Listen up, music fans!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5YHgEYOxJU
Okay friends! I want you to check this out .... it is my sister-in-law Maria's (stage name Scarlett) first music video and it is for a song called "Fight With Me." She is simply amazing in it. If you like this song, there is definitely more where it came from! She has written dozens of incredible songs and is currently producing a CD that will be out this year. Anyway, with all the avenues available online to get your name out and and with how INCREDIBLY TALENTED she is I just don't see why Scarlett shouldn't be a huge success. Go to YouTube, sign in and watch the video, and leave a comment!! Also you can go to http://bridgetone.com/scarlett and hear a couple other songs. The song "You See Me" is so good, you'll love it. Enjoy!! And feel free to pass along this information to anyone!

Love visitors, hate goodbyes

Well the good news is I was lucky enough to have my mom come visit me for 4 days this weekend!! The bad news is I had to say goodbye and send her back to Utah and won't see her again for almost 6 months! But that's allright because I am SO glad she came to visit! We had lots of fun together, of course. Friday was fun because I didn't have class so we got to have a relaxing day just the two of us. I especially enjoyed our long lunch at Cosi! Yum. On Saturday we went on an adventure downtown to the Baltimore "Great Tastes" event with all these chefs, food, etc ... it was fun. I'll post more pictures once I get them from Lori! On Sunday my mom got to see me teach Relief Society which was kind of fun. (Last year when she came I spoke in sacrament meeting .... she knows how to time it!) My mom made us lots of delicious food and it was fun to have someone "taking care" of us for a day or two ... Monday night was a real treat because there was warm food waiting for Joe and me after a long day at school! Anyway, it's back to the books for me, but I just wanted to say THANKS FOR COMING, MOM!! Love you!!

Hang ten, baby!!

So I have never surfed and have never really had a desire to surf ... it looks impossible (boogie boarding is sweet though). Well, much to my surprise, last night (in my dreams) I learned to surf and it was amazing!! Our friends Chad and Emily taught us how (um, do you guys even know how???) Emily got some sweet pictures of me riding the waves, but I can't actually post them becuase, well, it was just a dream.

Maybe the reason surfing was somewhere in my subconscious is the fact that this summer the law firm I'll be working for is taking us to San Diego and we'll be learning how to surf (apparently the managing partner loves it or something). I hope the experience lives up to my recently-elevated expectations, but I expect it will fail to do so - miserably. Scary!! Maybe the real explanation for my dream is just that I'm wishing for summer to be here ...

WE LOVE SUSHI

Ummm it is just so yummy!! On Friday Joe and I enjoyed a fun date night to celebrate Valentines and our engagement anniversary ... we tried a sushi place in Columbia that I heard about from a law school friend who said he was a 'sushi snob' and this place is the best he had been to in Maryland. I was looking forward to it SO much for the day and half since I decided to go there (and Joe agreed). It totally did not let us down! I have been a sushi fan since my dad started taking me out for sushi a number of years ago (near the end of high school maybe?) and Joe has also loved it since I introduced him to sushi on our honeymoon (Durango actually has some amazing sushi!). It's the BEST!!
We chose 4 specialty rolls and they were all incredible. This one is the Samurai and I think it was my favorite ... shrimp tempura, tuna, salmon, and spicy sauce.
This gives you an idea of the assortment. It makes me laugh that I actually took a picture of this ... I would never have done so if I weren't planning on blogging about it later. We tried to be discreet about it so we wouldn't look like dorks.

Well what a treat for us! Since we pretty much only go out if we have a gift card or a buy one get one free coupon, this was a fun splurge. But it was so delicious and made me feel like we had done something a little bit special and out of the ordinary, which is the whole point, right?

Quote of the day ...

"Honesty may be the best policy, but it's important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy."
- George Carlin

Not sure what made me like this quote when I saw it on my google homepage, but I did. I think that's what I'll tell Joe next time he gets "lawyer" confused with "liar." You wouldn't believe how often he does that! At first it made me a little mad but now I've gotten used to it. I'm sorry for those of you who agree with Joe and think that lawyers are liars! I plan on being a good lawyer and never lying ... unless, of course, circumstances call for utilizing the second-best policy rather than the first.

Happy Valentines!!

Celebrating Valentines Day today didn't really work out for Joe and me ... it was a long day at school and we got home at 9. But we celebrated in advance on Sunday! We had so much fun having Eric & Tristina and Nate & Lori over for a yummy dinner of delicious breakfast food! Eric & Tristina have had us over for some amazing dinners in the past and so we were glad to finally have them over ... and for them to finally meet Nate & Lori. (Both couples are proud boxer owners and begged to bring their dogs but I said no way, you do that on your own time!!) Anyway, we had a yummy meal of my specialty breakfast casserole, Lori's overnight french toast and homemade syrup, and waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. We even had juice with heart shaped ice cubes!
It was so exciting to see Tristina's cute, growing belly! We are so excited for Caelan to come!Thanks to Lori's red plates and a little help from the dollar store, the table was a success. I was so excited to get into the Valentines festivities! Notice the pink ribbons on the light fixture. Happy Valentines Day everyone!

It's our engagement anniversary!!

Yes, it's true. Three years ago today my Joey proposed to me!! I'm not sure if everyone celebrates their 'engagement anniversary,' but it was such a wonderful day, how could you not? It's kind of nice that it is close to Valentines (not on Valtentines, that would be cheesy) so that we have two reasons to celebrate ... that way we're sure to actually do something special. Plus I love that it is on the 12th because that's my number! Here we are when Joe picked me up for our date. I just look happy but you can see Joe has a little bit of mischievousness in his eyes ... Although we had the ring picked out already (I insisted on choosing it myself), Joe had me convinced that it wasn't ready yet so I totally wasn't expecting anything. He also got me to kind of plan out the date so I wouldn't be suspicious ... I had been wanting to "redo" our first date so that's what we did.

Our first date was with a big group - go cart racing at Nascart and then dinner at The Pie in SLC. It was so fun to redo it just us ... and to think about the past year and a half of falling in love. On our first date, Joe got first place in the go-carts and I got last. I don't know how it happened, I was flying! Anyway, after dinner we went up to Sundance and walked around. It was so beautiful and Joe was being so sweet and I was thinking to myself "I can't believe he doesn't have the ring yet, this is a perfect time to propose - it's never going to get any better!" I still was convinced it wasn't going to happen, though ... until he told me he lied to me about something and then I knew! Anyway, it was such an exciting and perfect night. Great job, Joe!! I love you!

Something HAS to change.

Or I think I'm going to SNAP!! For two lovely years I had absolutely no complaints about living in our townhouse. We never heard a peep out of our neighbors, and our neighbors never heard us. Then one day one of them moved away and this Africian family with four (mostly teenage) children moved in. They each weigh in at about 300 pounds. But having to listen to them constantly stomp around like elephants is the least of our worries! They also talk and yell like there's no one for miles around ... or if there is like they want everyone to hear them. Needless to say, this substantially interferes with my evening studying and my Saturday morning sleeping. I mean I had no idea anyone could talk/scream/yell THAT LOUD. Sometimes we try to pound on the wall (or even yell) back at them but so far that hasn't been too effective. Yes, we have thought about going over there but it seems like that would turn a non-relationship into a very negative relationship. And frankly I'm also slightly terrified (I mean you should just hear the temper of the football player son). Thoughts??