Surprise Visitor

This is seriously the strangest story.

Last night Seth was cleaning up, and said "hey Janey, where'd the little figure on our bed come from?" and i said "whaaaaaaaaa???" and he said "the guy in the blue shirt and red hat" and i said "what in the world are you talking about?"

He then brought this downstairs.....


So if you're a Price, you know that this is the bully from our Fisher Price collection. You also know it's a figure in mom and dad's toy room, not a figure from my bedroom in California. I seriously haven't seen the bully for 10 years. I asked Seth to make sure he wasn't playing a trick on me, and he was as baffled as I was. (AND, it's really the one from Mom and Dad's house, because it has little bite marks in the hat that i made when i was three...)

I wasn't wearing ANYTHING that i've ever worn at mom and dad's house, and neither was seth. And this wasn't a toy that was ANYWHERE in our house before...and suddenly it showed up in our bed?????? I promise I didn't steal it Mom, seriously!

Seriously, any clues, people?? We're thinking this might just show up in the next sibling's house we visit--watch out! :)

A Visit from the Reeds

Last week Carol, Shane, Brandon & Christi came to California and we got to spend the day with them!! It was so fun. We met up at our little apartment (pictures to come) and then walked across the street to the Grove for lunch. Everyone got their meals (can we say amazing Charlie's french toast? Mmmmmm Hmmmmm) and we ate in the little farmers market, and then we got to experience the American Girls store (cleanest men's bathrooms in Los Angeles...) and Pinkberry before venturing up to Hollywood Boulevard to see the stars. We even met the look-alike elvis, who scammed us (grrr)! For those who haven't been, hollywood boulevard has about a bajillion people who come and dress up as movie characters (i.e., Cat Woman, the Joker, the Joker, the Joker (there were a lot of jokers...), and a little um, 98 year old mickey mouse).

We ventured around and saw all the cool stars and foot/hand prints (i'm so jealous of how tiny all the ladie's feet were!). We then headed down through beverly hills to see Hermes (I pronounced it Her-MEEEEs, because i'm ridiculous) and the rest of Rodeo drive (I also say RO-dE-O instead of ro-deh-o) and then we took the Reeds on a wild goose chase down to the local strip mall in Marina Del Rey for what we thought was our replacement "2 Amys" pizza. Haha, we didn't realize it would be in a strip mall, oops! It was a fun atmosphere, though, and we had fun talking to the fam for the rest of the evening!

Thanks for coming up, Reeds!!!! We were so glad we got to see you!

Christmas

We never posted about christmas, but it's never too late!

Christmas was a fabulous vacation! We flew in LAAAAATE on the 23rd and stayed up even later talking to mom and dad. The next morning we woke up and went to see Seth's grams, and then went to a fabulous dinner at the Roof with Mom & Dad.


Afterward we went to see the lights at temple square. This was one of my favorite new additions--the mary and joseph in the water. I loved how serene and beautiful everything is.

Christmas Morning was so fun! Mom and Dad really are so thoughtful and we got perfect gifts! Seth got me a DS lite, and it has gotten a ton of use from the both of us :) Check our our couples aprons!!! (and cute pjs from Gina, with awesome "california style" slippers from mom :)After christmas Mary and Jeff came up, and we got to see Heather's family and Mary's family!! (Mary, can i get some of your awesome pictures from your awesome camera??) It was so fun to see sibs again and spend a bit of quality time together.

The next few days we spent with Seth's family and with Grams. She is such a lovely lady, and we were glad to spend quality time with her and with the Johnsons! Happy Christmas, everyone!

Loves

You know, sometimes there are bumps on the road of life. And we cry, and we're sad, and we wonder why things happen. And it's hard.

But a few things that makes these hard times so much better are the loving phone calls, e-cards, emails, peppermint brownies, cards, flowers, prayers, words of kindness, wisdom, understanding, and thoughtful family & friends. Thank you so much for everything! We love you and thank you for your support and prayers!

Love,

Seth & Jane

Birthday Pictures!

Check out that yummy cake!

Here's the pictures of the birthday!!! (yes, that is the color of my jacket.....yes it is. that's all.)

Birthday!!!!

Well, I'm 26. It was a fantastic birthday! Seth and I celebrated on the 19th since I had the day off. Seth worked for a bit while I shopped, then he came back and we went to dinner (pictures to follow!!! Waaaaayy too late to be uploading right now...) at the Daily Grill, one of my faves. They fed us yummy desserts for free, and then we came home and watched "24" and stayed up until midnight so we could ring in my day of birth!!! Seth gave me an iPod touch because he's pretty much telepathic and knew that's exactly what I wanted (YAY!) so now I can join in the other iTouch iPhoners in the family and explore the many iTunes applications. It's pretty awesome!

All day I felt so loved, from facebook messages, wall posts, emails, phone calls, IMs, and the biggest parties ever in DC! I loved watching the innauguration and even got teary when they showed all the sites of DC...it made me miss the district sooo much (but then I walked outside and it was 70 degrees and i didn't miss it quite so much...) :)

Tonight Seth was supposed to have bishopric meeting, but they cancelled it (I like to think in honor of me...) so Seth and I got to hang out again! We were pretty tired from our day so we went to a local salad place and then got my free birthday coldstone before watching the office from last week and part of american idol. And here I sit, blogging before bedtime....

I have to say one of my favorite parts of the day was reading my google reader and coming across this article. I thought it was real and started reading to seth before I realized it was the Onion, but it's still probably one of my favorite moments of today. :)

It's an exciting day--a day of change, of new beginnings, and of celebration! Happy January 20th people!

Annie tagged me!

---Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.--

1. I can fall asleep almost instantly.
2. Somewhat related to this, if any movie is on (not in the theater) i can hardly keep my eyes open and usually fall asleep in 5-10 minutes.
3. I like baking lately--I'm working on bread/breadsticks/pizza dough lately. My kitchen aid sure helps!
4. I have naturally curly eyebrows and a mole in the middle of another eyebrow, so no matter how hard i try, i can't shape my own brows. I find an eyebrow stylist everywhere i live and get regular eyebrow waxes. And just the other day sammi told me i had nicely shaped eyebrows, so i guess all that pays off! :)
5. I have to have my purse in my bedroom at night. If it's downstairs i'll have nightmares about it getting stolen. (also, we live in west hollywood....so it's kind of a realistic sort of nightmare)
6. On a related note, lately I've had a lot of dreams that there's an earthquake...but I really think that there is an earthquake, so I wake up and wake seth up to ask him if he felt the earthquake. Seth thinks it's hilarious and makes sure to look up the seismic activity to prove that there wasn't, in fact, an earthquake.

Happy 6 Monthiversary, Love!

Six Months ago today, Seth and I got married!!! Doesn't time just fly?? In some ways it seems like last week, but I guess in others it seems like a different lifetime!

6 Things I love about Seth, in no particular order.

1. He's so friendly to everyone, and is always looking out for someone that needs a friend. This makes him a great host and a great exec. sec.--everyone looks forward to talking to my honey!

2. He tries so hard to cheer me up when I'm down, and can make me smile even when i'm grumpy.

3. He likes to sweep and keeps our floors clean! He also is very hygenic in the bathroom and even keeps his toothbrush in the other room!

4. He's so thoughtful, always thinking of things that I'll love or want or need--and will arrange his schedule to mine if it makes me happier.

5. He knows me so well, it's easy for him to know exactly what I need without me saying. I've never trusted anyone more.

6. He's so cute with kids. I love watching him play with Finley and with my neices and nephews.

In honor of our anniversary, I finally am posting some of our wedding pictures!

Here are the rest:

{Seth & Jane Wedding Photo Album}

$5 if you can find the following:

Sammi and Trevor making out on the dance floor.
Tyler Harper's excited face.
My most awkward face ever.
David's hand.
The old love triangle. (this is my favorite, haha)

The Touch of the Master's Hand

Seth and I watched the Touch of the Master's Hand tonight, and, like always, it made me bawl.
I want to be the type of person that (so to speak) sees an old violin and can only think of beauty and goodness. I guess this is my new years resolution #87 (i can't stop the resolutions people...)

One Little Word 2009

Today Heather sent me a link to this article by Ali Edwards.

"Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2009? It can be something tangible or intangible. It could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother's word or your spouse's word or your child's word - this is YOUR word.

One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities. And here's one thing that is totally interesting: sometimes a word will pop into your brain and it will not make any sense to you right now. Give it some time. Let it percolate a bit. I have often found that our hearts speak to us in very unique ways. Maybe this is a word you need to hear but just aren't ready for it yet. Again, be open to the possibilities."

So.....the word that I chose for this year is 

I think this year especially, our world is full of possibilities. We may or may not move, get new jobs, quit jobs, uproot, multiply & replenish the earth, become famous, become super poor, get super rich, get discovered, gain weight, lose weight....i mean the possibilities are endless. And I think it will be really nice for me to focus on a "possibility" rather than any sort of "impossibility".

So many things are Possible this year, and in effort to be open to change and re-structure my need for structure and "a plan" all the time, I think focusing on all the things that are a possibility I'll be more flexible and less apprehensive about change.

You know, I'm not sure if it was subconscious from reading "possibilities" over and over in the last paragraph, but it was the second word that popped into my head as I was making my list of One Word Themes for the year. Some of my runner up words were:

Unconditional
Arise
Choose

Here's the list of words that came from years past comments.

I'm not um, a challenger usually, but I LOVE this idea so much and have been talking to friends this morning asking if they want to join me--so I'd like to extend the "challenge" to anyone else who wants to get a "just one little word" theme for 2009.

In conjunction with my one word, I've been thinking of all the other things I want to accomplish this year. I am NOT a typical new years resolutions kind of girl. I mean, I am sure I've always set them, but like 99% of the world I forget about them the next week, and it's nearly impossible to gain momentum again. BUT, I have a feeling this year might be different.

Christmas kind of changed my life. I Loooooooove Seth, but somehow over Christmas break I fell in love with him all over again. Seth said he likes it when I'm at my house with my family because Mom tells me how much I should be appreciating Seth and then I'm all ga-ga about him for days. I like to think that it's just seeing him in my very most comfortable environment that I realize how amazing he is and all of the "possibilities" we have together.

Either way, and aside from Seth, I found myself noticing everyone in our families with new eyes. I noticed the little things everyone did, the little kindnesses, the small happinesses, the minute details of people's personalities that made such a difference in small circumstances. It made me want to change my life in small ways, to become a little more conscious of my day-to day and even minute-to-minute interactions. It made me want to notice the things people love and be able to remember and use it later to make them happy. It made me want to focus on the benefit of the doubt, giving everyone the "possibility" of having the best of intentions. I'm so excited to begin 2009 with new eyes.

I don't want to embarrass my friend Sarah, but this morning I read this post of hers, and it changed my life yet again.

Really, the smallest sentimental gifts are often the most treasured. It made me want to explore the world of usable handmade and sentimental items. I may never crochet or knit or scrapbook very well, but just like the people in the little village from the Three Amigos, "We can sew!" (unfortunately I won't have Ned Nederlander inspiring me with "Sew, very old one! Sew like the wind!") AND, this Christmas, whenever Seth and I were talking about gifts, one of the first things that came to my mind was "Cozy Blanket" for everyone. Everyone needs a cozy blanket, even if they live in the hot desert! Aside from gifts, I'm hoping this year that I can really light a fire on my sewing and re-start my efforts on "Quilts by Lizzy" (the etsy shop that I created and didn't ever fill with anything...oops).

Think of the possibilities! :)