Our Backs to the World

For much-needed perspective in this special time of year, read the following blog entry that tells the story of this fascinating picture.


http://www.mormonmommyblogs.com/2012/12/our-backs-to-world.html#disqus_thread

So Excited For Breaking Dawn Part 2

Yes, I am an unabashed Twilight fan! I love love loved the books, and I willingly suspended disbelief all through each film! I cannot believe the end has arrived. Just for nostalgia's sake I dug up this picture from the very beginning - November 2008, with my sisters Ann and Rose at a kickoff party in Alabama. Note our stylin' fake tatoos that say Edward, Bella and Jacob.  The next year we had t-shirts (can't find that pic!), the year after a sign saying we missed Rose (a college freshman then). I saw the last one in London, dragging Richard with me to the Twi-athlon. And now, at last, the final midnight showing! Even though, alas, I am without both sisters this time- never fear girls, I will be swoony and hyper enough for all of us!

Yep, It's Offical, My Husband is Freakin' Adorable.

Richard is on business travel for work this week - I just checked my inbox and found this picture he emailed to me during their lunch break (apparently somewhere they serve fortune cookies.)

Smokey Joe's Cafe at Theo Ubique in Chicago!

Richard had to travel unexpected over the weekend, leaving me stuck with theatre tickets in Chicago. So my Mom hopped a train from St. Louis and joined me in Chicago and we went to see Smokey Joe's Cafe at Theatre Ubique on Thursday and Xanadu at Drury Lane Oakbrook on Friday. I was set for Xanadu, the touring Broadway show to be the unforgettable experience. However, it was merely amusing, an ok night of theatre. Smokey Joe's cafe was AMAZING!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS I LOVED IT!! Here is a copy of the review I submitted on ticketmaster
 
***I took my mother with me to the show as my husband had to travel unexpectedly for work. We were both surprised by the intimacy of the venue, such a small stage and Theatre! I was more familiar with the Chicago theatre scene, but I could tell my Mom was braced for a sub-par performance effort.  (Hilarious side note for blog readers...the shuttle from the parking lot pulled up along a small block of businesses in the Roger's Park neighborhood of Chicago and, pointing at a darkened doorway the driver said, "that's it, just through there." At which point Mom looks at me and says "I am NOT going down that dark alley!" It turned out to just be a small dark door, to an even smaller venue, but it was a hilarious start to the evening.)  From the first song the show BLEW US AWAY! Even myself, who based on critical reviews was expecting great things, was astonished at the talent Theo Ubique assembled for this show, under the direction of Brenda Didier. Perhaps most enjoyable was the absolute performance factor of every actor and musician. Small venues can often be intimidating for inexperienced actors, after all, you are performing and singing staring into people's eyeballs from two feet away at times. However, instead of turning inward to their performance, the stars on Theo Ubique's stage engaged with the audience, grinning at us through their solos, winking at my Mom in the steamy parts, and treating us like their oldest friends throughout. A special shout out to piano player extraordinaire Jeremy Ramey and his incredible music direction of the show.  He struck up a conversation with us from his piano stool a few feet away from our table, and proceeded with the evening like we were his specially invited guests. And our close up view as he proceeded to play some of the best piano I have ever seen live was a special privilege of the evening. We raved about the show to our waitress, to the people at the table next to us at dinner the next evening, and in general to anyone who would listen. Smokey Joe's is a MUST SEE event and Theo Ubique is a venue where season tickets are a BRILLIANT idea!***

I love discovering unexpected theatrical gems! Performers and performances that turn an 'amusing' night out into an unforgettable experience! I will be going back to Theo Ubique again and again!

Dallas for Emerson's 1st Birthday!

Yep folks, my nephew Emerson really is that cute. His first birthday was on Sunday, and Richard and I got to go visit Dallas for the occasion! Brace yourself for tons of cute baby pics, I just can't choose between them!

Just Back From Utah

It was a wonderful trip full of lovely adventures! It was relaxing and rejuvenating - altogether a different mode of vacation-taking for me! It was also unusually long - almost 3 weeks due to various transportation choices - which made for a devastatingly long separation from my darling man. But he held things together like a trooper, and not only was the house still standing and the kitchen not stinking...he had a dozen red roses and candlelight to greet me! I ask you - what's a girl to do? Never leave him again, I believe. At least that's how I feel right now. I just want to cling tight and never let go...I've even been following him into the bathroom. I just can' t bear to have him out of my sight just yet...

Nope, Just Busy With My Other Blogs...

Nah, nothing has happened, I just only have so many hours to blog in a day, and I have been rather busy working on the launch of my two other blogs - geez formatting can be a headache! But I think I finally have them looking good! I lost a lot of data and entry ideas for Trusting His Timing when a word file got corrupted, so I am still hoping to be able to recoup that. Otherwise, all is going well. At any time you can follow the links at the bottom of the right column to see both new blogs - but here they are for your convenience in this post as well.

Infertility Support Group for St. Louis Stake:
www.TrustingHisTiming.blogspot.com

Rose's Blog I am Updating During Her Mission in Rome, Italy
www.SorellaPreston.blogspot.com

Grateful for an Uneventful Surgery

Dear friends and family - my laprascopy went very well, and I am recovering just fine! More details on TrustingHisTiming!

http://trustinghistiming.blogspot.com/2012/06/grateful-for-uneventful-surgery.html

Announcing an Infertility Support Group Blog!

I know, I know...I may be getting over my head with blogging commitments, especially since I manage to update this one less frequently than I like! However, the little infertility support group that I seem to have somewhat inadvertently started here in St Louis is expanding rapidly, as more and more women quietly express an interest in attending. A friend recently asked me if I would consider opening it up to the rest of the Stake (LDS congregations in St Louis) rather than just my own congregation. Based on the incredible response I got once I simply started talking to women in my own congregation, I believe that this resource is desperately needed in our community. After making sure my sweet hubby was ok with our becoming the rather more public face of a larger, more organized infertility support group, I moved ahead. I let our Stake leaders know about the group, and launched a blog for the group, www.TrustingHisTiming.blogspot.com. The name for the blog came from a recent article I had read in which a quote from Elder Dallin H Oaks had profoundly affected my perspective on infertility, and helped me understand that the hand of the Lord was present in all things, even -especially! - the timing of if/when we will be blessed with a child. I launched the new blog primarily as resource for women I do not know by name or face to personally invite to the group to get acquainted with us and what we do and talk about. Our support group is pretty informal- mostly we sit and chat or eat at fun restaurants or go on ice cream runs - as well as talk and talk and talk about everything - but especially the challenges we are each facing in our personal journeys toward having a child, whether a child of the heart thru adoption or a biological child of our own. I have been amazed at how much information I have learned form gals who have spent a few more years on this road than I myself have yet. I have also been amazed at the joy, hope and comfort we find in sharing such personal sorrow, in knowing I am not alone, and in learning not to focus on how much I hurt in a given month, but on how to love and serve another woman who is hurting more than I. In addition to short entries authored by members of our group, the blog will also be the place to find announcements about when or where we are next meeting, and a way to allow women become involved in the group who might not yet feel comfortable attending the meetings or making a phone call. I will also link helpful articles websites and blogs about the topic as I, or other women in the group, come across them. (Or as readers recommend them). I am very excited about this new blog as well as the infertility support group, and can feel the hand of Lord guiding this endeavor. We have seen so many miracles already! Please feel free to follow the new blog and/or join us at the group meetings, or send your friends.

Top 10 Reasons I am Grateful For My Amazing Husband-Happy 3rd Anniversary!

 

1. You are good company, sweetheart. You are fun to walk with, talk with, sit and swing with. It’s even enjoyable to be on a treadmill next to you, and that’s saying something.

Emerson Dean and I

I found more pictures from Christmas on my iPod when I was transferring data to my desktop! I cannot get enough of how absolutely freakin' adorable my nephew is!

Called to Serve Him: She’s Goin’ to It-ly!

Sister Elna Rose Preston

Please Welcome Mason (the Escort) to Our Family!

Last month we had a lovely new addition to our family - Mason.  He is a 2009 candy apple red Ford Escort, and much cleaner and newer on the inside than any of our family cars previously, which gives us a luxurious feeling. Richard bought him on E-bay and got, we hope, a great deal.  Mason’s longevity will determine how great a deal.

A Leap of Craftin' Faith

Normally I avoid crafty projects like the plague...I lack my sister Ann's knack with fabric and patterns...an almost mystical ability to see something in a store and envision how it would look in a room, or reupholstered on a chair.

Warming up the North Pole

We had a nice heavy snowfall yesterday which managed to finally make my leftover Christmas decoration not look totally silly. The whether has certainly been up and down the last few weeks! However Richard and I are armed with our new secret weapon, a new electric heater that we plug in when we are in our 'office' bedroom. Since I work, watch TV etc etc all from this room, and Richard has super-human cold tolerances, essentially this is the only room in the house that we actually need to heat. And our little electric heater will get it up to 83 degrees in 45 minutes! Anytime I am elsewhere I am usually cleaning and cooking or doing dishes, all activities where one doesn't generally get too cold. And our bed has a nice fluffy down comforter from IKEA that keeps us nice and toasty.  I usually get cold when I am sitting still, working or vegging, which happens in the office. Which I can now heat to ridiculous levels of warmth and comfort guilt-free! We can't figure out why we didn't think of this ages ago! Yay for finding more ways to save money!

Christmas Salt Shakers

I finally got around to taking a picture of one my very favorite Christmas presents Richard has ever gotten me. He did a really fabulous job this Christmas, as those of you who have seen my adorable red coat already know.  Other than the coat, he gave me the following line-up of salt shakers-one for every room in the house! All filled with my favorite blend of Morton’s sea salt flakes!

From right to left the salt-shakers are: Back room, Front Room, Kitchen, Bathroom and Office.

The office salt shaker has a cute little lid that flips open and shut easily, so that I can stop spilling salt all down in between the couch cushions.  The front room is a cute mason jar replica he picked up in a spice shop in St. Charles while my back was turned. The bathroom shaker is comprised of a small plastic jar he painted white and a lunchbox salt shaker that looked like a dental floss box.  Engineered together by my crafty husband (he used a glue-gun!) to resemble a toilet. All in all they are adorable, and amazingly useful! (I need extra salt on almost everything…I even carry it with me in my purse. I have no idea why, but my blood pressure is still fine, so I don’t guess I’ll stop anytime soon).

Hold On

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf  “You Matter to Him”

General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, October 2011.

 It is sometimes hard to understand why we or our loved ones experience trials and pain, often while others seem to have a free pass through all the toughest parts of life. I personally believe that every single person will at some point in their life experience great tragedy and heartbreaking sorrow. If you are experiencing it now, my heart goes out to you.  If you have experienced it in the past, take a minute to flex the strong spiritual muscles and faith you developed to get you through it, to enjoy the strength that now resides at your very core. You are a survivor.  

Sweet Nothings

Occasionally the hotel room we get in Chicago is a little bit on the chilly side...I mean, I put the thermostat up to 80, but let me tell you, the room does NOT reach 80 degrees.  I know this.  I have a very accurate inner temperature gage...like, princess and the pea accurate. I'm pretty much only comfortable between 75-80 in the winter when it's cold outside, and between 70-75 in the summer when it's hot. That's my zone.  I KNOW when it's 80 degrees.  Anyway, the point of this entry is my darling Richard's comments when I tried to snuggle up to him for warmth, gently rubbing his back. "Get off! It's like a polar bear is mauling me!" Yep. Sweet nothings from the man I love.

I Guess I'll Just Call Him Richard

Inevitably Richard is present in so many of my blog entries and stories, usually referred to by his given name, and occasionally Rich, or Richie. However, as I have recently been reading other bloggers more, I have come to the realization that I am woefully lacking in the creativity department! How could I have been so completely inadequate and behind the blogging curve that I have failed to have a cute/spunky/unique way of referring to him! From Mister to Spouseman to That Husband, all the good ways of referring to a husband seem to already be taken! What can I do? I played around with Hubbie,(too normal), Darling (too Peter Pan), The Man (too political),  Sweetums (too pharmaceutical). You see the problem?

 

I guess I’ll just call him Richard.

*From a brief internet search the topic of using birth names vs nicknames on a blog is a hot one! If you have an opinion, or a good idea for a name for Richard, let me know.

Help Me Name the New Blog!

I need to name my new Scripture Study Thoughts blog, something memorable and applicable.  I have come up with the following available names, so if anyone wants to vote on them before I pick one that would be awesome! All reference one of my favorite hymns or scriptures.

ThatMyChildrenMayKnow.blogspot.com

AfterTheMannerofHappyness.blogspot.com

JoyUntoSalvation.blogspot.blogspot.com

BeautifulBrightMillennialDay.blogspot.com

ThyGoldToRefine.blogspot.com

PureHeartandCleanHands.blogspot.com

BearASongAway.blogspot.com

My New Scripture Study Thoughts Blog

I have decided that an important element of my personal study of the scriptures and the words of the Prophets is the meta-thinking that happens when I write about what I am learning.  Therefore I am creating a new, additional blog for the purpose of recording my Scripture Study Thoughts!

Whipsy: It's Not Just Calories Anymore Girls

Ever had one of those really rough days that makes you want to come home, rummage through the fridge, find the whipped cream can and just shoot it straight into your mouth? 

Chicago: From 2-star to 4-star

It is crazy to think that we have been going to Chicago every weekend for more than two years now. Well, Richard had 2 months last summer off, which was nice. And the 10 weeks in Europe---those were awesome.

Doing the right thing, at the right time, without delay

Elder Jose L. Alonzo, General Conference October 2011

“Do the right thing, at the right time, without delay”

I really found this thought inspiring, because I think that so often it is one of these three elements that I struggle with.   

WAHOO!!! Richard the Rockstar

During our last weekend in London at the beginning of December, we decided to pull the trigger and have Richard spend one of the days we had previously slated for sightseeing (e.g., the British Museum) writing an essay to submit to an essay competition hosted by Accenture, the big consulting firm.

Apartment Hunting with Dave

My big brother Dave just took a job in Hastings, Nebraska. Nope, he’s not crazy. He’s just building his resume to get a hospital research job in Alaska. After graduating in pharmacology from UMKC in 2009, he stayed on for a year, taking a job in their drug information center. After completing that in 2011, he began the job search, with his sights set on Alaska (he cannot wait to ‘move back home.’ And WE can’t wait to visit him there once he does!) 

Chicago Again

I love staying at the Hyatt.  Perhaps it is my honest expression of this love at the front desk each weekend which gets our room upgraded. Whatever it is, I am grateful. This morning I worked from the table in our mini-suite with this view.

Adventures with Rose

I miss my sister Rose.  She is currently studying at BYU, and has been back at school for less than a month since Christmas, and I’m already counting the days until summer break. I don’t know how I shall survive the year and half she will be gone on her mission.

20 Things I Learned From Michael Pollan

Last night Richard and I had the opportunity to hear Michael Pollan speak due to the generosity of our friend Morgan.  It was a fabulous evening hearing from a talented presenter who had some very interesting things to say.  If you don't know who Michael Pollan is, here is a link to his bio. 
http://www.stlouisspeakersseries.org/speaker4.htm

A Day Without Laughter is a Day Wasted -Charlie Chaplin

My little nephew Emerson Dean blesses the world every day. According to his parents this is the first time they have ever heard him laugh like this, just cracking himself up. Even if you are without an Emerson Dean in your own life, I dare you to watch it without a chuckle of your own.  Trust me, your day will be a happier one after you do.

I am so grateful to have this little man and all the joy he brings as a part of my life!

 Shortened Version

A Snowy Day in Chicago Town

I went with Richard again this weekend to Chicago.  We took the train up (since the untimely demise of Dimples we have become very protective of geriatric Betsy). And we were VERY glad to be on the train as the weather got worse and worse.

Resolution New Year: Make Less Resolutions

I stopped taking these seriously ever since the year that I discovered in December I had not even completed ONE of my New Year's resolutions effectively. But I have since decided that less is more.  In the hopes that making only three resolutions will guarantee a higher success rate, I made a short, prioritized list for 2012. All of the other things I would like to do with this year I'll just go ahead and slant into the New Year's Wishes category from the get-go.  That way when time gets tight I know how to prioritize...resolutions over wishes and all that.

Girl's Night Out

Richard got 4 tickets to the Fabulous Fox theatre from his work as a reward for ‘outstanding effort,’ and re-gifted them to me as a Christmas present.

Our Dearly Departed Dimples

We are saddened to announce that on Jan 6^th, 2012 Dimples departed this earth, sloughed off this mortal coil and moved to a better place. Richard was leaving the temple in St. Louis and driving about 30 miles an hour when a big SUV failed to yield at a light and pulled out into oncoming traffic. It hit Richard going fast enough that the airbags deployed and he was pretty out of it for a few seconds.

A New Year's Wedding

On New Year’s Day Richard and I drove to his home in Iowa.  It was a wonderful time to visit and talk with all of the family who were in town for the sealing of Richard’s brother Mark and his wife Minnie.

Santa Practice: Christmas Day 2011

We had a fabulous Christmas holiday! Richard's sister Christina completed her service as an LDS Missionary in Ecuador and returned home to Iowa on December 17th.  We got to spend some time with Christina, Josh, Maureen and Ken Goering on Dec. 23rd in St. Louis and celebrate an early Christmas.

Vote on Our New Blog Picture!

 Okay folks, once I complete the Europe entries I will be changing my blog wallpaper, and currently my favorite pic is this one that we took during the family picture shoot.  Any comments about whether Option A (left) or Option B (right) is best would be appreciated!

Preston Family Siblings

James, Dave, Algot, Joe (Ann), Richard (Letty)

After the photographer left we seized the opportunity of being all dressed up to take some pictures of our own! Algot, of course, being his usual goofy self! (Joe does not have a wierd growth on his head, that's his brother-in-laws hand).

Preston Family Pictures