hola, isabel

For the last two Christmas’ I’ve attended a “Favorite Things” gift exchange with some of the ladies from church.  This gift exchange works a little differently than others I’ve attended in the past.  The assignment is to pick one of your very favorite things (priced $5-$8) and bring three of them to the party.  You get a turn to stand up and explain why what you brought is one of your favorite things.  Names are drawn out of a hat and in the end you go home with three things that are others favorites.

Last Christmas I brought three different lip glosses from Sephora.  While I love lip gloss, that wasn’t technically my favorite thing.  I explained that my favorite thing was the little black and white Sephora bag.  Just seeing one of them makes me giddy because you just know whatever is in inside is magical.

This Christmas I brought three pairs of silver hoop earrings.  I love hoop earrings so very much.  And not the little ones that barley fit around your ear lobe, I’m taking the bigger JLo style hoops. I’d bet that I’ve worn hoops 95% of the time in the last five years.  I don’t know how my love affair with hoop earrings started but I know it’s true love and it runs very deep.  (The top picture is of JLo.  That’s me below.)  (You know, in case you got confused.)

Last year I went home with bubble bath, fancy dish soap and a romantic comedy.  This Christmas I went home with a huge thing of hot chocolate mix, a bag of Seattle Chocolates and some chocolate covered Oreos.  Most people didn’t bring food items, so it was kinda of off that I ended up taking home so much food.  (I’m not complaining!)  Other things people got were soap, lotion, pie filling, washcloth, socks, and even salad dressing!

I’ve been thinking about what I’s pick if asked what my favorite things are, sans $5-$8 price limit.  While I try to not be super materialistic I do own some things that I love so very much and feel they are worth every penny spent on them.  I don’t have a lot of disposable income to spend on myself so what I have I cherish.

We’re not at a party and I don’t intend on buying three of these things to share, but here are some of my favorite things and the reasons behind them.

While saying that “boots” are my favorite thing is a little too general I have a few pairs that I especially love.

Last winter The King was at the REI “basement” looking around.  (The “basement” is where you can go and buy returned items at a discounted price.  REI has a Lifetime Guarantee on everything they sell.  Because of this they get a lot of returns.  Your kid grows out of his shoes, take them back.  You bought your gear to climb Mt. Rainier but don’t plan on doing that again, take the stuff back!)  While checking out the shoe section he came across some brown Merrell Tetra boots in my size that were marked about 75% off their retail price.  Naturally he bought them for me.  They needed a new insole and after contacting Merrell directly they mailed me one.  At no cost!  This winter The King found another pair of the same boot (in black!), again in my size, again marked WAY below retail.  Being a super good husband, he bought me the black pair as well.  These boots are great because not only are they functional (totally waterproof and comfortable) but they look good with pants, skirts and dresses.  I love them so very, very much.

My other favorite boots are my pair of Aerosoles Gather Round boot in camel (faux) suede.  I bought these at the end of season years ago and at first I wasn’t sure they’d go with too many things.  But then I saw a picture of Heidi Klum in a maternity dress (I was pregnant with Rerun at the time) wearing a gray dress with camel boots.  I figured if Heidi Klum could do it, then so could I.  I’ve been rocking my camel boots with jeans, skirts and dresses ever since.

For this last Christmas’ party I waffled between taking hoop earrings or Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer (in Watermelon!).  The hoop earrings won, but only by a hair.  I’ve lost count at how many tubes of this I’ve gone through.  I used to use my Border’s 40% off coupons to buy these.  I was super sad to see Border’s go out of business because now I’ll have to pay full price for my Burt’s Bee addiction.

I love saving money, bringing my lunch to work every day and pizza.  Put that together and you’ve got the Safeway Eating Right brand frozen pizzas. They cost $2 and are yummy, yummy, yummy.  I eat one for lunch 98% of the time.  I prefer the pepperoni or four cheese.

No matter how many times I’ve seen it before watching an episode of “Arrested Development” cracks me up.  The only bad thing about this show is I can never decide who I like more; George Michael, Michael or Gob.

Right before I got knocked up with Rerun my bestest friend May told me about her love of the Old Navy roll over knit skirts.  She told me she had one in every color and suggested I do the same.  I bought a black and gray one and they got me through my entire pregnancy.  I didn’t buy the maternity version because I knew I’d be able to wear the non-maternity ones when I was pregnant and then keep wearing them after I gave birth.  I’m still wearing them. They look just as good in the summer with flip-flops as they do in the winter with boots.  The King bought me a new brown one this Christmas to complete my set.  (But get this, I don’t have one single top to go with the brown skirt.  FOR REALS!)

The King and Babboo surprised me and bought me a Lulu Lemon hoodie (in black!) for Mothers Day a few years back.  This is a splurge that I would have never bought myself and yet I love it so much.  It’s so thick and soft and cozy and every time I put it on I think to myself “this is so worth $100!”  (There is a Lulu Lemon outlet on the way to Canada that we always stop at.  Their hoodies are much cheaper there and I was able to get a purple one last year.  The King has some too.)

I knew I didn’t want to take my Coach purse (bought at the outlet) on our trip to Europe this summer.  After much research I decided the Harriet bag from Timbuk2 (in black!) would be the perfect fit for my needs.  The straps are adjustable and it even has a hidden zipper at the bottom to expand it.  It’s so perfect in fact that I’m still using it while my pretty Coach bag sits alone in my closet.  (I noticed last night that some of the stitching on my Harriet bag is coming undone.  Timbuk2 has a lifetime guarantee and I hope they’ll be able to fix my bag.  I sent them a request and pictures this morning.  Cross your fingers.  I’d hate to have to stop using my Harriet!)

I know a lot of people found fancy new iPads and iPhones under their trees this Christmas, but not me.  I’m still rocking my iPod classic (in black!).  I bought it probably six years ago with a bonus from work.  So what if now it looks antiquated and nerdy, it’s full of my glorious music and I love it.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

I was gifted a subscription to “Sunset” magazine by a close friend who is a big fan of the magazine.  It’s full of fancy recipes and local insights.  The King and I have been converted and not a week goes by that we don’t make a couple of “Sunset” meals for dinner.  (The King got a “Sunset” cookbook for Christmas.  LET THE COOKING BEGIN!)

I recently bought myself a Book or Mormon study guide to use alongside my daily scripture reading.  Using it has helped prompt me to new thoughts and revelations.  I started using it towards the end of reading the Book of Mormon.  I look forward to starting from the front once I’m done with this reading.

I teased The King about the Moleskin planner he used for years.  (NERD!)  That is until he bought me my own last year.  It didn’t take long for me to realize how awesome it was.  My MIL gave me a pen loop (in pink!) for Christmas which I promptly put on my planner.  It made this perfect planner even more perfect.

And last, but not least, Sally Hansen’s Super Shine Top Coat has been true and faithful to me since I started using it ten years ago.  It continues to make my nails look pretty.  While I love OPI for colors, I also use Sally Hansen’s for my top coat.

Would any of these things be on your list of favorite things?  I’d love to read posts from you guys about what your favorite things are.  I’m always looking for new things to love.

So tell me, what are some of your favorite things?

I have the bad luck of stepping in dog poop more than the average person.  There was the time in Victoria, Canada that I slipped on some poop and then fell on it.  There was the other time I stepped on some while on a hike and ended up dragging it into our car with me.  And then there was the time, last week, that I stepped on a huge pile while walking into our church.  We had a meeting to get to and in order to not be late I quickly kicked my boot off and left it outside in the bushes.  I got a few odd looks from other people at the church that night.  I assured them seeing my mustache-themed knee high sock was far better then smelling my poop covered boot.

After our meeting I went outside and put my boot back on.  I made sure to walk around on the wet grass to at least get the big chunks off.  When we got home I walked around in our wet grass some more and then walked around in the pile of clippings from our Christmas tree.  I figured I got most of the poop, but I still opted to leave my boot on out on our front porch overnight.

On my walk to the bus stop the next morning I again made sure to walk in any wet grass I could and to make sure I dragged my foot.  Walking into work I felt pretty confident that my boot was clean as a whistle.

About two hours into the day I started getting self-conscious.  I thought I could still smell poop on my boot!  I wasn’t sure if I really smelled it or if I was just imagining it out of sheer fear of smelling!  The coworker that sits a few cubicles down from me is deaf and assuming he had a heightened sense of smell I sent him a quick e-mail.  I explained that I had stepped in poop the night before and that I was nervous there was still some on my boot.  I asked him if he could smell anything over in his cubicle.  He usually responds quickly so I wasn’t sure what was going on when I didn’t hear back from him.  I figured it just meant that all was well.

I finally got an e-mail response from him about lunch time.  He said he couldn’t smell anything, which made me happy, but he said something that totally confused me.

“How did you get poop on your pants?”

I didn’t know what in the crap he was talking about.  I didn’t have poop on my pants; I had it on my boot.  I wasn’t even wearing pants when I stepped in it.  I had a skirt on.  Clearly I had told him I stepped in the poop.  I scrolled down to reread my original e-mail to him, thinking that maybe I wasn’t clear in my explanation of what had happened.

And then I died.

Instead of telling him that I had poop on my BOOT, I had typed out that I had poop on my BUTT.

Seriously people, I asked a male coworker if he could smell the poop on my BUTT.

No wonder he waited a little while to respond to my e-mail.  And no wonder he referred to me having poop on my “pants” and not my BUTT.

(I’m just thankful I didn’t mistakenly type boob.)

My aunt Lynn told me once that her fourth, and last, child decided one day she didn’t want to nurse anymore.  My aunt said she hadn’t realized that the last time she nursed her was going to be her last time to ever nurse one of her babies.  While she admitted she didn’t know what she would have done differently if she would have known it was her last nursing session, she still said knowing that she was done forever broke her heart.

I nursed for the very last time on Tuesday night.

Rerun is sixteen months old now and is well over the recommended age to breastfeed.  (I nursed Babboo for 14 months.)  We had been down to only nursing right before bed for months but it was still something Rerun (and I) enjoyed together.  I would bathe him, put his pajamas on and then he’d crawl in my arms and nurse for a few minutes while The King read to Babboo.  It was a routine we had become very familiar with.

Last night, after zipping Rerun’s pajamas up, he walked over to me and instantly tried to get in his position.  Instead of swooping him into my arms and nursing him I held him with his little face on my shoulder.  He made it quite obvious that he didn’t want to just snuggle, he wanted to nurse.

“No baby.  We’re not eating tonight.”

I wrapped him in his blanket and gave him his “sick bunny” and we walked to his bedroom.  I snuggled him a little more until he reached out for his crib.  I laid him in his crib and paused to look at my sweet little boy all cuddled up.  While I’m pretty darn sure we’re going to stay a family of four, it still made me sad to think that we won’t have any more babies to bring home from the hospital.

Or to nurse.

So tell me (if applicable), do you remember the last time you nursed your baby?

Days after retuning from our trip to Europe I booked us on a flight to Utah to visit my family.  Rerun had never been to Utah, thus he’d never met my younger brother and his family.  I figured we’d just spent a bunch of money traveling to Europe, we might as well spend some more to visit my family.

I booked our flights for the first part of December thinking it would be the perfect mix of post-Thankgiving/pre-Christmas activities.  One of the activities at the top of my “Things To Do While In Utah” list was to take the kids to see the lights at Temple Square. The King mentioned to me that the Christmas Devotional for The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints (you know, the Mormons) was scheduled  for the weekend we would be in Utah.  According to the church’s website:

This devotional will include Christmas messages from the First Presidency and music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square.

This means that not only would those in attendance get to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir but they’d get to see and hear the prophet IN REAL LIFE!

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints (you know, the Mormons) I believe that we are led by a living prophet. The prophet has always lived out of Salt Lake City, Utah (for obvious reasons).  I spent the majority of my growing up years less then 100 miles from Salt Lake City, and yet, I never ever had seen a prophet in person.  Sure, I watched the prophet on TV during our twice yearly General Conferences and other televised events.  But never in person.  (I would say this is very atypical for a Utah Mormon.  The King grew up here in Seattle and he’s seen more then one of the prophets during his life!)

I knew this was a ticket-only event and while the tickets are free, they are still hard to come by.  I called Temple Square and asked how I could get my hands on some tickets and the sweet old lady on the phone pretty much laughed at me when she said; “Those tickets have been gone since October.  The Conference Center holds 21,000 people and we get requests for tickets from over 500,000!”

Oh man, how I wanted to attend the Christmas Devotional.

I thought about who I knew that could get me tickets.  Instantly Heidikins came to mind.  She gave a coworker and myself a private tour of Temple Square a few years back and I knew she had some connections.  (I’m not sure I can blog about what her connections are. But they are very impressive connections!)

I e-mailed Heidikins to see if she could do anything for me.  She replied by saying: “IF (and this is probably a big “if”) I happen to get some tix I’ll be sure to pass them along, but I’ll probably only get 2, and the chances are pretty slim in the first place.”

I thanked her for tying and then sort of gave up my dream to attend.

(I’m sure you can guess how this ends, right?)

A week or so later I heard back from Heidikins; “Ok, so I for sure have 2 tickets for you!” (emphasis added)

OMH (Oh My Heck), The King and were going to the Christmas Devotional.  (Only 8 and older can attend.  For obvious reasons.  My Sweet Babboo would have to wait to see the prophet some other time.)

Heidikins sweetened the pot by saying she got another set of tickets and she and her new fiance would be attending with us.

We met up with them on Sunday night and headed in.  Our seats weren’t by each other, but Heidikins was pretty confident that she could pull some strings and get one of us moved.

(Isn’t Heidikins so pretty?!  You can’t see it but she was wearing fuchsia leggings and a gorgeous new diamond ring.  Both were awesome.)

Just look at this picture.  That’s the famous organ in the background and the MoTab (as we in the know refer to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as) warming up before it started.

When the Prophet and his counselors walked out on the stage the entire conference center (which holds TWENTY ONE THOUSAND PEOPLE) became dead silent and we all stood up to show our love and respect to these three great men.

The MoTab sang some beautiful Christmas songs and all three of them spoke and shared uplifting stories and counsel for this Christmas season.  The Prophet said:

The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love and of generosity and of goodness. It illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than in things.

They announced a new website devoted to videos about Bible stories.  They showed the videos of the story of Jesus’ birth taken from Luke.  AMAZING. (Go and watch it now.)

The service ended with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing “Silent Night”. The congregation was asked to join in and sing the fourth verse WITH THE CHOIR.  When the fourth verse rolled around I sat there and sang, with tears in my eyes, and consciously acknowledged that this was a very special moment in my life and one that would never be forgotten.

My parents watched the devotional live on TV at their house with the kids.  My mom said Babboo looked for us in the crowd.  But with 21,000 people there he never saw us.

Thanks again Heidikins for working your magic to allow The King and I to participate in such a wonderful event.

(You can go HERE to listen to me singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!!)

(You can go HERE to watch or listen to the entire Christmas Devotional.)

The King and I celebrated our eleventh anniversary back in August (while in Vernazza, Italy).  We picked up some fresh cheese and bread at one of the local shops and ate it under the tree outside our room.  Babboo guzzled Fanta, Rerun stayed in the front pack and The King sliced his thumb cutting the cheese.  (Tee-hee.  I said “cutting the cheese.)  I gave The King the little gift I’d been carrying in my purse for our entire trip and we talked and ate and spent time as a family.  It was one of the least fancy of our anniversary celebrations but also one of the more perfect ones.

Upon returning home from our trip I remember having the specific thought that while the divorce rate is statistically high none of our friends have gotten divorced.* I was thinking about our closest couple friends I couldn’t even predict that any of them would divorce.  They all seem to be pretty solid in their marriages.

A few days after thinking about this The King called me at work to tell me he had just read an e-mail from his oldest friend, The Groom, informing him that he’d left his wife over the weekend.

Bam!

And just like that we were forced to think about the demise of this marriage.  The King has known The Groom since the second grade.  He was the best man at his wedding and left me and a week old Babboo home to attend the wedding in Arizona.  Needless to say the two of them are tight.

The Bride and Groom have lived in Arizona since before they met so we’ve only ever hung out with them as a couple a few times.  But those times I got a very positive vibe from them.  I would have never suspected anything was amiss in their marriage.  But that’s how it gets you, right?

I had hoped The King would have talked to him and tried to talk him out of getting a divorce.  He said he mentioned something about “some days you are more in love with your spouse then on other days” but not coming right out and telling him he’s an idiot to leave her.  The Groom called one evening and talked to The King for over an hour.  I didn’t hear what was said but when the call was over I asked, again, if he had tried to talk him out of it.  He said he didn’t give him any advice because he didn’t think that’s what The Groom wanted from him.  I figured since he called The King he was specifically looking for his advice.

Just knowing that someone we knew was getting a divorce scared me.  I got nervous that maybe this was the start of more of our friends splitting up.  Now I know The King isn’t leaving me but I got nervous that the demise of The Groom’s marriage would give him some ideas.  Seriously, I know he’s not leaving me. But the idea that he could leave me made me sick to my stomach.

Marriage is hard.  I’m just hoping The Groom isn’t starting a trend.  I know I couldn’t handle any other of our friends splitting up.

So tell me, have you had to deal with friends divorcing?  How has it affected you and your own relationship?

*Technically one of our good friends got divorced a few years ago. But her husband was a horrible, horrible, horrible person and her situation was totally the extreme.  Plus, they didn’t have any kids so once the divorce was final he fell off the face of the earth never to be spoken of again.