New Email=New Blog

So, rather than having to sign in and out any time I switch from checking emails to checking blogs, I made a new blog with my new email address. Here's the link: Lori's New Blog!

Another Quick Update

The financial aid finally posted!

I've been offered $6,400 in grants (on top of my $9,000 scholarship), and Justin was offered $6,900 in grants. So, for grants, together we were offered $13,300. Add on my scholarship: $22,300. All that we don't have to give back. We might take some out in the subsidized loans too (we were offered another 10,000-ish there, we probably won't take all of that out though), so we should have a lot easier of a year next year! Lower rent, and lots of free money from the government and ASU. They are giving us free money because we are students, and we're poor. Awesome.
Just wanted to let y'all know! :-)

Quick Post

To say that I got the writing tutor job! :)
"We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a writing tutor in ASU’s Tempe Writing Center.  We had many qualified applicants for Fall 2010, and as we strive to provide an exemplary service to students at ASU, we continue to raise our standards for writing tutors. You have demonstrated the skills and qualifications necessary to meet those standards."
Hooray! Just wanted to let you all know, because I'm SUPER excited!!!

An eventful two weeks

So, the next two weeks of my life will be very busy and exciting.
We have decided to move into the apartments on this side of town, because the ones in Glendale are very expensive, and we figured out it would be cheaper to have my husband commute every day than to pay the short term lease. Lots of other things were factored into the decision, but that was a big one. Being close to family and the temple will be nice too :)
We'll be moving pretty much right after finals, on the 15th, Justin will be starting his new job two days before that. Somehow I have to find time to pack amidst all the finals studying and last minute school projects. Wish me luck.
In addition to that, we'll find out right around mid-May what financial aid we'll be getting for next semester. Hopefully lots of grants!
ALSO around that time, I'll find out if I got the writing tutor job I applied for. I really hope I get it, because it would be a great transition from where I am now, it's close to what I actually want to do with my life (be an editor), it has flexible hours, I wouldn't have to drive from home to work to school to home every day, and I would actually really enjoy going to work. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Oh! And it would put me working in circles with a lot of the English department faculty, which might help me with getting a foot into the editing world. All in all, it would be a great opportunity.
So, if I don't blog in the next two weeks, that is why. I'll be crazy busy. BUT I will definitely blog with updates when I find out about financial aid and the job.
My aunt Randi Sue just did a contest on her blog, and it has me thinking - that would be really fun! I don't have time right now, but be looking out for one some time over the summer :)

Summer Time

So, I finally know where I'll be for the summer! Mostly.
Justin got the job, he'll be working for Blue Sky Pest Control, selling pest control services door to door. It will be hard, and highly commission based, but there's the potential for a lot of money by the end of the semester. We both feel really good about it, so we're excited to see how that pans out. We'll be moving to North Phoenix/Glendale area. The company suggests an apartment complex for us, but it's pretty pricey, and they only reimburse about 70% of the cost of the rent there, so we've been looking around at other options. It's hard to find places that are not too expensive, but still nice, and have a 3 month lease option. We've found a few online that we want to look at, so we'll probably spend a day up there scouting things out.
We also want to see if we can find me a job while we're up there. It would be hard to commute several days a week, especially to a job I'm not all that fond of. So, we're hoping to find me something up there, probably just part time, just enough to keep me busy and bring in a little extra income.
Another exciting thing: I applied to be a writing tutor for fall semester through ASU, and on the application they said they'd only contact me if they wanted to set up an interview. Well, guess who has an interview scheduled for this Wednesday? It's only 50 cents less an hour in pay than I'm making now, I wouldn't have to drive from our apartment to work, then to school, then home every day, it would all be at ASU, and I think I'd like it a lot more. So, hopefully that goes well.
Things have been pretty exciting around here. Hopefully everything turns out as great as we want it to. We just have to make it through the end of the semester, finals, and packing.
Thanks for reading!

An uneventful month

My life is very consistent:
Sunday: church
Monday: school and homework
Tuesday: work and homework
Wednesday: school, homework, mutual
Thursday: work and homework
Friday: school, sometimes work, and either laundry or free evening with my hubby
Saturday: laundry (if not done friday), school work, house work, grocery shopping.

Then I start all over again. That's why I haven't blogged in a while. What is there to blog about?
Conference was really great. I definitely felt uplifted, and it was a good boost, just what I needed. I didn't really feel like a lot of the talks related directly to me right now (major theme, as I'm sure most people noticed, was parents raising kids, family family family. I have a very small family, and I'm sure those talks will be useful when I am raising kids, but right now, I'm more focused on other things). But the talks were still really good, and even if I didn't take direct messages from each and every talk, the spirit that was felt that weekend was a great buoy to my spirit.
This past week and going into next week is crazy for me. Wednesday I had a test in my musicals class, Friday a test in English and in History, Monday I'll have one in my Religions class, and Wednesday I'll have a French test. Out of my five classes, I have a test in every class between last Wednesday and next Wednesday. But, once next Wednesday is over, I don't have much between that and finals. One paper (somehow I only have one paper to write this semester... so much for English majors having to write a lot!), one homework assignment in English, and one French composition. That's all I have between next week and finals, a good two to three weeks of school.
Justin and I will be moving in May. Not sure where to yet... Justin might be getting a job in North Phoenix over summer, selling pest control. Apparently he could make up to $19,000 over the summer (which is right around what we made combined for the total of last year). It's highly based on commission, but from the info he's been given, he will likely make at least 10,000. He found it through RMJobs, so it's a reputable company, and Ashley even said she knew someone in her old ward who worked for the company. If he does get that job, I'm not sure what I'll do with myself. I would still work probably two days a week, to keep my job, but not more than that, because holy cow that's a long drive. So, I'd have lots of time to craft and write and read and finish his Christmas stocking! And probably get mindlessly bored. We'll see.
That's pretty much all that's going on over here, I've got some cupcakes cooking in the oven (see post below this, finally trying them in cupcake form), I'll post pictures later if I remember to take any.

Recent Accomplishments

For my niece's birthday, I was told she wanted a journal with her name on it. I can do that! Mod Podge makes that a very doable, very affordable gift. Plus I just really enjoy covering comp books with fun paper :)

This one turned out VERY cute though - one of my best, I'd say.

But I couldn't giver her JUST a journal - the journal itself cost me nothing, I already had everything on hand.

So I made fun flower pens to go with it!

I also made monkey bread for my birthday, and attempt number one was definitely delicious.
Tonight, we had some couples over (finally, after postponing from getting sick :P). It was really fun! We had three other couples over, and now our house is really clean. That's really one of my favorite parts of inviting people over. It results in a clean home.
I was originally going to make symphony brownies for dessert. Then I stumbled across this recipe:

And my first thought was: that would be REALLY good with a chocolate base. After looking the recipe over, I also changed the fudge layer from store-bought ice cream sundae fudge sauce to ganache (less expensive!). Mine didn't quite thicken up like I wanted it to, but it was still REALLY yummy.

And instead of Ande's mints on top, I used crushed up grasshopper cookies (essentially the Keebler version of thin mints).

I think next time I'm going to make it into cupcakes. I'll use a thicker ganache, and pipe the cool whip on, then garnish with a cookie!

The taste, on the other hand, was perfect. I wouldn't change a thing.

Trial Number 1

So, here's attempt number one at being outgoing. My fantastic, supportive hubby helped me do it :)
We invited a few couples over to our house for Friday night. We bought a big lasagna a while ago because it was on super sale, and we'd have leftovers for a month if we ate it just the two of us, so we'll be eating that, with some other stuff, and have super yummy symphony brownies for dessert (brownies with a layer of symphony bar chocolate in the middle - I'll probably do either a ganache topping or just powdered sugar, depending on time), and then we'll play games after! I'm excited. And I have friday off of work - no idea why - so I'll be done with classes at 12:40, and have the afternoon to clean and prep. Hopefully it goes well. 
When planning this, we realized there are a lot of couples in the ward... too many for one night. So, we're planning another such night for sometime in March. 
Phase number two will be tomorrow - sitting by people at lunch, instead of upstairs where it's safe. Wish me luck!

Becoming Outgoing

Some people may see that and think, "What? Lori is one of the most outgoing people I know!" Sorry Mom, I used to be, but I'm not so much anymore.
But that is going to change. I've decided I want to be outgoing again. I'm tired of hiding upstairs at institute and eating alone (except Mondays, I eat with Anna on Mondays :-D ). I was reading Justin's textbook (don't judge, you know you read your spouses textbooks too... okay maybe not, but it's really interesting!), and it was talking about networking, and how you need to create a network before you need it. And I realized, if I was more outgoing, that would help Justin's network too! And then I might have friends who are in a similar situation as me!
The only thing is, I've become quite accustomed to living my own little life, enjoying my lunch upstairs alone. So I need some help on ideas of how to become less chicken. :)
My first plan is to just find someone to sit by for lunch. Easy enough, right? Hopefully. But how else can I make more friends? There are a bunch of fun couples in my ward who are in the same boat as me, fairly newly married, no kids. How to I become friends with them?
Any suggestions are appreciated. Also, I need you to follow up and make sure I actually do something this time. Comment, email, pester me and make sure I'm networking! Or making friends, or whatever you want to call it. Either way, I want to have people I can invite over to my place for fun game nights and such.
Thanks for reading!

Happy Happy Birthday, From Myself to Me!

So, it's the first day in a while that I have nothing pressing, so I'll blog!
Today is my birthday, I'm finally no longer a teenager.
I'm excited to eat monkey bread, not go to work, go shopping, and spend an entire day with the man I love. Today is going to be awesome. Much better than last year, when I only saw Justin for 20 minutes (he happened to have an accounting test that evening. Who gives tests at 6:00 at night?)
So, life has been busy. Being in Young Women's is really fun, but definitely keeps me busy. And concerned. I always believed my leaders when they told me they loved me and wanted me to be happy, blah blah, but now that I feel it, man, I didn't have any idea. It's weird, I see these girls a few hours a week, I've only known them a few months, but I really do love them and really want them to make good choices so they can get to the temple.
School has been fairly light for me (I think it's to make up for the fact that Justin is having a really tough semester). It's strange because I'm taking more credits, and more upper level classes, than last semester, but it's way easier.
Sunday was Chinese New Year, and we were invited to celebrate with a family from Justin's old ward. It was really fun, we had a nice Chinese dinner and then just talked. They are a fun family, 7 kids, the dad went to Taiwan on his mission too, so he and Justin had fun talking, asking if they remembered this or that. The kids were so funny too, one of them was telling me I could keep the chopsticks (they were the disposable kind), they were surprisingly well maintained for there being seven. It was really fun though.
Well, I need to go check on my monkey bread, so have a great day, everyone! I certainly will!

Crafting

For Christmas this year I did a lot of home-made gifts. And now I am finally getting around to showing all of you!
For Dustin and Sarah, I made an ornament wreath (I stole the idea from Ashley, she's got lots to spare though.)

Theirs was actually slightly different, it had gold instead of silver, and a red bow, but you get the idea. This is the one I made for my own home.
For Benjamin and Curtis:

A lot of it was tracing, but pretty much everything I modified from the picture. The race track, garage, park and house were free hand, no tracing. Justin did a lot of coloring in the roads. He's so great :)
For Abigail:

For whatever reason I didn't take a normal picture of the tutu, I just took a crazy one of it on my head as a hat. At least I'm making a normal face in this one. I wish I had gotten a picture of Abigail wearing it though.
For Justin:

I bought the paper lantern at Michaels (on sale!) and wrote our name in Chinese. I think it turned out pretty good :) Plus look at those gorgeous books behind it... I'm such a nerd. (By the way, if you're wondering, from left to right, they are the complete works of: Douglas Adams [Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series], Lewis Carroll [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland] and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [Sherlock Holmes]).
One of my coworkers just recently turned 66 (she's awesome), and we decided to celebrate. Someone brought in decorations, someone cookies, and I brought these cupcakes:

There's a reason for the ducks.

Our company recently got new insurance, and so they were giving away these Aflac stuffed ducks. They only gave out like three, and Phylis (the one who turned 66) got one of them. I would constantly talk about how cute it was, and it has now become the official duck of scheduling. We dress it up for the holidays (it's been a turkey, Santa Claus, a partier [for new years], and will soon be cupid). So, duck cupcakes! I think they turned out really cute! Ashley is the one who suggested how to do the ducks. I didn't have a cookie cutter that would fit on one cupcake, and there is no way I'm going to try to free-hand that. So it's a mosaic affect!
That's what's been keeping me busy lately.
And, as always, thanks for reading!
(P.S. I just posted two in a row, because I had a lot to blog about, so there's another new one just below this)

A weekend of giving

And receiving. Mostly receiving on my end.
My husband had a camp out this weekend, so we spent our first night apart since getting married. It almost killed me.
To keep from thinking about it too much, I invited myself over for a sleepover at Kristi's - I figured, it would make things more bearable for me, and I think Jenny had a blast :)
As I was heading out to go to Kerry's baby shower, Kristi says to me, "Oh, by the way, there's a grill in the garage if you want. It's our old George Forman one, we upgraded recently, but it still works great. Has detachable plates for washing and everything."
I just looked over at her and said, "Really?"
What she didn't know was that I had been planning on asking for one for my birthday. I think my stunned reaction made her think I didn't want it, because she kind of excused herself, saying "you don't have to take it if you don't want it."
Needless to say, I took it, with much gratitude. :) I've been aching for a home-grilled hamburger for months.
So, trying to think of something else to pad my birthday list...
Justin and I have been talking about how when we move to a bigger apartment it would be really nice to get a desk. Then just this past week, we've been thinking maybe we should get one sooner than that. We have a wall in our bedroom that would fit a small desk, and it would be really useful.
So we were talking to Justin's mom about how we were looking for a desk, and I was planning on maybe asking for one for my birthday, she says, "well, if it would fit, the one in Justin's old room doesn't get used very often." Justin's sister and brother still living at home both have desks in their rooms, so the only one really using it was Travis when he would come home from the dorms. Yeah, it didn't get used very often.
So we all troop into the room to take a look at it, and it definitely is small enough. Justin leans over to me and says "You know, I bet that would fit in the Explorer right now."
So, ta da! We now have a desk. Family rocks.

Justin setting everything up

Hard at work

So, it's been a pretty good weekend. Other than the whole camping trip thing. But all the free stuff is awesome. Thanks everyone! The desk fits perfectly, and I can't wait to use the grill.

New Years Celebrations

What did I do for New Years?
I slept.
Justin and I went over to my parents and played wii games and made yummy hot chocolate things and then watched tv with Ashley and Zach, and Ashley fell asleep first, then I did, then Zach did. Somehow Justin stayed awake. Probably has to do with the fact that all growing up he rarely went to bed before midnight. That was an adjustment for him when we got married, me going to bed at nine :)
Justin woke us up (well, he tried to wake up Ashley but she was too disinterested and tired to actually wake up), and we did the countdown thing. Then I went back to sleep.
We're finally getting over the sickness that has been lurking in our home for the past week. It's been nice to have the energy to do things outside. I was getting really stir crazy.
I used to get really into making new years resolutions, and every now and then would actually keep some.
This year, my main goal is to make dinners that actually have nutritional value instead of just fast and easy (not every night, but get some fruits and veggies in there several times a week), and to keep my house in a state that is, if not up to my standards of clean, at least not embarrassing if someone stops by. Wish me luck, neither will be easy with as sparse as time can be at my house.

Hope everyone had a great new year!