this just in

"blindness separates us from things, but deafness separates us from people"

-helen keller-

remember a few months ago when i posted i'd be going to peru

to do humanitarian work?

well, plans changed a bit and my classmates and i decided to do our humanitarian trip with starkey (a hearing aid company) because they have an established humanitarian mission program that travels all over the world.  the only downside... we wouldn't know when we were going, where we were going, or how much time we'd know in advance before we'd have to leave. 

i was excited about the opportunity but i was worried that i wouldn't be able to go with laura and spencer's weddings coming up.

friday night i got a phone call from our student advisor saying she heard from the company and they were offering to bring all of us along to do a mission in toluca, mexico (right outside of mexico city).

here's the catch... they wanted us to leave friday... like this upcoming friday... and they wanted to know who was in within like 12 hours so they could book our flights.

it is an opportunity we didn't want to pass up so together we made the decision to go for it- and the email/calling tree started. 

there were 12 of us that were able to commit to going, so we booked it.

i am super excited to go- i guess we'll be fitting over 7,000 hearing aids in a week's time.

this is an opportunity that doesn't come available to students often, and i feel blessed and excited to be able to be a part of it.

here's a link to what they did in toluca last year... watch the video- it's seriously amazing and even made me tear up a bit!

http://www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org/hearing-mission.php?id=43

mexico.... here we come!

just call me edesia

edesia:  greek goddess of food.

ok, ok, you're right.  i'm not greek, nor do i claim to be a good cook.

but today i wanted to make a special meal for josh

lucky for us, the stars aligned and my meal came out perfect.

i'm not sure if this has ever happened.

in fact, josh said it was so good, he would throw up just so he could eat more.

talk about an awesome compliment :)

anyone who knows me well knows i'm obsessed with greece.

it's my #1 place to travel to in the world, and hopefully we'll be making a trip to the mediterranean next year as my graduation present.

i love greek history

and greek mythology

and i love love love greek food

one of my favorite restaurants in slc is aristo's 

it's up by the u and their food is the bomb diggity.

i seriously crave it

so tonight, i decided to make my own "favorite aristo's meal" because logan is lame and doesn't have a greek restaurant. 

and it was soooooo good.

these recipes are amazing and i dare you to try them

soup:  avgolemono 

lemoni patatas 

chicken souvlaki

pita bread (i just bought mine and warmed them)

had i remembered, i would have cooked up some asparagus, too...

the meal was cooked up pretty quickly once the taters and chicken were marinating.

honestly, it rivals some of the best greek i've ever had

hopefully it'll stay that way until i eat a gyro while sitting in a cafe in mykonos  

problem solved

maybe he wanted to be romantic. 

maybe he remembered i love surprises. 

maybe he was annoyed by my indecisiveness. 

whatever the reason, i came home from salt lake and josh had a present for me. wrapped and all. and he said there was no real reason for it, but just that i wanted it and that was good enough for him.

that boy of mine sure is a keeper!

and i'm glad he made the decision for me- especially because i was 99% sure i wanted the kindle.

and he didn't even know that i sold my 3rd textbook today!

all you kindle users out there-- let's be lending friends :)

2 down

i made a decision after comps to sell the textbooks i probably won't be using much

and put that money toward a new e-reader

because i want to be a more well rounded reader

(and then i'll have more things to talk about with miss liz welker)

i asked the facebook world what they would recommend...

a kindle or a nook

and got a great response

i got votes for both and good reasons for each

and even some for an ipad 

but i'm still undecided... and probably will be until i sell one more book

lucky for me, 6 were posted on half.com on sunday night and i had made 2 sales by monday afternoon!

2 down, 1 to go!

and if you have a recommendation for an e-reader and reasons why, please share!

recess

recess at the elementary school on campus looks downright awesome. 

at mcmillan elementary, we were never able to sled during our breaks!

reminders

today i was reminded why i loathe rush hour in salt lake county.

but then i saw an amazing sunset, and was reminded how nice it is sometimes to just slow down and notice the beautiful things in life.  

simply lovely

keeping up with my daily photo challenge-

today's picture wasn't taken by me but it was sent to me by my fabulous parents who are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary this week in hawaii. 

and while none of us children are thrilled that they would go to hawaii without us, we are so lucky to have fabulous parents who are just as in love today (if not more) as they were 30 years ago!

(sorry the picture quality is sub par.  you get the idea)

love birds

i used my silhouette to give my macbook a much needed face lift

josh says it's perfect for me

simple, colorful, girlie

i love it!

Mmmm

my favorite celebratory breakfast.

too much?

a new 'do with a red bow and red nails for valentines day
what's wrong with a girl being girlie?? 

score!

this girl looooves her special k with red berries. i had to stock up while they were on sale!

yes, i'm au.d.

only an audiology student would wish she had brought her ear plugs to help her focus better during her test, only to do a quick backpack search and actually find an extra pair. i mean, really... who does that?!

20-11

here's to a new year and a new me!

i am actually excited that 2010 is over and 2011 is here.

we have some big changes ahead of us this year and i'm getting excited for them.

hopefully this year will bring us

a new town

a new home

a new job (my residency)

possibly a new job for josh (depending on where we move to)

more money to save for a house 

time to figure out what i want to do

and where i want to do it

and josh time to figure out what he wants to do with school

we also have 2 weddings in the next 3 months

which means a new sister and brother

and another brother coming home from his mission in june

i have a couple of trips planned for international travel (wahoo)

to provide audiological services

i'm thinking we should even plan a vacation for me and josh

since it seems like i'm always off traveling and leaving him at home

i have made a few simple 'new years resolutions' for 2011

they are:

learn photoshop

take photography lessons

take more photos- my daily photo challenge

watch less tv

read more

take a trip- just me and josh

lately i have found myself wishing that we had more pictures documenting the little things going on in our lives.  i'll bust out the camera for holidays (sometimes) and snap a few pictures, but i really want to et better at capturing the little things.  my goal is to take at least one picture a day- even if it's an iphone photo (hopefully they won't all be iphone photos- that would be lame) because i'm sure everyone is sick of all the rambling i do on this blog and would much rather look at pictures. 

so, here are the pictures i have taken so far in 2011 in no particular order.

josh taking a much needed nap while i was studying for my comprehensive exams

the fabulous pumpkin pie cupcake i treated myself to after spending countless hours studying for comps

josh was in charge of dinner one night.  so we went to arbys and got me a sandwich, mcdonalds to get fries and mcflurries, and chic-fil-a to get josh some chicken strips.  fast food junkies?  that night, i'd say we were.

a new year meant a major closet purge for both of us.  this is one of 2 piles that were donated to the di.  somehow many of my old favorites made it to this pile, but josh's ugly green military style shirt that he literally found on the side of the road didn't.  hmmm....

due to my crazy studying schedule on top of working lots,

christmas was not officially taken down until 2 days ago.  this shows our cute 2010 ornament- a guitar that plays rocking around the christmas tree

we ran into some of my favorite people in the whole wide world at the jazz game.  i sure love those sponbecks.

this is what my purse looked like after sacrament meeting.  between the little boy sitting in front of us and little rachel sitting next to me, my purse didn't stand a chance against the cheerios and goldfish

today officially documents my last "first day of a new semester".  i would have been way more excited had this not also marked the first day of our comprehensive exams.  our comps include written essays, practical examinations, and oral examinations and can be on anything we have learned thus far in our academic or clinical experiences (hence the major study sessions i have been having for the last month or so).  today was a written exam day and i spent the whole morning typing away.  tomorrow is also a written exam day and this picture shows the stack of information i have to go through to prepare for tomorrow's test.  in addition to my school comps, i also decided to schedule my state boards on saturday morning while all the information is still fresh in my mind.  smart move?  i'll let you know saturday afternoon.  let's just say between studying, work, applications, and interviews, this has been quite the stressful 2 weeks or so.  luckily i've only had one major melt down and only about 2 minor melt-downs.   thank goodness for a supportive husband and an endless supply of diet coke. 

christmas time means laughter

christmas was lovely this year.

we spent a lot of time working but were able to head to slc to play a little bit.

josh's family was in town from california the weekend before christmas

and we were able to come down and spend some time with them.

those boys are dang cute (again, no pictures...sad)

we had our hankins christmas dinner and traditional 'christmas eve' program 

complete with skits, christmas stories, poems, and a game that involved

placing a gingersnap on your forehead and using only your face muscles

to move it to your mouth.  talk about tricky.

we also got tickets to see the mormon tabernacle choir concert with david archuletta on sunday morning. they did such an amazing job and i loved the cheesy dancers and the awesome music.

we were also able to celebrate with our high school friends.  we got together

at kim's clubhouse and ate a delicious italian dinner.

we caught up on life and played 'the name game' which is one of my personal favorites.

i sure love this group of crazies.

christmas eve was spent with my family doing our traditional christmas eve things...

lots of delicious appetizers, a delicious swiss steak dinner, dancing the "virginia reel" 

(my darling gma is from the south and doesn't want any of us to forget how to shake it like they do in west virginia), the children performing the nativity, and our dice/present game.  

our family has gotten so big that we have now moved the party to my aunt's church...

it's a good thing, too, because how else would we all have room to dosey-do?

christmas day was great and it was so nice having the day to spend hanging out with our families. we were given so many generous presents from both of our families that we are truly so grateful for.  

my favorite part of the day was the excitement on my dad's face when he opened up the vintage glass citrus juicer that i got him.  who knew such a small thing would make a grown man so happy!

we were also fortunate enough to talk with nate dogg on christmas night.

he sounds soooo good and while we are thrilled that he is such a good little missionary,

we can't wait for him to get his little tushy home so we can play!

6 months and counting!

new years eve was very low key this year.

we went to cheesecake factory for dinner with our cute alaska girls and caught up on each others' lives.  then josh and i kicked it with my parents till about 11 and then rang in the new year with dick clark and josh's parents.  

new years day was spent at the jazz game with some great seats josh's parents got us.  

and josh just had to get a new jersey and hat for the occasion.

we had a fabulous holiday season and hope yours was just as lovely!