There are still many things to do, but now I don't have loads of extra pressure and anxiety weighing me down. The last few days I have been significantly happier!
Here's some of my post-thesis activities:
We had a wonderful dinner at TGIF's with missionaries. One elder really struggled to shove a massive burger in his mouth. Normally we don't take them out to dinner, but this was a special occasion and well worth it.
Matt and I went with some other students to play laser tag! For $15 on Fridays you can go unlimited times all day and it is well worth it (click here for details). I'm typically terrible at laser tag because I'm more of a sniper, which doesn't get you very many points. My favourite game was actually when it was just three people because it's so intense and just when you find one person the other might shoot you from behind. In total I played 8 games, and ended on a high with the second highest score (Matt got first). Our friend Ryan who was with us till the end always beat everyone on accuracy (60% or above). To finish off the night Matt and I shared a salted caramel milkshake and chocolate shot at Max Brenner. Yumm! I think we have met our quota for going to Max Brenner for a while and will look for significantly cheaper dessert options.
The following Saturday we finally went to see Wicked, which we had booked months in advance! We had great seats and it was just as amazing as the first time I saw it. I wasn't sure if Matt would actually like it since he knew the music by heart and a live show doesn't sound the same, but of course he loved it. Afterwards we had a nice ritzy dinner on a dirty table at Costco. :)
We also went to a place called Boing Central with friends Ryan and Whitney where we had loads of fun on all the trampolines. There was no one there when we got there since it was on a week day, which made it nice. We practiced flips, did races, played dodgeball and a little volleyball before we crashed. After burning lots of calories we replaced them with fatty Chinese food! Trampoline places like this one are always awesome, but this one requires socks which were quite annoying. I kept slipping when doing a back handspring and the foam pit tried to steal my socks.
Later I went on my first bike ride with my new bike (I keep forgetting to take pics)! I rode to my rolfing appointment which is mostly uphill. Besides arriving all sweaty, it was awesome! I'm not stoked about the helmet requirement here, but I do miss bike riding. Rolfing was great too because the rolfer worked on my sore wrists (still not sure what was wrong with them, but it's not carpal tunnel or arthritis). Afterwards it looked like I had bruises all over my arms, but now my wrists aren't sore!
Another day we went and played miniature golf with Dean and Crystal. We played all three of their 18 hole courses and they were pretty basic. It was still a fun activity (especially because I won overall) and I think everyone got a few holes in one. I got a hole in one on a difficult hole so I got a voucher for a discounted game! Guess I'll be making another visit...
As a side note, I bought a sewing machine! I love sewing, but have never had the time or money to sew much. I've wanted to hem a certain dress for a long time, but there are many other clothing items I'd like to modify. It's not cheaper to make your own clothes, but it would be nice if I could make purchased items modest. This summer will be super hot and I hate having to wear layers to make something cover appropriately. Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures later on when I finish making something.
My other fun hobby is a large puzzle I have been working on. I just work on it when I am waiting for food to cook or watching a show so it is slow moving. This puzzle is interesting because it is a Photomosaic so each piece has about four tiny photos on it. It makes it easier and harder in different ways. This brings me back to the days when my roommate Laura and I used to work on puzzles together. Good times!
We had another huntsman scare! He randomly appeared as I was showing Matt something on my computer. When trying to move him he disappeared! After Matt removed part of the window we discovered he had slipped into the windowsill space! He was safely removed and taken outside, but it made us both paranoid for a bit.
I've mentioned previously that I had a lot of skin treatments done to help my acne. Well I volunteered to do a testimonial and have them use the footage for a commercial. If you really want to see the difference you can see my testimonial here. I was finishing my thesis at the time so my after pictures aren't as amazing as they could be. I get basically no acne now and my skin is really clear. I'm going to go back and get treatments for my sun damage and scarring though.
Other fun events include getting scammed when trying to buy a car. I'm going to make a long and embarrassing story short. A guy who was selling a car listed on a reputable car website stated he was in the military and could ship the car to us to test drive and we would use an escrow company to handle all the payment stuff. He provided a copy of his military ID, all info on the escrow company (which I checked out), and a receipt for the car shipment. After we paid the deposit to the escrow company I found a forum stating the escrow company we used (CBS solutions) was fake and how the car seller even claims they are with the military. We lost $1200 but were lucky we didn't lose anything else.
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| Alleged military ID from the car seller |
I learned a lot of hard lessons from this: 1. Stick to the rules and not the exceptions such as don't send money to someone you don't know, don't pay for a car before seeing it, etc. 2. When making big decisions as a couple it is important to discuss feelings and spiritual impressions. 3. Just because a man seems to not be doing the "right" things all the time, if he has the priesthood he can still get spiritual promptings. 4. Scam artists are smarter and more elaborate than I had previously thought.
The background of that story is that when Matt took the car to be fixed so we could register it we were told it would be over $5000 and that the car should be scrapped! We were aware of the broken speedometer and odometer, brake light, brake issues, ABS light issues, unusual sounds and other quirks, but the car still runs fine. So the hunt for a new car began.
All lessons hopefully learned and more research done, we went out today to buy a car. It had to be an old used car because we can't get financing on our current visa and we need to save our money for getting permanent residency. Although this wasn't our original plan, we are lucky we have the time and money to take care of this now and extremely grateful our current vehicle lasted as long as it did. After looking at lots of cars we were about to walk away until one of the dealers pointed out a black 2005 Honda Civic that might be in our price range (that was after some serious work to not reveal our budget until I caved). We loved it, prayed about it, and decided to take it home! I know the Lord helped us to get a good deal and to find a car that we both felt good about it as soon as we got in it.
Another recent event was that my little sister got engaged! She is getting married in March so once they set the date I purchased a plane ticket!! I'm excited for her and glad that she is getting married in a month when flights were reasonable ($1300). I'll be there for just over a week so I can also be there for my Mom's birthday.
If you're wondering how Matt and I spent our Halloween, there is not much to say. It's not a holiday or tradition here so we had no trick or treaters, didn't watch scary movies, or even dressed up for anything. Matt played a game on his phone and I watched a recent Arrow episode and went to bed early. Totally boring, but at least for Young Women's mutual that week we carved pumpkins!
Well that's about it for now! I've been exercising and running a lot and it is wonderful! I'm so happy to be free (temporarily) from all the school stress and to focus on getting our permanent residency done and other fun hobbies. I still haven't figured out what career path to take, but I'm just taking one step at a time.
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| Magpie from my morning run |
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| Shade eating grass on the back patio |
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