Almost Christmas

I can't believe its already Christmastime - especially considering the weather around here is nothing like winter. It is cold today but nothing like what I have been used to in December. And I can't complain.

John is working hard on studying for mid-terms this week and his last day of school before the break is this Thursday. He is really excited to have some time off and see his family for the holidays. His other big news is that he was offered an internship position at Johnson & Johnson in Irvine, CA. It is a 10-12 week internship during the summer and he's just glad that he's got an offer from a really good company.

I got the word that I got the job at ASU! I'll be starting in the MBA Admissions office on January 5th. I'm excited and nervous. I'm really sad to leave Scottsdale Culinary because I've made such good friends here, but I need a permanent and secure job. Change is good, I guess, and I hope this is one for the better. Its always a little scary to start something new.

So this means that I will get 2 weeks off for vacation and we'll get to spend more time with family for the holidays - YAY! And it also means that I will probably be staying here in AZ this summer while John goes to CA for his internship... sad. Fortunately, its close enough that we'll still be able to see each other on the weekends. But, as John reminds me, I need to stop thinking about that and just focus on the nearer future.

Merry Christmas! We've had a couple of parties with friends and I got some awesome pics that I'll post soon.

Welcome to December

We had both chicken and turkey for Thanksgiving this year. Dave and Charity came up from Tucson and we had turkey/chicken dinner at our apartment. It was a fun day and dinner came out great, mostly. I was a little disappointed in my rolls and the stuffing wasn't fantastic, but we had fun and all got plenty to eat.

I was really excited about finally using my stemware - I love those glasses. It was a lot of hard work all day in the kitchen but it was worth it in the end. And now I can say I did Thanksgiving dinner, even though we didn't do a full turkey. We'll tackle that another year.

I am sad to report that I only made it to 22,031 words on my NaNoWriMo novel before November 30th. I procrastinated too long and didn't dedicate enough time to spend on writing enough during the month. I didn't think it would be a big deal, but on Sunday night when I had officially given up I was feeling rather disappointed in myself. But I did write quite a bit and now I know that it makes a difference to me if I finish or not, so next year I'll plan better.

John flew to Atlanta a couple weeks ago for second round interviews with Johnson & Johnson. He hasn't heard back from them a yes or a no yet so we're crossing our fingers. Meanwhile, he's got two more interviews on campus this week and getting really tired of it all. But I have full confidence in him and I'm not worried - I know he'll get a good internship.

Work is going well for me - I'm still at Scottsdale Culinary Institute and having a great time. They really like me there, too, so I'm hoping that they'll hire me on permanently. I do have an interview at ASU on Wednesday, though, just to keep my options open. I do like it here at the Culinary school so I hope things will work out.

So now we get to look forward to Christmas and the holiday break. And I am really looking forward to more time off - it's hard to come back to life after vacation. I've got the week of Christmas off of work so we'll get to be in Utah with John's family for more than a couple of days. I'm also looking forward to some snow - haven't seen much of that down here in AZ.

So welcome to December!!

NanoWrimo Update

It's the 13th and I'm supposed to be at 21,671 words by the end of today. I'm at 6771 words at this moment... stress much?! But I'm not too worried - I had a little bit of a late start because my husband had a week off from school and was a huge distraction, but now he's back in the grind I can get down to business. I've been doing about 1,000 words a day every day this week, so it could be worse.

My story so far has taken some wild twists and turns. Not so much strange as far as the story goes, just not what I had in mind at all. I'm going with the flow right now but I am continually surprised by new characters that pop up and entirely new plot lines. I find myself thinking about my characters and what they'll do next while I'm getting ready in the morning, while I'm driving, and during lunch. I guess that's a good sign that my mind is working on it so hopefully something great will come of all the hard work. Hopefully 50,000 words worth of greatness.

Whatever happens, I am so glad to be writing again. I gives me something to work at, something that uses my brain and imagination, and it will hopefully be an awesome accomplishment, too.

John's Week Off & Other News

John had last week off from school because it was the end of his first tri-mester. He did a lot of lazy and some sleeping on the side... It made it hard for me to go to work, but he came up to have lunch with me a couple of times so that was better. Now he's back to school and the grind and not looking forward to it.

We went down to Gilbert yesterday to go to the baby blessings for Olivia and Kylie Thompson (my cousin Kristi's twins). It was so fun to see their family - Grandma and Dale and Terri came out from California so we got to see them. Those little girls are so cute and they received beautiful blessings.

John and I got new phones - yay!! I've been wanting a new one for a long time and John finally got fed up with not having service in the business building at school. So we got out of our contract with Sprint (after much arguing on the phone) and signed up with Verizon. I love my new phone - very sleek and fun. We spent the evening on Friday programing in all our contacts and the settings.

I'm so excited for the holidays coming up. I head Dean Martin's version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on the radio this morning when I was driving to work and it just made me smile. I love Christmas and I'm really looking forward to celebrating with family this year. We'll be in Utah for Christmas but we're still trying to figure out exactly how that's going to work. And we're still not sure about Thanksgiving... But I sure am excited!

I'll get some pictures up here soon, promise!

Congrats to B-rAndrea

The Smith's have a new member in their family - Jocelyn. John and I are going to go meet her this evening and see how Mom is doing. Congrats ya'll! (John nicknamed Brandon B-rand and then we just added Andrea's name to the end... silly, I know...)

That's the best news going on right now. We had Mom and Dad Woodbury come visit last weekend (I'll put up some pics later) and Daniel came with them. We had a great time playing Wii and hanging out with friends. It was a good weekend.

John finished his first tri-mester at ASU last week and feels pretty good about all his finals. Now he's got a week off and I'm jealous he gets to stay at home while I'm working. But he's deserved a good break.

I started NanoWrimo on Saturday - I've committed to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. I've done it for the last two years and always had a great time so I didn't want to miss out this year. I'll post frequent updates at Book 'n' a Mug.

So hope ya'll are doing well!

Yay for the Fam!

Julia, Nicole, and Paul came down from BYU this last weekend to visit and we had a wonderful time! We had lunch at the cafe up at Scottsdale Culinary Institute and we saw a movie and had dinner and the best part was that we got to hang out and talk. And the Ju did my dishes... It was fun to have them meet our new friends when we went to the Larsen's on Friday night. The bummer about the weekend was that we had some car issues on Saturday and had to drive around dropping the car off and picking it up to get fixed. But we still had a good time because we were together.

I miss them lots, now, but I'm so glad they got to come visit. I'll post pictures soon. This next weekend Mom, Dad, and Daniel will be coming out so there will be even more family fun!

Silly Slip

I was cutting an apple yesterday morning for our lunches and wasn't as careful as I should have been. While I was trying to cut the core out I stabbed my palm with the paring knife. I swore at my clumsiness and then ran my hand under the water. John heard me and came in to see if I was alright. It wasn't a very big cut but I was worried that it was deep because it just kept bleeding. So I started getting really sick to my stomach and feeling weird. I felt faint and it started hurting pretty bad. I was crying and putting pressure on the cut so it would stop bleeding and John was trying to calm me down.

It stopped bleeding pretty quick and it isn't that big a deal, but it's the first time I've done anything like that so it's a big deal to me. I guess I went into shock at the sight of blood or because I was worried. I was pale, shaky, I had fever and chills, and I felt so nauseous. Kind of a scary experience.

John had to leave for school so I laid down for a while then got ready for work. It took a long time with only one hand. It's feeling a little better today and I have more flexibility but it doesn't look very good. And I'm so wishing I could just wash my hands like normal or put on lotion. You never realize how much you use your hands until you can't for a while.

So be careful with knives and be grateful for your hands!

New Friends and More Fun

So I've made some awesome new friends! We had a baby shower for Andrea Smith (she's due the beginning of Novmber) and had so much fun visiting and eating Sprinkles cupcakes (thank you Kristy!)

The MBA husbands like to watch football on the weekends so us girls go out and do girly things like talk for 3 hours over dinner... We are the MBA Wives. It is so nice to have a support group of others who are in the same place I am.

Just a quick update: I'm still at Scottsdale Culinary Institute in the Career Services department and I'm really enjoying it so far. It is still a temp job, though, so I'm applying for other jobs, too. Hopefully I'll get one at ASU - that would be so convenient. But we'll see what happens - my director at SCI is pushing hard to get me a permanent position.

Talk Like a Pirate Day Sept. 19, 2008

Yes, of course we had a party! Brandon and Andrea Smith and Kristy and Dave Tibbs came over to celebrate. We had fried chicken with all the trimmings and watched Pirates of the Caribbean but we didn't talk like pirates... Maybe next year.

It was also at this party that we discovered Apple Fanta. I sent John to the store to get beverages and he came home with this little treasure - it's fantastic! We've taken it to all the get togethers since and everyone is surprised a how much they like it. Apple Fanta. Try it. And mark your calendar for September 19th next year because Talk Like a Pirate Day is an awesome holiday!

Job Down-date

Yes, it's a downer - I didn't get either of the jobs I interviewed for this week... Very disappointing. But I should be grateful because Scottsdale Culinary is keeping me on in a different department (Career Services) for the next month. They made it very clear that it is only for a month and there is no possibility that the position will become permanent. So I have another month to find something more solid. I'm just praying that some of the jobs I've applied for in the next month come knocking. But in the meantime I'll keep sending my resume out there (like it isn't already plastered everywhere).

So I start something new on Monday and hopefully the Lord will make it clear eventually why it wasn't right for me to have either of the opportunities that popped up this week.

Job Update

For the last 3 years I've been working for Simplicity Group based out of Springville UT and last Friday was my last day with them. It was sad to say goodbye to something that has been such a blessing for me but it was a relief as well because I've been working 2 jobs. When I got here I got a job at Scottsdale Culinary Institute in the registrar's office through a staffing agency. It started out as a temporary position but I hoped that I would be kept on as a permanent employee. But I found out a couple weeks ago that they had hired someone else so my job search began again.

Just this last week two opportunities have come up through my staffing agency that are both direct hire. And I interviewed here at the school for a position in another department and they want me to come work for them. So I've had several interviews this week over the phone and in person and things have been going well. I found out this afternoon that one of the jobs decided to go with someone else so my options are down to the position at the Culinary Institute in the Career Services department or at a company called RGU Group. I really want the job at RGU because it's close to my house and the company seems awesome - they do souvenir stuffed animals. I have a second interview with RGU tomorrow morning and I will find out if I got it tomorrow afternoon. Scottsdale Culinary has already offered me the job so I'll have something either way, but I'm really hoping things work out.

So wish me luck and we'll see how it turns out!

Getting Used to the Heat

We were so happy to come to dry heat after the crazy humidity in St. Louis. It is hot here, but I definitely like the dry heat better. It's supposed to cool off this weekend, but we'll see what happens. We've been told it will be just beautiful for the rest of the year... Here are some more pictures of our first couple of weeks in AZ while we were still getting settled and didn't have school or too much work.

Srun and Harry were visiting their parents who now live in North Phoenix when we got here so we went to In 'N' Out Burger with them.We finally got John to not only eat at In 'N' Out but he admitted it was an ok burger.

The king's chair. We went furniture shopping because we gave away so much when we left St. Louis we needed new stuff. Don't worry, we didn't get this chair.

Then we tried out the cheap theater that's just down the street. It's $3 for any movie all day and it's not too bad of a viewing experience.

So we had some fun when we got here and now we're busy with school and work. But we still get to have fun on the weekends. I'll upload more pictures of the new friends we're meeting and our apartment, too.

Moving and Visiting

So we just moved from MO to AZ about a month ago and it was a sad but exciting time. Here are some pictures of our last few days in St. Louis and our trip through CO and UT to see family.

We went to dinner with Dan and Mandy Makowsky at Pujols 5 - Go Cards!! We played Mario Kart Wii with Greg and Rebecca Losli - pretty sure John won...

We packed up our house and gave away a lot of our furniture but we can't live without the internet! There was no where left to sit because everything else was packed or gone - I had to get a picture.

We went to a Rockies game with the Woodbury side of the fam - it was a beautiful evening even though the Rockies lost.

And we played Cranium with the Zincke side of the fam - the boys won, but we're convinced they cheated...

The first night we got to Tempe we dropped our stuff off at our apartment and went to (drum roll, please) In 'N' Out Burger.

It was a fun trip because we got to see both sides of the family and spend some time with them. We are enjoying AZ, especially the dry climate after the humidity in St. Louis. And we're making friends really fast, too. We sure miss our friends in MO, though! We realized too late how many cool people we knew and we wished that we had spent more time with them while we had the chance. So we won't make the same mistake here in Tempe.

More pictures to come tomorrow!

Welcome!

John and I both have our own blogs but they don't follow what's going on in our lives. So this is for our family and friends to see what we're up to. Visit often for news, pictures, and random fun!