Implications of a New Name

Sweet Kitten

2011-04-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

Auntie Heather, I have been trying to get this on video for WEEKS. It just wasn't possible because every time I turned on the camera she would get too curious about the camera and stop. But it's SO so cute, and you need to see it because you were the one to provide her with this plush kitty bed. If you turn your volume way up you can hear the purring...in person you can hear it all the way across the room. She'll do this for like 10 minutes straight and then fall into a deep sleep. For the first part, she's distracted by the camera, but 30 seconds into the video she starts doing what I'm talking about.

Our kitten has figured out how to open our door. When I caught this on video I had never seen her do it, because the only time she finds it necessary to open the door is in the middle of the night when Brent and I have "locked" her out of our bedroom. (We've had to resort to putting a chair underneath the handle so she can't get in. Sure it's only a matter of time before she figures out how to get around that obstacle.) To get her to open the door I put an almost empty can of tuna on the other side of it.

I just had to see her do it again, so after letting her lick the tuna can for 5 minutes or so, I let PDub have at it and closed the door on Penny again. The noises of PDub chowing down drove Penny crazy...she just had to have that tuna!

Priorities

2011-04-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

This is what has been on my mind for the past 48 hours.

My work at QAI is going wonderfully. I'm so thankful for the people I work with, they are all so encouraging and welcoming.

I've been working 1-2 days a week for the past two months or so, waiting to be hired on full time. Yesterday my boss called me into his office to inform me that they would love to have me start working 4 days a week: 2 days working in the physical testing arena (my "focus") and 2 days working on a special administrative project. He further committed to me that when they meet their sales goals, I WILL be hired full time, 5 days a week.

I'm so blessed. I'm so thankful for what God has taught me about hard work in the last 2 years, since I first stepped foot out into the work world. 2 years ago I had an exceptionally shaky start, suffered the consequences of it, discovered where I needed to grow, and then God started growing me. In His perfect timing He has now placed me in this company where the people believe that I can contribute much. I am humbled by the wisdom of the more experienced persons in the company and am grateful that though they know SO MUCH MORE than me about what we do and how we do it, they patiently and slowly teach me, never expecting me to know more than I do, and praising me for what I learn.

Ok, I promised myself this post would only take me 5 minutes and I've already spent 10 minutes diverging from my originally intended topic.

Priorities. Though I feel blessed beyond words by this opportunity God has given me, I have this anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach. Starting next week I will be working Monday through Thursday, 8-5, leaving my house before 7 to get home almost 12 hours later. I feel the type of fear you would expect if you were being slowly lowered feet first onto a rapidly running treadmill. I'm concerned that the things that I treasure in my mind as priorities will fall by the wayside...I fear I'm gonna crash and burn.

God. My relationship with Him is should be my number one priority. Communing with Him by dwelling on His Word, praying to Him, praising Him. Taking time out of my day to focus on Him, never letting a day go by where the most attention I give to Him is a quick "Lord, help me," when I feel desperate.

Practically, I've always believed that for me this means opening the Bible every morning. Discouragingly, this is not yet a habit for me, and I know that as soon as my life gets crazier with work it will be even more difficult to make this a habit.

Brent. My relationship with him is should be my number two priority. Thankfully, for the most part, this comes pretty easy to me. :) Spending time with him is my favoritest thing ever, so even if we're both dog tired at the end of a day, our time together is sweet, encouraging and refreshing. I still have many ways I can grow in making Brent one of my foremost priorities, but God's made this priority of mine the easiest one of all. :)

Work. My commitment to work is should be my number three priority. Many of you may disagree with the way that Brent and I have ordered my last three priorities, but after prayer and scripture reading, I believe that for this phase of life work comes before meal preparation and house cleaning. Thankfully, my job so far has been one that I can completely leave "at work," I don't need to take any of it home with me, mentally or otherwise. That means that when I am home I am HOME and can focus on my other priorities.

Meal Preparation. My commitment to meal preparation is should be my number four priority. Brent and I DO NOT want to become a family that eats take out every night of the week. Though I get home close to 7 every night, I can muster up what energy I have left and whip up a meal, because a homecooked anything is almost always better than any cheap meal you can buy. Now that I'll be working close to full time Brent and I are discussing how I can make weeknight meal-making more doable...my weekends may need to be full of cooking.

Housecleaning. Housecleaning is should be my number five priority. I am a clean freak. Oh my goodness, I am a clean freak. This doesn't mean that my house is always clean. It just means that when it isn't, I freak. I have to keep up a rigorous schedule of chores to keep my home up to my standard....many weeks I fall short of my own standard, but when I hit it, man, those weeks I feel light as a feather. I feel like hiding under a cave when I think about what working full time will do to my cleaning schedule.

Now that I've listed my priorities, I'll let you in on a secret. Those are only priorities in my head. I have not taken those priorities to heart. You want to know what my actions and words reveal what my priority list is? Housecleaning, Meals, Brent, Work, God.

I discovered that secret about my heart the other day when I started mentally planning ahead for the coming monsoon. I'm realizing that the areas of my life that I am most anxious about losing control of are the ones that should be my lowest priorities (for this phase of our marriage, at least).

So in addition to all that I have on my plate right now, I have some serious heart issues to deal with! Praise be to God, I am not abandoned to deal with my heart on my own. He is faithful to guide, to break and to mold. Over the past 48 hours I've found myself praying the same things over and over again: Guide me as to what my priorities should be, and let my priorities sink into my heart.

Hollywood Studios

2011-04-15T10:17:00.001-07:00

So I didn't mention that after we got all cleaned up from our day at the water park, we headed to Hollywood Studios for dinner. We went to the 50's Prime Time Cafe where we had the most FUN food experience of our whole trip. The whole diner is themed like "mom's" kitchen from the 50's, and every table has a view of a television that continuously plays clips from classic sitcoms such as the Donna Reed Show, Dick Van Dyke Show, and Leave it to Beaver.

Also, the servers are hired to be rather rude and snotty to you, which just adds to the fun. You can talk smack back at them too.

When our waiter served us our coca-cola drinks we had ordered, he shoved them on our table and left while muttering, "One's vanilla and one's cherry, don't remember which is which." Brent and I were giggling throughout our meal as we interacted with our server and watched other servers interact with other customers. The servers were fantastically entertaining.

Oh, and we just had to order a Boston cream parfait for dessert.

We had an evening flight home on the day after we went to Islands of Adventure, so we spent our half day before heading to the airport at Hollywood Studios again. We seated ourselves in an auditorium to watch a live Indiana Jones stunt show, and before it started they selected six or seven people from the audience to be a part of the cast.

Guess who was chosen to be one of those six or seven?

Brent got a video of the whole thing...they dressed us up in costume and everything. It was literally my 20 minutes of fame. Haha.

On display in one of the ride queues was the very carousel horse that Julie Andrews rode in Mary Poppins. I just HAD to have my picture taken with it.

We stayed as LONG as we could on Disney World property that day, and literally we barely made our flight. Thankfully our flight was delayed 45 minutes, but still, we ran up to the gate just as they were boarding. It was a close one.

And in the midst of the hurry we accidentally left one of our souvenirs in the rental car. :(

So there you go! Our wonderful vacation to Florida!

Universal's Islands of Adventure

2011-04-15T10:12:00.001-07:00

We got to the entrance of the theme park a half hour before opening time, and when they opened the gates, we headed straight to the back of the park to the Harry Potter land. Still, by the time we got to the main ride, it was a 45 minute wait.

The ride was fantastic, an impressive mixture of CG simulation, animatronics and authentic roller coaster thrills.

The rest of the Harry Potter world was themed to the max, and would have been extremely enjoyable if you were not literally standing shoulder to shoulder with strangers throughout the whole of it. It was fun but would have been much more so if it were more spread out and if they didn't allow so many people into the land at the same time. I got grumpy really quickly....I hate bumping into people right and left and I detest grumpy strangers shouting through my ears at their children on the other side of me. My overall experience in the land wasn't a good one, but that wasn't the theme park's fault. There is just too much hype surrounding that section of the theme park right now...in five years I would love to go explore it again.

The butterbeer was tasty. The foam was so buttery and delicious.

The line for the main ride crept through Hogwarts itself. It was the best line I have ever waited through...you got to meander through school rooms, the herbology greenhouse, Dumbledore's office, etc.

One of the students at Hogwarts.

The second half of our day was much more pleasant. We enjoyed a show or two and a few roller coasters, and by 5 o'clock felt that we had done everything we wanted to do in the theme park.

It was our last full day in Orlando. :(

Animal Kingdom

2011-04-15T09:40:00.001-07:00

Animal Kingdom was great, but unfortunately by this time in our trip we were too tired to enjoy it to the fullest extent. I would love to go again someday when I'm well rested.

In the background of this picture you see the site of the best Disney coaster I have ever been on: Expedition Everest.

This guy was hanging out and grazing while we waited in line for our African Safari Tour.

So was this guy.

The first animal sighting our our tour: Big ol' rhinoceros.

Happy hippo.

Storks not intimidated by their proximity to the hippos.

Underwater hippo.

Momma duck and ducklings.

Cackling Nile crocodiles. Something was REALLY funny.

Ah, we come to the start of the safari part of our safari.

This fellow was huge, and he was walking right toward our vehicle.

I'm not sure this girl was cool with how close his horns came to her.

"Wild" zebras and a giraffe.

Rafiki.

No, I didn't get a picture of his colorful butt.

This guy came and said hi. He got VERY close to our car.

VERY hard worker.

Poor fellow. I wonder if that nose of his hurts?

Ballerina move. I giggled a lot at this.

So cozy.

I'm looking at something very interesting, apparently.

Oh, ew. Shudder shudder shudder.

I need to warn you...if you scroll down any farther it is quite possible that you will suffer from nightmares for the next fifty years and feel the urge to cover your head any time you walk out of doors.

I warned you.

There were dozens of them, and they were hideous. Amazing creatures, but hideous. And get this, there was no plexi-glass, no mesh, no NOTHING separating them from their human visitors. They could have flown at us at any time. SO freaky.

Gearing up for a big cat fight?

This could be good.

Oh, she's standing up...ready to strike.

And - the moment's over.

You really handled that well.

On to the bird showcase:

Curious thing.

When left for our resort in the mid-afternoon so that we could rest up for the next day's adventure: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

Blizzard Beach

2011-04-15T09:37:00.001-07:00

This was the most fun day of our trip. Both of us readily agree. Blizzard Beach waterpark is the best waterpark I have ever been to, and in Brent's opinion it is only topped by some waterpark he's been to in Wisconsin.

The theming was in true Disney fashion, right down to the minutest detail. The "history" of the park is that long ago there was a freak snowstorm in Florida, so Disney started building a ski resort. But before the resort was finished the sun came out again and melted most of the snow, making skiing impossible. But the ski resort was there, nonetheless, so they made a waterpark out of it.

The rides were great. We went on them over and over again. The two of us became very competitive at the racing rides, but try as I might I never beat Brent. >:( Jerk. Punk.

I loved that the bathrooms looked just like rustic skiing lodges and that the men's were labeled "Snowmen" while the women's were labeled "Sleigh Bells." I loved that if you ordered an icy cold drink, such a a frozen mocha, they served it to you in a hot coffee cup and lid...no straw. I loved you could purchase a sand bucket and have it filled with the ice cream of your choice to share with your family. I love that they served hot and fresh mini donuts sprinkled with sugar. I loved that their wave pool was constantly waving, and that the lifeguards were always friendly and ready to start waterfights with you. I loved that the main restaurant in the park was called "Lottawatta Lodge," because it was fun to say.

I only have four pictures because we didn't bring a camera, only our camera phones. All of the pictures were taken with the motive of sending them to Hunter to make him jealous, because he has long dreamt of going to Blizzard Beach. And the first two photos are of the cleverly themed mini-golf course right next to the waterpark that I got a kick out of.

Magic Kingdom

2011-04-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

It was like being in a parallel universe. It truly was. It was exactly the same as Disneyland -- just...different. I told Brent I was sure that our ferry boat ride to the Magic Kingdom had somehow transferred us through a wormhole and that it was imminent that we would run into a parallel version of ourselves, the same -- just...different. By the end of the day we admitted to ourselves that we were homesick for Disneyland.

Although, Disneyland isn't just a boat ride away from the Grand Floridian, Disney's version of the Hotel Del Coronado.

Ugh. See all those people? They were everywhere. The whole day. You could not escape from them. I guess perhaps a Friday on the advent of spring break season was not the best day to attempt the Magic Kingdom.

Look at this bird just hangin' out on top of a churro stand. What a handsomely arrogant fellow. See his tail feathers swooshing in the breeze? Oh, you don't? This picture didn't capture that? Well I saw them. They were handsome tail feathers, and they were swooshing in the breeze.

We were just about to take a raft over to Tom Sawyer Island when we found out that the reason we were heading over there was nonexistant. I had read about Aunt Polly's Inn, an establishment on the island that served sandwiches and fantastic lemonade that you could sip while sitting on a rocking chair on the front porch that gazed out onto the river. But the river boat driver broke the news to us that the Inn had been closed for years. :(

Ok, I will give the Magic Kingdom this: the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse is still the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. Not the Tarzan treehouse. It even featured the pulley system that constantly brought up fresh cups of water from the creek below.

The Treehouse was tied for first as my favorite attraction of the day. The other winner was the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club. It was a hilarious audience-interactive stand-up comedy show featuring Mike Wasowski.

And here we are with Space Mountain in the background, taken from the nearby Contemporary Resort.

Fun day, but in the end, we're happy Disneyland is our home...not the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World.

Epcot

2011-04-15T09:14:00.001-07:00

Our second full day in Orlando was, thank the Lord, the only one that it thunder-stormed the ENTIRE day. Brent and I weighed our options and determined that Epcot would be the best theme park to tackle in such weather, as it features many indoor attractions. We armed ourselves with ponchos and marched out into the fury, obstinately refusing to have anything but a wonderful day on vacation.

BTW, Epcot stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Walt Disney's dream was that it would be a real community where people lived and worked. It was to be the showpiece of American advances in technology put on display in the citizens' homes, methods of transportation, the community's energy efficiency, etc. Walt's dream never came true, and instead, Epcot opened as a theme park hosting many scientific exhibits that are still updated on a regular basis. Today, half of the park is devoted to science and half of it is devoted to the nations of the world, featuring the highlights of many different nations in Epcot's World Showcase Pavilions.

Right outside the entrance to Epcot, just minutes before the park opened.

After exhausting all of the interesting-looking rides and exhibits in the science part, we sat down for lunch in England's Rose & Crown Pub for fish and chips. Oh my...I just remembered. The Rose & Crown was where we ordered a trio of breads and cheeses that came with complementary spreads and such. We could not figure out what one of the spreads was made of...our best guess was apricot and horseradish. We finally asked a waitress what it was and she informed us it was onion jam. *GAG*

In France, I introduced myself to Belle and the Beast. In truly starstruck fashion I told Beast that he was very intimidating as he took my hand. Belle told me not to say that, for it wounded him to think he still appeared to be a menace.

When Belle and the Beast didn't have anyone wanting their picture taken with them, their focus was centered on each other. I announce to you, ladies and gentlemen, after all these years, they are still very much in love. Extremely mushy and gushy with each other.

I had read in my guidebook that there was a fantastic pastry shop in France, so we made sure to stop for some dessert after lunch. It was embarrassing how long Brent and I took to decide what we wanted...there were SO many options and all of them looked like the best! Even more embarrassing was that we ordered four pastries for the two of us! My choices were this AMAZING almond cake and a gigantic cream puff. Brent chose chocolate mousse (incredible) and a chocolate eclaire. He scarfed the eclaire down in the amount of time it took me to say "yum," but the chocolate mousse we saved and savored over the next few mornings before breakfast.

Hey, relax. Chill. We were on vacation. Don't judge.

*sniff* After my almond cake, I was too full to try the cream puff. It didn't save well in our hotel room fridge, and by the time I tried a bite of it a few days later it was unquestionably stale. *tear*

We ate dinner in Mexico that night, at the closest thing that WDW has to the Blue Bayou. We stepped inside a Mayan pyramid to find a beautiful twilight restaurant situated at the base of another pyramid, with a glowing and rumbling volcano in the background. It was the most romantic restaurant that perhaps we have ever eaten at together. These camera phone pictures truly do not do it justice.

And so concluded our day at Epcot.

Kennedy Space Center

2011-04-15T08:50:00.000-07:00

You guys: Hayley Tyler has now been to the Kennedy Space Center, and her life is one step closer to being complete.

It is hard to put into words what I was feeling that day. I was a total geekazoid tourist; I was perfectly at home. At some points close to tears. Cheesy, I know, but it's the truth.

In typically Hayley fashion I fell asleep in the passenger seat on the 1-hr drive from our resort to the space center. When I awoke, the first thing that announced to me where we were was the looming Vehicle Assembly Building in the distance. I pointed it out to Brent and gazed and gazed and gazed until it was no longer in view.

As we approached the visitor parking lot I saw a sign that was flashing news about the space center. When I read the words, "Space Shuttle Endeavor is on Launch Pad 39a" I screamed and almost fell out of the car while it was moving. I hadn't dreamt I would be able to see a shuttle pointing toward the sky on a launch pad, but it appeared to be so.

Upon entrance of the visitor center Brent and I marched straight to catch our behind-the-scenes tour bus that we had purchased tickets for. I snapped this photo from my seat on the bus. Cute gate huh? Would any of you complain if I had this gate recreated for my home when we have a house?

Fun fact of the day: The Kennedy Space Center property doubles as a wildlife conservatory. There are many acres of open space within the KSC land, hundreds of marshes, and miles of rivers jetting out into the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, this post will have a mixture of space nerd photos and pictures of birds and animals.

The Vehicle Assembly Building.

I found myself so jealous of the pelicans (and all of the other wildlife on the reserve). They have no idea of the PRIVILEGE of where they live. They have no way of appreciating the fact that they are sitting right across the water from the homes of the Endeavor, Discovery, and Atlantis. That whenever they please, they could fly to a high perch on top of the launch tower from which Apollo 11 left the Earth.

Dolphin fin.

The Vehicle Assembly Building, in all it's glory.

This is where the big orange external tank undocks after its voyage from somewhere in Louisiana.

This is the road that the space shuttle travels as it perches on the mobile launch platform on the giant crawler on its way to a launch pad. The giant crawler straddles the strip of grass, it's enormous wheels taking up the entire width of each rocky strip.

The highlight of my day. The Endeavor is just behind the external tank and the solid rocket boosters. Unfortunately this is the closest we got to seeing the actual shuttle. Even if we could have gone to a viewing location on the other side of the launch tower, the shuttle would have been hidden from view by the launch tower arm that covers it to protect it and provide easy access for the technicians that need to touch it up before its April 19th launch into space.

Is this picture for real? This is the closest the public is allowed to the launch pad. We were 800 meters away from it. On launch day, even this distance is too close. 800 meters away from the launch the sound waves alone would kill you. Three miles from the launch pad is the closest safe distance when those rockets start burning their fuel.

This bunker is left over from the Apollo days. I'm trying to remember what our tour guide said it was used for. It provided protection for some piece of equipment during each launch...wish I could remember what equipment that was.

The next stop on our tour took us to this close up view of the Vehicle Assembly Building. If I could just be on the technicians who gets to work in there, I would be perfectly content. Each shuttle gets prepped for launch for WEEKS in there before it is taken to the launch pad.

One of the giant crawlers.

An old married eagle and his wife, keeping watch over their nest. Did you know eagles mate for life? And return to the same nest every year to raise their next set of kids?

This guy was just chillin' in a marsh just yards away from the space shuttle re-entry runway. He was just one of the thousands of alligators on the KSC land, and one of 25+ that we saw that day.

After our behind the scenes bus tour, we got to view the Apollo era launch control center. These are the very computer consoles from which Apollo 11 and Apollo 13's launches were controlled.

A recovered Apollo command module.

A space helmet worn on the moon.

The underbelly of a full-size replica of a space shuttle on display at the KSC Visitor Complex.

These pictures still take my breath away. This is Hayley Tyler inside a (replica) space shuttle payload bay.

The Rocket Garden. So much history on display here.

The Space Center closed to the public at the shocking hour of 5, but somehow Brent and I managed to stay on the property till close to 6, snapping pictures and reveling in our patriotic fervor for the glory of our nation's space age.

It was the best. day. ever.

Our Time in Florida

2011-04-11T17:13:00.000-07:00

Just over a week ago Brent and I came home from our week long vacation in Florida. We had a marvelous time together. We vacation so well together...we always have the same ideas at the same moment of what good vacationing is. We were best friends before this trip, but we became bestest friends on the trip.

We took something like 700+ pictures, and I promise to post only 75% of them on my blog. I've divided the pictures up between the different days of our trip, so each post will be about a different theme park or attraction. As for this first post, it will be about our trip in general and about the resort we stayed at.

Brent got all fancy with the camera on our flight over. Beautiful picture, huh?

Our first sighting of our resort as we exited the freeway. We stayed at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin. Well, to be more precise, we stayed at the Dolphin, whose triangular structure you can see pointing out above the Swan.

This, my friends, is the Dolphin, as it appears when you pull into the valet parking lot (before you realize that you need to go farther down the street to the self parking unless you want to pay mucho bucks).

View from our hotel window. The Swan was just across the lake...lagoon...pond...whatever.

To the left, the red and white buildings are Disney's Boardwalk Resort.

Our view of Epcot from our hotel room window.

Our view of Hollywood Studios from our hotel room window.

Night view of the place we called home for one week, taken near the Swan.

Beautiful.

I made us reservations for this steak house for our first night in Florida. It is inside the Dolphin, so we didn't have to go far. Don Shula's Steak House is themed after the 1972 Miami Dolphins' "Perfect Season." They serve the largest steaks I have ever seen in my life. I ordered the 32-oz prime rib and ate almost half of it. Brent ordered a porterhouse, and declared many times during our stay and a few times since we've been home that it was definitely in the top three steaks he's ever had the privilege of eating.

So why did we choose to stay at the Dolphin, you ask? Easy. We wanted to stay at a Walt Disney World resort from which we could either walk to all of the theme parks or have access to Disney World's amazingly efficient shuttle system. The Dolphin was the most affordable of all of the resorts. That's why we stayed there.

We visited many of the other resorts situated in different areas of Walt Disney World, and we found that by far, our location provided the most escape from the hubbub and frenzy of tourists. Walking "home" to our resort each night always had a calming and relaxing effect...it was often the only time of day when we had more than 5 feet of personal space outside of our room.

The Dolphin had a fantastic swimming pool, beach volleyball areas, hammocks, jacuzzis, tennis courts, basketball courts, you name it. We only found the time to use the swimming pool, jacuzzi and hammocks, but we found ourselves looking on longingly at families playing together in the other recreational areas as we hurried past them to bigger and better things, like the theme parks.

To end this post, I leave you with this picture. A topsy-turvy cake created by the chefs at the Cape May Cafe at Disney's Beach Club, a buffet style restaurant where Brent and I ate brunch our last morning in Orlando.

(To be honest, I'm struggling to come up with a way to tie in the last picture with the rest of this post...let's just pretend it belongs, ok? It needs a home.)

The Job That's Better Than I Could Have Ever Asked For

2011-03-09T17:18:00.000-08:00

For those of you that have been reading my blog for about a year, you may remember these posts about my job search...this one and this one. In both of those I talked about QAI, or Quality Auditing Institute, a company that does physical and fire resilience testing on building and construction products. I was one of the candidates for an engineering test technician position that they had open last year.

Anyway, ever since I went out to the lab for an interview last May, I believed that QAI was the perfect fit for me. I wanted to start a career there so badly. And even though they ended up choosing another candidate for the position they had open last spring, they encouraged me to keep in touch because I was still going to be in the running for future positions.

So I called QAI every month or two just to see if there were any engineering positions open. Month after month, the answer was always no.

Finally, in December of 2010, Brent came up with an idea that set me on fire. I contacted QAI and explained that I was getting rusty in my skill set and was desiring to be in an environment where I could maintain my engineering skills and develop new ones. I offered to go to the lab once a week for a sort of unpaid internship to help out the engineers with any odd jobs they might have for me.

Surprisingly enough, QAI jumped at the offer. The first week of January 2011 I went to the lab for the first time as an intern and started learning the ropes around the lab. The QAI staff was extremely welcoming and all were willing to take breaks from their schedules to answer my many questions when I became inquisitive about the exciting projects they were working on. In the coming weeks I was given a few projects of my own which I tackled to the best of my ability, my motivation being the idea that if I worked hard enough, I might just be offered a job there some day.

Well, praise God, two weeks ago almost to the day, my supervisor took me out to lunch to let me know that from then on they would be paying me for my internship, that I could start coming to work two days a week, and that within the near future they would be hiring me full time.

I'm still kind of in shock. I can't believe that I'm going to be employed full time doing work that is in the field of my education, that is extremely FUN and fascinating, with people that are kind and fabulous to work with. So, so cool. Thank you God!!!

The Story of the Prodigal Diamond

2011-02-15T19:31:00.000-08:00

As you all know, Friday, February 4th was the fateful day that my diamond escaped from the claws of my engagement band. My best suspicion was that it fell off while I was working on bar at Starbucks. It was more than a suspicion...I pretty much had that instinctive knowledge that my diamond was somewhere on the countertops or floors of my store. My managers and fellow baristas were all SO compassionate upon hearing that I had lost my diamond, and all eagerly put in time to look for it.

My managers even sifted through the dirt of that day's sweep job with their own hands. That's how much they care for me. :)

However, during all of Friday's searching high and low at Starbucks, the diamond never showed up. Meanwhile, I was at home all afternoon sweeping my own house and sifting through the dirt, vacuuming and sifting through that dirt, just in case my intuition was wrong and the diamond had fallen off before I got to Starbucks that day.

By the time Saturday morning hit I had pretty much come to terms with the fact that my diamond was gone forever. Brent and I were saddened; not completely devastated, but saddened. :(

Monday morning as I'm working on chores in my home, my phone starts ringing. I get to it right as the ringing stops, and I see that one of my managers tried to call me. The thought that she was calling about my diamond doesn't even cross my mind; as I press the buttons to listen to the voicemail she left me, I think that she was calling me to ask if I could cover someone's shift today.

Instead, this is what I hear: "Hayley, you are going to flip out. Kyle found your diamond."

I'm SO thankful for how God lined things up so perfectly for my diamond to be discovered that day. Even though the floors had been swept and mopped six times since my diamond was lost, my manager thought to remind Kyle to keep a lookout for it while he was sweeping the floors. Kyle swept the floors and didn't find anything. He mopped the floors and didn't find anything. But on his final stroke with the mop, he saw something shiny skid across the floor, ricochet against a wall and slide to a halt two inches from going underneath the dark black abyss of the refrigerator. He stooped down, picked up the shiny thing, and the celebration began.

When I got off the phone with my manager telling her I couldn't wait to come and pick up my stone, I shrieked and shrieked and jumped and jumped for joy.

Look at how tiny it is too! I know this is a really fuzzy picture, but this is the diamond on its side in my hand...you can barely even see it, and yet someone found it while mopping! That shouldn't have happened! But it did!

My rings and the diamond are safely in the possession of my jeweler for repair as we speak. :)

Prayer Request

2011-02-04T11:56:00.000-08:00

Today as I was driving home from work I discovered that the center diamond of my engagement band is missing. I know that I have a lot of "prayer warrior" friends...would you please join me in asking God to let the diamond be found and returned to my hand?

I'm sure it must have fallen out while I was working at Starbucks this morning. I KNOW I saw the diamond on the ring last night, and I'm 85% sure I saw the diamond on the ring when I was washing my hands at work this morning...so it must have happened sometime after that.

I've got quite a mystery on my hands (no pun intended). Not only is the center diamond missing, but both the engagement and wedding bands are severely deformed. I noticed the rings fitting tighter on my hands yesterday, but I attributed it to swollen fingers and didn't examine the rings. When I found out that the diamond was missing, I took the rings off to examine them and found them to be grossly misformed.

What in the world? How did this happen? I've been wracking my brain to try to remember something I've done in the past few days that could have caused this kind of damage. I haven't remembered ANYTHING of the sort yet. No unusual lifting, nothing.

Weird, weird. Almost heartbreaking. But it is good and encouraging and uplifting to know that we know and trust a GOOD God, and that all the jewels on the Earth are His to begin with. He gives, and He takes away, and blessed be His name.

"Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all." ~ 1 Chronicles 29:12

My Awesome Husband!!!!

2011-02-02T19:06:00.000-08:00

So I just recently became an avid fan of Gilmore Girls. I've started slowly watching them via Netflix, and am now in the middle of the 2nd season. Brent hears me ask him almost every night if we can PLEASE please just buy the 1st season on iTunes cuz I know I'll watch it many times over in the course of my life.

Well today a package came in the mail, addressed to him. He had told me such a package was coming, and had instructed me to immediately open in and put it in the fridge...it would contain perishables. When the package came I forgot all such instructions and set it down by the front door.

When he came home from work, he saw the package on the floor, knew what it was, opened it and put it in the fridge without me knowing. Then he told me to go look. This is what I saw.

You see, I was down on the couch sick for most of last week, and he had such compassion on me that he ordered the COMPLETE Gilmore Girls series for me, thinking it would get to me while I was still sick. That's why he told me it was perishable and I should open it and put it in the fridge...he wanted me to open the package and discover his gift and enjoy it right away. :) Unfortunately it came a little too late to enjoy while I was distraught on the couch, but the site of this in the fridge still made me squeal and scream and jump up and down and hug him. :)

(Sorry for fuzzy pictures. This post was done in a huge rush...I'm eager to open my gift. :)

2011-01-20T16:00:00.001-08:00

Anything interesting in the mail today?

Oooo, what's this?

Wha? A telegram? My sister sent me a telegram? Nah...it's gotta just be a cool envelope.

But that doesn't look like a normal letter coming out of there...

It's definitely not a normal letter...what in the world?

It is a telegram! An authentic telegram! Straight out of the early 20th century!

Let's see what was so important that Heather had to tell me via telegram. Anything interesting?

Uh, nope.

But I'm still glad she sent it. Sure made me feel special. Like I was Susan receiving a telegram in Boston from my twin sister Sharon in California...I'll be surprised if anyone besides Heather knows what I'm referring to.

Oh, and Auntie Heather? Your niecey-poo pie Penny loves the telegram too.

Note: The telegram does, as you can see, display a date of November 10...but it's seriously just out of the question that it took me two months after receiving it to blog about it. Who is that disorganized? Really.

Someone's been feeling sentimental lately...

2011-01-07T19:20:00.000-08:00

Wedding Slideshow from Hayley Tyler on Vimeo.

I love you Brent Tyler, so much more than I dreamed could be possible on the day of our wedding. I have God and His plan of salvation to thank for that.

Memories

2011-01-03T10:08:00.000-08:00

731 days ago at about this time Brent and I were sitting in a little corner of a Starbucks just minutes away from the apartment he would bring me home to the next day. Brent looked a little pathetic because he was struggling to fight off a wicked cold that threatened to take some of the life out of him for his wedding day. I looked raggedy with no make-up on, my hair back in a messy knot and sweatpants...not to mention I felt as if I was coming down with Brent's cold. Nonetheless, we were giddy, mushy and sentimental as we presented our wedding gifts to each other. I gave him the project I had been working on ever since our engagement: a journal full of cute text message conversations, love letters, pages from my own diary, little mementos from special dates...a complete chronology of the development of our relationship. On the inside cover of the book was an envelope that held the vows I had written and prepared to read to him in front of God and 150 friends and family the next day. Brent gave me a Bible...the very Bible I assumed I had lost over a month ago...the very one whose leather and binding was falling apart, so he confiscated it and sent it off to get rebound. His gift also included a new ESV study Bible for himself, and a leather bound version of his favorite daily devotional for us to share. His gift meant a lot to me because it was a further assurance that as my husband he was going to lead me to know and love Christ more, day by day. We spent the rest of our short time together that morning holding each others hands and giggling as we exclaimed, "It's actually happening!! Tomorrow!"

I made a stop at Macy's on my way home to go to the Christian Dior counter. I needed eye shadow for the big day. I would have purchased this key element of the wedding day make over MONTHS earlier, but up until that day I had assumed I was going to borrow the eye shadow from a friend, an arrangement that I had recently discovered wasn't going to work out, so I had to purchase the eye shadow for myself.

So I approached the woman at the Dior counter and inquired about the eye shadow I was looking for...she led me over to her selections promptly. Because I was bursting with excitement I filled her in on what was happening...I was to be married the next day! She looked at me a little oddly. I can't blame her. There I stood, alone, with no bridesmaids, purchasing make up for a wedding that was to take place in less than 24 hours, and my face looked pale and blotchy and zitty. Yes, zitty. I was suffering from a terribly painful breakout at the time...and I hadn't bothered to put on make-up before I left home that morning. After I paid for the make-up and was about to leave the counter, the woman offered this: "Make sure you wear concealer. Lots of concealer." She was just trying to be helpful. :)

I went home and spent the next few hours wrapping gifts for bridesmaids, parents, florists, everyone who put their time and energy and love into our big day. I took a long shower, shaved my legs till they were smooth as can be, and primped myself up for the rehearsal. My sister in law was the only other person at my parents' house that day, and she kept remarking at the lack of my panic. I have to admit, I felt a little panicy on the inside...I was SURE and CONFIDENT that I wanted to go through with my vows the next day, but I was a little anxious about the logistics of it all. Brent and I had decided on a morning ceremony, starting at 9 o'clock, which meant that pictures would have to start promptly at 8, which meant the bridal party would have to be at the church no later than 7:45, which meant I had to leave my hairdresser's place no later than 7, which meant that I had to be at my hairdresser's place no later than 6, which meant I had to leave my house no later than 5:30, which meant I needed to be out of bed and completely packed for my honeymoon no later than 4:30 am. 4:30 am, on my wedding day. All of that for a 9 am ceremony. Crazy. But still, in retrospect, so worth it.

Brent picked me up for the rehearsal at about 2:30 pm, I think. It was to start at 3. When we arrived at the church we were both blown away at how our friends and family had transformed it. One of my bridesmaids was the official florist who had come up with all the plans and decorations based on my basic color preferences and favorite flowers. She performed wonderfully at delegating work to probably 10-15 other people who volunteered their time to help set up the church and reception hall. Brent and I walked through the entryway, the chapel, the reception hall, gasping at the beautiful floral transformation that had taken place. It truly seemed to me a fairytale setting for our wedding.

The rehearsal began and was completed smoothly...we had the best wedding coordinator we could have asked for. An old friend of my mom's that gave us her services for free. She ran that rehearsal with an iron fist, and I am so thankful she did. It gave everyone else a break from feeling helplessly in control of something, and it gave me a sense of calm that someone else knew how the logistics were going to work out, and how to communicate those logistics to everyone else involved. I'm still so thankful to God for her.

Then we were off to our rehearsal dinner that my soon to be in-laws so graciously hosted at the romantic Beckham Grill. A multiple course steak dinner was provided, but for some reason the dish that stands out to me was the french onion soup. Delicious. And comforting, seeing as I was coming down with Brent's cold. We did a little bit of dancing at the rehearsal dinner, because the church we were to be married at was a Baptist church and didn't allow dancing in their reception hall. So Brent and I danced our "First Dance" to "If I Ain't Got You" and my dad and I danced to "I Loved Her First."

By the end of the night Brent was struggling severely with his cold, and we were all getting anxious at how early we would have to wake up the next morning. After making sure everyone got their gifts and seeing their reactions to them, Brent and I made as early of a night as possible by saying our goodbyes and whisking out of there. He dropped me off at my home, and before I got out of the car we kissed. It would be our last kiss before we were man and wife.

I stayed up a little later than I should have that night joking around with my brother, chatting with my parents, and making sure I had everything packed for the honeymoon. When I finally laid down in bed for the night, I had those tinglies in the pit of my stomach that made sleep evasive.

It was surprisingly difficult to wake up the next morning at 4:30 am. I had thought my adrenaline and excitement was going to propel me out of bed, but in those moments of reaching out to shut off my alarm I actually had to convince myself that waking up this early for my WEDDING was an exciting thing.

I took a relaxing ten minute bath, got into some comfy sweats, and went about doing my make-up...with lots and lots of concealer. (Oh, my poor painful swollen zitty face that day.) I discovered that my voice was completely hoarse...Brent's cold had hit me hard. I brought my suitcase and my wedding dress downstairs where my dad was waiting in his suit, ready to drive me to my hairdresser's house. My brother decided to come with us at that early hour...I guess he just wanted to soak up time with his sister before she became a wife.

We got to my hairdresser's house promptly at 6 am, and I sat in her kitchen while she primped and curled and twisted and sprayed, all the while wearing jammies, slippers and a big comfy robe. She sent me off to the bathroom to get a good look in the mirror to make sure my hair was just how I wanted it...it was perfect. She hugged me good-bye and sent me with warm wishes. At the sight of me with my wedding hair, tiara and veil in place my dad became a little soft and vulnerable, but moments later he whipped himself into place.

From there we raced to the chapel. Brent called me as we were on our way and discovered my lack of voice...he laughed and said he liked it. We couldn't wait to see each other, but we had decided long before that his first glance at me that day would be as I was coming down the aisle to him.

We arrived at the church and I dashed off to the bridesmaids ready room. Such a sweet time with my girls...my older sister, my best friend, and my mentor/best friend. All three looked so beautiful in their cherry red gowns. They all chipped in to help button up my dress, and my sister helped me with the touch-ups of my make-up.

Soon we were whisked off by our photographer to go take photos of me with my bridesmaids. Her second shooter was simultaneously taking photos of the groomsmen, being careful the two groups didn't cross paths. The hour flew by as quickly as five minutes, and soon enough we rushed back to the church to gather ourselves for the beginning of the ceremony. My dad knocked at the bridesmaids ready room and came in to pray with me for this huge event.

The ceremony began. Parents were walked down the aisle and groomsmen took their place to the main theme of Forest Gump. The music faded, then the main theme of Ratatouille started. My bridesmaids made their way slowly and elegantly down the aisle to the pretty music, then my dad carried his 1 1/2 year old granddaughter to the start of the aisle, set her down, and told her to go to her mother (my matron of honor). She decided to run down the aisle with a big smile, yelling "Rah-rah-rah-rah!" the whole way down. The chapel erupted with laughter. So did I. My dad came back for me, and we journeyed out to the start of the aisle. We began our walk toward Brent as the crescendo came, and my joy at the reality of this moment made my heart swell.

The ceremony was short and sweet. Our good friend and my bridesmaid's husband officiated for us, and my dad gave a short message on marriage and what it has to do with salvation. My brother played a guitar solo, "Here, There, and Everywhere," and my sister-in-law sang a duet with a good friend of ours, "Come What May." It was magical. We became man and wife, and we walked back down the aisle to Ratatouille's "Le Festin" in ecstasy.

Family photos came next, then we were whisked off by our photographers for bride and groom shots. We were away from the reception hall much longer than we had intended, but our photographers were unrelenting and would not set us free to go enjoy the rest of our celebration until they were content with their shots. It felt like they walked us around the entire city of Pasadena finding the most artistic places to take romantic photos. I am so thankful for the photos and the talent of our photographers, but I still cringe every time I remember how long our guests were waiting for us to arrive at the reception.

Thankfully my brother and sister-in-law kept everyone entertained by their emceeing. While we were away they passed around the guests two baby outfits, one for a baby boy and one for a baby girl. They said that when the outfits got back to the microphones, the outfit with the most money inside represented the gender of Brent and Hayley's first child. When we arrived at the reception hall we were greeted with the news that our first baby was to be a girl, as the girl's outfit was about $100 heavier. Oh, and Brent and I picked up some cash for the honeymoon.

The rest of the reception was full of laughter and games, feasting and cake. It was the best wedding either of us had ever been to. It featured the best looking and tasting cake in my memory...handcrafted by my mother-in-law. My voice was nothing but a croak that made people cringe and tell me to stop talking. It was wonderful.

As Brent and I pulled out of the church parking lot as man and wife, our car was pelted with wet, soggy carnation flower balls that no longer had any better use.

Our first stop was our apartment. We parked and Brent walked me to the gate. I thought how odd we must look to anyone peering out of there window at that moment...all gussied up in wedding attire, when everyone else in our complex had probably had a lazy and uneventful Saturday morning thus far. Brent picked me up and carried me over our threshold...we were home.

We got ready to head down to Anaheim where we were staying at the California Grand Hotel at Disneyland that night. I was feeling rotten and exhausted with my cold at that point, and anything above a whisper brought searing pain to my throat. I removed my make-up, took out my contacts and washed my hair, put on comfortable clothes and then we were off to the start of our honeymoon.

When we checked in at the hotel, Brent proudly proclaimed that the woman to his right was his new bride. The lady behind the counter practically did a double take at me...could this woman have been a bride only hours ago? Pale, blotchy and zitty face, wet and unbrushed hair, glasses on her face, looking as exhausted as if she had run a marathon that day? She congratulated us nonetheless and gave us "Just Married" pins and a signed photo of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

We ordered room service that night and took a break from eating to go out on the balcony where we had a perfect view of Disneyland's fireworks show. So perfect. The place where we met was where we ended our magical wedding day.

Oh, sweet memories.

A Bit of Everything

2010-12-09T17:17:00.000-08:00

As always I've had lots to blog about but I haven't been blogging. I'm just about bursting at the seams. This post will be a smorgasbord of different pictures, stories and alerts that I need to get off my chest.

Nerds

If a word were to describe my relationship with my best girlfriend, Holly, I think "spontaneity" would do it. We've known each other for most of our lives and you would be surprised to find out how many of our thousands of adventures together were planned only hours or minutes before they transpired.

The adventure I'm featuring here today is the "'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1' Opening Night Event." We had just so happened to schedule a pumpkin mousse date together the day before the opening of HP7. As we lingered over our afternoon dessert, we animatedly discussed various topics, including the upcoming release of the movie. We came up with the idea of searching for tickets for that night's midnight showing of the film and going to see it together. It took us about a half hour to find three tickets together on opening morning (one for Holly, one for Brent, and one for me), but when we finally did, we were ecstatic. Somewhere along the lines Holly came up with the idea of dressing up as Hogwarts pupils, and even though I made the disclaimer that Brent would not only NOT dress up with us, but that he would also be embarrassed to be seen with us, I readily agreed to the proposition. We spent about five minutes in each of our closets coming up with our outfits. I even had some wooden chopsticks from China that worked as our wands!

Quite a night to remember.

I don't think Holly or I should ever try out for acting...neither of our faces look very convincing here. I mean, do YOU sense that we're about to cast a spell on you?

I look more like a teacher reprimanding a student here than anything else.

Holls, I love you...but what kind of spell-casting form is that?

Uhoh.

Stews and Hungry Brothers

Last Friday night I made Boeuf Bourguignon Soup and Horseradish Chive Bread courtesy of the December 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living. The soup was tasty as stews go, but not good enough that I will ever make it again. Brent and I have discovered that we are simply not beef stew people.

The bread was different, as you can imagine, with horseradish as the main ingredient. It was not unpleasant, and in fact, it was very good, but all three people who ate it that night decided they much prefer good ol' buttery garlic french bread.

My brother was the third taster that evening. Half of the french bread I prepared with butter, and the other half of it I prepared with a dairyless spread that was safe for my brother to eat. Before we served up, I announced to him that the right half of the loaf was safe for him, thinking he might want to take some home.

Nope, that is not how my brother thinks.

When he hears that a certain amount of food was set aside and intended just for him, he sees no reason to not eat it all in one sitting. It was such a surprise to turn around and see an entire half loaf of french bread on his plate! It made me laugh out loud.

Oh, and he finished every bite. In one sitting. In case you were wondering.

And I'm pretty sure he actually woke up with a tinier tush the next morning. How I despise track stars.

Miss Georgie Eloise

As many of you know, my niece is living with my mom and dad this month, allowing my sister, Heather, to get an extended time of rest while battling Lyme disease. Even though it's heart-breaking that Georgie must be separated from her parents for these weeks, we are loving having her down here with us!

I want to share a story that I think Heather will get a kick out of, and perhaps a few of you might giggle through as well. It's one of those stories that MIGHT be a "you have to be there" tale, so please bear with me as I try to relate the hilarious events.

Further disclaimer...the situation I'm about to relate was experienced through turkey goggles by everyone involved; it occured on the evening of Thanksgiving, after consuming large amounts of turkey, and I don't believe I was the only slap-happy person in the room. Therefore, the story may not be as funny as I remember it to be.

But here goes.

I was sitting on the couch with a Georgie on my lap, playing and talking with me. All of the sudden, she very seriously asked me to open my mouth. I obliged. After looking deeply into my mouth, she further asked me to stick out my tongue. Again, I obliged. This produced a frown in the 3 1/2 year old face and these announcements: "Ewwww, your tongue is kind of dirty. Let me go get a wipe to clean it."

I laughed as she hopped off my lap and secretly hoped something would distract her along the way to getting a wipe. But nothing did. Less than a minute later she reappeared on my lap with a wipe.

"Would you please open your mouth?"

Laughter, then, "No, you can't clean my tongue with a wipe!"

"Please! It's really dirty!" (Starts prying my mouth open)

I'm giggling so hard that I'm having a hard time resisting the little hands that want to get inside my mouth. Eventually my mouth submits and falls open, but the thought of a wipe on my tongue is so revolting that my head instinctively backs away.

"Please! Hold still! I need to clean your tongue!"

More laughter. And more attention from around the room has started to point toward our corner.

Finally Georgie wins the battle and starts scrubbing my tongue. I'm having a hard time doing anything but laughing and making a sour face.

Georgie then backs off the tongue, and takes a comprehensive glance at the rest of my face. She sees my eyeshadow and decides it's dirty and needs to be washed off. She proceeds about her business in a manner that suggests she has never heard the word "gentle," much less knows the meaning of it, and occasionally pauses to get a better grip of my head and to exasperatingly command, "Please! Stop laughing! I need to clean your face! Stop laughing!"

By this time the tears have started flowing (I always cry when I laugh). Also, by this time the entire room is focused on the little girl and her intense obsession with my face's cleanliness.

My unhelpful family started suggesting other parts of my head that might be really dirty...my ears, my nose.

Oh, my nose. The little girl, with a serious face, had to crouch on my lap to peer up my nostrils, then took her wiped and scrubbed them out.

The whole room was roaring, and I was defenseless as a result of my giggling.

Georgie leaned back and took another comprehensive glance at my face, then declared, "You need to flow some water out of your eyes to wash away the tears."

I fell over into Brent laughing. When I sat back up, Georgie was trying to hide a smile. When the room's laughter had died down, she finished with, "Maybe not!" ???

I don't know. After writing all of this out, I'm realizing it's SO not a blogworthy story. But at least I'll have it forever recorded for my own sweet memory's sake.

Penny

We have officially named the kitten: Penny. Thank you for all of your suggestions...they were all super cute. Brent was determined that her name be short and easy to say, and when he thought of Penny, the name just stuck. We went through a few other options before discovering the winner.

BTW, even though she has an official name, she gets called "this little one" or "the kitten" more often than anything else. And she gets called "sweetness" a lot by me.

Penny and PDub are now officially friends...best friends at that. It took two days of PDub absolutely detesting the ground she walked on and three consequent days of PDub being pretty sure we got her as his girlfriend (thank goodness both cats are fixed) before they discovered that they are perfect pals to play and cuddle with. Penny absolutely adores PDub and loves to interact with him, standing up on her hind legs to hug him around the neck and bite his cheek many times a day. PDub seeks out the little one many times a day for a good wrestle, and often I will find them playing with the same toy.

Penny does have a few faults.

1) She's smelly. If you dig your nose into her fur, it's actually quite appalling. We plan on giving her a bath, but we want her to heal up completely from her surgery first. Her breath is putrid, and her farts are deadly. She graces everyone with a little S.B.D. just about every time they hold her.

But we love her anyway.

2) She loves walking on our faces at night, trying to wake us up to be interactive in our cuddling with her. We've had to banish her to the living room at night lately so that we can get good rest.

3) Any time she sees a plate with human food on it, she charges onto the lap of whoever is eating it, puts her little paws on it, and starts snacking. That is, if you let her. If you don't let her, then it's a constant exhausting battle during the entire meal to keep her away from your plate. Brent and I suspect that her foster mom allowed her to eat human food off the plate...this cat just does not get it. We're working on this characteristic. In the meantime, enjoy these videos.

Thanks for your time, folks!

A New Addition to Our Family

2010-11-24T15:50:00.000-08:00

Meet the kitten. Brent's new favorite baby.

He's been hinting of his desire for his very own kitten for a while now, ever since he determined that my cat, P-Dub, will simply never have the kind of relationship with him that P-Dub has with me. Unless I'm not home, Brent's will never be P-Dub's first choice of lap to sit on, and even when I'm away it's iffy. P-Dub will never act happy when Brent picks him up and strokes him (even though his purring gives him away).

Brent wants a kitten, a GIRL kitten, that will fall in love with him and choose him FIRST as a snuggly bed. So I got one for him, for Christmas.

I know it's early for Christmas presents, even early Christmas presents, but the first day I did research on available kittens I found one that I thought might just be perfect. A visit to meet her the next day confirmed my suspicion, so I snatched her up as quickly as I could. The Burbank Animal Shelter and it's pet adoption program made everything so easy (and extremely easy on the wallet)!

Coming home from work last night to a new baby kitten was a bit of a surprise for Brent. Although he knew that I was getting him a kitten for Christmas, I had led him to believe that I was going to be a stickler to the old-fashioned notion of giving Christmas presents to their receivers on Christmas DAY (I usually am). But when God made this kitten available to me so early, I just couldn't wait. So after I picked her up from the animal shelter I took her home and sat with her in the bathroom until Brent got home about an hour and a half later.

The doll baby spent about ten minutes exploring every nook and cranny of our little bathroom before she climbed up onto my lap and got all cozy to fall asleep. Eventually I had to get up to prepare for Brent's arrival, and when I was finished I discovered P-Dub and the kitten having a very awkward moment of introduction from opposite sides of the bathroom door.

Then Brent came home.

Brent fell in love with her right away, and over the course of the evening melted away into nothingness. We spent the remainder of the evening crooning over our new baby girl and loving her easy going nature and her uninhibited habit of crawling into comfy looking and available laps.

P-Dub and the kitten did eventually meet face to face. We let P-Dub into the bathroom while the kitten was curled contentedly on Brent's lap. P-Dub charged right past Brent and the baby and spent about ten minutes "looking" for the kitten, even though we all knew HE knew exactly where she was. He played dumb, though, searching empty corners, mirrors and perfume bottles for her, and then finally ended up again next to Brent and the kitten. (Brent and I think he didn't WANT to find the kitten...he was SO in total denial.) When P-Dub finally allowed himself to lock eyes on our girlie, you could see the severe hatred in his eyes. He hissed gallons of tuna breath with all of the might of his body toward her, leaving Brent quite faint and kitty extremely dazed and confused. (Our kitty has spent all of her young life in the home of a nice woman who had two full-grown cats, a medium-sized dog and another foster kitten her age...all animals that loved our girl to pieces and probably never hissed at her once.) Not quite the introduction I was hoping for.

After that introduction, and a whack to the face from a livid P-Dub that sent her flying, our kitty didn't want to be anywhere in our house except for on one of our bodies or hidden away in some dark alcove. At least she feels safe in our arms. :) Nothing worse than a cat who stays away from people at all costs.

This is the most CUDDLY girl you have ever seen. She has a playful side, I know because it was the only side I saw of her the day that I visited her in her foster parent's home. But I think because of the trauma of yesterday, all she wants to do is stay safe and close to one of our warm bodies. As I write, she lies inside my zip-up sweatshirt in a deep sleep, making suckling noises; she's pooped after having a playful session of poking her head out of my sweatshirt at my neck and trying with all her might to snatch the string of my hoodie. Aw. :)

Can't wait for my love to get home from work tonight so that we can get back to enjoying her TOGETHER.

And in case you were wondering, a name is in the works.

I haven't been blogging about food lately.

2010-11-09T15:40:00.000-08:00

You can blame Starbucks for that. Since I've been working I just haven't been cooking as much, and when I do get the chance to make a home cooked meal for Brent, we're not always eager to try a new recipe. I have been doing some experimenting, though, so here are some recipes that we've tried in the last several months.

Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta

This is a Pioneer Woman recipe. Looks delicious, huh? It could have been extremely delicious, had my husband not bought me a juicer only a couple of days before I made this. The recipe calls for three whole lemons, juiced, and because of the novelty of my new toy I went a little juicer-happy and sent three whole lemons, rind, peel and all, through the juicing machine. The result was, I think, not what our dear friend Pioneer Woman had in mind when she asked for "3 whole lemons, juiced." I may as well have added a quarter cup of dishwashing detergent to my pasta sauce...it wasn't pleasant.

The chicken was good though!

So good in fact, that when Brent and I had managed as much of the sour pasta down our throats as we could, I dug around through the rest and salvaged the chicken to use in a later meal.

We will definitely be trying this dish again, with "3 whole lemons, juiced" with our hands...throwing away the rind, peel and seeds.

Pasta with Pancetta and Leeks

This was an extremely easy meal to prepare. It was satisfying but not too rich, and had that unique flavor of leeks sauteed in butter. I really like leeks. Unfortunately my Brent does not. So although I would recommend this recipe to those who like leeks, I will not be making this again.

Hmmm...except maybe I should try it with green onion. Oh my. Yes. That would be tasty.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos with Cilantro-Lime Dressing

This is a recipe that my sis introduced to me when I was up helping her out earlier this Fall. She and Matt had already tried it and knew it was good, so she requested that I make it while I was up there. I did, fell in love, and made it for Brent soon after I returned home. He fell in love at first morsel as I did.

I love this recipe because not only is it incredibly easy (ESPECIALLY if you use a rotisserie chicken), but it also accommodates various food intolerance diets. It is, of course, gluten free, as the tortillas are made out of corn. The taquitos are also delicious when you omit the pepperjack and the cream cheese...I know, I made them for my brother who avoids dairy like the plague and he ate 12 in one sitting, plus or minus a couple.

The cilantro lime dressing is tricky if you're dairy free...I almost got away with dairy-less products until I double checked the ingredients list of the Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing packet and saw that it has buttermilk derivatives or something like that. My brother ended up eating the taquitos dry, dipping them in *gulp* Italian dressing when he wanted to (that sounds disgusting), guacamole or pico de gallo. And he loved 'em that way.

Avacado Tomato Salad

This is a recipe my grandparents stumbled upon in their town's newspaper. They tried it and instantly became addicted, making it two or three times a week. Eventually they decided to share their treasure with friends and family and emailed the recipe to us. I was wary of it at first because one of the main ingredients is cottage cheese...I'm pretty hit or miss with cottage cheese and I know plenty of people who gag at the thought of it.

But my intrigue won over my fright and we tried it. I LOVE it, I could eat it every day for the rest of my life and grow deeper every moment in my affections for it. Ok, so that's an overstatement. A huge one. But the point is, this is WAY better than you think it's going to be and is actually quite delicious! I'm serving it up again tonight!

Brent is one of those people who is not merely "hit or miss" with cottage cheese, he just plain doesn't like it. So, his judgement on whether or not he likes the salad is an undecided one...but it's not NO.

Try it..you never know. This may be your new afternoon snack.

The recipe: 4 large ripe avocados, cut into 1-inch cubes ,4 large tomatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces, 1-cup cottage cheese, 2-3 teaspoons of garlic salt. Combine all the ingredients, serve after refrigerating one hour.

Since you asked...

2010-11-03T15:59:00.001-07:00

...here are the duds.

These are duds because the frosting isn't smooth enough, there's a smudge on the bat, and the spider web is discolored in some places. But this is basically what the cookies looked like.

Who Knew?

2010-11-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

Minnie Mouse works at Starbucks!!!

At least she did last night.

That's right. I closed at Starbucks last night and all three of us closers wore costumes. Minnie Mouse, a basketball player and Mother Nature were all present.

By the way, Halloween was THE SLOWEST night at Starbucks I have ever seen. We went from 8:30 to 9 without a single customer in the store. I never want to work a Halloween again.

I really enjoyed playing my part. Can you tell?

Oh, and up until I left to go to work, Brent and I spent yesterday afternoon carving pumpkins. Brent's is the cannibalistic pumpkin, mine is the redneck one.

I heard a funny joke once: "You know you're redneck when your jack-o-lantern has more teeth than your wife does."

Happy (Belated) Halloween.

Mourning

2010-10-31T15:36:00.001-07:00

This week I put in 19 hours of (fun) difficult labor to make 75 Halloween sugar cookies for a friend's party last night. I made 25 bats, 25 spider webs and 25 jack-o-lantern pumpkins. They were OH SO CUTE. I even did a photo shoot of them before I wrapped them up in their treat bags so I could add them to my cookie portfolio.

Then today, oh the sadness...I found that the pictures had been deleted from our camera. Oh Brent, I know it was an accident, but it pains me so.

My only consolation is that I have this picture of the sugar cookies I made for my niece's duck-themed one-year birthday party.

I do have quite a few leftover "duds." Bats, webs and pumpkins where the frosting job didn't turn out quite as I had hoped...I suppose I could take pictures of those. Anyone interested in seeing them?

By the way, I LOVE making sugar cookies. If I could, I would work in a bakery and decorate sugar cookies for a living. My problem is that as it stands now, mass producing cookies is a problem area for me. How in the WORLD to bakeries do it? I spent 13 hours alone frosting the darn things. I've GOT to come up with a better method for frosting.

This time I didn't charge for the labor, I just asked for reimbursement for the supplies. Comes down to $0.40 per cookie. That was $30 for this order. But imagine, if I had charged for my labor as well, at the rate I currently get paid at Starbucks, I would have gotten $190. $190 for 75 cookies? Who's gonna go for that? I MUST get faster before I start charging.

Thanks for listening. It means so much to me. :)

Surprise! I Chopped Off My Hair!

2010-10-18T15:46:00.000-07:00

So last week my beloved Brent and I were separated while I served my sick sister and her kids in Seattle while HER husband was out of town. I left Brent looking like this...

...more or less. When I arrived home yesterday, I looked like this:

(I'm sure I could have found a better place in the airport to take a video of myself talking about my husband's coming reaction to my haircut, but after spending a week caring for two kiddos, my brain was in a fog. A bathroom stall seriously seemed like the best place at the time.)

Here is the video of my love's reaction. I spotted him from afar, so bear with the long video.

Yes, he loved it. He couldn't stop talking about it yesterday...how cute I looked...how different I looked...how much he was crazy about the new do.

And yes, he did arrive to pick me up at the airport with a dozen roses. Be jealous.

Brain Lapse

2010-09-26T14:20:00.000-07:00

Question:

Where was my head the other night when I was putting away the leftover Chicken Broccoli Casserole?

Boy, was that rank the next morning.

Our Birthdays

2010-09-18T16:04:00.000-07:00

Check this out. I won 2nd place in Lukas's trash-the-dress contest! Brent and I actually get to do it! Woohoo! I feel so honored!

Needless to point out, there is a desperate need for me to update my blog. It feels like I haven't blogged all summer, which is sad, because it's been an extremely eventful summer with lots of blogworthy occasions and occurances. I'm going to attempt to catch up, one past summer event at a time, and hopefully regain your interest in this sad excuse for a blog.

I'll start with the celebration of Brent and my birthdays. Our big days are only 10 days apart from each other in July/August so Brent's family offered to host a big birthday bbq with my family in celebration of both of us. So kind of them. :)

The bbq was on a Sunday, so our plan was to go to church and then have everyone meet at the Tylers' home at 2:00. Or so I thought was the plan.

For some reason I didn't wake up to my alarm that Sunday morning, so I ended up waking to Brent urging me to get up and get ready for church. When I looked at the clock and saw that no matter what we were going to be late, I told him we should just go to the second service and keep sleeping. He protested and begged me to get out of bed and throw some clothes on for church. It was an ironic situation because usually I am the one struggling to disturb Brent Bear out of his hibernation on Sunday mornings. :) It was a true role reversal.

Anyway, he eventually convinced me that something was happening that was important enough for me to get out of bed, throw some clothes on and go get to the car. So I did! Except I stopped short on the way to the car because, upon opening my front door, my sister (who lives in Seattle) was sitting in the hallway outside the door. I shrieked because I was spooked (I'm easily spooked), then I started laughing.

Heather and Matt and their girls were supposed to arrive in LA for vacation like five days later, but it was a surprise for me that Heather and her newborn were flying down early to be a part of the birthday bbq. :) Such a loving sister.

Heather kidnapped Brent and I from going to church and swept us off to a birthday breakfast at Chocolatine.

Here we are gawking at the pastry case...

I'm not usually allowed to have coffee because it might cause the awful painful episodes in my gut that I get sometimes, but for my birthday breakfast Brent offered the go-ahead to get a cup of the liquid bliss. I chose a cappucino.

I ordered a quiche for breakfast...it was the closest thing to breakfast food they had. And it was so good.

Brent got a panini.

And Heather? Heather opted for the chocolate cake. For breakfast.

Ok, so she can't eat gluten, and there were no breakfasty-items that didn't have gluten in them...except for this flourless chocolate cake. :) Oh, so hard to have to live without gluten.

Brent and I ordered some truffles after we ate our meal. I got the passionfruit truffle...

And Brent went for the all-time favorite: the chili pepper chocolate truffle.

Later that day, we met the rest of the family at the Tyler home. I snuggled my Livie-niecie-poo, and she just thought it was tragic thing to have to put up with. Or maybe she was just hungry.

These pictures make me smile every time. Our little Liv is gonna be SUCH a drama queen!

My other niece was bright and cheery though. She looked so darn cute in her purple outfit!

A little later Olivia got fed and was a little more content to be with me.

So Rita and Larry had planned about ten games for us to all participate in. Not so much games...but individual races against the clock. They had gotten their inspiration for the games from a show called "A Minute to Win It." Brent and I had to win every one of them in order to earn our birthday gifts.

First, Brent had one minute to separate a bowl full of M&M's into five different mini bowls according to their color. He failed to organize them all within the time frame, so it was determined that there were too many M&M's in the bowl to begin with. Some of them were removed, and Brent tried again. He made it with just seconds to spare.

I tried, and I don't think I made it the first time. The judges were gracious though, and I got to open one of my gifts along with Brent.

Anyone else who wanted to try any of the games could; I think my brothers Harrison and Hunter both tried this one.

One of the other games involved faces and oreos. Each person had to start with their oreo on their forehead, and in one minute finagle it down to inside their mouth. Most of us opted to just fling the oreo from our foreheads with a quick flick of the neck and then catch it in our teeth on its way down. After a few tries everyone eventually got it. The attempts sure made for funny pictures too!

My sweetheart husband had me open his gift to me in front of everyone. He made sure to get my reaction on tape.

The trip to see the last space shuttle launch is especially awesome for me because when I met Brent, I had only like two months before made the decision to discontinue my pursuit of a career as an astronaut. I was/am a NASA nerd and have ALWAYS, always always always wanted to see a space shuttle launch in person.

So, my reaction to his awesome gift could have been so much more animated...however, I get a twinge of guilt every time I watch this video. The reason is because I remember that the only thing I could think of at the time was "HOW can we afford this?" I wish I had just trusted my husband who has proved time and again to be a faithful and wise steward of our finances. If I could rewind the tape and open that up that sweet, sweet card for the first time again, I would have jumped up out of my chair, jumped on Brent, smooched him big time, and laughed and laughed and laughed, with maybe a few joyful tears. :)

Here is a video of another game we played. We had to pair up and use these toys to throw a ball to each other, and make three successful throws/catches in one minute. It turned out to be pitifully easy once everyone got the hang of it.

For the game in THIS video, in one minute we had to take these stack of cups and with one hand build a pyramid with them, and then stack them back down again. DIFFICULT! I don't think anyone completed this task.

This next one was surprisingly more challenging than it would seem to be. We were given a stack of cups, one of them red-rimmed and the rest of them white-rimmed. In one minute we had to rotate the stack, one cup at a time, so that the red-rimmed cup would go from the bottom of the stack to the top and back down to the bottom again.

Oh my. I think I hated this next game. It would be more fun with a better squirt gun, but the lack of the squirt gun's efficiency might have been the point. We paired up against an opponent and had to be the first one to wipe out each of the candle flames with just the piddly little splatter from the gun. Oh goodness.

This next one should be a science experiment. I feel inspired to research WHY this works. There were like five drinking glasses filled with water lined up on the edge of a table, with paper plates on top of all of them. On each of the paper plates there was a toilet paper role, and sitting in each of the roles was a fresh egg. In one minute we had to flick a broomstick against the paper plate and grab the broomstick in time for the plate and the toilet paper role to go flying, and the egg to fall gracefully into the cup full of water. This video isn't the best example of this phenomenon because it was the last contestant, and by that time the paper plates and roles were soaked, skewing the results. However, everyone else who tried it scored a hole-in-one with each egg! Amazing!

And the last game I have to show you is where we had to dip our noses in vaseline, then dip our gooped-up noses in cotton balls, run across the yard with them still on our noses, and transfer them to another bowl. I think we had to get 6 cotton balls in one minute. Pretty easy, but it was still fun. :)

In conclusion, I believe this post demonstrates the fact that I have the best sister in the world, the sweetest and most thoughtful husband in the world, and the most creative and best in-laws in the world!

A Letter to a Photographer

2010-09-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Lukas,

I was beyond excitement upon stumbling on your announcement that you were holding a contest for one blessed couple to receive a FREE underwater trash-the-dress session. Every time I think about the possibility of winning the session, I get little butterflies in the pit of my stomach. I hope this letter catches your attention.

My husband and I were married over a year and a half ago, on January 3rd, 2009. (Your sister did our photography - artistic talent runs in your family!) Even before our wedding, Brent and I determined that we wanted to invest in a post-wedding day photo shoot in our tux and gown, because we wanted artistic photos of us in an unorthodox, striking location in our wedding day get-up. Unfortunately, since we've been married we haven't yet found the money in our budget to hire a photographer (you) for such a session. :)

So I'm supposed to tell you why you should choose us. Hmm, well, since you asked:

I used to be a nationally competitive synchronized swimmer, and I think my synchro skills would give an intriguing and artistic dimension to our underwater photos. I'm thinking of all these really pretty underwater ballet positions I can get into and maintain in my wedding dress, with me in the background and Brent in the foreground...it would be so lovely. :)
My wedding dress would be gorgeous underwater. It has a lacy, transparent and slightly sparckly train that will flow so beautifully in the water and will make a breathtaking picture when rays of sunlight shine through it. I didn't get any pictures of my dress that showed off the beauty of the train, and photographing it underwater would flatter it perfectly. Here are two pictures where you can get a better look at the lacy train. (In the second one, it's been bustled.)

Over the past year and a half Brent has taken hundreds of pictures of me, and yet we have like TWO pictures together from the same time frame. That's an exaggeration, but it illustrates a point: I need artistic pictures of me and my handsome hubby TOGETHER!
Ok, I don't think this will be possible, but I thought you might give me a point for creativity for mentioning it. Brent and I honeymooned in Hawaii, and snorkeling among the tropical fishies was of course a high point of our trip. It would be SO FUN to have pictures of us in our tux and wedding gown underwater among lots of tropical fish! Snorkel masks and fins would complete it! Hehe! Again, tropical fish in a pool isn't possible, but it's a cool thought. :)

Thank you for this amazing offer Lukas! We would be so blessed to win! And no matter who gets the fabulous prize, I'll look forward to viewing the photo shoot on your website!

Eagerly anticipating Tuesday morning,

Hayley Tyler

DRESSERS!!!!!

2010-08-17T18:57:00.001-07:00

So like I told you all before - if you were paying attention - I've been working on refurbishing our bedroom dressers that I've owned since before I can remember. Well...that my parents owned from before I can remember, and then they let me take them when I got married. 1 1/2 years of marriage proved too long to have those dressers in our bedroom in the shape/style that they were in, so I went about the task of whipping them into good looks. Those babies have now been through rigorous cleaning, sanding, five coats of paint, and knob replacement. And they now look FANTASTIC! Here is a before picture, again:

Cleaning the dressers before sanding them down was quite a revealing activity. It brought to mind the fact that never - NEVER - in the course of my relationship with them have they ever been cleaned, other than a dust here or there. Before my eyes, the dressers turned bright white in areas I always gullably believed to be *ivory*. Stains of various colors that I had always glanced over came off easily with a little soap and water, and made me a bit guilty that I had never thought of cleaning them off before. The girl who helped me clean the dressers even suggested that they didn't need repainting, they had just needed a wash, the difference was so dramatic! Watching all the years worth of dirt and grime come off the dressers before my eyes has made me feel icky every time I use my bare fingers to touch the old knobs I still have on there that I haven't yet scrubbed...need to scrub them asap!

So before I show you the after pictures, I need to fill you in on one detail. These aren't really "after pictures" at all. I'm not quite finished with them yet, and I've been waiting so long to post the pics on my blog because I was holding out for the day when they would be truly and completely finished. Not much more needs to be done with them, all I have to do is scrub with metal cleaner the pulls that I left on the drawers. Having scrubbed one of the pulls I know the visually pleasing difference a good scrubbing makes, so I wanted my real after picture for you all to have scrubbed pulls, not 20-years-worth-of-grime pulls. Also, I wanted to wait to post pictures until I was finished decorating the areas around the dressers and my bedroom was perfectly clean, but I'm realizing none of those goals are going to be reached anytime soon, so I'm making you settle for less than "after" pictures. Sorry.

Now, here are the long-awaited after shots:

Cuter-than-cute knobs from Anthropologie:

More cuter-than-cute knobs from Anthropologie:

So because the spacing between the holes for the pulls is an outdated two inches, I haven't found pulls that I like that have the spacing for the screws that I need. And I don't feel like drilling new holes and gumming up the new ones. However, the old pulls don't look half bad now that the paint job and the other knobs have been updated. So I'm keepin' 'em. In the following picture, the knob in the upper right corner is the one that has gone through one round of good scrubbing. You can see the difference it makes:

Even the small things, like brass-colored hinges instead of the old white hinges, make such big statements and help to make the dressers so classy:

And the grand view of the bedroom!

Voila!

(Re)Decorating

2010-07-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

My entry way has been in need of a little love and attention. So the other week, I gave it some.

Entry way table before.

Entry way table after.

Now, I wouldn't usually be one to place enlarged portraits of myself in frames and adorn my home with them, but things get a little different when you live with an adoring husband. (I came home from a busy day out once to find my coffee table COVERED in printed black and white photos he had taken of me...the least I could do was frame one of them. :)

So basically, I didn't change much here, but the things I did change/add gave the first-view-after-you-enter-my-home a HUGE pop (I think). Much more mature looking. Kept the black and white kissy photo, took away the blue-hued kissy photo (that photo/frame under the red flower balls made it look mismotched in a bad way), kept the vase with the red candle but added blue flowers to the vase (you'll see why in a minute), and added the cute little bride and groom figurines (favors from the wedding we were in recently).

Paperwork shelf in entry way before.

Paperwork shelf in entry way after.

So, I know, I didn't fix the heart of the problem: hiding the messy paper work. Unfortunately, this is literally the only mail/paperwork filing "cabinet" we own...even though our mail/paperwork sticks out of it. We'll upgrade when we really feel the need to I guess.

Anyways, redecorating the top of the shelf REALLY makes a difference, making that part of our entry way feel like part of our home rather than an office. I moved the blue kissy photo/frame over there to complement the blue shelf, put a little shaded candle next to it with some blue ribbon around it to tie in the blue, then mixed red and blue hydrangea flowers in a pink vase. The pink vase makes the pink ribbons on the flowers balls look less lonely, the blue flowers complement the photo/frame (and the blue flowers in the vase on the other table tie that tabletop arrangement to the shelf arrangement), and the red flowers tie the shelf arrangement to the red flower balls.

I haven't yet found a home for the wrought iron candle holder I removed from the wall though...he looked so lonely and forsaken sitting over there without any candles in him, but now he looks even more depressed laying on his backside in my linen closet. Maybe he'll find a permanent home in my bathroom...I'm redoing that room next.

Grand view shot before.

Grand view shot after.

In case you were wondering, one of the many reasons my posts have been so few and far between is because I've been busy refurbishing my bedroom dressers in my spare time. This is a before shot of one of them. These were my childhood dressers; my parents let me take them when Brent and I got married. We were thinking that we would have them for a year or so and then buy our own bedroom set...but yeah...that ain't happening any time soon. So I'm doing the best I can to make them look like classy married couple's bedroom furniture...not 4 year old girl furniture. I'm 95% done with the painting, then I get to go to Anthropologie and pick out the perfect knobs! Stay tuned for results!

Sugar Cookies and Haircuts

2010-07-21T21:20:00.001-07:00

That is like the worst blog post title anyone could ever come up with. Ever.

I don't know about your mind, but upon imagining up the title my mind went straight to the thought of biting into a sugar cookie topped with 1-in long cuttings of hair. Gross.

The image was so disturbing that I couldn't help introducing you all to it. Therefore, this post is entitled, Sugar Cookies and Haircuts.

Or, more accurately, Wedding Sugar Cookies and My New Haircut.

Here is a sample of one of the sugar cookies I made for the wedding earlier this month. Purty cute, huh?

I've been growing my hair out since before I was married, with the goal of it reaching my mid-back and having long, LONG layers, all around the head. Well, haven't quite reached the mid-back goal yet, but I recently got the layers I've been dreaming about! I'm having so much fun with my new style!

Another Pictureless Post

2010-07-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

Before I begin, you need to know that it is 8 pm on Tuesday evening, and I am at this moment exhaustified. I have no guarantees that what I write from here on out will be legible, entertaining, and not exaggerated. But I'll do the best I can.

It's been a whirl-wind couple of weeks!

After Brent's cousin's wedding on July 3rd, Brent and I took a couple days to sit back, relax, and make plans for taking some action this summer. Those plans resulted in me applying for a job at a company at which I would not have seen myself at this stage of life.

Basically, I graduated with a degree in Physics in December of '09, and have been looking for work in my field ever since. There have been a few almost-jobs, and there are still two positions in my field for which I am still under consideration, but who knows how long it will take for me to get hired (if they end up choosing me), and it has come to the point where Brent and I decided I need to be working. If God doesn't want me to be working in my field right now, then ok. I'll work in another field.

Therefore, on Wednesday, July 7, I drove around my area and gave my application for employment to the five closest Starbucks to my home. Two of the five stores were hiring at the time, and thankfully both of them scheduled interviews with me. I interviewed at one of the stores the subsequent Saturday and was hired on Sunday. Praise God!

I started my training on July 12 and have had 4 days of in-store training since. Here's another praise God-statement -- I am L*O*V*I*N*G it. The people in my store are fun to work with, the manager is really encouraging and attentive to my needs, and I've been assigned a "learning coach," a Starbucks veteran, to walk me through my training and answer my every question. She is extremely helpful and NEVER gets annoyed with all the questions I ask, and makes it clear to me several times a day that my training is her priority. Her attitude helps me to feel less like a burden when I botch a batch of steamed milk and have to start over....or when I knock a glass sugar canister off of the condiment bar and it shatter into a million sugary pieces. (You think I'm lying?) I did it right in front of my manager too...he just laughed at me and told me it's gonna happen. My learning coach was so sweet and turned it into a training moment, showing me the proper and safe way to clean up shattered glass, and then she went about wracking her brain for all the glass she's shattered during her time at Starbucks. :)

Today I spent 2 1/2 hours learning how to make espresso beverages, coffee beverages, and non-coffee beverages. That meant 2 1/2 hours of TRAINING at the espresso bar, making drink after drink for practice, then throwing them all away, all while the trained baristas are making customer-ordered drinks around me.

THEN - then - it came to the point in my training where I had to practice preparing drinks for customers. My learning coach started with me and walked me through the first couple of drinks. Then the line started getting longer and drink orders were piling up and I had to start doing more and more on my own. Then the line and drink orders grew even larger and it was time for my learning coach to go home, so my manager took her place...talk about nerve-wracking! My manager told me to be in charge of putting syrups in the drinks and he would take care of the rest. BTW, putting syrups in drinks is no easy matter when you're new...understanding how many pumps of what syrup goes in what is a matter of memorization and repetition (and being able to understand customers' custom orders), and I'm going on nothing but hours of experience here. But I made it through...only having to throw a few botched drinks away. :)

Soon the line and drink-orders built up so much that it was a full-fledged rush (in my humble opinion) and I wanted to shake in fear, roll up in a ball and cover my neck, but I didn't have time to. I just had to pull every resource in my brain to concentrate on what needed to be done to what drink at what time. Eventually things got so busy that my manager told another of the employees to come help him with frappucinos, because that is one thing I have NO experience with yet and I could offer him no help there. So there was three of us working on making drinks in that tiny little bar area. CRAZY.

Eventually, the rush died down, and I was thankful for some relief and the fact that less of a rush meant that my manager could coach me a little more.

Soon after that, my shift was over. I got a decaf Sumatra and a cinnamon coffee cake (complementary flavors, fyi) and chilled for a bit before I went home.

What I've found is this...getting home after working at Starbucks is kind of a shock. You get home, and you think, "It's only 4:30! I have the rest of the day ahead of me! I can do all my chores and complete all my paperwork and have a nice dinner ready for my husband when he gets home!" But then, as you move about your home getting your business done, you realize that your limbs are dead and are begging and screaming for you to lie down.

I gave myself some chill time at home to play my guitar and shower, and then it took every ounce of my strength and willpower to NOT curl up on the couch and fall asleep to a romantic comedy, but to instead sweep and mop, clean my bathroom, vacuum, and then get started on my never-ending pile of paperwork.

God was gracious to me today in that I didn't have to make dinner for my husband...he'll be home late from work and will bring dinner with him. But yikes...I'm nervous for the day when I work at Starbucks, do chores AND have to make dinner. I'll pray for strength.

There's plenty more to say about everything in life right now, but this post is long enough. The funny thing with me is that the more tired I am when I write, the more I write because I lack the brainpower to keep things short and to the point. So I just write what comes to my head and fingertips.

Ok, I'll stop writing now.

The Worst Cookbook Ever.

2010-07-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

Not long ago Brent decided he wanted to shed a little weight, so together we started Weight Watchers. We both like the program, it works for us and our lifestyles. Based on your age, height, activity level and goal weight, you are assigned a certain number of points for every day. Each food is assigned a points value based on its amount of calories, fat and fiber. So you can eat whatever you want whenever you want, as long as you stay within your allotted points values each day. You learn REALLY fast that your idea of a good portion size is probably 3 times the amount that you really need, and you start making healthier choices because you learn that you can eat MORE of the food with less points values and that the larger points value foods should be kept to a bare minimum...unless you want to spend three quarters of your day starving after going all out on a chocolate cake for breakfast.

In addition to your daily points values, you also get a weekly allowance of points that you can use for whatever. You can save them all up for that big bbq on Saturday with mom's pretzel jello salad, or you can use a little everyday, and have an extra piece of chicken with each dinner or a truffle each night for dessert.

We like it because I can still cook my normal yummy meals, but we just eat less of them at one sitting. We've been saving a bit of money too, because we actually have leftovers after dinner that we can eat the next day for lunch!

So, why I thought a Weight Watchers cookbook was needed or wanted in this scenario I don't know. All I know is that I spotted a WW cookbook at my in-law's house, flipped it open to the dessert section and fell in love. Now I know that I fell in love with the names of the recipes, not the recipes themselves.

I took the cookbook home and got to baking/cooking right away.

I think I've set a personal record for being persistant with an awful cookbook. With each crummy dish I made, I didn't give up hope that the next one would be better, less diety, less stupid substitutiony. (I'm sorry for the made-up words.) Oh how I wish I had given up.

Raspberry Brownies

Fail. What an utter disappointment.

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

FAIL. Yuck! Yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck! I dreamed of Trader Joes creamy red pepper dip, and what I got instead was a bitter tasting watery mess.

Guacamole

FAIL!! You cannot, I repeat, CANNOT, ever, never in your lifetime, substitute spinach for avacado. I'm on my knees as I plead with you, not literally, but I am desperate, PLEASE appreciate the goodness and nutritious fat of avacados and never make a stupid substitution choice like I did in obedience to the awful book! The taste will forever haunt me!

Chinese "Fried" Rice

Ok, not an utter failure. This was actually quite decent. Brent and I had it as our "new meal of the week." But what I served with it ruined any morsel of desire to ever make this again.

Chinese Stir-Fried Vegetables

EEWWWWW!! Triple, quadruple failure. Disgusting. Stomach wrenching. Nose putter-offer. So bad I couldn't even stomach a bite. NEVER put bamboo shoots in home cooking!

If it restores me in your mind in any way to a just-above-awful eyer of good recipes (as opposed to far, far below awful), I will mention that the stir-fried vegetables didn't actually sound good to me. I only made them because I needed something to go with the fried rice. Never will I use that logic again.

The take home message: NEVER COOK OUT OF A WEIGHT WATCHERS COOKBOOK.

And if you do, dump what you make in a nuclear waste facility, making sure NONE of it ever gets past your lips!

News Bytes

2010-07-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

Today is my first day home in a long, looooooong, time. Since last Saturday. Not that long ago I guess.

I've been sleeping at my house every night, but all day every day I've been at my in-laws' house, focused on frosting 236 wedding cake shaped sugar cookies for a wedding coming up this Saturday, July 3rd. As of 10:30 pm last night, the job was done, the cookies were in their treat bags with cute little bows, and they were packaged and ready to go over to the reception hall tomorrow.

Oh my goodness. I'M. DONE. WITH. COOKIES. For now.

I had the nerve to put a little gold foil label on the back of each treat bag that says "Hayley Tyler Sugar Cookies," then it lists my email and phone number. Am I really advertising for a job like this again?

Yes. I am. Because I love it, every single bit of it. :)

In other news, some of you might remember my health ordeal that I documented on my old blog back in 2008. To attempt make a long story short, I was having once to twice daily severely painful "attacks" in my upper abdomen, the likes of which reminded doctors of gall bladder attacks. Every test for gall bladder disease under the sun was done on me, each of which came back negative. Then the doctors started testing me for pretty much every other gastrointestinal illness under the sun, and one of the tests came back positive; I was diagnosed with gastroparesis. Gastroparesis explained why I was rarely hungry and why I had lost so much weight, but it didn't explain the pain. When I started medication for gastroparesis, my pain slowly went away.

However, every once in a while I go through a couple week phases of frequent "attacks" again. On June 17 of this year, my "attacks" returned worse, more prolonged, and more frequent than ever.

I saw my GI and his best guess is that I actually DO have a problem with my gallbladder, that it is emptying too slow. That would explain the pain, and if a test that I'm having done soon comes back positive, then they'll take that little painful sucker right out of me.

In the meantime, I'm so desperate to stay out of pain that I am on day 3 of an extremely minimalistic diet. Sports drinks, saltine crackers and chicken broth. Day 1 was a giddy day for me, because I remained pain free. Day 2 I remained pain free as well, but it was less giddy because it culminated in a family dinner at Islands. I ate more saltine crackers to ease my constant salivation at that restaurant than was probably good for me.

This morning, Day 3 of the diet, it's 10:45, and I've finished a pack of saltine crackers. For comparison, each of the past two days, an entire pack was slowly eaten throughout the day.

It might have had something to do with the fact that this morning I've been getting caught up on the cooking section of Pioneer Woman's website.

I'm in bad shape.

It's gonna be even worse at the family bbq tonight. Ugh.

Thankfully, tomorrow I get to add fat free milk products, simple carbs, eggs, peanut butter, vegetable juices, fruit juices, and low-fat hard candies. (Except, I don't even like hard candies...for the most part.)

Please pray for an accurate diagnosis of what is causing my pain. Pray that it is curable, so that I won't have to eat so minimalistically and un-nutritionally the rest of my life.

Also, I have some good news. Yesterday I received my test results from the state exam I took at the end of February. Passing the exam qualifies one for a position in the Radiologic Health Branch of the California Department of Public Health. I passed the exam! Hurray! I can now be considered for jobs that open up within the department! Please pray that God will give me a job soon.

Ode to a Favorite Mixing Bowl

2010-06-24T17:55:00.000-07:00

O bright cheerful mixing bowl, how you made me smile

How your perfect shape complemented my electric mixer,

to beat my eggwhites to stiff, creamy perfection!

How your beauty added some semblance of style

to my collection of serving dishes

How you brought gaiety to my table through the darkest of dinners

You served me well, O favorite one.

How shall I get on without you?

Excuse me...I need to find a handkerchief.

My beloved mixing bowl, given to me by my dear friend, Ashley Currie, as a wedding present from none other than Anthropologie, is in its last days. I was washing it in sudsy water and it accidentally slipped from my hands, falling with a thud on the sink bottom. When I brought it out of the water to mournfully inspect the damage, I found a long, thin thread of a crack on the inside of the bowl, and a shorter but wider crack on the outside.

Can you see it here, just under the rim?

If you look REALLY hard, you can see the long gray thread of the crack next to where I am pointing.

*sniff sniff*

I no longer feel safe using an electric mixer in it. I'm going to let it live out the rest of it's days peacefully, resting under the weight of nothing more than a salad until it goes.

In this case, I thought a memorial before the death would be appropriate.

USA! USA! USA!

2010-06-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

U.S. soccer, Landon Donovan, World Cup...it doesn't get much better than this ladies and gentlemen.

Soccer is my all time favorite sport to watch. Landon Donovan is my favorite player to watch. He's scored two goals so far this world cup, and his goal today sent our U.S. team into the finals. YEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

I picked my dad and brother up at 5:45 am this morning so that the three of us could go watch the U.S. vs Algeria game at the British Crown & Anchor Pub in Thousand Oaks. We arrived at the Crown & Anchor at 6:20 am, and there was already a line formed at the gate, which would open at 6:30.

We got our place in line and tried to count how many people there were in front of us to determine whether or not we would get a seat at a table with a decent view of the game.

Then I tried to take a self portrait of the three of us, and failed miserably.

The atmosphere even outside the pub was exciting. People were wearing USA or England soccer jerseys (the pub would be showing the England match as well) and everyone was discussing the two teams' chances of making it out of Group C. I was nervous. I always get nervous before the start of a game that my heart is involved in.

When they opened the doors, we discovered that there was plenty of room for everyone. The bar they reserved for England watchers, so the US got the restaurant area with much more room. We sat down at a large table and offered for others to sit with us, including two of Hunter's friends from high school that we ran into in line.

The pub has a great atmosphere. Very British, very old-fashioned pubish.

Finally the Algerian and U.S. players came out onto the field. When our national anthem was sung, a bunch of people at the pub stood up with their hands over their hearts and sang along, including my dad, Hunter and me. Hunter and I had agreed that when the anthem was over, we would start a "USA! USA!" chant. We did, and it worked. The whole restaurant came alive with the chant, and we could feel the nerves and excitement in the air. It was awesome.

The game started with a near tragedy as Algeria made a shot at our goal within the first few minutes and barely missed, the ball hit the goal post. After that, the U.S. was on a mission to dominate the game, and dominate they did. Attack after attack and shot after shot that got tantalizingly close, until finally Clint Dempsey put the ball in their net. The whole pub erupted in applause and cheers, until we discovered that the ref had called the goal back because he thought it was offsides (it wasn't). Oh well.

Half time came and everyone breathed for a bit, discussing how the U.S. was playing and what they needed to do to get a win. They NEEDED to beat, not just tie, Algeria. It was the difference between moving on in the World Cup or their World Cup experience being over.

The second half started, and early on Donovan took a corner kick. As he was prepping for it, many people cheered for Donovan and yelled encouragements at the tv. Hunter and I started another "USA!" chant that again took off well in the restaurant.

Here is Hunter chanting:

Donovan's corner kick was anticlimactic, and we suffered through another 45 minutes of mouth-wateringly close shots by the U.S. The U.S. WANTED the win, it was evident, but the Algerian defense was putting up a good fight, and many of our shots were just simply wide or high. As the clock ticked closer and closer to 90 minutes, the U.S. began substituting offensive players for defensive...Buddle for Edu, Beasley for Bornstein. They weren't gonna stop attacking until they got their goal.

The clock reached 90 minutes. The refs announced 4 additional minutes of stoppage time, and the pub erupted in cheers and applause (4 minutes is a rather long amount of stoppage time for soccer, meaning more chances for goals).

The U.S. owned those four minutes. They made an assault on Algeria that resulted in Donovan blowing the ball into the net. 1-0. U.S.

The pub EXPLODED.

As you can see, the screaming and cheering lasted for quite some time. It was deafening. Ecstatic. It was elation. I was jumping up and down and screaming and trying to snap pictures and punching the air and screaming and screaming. So was everyone else, except for the taking pictures part.

Oh my goodness, my stomach still gets butterflies when I remember that moment. (Is that what it felt like in Heaven when Jesus rose from the dead?)

Algeria tried to make a counterattack but got too feisty and the ref blew the whistle against them. They were furious and in the ref's face, so the ref gave one of them a red card, and he was sent off the field. The pub erupted again in screaming, cheers, and applause.

Hahaha. :)

Time was called. The U.S. had won. More jumping up and down, more screaming, more cheers. Tears came to my eyes, but thankfully didn't make it out (how embarrassing).

On our way out to the car, one of our fellow game watchers saw me, pointed and said, "You were a wreck in there!"

"Who, me?" I asked.

"Yeah! You were so stressed and involved in the game!"

Yup, that's me.

And the U.S. goes on.

USA! USA! USA!

P.S. If you were wanting a review of the Crown & Anchor as a restaurant, I have one. On a scale of one to ten, it's atmosphere is a 9.5. It's food and service, however, is more like a 2 or a 3. My omelet this morning, for instance, still had uncooked eggwhites............GAG! And they gave me American bacon, not British bacon like I had asked for. I'm just being honest.

Summer Chicken & Basil Pasta

2010-06-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

So this was last week's new recipe dinner. The recipe caught my eye as I was skimming through a coupon book mailed to me from Ralph's. It was a recipe next to a coupon for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! margarine...and of course the recipe utilized ICBINB!, though I substituted the real deal. I will NEVER use margarine in cooking. Ever.

This recipe is definitely a keeper. It's not gourmet, but it's simple, comforting, healthy and refreshing. Brent loves it, I like it, it's a one pan meal...it's going in my recipe book!

4 tbsp I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! (or, if you have any self-respect, BUTTER)

1 lb thinly sliced boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

2 cloves garlic chopped

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved (I just used plum tomatoes...Brent and I don't like the cherry ones)

1 3/4 chicken broth

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves

8 oz. whole grain spaghetti, cooked and drained

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Melt 2 tbsp butter in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; cook chicken, stirring occasionally, until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Set chicken aside. Melt remaining butter over medium heat and cook garlic 30 seconds. Cook tomatoes, stirring frequently, 2 minutes. Add broth; bring to boil over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, 2 minutes. Stir in chicken, basil and spaghetti; heat through. Sprinkle with cheese. Refrigerate any leftovers. Serves 4.

*Notes* It needs salt! A little bit does the trick. Also, the leftovers are just as good as the fresh cooked...trust me, we just had the leftovers for dinner tonight. :)

Food Update

2010-06-22T16:34:00.001-07:00

Filets de Poisson Bercy aux Champignons

Translation: Fish Filets Poached in White Wine with Mushrooms

This was Saturday the 12th new meal of the week. My first attempt at a fish dish from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Brent and I had some good friends over for dinner that night, so I got four people to rate the meal. All four of us said very good. In fact, Brent even went the extra mile to say that the sauce was fantastic, and I agree. Buttery, savory, fishy. Very fishy, so if you're like my sister, this isn't the dish for you, but if you're someone like me who has started succumbing to the goodness of fishy fish, then try this. Tomorrow.

Though it was good, I'm not sure I'm going to make it again. I'm not sure I can explain why. I guess it felt like fancy restaurant food, when while I'm at home, I like to feel like I'm eating fancy homecooked food? Is that a good explanation?

Then again, if I had a restaurant's chef in my home, I would ask him to make this dish often. So maybe it's the effort put into the dish that makes me want to pass over writing this one down as a keeper?

I would post the recipe here, but it's very long and complicated. (It is, afterall, from Julia Child.) If you really so desperately want it, ask me. :)

Virgin Daiquiri a La Brent Tyler

I love that I have the kind of husband who likes to make virgin daiquiris, and that he adorns them with umbrellas and extra pieces of fruit every single time. His daiquiris are delicious...they always turn out different, depending on what fruit we have on hand, but they are most often delicious. :)

Strawberry-Vanilla Bean Cake

The picture doesn't do it justice....the camera made the whole picture too orange, so I spent four seconds trying to fix it in Photoshop, got impatient, and saved the picture like this. But imagine a creamy white cake flecked with vanilla bean specks, with creamy white frosting with a hint of pink and strawberries. It was a beautiful cake.

Delicious too. So moist, so rich.

I had seen the recipe in a magazine a little while ago, and salivated every four hours every time that I thought about it till I made it. I waited for a special occasion with guests to make it, and when I finally did, it was worth the wait.

My only regret was that I wished I had used more vanilla bean. The recipe called for one whole tbsp of the pricey stuff, so I bought four beans thinking they would probably be more than enough. Wrong. Four vanilla beans barely got me half a tbsp of flecks. I dream of how flavorful the cake would have been had I used an entire tablespoon.

Again, if you want the recipe, ask me. :)

Our Weekend Dash to Napa Valley

2010-06-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

Like I said before, over Memorial Day weekend Brent and I made the seven hour dash up to Napa to visit some friends.

I said that, and that I'm a bad blogger...Forgive me for the two week break!

Anyway, a major feat was accomplished on the way up to Napa....I did not sleep a single minute of the seven hour drive! Not only that, but I drove for the first four hours! This may not seem amazing, but it is. I am infamous for not only for not getting behind the wheel on road trips, but

also for sleeping during the entire trip, like I did last November on our way home from Napa, leaving Brent to the company of his iPod.

This time I was good company for Brent. On the way there, at least.

Here is one of the memorable views of the trip up:

Brent knew the windmills were coming and was excited to get some good pictures of them as we drove by. He was in the driver's seat as we sped through them, so I had control of the camera. I must have taken hundreds of pictures as we zipped through hundreds of windmills, and two of the pictures turned out cool and only this one turned out worthy of playing with in Photoshop. I am quite proud of this photo.

We arrived at Wyn and Chelsea's home at about 7:30 pm. They had a nice warm dinner of stuffed bell peppers and some fancy-schmancy rice waiting for us. Other than eat and laugh together, we didn't do much with them that night because we were tired from our drive and Wyn was exhausted from his day at work. Right after dinner we curled up on their comfy couch and watched The Three Amigos and ate Oreo ice cream until we couldn't keep our eyes open any more. (About halfway through the movie.)

Before I continue narrating our trip, I need to take a break and let off some steam about how much I love Wyn and Chelsea's (from here on referred to as 'WynChels') decorating style! There home is not only warm and inviting (as I would describe mine, I think), but also supremely artistic and BEAUTIFUL. Wyn teaches art for a living and Chelsea is naturally artistic, so their home is a haven for their creativity to run wild. Take a moment with me to admire their style.

Guest bathroom.

I love this countertop display. The picture was taken the moment WynChels were getting engaged at the beach, you can just barely make out the two of them in the middle of the picture. Every room in their house is filled with pictures of the two of them and their memories together...it makes the house feel full of love.

More guest bathroom.

That is a hand-painted, uh, painting, by Chelsea. I just love the contrast in color between the bathroom walls and the shower curtain! So bright and cheerful!

More guest bathroom.

(What can I say? I spent a lot of time in here, got to know it well.)

I love the modern-yet-elegant accent of the chandelier type thing above the toilet.

This is in their living room. She's a natural at adorning flat spaces.

This is what you see when you first walk in their front door. A mural of a tree painted on their wall, and...

Adorable hanging picture frames made out of twigs! (Brent and I both made it onto this wall of photos, btw. I think that makes us famous.)

I just really admired what she did with this shelf.

WynChels are experts at garage sale shopping. A TON of the furniture in their home was purchased at garage sales for crazy low prices, and then with just a bit of touching up and replacement of a knob or two, each piece of furniture was turned into an Anthropologie-esque item. Like this side table, for instance.

Display above the fireplace.

On one wall in their tv room, they have these 8x10 pictures of WynChels at different stages of their growing up years, before they knew each other. I love the idea!

Chelsea painted these birds.

So cute.

Wyn painted the motorcycle specifically for that wall.

And the two of them made the broken ceramic inserts for this coffee table. Creative, huh?

This is in WynChels' bedroom. Chelsea put cute mismatching fabric on that entire wall. *sigh* Love it Love it Love it.

Oh and their bed and headboard are just adorable.

More bedroom.

Wyn painted their bedroom doors to look like Medieval era castle entrances.

Their backyard is even full of innovative creativity.

And innovation in the works. (One of their) current projects: a mosaic backyard dining table.

Thank you for joining me on that tour through creative inspiration.

Back to our time in Napa. The above picture pretty much says it all.

CHELSEA HAS A LATTE MAKER. She made one for me everyday. Each one made me smile.

In addition to serving me a latte the first morning, WynChels went all out and made us french toast, turkey bacon and pineapple for breakfast. Yum yum.

After cleaning up breakfast and getting ready for the day, we prepared a picnic lunch to enjoy out in the vineyard country of Napa Valley.

We made a tourist stop in Yontville where there were fancy art galleries, wine stores, olive oil shops, and expensive boutiques.

I bought these adorable Holly Yashi earrings in one of the art galleries, having seen them featured on Pioneer Woman's website only days before. Needless to say, I wore them the rest of the trip.

Inside one of the olive oil stores there was this awesome table made out of bar soap. It was, of course, an advertisement for the bar soap that was being sold there.

I just think the next string of three pictures is so funny. Throughout all three, I have a run away piece of hair that I had no clue about. For the first picture, I thought I was making a great pose by holding up a bottle of olive oil. For the second, I decided the best way to show Brent my displeasure for him telling me to put down the bottle of olive oil would be to make a frown. For the third, I obliged him and smiled, without a fun pose.

We found a cool photo-taking bridge.

Cool dudes.

Studs.

I practiced my picture taking skills by taking portraits of flowers.

Chelsea was doing the same thing.

Oh, Napa. These sites are just like a ten minute drive from where WynChels live.

This was where we picnicked.

Later that day, we drove 40 minutes to Berkeley to watch one of Chelsea's friends play a gig in one of the restaurants there. These sunflowers were painted on the wall right outside the public garage where we parked. We were in a hippy-ish town, it was kind of a hippy-ish wall, I had a pretty hippy-ish hair-do...hence, the picture.

When we found out that Chelsea's friend wasn't playing a gig that night afterall, we goofed around on the Berkeley campus just for tun.

We had dinner at a really delicious Italian place that decorated the interior of the restaurant with white undergarments.

Brent and I pride ourselves in being tirimisu connoisseurs, so when the waitress told us the tirimisu was "out of this world" - or something to that effect - we had to try it. It wasn't the best tirimisu we've tasted, but I enjoyed that they didn't skimp on the liquour.

The next day, Sunday, we got to hang out with the Van Straatens too! Anton, Marietjie and the girls came to WynChels' after church and hung out the rest of the day with us. It was a delightful time of laughter, Wii Fit, backyard fun, and good food.

The next morning the Van Straaten family came to WynChels again, and Brent and I made everyone egg and canadian bacon sandwiches for breakfast. A couple of hours later Brent and I hit the road, already missing our dear friends in Napa.

I'm a Bad Blogger

2010-05-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

But I have good intentions.

I’m sorry for those of you who “follow” me that I don’t blog on a more regular basis. I promise, I’m always thinking of things I want to write about and fun topics for my blog posts, but somehow I struggle to find the time to do it. I recently wrote out a list of about ten post ideas I’ve had up in my head for a while, with the lack of opportunity to actually put them on the blog. I promise, I have all the intentions of a regular blogger, I just haven’t figured out how to fit regular blogging into my schedule!

This weekend my husband and I are up in Napa, CA, visiting some very good friends. We’re staying with a couple whose romance in their early dating days sort of paralleled our own…we started dating around the same time, went on double dates together, and Brent and I got engaged the day of their wedding, just hours before Brent got all snazzied up to be a groomsmen.

We’re also up here to visit the couple who took us under their wings during our dating and engagement days. Though our relationship with this couple is now mostly a friendship rooted in our common love for the Savior and love of laughter, we still look to them as examples of a godly and wise husband and wife team.

We feel so blessed that these couples give us an excuse to drive up to Napa Valley every once in a while! Talk about a beautiful place to visit! The wine vineyards never cease to take my breath away…

I’ll hopefully have pics up soon.

Oh, and as I sit here writing this on the evening of Friday, the 28^th of May, I’m typing my thoughts out into Microsoft Word because I haven’t gotten the chance to ask for our friends’ internet security password….so if the date that this is actually posted is different from the date I claim to have written it, that’s why.

And lack of security password is another excuse I have for the delay in blogging.

So THERE.

Kalamata Lemon Chicken

2010-05-26T16:06:00.000-07:00

Let's see...it's been a while since I've posted a New Recipe of the Week. That's because while I was in Seattle, I didn't attempt any new dinner recipes, and I've only been home for three Saturdays since then, and two of them Brent and I spent out on an adventure. So here is the New Recipe from two Saturdays ago.

This was good.

I wouldn't say excellent, or even super good, only because the chicken turned out very dry. I was supposed to use chicken thighs, but because I usually associate chicken thighs with nasty quality Chinese food, I used chicken breasts. I'm tempted to try the dish again using chicken thighs because I think it might turn out more tender (would it? anyone know? please answer?), but Brent's opinion is that I should let the dish be, because, remember, I don't like chicken thighs.

I hope I grow out of that someday. I know many food-loving people who think that chicken thighs are the bomb. Let me try that again -- I know many food-loving people who think that chicken thighs are fantastic. (Saying "the bomb" just isn't me.)

Aside from the dry chicken, everything else about this was delicious. Neither Brent nor I had ever tried orzo before, but this first experience was a good one. I definitely am motivated to try more orzo recipes.

Without further adu, the recipe.

Kalamata Lemon Chicken

Madison Mayberry's recipe featured in the 2010 edition of MixingBowl.com Magazine

Ingredients

1 to 1 1/4 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs

1 tbsp olive oil

2/3 cup orzo

1/2 cup rinsed, pitted, and halved Kalamata olives (Um, I just used black olives...Kalamata olives are just so expensive. And...I sliced mine. Halved olives can be overpowering.)

1 14-oz can chicken broth

1/2 lemon, cut in wedges

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp Greek seasoning blend (made my own with what I had on hand)

1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400. In a Dutch oven, brown chicken in oil. Stir in orzo, olives, broth, lemon wedges, lemon juice, Greek seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Cover and bake for 35 minutes. Makes about 4 servings.

You Can PAM it Like This!

2010-05-19T18:05:00.000-07:00

Last Georgie story, I promise.

My little 3 year old niece has quite the little mind of her own. She'll come up with her own phrases and names for certain things if no other names exist for those things that are suitable (in her mind). For instance, Heather's nursing pillow is not a "nursing pillow" or a "boppy pillow," no, it is a "cumbaya." And a little dollop of mushy food crumb found on your finger, or a booger found on your finger, or a spit wad, or any tiny-little-pretty-gross-something, is a "peeta-potter." Duh, right?

One morning while I was in Seattle, Georgie woke up ready to play and to narrate excitedly to Heather and me as she was going about her business of making us breakfast with her toy kitchen utensils. She chattered away excessively while she went to and fro, bringing dishes to Heather, telling her what was on them, when Heather could start eating, etc. In the midst of all of that busyness and chatter, I heard Georgie pause in front of Heather long enough to show her a toy skillet and say,

"And you can PAM it like this! *PAM* *PAM* *PAM*!" With each *PAM* she smacked the bottom of the overturned skillet with the palm of her hand.

Then she just went about her business of preparing breakfast and narrating.

Heather and I looked at each other and got the giggles. What in the WORLD does "pamming" mean?

Oh, George.

Back to the Blog

2010-05-13T16:06:00.001-07:00

I'm so sorry for the lull in blogging. Not to make excuses, but I have an excuse: I kind of hit the ground running when I arrived home from Seattle. After I got home last Thursday night at 10 pm, I set out at 8 o'clock the next morning for a job interview at QAI (to be blogged about), then I went on a lunch date with Brent, then I slept for three hours, then Brent and I got caught up on all our tv shows that we agreed not to watch while we were separated, then the next morning we went out to breakfast, bought a bike for Brent to ride to work, then we did some shopping, went to Santa Monica, rode bikes for an hour next to the beach, met my mom and Hunter by the Santa Monica pier, rode bikes for another hour with them, stood in line for Iron Man 2 while eating Johnny Rockets burgers, watched Iron Man 2, the next morning we went to both services of church, went home to do laundry, met my family at Claim Jumper for a Mother's Day celebration, went to my family's place to watch The Village (Vika's Mother's Day gift for my mom), then Monday started. And if you're tired now of reading what I've done since I've been home, you'd be exhausted if I told you what I've done since Monday.

So here are some stories that have just been waiting to be typed.

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Georgie vs. The Suitcase

The Suitcase was an area of great temptation for Georgie. When she first climbed in it and closed it on herself, I thought it was cute and reached for my camera. But soon enough Heather and I had to enforce The Suitcase as an off-limits zone for Georgie, because a favorite past time of hers was to unpack and unfold all of my clothing from it. One day, towards the end of my trip, as Heather and I both sat busy at our computers, we heard Georgie working hard and chattering while she did it, saying things like "I'm putting EVERYTHING in the suitcase!" Because Heather and I were both busy at our computers, we would both make cheerful, mindless comments back, like, "Oh how silly!" By the time we shook ourselves out of our too-busy-to-notice-what-the-little-monkey-was-doing state, The Suitcase looked as it does in the above picture. What is NOT pictured is that beneath the first layer of toys, there was a layer of office supplies from the desk right next to The Suitcase. By "everything" Georgie apparently meant toys and office supplies.

We told Georgie firmly to stop what she was doing, (I giggled a bit), then I set about ridding The Suitcase of everything that didn't belong. I told Heather that I was SURE I was going to accidentally go home with a Georgie toy. Sure enough, while unpacking The Suitcase back at home, I found this.

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Hayley vs. The Coveted PJ's

Before I arrived in Washington, Heather went through her entire wardrobe and emptied her closet of four bags worth of clothing she was ready to pass on to me. 3/4 of the stuff she gave me I have NO IDEA why she was getting rid of -- it's just all too cute and SUCH great quality. Therefore, as I was going through all of the clothing with Heather looking on, I would periodically exclaim, "HEATHER! Why THIS? This is ADORABLE! Why are you giving it up?" To which Heather would reply, "I just NEVER wear it!" And I would then say "Thank you."

But then I came to these:

"HEATHER! Why THESE? These are ADORABLE! Why are you giving them up?"

"I just NEVER wear them."

To which, rather than saying "Thank you" (in hindsight I wish I had), I cocked my head, frowned a little, and said, "Why?"

I can understand never wearing an adorable dress...one does not often have the opportunity to wear an adorable dress as a mother of two in rainy Seattle. I can understand never wearing an adorable shirt...sometimes certain shirts require a certain amount of effort for hair and make-up and jewelry that is just not reasonable for your stage of life. But never wearing adorable pj's if you have them? I am baffled. There is not any sort of other preparation you must do to make yourself look presentable, if not SMASHING, in adorable pj's. They're like, the easiest things ever to wear. (Did I seriously just write like a Valley girl talks?) Also it's fun to look presentable, if not SMASHING, when you go to bed if you're going to bed with a husband.

I explained a little bit of this to Heather, who replied thoughtfully, "Yeah, I could wear cute pj's like that."

Something in the back of my mind told me if I didn't shut my mouth, I wouldn't be in possession of the cute pj's much longer.

A few nights later, I decided to wear my new adorable pj's to bed. I got ready for bed before Heather disappeared for the night -- bad mistake. She looked at me in my adorable pj's that used to be hers and said wistfully, "You look cute."

I said, "Thanks!" Then, when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that she was still eyeing the pj's, I offered with puppy-dog eyes, "Do I need to give these back to you?"

She shrugged and smiled.

I sighed and dramatically said, "Well, I guess I'll just go change into some other pj's then," not believing she was REALLY going to accept them back.

To my surprise, this was her response: "Oh, you don't need to change now. You can wear them tonight if you want."

Um, for real? Really you're going to take back the adorable pj's you just gave me? Seriously? Why did I offer them back?

Heather, I still haven't gotten over acquiring such a precious item, only to have it ripped from my hands.

And you'd better be wearing them on a regular basis, or else I want them shipped within the week. ;)

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Hayley vs. The Interview

A few weeks ago I posted a prayer request about an upcoming telephone interview with QAI, and in a following post I gave the praise report of how well it went. QAI contacted me while I was in Washington to set up a time when I could go out to their lab for an interview. We agreed on the morning of May 7, the day after I arrived back home. Much prayer went into the interview, and by God's grace it went really well. I'm pretty sure you can tell that an interview went well when you thoroughly enjoyed yourself throughout it. For the first half hour I was interviewed by the two lab managers who were easy to talk to and who seemed to be impressed with me. God blessed me again with swift and detailed answers to all of their questions. They told me congratulations, from the initial hundreds of applicants I had made it down to the last five candidates. They told me they're looking to hire three of us in the next several months for a few different positions. For the last half hour one of the lab managers took me on a tour of the lab where I would be working if I got the job. The tour was fascinating and whet my appetite for working there! I was even privileged enough to witness a fire resilience test of an airplane cargo wall! Pretty awesome.

So Tuesday, I called one of the guys who had interviewed me to thank him for the interview and re-establish how much I felt I belonged in the company. He thanked me for following up and let me know that for right now, they've hired someone else for the position. :( He did say that they are still wanting to hire two more people for other positions in the next coming months, and he said I am still on their minds as a top candidate.

All of that to say, I didn't get the job. But that's how the interview went. :)

Still trusting God. It's a comfort to know that I am exactly where God wants me to be right now, job or no job.

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Eyes vs. The Sun

This was our first attempt to take a picture with our mother during our little Mother's Day outing to Santa Monica. Hunter looks like he's praying, mom looks like sand is blowing in her eyes, and I look a little woozy. We had all been waiting for the count of three to open our eyes for the picture, as the blinding Sun was just at eye level behind the camera. Apparently our timing was a little off.

A little better. At least we're all looking at the camera. This time Hunter looks a little seasick, mom looks like she's trying to be a sassy model, and I look Asian.

Finally, we gave up and took a picture facing the other way. This is much better.

Hmm...shoulda stopped with the previous one maybe.

How did it escape my notice that Brent was wearing socks above his shoe line before we went out the door that morning? I literally just discovered this...this is not good.

Awwww. :)

Bicycle fail.

Pose fail.

Too awkward for my taste. It's not a toilet, Hunter! It's a bike!

Georgie Quotes

2010-05-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

Georgie, walking toward Heather with the newly purchased Mothers' Day gift: "Happy Balentine's Day!

Georgie: "It's a long, long walk."
Me: "To where?"
Georgie: "To Wendy's."

Georgie: "I don't want pizza."
Heather: "But I made you a really yummy pizza."
Georgie: "SANK you."

Georgie: "I'm hot."
Me: "Do you want me to take your sweater off?"
Georgie: "Um, no sanks. My disser is hot."
Me: "Your disser?"
Georgie: "Yes. My disser is my heart."
?????

A Big City and Da Zoo!

2010-05-05T10:36:00.001-07:00

Georgie and Smithers were best friends last night. At least Georgie thought so. It all started when Georgie was given a cookie after dinner, and Georgie decided she wanted to eat it with Smithers. She searched long and hard around the house for Smithers, then finally found her perched in one of the shelves of the changing table. Georgie plopped down next to the changing table and ate her cookie while loving on her kitty.

I came and checked in on them later, and laughed when I found cookie crumbs on Smithers' forehead. Poor Smith-face. She's such a good dog-cat.

I was trying to get a close-up of the crumbs, but Smithers yawned. I thought it made a funny action thought.

While Georgie ate her cookie, she said, "It's a long, long walk for Smithers."

I said, "Where is Smithers going?"

She answered, "To a big city!"

When Georgie finished her cookie and Smithers moseyed out of the changing table, Georgie announced to "Everybody" that she and Smithers were going away, "To a big city and da zoo!" A few minutes later, when all was quiet, I looked for them and found them like this:

I asked Georgie what she was doing and she replied, "We're goin' to a big city and da zoo! We're goin' to da zoo first." She said all of this without looking back at me.

Smithers glanced back at me.

Then Georgie glanced at Smithers.

Then I got a front shot of them. Before I snapped the picture, Georgie had her two fingers in her mouth, and she was just gazing out into the distance. I wonder what exactly she and Smith-face were pretending.

Lately

2010-05-05T09:53:00.001-07:00

We've been busy! This will be quick, because I've already wasted enough time getting these pictures ready for the blog. I'll write what commentary you need to know then get back to loving on Georgie!

Friday Heather and I hosted some very old friends of ours, Brittany Gaydos and Brooke Abel. The Abel and Hays families were very good friends as we grew up, and it turns out that the Abel sisters are both currently living in Seattle, so it was just a little drive for them to come have lunch with us. Brittany brought her little cutie daughter, Eleanor! It was a fun afternoon catching up and enjoying lots of memories.

The next morning Heather took us all out to breakfast at Salish Lodge. I had heard so much about this place from Heather, so I requested that IF we got out of the house for anything during my time up here, perhaps we could go there? We had the most delicious breakfast with a window seat that gave us a gorgeous view of Snoqualmie Falls and the surrounding mountainside.

When you order coffee at Salish Lodge, it comes with the most delicious toppings.

Sugar, fresh whipped cream, half-n-half, and chocolate shavings!

When Georgie's hot cocoa arrived, she guzzled it like there was no tomorrow.

I ordered the croissant french toast. Heather enjoyed it vicariously through me. It was SO good.

It came with butter and jam. The tabasco sauce was for Georgie's eggs...not the french toast.

As the guzzling slowed, Georgie's playfulness kicked in. She thought it was too cool to sip hot cocoa AND ice cold water at the same time.

On the way home from Salish Lodge, we stopped at the mall for a bit of shopping. Georgie was SO excited at the prospect of getting new clothes. We stopped at Baby Gap and got some summer clothes for her. Georgie clung tightly to any clothing we picked for her.

At home Georgie prompted a cozy session with her mommy and sister. She spread the blanket and cuddled in, saying, "We're so COZY!" Over and over again.

I've been having too much fun with Heather's cute dishes.

Sunday morning we went to the zoo. Here's George making a silly excited face for the camera while she watched the meerkats.

Messy do. Another topsy turvy. Didn't turn out as neat and clean as the last one I did with her hair, but this one turned out messy in a trendy way.

When we got too cold (and Olivia needed to eat), we stopped at the zoo cafe for hot cocoa. George got whipped cream all OVER her face.

Yesterday I tried out some more fancy skills with Georgie's hair.

She looks too grown up. Like a little school girl.

Yesterday Georgie and I ran some errands together, so I took Georgie out to lunch at Wendy's. I ordered her a doublestack cheeseburger and as I was taking it out of the bun and cutting it up for her, she said, "Mmm, doublestee-yack." There was a grandma sitting near us who chuckled and smiled at Georgie upon hearing that.

Sorry to Disappoint

2010-05-03T14:28:00.001-07:00

Georgie asked me to draw for her. I asked her what she wanted me to draw. She wanted Mickey and Minnie. I told her I didn't know how to draw them, but I would try. This is what I produced:

I was actually quite impressed with myself and patted myself on the back. Georgie was pleased as well. She asked for Goofy next. With the success of my last drawing, I had confidence going into Goofy. Perhaps it was unfounded.

Oh no.

What is this? Perhaps the Russian version of Goofy?

Georgie was not sold. She said, "That's not Goofy. Maybe he needs a hat." Hence, the cowboy hat.

Surprisingly, she asked me to draw more. She asked for seals.

Pretty reasonable, huh?

Can you guess what she asked for next?

No, it's not a pig-faced banana with a gorilla body and human legs, it's just a gorilla, as the caption indicates.

Before she resorted to easier things like pansies and mangoes, she gave me one last shot and requested giraffes.

She stopped me before I attempted the spots.

The Day's Georgie Quotes/Stories

2010-05-02T21:45:00.000-07:00

Heather put the girls in the double stroller for the first time today.
Heather: "Do you like the stroller?"
Georgie: "I sure are!"

Heather, on the phone to her grandparents: "Georgie is enjoying Hayley so much."
Georgie, looking at me: "I'm enjoying you so much, Haywee."

Georgie, with my bulky MacArthur Study Bible open on her lap: "Shhhh!"
Heather: "Why are you sh-shing?"
Georgie, whispering: "We're readin'."

Heather told Georgie to go pick out some pj's, a task that Heather gives her every night and one that she usually completes quite well. This night, however, Georgie came out of her bedroom carrying one pair of boxer briefs and one pair of pajama shorts. She exclaimed, "Look what I found!" Heather explained to her that she had two pairs of shorts...what about a shirt? Georgie considered what Heather had to say, then took the pj shorts back to her room, returning with a long-sleeved pj shirt. She kept talking about how she was so excited to wear her underwear (the boxer briefs), and after she had them on she kept saying how much she LOVED her underwear, that they were so nice and cozy. :)

The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back

2010-05-01T16:23:00.001-07:00

I've always been the type of girl that when life gets stressful or tiring, slowly but surely the pressure builds inside of me until an emotional outburst ensues. Not that I get angry or throw things...the outburst is always tear related: bawling and weeping and a lot of sup-supping and talking it out with the person that I trust most. One of the most dramatic cases of such an outburst was when I was in Ukraine for two weeks for a mission trip. I had left my 13 year old cat at home, prepared for the fact that when I returned, she would probably not be alive...she was in REALLY bad shape. I knew I wouldn't be devastated when she died because we had her for a long time and her death had been coming for a while, so for the first five days of the trip I was able to forget about her and really concentrate on what I was in Ukraine to do. It was day after day of early mornings, ridiculously late nights, tons of walking and physical activities, and deep conversations with people whose English was their second language. At the end of one of these days, as my group was on the subway on our way home to our dormitory, I was so exhausted I thought I might fall asleep and get left behind on the metro. Little stresses and "tragedies" had started snow balling in my heart, and I knew I needed to get back to my dormitory and pray it all out. My dad approached me on the subway and started a conversation like this:

"Hayley, you need to know that I spoke to Mom [back at home with my cat] today."

I started shaking my head violently, trying to communicate through head-wagging that I was in no position emotionally to be hearing the news I was about to bear. My dad didn't get the cue and continued.

"I have news about Nigel."

The water works started. And with me, with one of these exhausted, stressful emotional outbursts, once the tears start, they don't stop. And they tumble out faster and faster and continuously more violently. Even if I'm in a public metro.

My dad pulled me close and told me, "It's good news. She's taken a turn for the better and the vet expects a full recovery."

I was already bawling, and there was no stopping it. I was now bawling partly for happiness about the news of my cat, but mostly I was just releasing gallons of pent up emotion. My sweet daddy held me and comforted me about the cat, but my dear friend and roommate, Ruth, looked on and knew the real reason I was crying. I just needed a good cry. I was TIRED. Physically, mentally, emotionally.

The mention of Nigel was the straw that broke the camel's back.

You needed that descriptive narrative in order to understand the events that transpired two nights ago here in Heather's home.

So I've been helping my sister take care of the monkeys, maintain the house and cook for the family since Monday morning. I slept HORRIBLY the night before I got on the airplane (not being able to sleep for the two hours before I had to get out of bed at 4:45 am), I said goodbye to my husband, knowing I wouldn't see him or feel the warmth of his embrace for ten days, and then when I arrived in Seattle the duties started right away, and I was taken off guard with how little opportunity for rest there seemed to be.

PLEASE don't get me wrong... I LOVE being here. Georgie is a CONSTANT source of smiles and laughs, hanging out with my sis is and always will be a blast, and the little peanut of a baby, Olivia, is precious. It's such a privilege to be able to pick her up and snuggle her at any time of day.

It is, however, extremely tiring. Heather can back me up on this, especially because her job is ten times harder than mine has been for the past few days.

So last Thursday evening, as I started making chicken picatta for dinner, I was 1) exhausted, 2) missing Brent, 3) in back pain from stress and sleeping on the couch, 4) exhausted, and 5) missing Brent. I melted some butter and olive oil in a frying pan, and when it was nice and hot, I took a spatula, put it under a piece of breaded chicken, and flipped it over into the pan. A little bit of oil splattered up and out onto the stove. No harm, no foul. I slid the spatula under the second piece of chicken and flipped it over into the pan. A LOT of oil splattered up and ONTO ME. I cried out in pain, backed away and bent over, thoroughly confused as to why the pain was 1) not going away, and 2) getting worse. Heather asked me what had happened, and as I rushed to the bathroom to wash the hot oil off I told her that the oil splattered up on me. She commented that it was all over my shirt. I looked down, and sure enough, my t-shirt was covered in splattered oil. Who cared? I was in pain, a lot of it. I got to the bathroom, turned the water on and splashed water all over my face and neck, where the pain was. Eventually the pain started subsiding, but it was too late. The lump was in my throat and the tears were coming.

I did NOT want Heather to know I was crying, but I knew at this point that I needed a good cry. So I closed the bathroom door as nonchalantly as I could, and then I keeled over in tears. A few minutes of silent crying and splashing more water on the not-feeling-any-better burns, and I knew I needed to go back and check on the chicken. I dabbed my eyes with a wet towel to clear away the tear stains, told myself to STOP crying, and marched out of the bathroom to the kitchen without letting Heather see my face.

I got to the kitchen. Bad news. The chicken was smoking, burned to a crisp. Not salvageable, and it was the only chicken I had prepared to fry. I would have to start ALL over again. That, or not meet my duty to make dinner for my sister and Georgie. This time, the floodgates of tears and emotions burst open uncontrollably. I stood, frozen and trembling in the kitchen, the tears flowing out of my eyes like a high pressure hose.

Heather at once became all motherly with me. She came into the kitchen and did all she could to minimize the smoke in the house, all the while saying, "Hayley! Oh poor Hayley! It's ok!" At one point, she cried out, "Do you just HATE being here?" That made me feel rotten, because of course I LOVE being here, but what must it have looked like to Heather to have me trembling with tears over a cooking burn? I assured her that I love it here.

She asked if I was crying from the pain while worriedly eyeing the burns on my face and neck. I told her that it sure hurt, but I wasn't sure that's why I was crying. I let her know I was just exhausted. She got some nice salve and gently applied it to the burns, and then we decided that the big burn on my neck needed a bandage. Heather searched and searched for a bandage big enough for the burn, but didn't have one.

So, being the creative and resourceful sister that she is, she resorted to....

a.....

pad. Yes. A pad. She taped a pad on my neck. It did the trick.

Eventually the pain really subsided, but I was still unable to control my tears. My thoughts kept turning to Brent and the need to hear his voice and get his comfort, so I finally locked myself in Georgie's room and poured it all out over the phone to my sweet, understanding and comforting husband.

Talking to him sealed up the water works. I felt much better right away, though he was concerned at the sound of my burns.

The burns on my face were at that point raised blisters, and in no time the taped-on pad fell off my neck, revealing several more blisters and a large area of raised red skin with a hot tamale-shaped tight blister in it. It looked bad. I asked Heather if it was going to heal. With the most reassuring expression and voice ever, she said yes, yes of COURSE it was going to heal. Then, on the turn of a dime, her face turned doubtful and she said, "I think so..." We both doubled over in laughter at how ridiculous the entire situation was.

My sweet, caring and self-sacrificial sister told me to not worry about dinner, that she was going to go to Walmart to get me an air mattress to help with my back pain and she was going to come home with a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream for us to share while we chilled in front of The Office. It sounded heavenly and so relaxing.

For some reason she didn't buy big bandages while she was out, so I slept with another pad securely fastened to the burn on my neck. In the morning, I left a message with my primary care doctor, telling him what happened, describing the burns, and asking whether or not I needed to be seen for the burns.

When I got a call back, the voice on the other end of the line said, "You need to go to the ER."

I didn't want to. "Even if I'm not in pain anymore?"

"Yes. You need to go to the ER."

After lunch that day I drove over to urgent care - no WAY I was going to wait at the ER for my injury. The nurse examined my injuries and announced that they were 1st and 2nd degree burns. The doctor came in and examined me as well, and looked seriously concerned as she wondered out loud how she was going to care for me. Eventually she decided on releasing the blister on my neck because it looked as though it had the possibility of being infected. Praise God, it wasn't infected, but I'm so happy she released it for me because I would not have wanted to wait for it to pop on its own. She thoroughly washed the burns on my neck and applied antibiotic ointment to them, and I was thanking God that none of what she was doing hurt. At all. Oh, so thankful.

Next she examined the blisters on my face and determined that they did not need to be released, so she skipped to the step of thoroughly washing them and applying the ointment. She sent me home with a huge supply of burn wash and ointment with instructions to wash every 6 hours, and the recommendation to not wear facial make-up so that I won't have to use any soap to wash it off. In addition, I am to not wear necklaces or wear my hair down until the burns heal.

I really liked the doctor and I felt very well taken care of as I walked out of urgent care. She seemed to think that the burns are going to heal nicely.

That evening, as I prepared dinner again, I was singing in the kitchen, and I realized that the day had felt more relaxing than any previous day at the Hitzeroth's yet. It was because of the emotional release the night before. :)

Heather is now keeping an eye on me to make sure that I'm resting as often as I need it, and I'm trying to monitor myself as well. And I'm wanting to pour out my burdens to the Lord constantly, even if they're small burdens such as "I didn't sleep well last night, and Georgie woke up early this morning. "

And now, if you want, you can look at the burn on my neck, before the blister was popped. I had a picture of my face as well, but the camera settings were such that the blisters didn't show up, so all I have is my neck, the worst burn. If you want, scroll down, and there will be the gory image.
:)

Life With George

2010-05-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

A Compilation of Stories from Hayley's Time in the Hitzeroth House (Thus Far).

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The Snow Leopard

If you read the post entitled "The Perfect Date," you know that Brent and I bought Georgie a snow leopard as a little gift. I packed it in my carry-on with its head peaking out my bag, like this:

When Heather picked me up at the airport and I jumped in the car, Georgie was shy and quiet in the back seat. She said "Hi," very politely, but wouldn't talk otherwise. I put my purse on my lap so that the snow leopard would be in her plain view. I watched her and she spotted the furry guy even more quickly than I had suspected. She kept her anticipating eyes on it for a good 30 seconds before she interrupted Heather and my conversation with a question, "Um, mommy, what's that? What's that in Hayley's bag?"

I answered her, "Oh, it's a snow leopard!" I took it out of my purse and cuddled it. "Uncle Brent got it for me to give to you, but I think I wanna keep it!" (I was teasing, of course.)

Georgie didn't know that I was teasing so the poor thing slowly nodded her head in submission, with a look that said, "Of course. Go ahead and keep it. That makes perfect sense, I respect your wishes." She also gave me a lispy, "Yes."

Right away I told her that I was teasing and I handed the snow leopard to her. She cuddled him right away, and he's been a good friend of hers ever since.

When we got home, the first thing she did was to prepare a meal for her furry friends. Note the snow leopard in the stroller.

Thanks, Uncle Brent, for the snow leopard! (From Georgie.)

BTW, it took less than the car ride from the airport to home for Georgie to warm up to me. We've been best friends ever since. :)

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Dressing Up

Georgie has been loving digging through my clothes and finding something to wear. She'll find a shirt and say, "This looks like my size!" She'll sling it on in whatever way suits her and say "Oh Hayyyyyy-weeeeee, look at me!" If she feels particularly beautiful in whatever she's wearing she'll say, "It's my dream come true!"

What I didn't get on camera was her in the above outfit, with my blue silky robe around her shoulders as well. She was struggling with figuring out a way to adorn herself in the yards of silky fabric, until I helped her by gathering up the sleeves and putting her arms through it the right way. She got so proud and walked around as if she was wearing a ball gown.

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The Playful Georgie

There was one morning that I woke Georgie up and fed her breakfast, then I jumped in the shower and when I got out I found evidence of Georgie's busy playfulness.

I love how several puppies are stuffed in the box. I wonder what was going on here?

As I was going about my business one day, I heard Georgie say, "Look at me!" This is what I beheld when I looked:

I thought it was cute, so I took a picture. Then Heather saw what Georgie had done and and right away said, "Georgie! Get your feet out of there!" Turning to me, she said, "She twists the handles so tight that you can't get her out." This I thought was hilarious. That she had done this before, numerous times, and liked it so much that she had to do it again. And sure enough, when I helped her get out of her self-induced predicament, I found that she had twisted each handle several times before putting her feet through.

I heard Georgie working in the kitchen really hard for about 15 minutes, chattering about what she was doing all the way through. She kept saying something about having to do something with the vegetables. When she was finished and out of the kitchen, the counter tops looked like this:

Mind you, pre-Georgie, the fruits and vegetables were neatly organized in the now empty red and blue bowls.

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Smithers

The other day I was putting stuff away in Georgie's closet and noticed something out of place. What doesn't belong here?

Before I left to go fetch my camera Smithers had been laying on that red-lidded box quite contentedly. By the time I got back she was in this position.

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Hair Styling

I am loving playing with Georgie's hair. She looks darling in pigtails, braids and topsy-turvy pony tails.

Wish I had gotten pictures of the pig tails and topsy-turvy pony tail...I'll do them again and show ya later.

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The Peanut

Never met a more snuggly baby. She's so precious to hold. When you hold her, you feel like you're holding a little lady, she's so small and delicate. She makes the most wonderful, precious noises, CONSTANTLY. Heather says she "squeaks and snuffles." She does. :) I love my little Liv.

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Gluten-Free Cooking

I've been doing all the cooking around here lately (heaven!). When I made my meal plan for the ten days I'd be up here, I was surprised at how many of my meals that I like to prepare for Brent and me are naturally gluten-free. So far I've only made one meal that needed a gluten-free substitute, and that was enchiladas. I had to use gluten-free flour in the enchilada sauce.

Heather asked me to try out a gluten-free pretzel recipe for her. They were a cinch and turned out delicious, even to one who is used to glutenful pretzels like myself! The recipe only makes four small soft pretzels, though, so I may have to double it next time. We're planning on making gluten-free pretzel hot dog twists sometime next week. I can't wait, they sound so delicious!

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Further Observations/Georgie Quotes

Georgie: "I can help you roll the enchiwadas cause I'm a big sister!" Then "helping" me roll the enchiladas by squeezing my arms as I rolled them.

Georgie: I want to pway wif you.

Me: Oh, you want to pray with me? I'd LOVE to pray with you!

Georgie: No, pway. PWAY. PWAY! (Play.)

Georgie, scribbling something on a piece of paper: "K...L...G...O...Y...G...O...E...Y...A"

Heather: "What did you spell?"

Georgie's swift response: "Daddy!"

Georgie has made up a game where she complains to Heather or me: "Oh no! There's a badger here!" The only response that is suitable in her mind is for one of us to wave our hands and say "Shoo badger, go away!" So today, in the car, Georgie complained that there was something on her head! I looked back quickly and didn't see anything, so I said, "Shoo badger, go away!" Georgie looked disgusted and offended and said, "NO! It's not a badger! It's a PILLOW!" Sure enough, I looked back again and saw that a small baby pillow had, indeed, fallen on her head from the back of the car.

Georgie at the breakfast table: "I need help eating my eggs."

Me, taking her fork and feeding her: "Ok, I'll help you."

Georgie: "Sanks. It's a hard life."

Valet driver, standing next to the car while I buckled Georgie in her seat: "Do you like being a big sister?"

Georgie: "I sure am!"

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That's all for now, folks! More Georgie/Heather/Olivia stories/comments to come!

Next up...The Adventures in Getting 2nd Degree Burns While Cooking!

Implications of a New Name

Sweet Kitten

Priorities

Hollywood Studios

Universal's Islands of Adventure

Animal Kingdom

Blizzard Beach

Magic Kingdom

Epcot

Kennedy Space Center

Our Time in Florida

The Job That's Better Than I Could Have Ever Asked For

The Story of the Prodigal Diamond

Prayer Request

My Awesome Husband!!!!

Telegram

Someone's been feeling sentimental lately...

Memories

A Bit of Everything

A New Addition to Our Family

I haven't been blogging about food lately.

Since you asked...

Who Knew?

Mourning

Surprise! I Chopped Off My Hair!

Brain Lapse

Our Birthdays

A Letter to a Photographer

DRESSERS!!!!!

(Re)Decorating

Sugar Cookies and Haircuts

Another Pictureless Post

The Worst Cookbook Ever.

News Bytes

Ode to a Favorite Mixing Bowl

USA! USA! USA!

Summer Chicken & Basil Pasta

Food Update

Our Weekend Dash to Napa Valley

I'm a Bad Blogger

Kalamata Lemon Chicken

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Georgie Quotes

A Big City and Da Zoo!

Lately

Sorry to Disappoint

The Day's Georgie Quotes/Stories

The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back

Life With George

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