I hate to admit it, but...

I liked Twilight. I had been trying my hardest to avoid the craze, but I might just get sucked in. Neal and I rented the movie and watched it Friday night. It is kind of against my better judgment to watch a movie before I read the book, but because I had convinced myself I was never going to read Twilight, I decided to break my rules just this once. I am now doomed to read the whole series. I can’t say I loved the movie, but I HAVE to know how it ends (and all the details I missed because I watched the movie). Everyone has warned me not to start them until I can give them my undivided attention, but I don’t know if I can wait that long! Three cheers for mindless entertainment (and teenage love stories). Hip hip hooray!

Stupidest comment ever said in a job interview

I have been applying to internships for this summer. Today I had an interview in Pittsburgh, which is only about 45 minutes from where I grew up. Here is a dialog of my mid-interview conversation ("Lady" is one of my interviewers and is about 30 years old, I am 24):
Lady: Oh, you are from Kittanning. Do you know Riley or John Beezer?
Names changed for anonymity ;)
Neal: (thinks for a second) Oh ya, I think I know Riley. (pause)
I think he was a year older than me in school.
Lady: Oh ya? He is my fiance
Neal: Riley? (trying to hide his confusion at her being engaged to someone so much younger than her).
Lady: Nooo, John (Kind of in a "well, duh" voice)
Other Interviewer: Ya, I couldn't really see you with Riley.
Neal: (confused) ha ha

After my interview I was still a little puzzled about this conversation until I remembered who Riley was. SHE was the younger SISTER of John. I had been thinking of another Riley. So what do you think my chances of getting the job are??

Lady's Voice Mailbox: Hey this is Neal. I just remembered who Riley is. I hope you and your fiance get a good laugh about that.

Does this make sense?

Last week, Neal and I went to the dreaded dentist and were both diagnosed with our first :( cavities. I was taking the bad news okay until I saw how much it was going to cost to get them fixed. I have spent the last few days seeing if there is a cheaper solution. Today I got my cavity filled. The dentist must have taken pity on me (I didn't even have to say anything), because he charged me for a cheaper cavity with a cheaper filling (about $100 savings). When I came home I told Neal about how I felt guilty about it. He just rolled his eyes and said that I don't make any sense. I think he is right!

I bleed purple!

No, purple is not for Weber State. It is a mix of Utah State, Utah, and Ohio State. Neal and I are in Utah for Christmas. I learned from my friends that Utah was playing Utah State in basketball while we were here, and convinced my dad that it would be a good family outing. When we were little, my dad would buy two season tickets and go with a different daughter on a "date" to all the games. We loved it and became big Stew Morrill fans in the process. Monday was a great game. The teams were tied with 2.4 seconds on the clock and Utah State had the ball (I was cheering for Utah State, a sore subject with Neal, who was wearing his red). Utah State inbounded the ball, missed a shot, then tipped it in off the rebound. The crowd erupted. Everyone cheered! Then we all noticed that the clock still read 2.4 seconds. The timer hadn't been started!! I thought the play probably took more time than we had, but after a review of the tapes, the refs gave Utah State the basket and Utah the ball with .1 seconds on the clock(i.e. one desperation shot from beyond half court). I have never seen an ending like that before. It was a little bit of a bitter sweet victory because we all had to wonder what would have happened if the clock had been started like it should have, but I left with a smile on my face.

My Latest Projects

In Relief Society General Conference, President Uchtdorf encouraged women to be creative. I know I am lacking in the artsy skills, but I am pretty good at following directions, so I decided my version of "creative" would be sewing.

I copied Fraulein Maria and made myself a dress out of curtain fabric. (This fabric was never actually a curtain, but it is upholstery fabric that was on sale). The dress took a lot of work, partly because it had a pattern that I didn't want to turn upside down or stripe the wrong way and partly because I had to surge everything because the fabric frayed a lot. It turned out pretty good for my beginning skills and cost less than $10. This is me wearing the dress with Neal on our two year anniversary.





My other project was to sew my sisters pajama pants for Christmas. It was so fun to give them out last night for them to wear on Christmas morning. I love my sisters!

October in Ohio

After 6 weeks as an Ophthalmology Assistant, I quit my job at the OSU Medical Center. I decided it wasn't for me, and after being offered a job as a Budget Technician with the USDA Wildlife Services (WS), I gave my two weeks notice. Most decisions have pros and cons, but this decision only had pros. The "cherry on top" was that my first day on the job turned out to be Columbus Day so I got a paid day off! It was a great change and I am happy with my new job.







The State Director at WS, Andy, has a fall party every year, so Neal and I drove to his country home yesterday. The weather was unbelievably perfect and the scenery was just as impressive. We spent the afternoon trap shooting, playing a bean bag toss game "Corn Hole," and eating good food. Andy let Neal use his gun for an Annie Oakley shooting competition. When Neal won, Andy complemented his sharp shooting. Neal credited his success to a good gun (Nice move, win me points with the boss). Andy explained that his parents had given him this gun as a graduation present, and then without thinking I piped in, "Oh, so you've had this gun for a while." I have never claimed to be a smooth talker, but this just prooves how far from that I am!

Now that I am done with school, I am making a valiant effort to be "domestic." We have an east facing bedroom window, so I decided to sew curtains. I watched the JoAnn advertisements until curtain fabric went on sale (50% off clearance). After buying the fabric, I got online to get ideas on how they should look. To my disappointment, I could have bought curtains for less than I spent on the fabric. Sewing isn't really a way to save money, but it is something I enjoy right now.


We didn't get football tickets this year, but decided to join the excitement for the OSU v Penn State game by watching it on campus. Because so many people can't get tickets, tailgating around the stadium is unbelievable. There are about 5 very large screens where students and Columbians pack in to watch the game. Neal and I squeezed around one screen long enough to watch the first half of the game. I love large crowds and the excitement of games, but I didn't love how much people around me were drinking and smoking (cigarettes, cigars, & marijuana), so we left at half time and moved to a more family-oriented screen. It was a good move, and we even got seats because no one but us is interested in watching a football game without beer! The man who took the first photo was drunk, that's why it is blurry!

Sour Grapes

So, do you remember Aesop's fable about the fox and the grapes? Just in case: Once there was a fox, who, upon failing to find a way to reach grapes hanging high up on a vine, retreated and said: "The grapes are sour anyway!"

I am the fox, and my grapes are a book that held all the CD's of my wedding photos. This book had all our professional photos (engagement, bridal, and wedding) and all the photos from our honeymoon.

I have searched everywhere for the book since our move and can't find it. I can't imagine that I threw them away, but don't know where else to look. It seems like I should be devastated and frantically searching, but I am not. I have convinced myself that those photos were sour grapes anyway. I really didn't like our photographer and wasn't happy with the photos he took. My favorite photo was actually taken with the camera on the wrong setting, so it is really pixely and blurry.

Moral of the story: It is easy to deny desire for something one cannot obtain. I'm glad that I'm not too discouraged. I know I might still find the book after I do another search and that I can probably round up a copy of the pictures again anyway. (P.S. This is Kelli, not Neal)