holy crap!

yeah, that's me. another year older.

poladroid

found a really fun website that converts your jpg photos and turns them into old-school polaroid-like photos. it's called poladroid and it's super fun. the software is free, but they do ask for a small donation, which i was happy to oblige. basically you drag and drop your photo onto the camera and it spits out, what at first looks like a black photo, but then the image slowly starts to appear. just like the real thing. even has the sound effects. you can also play around with the preferences and add dust and finger smudges.

i just messed with a few photos from my desktop. but i can see myself definitely spending a lot of time messing with this program. you can even take the photo into an editing program and add text, which i've done. what fun! i told myself that i'd be working with my sewing machine today. how quickly i got sidetracked when i found this site. a shop update is long overdue. hopefully in the upcoming weeks, between medical stuff, i can get a few new items added. i do have a small stack of new pouches and clay items that just need photos taken. that'll be my first goal. add what i have done.

birthday is right around the corner too. what's on the list? a new lens for the camera. pretty soon i'll be able to see the pores on your face from 10ft away!! lucky you!

green subway

i ordered a few samples of glass tiles off ebay yesterday. not sure if it's gonna be too much green for my taste, so i did a quick mock-up of what my backsplash looks without and what it would look like with the tiles. i'm sure it'll look better in person, but right now...not really loving it. i'll continue the search.

it's bottomless

my stomach has become a bottomless pit. ugh. i think the meds are messing with my system this time around. this phrase actually left my mouth the other day: "i should have ordered a 12" sub." me, the person who's always satisfied with a kids meal, ate a whole 10 nugget meal on our way back from san francisco. me, who's not a big fan of sweets, has eaten two boxes of oreo cakesters in the last week. omg! you'd think with all this eating i'd be pregnant already. tomorrow i start my stimulating meds. i'm guessing my ER to be next weekend or early the following week. i can't believe it's approaching so fast.

took the leap

yesterday i finished the dining room/kitchen accent wall paint job. i always seem to make things harder on myself than they have to be. case in point. after doing all the remodeling work on the basement, i thought for sure we'd have a 12" roller handy. we, in fact, had three. three caked with drylock gunk, that were pretty much useless for anything. instead of heading out to buy a new one, i decided to use the 6" roller i had instead. (sorta reminded me of the time i used a 12" level to make striped lines on the walls with vaulted ceilings) so what i probably could have done in half the time is finally done. i am proud that i stretched the paint and only used a gallon for everything!

i am extremely happy with the end result. i can't believe how much cleaner the walls look and how bland they looked beforehand. all the walls in our house are currently painted with flat paint. after a couple of years of living here, there seems to be more smudges, scratches, marks than there is clean wall. this is the first "big" room i've done in the house.

next on the list. tile backsplash in the kitchen and paint the kitchen/den. below are the before pics. what an improvement.

give me a minute

dining room possibilities

i'm about 90% positive this will be the future color of our dining room. both picture and color chips have been sitting on our wall the past few weeks. the dilemma: one wall continues into the kitchen and i'm not sure i want a green wall in there because we were thinking of a blue and stone backsplash. but the more i look at it the more i like it. hmmmmmm. i'll have to keep pondering or perhaps reconsider the color of the backsplash.

reality check

upon returning home from our san francisco trip life has really hurled one curve ball after another at us. one of the biggest was the loss of my future nephew on wednesday.

last tuesday irina, my sister-in-law, went into the hospital with some heavy spotting, she was about 2.5/3 cm dialated. basically she was in premature labor. luckily they were able to stop the progression and ordered her on strict bed rest for 10 weeks. she was supposed to return home from costa rica on wednesday but that trip was quickly revised with her returning in may.

this tuesday, brian headed down to costa rica to give her a little moral support. he called me on wednesday afternoon and told me that irina's water broke and she lost the baby. she was about 19 weeks which is way too early for the baby to survive. brian said that irina had prayed he would be there if this should happen and he was.

they believe that irina has a weak cervix and the weight of the baby may have caused it to open prematurely. hopefully a cervical cerclage will prevent this from happening in the future. although this has been quite a devastating blow for them, both brian and irina are anxious to get started again. they are very strong-willed people and this doesn't surprise me. sending much love and prayers their way.

while i was in san francisco i did have a scare myself. i felt a huge lump in one of my breasts. aaron was pretty sure it was a cyst but wanted me to get it checked out when we returned. so yesterday i went in for an ultrasound and it indeed was a cyst. it looked like two separate cysts, both measuring about 2 cm each. the doctor suggested we drain it right then and there. turns out it was one huge cyst. so technically i had a 4 cm cyst that practically popped up overnight. they are pretty sure it might be from all the hormones i've been taking for my IVF cycles. some people are prone to getting cysts and i just happen to be one of those people. so i have to keep monitoring myself, hopefully this was a one time occurrence.

luckily this has not interfered with our current IVF cycle. i received all my meds on wednesday and started lupron injections that night. i thought i'd be a pro since we've done this all before. but i did get a little adrenaline rush when i gave myself that first shot. it'll take some getting used to again. so we are officially underway.

the rest of the story

i was able to get the rest of my san fran photos uploaded this morning. between two cameras and two computers i think i was able to get them all loaded. i did have to do some editing. i let adrian play with my slr and he thought it was neat that he could take sequence shots. so any shot of me you see, just know there's about 10 more of that same shot! he's too funny. it was so great seeing everyone and this year was perhaps one of my favorite academy meetings to attend. now we're back home and back to reality.

sight-seeing in san fran

today was a loooooooong day of sight-seeing in san fran. after we were able to figure out the public transportation system, we headed to golden gate park. i had downloaded about 12 caches in the park and we were able to find 6 before our feet told us it was time for to head home. here are some photos from our first day here. tomorrow we hit up fisherman's wharf, golden gate and the presidio. i'll try and update photos daily. i'm a little giddy that i can actually walk about and take pics with my new camera. now to figure out how to look a little less touristy. doesn't help that we're hitting all the popular spots. right now, i'm ready to hit the hay.

come on ride the train

it's the choo-choo! IVF #2 is officially underway. the rough schedule i just got: start birth control today, start lupron on the 11th, blood work and ultrasound on the 20th, start stims the 21st, retrieval the 1st of april, transfer 3-5 days later.

rockin' the suburbs

so i actually have to write a ben folds blog rather than post pics. i hate going to concerts where all photography is prohibited. and yes, i tried to sneak a few camera phone pics and was reprimanded almost immediately. if they saw the quality of my photos they probably wouldn't have cared. a few weeks ago i was bored and changed the settings on my camera to solarize. i didn't realize it was still on that setting when i was taking pics monday night. no wonder they looked so crappy.

i'm gonna do a quick summary of the evening. got to asheville about 6:30 and headed downtown to grab a bite to eat at salsa's before the show. i'd eaten there last time i was in town and thought aaron would enjoy the food too which he did. afterwards we walked around the corner and stopped in the chocolate lounge (which seems to being doing great despite the economy) for some dessert. had a few truffles and a glass of wine before we headed over to the orange peel.

this was the first time either one of us had been to this particular venue. nothing too spectacular about it, reminded me of the galaxy in st. louis. got there about half hour before the opening band miniature tigers began. i could definitely see them playing on a wes anderson soundtrack or any movie with jason schwartzman in it. which is basically any wes anderson movie. ;) the second group hails from greensboro, nc the spartones. they only sang three songs but absolutely rocked it out. even did a cover of "not the same." they were great.

and then came ben. i always worry a singer/band is gonna sound worse live. but ben delivered. he delivered for 2 hours straight. (minds out of gutters please!) rocked out to some old tunes as well as some new ones. it was an awesome show and well worth the trip!

(man, i started this post two days ago and it's still lame two days later. oh well. i do realize i have A.D.D. when it comes to writing longer posts. i'll try to keep them few and far between for everyones benefit.)

all choked up

saturday we decided to do dinner and a movie once again. the weekend prior we saw revolutionary road and this past weekend we saw doubt at the dragonfly theater. both were great movies and i love that you can enjoy a beer or in my case a glass of wine while watching.

anyways, for dinner we headed over to outback steakhouse in blowing rock. there was a 20 minute wait so we decided to sit and eat at the bar. the carolina/maryland game had just gone into overtime, so it was a perfect choice for us. eat, drink and watch. after we had gotten our food there was a little bit of commotion on the other side of aaron. one of the teenage boys also eating at the bar had apparently inhaled a piece of steak. he wasn't choking, but could feel it lodged in his throat. him and his dad went to the bathroom to see if they could dislodge it. 10 minutes went by and aaron decided to check in on them. he came back and said the boy was trying to make himself throw up, thinking that would move the meat. he's talking and breathing fine, just uncomfortable. another 10 minutes go by and our waitress sends a co-worker in to check on them. aaron goes back with him. a few minutes later aaron reports back to us saying he's still trying to vomit, breathing and talking fine but his dad just asked the employee how long it would take an ambulance to get there. which aaron doesn't think is necessary. if the dad is overly-concerned he can easily drive the kid to the emergency room which is pretty much around the corner. a few minutes later a fire truck, ambulance and another medical vehicle pull up in the parking lot, lights blazing and sirens roaring. four technicians head for the bathroom.

"this is a gross misuse of emergency personal and totally unnecessary." aaron tells me. with the situation now under control we decide to pay and head out. when we get our bill our waitress says for being a good samaritan our entire meal was comped. it totally caught us off-guard. we thanked her and told her she didn't need to do that. she insisted. we thanked her and she thanked aaron again for his help.

so there's a fire truck, ambulance and another emergency vehicle sitting in the parking lot and there are about five cars trolling the lot for a parking space. which i thought was odd. if i saw a fire truck with the lights on sitting in front of a restaurant, i'd probably find another place to eat. i just thought that was weird. well when we pulled out of the parking lot, i saw all the technicians leaving the restaurant sans kid. he must have dislodged the food on his own, which aaron predicted would happen.

found foto

"hold on a sec. i saw something i need to get." we wait for the girls that pulled in ahead of us to get out of their car. "is it money?" he asks. "no, even better!" i hop out of the car and grab the polaroid next to the girl's car door. i had spotted it on our way back to the car after eating dinner monday night. it was upside-down, but the instant i saw it, i knew what it was.

"why do you want this?" looking at the photo.

"haven't you ever seen those websites dedicated to found photos?"

"no."

i knew once i saw what was actually in the photograph, it wasn't worthy of submitting. blogworthy, maybe. but it was funny how excited i got when i spotted it. check out these sites and you'll see why. i found your camera, found photos on flickr, and found magazine.

living with dictators

yesterday, we headed down to the hickory furniture mart for their "presidents day sale." yeah, right. the only things "on sale" were home accessories. you'd think with 4 levels of furniture stores, we'd have a lot to choose from. it sure wasn't the case here. half the stores we didn't even bother to walk in. when you have a lion standing guard at your store front, i'm pretty sure you're not going to carry anything i like. we did manage to find a few items amongst the overstuffed and gawdy. behold. our new couch. we got to pick out the accent pillows and imagine my surprise when i found my roman shade fabric amongst the choices. we opted for a more subdued fabric. since we went with the chair fabric below.

yes, we got some bold print chairs. if you didn't notice from my previous post, i'm a bold print kinda girl. i made a beeline towards them the instant i saw them. aaron laughed, "i knew that's why you wanted to come in here." he knows me too well. i knew i wanted that particular print, but they had it in two different colors. one with blue and green leaves and a lighter background and the one you see here. with the dogs we opted for this one. (funny how your animals and children start to dictate your furniture purchases.) so in 4-6 weeks we'll have a new living room which has been empty since we moved the sectional to the basement. yay for progress.

sofa king cool

the past few months we've been on a quest to furnish our house. it's actually been an ongoing process since we've moved in, but a serious consideration the past few weeks. we made a special trip to charlotte to look for a bed frame and some new living room furniture. we pretty much came back empty-handed. our main problem: delivery. most places do not deliver to the high country or if they do, it almost costs more than the actual furniture. we considered renting a uhaul and picking things up ourselves, but we have to have everything ordered or in stock for it to be worthwhile.

the other problem: i can't find anything i like. i'm extremely picky. don't want anything overstuffed, leather or wood-colored. and that seems to be what's popular and in abundance. i really don't want to settle. so it's been a very slow process. aaron's pretty much given up and has left all the decision-making to me. although i'm happy about this, i know it's going to be extremely tedious task. there's a reason why the only rooms painted in our house are bathrooms!

so i've been scouring the internet, trying to find home decor. hopefully there's gonna be some changes in the westphal house soon. how soon is the real question.

baby blues

yesterday i finished my first quilt. it's small and uncomplicated. measures about 30" square. about the size of a stroller blanket. i guess it's considered a quilt when there's batting between two layers of fabric. so ta-da here it is! the only thing i went out and bought was the batting. the rest was from my fabric and felt stash. not too shabby for my first try.

anti-

in honor of the upcoming holiday, i thought i'd share some great gifts i found on etsy.

pair of lovebird bowls

open wounds from the cutting edge

heart attack screenprinted necktie

poisoned heart collaged necklace

yes, there's a anti-progression. ;)

no artificial colors added

me just messing with the camera.

recycled butterfly

the frame i was carrying down a few days ago when i found a flooded basement was for this project. trying to find another project to use recycled christmas cards i came across this one a few weeks ago. i had planned on using a heart punch that i already had, but am having a difficult time finding it. (a overhaul of the craft room is in order this week) well, while i was at walmart last week i picked up the butterfly punch. i also picked up the frame, which looks remarkably like the one in the original. needed one with at least a double mat. i already had the photo dots. i mixed in some scrapbook paper but a majority of it is made with this year's batch of christmas cards. yep, i even used some of the photo cards that seem to be the norm nowadays. can you spot lily?

my muse

busted

friday afternoon i heard a big bang that shook the entire house around 12:30p. i stood there and listened intently, nothing. i shrugged it off thinking it was a gust of wind. a few hours later i grab a picture frame and head down to the basement. when i hit the bottom step i hear a buzzing noise. sounds like a generator pumping. i look towards the noise and then down. WTF!! it's water! i step down and i'm standing in half an inch of water. i turn to my left, my right, where the hell is this water coming from? i run upstairs and call aaron's office. "this is dr. westphal's wife, i have an emergency, i need to talk to him!" he answers and i start talking non-stop.

"the basement is flooding, i have no idea where the water is coming from, what do i do?!"
"did a pipe burst?" he asks.
"i don't know, i hear a gushing/buzzing noise, i guess that could be water." holding the phone up to the noise. "hear it?"
"yeah, turn off the water line."

i turn off the water and the noise starts to dissipate. thank goodness. i tell him i tried calling todd and jerome and can't get a hold of either one. i ask him if i should go to their job site, since maybe they're not getting phone reception. that's probably a good idea he tells me, he'll be home as soon as he's done seeing his patients.

i corral the dogs into the car and head over the job site. i get there and it's empty. i start to panic. i head back home and call my brother. "who do i call about a busted water line?" a plumber he tells me. i get home and thumb through all my basement construction papers, looking for the plumber todd hired to do all the plumbing in the basement. my phone rings. it's jerome. "i'm on my way." he tells me. a wave of relief gushes over me.

he gets there and i show him where the noise was coming from. he tells me it looks like's it could be the line to the outside spicket. he cuts a 10x12 hole into the drywall and sure enough there's a crack running down the length of the pipe. he said he'll cap off the line for now, so we can have water to the rest of the house but we'll have to replace the line in the upcoming weeks. i ask him if the carpet is ruined. he tells me as long as we get all the water out, it should be fine.

so we've spent a majority of the weekend sucking the water out of the carpet using a shopvac and my "pee-pee" vac. luckily the carpet pad we opted for is supposed to be moisture resistant. and so far the carpet is still damp but no longer squishes when you walk on it. i think the only damage done is to some of the molding which is easily replaceable. thank god! most of the storage boxes we have are those five gallon plastic tubs. all-in-all the damage has been minimized.

i'm so glad and thankful we have todd and jerome when it comes to home "problems." having someone we can trust and is so knowledgeable when it comes to home repair is such a blessing. i'm almost positive if i'd have called someone else the whole wall would be ripped out right now.

the first pic is what my pants looked like after working for two hours. damn, those knee holes are a lot larger than i realized. i think the end is near for them.

hamburrrrrger

i made these little sliders for a super bowl party we went to on sunday. yep, they're cupcakes. i saw them on a crafting site and thought they'd be perfect for the party. after screwing up the first batch (forgot to add water to the mix) they were indeed quite simple to make. one batch of yellow cupcakes, one batch of chocolate, icing, food coloring, a little cutting and assembly and presto you have burgers! they were a hit at the party and a lot of people liked them cause the weren't drowning in icing. i've even eaten a few. here's a little tutorial if you'd like detailed instructions on making them.

25 things

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.

(moved this over from facebook where i did all the tagging, play along if you'd like)

1. i was born in taegu, korea and moved to (in order) fort bragg, nc; camp zama, japan; fort hood, tx; seoul, korea; pusan, korea; fort bragg, nc; berlin, germany; augsburg, germany; carbondale, il; springfield, il and boone, nc.

2. i went to four different high schools

3. most of my childhood memories are associated with trauma, not necessarily my own. the biggest, being electrocuted when i four. hair barrettes and electrical sockets don't mix. i got to fly in a helicopter though.

4. i have a swatch watch collection.

5. in the summer i don't wear socks and in the winter 90% of the socks i wear are knee highs.

6. i was a carnie. i sold tacos and wine coolers at fests in germany and italy.

7. tooth stories: when i was in 6th grade i had surgery to correct an upside-down tooth. it didn't live much longer afterwards. i chipped my front tooth the summer before my senior year. i got braces when i was 30.

8. i fell between a train and platform that put a dent in my shin, which i still have 15 years later and will have the rest of my life. luckily the backpack i was wearing kept me from falling down to the track.

9. i haven't taken out my tragus piercings since i got them 16 years ago.

10. i have a 6ft asian brother.

11. i was in a car that was hit by a streetcar on senior skip day. thanks aly!

12. the first time i kissed aaron i as standing on milk crate on his front porch. which were abundant (milk crates) at the time thanks to ben alexander.

13. i walked 2 miles to get my first tattoo at lady hawke ink in 1994. a flower band on my right arm. i've gotten 9 more since then.

14. i bungee jumped at a volksfest with a friend, kirsten, when i was 18.

15. i went to mardi gras with all my college roommates in a rented conversion van that we slept in down by the river...nah, it was a parking garage.

16. i dislike fruit flavored sodas and despise root beer.

17. my coworker and i applied for the amazing race season 6. our video was lame.

18. i'm crafty.

19. all my jewelry is silver in color

20. i'm a raging insomniac which is no longer a good thing.

21. i'll be starting my next round of IVF in march. hopefully, after a failed cycle in december, this one will stick.

22. i'm gonna be a first time aunt in august. yay!

23. i'm not a big fan of cats.

24. my late grandfather and i shared the same big toe trait

25. my first "official" concert/show i went to was red hot chili peppers with fishbone in 1992 in berlin, germany

shake your pom-pom

since we got the king size bed, it been looking a little barren with just a few pillows. so i decided making a few more throws was necessary. luckily, a couple of weeks ago i got the in stitches book by amy butler via ebay. and on monday the pom-pom pillow was born. unfortunately, the green is off in color. it's a little too neon to go along with the other bed linens. it'll probably go on a chair that'll eventually grace our bedroom. but i'm happy i made it. hopefully the dogs won't tear this one apart.

what wear you?

they've been sitting out on the back porch for a month now. stepped in a nice pile of poo and haven't had the desire to clean them off. so there they sit. maybe when the weather gets warmer they'll get a little love. hmmm, i'm doing laundry now. maybe i'll just toss them in.

remember the "butt hugging" jeans i bought a few years back? now they're referred to as my "bon jovi" jeans. the knees are blown out, the denim has become paper thin and a slight tug tends to cause a major rip. indeed, they are in a fragile state yet i continue to wear them. as long as the holes are in modest areas they are still functional. at least in my opinion. do you have an article of clothing you're unwilling to part with?

on the mend

i finally got behind the sewing machine today. i think it's been about 2 months since i had touched it. nothing too spectacular was done, just mended a few of aaron's clothes. thought i'd ease myself back into using it again.

awes: do you think you could sew all the crotch holes in my boxers shut?
sue: why?
awes: because they're unnecessary. i never use them.
sue: then why do they put them in there?
awes: i don't know. maybe if i pulled my pants down to my ankles when i peed, i can keep the boxers on to keep my butt warm. but i don't do that, so i don't need them.
sue: okay.

so now all his crotch holes are sealed shut. i also transformed one of his scrub shirts from what was obviously meant for a female into a male version. it had side slits, two huge pockets along the bottom and no pocket on the chest. now the slits are gone, pockets removed and a new chest pocket placed. it turned out great, you can't even tell it's been edited. hopefully now i'll get back into the crafting game. it's time to come out of winter hibernation.

snow day 2009

aaron got off work a little early today so we were able to enjoy the snow. i think some of us had way too much fun. :) we got some sledding in and built a mini-snowman. tomorrow we're going skiing in the a.m. i'm a little excited about it, it'll be our first time out this year. hopefully it won't be too painful. check out some more snow day 2009 photos.

shoot, dawg

i haven't done too much with the new camera. been a little preoccupied with life. i think the pups are getting wise to my picture taking. rarely, do i get them looking directly at the camera. it's like they know and intentionally shun the lens. with marley a little shake-shake of her toy will get her looking somewhat at me. and yes, the look is intense. bosco's a word man. rabbit, treat and walk gets me an inquisitive stare. i have to laugh, aaron and i are now spelling all of those words in his presence. and i'm pretty sure he's starting to pick that up too!

into the wild 2008

i'm currently in the process of uploading the pics from aaron's winter hike. he said the weather was pretty much perfect til the last two days when it begin to snow. here are a few choice pics. the rest can be viewed here: christmas hike 2008.




apparently there was some nakedness that wasn't captured by the cameras. lucky for us all! not sure if this would fall in the "hippie" category but i'll put it there anyways.

nate and fiance

nate and katie came out to see us this past weekend. (hence the lack of posts) the main reason for the visit...to show off katie's new ring! ;)

here are a few pics from their visit. we were able to get some drinking, good food, wii fitting, football, shopping, tubing and basketball in. yep, it was pretty jam packed.

doctor say what

yesterday we headed down to charlotte to meet with my RE for our follow-up visit. he pretty much told us what i expected. all my numbers were great throughout the process. well up until retrieval that is. he had expected to see more eggs retrieved, which i did too. he also said the quality of the embryos weren't as good as he had expected either. he said they fertilized great and were initially growing fine but if they slow down or stop growing after day 3 it usually means it's a male factor issue. so for my next cycle we're going to do pretty much the same thing we did last time but bump up the dosage of the stimulating meds. he is also adding another drug called ganirelix which prevents eggs from being released prematurely. not sure if that was the case with my last cycle but it would explain why the numbers were so low. he also suggested aaron start taking an antioxidant supplement called ConceptionXR. as for dates, we've decided to wait one more cycle and start the process in late february which means the ER (egg retrieval) and ET (egg transfer) will be in late march/early april. we have a trip planned for early march where the tickets and hotel are already paid for, so if we would have started with this next cycle it would have definitely fallen into that time frame. so that's the western medicine update.

as far as acupuncture goes. i had my diagnostic meeting last tuesday. the first 1.5 hours we spent talking about anything and everything that could be interfering with our ability to conceive. sleep, digestion, kidney function, stress. he was very detailed and thorough with his questions, which i find most other doctors are not. the first thing he suggested: we fix my sleep habits. so that's what we're concentrating on now. not sure if the needle session concentrated on that or the infertility aspect. i ended up with a needle in each hand, five in the stomach and three in each foot. did i feel any different after the session? no, not at all. do i feel any different today? no. i asked my RE what he thought about acupuncture and infertility yesterday and he pretty much told me the only thing it'll probably help with is stress relief. i'm pretty much thinking the same thing. if it helps with anything else, great. but i'm not expecting much. i have another appointment tomorrow and i set up one for aaron for next tuesday. i already know that the appointment will be aaron's first and last.

aaron: "how did your appointment go?"
sue: "good. (blah, blah, blah) then he asked me to stick out my tongue and told me my liver wasn't functioning properly cause it was pale along the sides."
aaron: "WHAT!?!"

and that was pretty much his reaction to everything i told him. i thought maybe i wasn't explaining it right (i'm the poor layman), cause it kinda made sense to me when the acupuncturist was explaining it. i just have a feeling that east isn't gonna meet west as far as aaron's concerned. we'll have to see. ;)

the secrets

finally! i can let the whole world know i'm going to be an aunt! brian and irina are expecting their bundle of joy august 2nd. we learned the news on thanksgiving but i've had to keep it under wraps til today. i'm not that great at keeping secrets so let me tell you this was EXTREMELY hard. congrats to you both!

another secret i had to keep were nate's plans on proposing to katie. i thought i'd share katie's version of the proposal with everyone. i thought it was super sweet on nate's part.

Friday, December 19, 2008

It was 5:30 at night and Nate was leaving work early to go "Christmas shopping". He told me to just lock up and come home after my 6pm appointment. Well, I was cutting Lauren's hair when I got a few text messages from Nate. One said "there's a surprise waiting for you there.." I thought okay... hes home already?!?! (totally thinking he got me a puppy or something) So, I had to stop and put air in my tire on the way home-I'm pulling into Murphysboro, when my phone rings...

Nate: "What are you doing?"
Me: "I had to stop and put air in my tire and now I am creeping through Murphy-I'll be home soon"
Nate: "well stop lollygaggin!"

I get home open the door-look around and don't see a puppy, still wondering what the surprise is. Jason Mraz "I'm Yours" is playing-Nate walks up to me, takes my hand and says "I recorded this song for you-I know how much you like it..." I thought, okay. "So this is my surprise, thanks honey, I love this song!"

He grabs my hand and says "Come here, I bought you a tree topper!!" I look to the top of the tree and see a little sparkle at the top. HOLY CRAP its a ring!! He grabs it, slides in on my finger and gets down on one knee and asks "Katie-will you marry me???" I am bawling outta control and say "YES!!!"

It was super intimate and romantic and shocking! I am still pinching myself to make sure its actually real!!! I am so excited to marry the love of my life!

so not only is the rich family expanding but so are the westphals. and what's good about having two families and two secrets? i can tell the westphals the rich secrets and the richs the westphals secrets. totally a win/win for me! congrats to nate and katie too!!

about you

sue: i blogged about you being a hippie today.
awes: huh? what are you talking about?
sue: how you're going green and whatnot. recycling, buying organic, unplugging everything.
awes: yep, i'm the conservative hippie! that reminds me, i was thinking about buying some power strips so we can just flip the switch and turn everything off at night.
sue: really? every night?
awes: yeah, i'll have to add that to my list.

i pick up the computer so i can write about this conversation. the cover of the new time magazine is glaring at me: "why we need to see the light about energy efficiency"

i married a hippie

or at least a closet one. aaron's become a little more earth conscience since we moved to boone. first it started with recycling. we currently recycle everything. paper, plastic, glass, aluminum, each now how it's own bin in the garage. since we don't have garbage/recycle pickup he has to take everything to the processing center himself. occasionally i'll find something i threw in the garbage in a recycling bin. yes, he picks through our trash to make sure i recycle everything that can be recycled. now i just ask before i throw it away. *bust out the hacky sack.

next we got reusable grocery bags. i decided to go ahead and purchase these while out shopping one day. they were on sale for $1 a piece and i ended up buying five. they're great when you remember to bring them. they're usually in the opposite car when we go shopping and we'll always have one of those "doh!" moments when we're checking out. right now we probably use them 1 out of 5 times. although yesterday aaron informed me he used them while out running errands on his own. *smelling some patchouli in the air.

buying organic. the milk in our fridge is now organic. most of our fruits and veggies are all stamped organic. he informed me we'll be frequenting the local farmer's market once it opens up again in the spring. this i don't mind, as long as he doesn't mind the few extra dollars it costs to buy the chemical and pesticide free products, i'm all for it. *sitting in a drum circle now

we are now unplugged. anything that is currently not in use is unplugged in our house. if we leave for a weekend, tvs, stereos, lamps, pretty much anything that uses electricity is unplugged. i'm not sure if this is earth conscience or money conscience on his part. all i know is that my flat iron is unplugged every time i go to use it. *we don't wear shoes anymore

why do i bring up this closet hippyness in aaron? this weekend we purchased an all natural bed. what, you may ask, is an all natural bed?

"There are no irritants such as sulfur or boric acid. These mattresses are manufactured without the use of plastics, foams or polyesters that emit toxic gases. In addition, there are no foams or polyesters to break down, or pack down, so your mattress will last longer. Natural mattresses "breathe", providing a more comfortable sleeping surface in hot weather."

in the end, it came down to two beds. they were close in price but the organic one was a bit more comfortable. probably from all the fresh air we were breathing while testing it out! ;)

and it doesn't end there. the next car we get. i'm 99% sure it's gonna be a hybrid. plus a compost pile is in the works this spring. and i'm sure there's about a dozen other earth-friendly changes happening at the westphal house in the upcoming months. check back and i'll let you know if we'll be able to pull aaron's dreads into a ponytail by the summer.

female retail therapy

the last few days i've been doing a little online retail therapy to get my mind off things. i haven't really found anything worth mentioning, a few hooks for the bathroom and other odds and ends. i did stumble upon this site: cribcandy. and on the first page was this vase. i thought it was kinda funny, given light of our current situation. of course, this gave me the idea find more tasteful reproductive art.

exalted beauty uterus medallions. 30 one-of-a-kind art jewelry pieces created by amy e. fraser.

a series of plates about fertility and sex by nina levett.

not to worry. you won't be seeing these at our next holiday function. although they would make for some great conversation pieces!