Mom's First Manicure!

When we were in Arizona for the reception, Mom and I went to get manicures! Seth took this picture on his phone, and just sent it to me. I love it!!! Wanted to share....

Theraflu

Seth and I have been sick for a whole week!!! Seth started getting sick before the Buddy Walk on Saturday, and it got worse and worse until Wednesday we called Nurse Amy & Dr. Wade, and then went straight to Urgent Care. At Urgent Care I started feeling worse and worse (I was on the edge as it was) and Thursday I was sick sick sick. Work doesn't give sick days for the first 90 days of working, so I toughed it out, even though my bosses were willing to let me go if I needed to. I was sick as could be on thursday night, but work up friday well enough to go to work. I made it through friday, and then yesterday lost it again (literally...haha). Seth is better now, (YAY!) and I think if i lay low the rest of today I'll be on the mend, too.

Soooo, in honor of being sick, I thought I'd dedicate a post to my favorite and preferred medicine. I didn't take any theraflu until this morning, but boy am I sure glad I did!! Something about warm lemony goodness makes my heart happy, and the medicine just hits the spot. Thanks, Theraflu!



It seems like tis' the season for sickness--no fun! Stock up on Theraflu, friends. You won't be disappointed!

Hollywood

When we first moved here, seth and I hiked up to the hollywood sign. We hiked up the wrong mountain, so this is as close as we got!!!


Seth laughs at me whenever I have this "smile". I don't know where it comes from, really. I kind of am starting to like it simply because its so ridiculous.

Buddy Walk!

This last weekend Seth and I drove to Arizona for the Buddy Walk!! For those of you that don't know, Seth's mom Gina runs a non profit for families who have children with Down Syndrome (Sharing Down Syndrome Arizona). Every year they host the Buddy Walk, which is their primary fundraiser and CELEBRATION for families and friends.

The day started out early--we showed up at about 7:30 AM to a park that was already full of volunteers, tents, workers, and families preparing for the 1/2 mile walk and festival! DJ Ron helped everyone get their groove on with some line dances before the walk, and then we lined up, got our pictures with the Phoenix Suns Gorilla, and went on our way!

It is so fun to see all the families who made tshirts for everyone honoring their child(ren). And of course, it's fun to see Gina running around greeting all of her friends. She really has made such a difference in the lives of so many people! CJ was the volunteer coordinator extraordinaire and did so much to make the volunteer campaign run smoothly! I love watching the Johnsons all work together to make things happen :)

After the walk, we got to explore the rest of the Buddy Walk. Annie's sister Katie was helping with the face painting, and drew some beautiful ladybugs all up Emmy's arm. She offered to draw a cockroach on me, but somehow we ran out of time! There were booths for everything! They had free cotton candy, snow cones, ice cream, jamba juice, hamburgers and hotdogs from Charlestons, face painting, coloring, bean bag tosses, cake walks....and even the big blow up trampoline things!! It was pretty much a huge carnival and big day of family fun!!!

David, Seth's brother, is pretty much hilarious. He had a little "camp" set up by the stage with his guitar, about five changes of clothes, food, snacks, and a blanket. He changed his shirt for the different activities (i.e. he put on his boy scout shirt during the pledge of allegiance). His latest nickname for me is "Aye-aye, Skipper" (as he salutes me).

Every year Sharing celebrates an outstanding citizen. This year Sandra won the award! Sandra is an amazing 53 year old woman. A few years ago she was on vacation with her parents in Oklahoma, and a robber held them up at gunpoint. Later that night, he robbed and murdered two other people. When the police were working on the report, they connected these two incidents, and discovered that Sandra would be able to identify the robber, since she got a good look at him and they were able to leave unharmed from the robbery. The police flew her back to Oklahoma to testify, and because of her accurate identification, the man recieved his proper sentence. Sandra was so cute and happy! Her mom was also one of the ladies who lobbied for the first act that has led to people with disabilities full inclusion in schools, so she was honored, too.

I'm so glad we got to go and see what the Buddy Walk is all about--it was a fantastic day!!!

Move, check!

Well, today and tonight we successfully moved a majority of our stuff into the new apt. It feels nice to have things moved. Of course, everything is in the middle of the floor until the apartment management cleans (of course they forgot to clean!) We're working out a few more "issues" (like our queen box spring doesn't fit up the stairs and they didn't inform us of that fact until AFTER we'd signed the lease. sigh.) but I think overall we're gunna make it (gunna make it....gunnnnnnna make it, gunnnnna make it... gunna make it gunna make it gunnamakeit--name that show, anyone?)

Thank you SOOOOOO much to Luke and to Heather (of Tom & Heather our ward friends) for coming to help us move and lift our spirits!!! We appreciate you so much!!!!

This move was A BAJILLION times better than our PREVIOUS move. We truly couldn't have made that last move without the support and love from Family--thanks to many tearful phone calls to Mom&Dad, Siblings, In-Laws, & friends, we made it through.

Organize!

This post is proof that I am a nerd.

I used to ask people on first dates (you know, to show that i was deep and had thoughtful questions) "What are you passionate about?" I got mixed responses, and they were often very telling about a person. In turn, most people would ask me the same question. Sometimes I had a response, other times I drew a blank. In general, though, I would say I'm passionate about the Gospel, about Living Life to its fullest, about Having No Regrets, about Telling People I like/love Them, about Being Full of Integrity....the list could go on and on.

This week, however, I think I could unequivocally say that I am passionate about Organizing.

When we first moved to Los Angeles, Seth and I went to the Container Store and went crazy organizing things. We got these awesome DVD binders that save us so much space--like three boxes worth of space.














And we got Slimline hangers (Thanks Jenny & Mel for the suggestion!). My collection of clothes has trimmed down considerably thanks to wonderful friends (cough. Julie. cough.) who can convince me to purge my "oldies" or "uglies" or "I just don't wear these". BUT, I still needed more closet space and these have done wonders. Seriously, more than twice as many clothes fit in my closet now.













I'll spare you the details of all the other space saving things we got--we seriously spent two hours at the store trying to decide the best way to organize shoes, bags, q-tips, socks.... (plug for awesome husband Seth who actually cares about these things with me, or at least fakes it really well).

I LOVE feeling organized. It's so empowering. I feel like I can go out and feel absolutely an unequivocally clean, neat, tidy, and germ-free (isn't it funny how if something is in a neat stack it doesn't seem germy?)

SOOOO, this week was possibly a dream week. I started my new job, and my bosses both LOVE organization. They have electronic file systems, so we scan documents in, file them electronically, and then except for a select few documents, we can just throw the document away. It is FANTASTIC.

Also, one of my bosses likes neat and tidy binders for the information we save, and the last admins weren't so good at tabs and organized binders, so I was tasked with re-doing all of the binders to look professional, neat, and tidy. Ohhh it was bliss!!! Seriously, to get paid to re-tab a binder to be color coordinated is like a working mecca for me! (especially when i don't have to buy the supplies!)

With another move this week, I've been really excited to organize some more of our "stuff" and purge even more. If you get a phone call soliciting advice about purging or organizing, don't be surprised! :) (or if you'd like to just offer advice here, I'm ready to hear it!)

Apartment Hunt

So the past few weeks Seth and I have been on an apartment hunt. We scour neighborhoods, call a million signs, drop by to see places, hear of places from our friends, you name it, we've done it! This weekend, we decided that our hunt was over and we signed a lease on a 2 bedroom apartment just a few blocks away from where we're living now. It's in what we like to think of as a military base (just because it has it's own grocery store, movie theater, gym, conference room, cafe, movie rental place, and it's all gated) but it looks similar to the Truman Show. They may or may not have filmed the Truman Show at our apartment--a million little "garden style" houses that all look exactly alike. [sigh]

So here's what I'm excited about! Hard wood floors, two stories, two bedrooms, garbage disposal (You'd be SHOCKED at how many places do not offer a garbage disposal!), granite counter tops, dish washer, patio, walk in closet, and new carpet on the stairs! We're really glad that we were able to get a 2 bedroom so that we can always have company. I'm even thinking of getting a pack and play so that we're a fully baby friendly household.

Here's our floor plan:


And now, for the first time ever, Seth and I get to decorate! We're going to have to buy furniture (aka, a bed, couch, desk, and dining room table) and paint and buy rugs and lamps--ahhh!! We're going to be on a budget. Any good tips? Where do you like to shop for furniture? What do you recommend we get/skip on? What is "worth it" and what is "not worth it"? Can't wait to hear from you!

Penelope

Sorry about the advertisement......it's worth waiting 30 seconds for the clip though!

So I've been meaning to post this for months. Seth and I think it's so funny. We often will just be talking in the car and all the sudden go into "Penelope" voice for 10 minutes at a time.
I'm sure we've all met "Penelope" in our lives, and probably at times we've individually felt like "Penelope". While I'm sure no one could ever top the actual Penelope, when I was in Denver for the convention, I met someone who came REALLY CLOSE. She was a friend of my coworker's and she seriously popped out of nowhere all week and would come and talk to us, telling us about all the parties she'd been invited to, how her job was just a little bit better, a little more stressful, a little more important, even a little bit more money....oh it was ridiculous. I laughed every time she came by, and the last time we saw her I think I accidentally said "Hi Penelope" instead of her real name (which was like Olive or something...)

Here's to penelope!!!

Puppy

I really really really really want this puppy. She's only 30 OZ and she's 5 inches tall. And she's potty trained! Isn't she adorable?

Hollywood sightings of Seth & Jane, or Jeth, or Sane, whichever you prefer

Last week Seth and I went to a taping of the Craig Fergusen show at CBS Studios (just down the street from us!) As luck would have it, we made it on TV...we're at the bottom right corner when they pan back to the warm-up guy! And no, i don't normally have nasty hair like that....



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