgiving than with family? So, with family it was. John and I decided that since we're now pros of cross country driving, (not as cool as cross country running I know, but both take skill) and my sister is only a twelve hour car ride away (as if that's so close), why not head to Tennessee for turkey day? I'm not really a huge fan of long drives anymore, since I feel like I've had an overdose of them this year. But since it meant getting to hang out with my sisters, and cute little nephew, I was all for it! Thankfully the drive to and from flew by, all except the last two hours...both ways. Isn't that how it always goes? So anxious to get there, yet it feels like the last little bit JUST.WON'T.END. Regardless, I couldn't have asked for a better or more needed vacation, than our little trek to Tennessee. It makes me laugh when I think about how crazy it is that not only do I live in Oklahoma, a place I NEVER imagined I would live, but that I also have a sister who lives in Tennessee, and I can assure you, she probably never imagined she'd live there, either. I love that about life, that changes and opportunities you never expect come your way, and generally speaking leave lasting impressions on you. It's what makes life exciting.

I have to admit, I'm slightly jealous my sister lives in Tennessee, it was absolutely beautiful there. Who knew? Thanks, sister, for letting John and I come crash at your house for a few days. I was in need of my family. That was made apparent as we drove away and I started bawling in the car. John was trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with me, and besides being a girl, whose hormones sometimes are out of whack, I was so sad to be coming back "home" and leaving my sisters and nephew behind, that all I could do was let the tears go at it. I've been spoiled in my life, and no not just because I'm the youngest. But because in the last few years, I've always had family around. I miss dearly being roommates with my sister, and getting to hang out with her everyday. She became one of my best friends. I miss when my brother and sister in-law lived close by, and my brother and I would hang out on Friday nights together and go eat delicious food. And I equally miss having my sister an hour and a half drive away, and being able to go visit her on any given weekend. There's something special about having family, especially your siblings close by, and sadly, I don't think that will ever happen again. I'm convinced that that's why I was supposed to go to Washington, DC in the first place. Aside from all of the opportunities that awaited me there, I know it was so I could be close to my siblings. So, that's exactly what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving season, for family. For amazing sisters. For a humorous brother. For my adorable nephews. My loving and incredible, like seriously incredible parents. My great in-laws. And of course, my darling husband who is far too good to me, and who I often times feel entirely undeserving of. There's nothing better in life than having an amazing family who loves me, is supportive of me, and always there for me, no matter what.

I couldn't help but think back to this occasion,

and reflect on all of the people who were there to support John and I those five short months ago. Blood relation or not, this lovely bunch is all family in my eyes!

Things I learned this weekend:

• Date night in Oklahoma's Asian District was an awesome idea. Not only did we land ourselves a great dinner, we discovered an entire Asian market, full of anything and everything imaginable. Pig snouts, chicken feet, beef tongue, live crab and lobsters were just a few of our discoveries. 

• My husband really is learning something in school, or at least how to make personalized molds:

 

Was I little nervous when he had to use some serious force to pull the molding out of my mouth?  Well, you would be too if you had a fake front tooth, that if pulled out, would have been completely noticeable. Good thing the tooth remained intact, I wasn't about to go through that again.

• Seeing an adult get baptized and join the church is a really cool experience. I can't imagine how much faith that would take to give up a lifestyle you've become so accustomed to, but I commend him for his decision, and know it's one that will change his life for the better. We felt really blessed that we've been able to be with him throughout his conversion. 

• John and I are really cultured. At least after this weekend that's how we feel. The guy who got baptized  took us and the missionaries out for some seriously awesome authentic taco's. Beef tongue and other innards may have been the meat of the taco's, sounds nasty, but boy were they delicious. 

• I really love cooking and making desserts. This weekends desert consisted of this delicious peanut butter goodness. For some reason these remind me of my childhood. Although, I'm pretty sure my mom never made these for me as a kid.

• A few weeks ago, a certain someone, unbeknown to him, completely drenched my phone, while doing the dishes. Bless his heart, I couldn't be mad, when he was doing me a favor, but I thought all was lost when my phone slowly, but surely was giving up on me. So, I placed my phone in a baggie with a silica gel packet over night, and it was good as new the next day. Well, this past weekend, while cleaning the toilet, my phone took another plunge to it's death. I tried to revive the thing, like I had done a few weeks prior, but much to my dismay, it was still half dead. The touch screen was just a little too touchy for my liking. Thank goodness I'm not the only one who bathes their phones.  It's always comforting knowing others have made the same mistake. How embarrassing would it be to type into google, 'how to save my wet cell phone?' and nothing pops up? As though you're the only one whose done such a thing. Thankfully, others know how to reverse the problem. Sticking your phone in a bag of rice really does work. My phone is good as new, and clean too! Awesome.