Blog Post from 4 a.m.

So yesterday I (T-Ras) was sick. I went to work for an hour because I felt too guilty to call in, but I didn't make it past 8:30. When I got home everyone encouraged me to sleep. . . and sleep I did. For five hours! When I woke up Rod came home from work but soon had to leave for his internship. Once the E channel hit rock bottom (evening showing of Bring it On All or Nothing) I decided to watch Pearl Harbor because the only time you can watch a 3 hour WWII epic is when you are sick. The movie had beautiful shots of Hawaii and really made me "home sick" as Rod and I say. It is our dream to live there - no matter how far fetched that sounds. I just can't imagine not looking like this all the time. . .

Surf board on hand, trucker hat thrown backwards - maybe add a baby crawling in the sand next to me (in 5 years at least)

I also cannot imagine my husband not looking like this

Wearing the blue back pack ready for the jungle at all times and bringing sexy back as usual. 

Maybe some day we'll get there! This is what I think about when I wake up at 3:30 in the morning because my body can't sleep anymore. I think I'll go back to bed now. 

Goodbye my lover . . . . Goodbye my friend . . . you have been the one . . . . . you have been the one for me

I have a job interview today, and I kind of really need to impress them. Therefore, I had to cut off my beloved rat tail. If I don't get the job, I don't know what I'm gonna do.

Before

After

Thanks for the free haircut Tannie!

I love to see the . . . well you know the REST!

Ever since even before our wedding day, Tanya and I have wanted a cool pic of the Laie temple to hang in our house. We finally got it and we LOVES it. Our Hawaii photographer took this on our wedding day. However, we wanted it to look kind of antique and old fashioned. Erin Gadd to the rescue! She was our photographer for our Utah reception and a good friend of ours. http://www.pinkdaffodilphoto.blogspot.com/ - Her blog

She took the picture and antiqued it, and then had it made into a canvas (the kind that stick out of the wall). We love how it turned out and it's great having something to hang over our new fireplace!

Love those palm trees . . . oh, and the temple of course.

Class AAAACCCCTTTTTTTT!

I love how it wraps around

Everything Must Go

After last year's garage sale success (earning close to $500) we decided we had enough stuff to have another one this year! It's a lot of work pricing and setting everything up and hanging posters. The fun part (for me) is the actual sale part. I love interacting with people and especially I like using my Spanish (which I get to a LOT at garage sales). Tanya on the other hand, hates garage sales and vows we will never do another. I may be with her after this one . . .

I really did feel like we had good stuff - a couch, 2 TVs, TV stand, a mini fridge, a coffee table, all my fashionable clothes from 2005, and some great odds n' ends.

Unfortunately we only made $80. Worth it? I don't know.

This didn't sale at the garage sale, but I sold it on KSL.com for the full $100!

A Milestone, Indeed

We are so proud of making it to our 6 month anniversary that of course we had to celebrate. June 5, 2009 was the date. Luckily we both had work off that night.

Ever since NYC Tanya and I have been off desserts (besides the occasional skinny cow ice cream sandwich or natural frozen yogurt, of course). The week before our "anniversary" we were at Wal-Mart and decided to torture ourselves by going to the bakery and oogling every dessert in sight. Tanya drooled over the giant frosted cookies for about 10 minutes, so I surprised her and got one. There was no one in the bakery to frost it, so a nerdling from the deli (resembling squeeky voiced teen from The Simpsons) stepped in to save the day. He spent about 15 minutes frosting this work of art. Well done! When I told Tanya the story all she said was "I'm just impressed that he can write in cursive." It also helped ease us into Lake Powell, where we fasted from not eating desserts, and probably ate enough to make up for the 3 weeks of going without.

I also got an orchid lei, which our guests wore on our wedding day. The palm tree was a shower gift from Tan's darls cousin - I only felt it appropriate to hold in the picture

And of course we went to one of our favorite haunts, Italian Village. Despite her face in this pic, Tanya really loves it. I think we were tired of waiting for our food at this point. If any of you have been there, of course you know why we love it - Unless you got something besides a pizza bender, in which case I understand why you aren't obsessed like we are.
Italian Village has a lot of meaning for us. It is where I had my first real job (besides delivering newspapers) at age 14, as a busboy. The memories always flow - memories of a 14 year old Rodney wiping down tables until 1:30 am (is that even legal?). It's also where we went on our first real date (followed by seven peaks of course). We went there the night we got engaged, and I'm sure we will go there for any other special occasion.
Happy 6 Months, let's make it another 6, OK?!

Shabby Apple

So I (Rodney) am doing an internship this summer with Shabby Apple. Shabby Apple is a women's and girl's online dress boutique. I was ashamed to talk about it at first becuase of the nature of the business - dresses. They are actually a really cool company and everyone that I talk to or that hears about it loves them & the stuff they sale. They also give 5% of net dress sales to women in India for loans, so they can become self reliant. That aint bad!

I really like what I do for this internship. We work a lot with social media like blogs, facebook, twitter, etc. to get the word out. I am very intersted in Marketing, and I think social media is the future of Marketing (to an extent). It's cool to get a lot of experience and a lot of freedom to just learn. I felt very out of my element the first day when we arrived and the owners started asking for our opinion on dress styles, what looked good and what didn't - but I'm getting better.

One of our other responsibilities as interns is to write articles that we publish online at various article publishing sites. They liked mine and put it on the Shabby Apple Blog.

http://www.shabbyapple.com/blog/2009/06/tippy-top-model.html

A couple people started writing on my facebook wall "you intern for Shabby Apple?" and I was like "how did you find that out?" I guess they read this blog. The secret's out.

Tannie likes this dress. I'm gonna try to win it for her.

Clueless Neighbor

This is a video we took leaving our apartment one day.  This is our neighbors door and he is blasting the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, as usual.  Really, how is it that loud, through the door?

I Dare You To Judge Us

So the day has finally come . . . we have made the big move from our 450 square foot Lost Creek Apartment to my parents' basement apartment.  We don't consider it moving in WITH my parents because it has its own private entrance, its own kitchen, etc.  We are excited to go from paying around $800/month to paying what my dad thinks is fair: mow the lawn every week and invest 10% of our income for ourselves.  That aint bad!

Some things we will miss about Lost Creek

1. Hearing our neighbor (a 30 something male) to the side of us listen to the Moulin Rouge soundtrack on full blast at all hours of the night
2. Hearing our upstairs neighbors vacuum at all hours of the night (3:30 am for example).
3. Lugging everything from our car to our apartment and visa versa (groceries, laundry, purchases) for what feels like about a 3 mile trek
4. Our downstairs neighbor smoking on the balcony about every 15 minutes, not allowing us to open our windows and let fresh air in.
5. The mold that kept growing in the shower, which the maintenance guys would just paint over instead of getting rid of. 
6. You get the idea

Some things we will love about the basement apartment 

See For Yourself!

Both us and my parents have done a lot of work to make the basement apartment nice.  We are completely re-doing the bathroom (I chipped up the tile up and my dad is putting in new tile, granite countertop, and painting - but it's not done yet.)  We also stripped the wallpaper from the bedroom, patched the walls, and painted them as well as the walls in the kitchen and family room.  I shampooed the carpets and just a lot of cleaning.  Thanks mom and dad, we love how it turned out!

Our private entrance

The family room - complete with lovesac, leather couches, flatscreen TV, and gas fireplace.

The kitchen - much bigger than our old one.  You know you're married and lame when things like counter space get you excited!

We also got a Betta Fish (as seen on counter).  His name is Tyrone (or Ty, or Ty Ty Baby).  We OBVIOUSLY wanted a Yorkie or a Chihuahua, but I guess that will be when we have our own place!

We found room for our table

The bathroom - a work in progress

Our office/Tanya's "vanity"

Yes the 2nd bedroom has bunk beds.  Any out of towners are welcome to spend a night

Our bedroom - yes, we're still obsessed with Hawaii!

Tanya has her own big closet.  Good thing too, since she owns hundreds of pairs of shoes.

And I have my own big closet too!

We're happy, it feels right and we are going to be able to start saving some money since we're not paying rent.  Thanks mom and dad for letting us cut your space in half!