My Proposition 8 Post

A few things that I have found especially poignant:

This post from a friend of a friend.

This post from another friend of a friend.

And this posted email from a friend of a friend.


I've never wished this before, but I truly wish I lived in California right now so I could vote on this immensely important topic. If you do live in California, please vote YES on Prop 8! It is more than redefining marriage, it's also our religious freedom at stake here!!

Two New Blogs

I just started two new blogs: My Written Word and Name Them One By One. I started the Writing one as a place for writing, that is just my own. And I start Name Them One By One because I was inspired by my sister-in-law. Yes, I now have 3 personal blogs and 2 collaborative ones, bringing that up to a grand count of 5 blogs. Excessive? Maybe. But I already use the original 3 regularly, and I know I'll post in the other 2. I just really like to write, I guess. :)

Jamie!

I forgot to say how I went to lunch with Jamie on our last day in Utah! Jamie was my roommate junior year in Windsor Park. At first, before we met her, our landlord told my sister and me that our roommate was a freshman. This made us kinda nervous, because most freshman are obnoxious idiots (I was no exception!). But then we met Jamie and fell in love with her! We had the best time that year, losing our minds (or for me, continuing that process). We went on midnight adventures to the canyon (where we temporarily lost Jamie's phone and then got stopped at a road block for 30 minutes), befriending Russ, Myke, and Kyle (and watching Kyle's love life, lol), and taught Jamie how to pull all-nighters (if you ever want to see something funny, get Jamie hyped up on Monster). Then Jamie got engaged to Swami, and I have to say that normally I think 20 is way too young to get married, but Jamie was definitely mature enough. I'm so glad we got to be roommates, Jamie, and thanks for going to lunch with me every month this last year at BYU! I love you, Jamie Butt!

Queen of Shiba

Hi everyone,
I know you've been holding your breath to know what kind of dog we're going to get. Well, we still can't get one until we move from this apartment, but we've pretty much decided what breed. "But Kristina," you say incredulously, "you have such a short attention span! And you're incredibly indecisive!" Well, to that I say, you're right, but I've fallen in love with this breed completely. I liked it the first time I saw a picture of it, and then last week we were at the mall and of course had to stop by the pet store, and they happened to have a few puppies of that breed. I asked to hold one and Kurt and I were hooked. Her cute little fox face and curled tail convinced that what we want is a Shiba Inu! I've been doing lots of research about this amazing breed, and I'm very excited about our future dog. Here's a little something about them from the National Shiba Club of America:
"The Japanese have three words to describe the Shiba temperament. The first is 'kan-i' which is bravery and boldness combined with composure and mental strength. The opposite side of 'kan-i' is 'ryosei' which means good nature with a gentle disposition. One cannot exist without the other. The charming side of the Shiba is 'sobuku' which is artlessness with a refined and open spirit. They combine to make a personality that Shiba owners can only describe as 'irresistible.'"
This is a truly special breed. I'm so excited I've already been thinking of names.
Here's a few pictures of Shibas (they actually come in cream, red sesame, and black and tan as well but we want a red shiba):






[I added the "pretty much decided" after I first did this post. Kurt informed me that he's pretty sure, but it's still in the air between a Shiba and a Finnish Spitz. I, however, have decided. :D]

MOAB

So two weekends ago, Kurt and I met James and Camille in beautiful Moab for a fun filled weekend. The only thing is, it didn't start out very fun. We camped that first night (with intentions of camping both nights) which was a mistake. First, our camp site was on top of the very large hills surrounding Moab. Second, it was comprised of slick rock and lots and lots of sand. Third, it was windy. Gusty. I'm talking 30 mph gusts! And we braved it through the whole night, but barely anyone got any sleep. Between the sand blowing all around us and forcing us to sleep in our sleeping bags like cocoons, the particularly strong gusts that made the tent nearly collapse on top of us dozens of times, and the rain flap making all kinds of noise as it fluttered in the wind (on second thought, fluttered is completely the wrong verb, too peaceful) we got a combined sleep of about 2 hours. The next morning we were very tired but determined to bike. We headed over to the (in)famous Slick Rock trail only to discover that there was no way in hell that I could do it (it being my first mountain biking experience). Camille had the same idea, and so while the boys took off, we headed into town. And promptly booked a hotel for the night, where we promptly showered and passed out until Kurt and James returned from their slick rock adventure. Now it was my turn! We found a nice beginner's trail 15 minutes out of town, and James, Kurt and I went off for more biking adventures while Camille enjoyed more sleeping adventures. I have to say this about mountain biking: I LOVE IT. At first I couldn't decide if I liked it or snowboarding better (but I have since decided snowboarding). So fun. We saw some people four-wheelin' and I have to say that I'd rather have to work for my fun and work up a sweat rather than just change gears and pulling on the throttle (although I very much enjoy four-wheelin' too). There's just something about physical exertion that I love. That night we ate at the Moab Diner (home of their famous green chile, which is quite scrumptious), ran to the grocery store for some ice cream, watched some movie with The Rock, and went to sleep at 9:30. After 12 hours of sleep, we woke up fresh and early to check out of the hotel. On our way out of town, we stopped at Arches Nat'l Park where we saw some arches, some fins, some balancing rocks, and the best part of all, SWEET CARS! Those were definitely the highlight of our visit to the park. Afterwards we said goodbye to Moab and parted ways with our wonderful friends the Winfields (who will be joining us in Denver next year, woohoo!).
I have to say, Moab is quite the experience. I've never seen one area of the country attract granolas, rednecks, punk skaters, and meatheads at the same time. It was quite the experience. We didn't hike Delicate Arch because a) we were freaking pooped! and b) we're already planning a return trip before long. :)

Kurt and James do Slick Rock trail (successfully, without any broken bones, which is quite a feat; of course, they recognized their limits and walked parts of the trail they couldn't handle):


Kurt's bike chain broke 4 times. Sweet.



That green stuff is Moab. It's really amazing to see this green, green valley in the middle of red desert.

My first biking adventure (sounds like a scrapbook for a baby):

It was a beginner trail but it had some sweet views.

Arches:

Balancing rocks: check.

The North Window: check.

The South Window: check.

SWEET CARS: DOUBLE CHECK.

Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano: HELL FREAKING YEAH CHECK!


Sweet Maserati car: check!

Ferrari F430: Check check!!

Lamborghini Murcielago: CHECK!!

Although I'm sure our next Moab trip will exceed our first in many ways (I'll be able to do more biking, we'll hopefully get more sleep and less sand) I'm sure overall it will not hold up to the Canadian car club that graced us with its presence and made our day.

Some more Cali pictures!

I was getting our pictures for the Moab post and I realized I forgot to post some from California! These are from Monterey and San Fran:

What a funny idea! I loved it!

I always hug giant stuffed animals. It's a quirk I have.

Ghirardelli Square. Aka chocolate sundae heaven.

Whenever we're at a museum or something similar, Kurt reads every informative poster.

A beautiful day in San Francisco.


A segway tour!


When we realized what time it was, we zipped over to a sports bar and cheered our Cougars onto victory against Washington State!

It's All Coming Together

A preview of the Atkins house:

Our apartment is coming together, including festive Halloween decorations. :D For those of you who want an apartment photo tour (and for Jill, who tagged me) that will have to wait until our mattress is on a proper bed. Indulge me. (But don't worry, that should be the end of this week when I finish painting our bed and we buy a box spring!)

Funny Sights from this Last Weekend

We saw the following funny things last weekend:

A rental at the Red Box. You know I read the summary (I always read the summaries of particularly bad looking movies).

Bowling Day is a special day, it's the day we get ready for ... bowl...ing...

Mmm... old man crack... delicious.

A really weird--hey, that's me! What the...

Freudian Slip

Our current grocery list:

Strangely, Kurt has been acting suspicious of me all day.

Moab, a preview

We went to Moab last weekend. I'm still looking for our video camera (which has the majority of the pictures we took). For now, a preview:

Yikes

Does this scare the pants off anyone besides me?

All Dolled Up

I've got holiday (i.e. Christmas) parties on my mind recently (and apparently center justification as well) because Kurt got an email from his company announcing that the company Christmas party's theme is going to be Black and White. Is it just me, or does every girl (err, woman) dream of having a chance to get all dressed and made up again, just like high school prom? There actually are quite a few pretty modest dresses out there (even though if some styles repeat quite often) but not many that are within my budget, which is $100. So far I've looked at a bridal shop (Abella), Macy's, Nordstrom's, Dillard's, and JC Penny's. Any other ideas?

Actually under my budget:

You'll actually see this dress again in the expensive area. The reason I included it is because I like the more expensive color more. Figures. But I love the buttons and wide belt on this dress.

You'll see lots of blue and black. That's because those are the most dominant colors for winter cocktail dresses. Figures.

Out of my Budget: and I like most of these dresses more than the cheap ones. Figures.

Love the color! Love the tulle under skirt!

I think this is my favorite of the Abella dresses. I like it in just the black and cream.

This dress is positively gorgeous in dark red; it has a black over-sheen to it.

This dress is so freaking fun!

I don't know if it's really party worthy but I'd love this dress for the office!

Yet another shirt wrap dress. Good thing I like them.

Mmm, red.

See, here's that first dress is this dreamy navy blue. Love it.

This dress is actually a bit low in the back, but you could remedy that with a cute camisole.

If all else fails, I'll just take this girl's outfit for inspiration and wearing a trash bag. Apparently looking derelict is in vogue once again...

Actually, the other day while shopping at Express I found this skirt in red and thought it would very cute with a sleek black turtle neck (maybe short sleeves), black hose, black pumps, and some dynamite earrings. The skirt will probably go on sale before Christmas and black turtlenecks aren't difficult to find for cheap. What do y'all think?