game on

so i started this new diet... i know, you shouldn't diet, just change your lifestyle, but that's kind of what it is. it's all about eating balanced small meals all day and all that jazz. twist is that you play on a team, and you play against other teams. everyone puts $20 in a pot and the individual and team winners split the pot... pretty cool huh?

yeah i didn't do so well this week. it's tough to start new habits especially when you have to pack everything in the morning. some of the ladies i am playing with are stay at home moms and have access to their foods all day. oh well, i'll adjust. i just hope going to mexico doesn't derail me too much! woot! we leave thursday for our honeymoon.... CAN'T WAIT! :)

goodbye 2009...

so i was really excited about ringing in the new year... we weren't too sure what we were going to do, but we both had to work and we were going to talk about it when i got home about 5:30... yeah that didn't happen the way we planned. please let me tell you about how my new year's eve unfolded...

8:30 - arrive at work, open bank with the other tellers and bankers

10:00 - make a quick run to QT across the street with chelsea for a hot chocolate/taquito/corn nuts run

10:45 - get robbed... WHAT?!?! you all may be thinking? yep, i got robbed. let me break this down for you.

this guy walks in the bank and i was the only teller available at that moment.

-karly- "hello, welcome to wachovia. what may i assist you with today?"

-bank robber (BR)- "oh i just have a check to cash."

-karly- "oh no problem, i can assist you right over here."

-BR- *walks up to my station fishing in his pocket for something... which i assume is that

check he needs cashing*

-karly- "do you have an account with us?"

-BR- "no"

-karly- "oh no problem, i'll just need to look at the check" [and i'm thinking... cool,

maybe i can get him to open an account and i can get referral credit!]

-BR- *tosses plastic grocery bag over the counter*

-karly- [think to myself, 'i know this a-hole did not just throw a piece of trash over the

counter at me to throw away'] *looks at man and smiles* "oh, would you like me

to throw that away for you?"

-BR- *looks at me like i'm crazy* "no, fill it up"

-karly- *looks at BR like he's crazy* ...long two seconds of silence... "what?"

-BR- *gets very menacing look on his face* "you have ten seconds to fill that up before i start unloading" [which i take to mean he is threatening to shoot me and my friends]

"10,9,8,7..."

-karly- *staying very calm and going into the zone* "oh sure, i can do that for you" *opens

drawer, puts in money... starts to give BR the plastic bag of money*

-BR- *glaring* "there better be some 50s and 100s in there" [there wasn't... i didn't give

him my big money]

-karly- *getting more and more scared, puts in more money, hands bag over*

-BR- *turns and walks away*

-karly- "thank you, have a nice day" [yes i did actually say that]

-BR- *out the door, starts running, runs into street, drops money bag, almost gets creamed

by a car, picks up money bag, runs away*

-karly and girls- *yell to bankers that we got robbed, punch alarms, call 911, lock down bank

(poor customer that got stuck inside), follow all protocol, do everything right*

-girls to karly (who is standing very still in shock)- "are you ok?"

-karly- ..."no" *immediately bursts into tears and starts shaking*

so then i was in isolation for an hour and a half. i was interviewed by a police detective and then an FBI agent. they dusted for prints and started a manhunt. i still don't think they caught him... homeboy had a good day at the bank.

i still replay it every few minutes, i cry every once in awhile, i won't let JJ out of my sight, and i had a nightmare about it last night in which i kicked my husband... twice!

needless to say i was not up for a rockin new year's eve. i needed something more low-key, so we got to meet up with miles and kendra at the temple. we walked around, took some pictures, and then made our way back to miles parents' home. we played a rousing round of rock band, ate some food, and i promptly crashed. i was so tired so we made our way home, and we were asleep by 11:30. :)

so... i am happy that 2009 is over, and i look forward to a new year... and i will make my way out of banking because i never want to experience that again!

realizations

so i try to put on a good face, keep a stiff upper lip, suck it up, deal with it, etc... but sometimes i just get sad. today was one of those days. it finally hit me that i'm not going home for christmas. my sisters are both home... and i'm sad. i'm sad that this will be the first time (aside from my mission) that i will not be with my family for christmas. i have my husband, which is fantastic, but just not the same as being surrounded by loved ones. there is nothing like being with my family on christmas eve... we usually go look at lights, sometimes we go to a christmas mass, then we go home. all the lights get turned off except for the christmas tree, everyone gathers around said tree, and mom and dad read luke 2 and then the night before christmas. (after that is usually when all hell breaks loose with me doing the ebonics night before christmas, and then usually some fights about whether or not we are allowed to open one present... which us children usually win) another thing i will miss is the singing. we will usually gather around the piano and sing our favorites... sleep little lamb, i wonder as i wander, the shepherd song, and many others... my life is sadly devoid of all things musical right now. :(

i have a couple things to look forward to... and hopefully i can focus on those.

1) i get to cook again! i'm excited to try this holiday feast again! i haven't decided if we are going to do turkey again, ham, or beef. i am leaning towards beef because i like turkey on thanksgiving, ham on easter, and who says you can't have beef on christmas? maybe i'll start a new tradition. :)

2) miles and kendra are coming down! miles is from just down the road from us and they are coming down for the holidays. miles and kendra are two of my very best and most favoritest friends! (ask julie and kaycie... they are totally the favorites)

3) i get to spend the day with my hubby and kitty (even though they hate each other... i take that back. jj hates wicked, but wicked still loves him)

4) i get to be on speaker phone with my family as my parents read us our favorite christmas stories.

it will be great!

cuteness

so there is one thing i really like about my new job... the cute customers! we aren't very busy right now before the merger, so we really get to know our customers. there are a few arizona cardinals that come in from time to time, which we LOVE, and there are our regulars. the last two days we have had about three people a day come in to just make a deposit and chat because they "love how we know everyone's name." it's pretty darn fun. anyways, today was especially cool because one of our cute regulars came in. she is this cute little grandma who just LOVES christmas. she chatted with me for about fifteen minutes after i cashed her checks, and somewhere in there it came out that i had just gotten married and that we bought our first tree. i was talking about how my mom won't give me my christmas ornaments... i take that back... mom is going to give me some of my ornaments and i'm really excited about it... but anyways, i told her how mom didn't really want to give them up. this lady left and about ten minutes later walked back in... with an ornament for me! she also gave me christmas salt and pepper shakers! HOW CUTE IS THAT?!?!?! so now i have an ornament besides those store bought ones we put on it. i LOVE it! :)

new things...

hellooooooooooooo! so it's been awhile since i have written, because... well to be honest, nothing really has been going on. i started my new job at the bank and i have come to the conclusion that corporate america is NOT for me... 9-5... are you kidding me?! as much as i hated getting up at 5 in the morning, i actually miss teaching... i miss the kids, the holidays, and the schedule. i am excited to get my teaching certificate so i can hopefully get a job next year. the bank is fine for now, but definitely not a career change for me. :)

however... here is some news for you... JJ and i are toying with all the options we have open to us. i know my hubby would love to stay in AZ for a few more years, but i have had enough. i am done with the dust in the air that makes me have constant allergies, i am done with the endless sunshine. :) i will grin and bear it for as long as i have to, but hopefully that won't be for too long. as i have realized once and for all that teaching is what i would like to do, i have decided that i REALLY want to go back to school... and where else would i go but BYU?! so we have decided that i will apply for grad school and "see what happens." who knows where we could be next year??? maybe utah, maybe florida (to take care of the grands), and maybe here still... which i will be fine with. :)

so that's about all the updates i have for now... oh except this little tidbit that i will leave you to chew on...

we are trying.... :)

faker!

so this morning i totally faked sick so i didn't have to go to the gym! now... faking is kind of relative because i genuinely did not feel well. i had a stuffy nose, my chest was all gunky, and my throat hurt (though that might have been because i was thirsty)...

but come on!

we didn't go to bed until after midnight, and jj wanted to get up at 6 am... yes 6 am... to go to the gym before work

here is my reasoning... a) we needed more sleep, b) we have two hours from when he comes home from the bank to when he goes to the ice rink and we can go then, and c) i HATE... LOATHE getting up early when it's still dark outside.

he was so sweet too! he got me a cough drop, made sure i had water, felt my head every twenty minutes to see if i had a fever, and he curled around me as we slumbered to make sure i was warm. my husband is amazing! once it was 7:30 (and light outside) instead of 6:00 i "felt a little better." so, to repay his amazingness i made him a scrumptious breakfast to start the day right. i cooked him up some eggs and bacon with a piece of toast with butter and honey (just like he likes it).

i feel a little shameful (but much more rested and content)... yes, i did not feel well, but not quite as sick as i made myself out to be... and the ONLY reason i confess this is because he doesn't read my blog...

let's hope he doesn't start today! :)

friends... epiphanies... and other random musings

Epicurus, a Greek philosopher once said, "It is not so much our friends' help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they will help us."

thank you for your kind words and advice. you are my true friends... i have come to see that certain friendships will have to be left behind as i start this new chapter in my life, which is a bit sad, but exciting as i think of the new ones that have been formed and that will be formed. i think... no let me rephrase that... i KNOW that everything is going to be just fine.

this past week was a tough one. jj and i were fighting like cats and dogs, i have been a lazy bum not working, out of nowhere this business opportunity came up, and i jumped at it. however, this business opportunity was offered by someone that i used to be "involved" with. me being the selfish person that i am, was completely insensitive to jj's feelings and wanted to pursue this offer, because to be honest, it's great! they flew us up to utah, took great care of us, and the company is AMAZING! i would love to be a part of it, but once my husband left to come back to arizona, i realized where my real opportunity was... with him.

for the next few days i did a lot of soul searching, talked a lot to a much wiser older sister, remembered the counsel of my parents, and realized just how fiercely i loved and missed my husband. though i complain about Arizona, i could not wait to get back here to him. i realized that it absolutely did not matter where we lived or what we did... i only wanted to be with him... work with him... struggle with him.

today after he picked me up from the airport he was holding me in his arms and i just started to cry because of the immense and intense love that i felt for him. we then had one of the most beautiful conversations of our courtship and marriage. we realized that we had both been holding a piece of our heart captive and away from the other... for different reasons, but for the same purpose of somehow protecting ourselves. we have never been in a relationship like this with someone we love so much, who can hurt us the most, and neither of us are sure exactly what to do. it's all a matter of trial and error, and how blessed i am to experience this with him. we let down the walls we have been holding on to, and i am excited... excited to have all of his heart and excited to give all of mine to him.

*sigh*

i love being married :)