Halloween Scares

Two of the other dietitians and I decided to "dress up" for Halloween today and wear black skirts with striped tights. Not exactly a flattering picture of any of us.
I decided to add a special touch to my tights--my pointy toed high heels with a buckle--"witch shoes". People kept complimenting me ALL DAY on my shoes and tights. One guy even told me I looked hot. Yikes.

On Wednesday morning, I found the RD office all decorated for me. The dietitians surprised me with a congratulatory happy face balloon and stuff.

The balloon actually kind of creeps me out. I brought it home yesterday and put it in our bedroom. I kept imagining it looking at me and was scared it might float over me at night and scare the crap out of me. So I tied it to Graham's nightstand to make it stay put. When Graham turned off the light, he said to me.. "I bet you're going to get scared of this balloon later."

10 minutes later, Graham got up to get a drink of water in the dark. He yelled--AHHHH what is that?! It was the balloon, smiling at Graham. The string got caught on Graham's arm and hit him in the face. I laughed so hard I nearly died. Who's the fraidy-cat now?!

Confession

I'm kind of a disaster in the kitchen.

Yes, I can cook, but I'm pretty clumsy and something will go wrong almost definitely if it can.

I spill things, knock things over, drop food on the floor, accidentally mix in the wrong ingredients.. i.e. anything that can do wrong... will go wrong!

Case #1: Burned Williams-Sonoma towel

Lesson learned: Don't use a towel to pick up a hot pan from an electric stove.

Case #2: Flaming marshmallow topping

Lesson learned:

Don't put marshmallows close to the broiler unless you want the fire alarm to go off.

Lesson of the day:

You know you are addicted to blogging when something is on fire in your kitchen and you stop and ask, "wait, can I take a picture of this for my blog?"

Sherri.. MS, RD

I passed my RD exam yesterday!

My heart stopped when the test stopped after 110 questions... out of 225.

A screen popped up: "This test is finished.. please get your results from the testing office."

I was like.. "Oh s#!t. I failed!"

After clicking through the next questions (a stupid survey about the testing center), I found out I passed. I can't tell you how well I did, because I don't really know. My score is a "scaled score", based on how difficult the test is. So, I don't understand my score at all.

I do know that I'm a super test taker though because the guy said he'd never seen somebody pass this particular test so quickly.

Anyways, Graham and I went out to celebrate as soon as I got home. We went to a delicious bistro-like restaurant in Brem Brem called "The Patio" and enjoyed my freedom from studying. Hallelujah!

Sleeping Beauty

Cheap blanket with misspelling from Micronesia: $10
Makeshift bed in the family room for a sick Graham: Free

Knowing I have the most adorable husband EVER: Priceless

Date Night

So, Graham and I had a "date night" last night. We took the ferry over to Seattle, did an endowment session, and went out to dinner at BJ's Restaurant and Brewery.

We don't go out to eat that often because Bremerton's selection is quite limited: Shari's, Burger King, Outback... You get the idea. The nearby town has more restaurants, but we just don't have the time or desire to dine out.

One reason is money.. We're really trying to pay off our debts: credit card, my ring, his car..

Another reason is taste. I don't know how many of you know this, but many chain restaurants have pre-made frozen food that the "cooks" just throw into a pan. Ever since my friend told me that, I just don't enjoy eating out that much because the food just tastes "warmed over". The restaurants where I've really noticed the frozen food include the following:

--Applebee's. I will literally never eat here again. NEVER.
--Olive Garden. This restaurant is less noticeable than the others.
--Cheesecake Factory. You can definitely tell the difference in texture between a fresh chopped onion and a chopped frozen onion in a pasta.
--BJ's Restaurant. Graham's chicken was one of those pre-cooked chicken breasts with "grill marks". It was really chewy too.

Anyways, I was really disappointed with the food. Chewy chicken. Yuck.

I'm wondering what you all are interested in hearing about on my blog. I don't see any of you on a regular basis, so what would you like me to blog about? Whitney said more funny stories about Graham (i.e. him eating pot roast off the floor).. So what about you?

Fruit snacks

Ok, maybe I shouldn't post this directly after my last post, but I have a thing for fruit snacks.

We went to Wal-Mart and got some snacks, which included a variety pack of fruit snacks, my favorite snack besides chips and salsa. We don't normally have snacks in our house up here because we both get free food (yes.. breakfast AND lunch) from the hospital.

Anyways, I just ate 4 fruit snacks in a row.

I loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove fruit snacks.

I'm with child.. or "little one"

or not...

I swear, the next person who asks if I'm pregnant is going to get a roundhouse kick to the head.

Can't a girl with no hips/butt have a spare tire without being asked if she's "with a little one"?

Yeah, I cried a little bit..

Who did this lady think she was? She was fat! Did she want me to ask her if she's "with donut" or "with ice cream"?

Good thing I started working out last week or I probably would've punched this lady in the ovaries.

Family Ties

So my "baby" sister Julie is here visiting us. She gets to experience the married Sherri: the very nice, domesticated, more patient, and great hostess Sherri. I even set out her nice towels in her room with a candy on top. Luckily, I am able to work four 10-hour shifts this week to have a whole day off to hang out with my sister. We're planning on going to Seattle tommorrow. Will we see snow again in the Pike Place Market, I don't know..

The reason for my title is the recent knowledge I've gained about my ancestors who lived in Washington. I knew that my grandpa was born in the Tacoma-area, but that's the extent of my knowledge. My mom recently hooked us up on this geneology website where we can have a virtual family tree and see our living and dead ancestors. I was looking at this website when I noticed this guy who lives in Olympia (my first cousin, twice removed) was entering all of the names and data. I then noticed that several of my relatives were born and/or died in Brem Brem and Gig Harbor (a town 20 miles south of Brem Brem).

So, I contacted this guy for the name of the cemetary, but he offered to show us around instead. So, Graham and I went to Gig Harbor to see my ancestors' graves in the old cemetary there. A street was still even named after them (Vernhardsson). Anyways, so I saw the graves of my dad's great-grandma, Jonina Vernhardsson, her husband, and my dad's grandma Sadie. It was seriously neat and totally random that we happened to move to a town so close to where my ancestors lived and died.

Before this all happened, Graham and I were talking about baby names (for the future), and how we wanted to keep family names. I couldn't really find any I liked for girl names, except for Sadie. So, my great-grandma, whom I've never met, will have a baby girl named after her one day. Sadie is a good name.. although I'm not sure about the spelling. Maybe.. Saydi or Sadi? What do you think? And yes, many dogs are named Sadie, but I still love the name anyways.

It's a mythological bird.. GOSH

I just got back last night from another conference.. this time it was in Phoenix.. if you couldn't tell by the title. I don't have any real news, just general thoughts:

--Don't you love the smell of stale cologne plus BO? This guy sitting next to me on my flight home last night smelled like that. It made me think of being 14 years-old at youth church dances, especially those "Mineshaft" dances (you Sacramento-ans know what I'm talking about). I should've listened to "Cotton eye joe" or Deanna Carter's "Strawberry Wine" for a total youth dance throwback experience.
--I just worked (ok I'm still "working" technically) my first 10-hour day.. and it hasn't been too bad, even with only <6 align="center">How can I be so far from these kids?

I guess that's what I get for living so far away. Anyways, time's up. Adios.

Handbag Giveaway

Check this out... they're giving away free handbags!

http://www.handbagplanet.com/

How happy are you really?

When Graham's away.. I will play. I often randomly will surf blogs to either laugh at people or learn how other people live. Either way, I often end up looking at young married couple's blogs usually in Utah or somewhere back east while the husband sells pest control/satellites/security systems.

These blogs are usually so chipper and upbeat I can't help but wonder if these blogs are just facades. Can all of these people really be like this year-round? And why are all of them the same? I can honestly say that Graham and I are really happy and so in love.. but my blog isn't super happy and annoying like theirs.... right?

So.. I decided to have a post dedicated to all you of lame, fake, and annoyingly happy bloggers out there:

OMG! Graham and I had the BEST time down in Portland this weekend!! It all started out with a romantic 3-hour drive from Brem Brem to Portland. We held hands, gazed longingly into each others eyes (without getting into an accident of course!), and sang along to our favorite Moulin Rouge songs. Our AMAZING sister-in-law Ali made us a delicious homemade meal--she is a trained chef you know--chicken cordon bleu, creamy polenta, and sauteed zucchini. It was so good.. too bad I don't have pictures! We stayed up with James & Ali, took some pictures with them (because what are pictures for if not for our cutest couples friends/family?!), and chatted about her pregnancy. Which is SO COOL... I will be an aunt on Graham's side! I'm so freaked out and EXCITED.

So on Saturday, we went to the 9 AM endowment session in the Portland temple with Graham's cousin, Seth, who is super nice and going on a mission to Guatemala. So exciting!!!! So after this totally emotional and special temple experience, we went back home and took a well-needed nap. Don't you just LOVE naps?!?! So we all decided to go rock climbing that afternoon (except for Ali... of course! You can't climb when you're pregnant!) at this awesome place that allows you to climb.. get this... without ropes/pulleys, etc. There's a soft floors like you would find at a gymnastics place, except better... because we're climbing rocks! I started by watching the boys climb.. got over my fear of heights.. and started climbing. I was still a little scared, but what the heck right?! Grahan, my poor hubby, ripped his calluses off and needed some TLC from me!!

Then, we decided to take Seth out to dinner at our FAVORITE Hawaiian restaurant in Portland--Bamboo Grille--with our newly engaged friends Jered and Amy (congrats you guys!! you're the best! you're going to love married life!). We all had the delicious kalua pork, except for Graham who had the ke'e ribs, YUM! After being totally and completely stuffed, we went our separate ways and went back to James & Ali's apartment for such a fun throwback movie--Jurassic Park: The Lost World. I fell asleep during the movie (oops!), but it was so much fun remembering what life was like when this movie was in the theaters!!

So on Sunday, Seth gave his super spiritual talk (I had to wipe away my tears several times), and Ali announced her pregnancy to the family. So much fun! Graham and I picked up his new wedding ring at the mall--FINALLY--and we looked like a married couple again! Yay! I just wanted to give a shoutout to James & Ali for letting us stay in their DARLING apartment--you guys rock!

...That was exhausting. I also actually made faces while typing this post, making fun of people that would talk like this.