Being Married is Like . . .

Happy President's Day Weekend of our lives!

Every President's Day for the past 5 years my sister Mary and I have got together somehow. When she lived in Provo, I would drive down to visit. Last year when she was in Taiwan, we met over Google-talk. Now, she's in Texas and I'm in Idaho, so we spent an hour or so talking to each other as she drove down a central Texas highway and I sat on my kitchen cabinet looking for a cinnamon roll recipe.

As we talked, Mary asked what everyone asks, "What's it like being married?" I love being married, but you know me, I like to say exactly the right thing to express my feelings. We talked about it a little as I tried to find the right words. We talked about how you can be a good person but you finally get to a point where you can't do it on your own anymore. And then I thought (and said) what I feel like is the best way for me to express what being married is like for me. Being married is like having a personal trainer, someone who is always there helping you remember what type of person you want to be. When you're doing well they are there to cheer you on, and when you're having a hard time, they're there to hold the bar for you and help you up, and when you want to stop training, they're there to remind you of your goals and help you get back on track.

The other side of that coin is that, being married, you are your love's personal trainer as well. Now, I don't know about you, and I've never personally had a trainer, but I know what kind of personal trainer I would like to have. So if I'm going to be a personal trainer I'd better be the kind I wish I had and not a hard and mean one. I want to be the type that notices the hard work and not just the fat, and who realizes that everyone needs a day off and a cookie sometimes.

So, being married is like having/being a personal trainer. And mine is keeping me on my game!

Josie's Styles Salon

For Valentine's Day, Matt and I decided to go out for a "couples outing." That is what my "stylist" at Josie's called it. She was a thirty year old Colombian girl who looked like a 20 year old and also looked disappointed when I said I was married to the man I walked in with and not as young as she thought.

Matt's "stylist" was an older blond woman who Matt later said was "used to cutting old lady hair." Matt and I both needed trims for our wedding photo retakes next weekend and my usual place was booked for Valentine's, so we decided to see what the West Side had to offer. After driving though a few strip malls around our apartment we finally found a barber shop and salon right next to each other. We walked in to Josie's and felt like we had walked into a different dimension. It was like stepping into someone's closet that hadn't been cleaned out for a few decades. Before we could turn around and walk over to the barber shop we were both swiftly ushered into chairs and robed.

After finding that I had no good life stories to dish, Monica, "my styles," asked me what I though about the economy and commented that it looked like I had never gotten my hair professionally cut before. At the end of the cut I refused a $10 styling, pulled up my wet ponytail, and looked for Matt. He had just been gelled and his hair had an unusual part in it. I walked over to him and tried not to laugh. On our way out Josie, the Josie with all the style (too bad she couldn't have cut our hair), offered us soda's and chocolate for Valentine's Day and said what a cute little couple we were. "Come back and see us again, Okay Kids?" That's the last we heard from Josie and her house of style.

We laughed all the way home and then I reclipped Matt's hair and trimmed my bangs.

The best think about Josie's Styles Salon is that you never know what style you're going to get, but if you're willing to take a risk (and have a week to grow) it's only $8.99 a cut.

Winter Picnic

So, this is from a few weeks ago, but I finally have time (am making time) to tell you about our so fun winter picnic. For Christmas I got Matt a pair of snowshoes and a map to my favorite Idaho spot. Here's a pic of him being a snowshoe model.

We drove up to Rexy and hiked into my favorite summer spot. It's a good thing I married an outdoors man or none of this would have even been possible.

Here a pic of me taking a pic of our route and destination. It wasn't a cold as it looked. The sun was out just a little. We're going to that big heap of rocks to the left.


Here's our amazing "camp fire" and picnic. Yum, hot dogs.

On the way back we took some hills at a full run. so much fun!


I hope you can see from the look on our faces that this won't be our last snowshoeing trip!

Creepy???!!

Neither Matt nor I like scary movies. We both like action and suspense, and we can usually also agree on a cute love story (if it has a little bit of action or suspense). But I really don't like dark creepy movies, and Matt doesn't like unbelievable story lines.

We watched a few movies these past couple of weeks that all had a touch of creepy and had us wondering what exactly was going on. We'll use the 4 star rating system (one star for each thumb up) to show you how we really felt about the movie in general, and then the creepy scale (0 = not, 1 = maybe, 2 = a little, 3 = kind of, 4 = dark&mysterious, 5 = I'm still creeped out) to tell you the rest.

We begin with Martian Child staring John & Joan Cussak. (***)

This is a movie about a science fiction writer/widower who adopts a child who thinks he's from another planet. I like it because it's touching and funny at parts. I always almost cry at the line, "I'm waiting for the man with the UV protection." You will too if you watch the movie. Matt liked it too, but halfway though he turned to me and said, "So, is this kid really an alien?" On the creepy scale, this movie rated a 0 for me and a 1 for Matt.

Next on our list was Miss Potter. (****)

The story of a very famous children's author and her struggle for success and independence as a woman in Victorian Era England. I first found it odd that she didn't have any friends and so she talked to her paintings which came to life, but Matt helped me see that this wasn't really meant to be creepy as much as it was meant to show her feelings creatively. Creepy scale = 0 for Matt and 1 for me.

After hearing good and bad things, we decided to try Eagle Eye. (*)

The plot of this story ranges for political/military disaster to artificial intelligence. This movie is reminiscent of an early 1800's favorite, War Games, with a much stronger political agenda. If you like action movies, this is definitely one for you. For Matt and I, it was a little too far out. And on the creepy scale we give it a combined score of 3.

You know, there's always that children's movie that catches your eye every time you see it. And every time you think, "What if I'm missing something?" The Last Mimzy is one of those for me.

This movie is basically about how two increadibly spoialed and whiny children drive everyone crazy and eventually save the future of mankind. The who movie reminded me of a line from Hook. "They were screaming. The children were screaming." In addition to a of the screaming, whining and adults with no clue, this movie had a creepy factor that was way over the top for me. Matt doesn't agree with my creepy rataing, but I'm going to have to put this one way up there at a 5. I got shivers looking for the listing on IMDb.

We ended the weeked with a classic suggested to me by a coworker. The Materpiece Theater version of Jane Eyer. (****)

A story that many of us know and love done in an unforgetably good way. Now before I go on, let me just say that this ranked right up there at a 4 almost 5 on the creepy scale. I'm still flipping on lights when I walk though the house and turing around every time I hear a creek. The movie, like the book, takes place in a dark creepy castle (only in the movie it's more creepy), with a dark creepy secret (once again, made more creepy by the movie). You will love it. Just be sure to watch it with someone you love and who won't make fun of you if you hide your eyes a little.

I'm Sorry!

There are so many things that Matt and I have been up to and I've been wanting to write about them, but I can never seem to get my self, my thoughts, and my pictures in the same place at the same time.

But, to keep you coming, I will tell you that I have drafts of posts about snowshoeing, two funny parties, two weeks fo creepy movies, wedding pictures (which there are a LOT of), and lots of other things.

I'll get it together soon, I promise.