Win It Nao

Since I was one of the first three commenters on my cousins' cousin's blog the other day, I am obligated to post this too as part of the winnings. But I'm actually really excited about this. So here it goes:

Here are the instructions: The first 3 people to respond to this post will get something made by me! However, there are some rules, which are:

1. I get to decide what it is.
2. But I will keep you in mind and it will be personalized. I'm not going to make you a teapot if you don't drink tea. I wouldn't make a teapot anyway, I have no clue how.
3. You'll probably have to wait until after the wedding. I'm too insanely busy to get it done beforehand. That ok?
4. It can be anything. Maybe I'll paint you a picture (on canvas), maybe I'll embroider something for you, maybe I'll bake you something...It all depends!

The catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. The first 3 people to leave a comment telling me they will win it forward get a fabulous homemade gift by me! Oh, and if you have a blog, be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it.

Muse

I feel like I haven't talked about my real life in a while, aside from the post I wrote in the hospital.

This has been an interesting semester so far. Between the numerous doctors' appointments and blood tests and diet changes and the veritable pharmacy I carry around with me everywhere I go, my health has sort of taken center stage. I don't like it that way. Not at all.

Another thing is the whole being engaged thing. People tell you planning a wedding (and carrying out those plans) is a menace, but they often forget to mention all the learning and growing you and your partner do. That, my friends, is a process. It's rather time-consuming. It makes me forget that I have a life outside of Sam, that my friends are still my friends. But if I'm going to spend the rest of my life with Sam, we need to work out the kinks and learn to be together, and not act as though we are two people, or single people living together. I'm not sure I got that point across, it's complicated.

And of course, as far as school and work goes, I have (typically) bitten off almost more than I can chew. Well, it's more like one of those enormous bites you take where you have to cover your mouth for a while to prevent things from flying out until you can get a handle on everything you've shoved in your mouth. Yeah, nice image. I have four research projects this semester, two of which I volunteered for. And the display case I've been working on putting together at the museum is finally almost up. And yet, the inevitable things are going wrong.

That's something I've learned to deal with better (at least I hope so) lately. Sometimes things don't go the way you plan, and as hard as you try and push to make it work, the universe (or people...) push back. Nothing will ever be perfect, not in this life. It's part of my growing experience to learn to be truly flexible and learn that not everyone, no matter how kind they can be or how well-meaning they are, will act according to plan.

But I have a lot to be grateful for. I'm actually grateful for all these experiences, even if it means I can't have my wedding precisely the way I want (note to the world: if it's not your wedding, it is NOT your wedding), or that I have to redo the labels in the display three times over and over, and get cut by a razor in the process, or that I live from meal to meal, wondering how everything I put in my mouth will affect me. And I'm grateful that I have friends who have offered support and anything they can do to help me. And I'm grateful for family, who constantly make me laugh and provide an outlet to really be myself. And I'm grateful for Sam, who will one day be my family, and who already understands me better than anyone else, and will do anything for me. We will work through the years ahead together, and I feel more confident knowing that he'll be by my side.

Fall Has Fallen

This past Sunday after church, Sam and I hopped in the truck and drove up to Sundance to look at the Fall colors in the leaves on the trees, since I've never driven through a canyon or anything to do so (I've only even had two other real Falls before, and I missed it both times).
Needless to say, it was a beautiful drive. I wanted to do more, but we ran out of gas. Such is life.
On another, completely irrelevant note, I bought new mascara the other day and used it this morning for the first time. I've read about Maybelline's Great Lash for years-- all magazines everywhere rave about it. I've never tried it, but this time I was attracted by the neon-colored bottle. When I pulled out the brush from the bottle this morning, I noticed how small the bristles were, and frowned a little. Surely it would be ineffective.
But wow. It worked like a dream. Absolutely zero clumping of eyelashes or anything! I literally said "Wow" to myself when I saw the results. So here's my plug: go try it. Seriously. I got it in waterproof in blackish brown.

Coming Soon: Our apartment is starting to take shape! I'm starting to actually like spending time there because it doesn't seem trashy any more. Ha!

Lying in Wait

Everything for the wedding is planned. This sort of happened by accident because of the whole anticipated-trip-to-Italy thing. Alas, we all know that that didn't happen because of the illness.
Anyway, it has been nice not having to make serious decisions every day about wedding things, and all that's left is putting the plans into action, which is infinitely more fun and less stressful! And I really am looking forward to some of the stuff that I can't do until later, like decorations and baking and getting a marriage license and taking bridals and... yeah. And getting married.

I'm excited :)

P.S. I read this morning that they are building an Avatar theme park at Disney World in Florida. If you've read my rant, you know exactly how I feel about this.

Engagements!

This afternoon Sam and I got our engagement pictures taken. I was really nervous that I wouldn't be able to be myself, but Sam kept me laughing, as he always does, so it was actually easy.

Anyway, I'm super excited to get proofs of all the photos, but in the meantime, our wonderful photographer has posted a blog post with a few of her favorites. I hope she forgives me for borrowing the one I'm reposting here...

Anyway, go here to see it (and the rest of her amazing work).

Le Weekend!

Ladies and gentlemen, I have officially made it through the first (for me) week back at school! Hoorah! I can tell I'm going to enjoy attending only part-time this semester, even if it does funny things to my tuition since I can't have my scholarship anymore (boo).
I'm living at my grandparents' house for the semester and loving it so far.
Aaaand...I'm trying to adjust to the new doctor-prescribed diet that will hopefully keep me out of the hospital for months to come.
Anyway, since it's Friday, and I'm lazy at work, here are some things I've found across the intranetz that piqued my interest:

Things to do with paint chips (the tufty one looks really cool)

Cool fingerprint rings (although reading the backstory is way more interesting)

Swallowable perfume? What the...

Ghetto hack for sous-vide cooking? I'm intrigued...

P.S. The photo is from a sunrise trip to the west side of the lake two years ago. I'm hankerin' to go back.

A Truth Universally Acknowledged

Surprise (not)! I got engaged this week.

To be honest, I'd known it was coming for weeks, but the fact that Sam was in Connecticut for the summer made it a little hard to make it "official" any sooner. And then there was the whole hospital debacle, which made it harder because I refused to be drugged up with a tube up my nose when he asked me. Anyway, can you imagine? The nurse comes in to check my vitals: "Hold out your finger for the ox meter...Woops! Here's your engagement ring! Surprise!"

Nope.

Anyway, I was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday after 10 days, spent the day in lethargy and nausea, and was eternally grateful that Sam was still waiting (but was it ever going to come?). The next day I felt better, but I still had the tube in. We went up past Sundance in the truck and looked at the stars-- tres romantique, except for the feeding tube and the electronic pump I had with me. Still no ring, phew.

Thursday I pulled the tube out in frustration (only slightly against doctor's orders, don't worry) around 5pm and felt an exponential increase in my happiness. Woohoo! I knew it could come at any moment, but I was hoping he would wait until Friday so we could have some neat-o date first.

We went to Ikea to look at furniture (I told you we'd known it was coming for ages), and then stopped at Ihop for some dinner (where I was forced to eat fat-free...this whole pancreatitis thing sort of sucks). Sam proposed we make another drive up the canyon, but I shot him down, saying I was too tired (it's hard walking around when you've been lying in bed for two weeks, let me tell you). So we drove back to my grandparents' house, where we're both staying at the moment. We parked in the parking lot near the club house and got out of the car. I stared at a cat sitting in the sprinklers on the lawn near the lot while Sam gathered his belongings from the truck. Then he came up to me and gave me a hug.

"There's a cat in the sprinklers over there," I said.

"Oh really?" said Sam.

"Yeah, that's kind of weird."

"Shannon, are you serious?"

"About what, the cat?"

"About this. About us."

I looked him in the eye. "Of course I am."

"Then you need this." He put the ring on my finger as I said something to the affect of "Le gasp!" (not really)

Lots of hugging and laughing (that sounded like crying-- um, what?) ensued.

"I take it that means 'Yes'?"

"Well you still haven't even asked me!"

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes, I will, of course!"

(More sappiness)

Then we walked back to the house hand in hand and showed my grandparents and my mom, none of whom noticed the ring really before noticing the absentee feeding tube.

It wasn't incredibly romantic, but it was simple and nice. I don't care that it was Thursday, or that I was tired and sick, or that it was in a parking lot by a strange water-loving cat, or that we ate at Ihop. Because that's life, and I love it.

On December 17th I get to marry him. And that makes me happy.

Allow Me to Be Sappy For Once

Maybe it's the narcotics they're giving me, or the fact that I'm going to be alone for the next couple of hours of the day, or maybe I'm just having one of those days, but I feel the need to say this:

Since I've been in the hospital for the past week, I've come to learn a lot. I've learned a lot about patience (and I always thought I had enough of it-- I'm learning that still isn't true), about hope, and also about love.

I'm grateful that my mother is in town, by my bedside nearly all day, entertaining me, talking to me, rocking me when I get so frustrated or can't deal with the pain. I'm grateful that I have a man in my life who always tries to make me laugh when I feel depressed as I lie in bed, who massages my feet so they don't atrophy, who thinks that I'm beautiful despite the voluminous hospital gown, messy hair, and feeding tube up my nose; who is patient with me when I take my frustration and cabin fever out on him, who walks me through the hallways at a too-slow pace like a 95-year-old woman, and who cries a little from frustration when there's nothing he can do to help me (don't tell him I said that last part).

I'm grateful to my siblings who come to visit me almost every day, for the good friends that I have that come to visit and talk about food so I don't forget that all there is in the world is gross broth and a chemical mixture they shove through your nose; and who come and talk and laugh with me about normal things so I don't feel like an invalid in a hospital.

I'm grateful to the countless nurses I've met over the past week who get to know me, who seem concerned for my welfare, who see me still here a few days later and are sad that I haven't been able to go home yet, who are vying for me to be able to go home so I can do all the exciting things in my life I have coming up.

I'm grateful that this is only a case of acute chronic pancreatitis, and not anything more like the other poor souls in this ward who have cancer and deal with much greater pain than I do now.

Thank you to all of you who are praying for me, who come see me-- to all of you, I love you, and I'm so glad to have you in my life at this time.

Have a good Saturday :)

Un Mistero

This is not what I normally write about. Forgive me.

Ok, here's something a little random. This is a picture of me in May of 2006, right before my 17th birthday. The part that I want you to notice-- not my strange pose or the glowing eyes of my cat-- is my belt. Yes, I know it's very difficult to see...but just know that it was an awesome belt. I stole it from my Dad's closet (now you know where I get my skinniness from), as he hadn't worn it in decades. It was one of those ones with the leather buckle-y part, and the rest was cloth-- it had blue, green, and yellow stripes. It was a sweet belt. I literally wore it until it fell apart.

Anyway, as much as I love the belt I use regularly now (which has awesome dogs and birds):

I'm ready to diversify. And I have found myself thinking back to that old belt I wore religiously in high school (with terribly light pants...). I want one like that again-- something subtly colorful, but still normal enough to be able to wear every day if I want to. Something like this maybe:

Minus the weird flag shirt. And the light pants again. And the phone necklace.

Keep your eyes peeled for me?

Rah

Allow me one brief post to complain.

1. Yesterday I rear-ended some dude stopped in the middle of the road. He didn't have his brakelights on. It was wet. I couldn't stop in time. There was no damage to either of our cars. He is telling my insurance company anyway so he can get a new paint job. My insurance is going up, even if it ends up costing $5 to "repair" that little smudge that was already on his bumper. Awesome.

2. If you are a company that sells expensive items, and you originally charge me double and make it so I can't buy food for a week and have $2 total in my bank account for that long while you poke along attempting to void the transaction, and THEN have the guts to tell me I can't have a refund on my $500 thing when I say I don't feel good about buying it anymore (after the first thing got straightened out), without telling me in the first place it was final sale, then you are an idiot. End of story.

3. My pizza burned. And stuck to the pan. Lame lame lame.

Then I saw this, and I'm trying to make it make me feel better, but I don't if it's working. It is funny though...

Face the Music and Dance

I was doing some exploring this evening on songs, and dancing, and dancing to songs, and I inevitably wound up looking at dozens of clips of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. I have my mom to thank for a great appreciation of old movies.

Here's Fred Astaire doing "We Saw the Sea" from Follow the Fleet. I sing this all the time, but people just give me looks askance. Pshaw. It's funny.

And Fred and Ginger doing "Never Gonna Dance" from Top Hat.

Embedding disabled, but still, watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXT0e6HWndQ

Fred Astaire singing "Let's Face the Music and Dance." I love this song. And to think they originally said of FA "Can't act, can't sing, can dance a little." It's just the song, no video to speak of:

...And Ginger Rogers singing "Let Yourself Go," another one I often sing. It starts about 54 seconds in (the beginning is instrumental). Video is a slideshow of pictures from the dance of the same title, but really you're better off just watching them dance. Unfortunately there's no singing though in that version.

Some days I wish I had tv solely so I could watch Turner Classic Movies. I miss that.

Roundup

Sometimes you find nice things on the intranetz.

For example, this is cool. I may have exclaimed out loud.

This is funny and cute.

And this may be my new favorite website. Too bad there are only four pages of goodness as of yet.

It All Ends

I may not have known it at the time, but I have honestly been waiting for this moment (or I guess tomorrow night's moment) since I was in fifth grade.

It is the premiere of the last movie of Harry Potter, and it is the end of the series that has carried me into adulthood (is that sad? Yep. But I don't care.)

It feels bittersweet...

American Talk!

I posted about the first video, but here, in anticipation of Harry Potter coming out on THURSDAY NIGHT WOOHOO!!!! is "American Talk 2: Red, White, and Yee-Haw!" with (some of) the cast of Harry Potter!

Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

Calliope

I was in Connecticut this past week, and while we were walking on the beach of the Sound towards a lighthouse, we came across this adorable wedding reception. It was in an old building with a carousel inside. I am in love with it, and totally jealous of whosever reception it was.



Here is my favorite song today:

Maya Elizabeth

My sister gave birth to her third child last week-- a beautiful baby girl. She had me come out and take pictures. You can see more on my facebook, or if you are family and are interested in seeing all the pictures in all their states, let me know and I will send you some!

If It Keeps on Raining...

I feel like I don't really post about my own life very often. But now I feel a personal post is necessary, as so much has happened lately!

I am going to make a list, because I am lazy, and I like lists (and a random picture):

1. I have a new niece! She is adorable. Her name is Maya, and I love her already. I hope that she keeps her dark hair, since both her parents have dark brown hair, and neither of her siblings do. I took some photos of her with my film camera for my sister, but they haven't been developed yet, or I would share some of my favorites with you. Look for those in a post to come...

2. Field School finished yesterday, and boy am I glad. I learned so much over the past two months, and I am incredibly grateful for the experience, but as I have learned, my feeble body cannot handle that kind of physical pressure for that long. That and I think when you throw that many similar personalities together for that long, people come out loving (but mostly hating) each other. Which is sad.

3. I have exciting vacations ahead, and I am stoked. First off are four days back home in Fallbrook to see two of my bestest old friends, then (after a two-day hiatus in UT where I will work super hard at the museum to earn back monies lost during Field School) four days in Washington DC/ New York City with my dear sister Adrien, then a few more days in Connecticut relaxing and doing fun eastcoast-y things with my friend Sam.

4. Ok, wait, he's not just my friend. I guess he's my boyfriend.

5. I'm going to Italy in September? Yeah, I am. Well, as soon as I pay I am. I'm super stoked though :D I need to learn Italian liek nao. I will be taking a language class, a couple of humanities classes, and doing a cooking "internship." I cannot believe I have this opportunity! I'm very excited.

Song Reference

Conflicted

My Dad sent this video through the family email:

Which is, of course, hilarious. But I need to know: why didn't they just fly away???

Maybe geese enjoy getting sucked into riptides...

Seals

I saw this this morning and it made me happy. Look at him go!

Inspiration

Sometimes things come at just the right time for me. This blog post that talks about patience in looking for marriage, and watching Under the Tuscan Sun for the bajillionth time with my sister.

Even if marriage isn't something I or you or anyone is worried about, the principle can be applied to anything. Happiness, mainly, I think. Just be happy, because it's going to be okay eventually. Don't worry about it, just let it be!

Under the Tuscan Sun is one of my favorite movies because it really lifts your spirits, even if it is a little cheesy at times (not to mention the fact that she basically is living my dream in the movie). This is the message I'm talking about that it gives: