The Most Epic Road Trip

 

One of my favorite things about Matt is that he loves to cook as much as I do. He also loves watching food shows with me. We're all about Chopped, Iron Chef America, No Reservations, Worst Cooks in America, and DD+D. If we're scanning, and one of those is on, it's game over. (A way better compromise to my HGTV or his fishing shows). 

I found this website that tells you every restaurant featured on said cooking shows, categorized by state, show, and even city. 

And now my dream is to plan a crazy road trip and eat at some amazing dives on the way. 

Or wouldn't it just be fun to explore the restaurants in the state you live in? 

...JUSTKIDDING they already have a road trip planner. Dream. Come. True.

Graduate

#1 reason I love having a smartphone: When I'm in Coalville at a school with literal stuffed animals hanging in the library, and wonder what the difference between a buffalo and a bison is, I can just Google the crap out of it. Question answered. Who needs grad school? I have Google and a lot of questions.

Coworker: "Think about how big that guy's head is. Like, imagine if he were standing right next to you. It doesn't look that big from far away. But up close...whoah."

And those are basically my metaphorical feelings about grad school.

Just kidding. But for reals, I'm still flirting with the idea of grad school. Remember when I confessed that I truly, madly, deeply love school? Going back is still on my mind. My question is, how do people work full time and get a masters? That sounds like my own personal nightmare. But I really really really want it. hashtagmasochist.

Do you have a graduate degree? Does anyone have advice about going back to school while your spouse is also in school? 

My Proverbial Love Fern

So Matt got me an azalea tree (bush?) for Valentine's Day. I swear it's one of the most beautiful plants I have ever seen. The best part is that it lasts so much longer than a bouquet of flowers would. The worst part...is that it lasts so much longer than a bouquet of flowers would. He says I have to

keep it alive until next February. 

Suddenly I feel like Kim Kardashian when Kanye gave her that cat. Who cleared me for this?!

The only experience I've had with keeping plants alive was watching my mother unceremoniously throw away the pair of impatients that died annually on our front porch. Like clockwork, a new pair would greet me the next day like nothing ever happened. 

Oh, and one time we grew some pumpkins in the backyard. My dad also grew tomatoes. Sometimes we picked limes off of the tree that was there when we moved in. Mostly I just reaped the rewards but did none of the work.

Needless to say, I need some help keeping this tree alive. 

I've googled some stuff. I water it ever day. I even open the blinds to give it that much-needed indirect sunglight. But after that, I'm kind of clueless.

Help!

If it dies before next February, I may feel like Matthew McConaughey's Ben in HTLAGITD.

"YOU KILLED OUR LOVE FERN!!!"

I wouldn't put Matt past it. 

When I get home from a long day at work

My Funny Valentine

Last week we went on our Valentine's date. Matt always likes to make a big deal out of this day, so I was excited to see what he had planned! The last two years we did Valentine's day together, he picked amazing restaurants. This year we went to Fresco Italian Cafe, a house-turned-boutique-restaurant in Sugarhouse that was as hard to find (and as charming) as Narnia. The food there was so good Matt almost cried when he took the first bite of his steak. Everything there had at least six descriptively-hyphenated words attached to it. In this case, the more words, the better! This may be the second best meal I've ever had (only trumped by our first Valentine's Day meal at Tuscany).

It was fun to have an excuse to dress up and spend some time together outside of our apartment. Every time we go up to Salt Lake, we end up having a great time. Why don't we go up there more often? Dinner was followed by an evening at Abravanel Hall. The Utah Symphony performed music from Romeo and Juliet and Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky. I had never been to a legit symphony before, so I was pretty impressed! I used to set up the stage background before performances at BYU, so I was double impressed. Those panels looked heavy!

Matt made sure to remind me that his main reason for going the symphony was for school credit. I guess that was a hint that I shouldn't get used to this? I think he changed his mind once he heard that live music, because he walked out at the end talking about coming back. I think we have a believer on our hands. Lucky me :)

And...a really bad iPhone photo.

Happy Valentine's Day!

a story of love

This is my first Valentine's Day as a married lady. I'm gonna be honest, most of my Valentine's Days have been spent "alone", pining for the day when I would have someone special to share it with. You know, that's just how it went.

My V-Days didn't get good until Matt came along. Lesbehonest, I was just happy to have someone awesome to spend time with. But he went all out to make me feel special.

These past two years, Matt was on his mission in the Philippines. The first Valentine's Day was spent hoping this guy I was going on dates with would call me (he didn't) and the next one was spent pranking people around Provo with my roommate and a mannequin head on a broom stick painted like David Bowie. Let's just say it was a weird two years.

I don't know what this year will bring, but I'm happy to have an excuse to reflect on why I love my husband and other special people in my life. Here are some links I found to help you guys get in the holiday spirit:

A tribute to 19 years of being single on Feb 14th: 10 great things about being single on valentine's day

diy chocolate heart wall (I would love to walk home to this any. day.)

"I love everything about you" color-yourself printable

a printable chalkboard valentine

Plus, in case you missed it, a post about what no one tells you about being engaged.

And...some quotes on love:




"Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and thinkers, but most of all, surround yourself with those who see greatness within you, even when you don't see it yourself." - unknown

“All I understood was that she was the girl I sat up every night thinking about, and when I’m with her, I feel happy to be alive. Like I can do anything. Even talk to you like this. So that’s, that’s what I think is love, mom. When I’m better because she’s here.” - Cory Matthews, Boy Meets World

"I wish never to be parted from you from this day on." - Mr. Darcy

"Never allow your happiness to depend on a relationship. I think it's a very special thing to find love. It's beautiful. Nothing can match it. But make sure you find other things in live that you love besides...your love." - unknown

"A reporter asked the couple, 'How did you stay together for 65 years?' The woman replied, 'We were born in a time when if something was broken, we would fix it, not throw it away.'"

"And them my soul saw you and went, 'Oh there you are. I've been looking for you.'"

"Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused." - Alan Cohen

"'I was waiting for the longest time,' she said. 'I thought you forgot.' 'It is hard to forget,' I said, 'when there is such an empty space when you are gone.'"

7 Valentine's Day Ideas

1 plantable valentine // 2 heart marquee light // 3 washi tape dixie cup vase // 4 "i love you to the moon and back" printable // 5 a manly gift // 6 no sew sequin heart sweater // 7 diy date idea arrows

Oh hey, guys! It's time for some festive diy ideas to celebrate Valentine's Day. I have a confession, though...I'm usually too lazy to make any of them. I just love finding them and looking at the pictures. But if I weren't too lazy, I'd definitely do #7, the date idea arrows. It's a no-excuse way to always have a date planned. I put these up a few days early so you have time to make them before Thursday. If you make any, I'd love to see pictures or hear about it. 

Where The Sun Glows

Oh man. I'm so glad I married an adventurer. My personal ideal day usually consists of staying home and relaxing, but Matt loves to get away. I'm really starting to love it, too. The wear and tear of daily life can sometimes feel almost too overwhelming to bear. Getaways like this create events to look forward to and memories to last.

Today we slept in on our fancy air mattresses, ate sausage mcmuffins the size of my face, took naps, walked to a charming outdoor restaurant with the best French waiter and vinaigrette I've ever seen, and danced with baby in the living room.

The house isn't finished yet, so we are improvising...which means cooking with a grill and microwave, and using the front stoop as our fridge.





And I had two (yeah, two) of the best baths ever in a triangle whirlpool bathtub.

We even started planning our summer vacation. What initially began as a cruise to the Bahamas has turned into a week in Costa Rica with the brother's family, then Miami, then the cruise.

When the sun started to set and all were napping, I sat outside on the deck to worship the forgotten sun and bottle it up. I wish I could take the sun home to Provo with me. It makes all the difference.

Hopefully this will get me through the last weeks of winter. What do you do to recharge?

My 2012 in Review

What's that? You want a re-cap of everything that happened to me this year? Okay!!

Check out highlights of this year after the jump...

A Christmas Card

Can I just count our wedding announcement as this year's Christmas card? Who am I even asking? Who is in charge of all these questions? The answer for me is, my delusional self. Yes, Kellie. This totally counts. You can post a Christmas card on your blog and it will totally be the same as sending out a nice paper one to all your friends and family. 

Technically we haven't even been married a whole year. So this Christmas, we're taking our mulligan. Expect a Christmas card for the next 50 straight years. Or until the apocalypse comes.

(Please pretend you received this card after December 21, 2012).

The Best Thing Matt Has Ever Said To Me

So Matt and I spend a lot of time at home relaxing. Work is crazy, and home is this blissful sanctuary where we watch tv and google crap until the cows come home. We go on real dates on the weekends and go to the gym or the store, but we do spend a lot of after-work time at home. Last night I did yoga and Matt got pumped on his doorway pull-up contraption. And then we ate dinner on the couch. Something on tv must have referenced a chicken (I wasn't paying attention), because all of a sudden, Matt blurts out,

"Babe, did you know that I know how to hypnotize chickens?"

I mean, you can't just spring something like that on someone who's knee-deep in Pinterest. It's just too random! It was so out of the blue that I couldn't stop laughing for like 3 whole minutes.

Just the image of him trying to calm a chicken down makes me crack up.

I didn't even know chicken hypnosis was a thing! Apparently you do that before you kill it. Which makes me sad.

But there you go! Now you and I know about one more crazy strange thing that exists in the world.

So this is officially the best thing Matt has ever said to me, besides all that romantic stuff he said while we were engaged haha.

Happy hump day, y'all.

Tradition .... TRADITION!

I think I mentioned earlier that I am trying to find some new family traditions that Matt and I can share together. I love my family's traditions, and I love being a part of Matt's family traditions, but I think it'll be fun to have our own. Being newly married puts a big old magnifying glass on everything I thought was normal. Turns out, some things are normal for me, but not for Matt. The things I did growing up are not the same for Matt. Talking to people about their holiday family traditions has either proven that 1) my family is weird or 2) my family is awesome. I am wholeheartedly choosing #2. 

Here are some awesome Rowland family traditions that I am excited for this Christmas:

1) Watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. This is the only movie that I have seen more than 7 times. (Other movies that come close are Titanic, My Little Pony, and Sex + the City).  My father loves it. He quotes it all year long. It's a given that this will be on in the background at some point during Christmas vacation..........Do you see what I did there?

2) Chinese food on Christmas Eve. I think this tradition might have started because my mom was getting too stressed out about cooking a perfect meal on Christmas Eve, so my dad took away the stress by ordering Chinese food one year. I love that he gave her the perfect reason to relax and enjoy the family instead of slaving in the kitchen. We have done this for a few years now, and I look forward to it. It's a nice treat for us and for my mom...(BTW, she cooks amazing meals all the time and we love them). 

3) Mom's Annual Bathroom Reader Giveaway. That's right. I don't know how this started, but my mother buys literally every single person in our family a new version of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader every year. I always pretend to be grossed out, but those books are actually really interesting. I just keep them outside of my bathroom...

4) New Year's Empanadas. Growing up LDS outside of Utah means no LDS friends (except for my trusty sidekick, Jeannette). I obviously wasn't allowed (or invited, let's get real, I was a total nerd) to go to parties, so New Year's Eve was always a family night. We started cooking Empanadas every 31st while we watched the countdown. Now that I'm away from home, my new tradition is to spend New Year's with the very same sidekick Jeannette, no matter where we live. 

My favorite New Year's was the year before Matt left on his mission. We went to a party in SLC, but it was lame, so we went and watched Benjamin Button. That movie was so long that we had to run to get back to the party to see the fireworks go off at midnight. We were running through the deserted streets of Salt Lake and missed the fireworks because the buildings were so tall, but they reflected off of the buildings across the street. We stopped running and just stared...and then I got an asthma attack.

5) Three Christmases. My extended family is very small. And we all live within an hour radius of each other. We see each other all the time. Thanksgiving is always at my house, and Christmas is always split up between my mom and dad's sides. Christmas Eve: immediate family. Christmas afternoon: Mom's side. Christmas night: Dad's side. I had never even heard of a family reunion until I moved to Utah. We never needed them. 

6) The wrapping party in the laundry room. My mom usually stays up wrapping Christmas gifts late into the night. My sister and I loved helping her wrap presents growing up. I love giving gifts, and I love giving pretty gifts even more. I would try to make every gift look different somehow. We have a whole closet in the laundry room dedicated to wrapping supplies. Boxes of gift tags. Bows upon bows. 10 different kinds of wrapping paper. Bag and bags and bags galore. Wrapping the gifts for me was almost better than Christmas itself! I loved staying up late with them and talking or listening to Christmas music. When we had dogs they would come in and walk all over the presents, but we loved them so much we didn't care anyway. Good times.

7) Stake Christmas Choir. I don't do this anymore because I can't be at rehearsals beforehand, but in HS, I was always in the Stake Christmas Choir every year. We always sang at a special Christmas fireside a few Sundays before Christmas. I love singing, and I love Christmas music. It was so fun to be a part of a singing group that sounded pretty dece. Nothing brings the spirit of Christmas to my heart faster than singing Christmas music.

8) James Taylor Acoustic Christmas. Once my dad figured out how iTunes worked, I'm pretty sure James Taylor Christmas was the first album he bought. And then he played it loud enough for the whole house to hear. I would be in the bathroom and hear that guitar start up and I knew exactly what was going down. "James Taylor is such a good musician, but man, is he messed up." Who cares...his voice is like butta.

9) Late-night Mexican food runs. Somehow my brother found the most ghetto authentic Mexican food in Fullerton and craves it annually, at 2am. It's the kind of place where all the cooks expect you to order in Spanish. Since we both inherited the night-owl gene, we'd be the only two up and he'd ask me to go on a Tacqueria de Anda run with him. Of course I thought it was super cool when I was in high school to hang out with my cool adult brother, so I usually went along. One time he tricked me into eating a brain taco. I think that was the end of the late-night runs for me for a few years. I hope we go again this year.

NEW HARDIN FAMILY TRADITIONS: 

- Buying a new ornament every year when we go on vacation. 

- Decorating the tree together for FHE
- Small gift at Christmas. Use the saved money to go on a nice summer vacation.

- It's not Christmas yet, so I still have time to think of some more + execute them.

What's your favorite Christmas tradition? 

Why I want to be friends with Mindy Kaling

If you haven't read her book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, drop everything and go buy it. I read it at the gym and almost fell off my elliptical about 12 billion times because I was laughing so hard. I love a book or a person when they can say things that are smart, observant, funny, humble and totally true. This is basically every sentence in her book. Do it. Go read it. Do it now. 

Edit: I just found this gem.

Eternal Things

I have been thinking a lot about eternal things lately. I am trying to study the Gospel more (read scriptures, ponder + attend the temple) and understand my eternal purpose. By trying to spend my energy caring about eternal things like family, personal progress, God and my marriage, I feel like all the little insignificant things have started to fall away. Life is hard, tedious and frustrating at times. But it is also full of joy, wonder and amazing moments. I am trying to focus on the latter. 

Speaking of Christmas (wait, what?), I am trying to make this my most spiritual Christmas yet. I do love posting holiday gift guides, but I am also planning some fun December activities for my family to build up some awesome Christmas memories. In 10 years, we will all remember how we felt instead of what we got, anyway.

Here is a great website to get you into the true spirit of Christmas! You can read the Christmas story, quotes from some very inspired men, and listen to some srsly great Christmas music.

Happy Sunday! 

The Monica Closet

Have you guys seen that episode of Friends where Chandler finds out that his OCD clean-freak wife has a closet that looks like a tornado hit it? It's where she keeps all her clutter! Everything else in her house is immaculate, except for this closet.

Chandler: He-he-he-he-he. You're messy.

Monica: No, you weren't supposed to see this!

Chandler: I married Fred Sanford!

I consider myself to be mostly a clean person. I feel less stressed out when my house is clean. I wash my clothes after one use. I don't let the dirty dishes pile up too high before cleaning them. There is definitely a threshold that my house has to cross before I will get the cleaning bug, but once it hits that threshold, I'm cleaning til my house feels good again, and NO ONE CAN STOP ME! 

Well, guess what? I have a Monica closet. 

Yeah, I said it. I have a Monica closet. That one closet in our apartment where everything useless goes to die. Board games. Winter coats. Leftover wedding invitations. Scrapbooking + artmaking materials. Matt's fishing gear. Dirty clothes. Clean clothes. Wedding presents. I hit the threshold, clean the whole house, get to that closet, and just slowly close the door. I can't seem to get it together long enough to organize that closet. 

If it weren't our bedroom closet, I'd probably lock it up and throw away the key like Monica did. 

Do you have a Monica closet? 

The Princess and the Pea

When I was little, my mom called me the princess and the pea because I was picky. What can I say, I liked things exactly how I liked them! I distinctly remember picking out three or four outfits every day after seeing the one she picked out for me, because I wouldn't know what I wanted until I saw it. I wouldn't wear wool or things with tags on them because they made me itchy. Etc, etc.

Fast forward 20 years, and my husband is probably starting to feel how my mom felt when I was growing up. Although I grew out of the 3-4 outfits routine, I have to have the bed sheets a certain way to be able to sleep. I'm a picky eater. I made him look at a few more apartments than he would have liked because I needed to feel that spark with an apartment before we could sign a lease. Etc, etc.

I don't know what made me this way, but I guess by now, it is what it is. 

A Snow Memory

Our first snow! I always feel a little like Lorelai from Gilmore Girls on the first day of snow. What is so magical about new snow? I think it's because it sugar-coats every surface of your corner of the world and lets you see things in a new light.

My favorite snow memory is from Christmas 2009. Matt and I had been dating for 16 months, and apparently that's the appropriate amount of time to get a free pass to family Christmas vacation. All 30 of us drove up to this cabin in Island Park, Idaho a few days after Christmas. It was in the middle of the woods, and a fresh blanket of snow had just fallen. Matt and I bundled up and went on a walk in the middle of the forest, hand in hand. Everything around us was dead silent, I swear I could almost hear the snow falling. I remember being completely content with where I was at that moment. 

What's your favorite snow memory?

How To Live With A Boy

This is your one and only warning that this post is going to scream newlywed.

Matt and I have been married for over five months. My, how the time goes quickly! When he was gone, I remember counting down hours in days, for two whole years. Now that we get to live together, time just flies.

Living with a boy has proved to be...interesting. I was having Ms. Lippy time in the lunch room at school today, and a man walked in and started up a conversation with me. He saw my ring and asked how long I've been married and replied, "Oh, the first year is always the hardest." I have heard that phrase so many unsolicited times in my life that it is now a platitude. Everyone keeps saying it, but they never go into detail! They never explain why the first year is the hardest. YOU SNEAKS! What do you even mean?!

I didn't even have to ask why before the guy said, "I mean, you have to get used to living with someone of the opposite sex." Thank you, kind stranger, for telling me the truth. And the moment he said it, I immediately agreed with him! I felt like I had caught a snitch or a unicorn or something!

Being married is the best. It's way better than having roommates. I've never lived alone, so I can't have an opinion on that one. You get to live with your favorite person in the whole world. There's someone to come home to at night who is so excited to see you. Being married to Matt really does make me happy.

That being said, there are certain adjustments to be made when a boy and a girl live with each other for the first time.

Here are a few things I have learned about Matt & myself since we moved in together:

1. He really really likes waking up early. To go fishing. On Saturday. Like, 4am early.

2. He cooks more than I do. I'm going to blame that one on my own laziness. And my full-time job.

3. He likes going to the gym after work 3x a week. This is a good motivator for me, but also makes me feel guilty when I'm too tired to go. I'm like, nah, I'll sit this one out.

4. I can only go a day or two with a messy house before it starts making me feel anxious and weird.

5. I hate taking out the trash more than most things. I think I've only taken out the trash a handful of times since we moved into our new apartment. The bin is so far away! Matt is the best at it.

6. Sometimes he surprises me and cleans the house before I come home on long work days.

7. Apparently I am the worst at taking naps. My idea of "taking a nap" means relaxing in bed and vegging on the computer. His idea of taking a nap means laying down in bed and falling asleep 8 seconds later. The days when I actually want a real nap, I just lay there infuriated, and he wakes up and I'm like pinterestfacebooktickldbloggerobsessed. "Hey, babe."

8. I am the worst at adjusting to new wards. I always feel like DERP until I get to know everyone...a year after I move in.

9. Matt's car is the worst. Period.

10. I think he would ask me to shave my head, just to get rid of all my long hairs everywhere, if shaved heads on girls were sexy. I think he would.

The new iPad Mini commercial just came on. You know, the one where the two Minis use the piano app to play chopsticks? Without even looking at each other, we just started harmonizing the parts. MFEO, baby.