Saturday, February 20, 2010

365 days

5 february 2010
That's right.. I've joined the club. Sixteen days ago, on a Friday night, Nick and I headed out the door to go get a late night Jones soda (I'm sure we were getting other things, but only the Jones seemed important). I love our random outings, because we just talk.. and because we call them outings. Anyway, I told him about my dream of someday doing the "365 day project" so many photographers do. He asked me why I hadn't started. And so I did.
It's only been sixteen days, but it's been an interesting sixteen days. I've learned some days are full of fun photo ops, and some days you have to make up your own. I have learned to start looking around for photos. I've learned how incredibly supportive and creative my husband is (okay, well I already knew that, but you get the idea). So much learning. Some days are full of a hundred photos from some African restaurant, and other days only have five photos of cookies. But it's still fun seeing what makes those days good. Hope you enjoy!

6 february 2010


Mark and Maria's wedding... in Denmark. We decided to celebrate without them. That's how the Savage family rolls. And yes, that fabulous cake was made by yours truly, and frosted by the other half. The raspberries in the middle are two M's, for Mark and Maria... (just in case you forgot, Uncle Steve).




7 february 2010


As previously stated, some days are cookie days.


8 february 2010


Many of my photos will be of Maya. Her parents, Garn and Heidi, are living with Nick's parents for a little while. We usually split the week and take turns cooking (SO nice not cooking every night). This also usually consists of playing games, watching random youtube videos, and playing with little Maya. She has the best seven month facial expressions.. ever.



9 february 2010



This was somewhat of a tragic day. However, I did get to give my brother a ride home from school. He, like Maya, is the child of a million facial expressions. Many of which, I'm sure, will grace this 365 day project. After spending time with him, however, tragedy soon ensued...


Moral of the story: don't leave your laptop on top of your car... or if you do, remember to take it off before you drive away. Nick's Christmas present to me... ouch! Luckily the screen was the only thing damaged, and it's under warranty.
Blessing of the day: For some reason, being the lazy person that I am, when I realized I hadn't packed my planner in my bag, I slid it into the laptop case. Therefore, when some sweet lady found it lying on the side of some random street, she was able to find a name and phone number. (Thank you!!)

(And of course, more Maya...)


10 february 2010



When I carpooled to work with some co-workers, one of them mentioned that she was taking a group of her students to an African restaurant in Salt Lake City. She asked if I wanted to come... and what the heck! Honestly, the idea of the fun things I could take photographs of is what swayed me to go. But the food and the experience is what made me want to go back.











This man was truly fascinating! He and his sister own the restaurant and are from Ethiopia. He spent a little bit of time telling us about his past and other incredible stories. I need to find out what his name is, but he was a lot of fun!

(Sorry the layout is a little sketchy... I'll come back and fix it when it's not midnight. For now, time to go smooch my husband!)

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

"Newlyweds"

I came home from work very angry today. Seriously annoyed. And I don't get seriously annoyed. I think it's pent up frustration that finally popped. Yes, popped.

I understand that I am not an expert on marriage. I have only been married 8 months... I am quite positive there are a great many things I have not yet figured out about marriage. I know, I know... I don't know everything? Shocking!

Regardless, I'm sick of people telling me my opinions of marriage aren't valid because we're "just newlyweds". I'm sick of being told that I shouldn't miss my husband when he goes out of town.. in fact, in a year, I'll LOVE it when he's gone. I'm sick of my husband being told that pretty soon he's going to get tired of eating only green skittles and is going to want to try some different flavors. I'm sick of being told I haven't experienced "real marriage" yet.

My response? You're an idiot.

I understand some people say this in jest. I'm not regarding them. I have a sense of humor, I understand. I am talking to you people who have had bad experiences with marriage, or aren't happy with where you are in life, and feel the need to condemn my marriage and tell me I know nothing about it. False.

I know that it takes work. I know that life isn't always wonderful. I also know that life wouldn't always be wonderful if I were by myself, either. So I chose to have a wonderful (or not-so-wonderful, depending on who you are) life with my best friend. I am genuinely happy and insanely in love. And a year from now, or five years from now, or whenever your definition of "real marriage" starts... I can't wait to show you how "newlywed happy" we still are.

(A little venting for the new year.. sorry!)

Also, thanks to all the INCREDIBLE couples I know who have shown me that a happy marriage lasts beyond the first year. My parents, Nick's parents, Katie & Rob, Brian & Kelly, Julie and her husband, all of my uncles, aunts.. grandparents. I don't care how many of you tell me marriage gets old.. tell it to these people.

PS- In response to the skittle comment at work, Nick took in a bag of ONLY green skittles the next day. Best husband ever.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Loving the holidays

I promise we haven't fallen off the face of the earth.. I never was good at this blogging thing. However, rest assured that posts are coming.. family parties, trips to Florida, Christmas.. all sorts of happiness. Until then, I am busy enjoying the last week of my break and treasuring every moment I get with the best husband ever! We have an unhealthy obsession with each other and have been spending every single spare minute together.. putting Christmas up, taking Christmas down, playing games, cuddling, playing with friends, writing messages in the snow, and not getting enough sleep. I love being married! (And I'll make actual blog posts soon!) Happy Holidays :)



Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Not cool

Bleh.. I was looking on our online bank statement today (thank goodness for that!) and found someone had spent nearly $500 from Nick's card. All of it was in California, for all sorts of random things. I freaked out and ran to the bank, where they assured me that we would get all the money back, and they'd cancel his card, order a new one.. blah blah blah.

I just have to wait until tomorrow, because the big chunks of what they spent haven't gone through yet.. they're pending. So now I'm patiently waiting for someone to spend my money so that I can report it. Yuck!!

(Poor Nick just can't get a break.. fraud, fraud and more fraud...)

PS! Not to worry.. we're still happy and loving life :D Just inconvenienced by the stupidity of others.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Life in Lists

I believe I think and live in lists.

I'm excited for two Thanksgivings, two days of work, two big families to see and love, and a whole weekend of fun.

(I'm most excited for homemade mashed potatoes... mmm...)

Disney World is calling to me. 13 days.

I love the smell of the heater.

Nick told his friend at work he wouldn't "let" me decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving.. so I put up our nativity set. Heh heh...

I get to wear jeans to work tomorrow.

I'm in a wait-and-see stage of my job.

I'm jealous of my husband when he sits down to do homework. I need to go back and finish school.

Today I turned off my radio on the drive home to work and listened to silence. It was refreshing.

Time to go get stuff done!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Things I Love...

...About Work...

That my brothers go to the school I work at.

For instance: Mom calls me while I'm grading papers:

Mom: Can you go over to the Elementary School? Nicholas needs you.

Me: Sure. What's up?

Mom: He tied his shoes together.

Me: Ummmm...

Mom: No one over there can get them untied. Can you go try?

So I go over there. These aren't shoes with laces. They have little buttons you push down and slide them up the two strings. Hopefully that makes sense. Regardless. I laughed for the rest of my life. Nicholas says he just got bored in class.

And yes, I did manage to get his shoe"laces" untangled. Victory.

My 8th grade students.
-Laughing with them.
-Seeing them get really into something.
-Me getting really into what they're doing.
-The sucking up.
-The trying to be sneaky around Mrs. Thurman and fail.
-Being called "Mrs. Thurman".. and "teacher" for the more generically-inclined students.
-Reading the things they write.

Every day I give my kids a writing prompt and they have ten minutes to write about it in their journals. Then they come up and check it off with me. Today they were instructed to write a love letter to something they love (I stole this idea from Julie.. thank you Julie!).

Some of them were pretty fun.. oxygen, chocolate.. one kid actually wrote it to a girl at school.. haha.. cute! He was very embarrassed. It was adorable.

One student in particular.. I should have guessed.. wrote it to himself. Praised his glowing eyes and his magical voice and his silky smooth brown skin. I think I laughed, again, forever.

Co-workers.
The other day we were cleaning out the "nurse's office" that belongs to our non-existant nursing staff and is really only used to house tampons and such. It other houses other miscellanious items. We decided to investiage.

While cleaning, I happened upon a creepy plastic hand. Apparently used for massaging. Or scaring people. Naturally, I took it back to my desk, pulled out my aqua sharpie (also found in the back office), and painted it's nails. Let the fun begin.

The hand can now be found sporatically throughout the office, in people's purses, or waiting on your desk for you, holding mysterious items.

Today we also found and stole such treasures as a bobbly-head pen with a suction cup on the bottom.. who doesn't need one of those?! And a pen/highlighter/post-it note carrier. Some people are geniuses.

I love my job.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Cross Country

See? I'm already getting better at this.. one small blog entry at a time...

This has been another thing that occupies some of my time.. I get to help coach Cross Country this year, and I love my team :) They are so fun and energetic! They're also really young.. most of them are freshmen. Which is nice, because by the time they're juniors and seniors they'll be kicking butt. They're doing really well for their ages, though, and we have a lot of fun!

This is the team after a 3 hour bus ride to Roosevelt, a tough 5K, and popsicles.. needless to say, it was a fun ride back ;)