im BAAAACCKKK! and its two for the price of one.

family picture from Sept 2012

as im sure you have noticed, ive taken a bit of a hiatus from blogging.  there are reasons for this.  i like to think good reasons.  like studying for the bar, working a temp job that turned into overtime for 3 straight months, then studying for the bar yet again.  blahhhhhhhh.  ok those probably ARE good reasons, but still, its not that hard to write a paragraph or two here or there...right?

welp, im back on the train!  since i was too busy to send out christmas cards, and therefore didnt do a yearly update (would i have done a yearly update anyways?  uh, this is me we are taking about.  crap no.), lemme summarize the last 12 months:

we both graduated. finally.

brian got a job.

we moved. out of utah!

i studied for the bar for 3 months straight.

i visited lisa in WA. twice.

we went to christians wedding, went on a lake vacation with brians family, and a newport coast vacation with mine.

we got a doggie. (he is alot bigger than that picture now)

we lost sleep while potty training doggie.

the giants won the world series.

i worked 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day for 3 months. yay elections.

i did not pass the bar. i cried.

i got pregnant. i cried again.

we visited utah for christimas.

i threw up. alot.

i studied for the bar.

i got a new [to me] car.

i think that covers it all.

now im hanging out, making my own schedule and contemplating getting a part time job.  and in the meantime, wasting as much time as possible.  which is LOVELY. and spending lots of time with this cute fella.

whats not so lovely is all the demands from people to see how fat im getting.  really guys?  i know my gaining weight is making you feel better and all, but seriously, do we have to rub it in?

im not posting the classic "see how fat im getting/big my baby is getting" pictures on facebook, for reasons i wont go into (trying not to be a stereotypical mormon girl who gets pregnant right out of school, too many friends who post exclusively about their pregnancy/child/children [which are adorable, dont get me wrong], trying to make sure i maintain balance of self and not go off the deep end forgetting that this obnoxious personality named alex exists independent of children [who am i kidding? im too obnoxious to forget] and being self conscious about getting uncontrollably bigger...i think thats most of the reasons....).

BUT i am posting them here.  for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures.  revel in your own body, please, and be glad all you have is a tiny tummy roll unmutilated by an unknown life form.

12 weeks

14 weeks

16 weeks.  for the first time ever, my boobs are outdone.

as you can see, regular t-shirts arent gonna cut it for much longer.  oh boy, maternity clothes! im secretly excited cuz buying new clothes is always the best, amiright?

Parting question: anyone have any good ideas about what to do with clothes that arent-fitting-now-but-hopefully-will-later and maternity ones?  did you pack up your pre-pregnancy clothes or just leave them in the closet?   

(stress) ball of popcorn

it has been a really long time since i last posted.  Sorry about that, but im sure you didn’t miss me too much-my ranting about law school got lame after 2 years, i know.

i have a lot i could say about this last year of school, but ill leave that for another time.  if thats what you came here for, you probably need to see someone about that.

nope, right now all i can think about is the perfectly salted stove popped popcorn im stuffing into my mouth.  by the handful. im going to need to clean this keyboard in a minute. i love popcorn. its my coping mechanism.  what, lame you say?  i still love ice cream and chocolate, don’t get me wrong, and the sheer quantity of popcorn i consume is just as unhealthy.  but i know when im honing my finer skill of freaking out when i increase my weekly popcorn intake from 2 times a week to 5 or 6. especially when i consider popcorn lunch and dessert.  oops.

and freak out i am, considering the bar is only a few weeks away.  im hoping i die of a popcorn-induced coma by then. ill avoid the bar, and die happy. two birds, one kernel.

but besides my current stress level exceeding the medically recommended dosage, i had a chance a few weeks ago to unwind with some friends and reflect on where i am in life.  i once had this really ridiculous laugh.  seriously.  ridiculous. so ridiculous that people would record it and laugh at it. but i had forgotten what that laugh sounded like.  yes, i guffaw daily and am inclined to smile at everything, but this uncontrollable, glass shattering, bubbling giggle i have doesn’t appear often.  i have a couple of ideas why, and now im working on them.

in case you were wondering, bar study does not induce this kind of laughter. more like the signature eyeroll.

thanks to popcorn and a sore laugh box, im trying to get back to me.  trying to more authentic to alex. i worry too much now.  law school took all the nonchalant, lowend mediocrity, don’t give a shit that i acquired in college and turned it into an uptight, frayed ended, worry wart.  and i don’t like that.  be honest, you don’t either. im working on being me again.  being too loud sometimes, too talkative all the time, and maybe a tiny bit too carefree. ok, not too much. just a little. teensy bit. fine, ill be happy if i can just be carefree some times.

if you saw me in this stress ball state and you went to law school with me, i hope you don’t recognize me next time we meet. if you saw me like this and you didn’t go to law school with me, sorry. law school does horrible things.  

homeless adventure part hamsa: good thing we brought our camping gear

sorry this has been so long coming; the [lack of] internet that we had (via brians phone acting as a hotspot) made it virtually impossible for me to upload pictures so i waited until we got back to utah.  we have been here for almost 3 weeks now, and we still have no real internet.  and no pictures.

but i sally forth.  the last weeks of being in california were a little crazy.  there was so much that we wanted to do but just didnt have a chance to get to.  but we managed to see some friends who had moved out there (permanently, sooo jealous), brian got to ride his freeboard through the city (with a bunch of dudes who were high), we went to an A's game with our ward (i wanted to wear my giants shirt but opted to stay alive instead), we went on a double date (with my fabulous new friend Jac who i left in sf and miss!), got invited to dinner by a cool younger couple in our ward (make that TWO friends i made in the bay!), and even managed to go to a wedding the day before we left (one of brians childhood friends).  there probably is alot more, but law school has already scrambled my brains.

as we were packing, we were faced with the dilemma of how we were going to get everything home again.  you see, we had accumulated a few things [ahem, brian bought 4 rims] and didnt know how it was all going to fit back into our two little cars.  i pointed out that the camping stuff that we had been determined to use hadnt been used at all.   great.  oh, nevermind, we had used the camping grill once before it broke and was now in the dumpster.  ha.  good thing we brought it huh?

the weekend before we were to move back to utah, we decided to justify the camping gear we toted across the barren wasteland that is nevada and was going to be hell to pack back.  so we went to yosemite.  it was only for one night, and we wish we had stayed longer, but it was tons of fun.  we went into the valley, went to the base of one of the falls, and the next morning went on a hike and swam in a mountain lake.  talk about a stellar ending to the summer.  brian just about peed his pants that night, thinking there was a bear near our tent, but i think he loved it too.

he apparently like it so much that he wanted to duplicate the experience on the way out of california.  instead of staying in a hotel (which he swears is a good thing because all the reviews on yelp indicated we were destined to get an STD, bed bugs, and some terminal disease from dirty sheets if we stayed in any hotels between Reno and Elko), we drove 30 miles off the freeway and camped in a remote [but free] campsite outside of battle mountain.  as we drove in at 1 am, i hoped noone was there to be woken up.  when we pulled in and noone was there, i wished there were other people around to make sure we emerged from our tent alive in the morning.

too bad, we were alive in the morning, and we did make it back to utah in one piece. well two pieces, since we were in two cars.  and i can tell you God hears prayers, because besides some minor overheating issues at the beginning of the trip which brian fixed, and some weather stripping that decided it would rather strip than weather the last 30 miles into SLC, we had no car problems during the drive like i asked.  but i tell you, sometimes be less specific, because the next day, both our cars fell apart.

justonemoreyear, justonemoreyear, justonemoreyear.....

homeless adventure part a'rbaa: the giant potty

ok so the title really doesnt mean an enormous toilet.  ill explain in a minute.

first of all, we have no internet, which is why i havent posted earlier.  i keep saying im going to go to the library and use the internet there, but i havent.  my schedule is this: go to work, come home, change and go to the gym, make dinner, watch part of a movie, then go to bed.  thats it.  it doesnt sound super busy, but it seriously is.  its nuts.  busiest summer ever.  BUT its been two months since i posted last so its time for an update photo-style.

my ghetto food processor 

brian is a goofball

We finally got settled by buying some things like a 5$ set of silverware and 5$ glasses from Ikea.  we also had the good fortune of having some members of our ward donate some furniture to us for the summer, like the chairs above.  still sparsely furnished, but its something!

this is our town, San Leandro

Downtown Oakland, where I work

Oyster Bay, the airport is in the distance

So thats the scene we live.  i bart into oakland everyday. we drive around town every day.  oyster bay is where san leandro meets the bay.  neato. 

Point Reyes

Point Reyes by the lighthouse

HOLY windy

 we like to go on adventures, like to point reyes and on pretty drives that always make we want to barf.  this day i was good. on the way there at least.  after this picture, i turned green.  

brian is scared of goats

brian is also scared of pictures

i love G-raff-eeeeeeeeeees!

driving into the city 

the golden gate from the bay bridge

the golden gate from the lookout point

the sweet tagging next to the golden gate lookout

on memorial day, we went to the zoo and to the golden gate bridge.  brian likes to take pictures.  he took pictures of the bridge. i did too. but mine are uglier.  

Lets go Giants!

we had great seats

so happy to see the giants play!

coach boch

sweet stadium

...street lights, people...

we LOVE the giants and were super stoked to be able to see them play. we have  gone twice now.  hence the "giant" in the post title...

classic.

BFFLFE

did i say classic already?

aw!

I also went to Everett for Danielle's wedding.  i stayed with lisa and laughed way too much.  but thats what you are supposed to do with best friends right?  thats what i thought.  brian stayed home and his bro came out to chill with him.

to finished the explanation of the post title, we went to see Harry Potter 7.2 last night at midnight.  AMAZING.  the audience sucked but the movie was good and it was way fun to do a midnight showing, since its been years since ive done one.  

anyways.  now you know, we are still alive.  though without the internet, you might question my definition of "living." 

homeless adventure part talatta: born again

we are no longer homeless!  so yesterday we left our first home, which looked like this:

and now are at our new home, which looks like this:

except for our air mattress, we have no furniture haha.  grandmas lent us a table and chairs, but they are still in my car.  

today we went to our new ward, which was super friendly and alot smaller than our last one.  the lesson in sunday school was about the rich man who asked Christ what else he could do to follow him.  Christ answered-give up all you have and come follow me. people in class were talking about giving up all your material things (which is only one part of that parable, right?) so i mentioned how having only one pot and one pan has made me realize we could give up all we have in our storage unit, and giving up everything isnt a big leap from where we are right now hahaha.  oh man.  

speaking of church, and being mormon and such, the manager, who is an elderly man, noticed that my phone number was 6666.  he asked me if i was christian and i answered yes.  Oh! are you a real born again or just christian in name?  oh, actually im mormon!  oh uh well about the deposit... haha lets just say he went from excited to really awkward really fast.  then when we came with the deposit, he grumbled about how if he had known sooner that we would only stay for 3 months he probably wouldnt have rented to us (he knew the whole time), that it was a renters market and he probably was too eager to rent the apartment out, blah blah blah.  anything to do with the fact that he now knew that we were mormon? hmm.  oh, and did i mention that TWICE he made us go on a journey to get cash or a money order when he told us we could use a check initially?  yes.  im just glad he didnt totally decided we werent worth it.  

anyways, later today we are goin to ride bart, so i have some idea what the heck i am doin when i start my internship tomorrow, and so i dont get lost on my first day.  that would suck.  

YAY FOR HAVING A PLACE TO LIVE!!  but if you want to come visit me, bring your own bed.

homeless adventure part it'nane: the epad

so. we made it to california in one piece!  well, technically two pieces since we drove two cars.  holy crap, driving through nevada is SO boring.  this time, we stopped in reno for the night, which we have never done before, and it was a nice way to break up the trip.  we stayed in a butt cheap casino hotel that turned out to look pretty nice actually.  if they were planning on ripping us off by gambling, HA.  not happening.

who knew that reno would be the place where brian proclaimed a desire to bond with people??  the 49ers drafted a guy from UNR and brian, while waiting for our food to come to the table, said "i feel like bonding with all these people!  we have something in common!"  weird.  brian doesnt usually want to bond with anything, especially people haha. we also stopped in vacaville and walked around the outlets for a little bit, and let brians car cool down.  it was fine, but the turbo (im guessing here, i really dont know what im talking about) makes the engine run hotter so there is an additional intercooler needed to cool the engine down.  but after driving for a few hours, it still gets pretty hot.  i think.  actually, it was like 90* in vacaville so we needed a cool down too thanks to neither of our cars having A/C.  whoever thought that was a good idea needs to be shot.

so we made it to grandmas house safely.  first thing, we got into her pool and cleaned it for her.  ahhhh i have many a memory of jumping into a pool right after arriving at a grandmas house. classic.  yesterday we spent driving around the ENTIRE bay with the exception of the city, which we almost accidentally visited.  what were we doin? oh, looking for a place to live.  it really doesnt help when people never call or email you back. so lame.  so we drove around forever, visited several sj sharks stores, and saw way too much of the bay in one day.  today grandma and i went to the farmers market, then we will take her to lunch at her fav chinese place, then we will go on another housing hunt. yay.  i hope you hear the sarcasm in that.

do you guys have grandmas in law that you intrude on?  i dunno, grandma is great, and this is the second time she has let us stay with her for a few days.  its clear she is a little lonely because she constantly tells us about random things, but she is a great tour guide and tells you all about the street you are on and how a girl died on it (thanks for that nice bit, grandma haha), and she could tell you (and will tell you) the summary of every book she ever wrote.  but its still awkward!  i dunno how much i should just nod and agree, or if i should interject (cuz she seems to just talk over that anyways haha), or if i should look at brian for help when im feeling awkward.  he is so good with her though.  super patient, and kind, and accommodating.  i love him more just watching him treat his grandma with such love.  anyways, im sure she likes the company, and she always has questions about the computer or her new epad (she means ipad but it cracks brian up to hear he say epad constantly) or how to use the tv guide (she has 1000 channels and just uses the guide that comes with the paper, not the one on the tv for dish network).  she is so kind to let us stay here, but im eager to get out of her hair.  hopefully something this afternoon will work out!

homeless adventure part wahid

so my second year of law school has finally ended.  and im pretty sure i remember none of the stuff i studied so hard for finals.  not that ive had a chance to lazy around that much.  why you ask?  ive had two weeks of summer, essentially, so why havent i had a chance to let the wax build up in my brain??

because yesterday we moved.  yup, packed up all our belongings.  and today we are driving to california.  hallelujah.  no, we are not taking all of our stuff.  most of it is sitting in resplendent glory in a storage unit.  the only things we are taking with us are the essentials.  by that, i just mean the crap we could fit into two tiny 2-door cars.

yesterday, we had a home.  today, we are homeless.  we still have NO idea where we are going to live in ca.  all we know is that my internship is in oakland and we dont want to live in oakland.  im hoping-praying-crossing my fingers-determined to live in an extended stay hotel instead of an apartment.  why you ask? because i want furniture.  and no bed of mine fits in a 2 door honda.  not to mention i spent two weeks trying to find apts and of course nothing is furnished (what married couple DOESNT have their own furniture??) and  the hassle/stress of finding cheapo furniture that we can leave there is not worth it to me.  no way.  give me an extended stay. and that way we dont have to pay additional utilities either!

so, what are my ultimate thoughts on this homeless adventure we are about to have? well, up until about 2 weeks ago, i was really excited. then i was stressed.  now im terrified. oh, im sure it will be TONS of fun.  but the unsurety of it all freaks me out.  yes i am a planner, yes i like to know where the crap im going to be living for the immediate 4 months.  (actually, we are homeless when we come back to UT too at the moment, but thats a whole other stressball) yes, id like to think we arnte going to be sleeping in our car or in some equally embarrassing situation that i hope my supervisor doesnt find out about. but oh well. we didnt bring the TV, we DID bring camping gear and our freeboards and swimsuits, and im stoked to have a homework free summer with my honey.

i have already dubbed this summer the homeless adventure, and im sure this will be the kind of epic story that brian and i will look back at when our ADD crazed children are running around screaming like wild animals and think, "lets go on another homeless adventure and leave these hooligans in storage."  just kidding.  we would leave them at home...and lock their grandparents in with them. :)

lets hope this doesnt become our new neighborhood...