Two weeks?!

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything. For those of you who follow my blog religiously, my apologies that there hasn't been anything sparkly and new to read or look at on here. If I had known that life would be so crazy, I would have tried to rest up so I could face it head on.

Things that have happened in the last two weeks:

* My little brother got his mission call! Our first elder in the family will be reporting on July 1 to the MTC to prepare to serve in the San Juan Puerto Rico East Mission, Spanish-speaking. My question is, when did he get this old?! Weren't we just teasing him about turning into a girl once he turned 12? Wasn't he just learning how to drive (and putting big dents in the garage door)? We're all excited for him. The coolest part is that Rachel was headed out for a spring break trip to Puerto Rico the very same day he got the call.

* Isabelle, my niece, turned one! Whoa, was it a year ago that I was coming off the plane after 30 hours of traveling only to be heading up to the hospital to see her a couple days after she was born? Indeed. She's adorable. We celebrated on her birthday (also St. Patrick's Day) by eating pancakes and eggs...things on her 'approved' list of foods. It worked out great because Matt got his call that day, so we celebrated it all!

* I found someone to rent one of the rooms in my condo. One down, one to go. But hey, we got the painting and everything in the smaller room finished... It's going to be a weird transition time for me as I'm trying to get contracts signed and post listings online for my place. I guess I'm not in a huge hurry to move up to Salt Lake, but it'd be nice not to have to commute for too long. So, it's shameless plug time: if you know of anyone interested in renting a master bedroom/bathroom suite with a walk-out patio in Provo for $375 a month + 1/3 utilities, point them in my direction. Here's my KSL ad.

* We had a Pi (Pie) party. In case you've never heard of this, on March 14th, it's Pi day...because it's 3/14...and pi is 3.14... I know, it's a bit of a stretch, but any excuse to have a party where we make food, right? And it was fairly amazing. Nine homemade pies graced our table, and people came and gobbled them up. I ate pie for the next three days, and actually, come to think of it, there is still some left in the fridge. (Remember my resolution to clean out the fridge on a regular basis? I'm struggling...)

Add to all of this a few more fun projects I've been doing: furniture shopping, making a wedding cake (it'll be done tomorrow...I'll post pictures), guitar lessons, reading a serial killer novel (it's fiction...when I finish it, I'll blog more...), apartment hunting (thank you to all of you who are keeping your eyes and ears open for me!), finishing a baby quilt, driving friends/family to the airport, AND getting sick amidst it all...it's no wonder that I haven't been sleeping well.

And since the title of this post is "Two weeks?!", that reminds me...my last day of my current job will be this Friday. It's so weird...I don't know when it will sink in, but right now it's this surreal dreamlike state where I know things will change, but it hasn't all been solidified. A weird limbo, really, but not a bad one. I feel like I should be more broken up or anxiety-ridden. My boss wants me to dump my brain into a bunch of memos, but it's more difficult than that. Luckily, the people who will be pinch hitting for the company are former employees, and I think they'll both do a fabulous job filling in. If not, that's what emails and cell phones are for, right?

And do you know what happens two weeks from today? My birthday.

Remodeling--life, home, everything...

For those of you who don't know (and please don't be offended if you don't!), I got a new job. You read that right: I got a new job. "What?" you are thinking, "Annie is CHANGING something in her life?" Indeed. I wish I could give you a million explanations, but the best one I can come up with is that I just needed something new, a bigger challenge. What better way to do that than to shake things up a little? ...or a lot.

For months, Lacy's been sneaking in suggestions that I should apply for a job where she works, at the IRB at the U of U. I would automatically laugh it off and say, "It's just not going to work..." Provo has been my home for the last 5 1/2 years, and I have had one (count that, ONE) job while I've been here. It's morphed to my needs, and I've morphed to it, so it was great. For some reason, I couldn't stop the nagging at the back of my head when a couple weeks ago, Lacy said, "They posted the coordinator position and you should give it a shot." Here goes nothin'...

Long story short, the job is mine. I'm kind of in this surreal state right now, where the initial shock and excitement is still intoxicating, but the reality of all I have to get done between now and my start date is beginning to wear on my mind.

I have to find a place to live up in Salt Lake now. I don't know where is safe or good, or what type of rent or utilities I'm going to be comfortable with. First, I need to find roommates for Rachel for the place I own in Provo. We've had a couple prospects (I'm crossing my fingers that one of the girls will choose us!), but no solid committments. I don't want to get stuck paying for two places, so I'm waiting to see how that pans out before I get serious in my apartment hunting. I also have to re-do my back room at my house. It's coming right along--we got the piano moved out and the door frame re-hung...finally! Many, many thanks to German who did the hard work and to Jake who helped us out in a pinch! Now it's time to sort through all the crap I've ditched in there and get the walls painted a lovely shade of dark brown.

Don't get me wrong: these life changes will be great for me. Living on my own, starting in a totally different career field...while these things can be scary, they are also really exhilarating. I'm not the scaredy cat I used to be, so meeting new people and getting into a new groove will be fun.

It's actually NOT satanic!

My sister and bro-in-law showed me kind of a fun site that I now frequent. It's called Shirt Woot, and every day there's a new shirt you can buy designed by a different designer. Some of them are hilarious. Some are disturbing. And sometimes the really fun designs sell out quickly, so I have to make sure I check the site in the morning. Every once in awhile, they have a 'random shirt' day where they try to get rid of stuff in the warehouse. They send you a shirt for $6.66. A week or so ago, they had one of these sales...and I couldn't resist.

In the mail today, I got the package...the suspense was finally over! And so, I give to you...random shirt:

It's a sad little shirt...but I find it ironically funny. I'm going to wear it when I feel like life isn't handing me the chocolate and roses I think I deserve. :) Or I could use the t-shirt to inspire my new band, "Living the Plan B." It could be a bunch of people who feel jilted by life and we'd sing angry music. I would not be the drummer. (Have you seen my drumming skills on Rock Band? Yikes...)

Any other ideas of where I could wear this shirt hilariously or ironically?

I like some weird things...apparently...

My good friend Kati did this on her blog because she saw it on someone else's blog...and I couldn't resist...mostly because I tried it, and there are some funny things.

Google "{your name} likes to" (with the quotation marks) and see what the first 10 hits say about you.

1. Annie likes to spend it.

2. Annie likes to go out on Sundays and study the old Londinium, the Roman London.

3. Annie likes to say that she falls into every subgroup and contradictory sub-sub-group of society.

4. Annie likes to study children's books, read fiction and art books, and graphic design magazines.

5. Annie likes to say, "you are your best investment!"

6. Annie likes to have the area on her back directly by her tail smacked lightly, but vigorously. (Um, eek?!)

7. Annie likes to do better than to go exploring.

8. Annie likes to say that she...brains fell out.

9. Annie likes to count things, to make collections, and to know how much money things cost.

10. Annie likes to collect gold-plated toy tractors, which were promotional tractors made in small batches starting in the 1970s.

So many things I did not know about myself...