We Are Thankful

So...Our gratitude FHE activity came a little later this year. The week of Thanksgiving, I decided it was time to be grateful for what we had, not what I was hoping to have to be grateful for (aka...a Job). So, the leaves began to fall, and we found our blessings.


Here's our leaves:
"Goodly Parents, Stripling Siblings, and Baby-Back Ribs!"
"Breakfast Matthew time, Dinner Matthew time, Love, Laughs, Rubs, and Snickers Bars."
"Dental School, Loans, and Complement Protein 'Videos'."
"Camping chairs, Coasters, Sprouts, Cell phones, PPA Cell Phone Plans, and weekly chats with Grandma Balle."
"The Great State of Utah."
"Matthew toes, prayer time together - 'how you pray when you're in love!', Temple sealings, Bones."
"Sean Sweeney"
"LA Friends who have become family"
"Insurance via parents - Thank you Obama!"
"Brave Matt who faces the dental dragon daily and somehow still manages to find time to take me on dates! Matt, thanks for being there on both the easy and rough days. XOXO."
"University Village and OUR BED!"
"My sweet wife who tirelessly works to make me happy and take care of my EVERY need."
Disneyland, Sunny Days, Sand dollar finds, Catch, Sunday spaghetti, allrecipes.com, and collaborative cooking."

New BED!

Attention: The ruling has been confirmed. Matt and Mykel have their very own bed!

Yes...A Plush Pillowtop indeed...

Thanks the LeCheminants and the spirit of Christmas, We are now sleeping peacefully on a very comfy bed :)

BONES

I would like to dedicate this post to the only other person I know of who feels as passionately about Bones as I do...Stacy LeCheminant...This one's for you.

Bones is intriguing, slightly educational, - I must say I've learned a lot about the hyoid, how to make oxygen from perfume and dust if I'm ever buried alive, and the valuable role dental records play in identifying a body (always go to the dentist), sometimes suspenseful, and even a little romantic - My heart beats faster every time I think Booth and Brennan might kiss. I've never been so entranced by one TV show. I guess it's like a good book, you get to know the characters. They're predictable. You can anticipate how they'll react in certain situations. They become real to you. For example, I think that if I'm ever in trouble - kidnapped by a clown and being fed to snakes, about to be fed to dogs by an FBI mole, or stalked by a serial killer, ]Agent Seely Booth will come rescue me. It would be reassuring, but he doesn't really exist.


I fascinated by Dr. Brennan. She reminds me of a professor I had my freshman year at BYU, Dr. Ruth Toulson. I idolized Ruth. Ironically, she was my Anthropology professor. She graduated from Cambridge. She was blond and beautiful. She had an accent, and was utterly brilliant. Plus, she gave me one of the two A's on the first Essay. I liked her! She taught me that it was okay to be smart, and it didn't mean you were a nerd. Anyways, maybe why I admire Brennan/Bones is because of Ruth. Embarrassing but true: Matt and I took a "Squint" test on the Bones web page...Looks I may be more like Brennan that I thought!


Now, I am not addicted to Bones...I conducted an experiment to prove such. I went one week without watching any Bones. It is totally under my control, and a great thing for me to do while Matt studies and I have to be quite :) Besides, it's not just me who loves Bones, Matt does too! We started watching old episodes on Hulu at the end of August and fell in love. We watched all available episodes on Hulu. Then when Danny and Lena presented us with the gift of netflix, our love was further indulged. I have successfully finished seasons 1 and 2. I am on season 3 while concurrently watching season 6 unfold on Fox. I must say the older episodes are much better in my opinion...

Bones...I love it... Maybe it has to do with being a nurse, maybe Ruth Toulson... I don't know...But I even dream about solving crime with my friends at the Jeffersonian at night. I love Bones, Matt loves it, and Stacy does too.

Date Night

So there's this cute guy...he lives in my apartment complex...actually in the same apartment as me...I totally like him...and he definitely asked me out! Matthew Charles called and asked me out for Saturday Night while I was work the other day...I thought it was the sweetest thing.

We had dinner together,

went OUT to Yogurt Land,

and watched an old movie that terrified me as a child, Foul Play.

We play a lot together, but it was the first time we'd actually gone out on an official date together in a while. It was so fun and I loved every minute of it - especially the peppermint flavored yogurt! The date went very well, and yes...I definitely think there will be a second...lots of seconds actually :)

Happy Veterans' Day to a Veteran Studier

Matt had a Holiday! I've been looking forward to this day since he started school! We may not have accomplished all we had hoped, but we did get the lug nuts checked on the new tires which was a big deal. Plus, we slept in and woke up to delicious German Pancakes. Yum! We also did laundry together, I can't even say how nice it was having someone to help me carry all the clothes up to the third floor! Sadly, although it was a Holiday, I still had to work and Matt still had to study...but it was WONDERFUL to be together.

Red High Heels Day

"Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world."

- Marilyn Monroe

Red high heels...I can do anything in red high heels. They are my confidence, power woman shoes. When I need to take care of business, I slip into my red high heels. I've worn them confronting professors about incorrect test questions, to job interviews, to presentations, for giving a talk in church. The bottom line is, when I mean business, I bust out the red high heels. I can conquer the world!

This is me this morning. Today I had to get me another interview in person! I had my preliminary interview for a New Grad Nurse Resident Position at UCLA Medical Center. It was my first phone interview ever. As you can see I put in a little prep time - these are my notes - but I hardly used them.

The interview went as well as it could have being a phone interview and all. Phone interviews are weird. It was like talking to a robot. The woman could only ask a series of questions for me to answer. The most frustrating thing for me was that she'd ask questions like, "Are you a flexible person." I then talked about how I was flexible and shared an example of when I demonstrated flexibility in nursing. Then, in a very mechanic fashion, the interviewer said, "Now share an example."
So I'm thinking to myself..."okay I just did that...does she want another one?" SO awkward.
I usually draw back on the example I just used and then shared an additional similar one. I mean did she really just expect me to give yes and no answers in an interview? Do you have integrity. Yes. hmm.... that sounds real good. Not!
Anyways, I felt like I gave some really good answers, but was definitely thrown by her asking me to share what I'd just shared again....odd. She also asked me how I handled pressure twice about 20 minutes apart...hmm...as if how I handled pressure had changed in the last 20 minutes. For the record, I still handle pressure the same - as an opportunity to tackle a challenge. A time when I get to think on my toes, reach into all corners of my brain, and put together everything I've learned. Plus, a little adrenaline is good for the heart :) right?


All done. I'll let you know if I get a real live personal interview...should hear in about 3 weeks :)

Really...A Passion Bucket?

Yep...you guessed it, another football game. However, this game was, in my humble opinion, the best so far this season. Something funny happened. Matt and I braved traffic, hurrying to the game as usual. We parked on the golf course as usual. We hurriedly ate our apples since you can't take in any fresh produce, as usual. We ran to gate 6 hoping to get to see kick off as usualy, but as we walked into the rose bowl, we saw something very unusual. It was empty.
Apparently we had miscalculated game time and arrived an hour early. We did get prime seating - 18th row, and had plenty of time for Matt to ask me sample interview questions.
When the game finally did start, it was a nail biter. It literally came down to the 1 second that got put back on the clock. It was a tie game.

(Okay - so this pic was actually taken with 3 sec. There was one more complete pass and then it came down the second that determined everything.)

Then, the kicker that I was having difficulty believing in (story of my life with BYU's Mitch Payne) who had already missed two previous field goals, made one from 50 yards! Amazing!

So every school has something completely embarrassing about it's sporting events. For BYU, it's the cougar band. They never play anything but overtures, and fancy songs that no one actually knows. And, I admit, my senior year of high school, the first time I heard, "Another cougar....First down!" I thought it was a little cheesy. Anyways, UCLA has something much more embarrassing....A Passion Bucket...yes, I'm serious. Every game they try to fill the bucket with cheers, but regardless of how much or how little the crowd cheers, it always ends up full - rigged. Plus, the Yell Leader people are always referring to filling up the bucket...wow.


I'm learning penalty signals. I practice during the game and watch the ref with the white hat. This is me doing holding. Holding, on the offense. 10 yards. I sound pretty good, right? te he... I'm learning.


Sometimes, Matt practices too - Off sides!

Good game. Good times. Gotta love American Football.