Sunday, March 28, 2010
Hare Krishna - Holi Festival of Colors!
Yesterday we went to an annual celebration at the Lotus Krishna Temple (a Hindu temple) in Utah that celebrates the coming of Spring called the Festival of Colors. It's celebrated in Asian countries like India and Nepal, but Spanish Fork, Utah has the largest celebration of it's kind in the United States. We didn't get there early enough to wonder around much, but there's a lot of dancing and singing and food and other activities related to Indian culture to take part of. The climax of the celebration, however, is the massive chalk fight that takes place outside the temple, which we were there in time for!
Luckily, just seconds before the fight started, some random guy was selling face masks where we happened to be standing. Best $1.50 I have ever spent in my life. Somehow we were still blowing purple snot out of our noses for the rest of the day though.
We looked like Shredder from Ninja Turtles...
It was pretty amazing. The crowd counted down from 20 and then thousands of people hurled different colors of chalk into the air that eventually mixed into one huge pink cloud.
It was a nice break from Rexburg and school and work and wedding planning and anything else routine and stressful. After the chalk fight we started our pilgrimage back to the car that was parked about a mile away and enjoyed some Carl's Jr. It was a good day.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
17 days.
Yesterday we got our marriage license, went to the temple and saw our sealer, got Scott's suit (he said I didn't react well enough. Let me set the record straight that he looked AMAZING), found a sweet woman to alter my dress.
This is really happening.
Someone asked me when I knew. You know, when I was sure. The only moment I can remember having a spiritual experience about it was in October. I mean, I knew I loved him in July; I think I even knew there was something different about this relationship back then (although I was afraid of the implications).
But in October when I met his family... Here I was, already head over heels for this guy, and then I meet these people who I instantly fall in love with. And I remember praying, Can I keep this one? Can this be it? This is everything I've ever wanted.
I was sure, in myself, that I wanted Scott-- the whole package (we'd seen enough of each other's flaws to know what the "whole package" meant). But, I haven't had the best judgment about guys in the past so I wanted God's opinion of the whole thing.
I remember begging for clarity that weekend and feeling so frustrated and feeling that if there was one time when I really needed a clear answer about something, this was it.
And then came this one moment where all of these things were brought to my memory-- time and time again where somehow, we were able to stay together. Miracles. And the distinct impression: I've brought you, and kept you, together.
This is evidence of God's infinite love, and that he's involved when we let him, pulling the strings. I feel like this is a gift we can't ever treat lightly.
This is really happening.
Someone asked me when I knew. You know, when I was sure. The only moment I can remember having a spiritual experience about it was in October. I mean, I knew I loved him in July; I think I even knew there was something different about this relationship back then (although I was afraid of the implications).
But in October when I met his family... Here I was, already head over heels for this guy, and then I meet these people who I instantly fall in love with. And I remember praying, Can I keep this one? Can this be it? This is everything I've ever wanted.
I was sure, in myself, that I wanted Scott-- the whole package (we'd seen enough of each other's flaws to know what the "whole package" meant). But, I haven't had the best judgment about guys in the past so I wanted God's opinion of the whole thing.
I remember begging for clarity that weekend and feeling so frustrated and feeling that if there was one time when I really needed a clear answer about something, this was it.
And then came this one moment where all of these things were brought to my memory-- time and time again where somehow, we were able to stay together. Miracles. And the distinct impression: I've brought you, and kept you, together.
This is evidence of God's infinite love, and that he's involved when we let him, pulling the strings. I feel like this is a gift we can't ever treat lightly.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
An Alphabetical Synopsis of Our Lives Lately
(*note - Siobhan and I are taking turns with these... I'll start.)
AWKWARD - Siobhan. Today she was walking toward someone on campus and awkwardly danced back and forth with them trying to guess who was going which direction. (For a solid thirty seconds, Siobhan adds.)
BORING - Scott's life has to be. This is what I've ascertained he does all day: He wakes up-- at some mysterious time, sometimes he won't return my texts until like 2pm but claims it's because he left his phone in his jacket. Then he [plays guitar? makes pictures of us look better by photoshopping them? stalks all of his friends on facebook?] until I'm done with class, and if he doesn't have to work [at a call center, emphasis on boring], he comes over to my apartment and sits around with me and my roommates until midnight.
CALLIPYGIAN - Because Siobhan has a fantastic heiny.
DERVISH -
–noun
a member of any of various Muslim ascetic orders, as the Sufis, some of which carry on ecstatic observances, such as energetic dancing and whirling or vociferous chanting or shouting.
This definitely applies to Scott.
ELEPHANTIASIS - Seriously, her heiny is that good.
FERDINAND - I keep trying to convince him to let us name our kids things like Ferdinand or Felix and he keeps giving me weird looks.
GALLAGHER - She's mentioned to me several times in the past couple of days that if we ever have a son she wants to name him this. Even more than Ferdinand. (Gallagher would be awesome!!! -Siobhan)
HORKLEY'S - It's this gas station, and it has $.50 movie rentals, and last semester we rented one EVERY-SINGLE-NIGHT-- that's like $3.50 a week! (says the perpetual cheapskate) Thankfully, Scott's parents gave their kids like a thousand of their old movies for Christmas, so now we're set. Suitcase full of movies.
ILLITERATE - Siobhan. Her post just now about Horkley's ends in a fragment. English major...pff....
This definitely applies to Scott.
ELEPHANTIASIS - Seriously, her heiny is that good.
FERDINAND - I keep trying to convince him to let us name our kids things like Ferdinand or Felix and he keeps giving me weird looks.
GALLAGHER - She's mentioned to me several times in the past couple of days that if we ever have a son she wants to name him this. Even more than Ferdinand. (Gallagher would be awesome!!! -Siobhan)
HORKLEY'S - It's this gas station, and it has $.50 movie rentals, and last semester we rented one EVERY-SINGLE-NIGHT-- that's like $3.50 a week! (says the perpetual cheapskate) Thankfully, Scott's parents gave their kids like a thousand of their old movies for Christmas, so now we're set. Suitcase full of movies.
ILLITERATE - Siobhan. Her post just now about Horkley's ends in a fragment. English major...pff....
KNOXVILLE - We will be living there in the fall!
LUCK - Is the only explanation I have for getting to marry my best friend. I never thought I could click so well with someone. I made this dumb list of all the qualities I wanted in a husband and I keep it in my wallet (ahem) and anyway, Scott hits everything on the list.
MONTH - Only one more until we get married!
NERVOUS - I'm nervous that I won't be a good wife. I'm not really sure what that means. But it sounds like something I could possibly mess up, so I'm nervous about it.
OKAY - I think we're calling it quits. We started watching Hot Rod and are too distracted now.
Anywhooo... thanks for tuning in.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Well we're almost there. Tomorrow it will be exactly 1 month until our imprisonment to each other. The whole engagement process started off exciting, but then reality hit us and we frantically started making plans amidst going to school and working. Well, the engagement is still very exciting, but the planning has been stressful to say the least.
On a brighter side, these past few weeks we've been able to enjoy some of the "funner" sides of planning our wedding. After visiting Siobhan's parents in Kansas City, we flew back to Salt Lake City and began searching for a suit, shoes, and wedding colors. What we thought would be a stressful and long day turned out to be a lot of fun, and we seemed to find everything fairly easily... but that's probably just the difference between making preparations in SLC rather than Rexburg.
The next weekend we drove to Idaho Falls to register at Target. When we got there, customer service gave us a scanning gun and we quickly started darting around the store, scanning everything in sight. We were about as excited as this guy...
I don't know who this is.
I would have to say that was one of the funner parts of our engagement, until we realized we were getting married far away from the majority of our family and friends and we weren't having a reception, which may result in very little wedding gifts. We remain optimistic though. In fact, just this last week we got word from my parents that the first of our wedding gifts has already started arriving! I think it hit us both then that our wedding is next month.
Aside form our wedding planning, life has been very good to us. We met again with the couple whose apartment we are taking over, and they informed us that much of their furniture will be left behind for us when they move! We have also been able to find a lot of decent furniture and household items that were either incredibly cheap or free, one of which was given to us by Mom and Dad Barnes. In actuality, they surprised us with a really nice gift for Siobhan:
yup, it's a laptop. An HP 2133 mini.
...Siobhan putting it to good use.
I don't think they realize how much of a convenience it has been for her to have this. So far it's saved her many trips to the library.
So all-in-all it's been a nice, fairly stress-free, exciting past few weeks.
On a brighter side, these past few weeks we've been able to enjoy some of the "funner" sides of planning our wedding. After visiting Siobhan's parents in Kansas City, we flew back to Salt Lake City and began searching for a suit, shoes, and wedding colors. What we thought would be a stressful and long day turned out to be a lot of fun, and we seemed to find everything fairly easily... but that's probably just the difference between making preparations in SLC rather than Rexburg.
The next weekend we drove to Idaho Falls to register at Target. When we got there, customer service gave us a scanning gun and we quickly started darting around the store, scanning everything in sight. We were about as excited as this guy...
I would have to say that was one of the funner parts of our engagement, until we realized we were getting married far away from the majority of our family and friends and we weren't having a reception, which may result in very little wedding gifts. We remain optimistic though. In fact, just this last week we got word from my parents that the first of our wedding gifts has already started arriving! I think it hit us both then that our wedding is next month.
Aside form our wedding planning, life has been very good to us. We met again with the couple whose apartment we are taking over, and they informed us that much of their furniture will be left behind for us when they move! We have also been able to find a lot of decent furniture and household items that were either incredibly cheap or free, one of which was given to us by Mom and Dad Barnes. In actuality, they surprised us with a really nice gift for Siobhan:
I don't think they realize how much of a convenience it has been for her to have this. So far it's saved her many trips to the library.
So all-in-all it's been a nice, fairly stress-free, exciting past few weeks.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
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