5 happy things...

1. beautiful sunny weather
2. ingrid's song that's stuck in my head

3. spending time with this lovely lady

4. $1 lunch deal & mickey d's hot fudge sundaes
5. my desktop background

Hope you're having a happy day too!

ta da

so yesterday I cut my hair. while it may not seem like a big change to anyone but me, I still think that 6 inches is significant enough to grant its own blog post.

so ....
(I apologize beforehand for the poor quality self-portraits) 

before

after

A little note...

dear Starburst Jellybeans,

you make my day so much happier. i love this season partly because of you. but please quit giving me tummy aches (a quarter of a bag should be completely acceptable).

love,
tiff

cherry blossom parade

this past Saturday Kristin and Holland let me tag along on their excursion to the cherry blossom festival parade. it was a pretty fun parade, stock full of bands, mustangs, little kids organizations, floats, and big character balloons. in addition to the usual suspects, there was one unexpected event - namely, a fire. one of the vehicles toting a float went up in smoke and then started on fire. it was a pretty exciting 20 minute delay as the fire got bigger, the firemen came (luckily they were close, given that they were part of the parade), and the police tow truck came to haul off the crispy car. I texted ryan to tell him what was up and here was the conversation:

tiff - a truck pulling a float is currently on fire
ryan - What?! So is the parade on hold? Get a photo

I'm glad he's got his priorities straight - "get a photo".  luckily, no one was hurt and I got a few photos.

delish

the past couple weeks have been the national cherry blossom festival. the office had an outing to go check them out complete with cherry blossom cupcakes. while I didn't get to go on the outing because of a last minute deadline, I did get to eat the tasty cakes. they were lemon cake filled with cherry preserves and a vanilla cream cheese frosting topped with a cute little fondant cherry blossom cut out. if you're ever in the dc area during the cherry blossom festival, do yourself a favor and get the specialty at hello cupcakes 

spring in dc

I'm falling in love with spring in dc. Hope things are brightening where you're at too.

Year in Review

Despite my lack of blogging a lot happened in 2010...
I may or may not have started writing this 4 months ago and just got around to publishing it...
So a 2011 year in review will be coming shortly...

January 

We taught primary

Finally officially changed my name...

Fondue New Years party with the fam

Ryan TA Econ 588 - Advanced Econometrics

Kept rockin with PLAID
Ryan had a mustache (briefly)

February

Ryan bought me some sweet headphones for my birthday

Celebrated Chinese New Year by making some dumplings

Ryan helped my expand my locket collection on Valentines

All the fam was in town for my b-day and my mom got me some awesome cowboy boots

March

Heard back from lots of different schools

Met our newest nephew - Evan

Organized some events for SIR 

Surprised Pops with all the kids meeting in SLC to celebrate his bday

Made some new married friends in Provo 2 years too late

April

Decided to go to Maryland

Graduated (in freezing weather)!
Hung out with all the fam at graduation (including the very hip Corey)

Went to NZ

May

Toured all of NZ for 3+ weeks

Bungee jumped!

Stayed in a wharenui

June

Came back to reality

Applied to about a billion jobs

Ryan visited Maryland and checked out apartments 

Beat Super Mario Brothers Wii!

Zach hung out in Provo with us for a couples weeks
Saw my best friend for the first time in 2 years

July

Went to a Modest Mouse concert and scored a set list

Saw a moose! 

Said good-bye to one of my best friends for 18 months (love you Sloane!)
Finally threw away my wedding bouquet and wedding cake topper

Visited colorado - boating, 4-wheeling, and traveling to see grandparents

Drove (and moved) across the country
Fit our big TV into our car

Sold the truck

Saw the Mississippi

Met our niece
Rode the best roller coasters in the world

August

Bought our first couch - $75 on craiglist 

Looked for a job

Celebrated our 2-year anniversary 

Ryan started Math Camp

Were called the activities committee

Went to the Glenn Beck rally- saw lots of crazy signs

Went to a friends wedding - Ryan was a groomsman

Helped a friend paint a desk purple

September

Ryan started real school

Started a temp job at American Institutes of Research

Planned our first church activity - saved the day by suggesting pulled pork sandwiches 

Went to the Jon Stewart, Stephan Colbert rally
Made my first pot roast
Took Molly to Bens

October

Ron, Sue and Uncle Paul visited DC
Visited Mount Vernon, up the Washington Monument,
Went through the application process at McKinsey

Ryan smoked his midterms

November
Ryan grew a beard
Ryan temporarily had a stache

Made our very first Thanksgiving dinner - without burning the turkey

Decorated our bedroom with pictures

Bought frames for pictures in our main room

December

Ryan aced his finals
Went to a super fancy work holiday gala
Had a little scare at the hospital 

Went home to Colorado for 2.5 weeks

Sewed a bunch of pillows for our bed
Went on a gondola ride in Telluride with Corey
Rode quads
Visited Grandmas
Cooked lots of tasty food
Gained 5 lbs each