The Grand Canyon

Tim and I left Vegas on a Saturday afternoon and headed for the Grand Canyon!  I have wanted to go to the Grand Canyon since I was a little kid, but never got there.  

Arizona sunset

I had no idea that Arizona was an open carry state and I was really freaked out for a minute when we stopped at this scenic overlook and I saw a man with a gun in a holster walking around.  

Can you tell that I was born and raised in California?  

Seriously guys?  How stunning is this?!  

Tim did this really amazing thing for the days leading up to my birthday.

He made cards of all the places we were going to be with what day of the roadtrip it was 

and a reason why he loves me.  

Day 2 card from my husband!  

We stayed in the support town for the G.C. called Tusayan.  We read all of the horrible Yelp reviews before the trip and brought a cooler full of camping style food to eat in our hotel room.  

Tim eating our awesome dinner of hot dogs, beer, soda, and chips  

We were shocked to arrive in Tusayan in summery clothes and discover that it was only 27 degrees outside!  There was so much snow on the ground.  It was beautiful!  

Driving through Grand Canyon National Park.  

The Grand Canyon is one of the most stunning places  I have ever been in my entire life thus far.  When we got to the first overlook aptly named "Mather Point", I started crying.  

Seriously.  

I'm an emotional person, but I was overcome by how vast and beautiful the canyon is and that I was finally there.  

Hubby  

Thrilled to finally see this in person!  

How big are these birds?!  

Reppin' the Mathers!  

Hopi House!  

We spent a few hours at the park and ended up coming back for sunset.  

It was so cold but so worth it!  

Where we stayed: Best Western Grand Squire Inn

Where we ate: Canyon Village Marketplace

Catch up on the first part of the road trip here or by clicking that link in the nav bar!  Stay tuned for the next part of the SXSW adventure... let's just say that I stood on a very famous corner.  

Friday's Letters

Have I mentioned that I'm a huge Dodgers fan?  

Dear Husband, We really need to get some sleep this weekend.  We've both had a hard time sleeping since we got back from our trip.  Dear New Mechanic I Found, Thank you for taking care of my car as we speak.  I really really hope you are as trustworthy and awesome as Yelp makes you seem.  It would be amazing to have a mechanic that I can trust down the road from our apartment.  Dear Escargo (my car), I am so sorry that you have been sitting for about three months not being fixed.  I'm also sorry that your rear brakes are going out and that your rear wheels are out of alignment and that your left tire is being dragged around and wearing strangely. Thank you for being so amazing and getting me around since 2005.  I hope to get a few more years with you even though you are 11 years old now.  Dear Moo Moo, You are usually such a sweet, friendly, non annoying furbaby.  Why have you been trying to break down our bedroom door while we're sleeping this past week?  Dear M.Ward, I love your new album, or at least, what I've heard of it so far.  I really hope Brooke doesn't go into labor on the 14th so I can go see you perform at Soho.  I'm such a fan, you have no idea.  Dear my sweet sweet Los Angeles Dodgers, It is BASEBALL SEASON!  I am so excited.  So, so, so excited.  Dear Tim, I really admire how you've stood by the decisions we've made and how you are such a strong and amazing husband.  I love every second I get of this life with you.  Forever and A Day.

"The Girl You Should Be Dating"

This one goes out to all the readers out there.  

Elephant Journal  posted this on March 23rd.  I was fortunate enough to stumble upon it just now via Twitter.

Via

“You should date a girl who reads. 
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve. 

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn. 

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book. 

Buy her another cup of coffee. 

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice. 

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does. 

She has to give it a shot somehow. 

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world. 

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two. 

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series. 

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are. 

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype. 

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots. 

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads. 

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.” 
― Rosemarie Urquico

I love this.  Really.  As someone who usually has, not one, but two books with her at almost all times, this really resonated with me.

Upon further investigation, ahem googleing, I discovered that this essay was written in response to a piece published in Thought Catalog early last year entitled "You Should Date An Illiterate Girl".

Via

Books and reading are a big part of my soul and life.  They have been since I was a child.

My favorite book is The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.  I have been lucky enough to meet him twice so far in life.  He is lovely.

I just finished reading The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks.  Next up, I am going to try to finish Waiter Rant.

Are you a reader?  Is your partner?  What's your favorite book?  What are you currently reading?

Friday's Letters

Sista, Sista

Dear Husband, I am pretty excited for this weekend.  We have some fun stuff planned, including The Hunger Games tomorrow morning, taking you out for beer in the afternoon, and seeing the grandparents on Sunday.  It's been pretty strange not having you around all the time since we got back from our road trip this past Sunday, so I'm really looking forward to spending time together.  Dear Other Tenants of our apartment complex, Please read my previous post about laundry.  Dear Silver City, NM, I miss you.  Tim and I spent the most relaxing day roaming your beautiful streets and relaxing under your blue blue sky.  Dear New Followers, Thank you for stopping by and checking out this little blog of mine!  I appreciate it more than you know.  I really want to reply to all of your comments but some of you haven't linked your emails making that impossible for me.  Even so, I appreciate and enjoy every comment you leave and am having so much fun reading your blogs.  Dear Baby Max (my future nephew), I can't believe you are 5 pounds already!  Your momma (my sister) still has a couple months to go in her pregnancy with you!  Are you coming sooner than we expected?  Either way, I think about you every day and I can't wait to meet you!  (Hopefully in May when you're due!)  Dear Brooke, You are such a beautiful pregnant woman and I am so proud that you are my sister.  You are so inspiring and such a role model for me.  Can you believe that?  You're my little sister and I look up to you!  It's crazy how that worked out.  What a role reversal from when we were kids.  You're awesome and are already an amazing mom.  Dear Tim, Thank you for the amazing back massage last night.  It was just what I needed.  You always seem to know how to make me feel better.  I love you.  Forever and a Day.  

Apartment Living

Can I vent about apartment living for just a minute?  Pretty please?

Let me preface this by saying that I grew up in a house.  A big house.  We're talking 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 5 acres of property.  I love that house.  It is home.  My grandpa designed the house and takes care of most of the landscaping himself.  That house will always be home.  It is full of love, memories, and during the holidays more Christmas cheer than the North Pole itself.  And a washer and a dryer.

My childhood home.  Designed by my grandpa.  

That being said, for the most part, I've liked apartment living.  Sure, there have been some hard times, like extremely noisy downstairs neighbors the first few months we lived here.  (College kids having a lot of parties and playing music loudly at 3 am on weekdays)  There was also the time that our ceiling leaked during a really bad rainstorm and something weird that happened with the pipes in the shower that for awhile only let us have either really hot or really cold water that would change back and forth without us touching anything.

But what really gets me, folks, is laundry.

The apartment complex we live in has TWO washers and TWO driers for SIXTEEN units.

Are you starting to catch on to the problem?  Never mind that it's $1.50 to wash one load of laundry and an additional $1.50 to dry, first we have to go down two mini flights of stairs, around the back of the building, over the hills and through the woods, and then hope that no one is using the machines.  Guess how many times we get lucky and the machines are empty?

Yup.  Pretty much never.

Case in point... It's Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. and all of the machines are being used.

No, being used is the wrong wording.

All four machines have clothes just sitting in them.  The washers are filled with clothes that are dry which either means that they have been sitting there overnight or that someone just left them there and never started the machines.  None of the machines are currently running, but none of them are empty.

How does that happen?

It's times like these that I wish we had a washer and dryer of our own.  Or I miss the set in my childhood home... the (close to) top of the line machines that didn't take quarters to operate and that were usually empty when I needed them.

Grandparents' backyard.  Yes, that's me and a pinata at my bridal shower.  

I'm reminded of one of my favorite Feist songs.


"But in the meantime, we've got it hard.  Second floor living without a yard."  


Are Tim and I the only apartment dwelling newlyweds?  Anybody else fed up with any of the annoyances that come with apartment living?

It's OK Thursday

Today, I'm linking up with Amber for It's OK Thursday.

It's OK...
That it's 4:20 p.m. and I haven't done ANY of the cleaning up around the house that I had planned today.  
That certain plans for the future are a little uncertain right now.  That's what makes it an adventure, right?  Right?  
That I'm really enjoying The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks.  Everything I read doesn't have to be "bookshelf worthy."  
That I have been craving margaritas yesterday and today.  
That I don't want to move across the country.  I really like Los Angeles and our home here.  Plus our family and friends are in California.  That automatically wins it points over other parts of the country... I think...  
That I miss my husband when he's at work.  After spending about 16 days straight with pretty much just him, it feels weird to not have him with me all day.  (but of course I super appreciate him and all the hard work he does)

This sounds pretty good right about now  

What are you guys ok with today?  Link up with Amber and let us all know!

The Hunger Games

You guys, The Hunger Games movie comes out on Friday!  (but I'm not seeing it until Saturday morning)

Via

I'm pretty excited.

Have I mentioned that I kinda sorta wish I was as awesome as Katniss?
Via

I read all three of the books in about a week.  I seriously could not put them down.  They came almost everywhere with me.  I read them in the car (when Tim was driving) when we went out to lunch, in the bathtub, and stayed up as long as I could at night to read just one more page...

Via

I have to say...  When I started reading the books, I was Team Gale, but by the end of the series I was and remain Team Peeta.  I was a little thrown by the casting of Josh Hutcherson as Peeta.  This makes me feel SO old but when I see Josh, all I see is that little kid from Bridge to Terabithia.

Baby Peeta
Via

And that folks, freaks me out.  I can't feel ok about having a crush on the character, when that image is all I see.  Now, I have been very, very vocal about my disappointment in Chord Overstreet not being picked as Peeta.  For some reason, when I was reading the series, Chord is how I pictured Peeta.  

I love me some Trouty Lips
Via

I am really happy with the casting of Katniss.  Jennifer Lawrence is a great actress and I really hope she doesn't disappoint as Miss Everdeen.  (BTW, she was really great in the small role she played in Like Crazy, possibly my favorite film of 2011.)

I could care less about Liam Hemsworth playing Gale.  I really don't know anything about him outside of him being Miley Cyrus's boyfriend.  I'm going to wait and see how he does before commenting on that casting decision.

Who else already has tickets to see the movie this weekend?  Any one agree that Trouty would have been a MUCH better choice for Peeta Mellark?  Are you Team Peeta or Team Gale?  

P.S.  I totally and competely recognize that Chord is a ridiculous name.  But, look at him.  I rest my case.

Road Trip Series: Los Angeles to Las Vegas

First of all, let me say that road trips are a really weird way to travel in this day and age.  If Tim thought I over packed for a random weekend away, he was definitely thrown for a loop when it came time to pack for a two week road trip.  Two suitcases, a duffel bag, a toiletries bag, a cooler (with wheels), numerous tote bags filled with shoes, books, pretty much everything except the kitchen sink.

Actually, I think I might have packed that too.

Being the super awesome wife that I am, with all of that packing, I still forgot my husband's beard trimmer.  Fail.

That's a lot of driving

Anyway, back to the trip.  So...

On Friday night (March 2nd), we loaded up our Corolla and took off. The drive to Vegas was filled with surprisingly deep philosophical conversations about our religious beliefs.  Even after more than four years together, we still learned some things about each other's beliefs.  We got into Las Vegas around midnight and crashed at my sister's house.  After sleeping in the next morning and playing with Franklit, my sister's tortoise {what can I say?  We love animals in this family!} we decided to try to get lunch at The Peppermill.

This is a Las Vegas classic

The food at The Peppermill is standard diner fare but in a very Vegas setting.  It's extremely popular too, we had to wait for 40 minutes but another time we attempted to dine here, the wait was more like an hour.
Worth it though, it was a very appropriate way to kick off our road trip.

While we were waiting to get a table, we took advantage of the Riviera being right next door and went and gambled for a bit and Tim played pinball.  We lost on both accounts.

After lunch, we took off for Main Street Station, because the odds there have usually been in my favor.  Well, on this trip, it did not start out that way.  I lost about $80 in an hour and got mad.  (I may have a gambling problem.)  I eventually won almost all of it back and we decided it was time to cash out and get out of town.  Plus, we were anxious to get up to the Grand Canyon.

That part next...  I was going through our pictures and realized that there are WAY too many that I want to share that it really really needs its own post.

What's your favorite place to eat in Vegas?  Tim and I visit a lot (three times in 2012 so far) since my sister and her husband live there and we are always looking for good places!

Home Sweet Home

Well, we're back!  (In Los Angeles, that is.)  If you're new around here, Tim and I have been on a two week + road trip through the Southwest.  We left on March 2nd and just got back last night.  We saw so many amazing places.  BEAUTIFUL places.  Weird places.  We (and by we, I mean my husband) drove over 3000 miles.  5 states.  Countless gallons of gas and pit stops.

I snapped this photo of us at a pit stop in Sonora, TX

It was nothing short of an adventure.  It strengthened our marriage and definitely helped with my restlessness that I had been experiencing prior to the trip.  Since there is SO MUCH that I want to share with you guys, I'm going to be breaking up the road trip into 5 separate posts.  Hopefully, this way, I can share all the fun details of each leg of the trip without boring you all to death with what would probably be the world's longest post.

1. Los Angeles to Santa Fe

2. Roswell to Austin

3. Austin, SXSW, & my 25 birthday

4. Fort Stockton and Carlsbad Caverns

5. Silver City and Las Vegas

Stay tuned... It's going to be awesome.  

As for right now, I am happily sitting on our couch in my pjs with our kitties.  I love traveling so much but it is also super sweet to come home.  

One of the best things about coming home.  

Has anyone else been on a roadtrip recently?  Planning one for the future?  Share your story with me in the comments.  Bonus points if you went on one with your husband or significant other.  :]  

Updated Blog Design

Hi guys!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Tim and I spent the weekend here in Austin promoting his app and hanging out at a beer bar and trying to relax.  Last night, I got the motivation out of nowhere to completely redesign this blog.  I had a general idea of what I wanted but took some time to learn some new things in Photoshop with the help of my husband.  Have I mentioned how amazing it is to have a hubby who's a graphic designer?  So here is a big ole THANK YOU to Tim for creating the peony design you now see in various elements of this blog and also for his hours of patience in teaching me how to create the other elements on the page.

I picked the color scheme using an awesome website I found on Pinterest called Design Seeds.  Check it out for any of your design and decorating needs.  And while you're at it click that little box to the left of this post and follow me on Pinterest if you wish.

Hanging out at Barton Creek in Austin earlier today

So, what do you think of the new blog look?  Anyone else considering redesigns?

Be sure to send me an email if you want to trade buttons!

Friday's Letters

Hi guys!  I'm blogging today from Austin, TX.  Tim and I are in town for a few days for SXSW.  It is POURING rain.  Thunder and lightning, howling wind, the works.  I guess packing those sundresses was a waste of limited suitcase space.

Arizona

Dear Tim, You are the sweetest best husband ever.  You went out of your way to preorder me a birthday cake from a snazzy bakery here in Austin and surprised me with it this morning.  Above and beyond, babe.  Above and beyond.   Dear 25th Birthday, You are here.  You scare me, more than you probably should.  I remember sitting on the hill outside my high school around my 15th birthday talking with one of my friends about how strange it was that we were pretty much half way to 30.  The last decade of my life has gone so quickly.  I'm grateful for every second I get of life with my love, but I'm still a little intimidated by really being in my mid twenties.  Dear Melissa (self), You've been thinking a lot already today about what you want in life, what you want to accomplish this year, where you want to work, if you want to start having babies, etc.  It's been interesting to see what your mind has come up with.  Got to see if the husband is on board.  Dear Toyota of Roswell Service Department, You were AMAZING!  When our water pump started to go out in the middle of New Mexico, your employees were kind, reassuring, helpful, skilled and got us back on the road the next morning.  You restored my faith in humanity just a little bit.  Dear Pets, Mama misses you SO much!  I hope you are all doing well at home in L.A. with Uncle Francisco and I wish I could give you all so many kisses.  Dear America, You have shown me so much in the first week of this road trip that it's almost hard to believe.  Dear Husband, I am so grateful for you.  Thank you for taking the time off work for this trip.  Thank you for driving.  Thank you for playing Draw Something with me.  Thank you for being you.  I love you.  Always.  Forever and a Day.

Roadtrippin'  

Stay posted for updates on this road trip adventure that Tim and I are on and link up with Ashley over at Adventures of Newlyweds with your Friday's Letters!

Friday's Letters

Dear Husband, Two days ago you told me about a possible opportunity that would move us to NY.  I'm so proud that this is a possibility for you, even though I am scared about possibly packing up and moving across the country.  Dear Stormy, Olivia, Diego, Sunshine, Dharma, and Schneider, Mama misses you all so much and we haven't even left on our road trip yet.  You guys are the best furbabies and bring so much joy into my life.  Dear Grandma, Thank you for being a sounding board whenever I need you.  You are more than my grandma. You are my friend.  Dear Corolla, Please Please Puhlease make it through this road trip with no problems.  The idea of getting stranded in the desert sends my anxiety into overdrive.  Dear 25th birthday, you are looming right around the corner.  You are just one week away.  I have to admit that while one part of me can't believe that I may turn 25, the other part of me is so grateful for every second I get of this life with my love.  Dear Francisco, You are such a good friend and we are so grateful that you agreed to watch our furbabies while we are out of town.  Dear Melissa (self), You can still be a Dodgers fan and live in New York.  Don't base your life decisions around a baseball team.  Dear Tim, I love you so much and our conversation last night as you tucked me into bed just made me recognize again that I absolutely married the right man.  Are you ready for Vegas?

Share your letters here!