Sale!

This is just a little follow-up to my most recent post! :)

So we were in Santa Monica yesterday with the wonderful Mr. and Mrs. Paul and Dorothy Keisling, and we stopped in real quick to Banana Republic.

And they had a HUGE sale!
Everything on clearance was an extra 30% off!

Including...














So I dreamed big.

I waited.

And this wonderful little blouse went from $70 to $19.50.

Not. Bad. :)

Browsing Banana

Sometimes I spend, probably too much time, browsing my favorite clothing websites. One of those websites is Banana Republic. Though usually out of my price range (hooray for clearance racks!), it's still fun to dream, right? Here are some of my favorite looks from the current styles.

I guess what I can tell from looking at each of these pieces is that I'm digging the ruffles, the belts, the cardigans, and the tucked in look. It's frustrating to have caviar tastes on an anchovy budget.  I'm constantly looking at clothing, jewelry, and furniture and thinking, "I wonder if I could make that". I've recently been hoping to learn how to sew. Then maybe some of these styles would only be a little bit of fabric and a sewing machine away. :)

Bending and Adjusting

I'm cleaning out my email at work and just found this that I wrote to a newly married friend at some point last year. Thoughts on marriage. :)

It is very much an adjustment. Every part of it, too.

I don't eat on a normal schedule, just when I'm hungry. Garrett likes to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner  when they're supposed to be eaten.
I don't want my bathroom floor wet, but Garrett steps out of the shower without drying off first.
I like to stay up late, but Garrett likes to hit the hay a little earlier.
I like to sleep on the couch. It's not long enough for Garrett to fit on, too.
I like some salt on my food, but it's usually pretty plain. Garrett spices everything.

It's crazy! And I've never been in a relationship with someone (best friend, sister, parent) that so much affected me, ya know?

It's definitely a learning experience. A good one! But a hard one at times. :) It means bending where you're not used to bending and giving where you're not used to giving.

After re-reading this, I'm more and more convinced that marriage is worth every bend and ever adjustment. It just is.

Love you, Garrett.

Alaska Flowers

Just wanted to post a couple of my favorite flower pictures from Alaska. Isn't God amazing?

I need to post....

It's been forever. The same pictures of baking cookies have been staring at me, taunting me, telling me I need to post again.

It's been almost 3 months.

Ridiculous.

So here's a quick post.

What's been going on?

• I went on a pre-vacation vacation with GS1 (Gretchen). We flew the coup and headed to gorgeous Mexico for a week. We slathered on sunscreen, ate to our hearts content, read fictional stories, met some wonderful people, went snorkeling, got burnt, saw cultural dances from each of the states of Mexico, took a taxi ride (my first!), swam in the ocean, saw the Gulf Coast oil spill from the plane (sad face), went on 7 airplanes in 9 days, chatted about life and its ups and downs, haggled for souvenirs (she's got a much more convincing poker face than I do), played beach volleyball, lost a life jacket while kayaking, and just had an all around great time. Here's to 9 years of friendship, and many more to come!
• We're losing an entire Biola class, one that we've grown to love and will seriously miss. 
• That class that we're losing GRADUATED so we're also happy for them. We're happy for them. We're happy for them. We're happy for them. I have to keep repeating it so I don't selfishly fall back into the "I don't want them to leave" phrases. It was so fun standing and cheering for so many incredible students at graduation. We were awfully proud "parents".
• The students have since moved off campus. It's eerily quiet.
• We are babysitting. Four turtles and a handful of fish. Two tanks. 
•  Our humble apartment home is about to be vacated by GS2 (Garrett) & I, and then inhabited by two of our RA's. We've given them strict instructions to be nice to our non-stick pots and pans. :) 
•  G & I are finishing up work this Friday and then off for a 2 month vacation together and with our families. We're totally looking forward to the break, and the time together to be refreshed, learn more about each other, and see more of the country. Our vacation looks like this: June 8-June 21-Time in Roanoke with the Suhrs! Hanging out with Garrett's parents, as well as Jason and Rachel and the four kiddos. It's gonna be awesome to get some quality non-stop time with them. Garrett is so relaxed when he's at home, so I'm glad we're getting to do this first. We're planning on hiking a good bit of the mountains around Roanoke, so we're excited about that. We'll celebrate Father's Day with them, then we're heading up to Harrisonburg to hang out with my family and celebrate with them as well. We'll spend a couple of days in Harrisonburg, head up to Pennsylvania to see some friends we haven't seen in over 2 years (crazy!), head back to Harrisonburg for a night, then head down to Alabama for the annual beach week at the Gulf. It will be a little different this year with the oil spill and all. I'm anxious to see it firsthand and see how it's affecting everyone in that area. But we get to be with family, and that's the purpose of the trip. We'll be there for a week with my extended family, and then we'll head back home and spend a couple of days in Harrisonburg again before flying straight from there to Alaska! This is one of Garrett's dreams, and I'm excited to be going with him as he gets to see this part of the country for the first time. We're going to be doing some hiking and sightseeing, as well as just enjoying the views and wildlife (I'm hoping to finally see a Moose!). We'll spend about 2 weeks there, and then head back to LA. We'll have a couple of days before we start back up again for another year here. It's crazy that we're going on our third year in California. Time really truly flies. 

I'm missing my family more and more. It's hard being so far away. I'm looking forward to the time with them, but wish I got to experience the more day-to-day stuff.

I also get to see BELLA! She's 4 now and it's oh-so-hard hearing about all the wacky stuff she does and not being around her.

Anyways. There's an update. Life is crazy, but it's definitely good. Garrett and I are having a blast and really enjoying each other's company. This marriage thing can be hard at times, but it's so fun to be able to say "I'm looking forward to how much more we're going to grow together as a team this NEXT year!" It's truly a one-of-a-kind relationship.

.i can make cookies, too.

I know. The title sounds like a bratty kid.

It's not meant to.

Honestly, I am seriously inspired...inspired...by the some of the women who have families, husbands and children, and are able to keep up with their blog, watch their kids, take cool pictures, cook creative dinners, sew up all kinds of creations, bake seriously ridiculously amazing desserts, decorate their homes, and do all sorts of things they are passionate about. The list really goes on and on. How do they do it!?!

It overwhelms me sometimes to read how much others are able to do, given the same amount of time that I am. Let's face it. We all have the same amount of time to work with. 24 hours every day. We just each choose to spend it differently. I think recently I've started realizing that I spend a lot of my time observing how others spend their time. I don't want to be an observer anymore!

Put me into the game, coach!

I think the that I wish for the most is to know what it is that really makes me excited.

To know what it is that I LOVE to do and then to do it well.

So thanks, ladies, for the inspiration.

Here's to the first project.

Cookies.

Not just any cookies.

Pretty cookies.

So with the help of my friend Janae, who makes Sugar Cookies that are TO DIE FOR...

...as well as the creative talents of two of my other sweet friends Kara and Jess...

...we had a Girls' Night.

We chatted.

Drank coffee.

Laughed.

And friends...we made cookies.

Now I know they're not perfect. But I gotta tell ya, I left this evening just thrilled.

And now, not only did I make cookies, I blogged about making cookies.

I feel like I'm actually getting somewhere! :)

the.finish.line.

Final results are in! Janae and I were crossing the checkpoint lines at the exact same times, apparently.
2 hours and 45 seconds, right at a 9:13 mile pace.
I'm gonna go soak for a while. :)

Slacker-ish

I want to post more. I do! I just get behind and then get overwhelmed with how far behind I am and then I avoid it because I'm too far behind to even try. It's too much to handle!

Isn't that life?

I want to post when something funny happens. Something silly happens. Something sad happens. I find out interesting news. I find out ridiculous news. I find out news. I'm dissapointed. I'm happy. I'm lethargic. I'm hungry.

I want to post about random things that aren't big deal things and not feel like I have to have some huge revelation before it's a big enough deal to write about.

But I can't do it.

So tonight. I did it. Here's a random post about nothing. Because I wanted to. And had nothing to write about. But I did it anyway.

That's a milestone. Ha.

Oh. My first Half-Marathon ever is in two days. I'm a tad bit nervous, but more excited than anything! Bring. It. On.

Homemade Egg Rolls and Clogged Garbage Disposals

It has been a longstanding tradition in the Suhr household to make homemade egg rolls for Christmas.

When the boys were younger, Mr. and Mrs. Suhr welcomed several foreign exchange students into their home over the years. This was a great experience for both parties, and the Suhrs were taught some very valuable recipes that we now enjoy VERY much.

One of those recipes came from a couple of Vietnamese girls. Homemade Eggrolls.

d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s.

This was Garrett and I's first go at making the egg rolls. I'd tasted them at Jason and Rachel's house a couple of years back when I was engaged to be a Suhr. Last year we didn't try our hand at them, but this year, we thought we'd give it a whirl. We were a little late; they were more like New Year's Egg Rolls, but boy were they good (and secretly fun to make...as in...I actually enjoyed it!)

Here are some pictures!

The mixture you see is cabbage, carrots, tofu, sausage, bean threads, and a couple of spices.

(I think that's everything?)

Then you roll up the egg roll, adding a little water to the last flap to make it stick.

At the same time, you're heating the oil on the stovetop (or your husband is, in my case).

These are deep fried, of course. :)

The egg rolls start collecting on the side.

And then, when the oils at a good temperature (hot enough to cook 'em, but not too hot that it burns the outside without warming the inside), you drop 'em in...

 

Then it's a game of keep up. I was rollin' as fast as I could to keep up with Garrett who was fryin' as fast as he could...

That boy is a fryin' machine...

When all was said and done, we'd made 40 egg rolls.

35 with the regular stuffings.

 

4 dessert ones.

Stuffed with:

applesauce and cinnamon

peaches and brown sugar

apple butter

nutella, powdered sugar, and peanut butter morsels

and 1 that...didn't make it.

(Picture not shown)

All in all, it was a fun time, and a great dinner.

And leftovers were delicious, too!

And leftovers WILL be delicious again...

and again...

and again...

and...

The only thing that didn't work was...

our sink.

Apparently, I stuffed too many carrot nubs down the "in-sink-erator" and got it clogged.

Waaaaaaay clogged.

We plunged till we could plunge no more.

Nothin'.

We'll have to call facilities tomorrow.

After lunch.

.man down.

Ouch.

So I'm training for a half marathon on February, 7th, right? I'm about...1/3 of the way into training. We (Janae and I) are up to 5 miles and were supposed to run 6 miles tonight. Things have been going fairly smoothly, we're running a steady 9 minute pace with hopes of possibly reducing it to 8.5 minutes by the end, and looking to finish the race in a little under 2 hours. That's the plan.

Well sometimes, things don't go according to plan.

Tonight, only about 10 steps into our 6 mile run, there was a...bit of a hiccup.

Janae and I were talking about who was going to set the pace tonight. She tends to start a bit faster than I do, so I've been pacing us and starting a little slower. We do fine for a while, then I pull her through mile 2.5-3.5, then she pulls me through mile 4, then we coast at mile 5. At least that's been the trend. So we were discussing if we were going to try it at her beginning pace, or mine. We decided to just start running and see what happens. It's sometimes hard to run with someone else, but with Janae it's been fairly easy so far. I think she's a little faster than me, but we tend to kinda even out throughout the run.

So we're about 10 steps into our run, and I look over at her to say something, and my foot catches a large...bump...in the pavement. It was kind of slow motion from there. I remember looking at Janae, looking at my feet, and trying to catch myself, before finally giving in to the fact that there was no stopping it.

I was going down.

I think I caught myself on my two palms first, but then bounced? a little and landed on my right elbow. I also, at some point, scraped my leg along the pavement, before finally rolling over and coming to a resting place on my side. I was half laughing, half crying out, "Ow! Ow! Janae, Ow! It hurts! Ow, Janae!" She was great, held my hand, and I think just tried to figure out what to do. Girls in the dorm next to us looked out through the window at the commotion.

I, of course, knew what was coming next. Anything to do with skin tearing or breaking or getting punctured with me is not good. My ears pierced in 6th grade. Nausea. My shots at the doctor for a missions trip in 8th grade. Nausea. Seeing Mandy get stitches. Nausea. Falling down as Garrett and I were hiking down a mountain. Nausea AND Blackout. Getting stitches for mole removal. Nausea. It's always that way. I can watch blood and gore on tv, but anything to do with skin getting pulled on, punctured, or torn, and I'm done. Nausea means extreme light headed-ness, white lips, lots of yawning, and a huge need for sugar.

Janae went for water and Garrett. When she entered our apartment all she had to say was, "Man down! Beth fell," for Garrett to know what that meant. They both came out and sat with me a while before I eventually walked back. They always seem like silly injuries, but for some reason, the Nausea kicks my butt.

Here's the damage.

Right Elbow.

Two Palms

Of course, Garrett was great and helped me clean it all out and put bandages on.

So, alas, there was no running tonight. I'm recuperating by drinking some Pepsi and am about to down my old usual college taco bell order, a Nacho Cheese Chalupa (Baja Style) and a Cheesy Gordita Crunch. I have a feeling it's going to taste really good.

And I'll run it off tomorrow as I watch the ground meticulously for unassuming bumps.

.missing home.

If I were home right now...this is what I would be seeing.

And I would be inside and warm,  with my family, laughing and

sipping coffee as we watched the snow fall, and celebrating

Alabama's SEC Conference Championship win with Dad.

I'm thinking of my family as I sit here in my apartment in L.A.

It's a chilly 58 degrees.

And I'm 2,548 miles from home.

A somewhat different Thanksgiving

What comes to mind when the idea of "Thanksgiving" is tossed into a conversation? The essentials; turkey, sweet potato casserole, rolls, green bean casserole, numerous pies and ice cream. Oh....and most of the time family! But this year was a little different for the southern California Suhr household of two. Instead of spending the holiday fighting traffic driving somewhere or loads of moolah flying home, we decided to spend it camping in a tent in a little place called Yosemite. Lodging? A cabin with a nice bed, fridge full of food and hot showers, right? Nope. Not even that. We went for the camping experience and it turned out to be a good one. We had 3 nights of freezing (literally) temperatures, but thanks to our numerous ground mattresses, blankets, and queen size sleeping bag we slept like babies! And our food....was goooood! Beth suggested "pigs in a blanket" for thanksgiving dinner and so that's what we did. Here's how. Roast a hot dog over the fire. Once it is done cooking, take a thin slice of cheese and place it around the hot dog and then wrap it in croissant dough (from the can), and finally in aluminum foil. After you roast it over the fire some more it starts sizzlin' and boy does it taste great! Oh...and speaking of fires, we had roaring fires at night. They kept us nice and toasty as we cooked and ate out meals and waited for the uneventful sighting of a bear. They were supposed to be in camp every night but we didn't hear or see any sign of them. Beth's beginning to think that animals don't exist where people say they do. On our honeymoon in New Hampshire we looked and looked for a moose for a week and a half and never saw one. We were up in the Boundary Waters canoeing for a week and didn't see one up there either. Now, no bears in Yosemite?! She might me on to something.

The interesting part of camping though at this time of year in a deep valley, is that the sun sets around 4pm and it's dark by 5. The game then becomes, "what can we do to stay awake for like 4 more hours till it's bed time?". The answer was NOTHING! Ahh.....going to bed at 8pm was actually a treat. We got about 12 hours of sleep each night.

During the days we hiked to gorgeous water falls via hiking trails that were near vertical. I looked at the hikers guide and it said that the hikes would be strenuous and then very strenuous, but I didn't believe it. But let me tell you, it's not 3 days after the hikes and we are both still so sore from it! The people on the trails were very friendly and everyone was wishing each other "happy Thanksgiving!" and we even got to hike with a man from San Francisco for a while. His wife and girls were staying down in the valley for the day and so we some good company for a while. One thing that seems to happen on our hikes is some sort of miscommunication. Beth says something, I don't hear it right for some reason and then the aftermath leaves us trying to sort out what happened. Neither of us like it, but it happens each time we go out! Every couple I talk to says that communication is the hardest part of a relationship....and I'll agree whole-heartedly on that one. A constant tension that we'll be learning about for years to come.

Back to the end of the trip...we came home and relaxed friday evening after thanksgiving and it was so nice to be warm, clean and sleeping with a down comforter! Saturday ended up being a huge day for us as well. We made our first, all by ourselves, thanksgiving dinner for us and 6 others! It was a hit and the people that came loved it. We really enjoyed the evening with our friends and just wish it could have lasted for longer. The day ended with a slice of pumpkin roll and some sparkling cider and laughter in the living room!
That was a different thanksgiving, but one I'll remember for the rest of my life. I'm going to put a few pics up just so you can see where we were for our fall holiday!

Mismatched Skiing

I've always been that person. 

Winter time came around, and the Harrisons were just never prepared.

We were the kids without the snow boots. We wrapped plastic bags around our socked toes and then stuffed our feet into our regular tennis shoes. It worked ok, but boy, it wasn't very stylish. (I wish I had a picture of us as kids to upload here)

Or the snow pants. Those things have always been hideous. Hand me downs or a pair picked up at the local Goodwill store. Outdated and ugly.

Gloves, Hats, Jackets...all a mismatch. Whatever you could find you threw together.

And skiis? Yeah right. Never owned a pair of those. Looked at a couple pairs one time with Dad at the Gift and Thrift, but decided maybe skiis from the 70's were a tad outdated and a little unreliable.

It's a weird thing to be on a ski hill and feel self-conscious. No one can see an inch of your skin. And yet, you feel like you're sticking out like a sore thumb. You definitely don't look like you belong there. Just a weekend warrior.

It may sound silly, and slightly materialistic...but even in snow gear I still want to MATCH! Is it the girl in me? Possibly.

Fast forward to the present. 

So there's a Christmas ski trip coming up in about a month for Garrett and I. Now Garrett...he's the gear guy. He's got the outfit all together. He always looks like such a pro out there. And this year...I'll be standing next to him tall and proud!

We just got a gently used pair of skiis for me off of ebay, and they have purple flowers on them! I have a basic black ski jacket. I'm looking for a used pair of grey (gotta color coordinate) ski pants that fit (not too short, not too baggy...). And I'll probably compliment it with a purple scarf/hat and some nice goggles. Notice, I'm still pretty ok with the used idea, as long as it matches!

Friends, I'm pumped.

Pathological Picture Taker Wannabe

There is a button on my page that is a picture of a picture-taker.
The button, if clicked, will lead you directly to an online hosting site for pictures.
It's my online hosting site. It's my photobucket.
Are there any pictures in it?

Not a one.

Everytime I see the button on my page I feel like I am a Pathological Picture Taker Wannabe.

Because I am.

For the longest time, I have had the desire to become really really good at something. Not just any something, either. Picture taking, something.

I love to browse through pictures, think of other angles I would have shot, see the crispness in details and color. And I've always wanted to take those pictures myself, and not just watch other people take them.

And one day, I will. Whether it be after I take a class, or after I buy a camera, or after...whatever I feel is blocking my way...I will.

So for now, as a kind of...reminder, I will leave the Pathological Picture Taker button on my page. Though I may be a Wannabe, at least I'm not afraid to admit it.

Lace 'Em Up

Tonight is the night. My good friend Janae and I are signing up
for the Surf City Half Marathon on February 7th, 2010.

Huntington Beach

Early Morning Start Time

Sweet Finish Line

One-Of-A-Kind Medals

All with a great friend...

Training has begun!