Easter 2011

photo: Sugar Photography 

The stifling Tallahassee humidity was no match for the joy of today. Susan and I spent this Easter with the Little Household enjoying wonderful food, drink and friendship. I am so thankful to my wonderful friends for welcoming me in to their home for brunch + fun while Aaron was on set.

Jennifer is the artist at work behind Sugar Photography (remember Aaron's WMD photos and our fair anniversary shoot?), so naturally she took some wonderful photos. You can hop on over to the Little Household blog to catch a few pictures. Be sure to check out Big Little Luke Little's bow tie. He is such a little southern gentleman, and his baby sister Emory is the sweetest doll in the bubble gum pink romper her mama made for her.

Thank you again, Jennifer and Ryan (and Luke and Emory!) for letting me celebrate with you!

Primary Residences

Sometimes I'm envious that my husband's job/school requires him to be at places like this. 

Doesn't it look like the location of an anthropologie catalog photo shoot? 

(photos courtesy of aaron nix/edits by moi)

What's your blog post about? Winning? -AEM

Source: google.dk via Emily on Pinterest

I hope your weekend is full of things you love. For me, this includes, but is not limited to:

• a yummy cheese board (featuring fromage from my fave local Sweet Grass Dairy)
• Mad Men season four (I forgot to turn in the second disc! So maybe not.)
• schwimmin' pool weather (that makes four weekends in a row)
• buying myself my favorite treat. This happens on the weekends and makes me feel fancy.
• fighting the Toad for my pillow (this isn't a weekend occurrence—this actually happens every night). 
• not sleeping in. Because I can't on the weekend. Ever.
• some times of worship in all of its various forms; like...
• cleaning! yes, therapeutic, deep-weekend-cleaning.
• Seminole spring game and tailgate. I love working in higher education.

I love lists. Also,

• The Pioneer Woman is getting a cooking show! 
• Jennifer Little of Sugar Photography takes amazing pictures. I can't wait to show you the ones from the ice cream social.
• My parents are in Nebraska this weekend for my cousin's confirmation. So proud of my youngest cousin Maggie! Also very much wishing I could see the Nebraska fam this week. 
• I love home improvement. I am super excited for AllisonO of O My Family as she and her family finish their upstairs. Check out the video of the progress here! That natural light. Delicious. I want a house one day.
• I'm one day shy of week 3 of C25K. I feel so good about it. Coupled with Jillian + Tony Horton Kicks Your Horton (shout out to Tia!), I think I will be good to go.
• Aaron's going to be gone all weekend, per usual. I am excited about it, which is how I know it's close to the end of filming schedule. Because him "moving back in" will be a big adjustment. "Who are you? Why do you have a mustache? I don't care what we have for dinner!" are all things I will yell at him when he returns to a normal schedule. Plus side: I won't have to empty the trash can anymore. 
• We introverts are special people. And, as earlier stated, lists: 

Source: tryphena.tumblr.com via Kara on Pinterest

Voicefail

For the last few months, my phone has had this screen that pops up every time I make a phone call and hang up that says I need to enter a password for my voice mail. I am fairly certain I've never set up a password, and I could still access my phone, so I just kept pressing cancel.

Last night I received a text message from my mom that said "Tried to leave a message, but your voice mail box is full." I saw that she and Aaron had both tried to call me three times each, but neither had left voice mails, and I was confused.

The password screen popped up again, and instead of cancelling it and closing the screen, I decided to try and figure out what exactly was happening. I have the 3G OG, (that's be 3G original gangster) and I remember buying my phone three years ago and needing a password for my voice mail. Over the course of years of updates, I no longer needed this code to access voice mail, so I pretty much forgot about it. I thought about what I could have possibly made my password three years ago, and miraculously, the phone accepted the combination.

And 40 missed voice mails magically appeared on my phone. The newest being from 12:24 p.m. yesterday, and the oldest being a missed call on Dec. 27, 2010, from my mom.

I have not been receiving voice mails since December 27. That's four months. And somehow this did not register in my mind. In fact, because I hate talking on the phone and pretty much avoid phone conversations and messages altogether, I hadn't even thought about the fact that maaayyybeee someone—anyone—might have left me a single message since before the new year.

Aaron's apt response: "You haven't listened to a voice mail in four months and thought that was normal?" Why yes, yes I did. I mean, let's think about it: my husband is on a movie set all day, every day, and doesn't have the opportunity to pick up and call me that often. Usually he texts. So does everyone else. So I just didn't THINK that I was missing anything. Then I remembered last weekend, when my sister-in-law Shannon said she left a voice mail, but my phone received nothing. And how I thought it was strange a few weeks ago that my hair salon didn't leave me a message, as they always do, about my upcoming appointment. And how my mom told me she left a voice mail, but I had never seen it.

So the moral of the story is don't leave me a voice mail if you need something immediately. There might be a four-month hold on my response (and no, I didn't listen to any of the 40 messages. I deleted them all). Also, I believe I've met my lifetime quota of typing "voice mail."

on a fridizzle

I don't care for these things:

• getting sweaty in the a.m. while blow-drying my hair
• incurable skin
• paying the big bucks for a short-term lease on our apartment
• auto-play music on blogs
• terrorists
• answering "what will you do after film school?"
• being far away from the familia
• stomach aches from yogurt
• the unfinished projects in my living room
• not knowing aaron's weekend schedule (because there is never a schedule)
• cancer
• bad windshield wipers
• fast food

I love these things:

• toby sleeping on aaron's head. both of them having cheshire smiles.
• power outages and re-enacting "flipping out" scenes with me as jenny and aaron as jeff instead of watching them
• my coworkers
• babies
• polka dots
• springtime
• the possibility of beach camping
• feeling loved and being able to love in return
• wind in tallahassee
• the king of limbs and rope
• buying local produce
• health
• sticking to regular exercise and pondering running (like, for real) and encouragement from jillian.
• the fam
• learning new things and then doing them. and remembering how to do them next time. 
• taking cell phone pictures
• jay-z's "blueprint 3" track #5
• blogging and blogs and bloggers
• coming home to a husband playing his electric guitar
• our neighbor's australian labradoodle "emma." She is a true Tommy Dog and if we ever get a dog I want one like her!
• mozarella + pesto
• getting a peek inside people's homes (sounds creepy, not intentional)
• being a big dork when Aaron and I first hung out as friends and giving him a high-five instead of hugging him. I'm still a dork. 
• the filmies. those guys are awesome.
• the Oscars. see above. One day I hope I get to go. One day I hope my husband wins one. More than one. If you don't dream big what's the point, right?

My dislikes are so, so insignificant, and I'm thankful.

yellow polka dot bikini.

Let's tell a story called LOOK AT MY LEGS. This picture was taken four years ago, my freshman year of college with my first roommate on our way to Big Red Welcome. 

Looking at this picture did two things for me: 

1. Reminded me of the good old days in Neihardt;
2. Inspired me to print this picture out (with the roommate cut out, of course) and tape in my bathroom mirror as a reminder. Have you seen the Yoplait "Yellow polka dot bikini" commercial? Consider this my polka dot bikini. 

Throughout high school I played sports and swam, and so it didn't take any extra effort to work out the way I needed to. In college, without volleyball and offseason conditioning, I wasn't compelled to work out for an hour and a half every day. I would get in to short-lived "kicks," go to the rec for a month or so, and then stop when classes starting piling the work on. When Aaron and I started dating, I traded my evenings at the gym for evenings with him, and thus, the slippery slope. And being married has been fantastic in about every other way but in terms of staying in shape.

My family's going to the beach this summer, and I am letting the above picture, and my favorite swimsuit on a hanger, be reinforcement to make the right choices. I've been faithfully going to the gym, and I'm going to start kickboxing next week. My goal is to lose five pounds a month until May, at which point I'll have met my goal weight. I decided to post this because I know that people read this, and it's a good way for me to stay accountable on the days (like today) when I come home from work and would rather do anything else than workout. 

In the kitchen, I plan to keep on keepin' on with meal planning. In my head it's much more difficult to meal plan when Aaron's on set because I don't know if he'll eat when he gets home, and if he's not involved in meal decisions I am afraid he won't like what I make, but I've decided that this is a bad excuse. Aaron is a grown up, and if he doesn't like what I make, he can give me ideas for what to cook, so I'm not going to worry about that. And if he has second meal on set, I can take his portion as leftovers for lunch the next day. 

I have a "food/fitness" blog set up, too, where I'm keeping track of these kind of things. I'm excited, and I'm working toward big changes. 

If you have any ideas or tips for me as I start this process, let me know. I'd love to know what you think!

Toby Toes

Little Toby is doing quite well at home. He's taken to sleeping on my head each night and providing Olive a constant source of consternation as the subject of his sneak attacks. He is a chunk, but still small and easy to carry around. I forgot how sweet it is to hold snoozy kittens who love to curl up in your arms.

We've been praying for more fall-like temperatures, but I'm not too disappointed, because Saturday I finally was able to go out and lie by the pool for a few hours. It sounds crazy, but this Florida summer was just too hot and humid for me to spend poolside like I envisioned. Now, beachside might have been different, but contrary to popular belief, there are no beaches close to Tally Town, but we hope to swing by the Emerald Coast when Aaron's parents come through Florida next month.

Life around the Rog Mahal has been lovely - and quiet - lately. Aaron continues to further develop his thesis film idea, and is often home before I am on the weeknights, which means he is preparing dinner as I walk in the door. Expected? No. Appreciated? You bet. It's so nice of him to do that, and it really expedites the process because we don't have to go back-and-forth about what we are hungry for. I've also been decorating for fall and Halloween, and I'll post some pictures of what I've done soon. It's amazing what things we have sitting around the house can be repurposed as, and I had a lot of fun scheming up ideas before Saturday's Nebraska win over the Washington Huskies.

{photo: The University of Nebraska Alumni Association}

I kept telling Aaron how much I wanted to be in Seattle for that game - I've never been to the Pacific Northwest, and I. want. to. go. soon! Who knows, maybe Aaron will find a job in the Vancouver film industry and we'll be close enough to Oregon, Washington and Alaska to not only cross them from my states list, but to enjoy the natural beauty of the region. I looooved seeing the boats ferry Husker fans across the lake to the stadium... I think Aaron was pretty tired of me telling him how much I wanted to go one day. Just gotta make sure he knows that I really mean it, right?

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite images scoured around the web from Alaska, Washington and Oregon. If you've been, what have you loved about this area of our country? What would you recommend doing and seeing?

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I found a blog this evening that I think might change my life. Like, I feel like this woman *gets* me. If I could picture myself years down the road, her life is sort of similar to what I hope mine is. How fantastic is this blog world, that somebody you have never seen or heard, someone you know absolutely NOTHING about except what they post, could be a kindred spirit? Anyway, if I could pick a life mentor, I think I would pick her. I am sort of creepily reading her entire blog archive right now, in fact. I think it's serendipitous.

Poor UPS man

Poor UPS man. He knocked on our neighbor's door and said "UPS," and Aaron yells "Shit, get down!" and starts making gunshot noises. I fear he lives Kill Bill vicariously through our quiet little apartment community. I would hate to be our delivery man. Also, we found out today after three months of living here that Kangaroo has Mountain Dew slushies. AND it was college night at Chick-Fil-A, which makes me thankful for my husband who's still a college student. Sometimes I forget that he's still technically a student. I love that he is the goofy to my often "why-so-serious?" outlook. So we're going to watch Sherlock Holmes tonight and try to not get shot by the UPS man. We've got slushies in hand, along with Hot Tamales and Reese's. I'm the happiest. Meanwhile, Aaron's talking about how "Redbox screws you over when it comes to special feature discs blah blah blah." He was, however, impressed that we were able to rent a Blu-Ray disc from a Redbox. It's a balance act.

To Pam at Whataburger

Today I dashed to Whataburger over my lunch hour. They have the best burgers. Not the point of this post, though, which is to recognize the often-unrecognized. I went through the Drive-Through and when I got to the window to pick up my burger, I was treated like royalty. Not just a customer, but a valued partner. Pam, the cashier, was prompt, extremely personable and, to me, exemplified what being in a service industry should be. And when Pam was putting my burger in the bag and stepped away from the window, her manager, whose name I didn’t get but who had awesome hair, looked at me from inside the restaurant, smiled, waved and said “Thanks for stopping by today! Are you having a good day?” And I think she meant it. I think they both did. And I was, and am, extremely impressed by their policies. I don’t know if its Whataburger in general that emphasizes taking care of the customer or if it is simply the employee (I think in this instance it might be both), but it got me thinking.

In an industry devoted to service, as the food industry is, is it remarkable to see someone doing a remarkable job? Or am I too preoccupied to notice good service? I think the answer is neither. I can tell you about the Delta airlines flight I took from Nebraska to Memphis back home to Florida after Aaron’s grandpa’s funeral and how extremely professional and upbeat the flight attendants on both flights were despite the delays and in spite of particularly nasty passengers on the plane. I remember being at the same Whataburger months ago and having exceptional service from the guy who brought our food to the table. Just Monday, at Publix, I encountered three or four of the most professional men I’ve met because as I was checking out with my groceries, the computer system froze. They were extremely accommodating and did their best to assist me and the other customers as quickly as they could and were a formidable (kind) opponent to the bitchy lady who thought they were out to get her because she had already loaded her groceries on the belt. Seriously, I felt bad for the woman because these men were so good to her and yet she remained the most miserable person I can imagine! Is it a sign of good customer service when you stop feeling sorry for the persons who are being berated for something they didn't do and start feeling sorry for the awful lady doing it? I don't know. But I do know how I can choose to recognize these people. I can think, off the top of my head, of so many instances when people do a great job at their jobs serving others, but I can count on my right hand the number of times I have filled out the comment card or called the toll-free number to tell somebody about how well their organization served me.

So today, after I enjoyed my burger, I called that number. I talked to a lady at Whataburger corporate about the two great representatives of her company, and I sincerely hope that those women are recognized for it. I want to get in the habit of doing this and promoting the positive that people are doing, whether or not it's in their job descriptions. "A joyful heart promoteth healing." Thanks, Pam!

1, 2, 3, 4

Today we've been married for four months. It feels like four days and four lifetimes all at once. Here are four prominent memories and pertinent thoughts on our first four months as husband and wife:

• We slept on a full mattress that was about 15 years old for our first two months of marriage. It's now in our guest bedroom. The other night, when our shower wouldn't turn off in our bedroom, I couldn't sleep. We had gotten into a pretty mean argument the night before, and Aaron was sleeping in the guest bedroom, so I had to choose between being stubborn and staying in the waterfall room or putting aside some of my pride, going to the guest bedroom, waking Aaron up and asking him if I could sleep with him in the old bed. He's pretty quick to forgive, fortunately, so we spent the next half hour talking about the first few weeks of being married and remembering uncomfortably sleeping on that bed in our old apartment. It's nice to revisit memories like that, especially when you know you can sleep in your nice, new mattress again soon.

{honeymoon- january 2010}

• We still have a lot of issues that we haven't completely worked out. We read a few books before our marriage ceremony that helped us identify the things we thought might be sticking points, and we did sort through some things. But "preventative maintenance" hasn't worked on everything, and contrary to what any book says, hashing out those disagreements and not solving anything instead of trying to pretend has been an honest and good part of our relationship. We've fought over washing dishes, family issues, Aaron's awful schedule, money and paint colors, and guess what? It's OK. We're OK.

{disney world- february 2010}

• Listen to advice, but don't believe that everything everyone tells you is what is necessarily what's best for you. We love and appreciate what we've learned from our friends and family who have healthy, thriving relationships, and at the same time, we have also learned that we have a somewhat unique situation, and we are content to learn what is best for us through experience.

{easter sunday}

• Moving away from our families has really forced us to rely on each other. I say "our" and "us," but I really mean me. Aaron was essentially isolated from everyone for a few months before we got married, and also immersed in film school culture and activities. When I moved here, I didn't have the luxury/exhaustion of graduate school activity 18 out of 24 hours a day. Certainly my job and the multiple moves have given me things to do, but not having my best friends 3 feet away from me essentially all the time was and is hard to adjust to. I don't have any friends here who are my age and in my situation but Aaron. There's an incredible amount of respect I've gained for him as I've been here and seen what he does - he is truly humble and would never honestly tell me or anyone how tough it can be - and yet he continues to be the guy I cry to, yell at, and laugh with. He makes it all look easy.

{st. george island- april 2010}

A lovely day.

Simply, I had a wonderful weekend. This is my new coffee drinking hideout- I just love the red cushions, and I can't wait to find some bright pillows. Thank you, Valentine, for this wonderful gift!

Another new addition to our family came this weekend. Can I introduce you to the newest Nix? Her name is Olive, and she is just shy of eight weeks old. We rescued her from our local animal shelter, where I fell in love with her because she reminded me of King Henry in looks and personality. Did you know that black cats are least likely to be adopted?

Livy is just a tiny thing. She's got the sweetest personality, and she is such a lover. I am so excited to go home tonight and cuddle with my baby! She will be so fun to have in those long periods of time when Aaron's in class or on set.

Aaron was hesitant about getting a kitten; I find that most people who've never owned/loved a cat are quick to judge them and think they're inferior to dogs because they are different from dogs. I couldn't disagree more! Growing up, my family had cats and dogs, and I can say that our kitties were just as lovey as our dogs. And look at her! She is the sweetest!

And look at them! This is my favorite picture of my Valentines. I bought some new batteries for my camera, so tonight I will take non-iPhone pictures of little Livy.

I hope you all have a nice Monday. It's back to work for me!