Wednesday, April 30, 2008

I still love radio

Today when I was going home for lunch, the song "Shimmer" by Fuel came on the radio. I've had that CD for about seven years, and when I got my iPod I transferred that song to it. So I hear the song every few weeks or so. But I got so excited when it came on. There's something more fun when you just happen to hear one of your favorite songs instead of knowing that you caused it to happen. I'm the same way with movies. When I was younger, we owned Sound of Music. But whenever it came on TV, I would get so happy, even though I could watch it any time I wanted.

I know that entertainment is moving towards total customization, so you can always watch or listen to whatever you want whenever you want. And often that's a really good thing. But I don't want to lose the joy of turning on the radio and just happening to hear a favorite song.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Things I've Thought about Blogging in the Past Two Weeks...

but obviously haven't

1. Finding a house to rent in Urbana, IL. It's a 3 bedroom/1 bath, and we've already signed the lease. I'm so excited! I don't know what I'm going to do with all that space!

2. The return of new T.V. shows - I was missing The Office so badly! There came a point when even I was tired of watching seasons 1-3 on DVD. The new episodes have been really good so far. I can't believe Jim already has a ring for Pam!

3. The Texas Library Association Conference in Dallas - That's right - I am officially a nerd. The ACU library paid for any students/staff who are interested in going to library school to attend. I heard some interesting presentations, got to stay in a super-nice hotel (The Magnolia), and got free books. All in all, it was pretty good for my first professional conference.

4. A fun weekend in Dallas after the conference. Darby was visiting a friend in Austin, so I spent time playing games, watching T.V., discussing controversial subjects, shopping, and eating yummy food with the always-generous hosts, Kalyn and B.J. Gensic. Then, I drove over to Garland to visit with Grandma and Aunt Katina, eat even more food, see Uncle Al, Aunt Lea, and Amy, and watch Enchanted (which I wouldn't recommend). It was great to see friends and family, but I sure missed Darby!

5. The series finale of Oprah's Big Give. I loved that show! Although it does seem kind of strange to be competing against each other to see who can help people more. Especially at the end, the contestants were fighting with each other more than they were actually helping. But they still did some awesome stuff, and my favorite guy won.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

9 Months

On Monday, Darby and I celebrated our 9-monthiversary. I don't know why, but 9 months seems like a much bigger milestone than 8 months. Maybe it's because that's the length of time you're pregnant? I guess we could have called it, "Let's celebrate the fact that we didn't get pregnant on our honeymoon" day, but that's a little wordy. Anyway, I know we're still new to this whole marriage thing, but here are 9 lessons I've learned about marriage in the first 9 months:

1. Traditions matter. Darby and I have lots of little traditions. Every Sunday we go to AM Donuts before church. Every Monday, we watch Headlines on Jay Leno. Every day at lunch, we watch an episode of The Office or Friends. We just recently started walking to Peet's every Saturday morning to get 99 cent lattes. None of those things are a very big deal, but it gives us something to look forward to during the daily grind. I think people sometimes think that they'll start traditions once they start a family, but it's important to realize that just the two of you are a family, also.
2. When you have someone else sharing your bed, it's guaranteed to feel at least twenty degrees hotter at night.
3. Believe people when they say you have to plan dates when you're married. I always thought, "That's silly. We'll be spending so much time together after we're married." Imagine my surprise when I realized that every married person in the world actually knew what they were talking about! Darby and I spend more time together than most married couples, but it's easy to not really do anything. When we were dating, we'd go to the park, go to Starbucks, rent movies, go out to dinner. Now, we do a lot of sitting around the apartment. Our relationship is so much better when we actually go out, even if it's something cheap or free.
4. If you can, do the grocery shopping together. I enjoy shopping so much more when Darby's with me. Plus, he can help me carry everything into the house. Same thing goes for laundry. We both HATE doing laundry (especially since the dryers in the laundry room don't dry), but doing it together makes it slightly more bearable.
5. In general, save as much as you can, but splurge on vacations. This goes for single people, too, of course. On the two vacations we've taken (our honeymoon to Niagara Falls and Santa Fe), Darby and I have eaten at nice restaurants and gotten dessert and coffee, which we wouldn't normally do. It makes the vacation so much more fun, and I'd much rather spend money on a trip than just on a daily Starbucks or something.
6. Hang out with your girl/guy friends. I'm in a Book Club, Supper Club, and a Bunco group, all of which meet once a month. It's so fun to have "girl time," and I always come back home with more energy and eagerness to talk to Darby. Likewise, he really enjoys getting together with his guy friends. We're each other's best friends, but we definitely can't be each other's only friend.
7. The world really doesn't end if you go to bed angry. Although ideally I agree that conflict should be resolved as soon as possible, sometimes that just doesn't happen. So we can either spend all night fighting and getting more tired and emotional or we can go to bed, wake up, realize we were wrong, and apologize. I prefer the second option.
8. If you only have one bathroom, you better grab it the second you get home from a long car ride.
9. Be silly. I love making Darby laugh. I have no rhythm, so when catchy music comes on TV, I start dancing really crazily. Now, Darby requests "the dance," and he cracks up every time. Sometimes he laughs so hard that he starts laughing at his own laugh and crying. Then, I start laughing. There's a good 15 minutes of entertainment right there! Really, though, I love just having fun with Darby. It's great to know that he still loves me even when I'm making a fool of myself.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Sweet Surprises and a Decision

On Friday, my sister called me at work and asked if I could come over to pick up my wedding DVD; she said that she had something else for me, too. Darby took me by her house on our way home, and I was surprised with these:



Sorry they're sideways. I don't think there's a way to rotate the picture after I've uploaded it. Aren't they pretty? She found the vase at a garage sale and thought it looked like me, so she filled it with some bright flowers.

Darby and I went back to our apartment, and when I walked in, I was greeted by these:



My sweet husband had gotten me flowers "just because!" He and Hannah hadn't planned it, but they ran into each other when they were at the store buying their flowers. What a coincidence!

Two bouquets in one day! That made my week!

In other exciting news, Darby and I made a decision about grad. school this weekend. Before I let you in on the big decision, I'll tell you how it all went down:

In December, I found out that I had been accepted to:

I was glad to have at least one acceptance, but it wasn't my first choice because it's an online program, and I'd rather go in person. The plus side was that I could do it from anywhere.

In January, Darby was accepted to:

Side note: Don't they have an awesome mascot? He was very excited because Georgia Tech's a great school. We were relieved to have at least one option for both of us. (Him at GT; me doing the online program at UNT).

In February, I was accepted to:

UT! Woo-hoo! But we were still holding out for UW.

In early March, Darby got a rejection e-mail from:

That was a sad day because we had both really wanted to go there. But we knew something else would work out. A couple of days later, I got a letter saying that I had been waitlisted at UW (not that it mattered any more, anyway).

About a week later, Darby got an acceptance e-mail from:

We were very happy! Illinois is an awesome school (despite their lame mascot...Illini, are you kidding me!?!) I started getting really nervous about whether or not I would get in. I waited and waited for my letter. Finally, the Tuesday after Spring Break it came. I didn't get in. That was tough. I knew UT was still an option, but I also knew that Darby would really rather go to Illinois. I started feeling better when I realized that if we did decide to go to Illinois, I wouldn't necessarily have to start the UNT program and could reapply to Illinois next year.

We kept waiting for Darby to hear from UT. He called and they said it was the Circuit Design Committee that was holding everybody up. (Of course, that's the committee that affects him.) When we hadn't heard from them by last Friday, I asked Darby if he wanted just to go ahead and commit to Illinois. Of course, he did, but he wanted to make sure I was okay with it. If I were single, I would definitely go to UT, but I want him to have the opportunity to live out of state, which is his dream. Plus Illinois' program is better than UT's. And it's a really great program for me, too, if I can ever get in! We're both glad to finally have a decision, and as of today, we still haven't heard from UT, so I'm glad we didn't wait around.

So, bring on the long johns. We're moving north!