Burn the stamps!

This is in honor of my friend Ellen who pretty much rocks at life.

She wrote a really nice post today that I feel like I can relate to. Granted, she was writing from the perspective of being married, pregnant, and her husband is in medical school, but other than that, I think I'm right there with her haha!

Here's part of her post:

We were told a thousand times "Just wait until you're married, then _______________ will change. That's just the way it is." Well, I hate to inform the world, but none of the things those people told us turned out to be true. It's NOT just the way it is. Sorry. [We] are, to put it plainly, a different sort of couple. That's not to say we are cool or anything, just different. We don't watch sports. We don't have "girl's nights" or "boy's nights" to have some time away. We've never had an argument or a fight. Disagreements? Yes. More in love than on our wedding day? Absolutely. ... My point is, life isn't a rubber stamp. One thing most certainly doesn't equal another. 

I was told a while back that I needed to have a fight with Ian to know if I really wanted to marry him. I didn't like that. If Ian and I disagree about something we work it out. Sometimes we'll joke after we "fix" the "problem" that we should have let it become a fight just so we can get married. But that's all it is to us. A joke. We know how to be serious, but we don't have to fight to be serious. Maybe everyone gets it and I'm being boring, but hey, at least I'm posting, right? :)

Anyway, I hope that when we get married and Ian is eyebrow deep in school work and everything else is going on that I can be as cool and level-headed as my friend Ellen. Yeah, she might not be stressed but she doesn't let it rule her life. 

Today's picture you get:

Yay for free circus noses!!

Oooh looky :)

Yesterday was a much awaited date for Ian and I. He always plans our dates. He does such a good job and I wanted to plan one for him. I planned it from start to finish (well, I thought so anyway!)

After I picked him up we went to Williamsburg, via the ferry. I am so glad we got the big ferry that Ian likes. We also had a loaf of bread and we fed the eagles   seagulls. There were people taking pictures too as soon as all the eagles--seagulls came out. I like to think we helped :D

We got into Colonial Williamsburg and walked through there for a few hours.

I finally got to see the parade come through!

I like seeing all the old houses and thinking that this used to be a person's home. They had their all sorts of memories there and we just traipse through.

After Colonial Williamsburg we went to Pirate's Cove for some mini-golf. It was a blast!

He is such a stud :)

I died after the game. Yeah, apparently I didn't do it right, but I don't care.

We went to a gorgeous park to eat our lunch. Peanut butter and jelly, animal crackers, string cheese, and pudding! Ian brought the pudding. He handed it to me and the lid came off really easily. At first I thought it had melted in the car, but then I remembered it was in the cooler. So I stick my spoon in it and hit something hard. I thought, "Ooh, maybe it started to freeze! Cool!" Haha, nope, it was my ring! It was wrapped in plastic wrap and so I started licking it off and I was laughing and smiling and saying "yay yay yay!" over and over. Ian had a big smile on his face. I couldn't get it out of the plastic so he helped me out while I lamented (silently in my head) not touching up my fingernail polish before we left the house. I thought I knew when it was coming. I would have had my nails done then :)

It's on my middle finger because it was too big. I printed a sizer off the internet. Don't do that. We'll get it resized in a month (for some reason it'll be free then, but $40 now?) and then I'll wear it where it belongs. 

I am SO excited to marry Ian. I can't even tell you. I never thought I'd be loved like this. I knew I deserved to be loved like this, but I thought it was a fantasy. I am so glad my friends and family have stopped me from settling for anyone else. We're getting married August 13th in the DC Temple and then the reception the next day back here in VA. Ahh I'm so excited! 

**For whoever doesn't know about when he proposed, keep reading. But there aren't pictures here**

Ian and I had been talking about marriage for a while. We knew we wanted to get married really quickly, but it took us a while to say it to each other. "A while" is a relative term since we have only been together since January 23rd or something like that. 

I knew he had been ring shopping and a couple weeks ago there was a fireside with Gladys Knight's choir. One of our friends asked if she could ride with us and Ian hadn't said yes. And he talked about us going out to eat after. I thought, "Oh.my.lanta he's going to propose after the fireside!" Well the Monday before the fireside I came up with this conclusion. I told my friend who proceeded to send him a text saying, "She's onto you!" "Onto what? "The fact that you're going to propose Saturday." "I wasn't going to propose Saturday." "Well figure something out, because she's expecting you to."

He didn't want to disappoint me so he sent a text to my dad that night and they met up at 6 am Tuesday morning to have the chat haha! He had sent me a text saying he woke up early and would love to come over whenever. I kinda slept through that and woke up around 9 or 9:30. When I got up people were acting weird. I was getting messages from my step-mom and his mom being VERY interested in how I was doing that day. By the time he came over I was feeling very confused and I told him, "Ian it's the weirdest thing, like everyone knows something I don't!"

After my mom took my brother to his playgroup we sat on the couch and I said, "Oh, you said you worked on a poem, can I see it?" He had written me a poem for Valentines Day and I knew he was really good at poetry. He pulled it out and started shaking. I was still confused until he told me the title of the poem was "Yes". 

After many amazing stanzas of him asking questions like "Am I ready to be in love like this?" and ending each line with "Yes" I knew it was coming. The final stanza asked if I would marry him and I finished the poem by saying "Yes yes yes yes yes!" He handed me a ring (nope, he didn't even put it on me haha) and gave me a hug. I looked down and saw it was black! I was so confused but before I could say anything he said, "Don't worry, that's not the real ring." Then he handed me a pen so I could write "yes" into the poem itself. 

He had woken his sister up at like 5:30 and borrowed a ring so that he'd have something to give me when he proposed. He wasn't planning on asking until he had a ring. I would have gone crazy waiting til now! I needed to tell people! 

But he did great and I am seriously so lucky to be with him. And he's not even upset that I rushed him by a few weeks :)

You already know...

I'm getting married and I'm so excited!

That's all. Time to get back to what I was doing.

Just a quick post

Ian was talking, but i think it came out cute :)

Things are going great here. I've got an interview on Monday at Dollar General. Yay!

Friday we (mom, brother, sister, her kids, and Ian) were supposed to go to the zoo, but just as we got there they shut down because of a natural gas leak. Erin says "So did the monkeys fart?" Hahaha...silly girl :)

We went over to Nautilus instead so we could do something educational for the little ones. Ian and I went through on our own which was fun. Here's a couple pictures and then I'm going to bed!

USS Wisconsin, the last battleship

View of Norfolk from the bow of the Wisconsin

From the front, looking back. That boat was HUGE! 

UPDATE!

So much has been happening!

This is Ian, and he's the most AMAZING man in the world :D

He's made me the happiest girl, and treats me like a queen. I love every minute that I get to see him or talk to him. Shoot, I even love the times I get to think about him....which is ALWAYS haha!

We spend a lot of time at the house, a lot of that time is with my family. One day we took Aubrey out to look at the deer (that's where that first picture is from) and yesterday we took Aubrey to a park to play. He slept so well that afternoon! One day we decided to play with dominos. It was so much fun!!

He took me to my first dance since Prom on the Friday before Valentine's Day. Mom took me shopping for a new dress and shoes and jewelry...yay!!

I forgot to take any pictures at the dance, we were having too much fun! So this is at the fountain outside when we left.

On Saturday he brought me flowers and a teddy bear and a card. First off for the day, Ian took me to an incredible playground!!! Unfortunately it was not as springlike as this picture represents haha! It had been snowing but the slides looked pretty dry. I forgot to check the bottom of the slide though. HUGE PUDDLE! So as I went flying down the slide at a high rate of speed, "Weeeeeeee!!!!" I saw the puddle. What do I do?! Do I jump off the side? Do I try to lift up my butt before it gets........too late. I was soaked to the core. I didn't even have time to warn Ian who was right behind me. Luckily for him though I had taken the majority of the water upon myself. I'm just so nice like that :)

We played for a little while longer but I was so cold and wet that I had him take me to Target to get some new pants. Yay for more shopping!

After I got myself changed we went to 5 Guys for lunch and split a bacon cheeseburger with onions and bbq sauce. It was INCREDIBLE!

Then we watched Valentine's Day (it was entertaining but I'm good not seeing it again haha!) and went to his Grandparent's for dinner and dessert. It was delicious!

Long post, but at least there were pictures this time! Have an amazing day!!!

Recipe: Cranberry Orange Chicken

So I made the most yummiest dinner last night. (I'm working on my humility haha!) Mom and I even said something about taking a picture, but I got distracted as I was reaching for the camera.

A warm, hearty, rustic meal that's easy enough to make at home but feels like you're eating out!!

5-7 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup orange juice
1 can whole cranberry sauce
2 TBS apple cider vinegar
1 small red onion, chopped
1/4-1/2 tsp ginger, chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 TBS brown sugar
2 tsp garlic powder
****
3 TBS flour
2 TBS cold water
****

Combine all ingredients in a deep cast iron pot. Cover and cook on high until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium for 1 hour. Combine flour and water and mix into pot. Cook on low for 15 minutes uncovered.

Serve with roasted asparagus, mashed potatoes, rolls...

Te Kalliste

To the fairest, the most beautiful.

My first book in my challenge to read 26 books by different authors (one for every letter) by the end of the year left me dying to read more. This was incredibly well written, though at the beginning I found myself nit-picking small details. I soon found myself so engrossed in the story that I no longer found small points like creativity in the naming of characters to be a big deal. I have found there are 3 more books about the main character, Emily (or Kallista). Unfortunately they will have to wait until the end of this quest of mine. I need to keep going!

As far as book "B" I'm thinking Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" but I also think I want to just randomly pick someone else. This time I just started in the "A" section and browsed until I found one that piqued my interest.  I may do that again and if I do not find something, I will go find Mr. Brown.

Busy busy!

So we decided to go up to Washington DC to see the lights at the temple. I'm really glad we went, I hope my dad knows that. I was being a little sarcastic about it when he told me, that is something I need to work on.


After a long nap...er...drive haha, we got up the the temple. The parents went into the temple and my brother and I went into the visitor's center. How do you entertain a 5 year old for 2+ hours in a building? Elevators. Christmas Trees. A camera. And a secret mission to McDonalds. (I'd tell you more about that, but I can't. SECRET mission rules)

There were lots of nativity scenes there he enjoyed looking at. He told me every time he saw a wise man that they were the ones bringing baby Jesus presents. I asked him what he would bring, fully expecting something like "A train" or "A Power Ranger". He put his hand on his chin, tapped his finger once or twice and said, "I'd bring him a candle. That way he'd be warm and he could see." Then he walked away and started talking about something else. I truly have an amazing brother. I'm lucky to have him in my life. 

He and I took a ton of pictures throughout the trip:

Okay, there were lots more, but I just don't feel like posting them :P

Moving

I moved to VIRGINIA!! It was a crazy, kinda spur of the moment, perfect solution to everything going on decision.


I wasn't being scheduled at Macy's, and I had not heard back from ISU. Both of those were frustrating, but I figured, 'Well, I still have my car.'


Never say that about a car almost as old as you are. Okay? I'll save you the trouble and just tell you not to do it.


I got in my car after sending a fax and my brakes felt weird. I thought it was just because of all the snow that had melted and they were wet. But it got harder and harder to stop. That's never good so I took it in to Les Schwab and they checked it out. There were problems with all 4 brakes. Things I don't understand, except when it came to the money. I understand $340 really well. I went home to mull things over and decided to make myself some lunch. Well, sitting in my room while my food cooked I heard a bang. I went to find this:

So that was Friday afternoon. Saturday morning I was starting to pack. We were lucky enough to find a really good price for a flight and I was coming home on Christmas Eve! Sunday I had a bunch of people over to get my stuff (if you ever need something or want to get rid of something, go to here because it's pretty much amazing!!) 


Yeah, it was a fast decision but sometimes I think those are the best. And I was so lucky to be able to be home for Christmas. And Christmas is always more magical with a kid. 

Chicken stuffed with cream cheese, with 2 cheeses and salsa

I made dinner for my friends tonight. Here are the recipes.

Salsa

1 green pepper

1 Anaheim pepper

½ yellow onion

6 Roma Tomatoes

½-1 clove garlic, minced

Fresh cilantro

Lemon juice

Olive Oil

Chop peppers, onion, and tomatoes (and save the juice that escapes). Add minced garlic, cilantro, and lemon juice to desired flavor. Mix together in a large bowl. Take ½ cup of salsa, puree in blender until it is liquid, and mix back into salsa. Pour into large mason jar, and let the flavors marinate for about 24 hours in the fridge. I had to add some olive oil the next day to keep it moist.

(This is my "Oh-my-goodness-I-just-made-salsa!" face)

Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken

1 pkg cream cheese

cilantro

lemon juice

parmesan cheese, shredded

sharp cheddar, shredded

Salsa (above)

Preheat oven to 375. Blend cream cheese, parmesan cheese, some cilantro, and lemon juice together. Cut a pocket into the chicken and stuff with cheese mixture. Place chicken with slit side UP in baking dish. Top with generous amounts of two cheeses and a few spoonfuls of salsa. Bake until chicken is cooked thoroughly. Serve with more salsa and cheese if you want.

The kids LOVED this stuff. I wanted to take a picture but it was devoured, so just know, it's good. I did get a picture of the salsa before that was eaten though.

What's new....

Hey kids, I just wanted to fill you in on the news lately!

I'm an advisor for Cierra Ashley home fragrances. I have a website :)

http://www.cierraashley.com/erichardson

I may be making a blog devoted to this as well, but I haven't decided how I want to do it yet. That'll be the place I'll have my drawings and such. Eek, can't wait!

Yes, this is direct selling, but no, it's not lame. I absolutely love the product. I spent about 4 hours at a craft fair in single digit weather (I'm not sure which side of the zero it was either) just to tell people about this product.

It's a fabulous gift idea, and they all smell so yummy! So take a gander at the site, ask me any questions you've got, and I hope I'll be able to help answer your questions!

But before you go, here are my FAVORITE scents (I'll add how you can search in the top left corner for it):

1) Cranberry Orange (CCOR)

2) Cinna-bun (CCIN)

3) Cinna-Vanilla (CCIV)

4) Lemonberry (CLEM)

5) Warm Cider (CWCI)

All images borrowed from Cierra Ashley website :)

New Job...again!

I had my first day of work today and I loved it. It was so fast paced, but not terrifying. I just ran for shoes (getting sizes from the stock room) and kept the floor organized. I sold a pair of boots in like 5 minutes after starting. Sa-weet!

There's a girl there that I know, and she knows me, but we spent a good 10 minutes trying to figure out the connection and we can't find it at all! Oh well, at least I know someone! Actually I know another guy there, he's in my ward. He recognized me when I was there for my interview but I don't think he realized it was me today when I said hi.

I did my register training so I can start doing that tomorrow. I really hope it goes well. *Crossing my fingers!*

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I most certainly did!!

Dinosaurs!

I went to the museum at Idaho State University today with a friend and her family. It was lots of fun. I loved how excited her 4 year old was about all the dino-bones.

"Woah, it's so big!"

"Look, I'm almost as tall!"

A stegosaurus. Awesome!

We also saw a T-Rex head, but I was texting so I didn't get a picture. Oops :)

I finished my application, got my FAFSA done and my transcripts are en route to ISU. I pray that I will get in.

I like my new header photo, what do you think?

Current Temp outside: 17 degrees.

Current Temp in my room: 59 degrees.

Number of blankets on my bed: 5

Brrrr....

When I grow up...

I think I want to be an editor or publisher. I don't have any idea how to make that happen though. Cheryl asked me today what I want to do with my English degree and before I answered she said I should be an editor. Pretty much read my mind, that's for sure!

If I ever became a publisher this would be the background of my business card:

I want my company to be called "Sunlit Words" if that's not taken or something. If it is, I have no idea what I want haha! And yes, this is why my blog is called Sunlit Words and why that picture is the header. But some people read in Google Reader or whatnot and they might not see the header. So anyway....

When this last paycheck from CFR comes through I'm going to finish my application to ISU. I've got to pay for the application and the transcripts to be sent. That'll pretty much eat that up. But regardless, I need to make plans. I need to finish my FAFSA too. So much to do!

I found these pictures when I was looking for the one above. I thought they were pretty:

Driving away from the sunset as Cherie and I left California.

The shore in California. Gorgeous. I miss it.

Olympic National Forest, water coming out of a rock. This was super close to my Aunt's house, before she moved anyway!

My nephew and me

Haha, aren't we adorable?

How to get people to buy you a donut:

Give up rights to your first born child.

Any other suggestions?

The story

So you asked about the job. I applied there because I needed job that was closer to my new apartment. I wasn't getting enough money or pay at the job I had. I knew it'd be hard to leave because I had been there for over 2 years, but I got a phone call saying, "We want you and we would like you to start tomorrow." Well, after talking it over and thinking I realized I wasn't going to get another opportunity handed to me like that. So I got myself replaced and started my new job.

They.

Were.

Awful.

Everyone was so mean! I could understand if they were mean to the new girl, but no, it was everyone. I thought to myself I could be a good example and show them how NOT to talk behind people's backs and do the job these parents hired us for--loving their children a

nd teaching them.

We sat on the floor all day and the kids played with one center after another. They didn't do any sorts of teaching type things. I got in trouble for letting one little girl cry herself to sleep (it took about 5 minutes, but I was neglecting the girl), and in trouble for holding another when he cried (the opposite in my opinion....no, now I was coddling). I suppose if I was more capable (since the manager there said I was incompetent) I'd know exactly what everybody expected of me.

I asked for help because I really did want to do a good job. I was told that it wasn't a job people were trained for, people just had it or they didn't. I'm pretty sure I've had it for at least the last 2 years...but apparently not. They asked if I wanted the last day to be that day or give two weeks. I decided to wait til they replaced me. That was at 11. They had a new girl at 4:30.

So now I'm back on the job hunt. I've been spoiled for 2+ years having a job I knew I wouldn't work nights and I knew I wouldn't work weekends. It's hard to say "Oh okay, let me go work somewhere I work a different shift every week so I can make no solid plans." But I figure by the time the next bill comes in the mail I'll swallow my pride and hopefully find something new. I was going to donate plasma today to make a little money but instead I get to go to the doctor to get a prescription for pink-eye. Great.

Oh, and people seem to only read if there are pictures so I put in a few. And they had nothing to do with anything. But hey, maybe you read it :)

Weeeee!

Hehe, I love these kids! The youngest kept trying to ket in the pictures too, but he didn't make it.