Dear Jake,

I'm going to miss you while I'm in Texas. (Actually, I started missing you a couple days ago) Be a good boy while I'm gone. I left you some dinners in the fridge and freezer. Call me every night when you get home from school so you can tell me how your day went. Even though I know we will probably text throughout the day. Don't forget, I love every little bit of you.

Love, Hayley

Griselda

I really like my job. I knew nothing about QuicKutz before I started working there. But let me tell you, there are some crazy obsessed women who "...have purchased thousands of dollars of QuicKutz products over the years." I hear that all the time if you couldn't tell. And when I started, those women knew way, way more than I did about QK. Not so much anymore.

So, my job is customer service. Low end of the totem pole, yes. But I sort of don't feel that low. I know more about the products now than I ever really wanted to know. And, because of that, all the high people on the totem pole come to ME with questions. They want to know what I know. It's pretty cool actually.

There are some downfalls, however. The customers all want to know what I know, too. But, sometimes, they are already angry that they don't know what I know before they call, so the conversations just starts out on the wrong side of the bed.

Take Griselda, for example. I am naming names. Simply because if I were to choose a made-up name for this unhappy customer, I think I would chose Griselda. Anyhow, poor Griselda's car has been broken into. And her die cut has been stolen! (Wo is me! I'm sure an angry robber would steal a die cut...but the customer is always right, right?) Here is what her die looks like:



From this lovely poinsettia die, the basket part was stolen out of dear Griselda's car. And Griselda wants a replacement. (Side note: Griselda had called in a month or so earlier - before I had even started working there - inquiring about the same issue and whomever spoke with her told her we would replace her stolen poinsettia basket with a free one. No biggie, I would have done the same thing.) So the order was in for her poinsettia basket die, and she still hadn't received it, simply because we had run out of this die and were waiting to receive more.

When I told her this, all hell broke lose. She accused me of lying, she said that I was the one she spoke with months ago and that I was rude on the phone, she said I didn't care about her [precious] poinsettia die. Guess what, Griselda? I didn't lie and it wasn't me you talked to before. (And, you're right, I don't care THAT much about your stolen die that we were replacing for FREE.) She went on to tell me I was horrible, that my customer service skills suck, and then...

...she began to cry. She had gotten so worked up calling me a liar and a horrible person, while I sat there and patiently waited for her to finish, that she began to cry. Griselda had feelings. Then she just said, "I am done." and hung up the phone.

Griselda was having a bad day. Even though she took it out on me personally, I didn't take it personal, because she obviously didn't know she was speaking with The HBC.

So for those of us who run into Griselda's out there, just smile. Feel for them. Tell them you are sorry they are having a bad day and that Jesus loves them (in case no one else does.)

And for those of us who are Griselda's out there... be nicer to customer service people on the phone.

My Wall.

I kind of love the wall in my bedroom. No pun intended.

Sick.

My poor, cute husband is sick. The poor thing has been coughing and hacking the last couple of days. And if I try and make him laugh, he goes into a coughing spell. So if I ever accidentally say something funny (it happens all the time), he just smiles and says, "I'm laughing" instead of really laughing. It's quite amusing. And cute.

Dumb Squared

There are many, many downfalls to being indecisive about a major. But the worst downfall of them all is thinking you are done with math only to find out you still have to take one more math class. And since it has been more than 2 years since you have taken a math class, you have to take a test to make sure you remember what you learned. I don't remember.

Extra math class + math placement test = Dumb squared.

Jake and Hayley

H: Ew!

J: What?

H: Stink.

J: Who?

H: You!!

J: Why?

H: Fart.

J: Sorry.

This was a conversation Jake and I had yesterday. We're so married that we can talk in one word sentences and still understand each other. True love.

My Fifteen Minutes of Fame...

...And nothing to show for it.

Jake and I were invited by Jake's friend to a Humanitarian dinner at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. We got all dressed up, arrived feeling a little bit like college students surrounded by millionaires (okay, we really were) and we were pretending to be one of them. We walked around trying to be interested in the silent auction, when, really, we were there for dinner. (Again, we are college students. A meal is not just a meal, especially at the Grand America.) We wandered over to the Grand Ballroom where it was set up with near 100 round 10-top tables for dinner. We found our assigned table, sat down, and looked around. There was Lavelle Edwards. Pretty cool, right?

At this point, people were trickling in and sitting at their tables. I looked towards the door, and there was David Osmond walking with 2 or 3 other guys. He stood out to me because 1) he is really tall and 2) I've seen him a handful of other times. I mumbled to myself, "Oh there's that David Osmond guy..." and he was walking towards me.

Just moments before this, Jake had pointed to Lavelle, whom I was still a bit shocked to see just sitting tables away from me. Then Jake said, "Um... Hayley, do you see who is right by him?" I'm looking at Lavelle and the few people surrounding him, not seeing anyone that I should really care about.

And just then, Jake points. To David Osmond standing at the table next to ours. Jake says, "Not by Lavelle, by David Osmond..." And I said, "Yeah, I already saw him, big deal."

And then I see him. The boy next to David Osmond. The REAL David.

David Archuleta.

David Archuleta was standing approximately 4 feet from me. I might as well have died and gone to heaven. But really, I could have died from hyperventalation. Jake claims my face went bright red and I started to wheeze, covering my mouth and fanning my face. (You should really have him tell you the story. He tells it much better than I do.)

My family and close friends know what this means to me. David Archuleta is my Michael Jackson. I worship him. I love him!

Anyways, as I'm hyperventalating Jake is trying to say something to me but I don't even remember what it was. I think he was trying to get me to go talk to him but, I couldn't. I couldn't move. I couldn't even LOOK at David. I was star struck. Completely and adoringly starstruck.

So Jake, being the brave one in the relationship, gets up. He casually nudges David A. and says, "Hey, David Archuleta. How's it goin? My wife over there wants you to wave to her." I'm dying. He waves. I think I waved back. I don't know.

Suddenly the lights begin to dim, and the dinner show is about to start. The National Anthem is sung, I'm still just inches away from my childhood dream boat. (Lie: He has been my dream boat for 3 years, I've been an adult all 3 of them.) Seriously, people. David Archuleta is standing inches from me. The back of our chairs were touching! And all I could do was wheeze and blink.

Then, he gets up. I'm sure that he is going to perfom. So, I wait while he is gone, thinking of things that I can get the courage up to say to him. I finally feel brave enough to say something. So, we wait for him to go up to perform, and... nothing. The clock was ticking, the show was almost over. No David. And that was it. The show was over and David Archuleta never came back. I never got to tell him "You Can sing with my husband at our wedding" (Translation: "My husband and I danced to 'You Can' at our wedding", I was so nervous that even in my head the words were getting jumbled.)

So I never got my picture with him. I never spoke to him. I just got a wave.

Jake claims that David will be the one and only demise of our marriage. Just last week we had a conversation as follows:

J: If you had the chance to run away with David Archuleta, would you?
H: DUH!!
J: Ouch.
H: I mean, of course not.

***NOTE: I love my husband Jake. More than anything in the world. David will never be as cool as Jake. Or as sweet. Or as handsome. Or as funny.***

Shoo Fly!

Don't bother me!

For some reason the last week or so, my life has attracted flies. There is one every day in my cubicle at work, there is one buzzing around my kitchen as I speak, and there were one million when Jake took me shooting on Saturday.

Why do flies exist? The only thing they do is buzz around, and apparently they upchuck every time they land (wives tale?). How annoying.

Speaking of bugs. I'm reading The Secret Life of Bees and have never been so enchanted with an author's writing before. It's beautiful.

Speaking of books. I'm also listening to Harry Potter #5 on my iPod at work these days. It's way too long. But I'm determined to finish the series.

Any other good book suggestions?

Short and Sweet

Well, my free time just ran out.

I got TWO new jobs! Plus the one I have now. That = 3 jobs, which = no free time. But I'll still be blogging, because we all know how exciting life will be with three jobs.

I went to the fair.

And It scared me. Paying a dollar to stare at the worlds smallest woman just totally depressed me. That poor woman.

And the smells. Ooooh, the smells. Fried everything.

I may or may not have run to the garbage and ralphed in it, it made me that sick.

But, you have to give things a chance before you write them completely off. So I gave the Fair a chance. And now I'm writing it off forever. Goodbye Fair. Sorry future children.

Rolls of Orange and better things.

Today was my second attempt at making orange rolls. 'Attempt' is quite accurate because neither time did they rise. The first time, the yeast did not even make a budge, but I went for it anyways. This time, though, I waited, and watched, and the yeast not only grew... it doubled! Just like the package said it would. So I made the dough and left it to rise. And, instead, it sunk.

And I don't even know why this time.

Any breadmakers out there who can tell me why they didn't rise?

On a better note, I'm making some pretty cute things with all of the glorious fabric scraps I stole from my amazing quilter of a mother in law.

After I wanted to be a zoologist, and before I wanted to own a quaint Bed and Breakfast, I wanted to own a fabric shop. I pictured a great old house with creaky floors and odd-shaped doors covered from wall to wall in bolts of fabric. Next to Barnes and Noble, fabric stores are where I could spend hours upon hours just gazing and learning and creating and imagining and coveting.

And guess who has the free time to do just that? :)

Me!

Maid to Clean

Today I cleaned for 8 hours and 30 minutes, approximately. At someone elses house. For those of you who don't know, or haven't guessed yet, my part-time job is to clean the home of the family downstairs. Jake and I live in an upstairs apartment of a well-sized house of five boys, a ma and pa, and Penny the beagle.

I also cook dinner for them 4 nights a week. And I like it. But Penny eats her own food.

Sometimes, when I clean, I want to slink down in a little black skirt, white lace apron, low cut tight fitting black top, and a feather duster. Because, dont lie to yourself, that would be really cool. And that would make my job like 100 times cooler. But it is totally against the contract I signed. And my religion. But, when you have a lot of time on your hands, this is what you think of.

Today I cleaned. The end.

The Everyday

So, Fall semester 2009 rolls around and a last-minute decision for me to not go rolls it right back where it came from. Which leaves me with nothing to do but my part-time job, cooking and cleaning for the family who lives downstairs (Yay for free rent). Poor old me, who has wanted nothing in the last 8-9 months of being engaged and wedding planning but "just a little free time". And now I have it. But in bounties. My free time cup is spilling over and creating a big glob of boredom. But why am I making this sound bad? Well, it's because my extremely hot husband will be gone from 7 am to 8:30 pm Monday - Thursday. That made me feel quite bad for myself during the first week and a half of school as I twiddled my thumbs waiting to hear his footsteps, until it hit me. I realized that until January 2010 when I return to school, I. Have. Free. Time!! To take up yogalaties. And to sleep more. And to read books of my own choosing. And to quilt and sew and make things. And to shop. And to go to lunch with my mom. And to volunteer places. And to blog.

All of the things I've wished to have time for. It all just came true. So here goes my plan:

I'm going to blog. Everyday. About my free time. And if I miss a day or two here and there, I'm not going to beat myself up. Too badly. I have always liked to write, and to keep my brain juices flowing while not in school, I think it is a good plan. You see, with a blog, there are so many out there, and to think of something clever to write about everyday is kind of a joke. But I have an advantage. My lovely, great, glorious, wonderful, free time! I mean, haven't you always wondered what it would be like to have so much free time? Now you can live it through me. This offer is exclusive and expires January 2010.

The Castle

This is our house!
....Okay, not the whole thing....


....Just the top half of this part.


Here is what you see when you walk in the front door. And now for the tour.


To the right we have a kitchen table. $10 at a garage sale. The legs painted Hep Green (Shout out to my Sherwin Williams manager brother Darren who hooked me up!) Jake used his drill to do man stuff to make the table more sturdy. And the chairs. OH, the chairs. They are my lovliest KSL find. $75 for 8 chairs from an old mansion! Dang, I'm good.


And to the left, another garage sale glory! My one-dollar table, which used to be 1960's gold and dusty. I washed it up and painted it and voila! A darling conversation piece. The lamp was a thrift store find, matched with a shade I covered in fabric.


Up ahead, the family room. What will soon be used as a TV table, (May or may not actually be a changing table. I dont know.) $10 garage sale, painted yellow, and a major splurge at Anthropologie for some groovy knobs. The glasses on top were used at my wedding reception as center pieces. I knew they'd come in handy.


Looking back on the couch (Thanks Kyle and Jill!), which we took apart and fit in what we could, using my cozy LoveSac as a corner. It works. And on the left, the most marvelous lamp you'll ever see. The double doors double as a coat closet, slash, pantry. (Stay tuned for close ups!)


The bedroom. Enough said.


View from the bed. The window, my mom and I found at a garage sale, and painted (Are you noticing a pattern here?) We got glass put into the window and used vinyl lettering to put our names onto it. We used it at our wedding reception, and just couldn't get rid of it afterwords. Makes a cute decoration. Oh, And all of the brown retro furniture came from my sweet Granny and was in mint condition. Thanks Granny!


And onto the closet. That door on the right.


Our closet goes straight into the bathroom. (Note: I am not showing many of the clothes for Jake's sake. He has so many. I didn't want to embarrass him)


Turned around,from inside the closet, looking into our room.


The bathroom. It's blue. And boring.


Speaking of blue. Jake and I are only allowed to put our blue toiletries on top of our toiletry drawers. No, I'm not picky or bossy. Not me. Notice on the right, where the bathroom is also connected to?....


The kitchen!! My house is a CIRCLE! It's awesome.


View from the kitchen into the entrance and kitchen table. Just so you get the whole picture.

Now for the Close-Ups!










Jakes contributions:


Coke Zero.


What I like to call "The Boy Pile". All of his junk, in a pile on his dresser. I straightened it up for the picture, though.


And last, but certainly not least, The Duck. Don't ask.

If I had it my way...

It would be 80 degree-skirt-weather every day. And yes I would wear a skirt every day. Except for the days I felt like wearing my skinny jeans.

But skirts. Skirts are great and girlie and, if you find the right one, they're comfortable! Speaking of finding the right one, I did. I found a skirt I have worn.... mmm.... everyday. Yep. Everyday. And I have one in both colors. If it came in puke color, I would buy it. And wear it often. It can be dressy, it can be casual, and my butt looks good in it. Just the bare essentials.

Get married, stop blogging.

Shouldn't it be the other way around? Get married, start blogging about you and your new life together. It's just that my life consists of sending Jake to work every morning, making dinner, waiting for him to come home, and... you know. Married stuff. (That's what they call it these days). And not to mention perfecting every corner of my first apartment! Its so cute. You'll be jealous. And once we get the Internet at our apartment, I'll post pictures. (I am currently using my parent's Internet)

Anyways. I saw a lovely movie the other day. Julie and Julia. I highly recommend it to blogger and/or kitchen junkies. If you are not either of those, I still recommend it. But not to your husbands. It is very much a woman movie. Not a romantic chick flick, but a movie for women to appreciate.

Has anyone ever gone to the movies by themselves? Why are the movies such a social event? All you do is sit and listen, and, frankly, to have other people next to you to distract is not what a movie was intended for. So, the next time you have some time to yourself, Go to the movies. Its a very rejuvenating experience. And if that time happens to be in the next few months, see Julie and Julia. You'll love it.

Lastly, Jake is my favorite.

18 days until forever

Here we are! Jake and I.

Boyfriend Girlfriend

I was just thinking about the time Jake asked me to be his girlfriend.

We'd been casually dating since July, and in October, Jake still wasn't ready to commit. I didn't mind. I had 3 or 4 [way lame] dates a week to keep my mind off it, knowing he'd come around soon enough.

After two months of watching him torture himself for not dibsing me when i was in the palm of his hand, he finally did come around. He started by inviting me to family Christmas events. Like the big family events. The kind where you don't know everybody's name and when the Aunts who do know your name come and pinch your cheek and ask who the young lady you brought with you was. I think he finally caught on that we couldn't just pretend like we were bf/gf, but that it must become official.

Then it was my turn for a family Christmas party. I brought Jake to meet my siblings and parents for dinner and after that we strolled through Temple Square to see the lights. During our stroll, we were stopped, and Jake pulled me aside and said, "Hayley I realized I only want to date you. Will you be my girlfriend?" I told him it would be my pleasure and then he kissed me. In front of a lot of people AND my family. That was a big step for him, Mister "I-barf-whenever-I-see-PDA". But now he loves it. And I love being his girlfriend forever.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

For ten months I've sat at this front desk. For ten months I've answered phones, scheduled appointments, mailed mail, filed files, called insurance companies. For ten months I've been anti-social, in once office, with one doctor, and me.

For ten months, to the exact week as I started this job, I have seen, spoken to, emailed, texted, or somehow been in contact with Jake Castle every single day. And it's not even old yet. I love Jake a whole lot, he's my best friend and I get to MARRY HIM!

He made me do it.

He wanted my blog to be OURS. Its the whole "What's mine is yours" concept we're trying to get used to.

The only thing I feel like writing about is

Jake. So, I'll try and think of something else.

Ummmm......

I have a test next tuesday... Art History.

And.....

School is out in less than a month.
And I'm turning 21 in 23 days.
And it snowed.
And I hate exercising.
And today is Jake's and I 1 month anniversary.
And I just completely failed at not mentioning Jake.

Somebody give me ideas. There's gotta be something else to write about.

A girls best friend

Here tis! He did good, didn't he?

I chews you.

I love Charleston Chews. Yes I do.

We ate a whole box of them yesterday, yes we did.

So much for our Stbsn's.

The Something-Thousand Dollar Dinner Date

He took me to sushi last night. We'd been talking about doing that for months and finally got around to going.

We sat down, and Jake, being the cut-to-the-chase kind of guy he is, started talking about how I hurt his feelings the night before. Yep he has feelings.(I snapped at him for making a dumb comment in class and embarrassing me. The comment had nothing to do with me, but, you know, what makes him looks bad makes ME look bad. It makes sense to me.) So we talked it out and found out we still loved each other and everything was okay.

So our conversation moved onward and we started talking about other things and out of the blue Jake gets a I-know-something-you-don't-know smirk on his face. "What? Is there something on my face?" I say, wiping away the invisible crumbs.

"No." Smirk. Smirk.

"Well then what is that funny look on your face for?"

I look behind me to the right. Nothing. And to the left. Still nothing.

Why is he smirking?

"Oh, there's just a funny joke written on the table over there." He points with his eyes.

"I don't see anything." I don't know if I said that out loud or if I thought it. But I meant it. What the heck was he smirking at???

"RIGHT THERE!" He said, his eyes wide, but now he was pointing with his finger.

And there it was. The small square box I'd been waiting to see my entire female life. My real ring was here!

Losing all sense of what proper etiquette would have me say in such a moment, I said, "How did that get there?"

And he explained that during our you-hurt-my-feelings-last-night conversation he slipped it out of his coat pocket and onto the table in plain sight. What am I, blind? Apparently, because that was a good five whole minutes before I discovered it. (Actually, I didn't discover it. He pointed it out to me.)

Anyways, he opened the box, slipped off my temporary CZ, and onto my finger went his token of love for me. I love it. I'll post pictures.

How does June 26th at 10 am sound?

Boy, oh boy, do I have news for you!

Jake asked me to be his wife on Thursday February 26th. As he puts it, he knocked my socks off. And, if I was wearing socks at that moment, I would totally second that claim. But really, shocked and surprised are great words to describe my reaction.

Here's what went down.

We'd been planning to go to the Draper Temple open house with Jake's singles ward that night. I was excited. Jake got out of class, we stopped at Quiznos for some subs, and were off to Draper. We met his ward there, and unbeknownst to me, they all knew what was soon to take place. I was wearing jeans (silly me) and they were all in Sunday attire which is why I thought the girls were clustering together and giggling at us when we walked in. I was oblivious.

We go through the temple, it is beautiful, I love it, he loves it. But he seemed a bit antsy. After the temple, and before the bus was supposed to take us back to our car we stopped at a church building for cookies and water. But Jake had a one track mind and, holding my hand tight, guided me towards the exit for a stroll around the temple. Being the sugar-craving woman I am complained about wanting my cookies and water. So we stopped and Jake scarfed his cookie while I wondered what his hurry was. I finally agreed to go outside in the wind but it. was. beautiful. The temple, the clear starry sky, and the city lights in the background were stunning. So we walked and talked and I don't think he could take it any longer because he started saying, "um" over and over. Right then I started to suspect.

All I remember from there was him saying, "How does June 26th sound?...Hayley I love you...Will you be my wife?" Something to that effect. And my head was spinning and I said yes and he slipped a ring on my finger and we hugged and kissed. He also claims I was extremely giddy, which I don't doubt.

The sad news is, we got separated from his ward, who was planning on taking pictures, but I think it made it even more special that it was just him and I.

Also, the first thing out of my mouth after I said YES was, "Did you ask my dad?" followed shortly by "Are you serious?" over and over. Those of you who know Jake know that he's sort of a jokester and I thought this might be some sort of prank. He assured me it wasn't.

"Of COURSE I asked your dad," he said, and as we walked to and rode the bus back to our car he told me how it all went down. I was very impressed.

That very day he:
Bought my ring (I currently have a loaner until the real one comes in)
Asked my dad permission
Called the temple to reserve a room
AND asked me to marry him.

What a guy. Not to mention he had a job interview amongst the flurry.

Being engaged is great and I am super excited to marry such a great, handsome (he hates that word, but he IS), funny, awesome, worthy guy. Love you Jake!