Things you may not know about me....

I have decided that I am going to print out my blog so that I don't feel as guilty about basically banishing journal writing as of late. I am including this next entry for posterity. I don't expect anyone to read it all.
But if you are really my friend, you will read it. And comment.

• When I was 20 I was in a para-sailing accident in the Caribbean. (I survived)
• I have traveled to - England, Israel, Jordon, Egypt, Italy, Mexico, Guatemala, The Bahamas (Lydia was conceived there) ,The Caribbean and throughout most of the US. Oh, and Canada.
• I had a wonderful childhood.
• I have tried to block out Junior high completely.
• I am the oldest of 5. Sisters include: Emily, Abby and Molly. My brother Zac is not the blogging type.
• I don't like Red Roses. In high school I worked as a florist at "Just Roses" and haven't liked them since.
• My maiden name is Natalie Nordstrom.
• While pregnant I craved Starbuck's Hot Chocolate and hot dogs. (Not at the same time)
• I used to eat lemons with salt. A lot. I kicked the habit.
• Several times I have been an actress in a live tour of a western brothel, in which I dressed as an old-time prostitute. The last time, Shane was also an actor. He was dressed as my...client. We basically had to make out for 8 hours while people walked by and watched.
• My mom's side of the family are cowboys.
• My dad's side of the family are not.
• To cheer me up after a hard day, I need a washed face, comfy jammies, a bowl of air popped popcorn and a Diet coke with ice. (And Shane)
• I love wrapping gifts.
• I love wrapping Christmas gifts the best. Especially if there is a Christmas cooking show on or a crappy Lifetime "Made for TV" Christmas movie showing.
• I plan my outfits weeks before traveling so that I can narrow things down to the bare minimum.
• I miss traveling.
• My favorite color is yellow.
• I have copious amounts of Black in my wardrobe and I spend way too much on my jeans.
• I coupon clip.
• If I could have plastic surgery, I would have my lips enhanced.
• My breasts need no improvement.
• My biggest regret is changing my language of study to French. Had I stayed with Spanish I could have saved myself a couple years of crazed stress to become "fluent" by graduation, and I would have been able to speak Spanish with my fluent husband. For the record, my French is now tres mal. Oh well. C'est la vie.
• Health Insurance, and the expectation to understand it, scares me deeply.
• My biggest fear is a rouge peanut.
• I love to visit my parents. Playing cards with them is in my top ten things to do.
• My favorite sound is a three way tie between Shane's, Lydia's and my dad's laughter.
• My childhood imaginary friend was named "Poodo" He was a llama and he hung out with 10 children. At least I used have conversations with "Poodo and the 10 children"
• If I had a rock band I would call it "Poodo and the 10 Children"
• I play the guitar.
• I took years of piano lessons.
• I do not play the piano.
• The only thing I really remember about my first kiss was that I was wearing pleated shorts. As bad as that is, my best friend had her first kiss in a brown Pinto.
• My best friend is Carrie Sanders Denke.
• I did not cry at my high school graduation. I did cry at my college one.
• I just had to correct the spelling of the word "College" on the above entry.
• I am a terrible speller.
• I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from BYU. My major was Humanities with an emphasis on literature, special studies in French and a minor in Near-Eastern Studies.
• I am still not sure what job that would qualify me for....
• I was able to work the system where in I did not have to take a single math class in college.
• I am worse at math than spelling.
• I married a guy who was a calculus tutor in college. I don't even know what calculus is.
• My last meal would include a medium-rare fillet mignon with green peppercorn sauce, loaded baked potato, haricot verts and something rich and chocolate for dessert.
• or....hot dogs with deli mac and cheese with my Dad's chocolate malts for dessert.
• my nickname in high school was Kiki.
• My childhood nickname was "Natty Jane". We call Lydia "Liddy-Jane".
• I do not watch Reality TV. Haven't seen Oprah in over 10 years.
• My favorite TV shows are "Arrested Development", "The Office", "Lost", "30 Rock" and "Barefoot Contessa"
• One of my favorite dates of all time included Taco Bell, a foldout sleeper couch and the movie "The Cutting Edge".
• My worst date of all time included a guy showing me his drug paraphernalia and throwing it off the bridge we were standing on. That was my only date with that individual.
• One of my college boyfriends tried to convince me that he was a spy. Then he suddenly disappeared. (I had already broken up with him by that time)
• If I had $5000 to totally blow, I would go on another cruise with Shane and get an incredible camera. And a Kitchen Aid.
• Shane and I play the "If you had X amount of money to blow, what would you buy?" game.
• I've kissed Ben Affleck
• I think that "Never go to sleep angry" Is the worst advice ever. Go to bed. Things are never such a big deal in the morning.
• I died my hair purple my junior year of high school. But only the ends so that I could cut it off the next week.
• I had bangs for far too long.
• My best day was my wedding day. It was perfect.
• I made a goal to not get married until I graduated from college. I got married a week after graduation.
• I am pretty good at kick-boxing and self-defence.
• I am pretty bad at most other sports.
• I Hate Bryan Adams and Blues Traveler.
• In my CD player I am currently listening to Death Cab for Cutie.
• My favorite book is Ender's Game. - Shane's too.
• Shane was the only guy I ever gave my phone number to after only meeting him once.
• I totaled my car three weeks after getting my licence.
• I would love it if the temperature never got above 78 degrees.
• I have grown to like the way that women in the south call each other terms of endearment like "sweetie" and "hon".
• I do not like that my (male) OB/GYN called me princess and baby on my last appointment. Eww.
• I love when Lydia takes long naps. Like right now.

Spokane, WA

Hello from the past. I was in the middle of the most amazing springtime weather in Chattanooga and I have traveled back to winter. Okay, I love Northwest winters, but this is ridiculous. Monday in Tennessee I was wearing capris and flip-flops & as I ran errands around Spokane today I was in a winter coat and scarf. It is the end of April! Come on!
So I am here for a month. We came this time last year as well. This allows Shane to get all of the landscaping and other "manly" projects done without interruption and lets Lydia get some Grandparent time in. As for me, I have a few projects of my own to work on.... will update as they progress.
(I've decided that next year we are coming in August when it is 100+ degrees in TN. )

Sorry Mommy

Rocking out

Goobee Girl

Fun times are here again...

Open House

Thanks to everyone that came to my open house last night. I was able to showcase my jewelry and Kristi was there with her Layers Clothing. I think that it was a lot of fun. Kristi informs me that Layers will be having a big sale starting Friday so make sure to check it out. Also, be sure to use her stylist code if you buy anything (423). Seriously I love Layers.

Generation unseX

Shane and I were watching some preview for a teenage movie a while back and he mentioned, "there weren't any girls who looked like that in my high school". I replied, "yes there were, they were just wearing flannel."

I read this interesting article about how generation X is the unsexiest generation. I look back at high school photos and shutter. WHAT WAS I WEARING?! Now honestly, My friends and I had little chance of escaping the fashion depression that was the 90's. Not only was it the high point of third wave feminism, but we lived in Washington State. There was an actual school walk-out the day after Kurt Cobain died. If you weren't wearing flannel shirts, you were a traitor.
Still, as much as I love alternative rock, there was no excuse to what it did to us fashion wise. I wore hiking boots. Everyday. Big baggie sweatshirts. Size XL mens Polo shirts untucked. I can't even talk about the vests. It was bad. I remember when my friend Carrie and I would go shopping we went to a mens shop called J. Riggins. My dad used to joke with my mom that he always thought his daughters would borrow her clothes, not his. My friend Randi and I came to the last day of high school in mens flannel jammies. The funny thing is, we wore the tops to them all the time. We just added the bottoms as a joke.

WHY did we hide ourselves at the time we were so young. I have a few photos of high school were I was dressed up for a date or church and you can actually see a figure there. Everything else is just plaid and frump.

So anyway. I am happy that is over. Though, in 10 years we will be kicking ourselves for hiding our 20-30 something figures in the now trendy maternity looking tops.

A very blurry photo of me in front of Big Ben. You get the idea. (Randi, there were better, funnier photos of bad fashion in England, but you were involved in the mishaps so I refrained. Remember when we tried to dress "sexy"for a night out in London and ran into everyone else. That was humiliating. And I have the photos to prove that incident too...)

Now I dare everyone to put a high school photo on YOUR blog.

(Not of me. Of you. Please not me.)

Day off

I didn't fall asleep until 3am last night, so even though Lydia slept in until 7:30, it felt like the dead of night. As Shane is on his weekly business trip, I used my "only in emergencies" TV card and let her watch 30 minutes of cartoons while I sleep until 8.
At breakfast I was still exhausted. I stumbled around the kitchen in a bathrobe, getting Lydia fed and doing some pots that I had soaking from the night before. As I reached for a sponge, one of the pots slipped into the sink, soaking me with grimy cold dish water. Lydia looked at me in alarm. "Mommy wet". With slimy bits of food dripping down my face and hair, I realized I may have hit rock bottom. I turned to Lydia. "Mommy is taking the day off".
The morning was spent lounging in a bubble bath, Lydia spending most of the time washing my back. She really likes that and gets very focused. She didn't want to get out as soon as I did, so while she splashed around, I leisurely got dressed, did my makeup and hair and even had a minute to relax on the bed.
After Lydia was ready for the day, we went shopping. I got a new shirt (75% off!) and she got a swimsuit for our little mini vacation to Nashville in a couple weeks. We then had a pleasant little lunch at Wendys. No tantrums the entire trip!
Lydia laid down for her nap and I told her that it needed to be a long one since it was Mommy's day off. 3 hours later I heard a soft "Mommy. Out now." I had spent the entire time watching Arrested Development and making jewelry.
No cleaning for me today. We spent (what was left of) the afternoon playing outside and picking wild flowers. 78 degrees outside with a fresh grass-scented breeze.
Dinner was spaghetti and fruit. Lydia looked at her plate and asked in her sweetest voice "salad?". Okay. What? Requesting the healthy stuff? This is the best day ever. After salad, I served brownies and ice cream for dessert. :)
Now Lydia is watching Cinderella and bed time is just around the corner. Tonight "30 Rock" and "The Office" are new. I may fold some laundry, but I may not. I may just eat some more brownies.
Hope everyone else had as nice of a day.

Shining Moments

This weekend was General Conference. Twice a year, instead of going to our regular church services, the entire church is invited to watch/listen to the church leadership speak via satellite or on http://www.lds.org/. One particular talk was especially poignant for me. On the Sunday afternoon session, Elder Ballard spoke to the young mother's of the church. He seemed so in touch with the challenges that all young mother's face. I loved that he instructed husbands to give their wives days off from taking care of the kids. (Not just hours.) As I was trying to listen to the talk, and take care of a very needy toddler, I was able to write one quote that I love. Motherhood is made up of "Shining moments of joy and satisfaction". If I cross-stitched - I would cross-stitch that and hang it up. Wait. No I wouldn't. I would never hang up a cross-stitch. I will just write it in my planner.

Here are a couple shining moments from this morning. Shane is building a swing set and Lydia can't quite wait until it is all the way done...

Cupcakes!

What a perfect day today! I was inspired by Kristi, (who was inspired by someone else), to make some cupcakes. I have perfected the cake part. Seriously, even The Magnolia Bakery has nothing on them. The frosting...still leaves something to be desired.

The Princesses are here!

Lydia was following me around the other day saying "Stinky Booty, Stinky booty" over and over. I found this odd, since we don't say booty much and she had a clean diaper. She was getting exasperated and then finally pointed to the TV and said "Cinderwella. Stinky Booty" AH! Sleeping Beauty! Shane borrowed a couple Disney movies from a friends and it looks like Lydia is hooked. Does this mean I actually have to purchase Disney movies now? Oh well, as long as "Pocahontas" never makes its way into our DVD player, I guess that is okay.

What is this crap about the "Disney Vault"? I wanted to buy Snow White and it was like $40 used! I would love to be a fly in the Disney think-tank room. How do they come up with these genius business decisions? Except Pocahontas. That was a bad move. I really hated that movie.

Welcome Emily!

I would like to welcome my sister Emily to the blogging world. I would also like to comment on the fact that her displayed Europe photo looks strangely like the Guatemala photo of Shane and I that is framed at my house.....

She has been copying me since we were toddlers. Ask anyone.