Otherwise known as... My Unglamorous Life

I wanted to blog tonight about something, but I couldn't really think of exactly what I wanted to talk about. My blog is kind of all over the place, anyways, as I talk about widely varied topics such as my crazy but boring life, makeup and beauty, and nutrition and fitness. Graham is working until midnight tonight, so I have the house all to myself (kinda) until then. Carter is asleep and I have a lovely can of Diet Pepsi at my side.

It has been a looooooooong week. Our hospital just adopted a new electronic medical record system (EPIC, if any of you readers work in health care) on Sunday, so I worked a full week last week, I was on-call last Saturday, and I just worked 50+ hours this last week from Sunday through today. Stick a freaking fork in me. I'm done. I'm still getting used to the new system and getting a more efficient work flow. The biggest problem was that the analysts only gave us access in the system to look at diet orders and allergies, like we were kitchen workers (which, I'm sure, most people think that's what Registered Dietitians do anyways). This was a problem for TWO FULL DAYS at work. So, I got paid for two days in which I didn't do any real work. If any of you follow me on Instagram, you'd have noticed I did a Barre3 workout in my office on Monday. My co-worker was cracking up the entire time while I was doing lunges, squats, and arabesques in our tiny sardine can-sized office. We also watched the movie Memento on Netflix while they fixed the problem.

Sigh. I was on the phone with my mom on Wednesday night, in which I mentioned that we hoped Graham's car would last us another six months so we could buy a new car then. And guess what call I received an hour later? Graham's car died on the freeway. His car is an old, beat up Honda Civic with multiple dents, a taped up window, and rimless tires. I'd put up a picture of this POS, but I don't want all of you to get jealous of what an amazing and glamorous car I get to ride in. Anyways, we had to jump it twice for it to make it another mile to a friend's house. The car is only worth maybe $300 to a junk yard, and the repairs would be $250, so we don't think it'd be worth it to invest more in the POS. So, we are car shopping tomorrow. We need a dependable sedan with good gas mileage that's affordable. We don't have a real plan, other than considering a possible lease with Nissan or Chevy. We will see. I'm not excited because I was more excited to pay off debt--not incur more!

Speaking of my sexy and glamorous life, my co-worker and I had a good conversation today about what real life is and how people can ruin it with their big expectations of what they think their lives will be like. We were talking about the show "Say Yes to the Dress" on TLC, where women spend $5000+ on wedding dresses for one day. We were specifically talking about the women who go in for a $3000 dress but end up trying on a dress over $10000, love the expensive dress, and somehow talk their family into buying it for them. I just think that's setting them up for disappointment of what life is really going to be like, especially marriage. I kinda grew up thinking once I got married, trials wouldn't be as hard. What a joke. Marriage and life are not fairy tales in which everything you wish comes true. Sure, I'm a little jaded and cynical, but I consider myself to be a bit more realistic than anything. A true marriage is not glamorous. It is coming home to the same person every day, dealing with little annoying and mundane things like honey, why the hell can you not leave your shaving cream and eye drops on your side of the sink?, and of course, the big, glaring problems that I've gone through. If you think your husband is always going to treat you like the princess you think you are, then you have some serious growing up to do.

This also made me think of my sister's friend who flew to Hawaii from California for the weekend just to be proposed to. I was like, seriously?? As if getting engaged isn't exciting and wonderful enough, you have to be in Hawaii for a day or two just to pop the question?? I said, the rest of her life is just going to be a disappointment if this is what she thinks her life is going to be like. What is her first childbirth going to be like? Is she going to pull a Jessica Simpson and request a renovation and special room in the hospital for herself, surrounded only by the most beautiful flowers in a spa-like setting? Will her child only drink the finest breast milk? (Sorry, I had to quote Chappelle Show.) Every event in life will not be amazing. If you think life will be this way, you really will be unsatisfied. I cannot emphasize this enough.

If I thought this way, my life would be extremely unfulfilling right now. I mean, honestly, my life is pretty dang boring and kind of sucks sometimes. I see my husband when I'm awake for about 10 minutes a day. I have six hours of toddler time, in which we build LEGO's, read Pete the Cat books incessantly, and play with trains or construction trucks. I make dinner every night, for which I am never thanked by my child. I practically have to bribe him every night just to eat the food that he doesn't appreciate. I get maybe six hours of sleep because I get up at 4:55 AM every day, but if I want to talk to my husband at all, Graham gets home at 10:35 PM every night. Ugh. I am truly exhausted as I type this. Anyways, I am happy with my life, because I don't expect my life to be amazing, glamorous, or even fun all the time. As I've been reading, life is often full of suffering, and I've come to embrace that.

Yeah, about that...

I am left alone for the weekend again. Carter and Graham went down to Portland for his brother's baby blessing this morning, but I had to work today and tomorrow. So, I'm bored and watching Hulu all by myself tonight, and I felt inspired to blog.

I guess I feel like I don't really have much to blog about, just some random things. So, I'll do one of my old-fashioned mind dumps.

1) We just got back from a road trip to my hometown in California. It's about 800 miles to my parent's house, so we drove through the night on the way there so Carter would sleep through the night.  We listened to an audiobook of Divergent on the way down while he slept. It worked out really well, but neither Graham nor I slept very well in the car. We were BEAT when we got to their house. Let's just say I slept very well the whole time we were there because I was making up for the lack of sleep. We didn't do anything big, we just played in the pool (my mom got Carter shark fin floaties--he loved them and swam all over the pool in them), played with cousins, and shopped a little bit (I found an awesome swim cover-up dress from Athleta). Can I just mention really quick how great Carter was? Seriously, this kid is such a blessing. He's so easygoing and mild-mannered, and yet adorable and hilarious. He was amazing on the drive home (he only slept for a little bit on the way). He had a little LeapFrog reader, some trucks, and some other random toys, but he mostly sat there in silence, looking at the window. He didn't complain and only had to go potty quickly once. I guess this means we can take more road trips if he's going to be so awesome!

2) Speaking of swim dresses.. Guess who's going to Hawaii in October?? We are! My parents have a timeshare on Oahu, and we are going for a full week with them and my sister. We are so excited. We haven't been on a real vacation since our honeymoon to Kauai in 2008. But now, Graham will probably have to work Thanksgiving in exchange for not working a full week in October.

3) I hosted a girl's night a couple of weeks ago with some friends. We were trying to think of ideas, including going shopping, hiking, eating at the Melting Pot, mani/pedis, etc, and I volunteered to host a fondue night to save money. Not thinking it all the way through, I chose to make a traditional Swiss fondue (with a white wine base). I only realized this mistake when the ladies asked me for the recipe. Number one ooops: I didn't ask if they'd be ok with having white wine base (we're all Mormon and don't drink alcohol). The cheese fondues at Melting Pot all have an alcoholic beverage in it, so I didn't think anything of it. Number two ooops: one of my friends is pregnant and shouldn't consume alcohol (the alcohol doesn't all cook out, sorry). Yeah, I felt like an idiot...

4) I am really loving my barre-style workouts right now. I downloaded the Barre3 app on my phone for like $5, and they have free 10-minute workout videos available on the app. I've been picking and choosing different little sections for do a 60-70 minute workout, and it's been nice to kind of switch up the routine a little bit.

5) Work is going to be kind of crazy this summer. First of all,one of my co-workers is getting married and got another job in Seattle. Friday was her last day. Ordinarily, it wouldn't be too terrible, but my other co-worker is on vacation this next week. So, I will be working by myself for 4 days next week. Super excited. Plus, our hospital is getting a new electronic medical record system in like 3 weeks. so, double suck. Short staffed and new system=recipe for disaster. But, the silver lining is that I don't have to work any more weekends this summer unless I get called in. Woohoo!

6) Some newer beauty products I've tried is a men's shaving cream from Sephora and a body wash gel from LUSH. The shaving cream is the bomb. I mean seriously, Graham's face stays soft for 2 days when he uses it, when normally his beard is all scratchy by the end of day 1. So, I had to try it myself, and it works wonders on me too! This means less shaving, softer skin, and less overall product used. The body wash I got is in a citrus scent and it really helps wake me up and feel fresh in the morning. I would highly recommend it, but my favorite one is still Foam Call wash from Sephora. That one is my favorite scent ever and I feel like it's really moisturizing.

7) My mom totally spoiled me when I visited her. She surprised me with eyelash extensions! They're a little more fragile than the ones I got for my 30th birthday, but they're lovely. I'll have to take a picture and post it on Instagram.

8) Carter's personality is really like a mini-me. He's kind of a contrarian sometimes and likes to argue just to go against the flow. For example, I would not wear flip flops in high school because everybody else did, and everyone wore the ones from Old Navy. I think I got a pair from J.Crew literally the week after I graduated. Anyways, my mom was talking to Carter about making good choices in life and to CTR ("choose the right" she explained), when he responded with "No, I C-L. I Choose the Left." He really is clever, that one.

Anyways, we don't have anything really planned over the next month, so who knows what the heck I'll blog about. I mean, I shouldn't complain about my life not being eventful. I've definitely had enough fodder over the past year to keep my blog entries plentiful.

New Car

Before you say anything, like how irresponsible you think we are, or how you hate European cars..

Our new car has:

--The same payments as the old car

--Turbo engine

--A good CarFax report

--Great mileage

--6-CD changer and a spot for an iPod jack

--New tires

--Sex appeal :)

Anyways, yes.. I bought my first car. It's not Graham's, since my name is the only one on the loan.. but he mostly drives it. It's kind of a long story, but we decided to trade in the Chevy Malibu.. or should I say "Mal B". It was a sinking ship, and we wanted out... fast.

So, our friend hooked us up with a dealer in Port Orchard (Grey Chevrolet for anybody that wants to know). They were good, not slimy at all, and dealt efficiently with our purchase. I am VERY happy with my "new" 2005 Saab. Woohoo!

And please, no judgmental comments. That means YOU mom.