Almost done with college!

So apparently it's been a while since I last blogged. Oops.

I've still been doing the knee sock count down, but I've gotten really bad about taking pictures, so you'll just have to believe me.

Justin and I are both ALMOST done with school. I have one last paper to write, due Monday, and Justin has two last tests to take, one Tuesday and one Wednesday. Then on Friday we walk! [By the way, if you haven't gotten a graduation announcement, I'm sorry! Life has been crazy. We have them all printed, and just need to buy envelopes in order to mail them. We even have the stamps already. Hopefully we can get them in the mail today!]

In other news, Justin got the offer from Intel (no surprise, since he's a great guy!), so come January we are moving to California! We won't be moving until the end of January, so we've still got quite a bit of time to prepare. We'll go up the first week of January to check things out and find a place to live. It still hasn't really sunk in for me, since I've never lived farther than twenty minutes from my parents' house. We're really excited for the adventure, but we'll sure miss family. At least with Intel there is the potential to end up back here in a few years.

It's really strange being almost done with college. I am officially jobless, since I worked my last day as a writing tutor on Thursday. Justin can still work for a while longer, which is good. At least now I have some time to work on all those Christmas gifts I'm making!

It has been a pretty stressful week (leak in our apartment resulting in lots of chaos and many holes in walls, financial aid at ASU being screwed up because I'm graduating), but today I'm feeling great. I started going through some of the stuff from the bottom of our closet (since it was tossed out unceremoniously during the leak repairs), and it feels good to get organized. Being a pack-rat kind of runs in my family, so I tend to save things I don't really need. However, I get so much satisfaction out of purging. I love having the opportunity to sort through my belongings and just get rid of everything I don't need.

Well, that just about sums it up for us. Moving to CA in just over a month, graduating in just under a week, getting ready for Christmas. Life is good.

31... 30! 1 month to go!

31!

30!

34, 33, 32...

I've been really good about taking a picture each day, just not so good at posting those pictures... Anyway! Here's the next batch:

34...

33...

32!

Only 32 days until Justin and I graduate! :-)

Days 36 and 35

36!

35!

And, so that you guys don't forget how awesome I am... as of today I have written 31,295 words for National Novel Writing Month! I'm on fire this year! 

Socks

So, I know I posted day 39 for the sock challenge, but it seems to have disappeared, plus I missed yesterday (I did post them to FB though, check there for proof!).
THE GREAT SOCK COUNTDOWN OF 2011!

39!

'

38!

37!

In other news, I am doing REALLY well on NaNoWriMo. I have written 26,024 words as of today! The goal for today is only 15k if you are going for 50k. I am aiming for 75k, and my personal goal for today was 22,616, so no matter what I am ahead! It's all very exciting. 

Thanks for reading! 

Life Update

I thought it would be good to do a general update on how things are going in the Clement home.
School has slowed down quite a bit for me. I actually only have one major deadline left before finals. Crazy! Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Justin. His school work has been picking up more, and he's spent several days recently staying up way later than I ever would doing homework. Somehow it always seems to work out though that when I have a lot of homework, he doesn't, and when he does, I don't. So right now, I'm keeping him fed, and I'm trying to keep the house in a semblance of order.
It is now November, and I'm sure you all know what that means. NaNoWriMo! I am once again participating, because I think it's grand fun. I'll try not to bother y'all with it too much, but hopefully there will be a word count widget on the side bar soon (once NaNoWriMo makes them for this year... not sure what the hold up is!). For those who are curious, my current word count after 5 days of writing (I give myself Sundays off) is 16,817. Best start I've ever had.
In other news, Justin and I have been released as Primary teachers. We are now Ward Missionaries. And I have no idea what that means, lol. We went to our first meeting a week and a half ago, and I felt rather out of the loop. One of the first things the Ward Mission Leader asked was whether I play the piano, so that secret is out now. I guess I need to get to work learning some of the Baptism songs.
And probably the biggest news in our lives right now... (I saved it for last on purpose, only people who suffer through all the boring stuff get rewarded with the interesting stuff!):
Justin's job search. He hasn't been given any offers yet, but this past Wednesday he had a third-round interview with Intel. If he gets the position, he will be a Supply Chain Analyst working out of Folsom, CA, just outside of Sacramento. So, yeah, we could be moving 13 hours away come January. Right now, it's the only company that's really pursuing him, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that it works out so that he has a job when he graduates. We should find out in the next couple of weeks.
And just for fun, and because of a passing comment Justin made, I am doing a Knee-Sock countdown to graduation. As of today, there are only 40 days until Justin and I graduate. I have 36 pairs of Knee-high socks, which means I can wear a different pair every day until we graduate, with only repeating or buying four pairs. (I'm leaning toward the buying side... you can never have enough!)
So basically, I'm going to wear a different pair of knee-high socks every day from now until we graduate, at which point I'll have to get some ASU knee highs to sport for the graduation festivities.
Here's day one (oh yes, I'm documenting the process):

Sundays

Sundays are exhausting. My calling wears me out. I am a sunbeams teacher, and today several of my sunbeams were gone due to spring break. I only had four kids. Should be nice and relaxed, right? Wrong. Normally we have 2 boys and about 4 girls on average. The girls help tame the boys, and it's usually okay. This week, we had 3 boys and 1 girl. It was one of the hardest weeks I've taught (I can think of 2 other times that are comparable).
Sundays don't just drain me physically though. They are so emotionally draining for me. I go to church hoping to feel uplifted and refreshed, and I end up coming home frustrated and close to tears. I won't go in to details on why, but I'll just say that I could really use some spirituality added to my Sundays. It's Fast Sunday in my stake (I know some did it before conference, we did it after), so I am challenging everyone who reads my blog to participate in a virtual Fast and Testimony meeting. Share your testimony on your blog, on facebook, through email, anything to share your testimony with those you love who don't get to hear it too often.
I'll start.
I would like to bear my testimony for all to see. I have a testimony in the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know that Christ lived on earth, that he suffered for my sins and trials, and that he died so I can be resurrected. I am so incredibly grateful for temples, and for the opportunity they give me to live with my family forever. I love my family so much, and I can't imagine being separated from them. I love my Savior, who is there for me when I need it, even if I don't know I need it, or even when I'm too dumb to ask for help. I am so grateful that he is there to comfort me when I am sad, to strengthen me when I am weak, and to place people in my life who are so kind and sensitive to my needs.
I am grateful for a living prophet and apostles who speak to us today. I am grateful for conference and the spiritual boost it gives me. I know the church was restored by a true prophet, and continues to be run by a true prophet. I know that he receives inspiration and direction from God. I know this because of all the small things in this church that help get me through life. I have a testimony of the strength gained from bearing testimony. I am so glad I have the opportunity to bear my testimony, even if I don't have the emotional strength to do so in church. I know Christ lives and loves me, and loves each of you.

Please bear your testimony today too. On your blog or in an email, share your testimony with someone you love so that you can feel the strength that comes from testifying of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Ta Da!

What do you think?

And the winner is...

And Mini More.
Mostly because it gets across the idea that my desserts will all be miniature, and I later have the opportunity to expand it to all foods mini (quiches, appetizers, any sort of food bites).
You guys are going to get sick of me though. I need more advice. I'm using Wordpress for this blog, and they don't have many blog background options, so I've had to kind of create my own. Which of these do you like the best?

1:

2: 

3: 

4:  

(Ignore the leaf picture on this one... I'll have a header there with a yummy looking food pic on it)

5:

What I really want to know is which color scheme you like best (1, 2 or 3) and whether you like the "washed out" look (1-3) or the solid look (4-5). To see them full size, just click on each picture.

Thanks again for your help! 

Bounty

There's something you need to know before I go on to today's post. My father is a winner. Almost any time he enters a giveaway, calls in to a radio station, you name it, he wins. Ashley and I got to go to a Backstreet Boys concert back when they were cool because of that. My mother, on the other hand, has the luck of a 2-leaf clover. She can't win a thing to save her life. 

I'm somewhere in between. 

If I try to win, I don't. But boy do I get a lot of free stuff. 

For example, when Justin and I got married, the only furniture we bought was a bed. Everything else we got free, either from Ashley and Zach or from various members of Justin's ward. We didn't buy any entertainment sources (TV from my friend Allison, DVD and VCR from somewhere, stereo I already had... you get it). 

This continues happening every so often. It's pretty much the most awesome thing ever. 

 Today, Justin had a Career Fair for Supply Chain Management Majors. He's on the SCMA (Supply Chain Management Association) executive board, so he helps with set up, take down, and generally just helping out where he's needed. After the actual Fair part of the evening (which went quite well... next up will be a series of interviews for him, then hopefully we'll know where he'll be working after we graduate!), a lot of the companies were trying to get rid of some of the stuff they brought to give away. They don't want to pay to fly it back to their headquarters. That's how we came into possession of the following: 

Fruit: Honeydew, cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberries, grapes, papaya (yes, papaya) - all pre-cut

Vegetables: Zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, green and red bellpeppers, cherry tomatoes (already ate all those) - all pre-cut

Cheese tray: 6 different kinds of cheese (cut into nice triangles) and a cream cheese dip

And that's just the perishables. Moving on to non-perishables... 

Behold, the bounty. Too much stuff? Too hard to see? How about some close-ups? 

A box of waterbottles and a box of 12 boxes of French Vanilla hot cocoa 

A box of popcorn and another box of 12 boxes of hot cocoa

Three layers of chips (what you see is just 1 layer)

Sunflower seeds 

Crunch n' Munch and more popcorn

That's the food. Oh, did you think I was done? Not quite. One more picture:

The non-food items.

It's a bit hard to see what all is there: more water, bandaids, blister pads, a yo-yo, chocolate, sponge-scrubby things, Scotch's version of Sham-Wow, 2 things of tape, ear plugs, post-it note flags (4 packs), wall mount hooks, 2 power bars, 2 bags, a fabric cupholder, and a pen. 

Yeah, we cleaned up. Did I mention how awesome it is to have a husband who helps clean up? Oh the blessings of service. 

P.S. Don't worry, we plan on sharing. 

P.P.S. Alison, one of the things I thought of that I never do: take pictures. How's this? :) 

Who knew it could be so hard?

Thank you all for your input on naming my mini desserts blog! It's been fun reading your ideas. This week I have to submit three options, then I will get feedback from my peers and teacher and make a final decision. I thought I'd keep you posted too, since you gave such good responses last week! And now, for the final three (though I'm still open to other options if you have something better):

And Mini More
Dessertlets
Oh My Ganache

I really liked Lori's Little Bits too, but for this I think I'd rather not have my name as part of it. But it does get an honorable mention :)

Feel free to vote on which of these three you like best.

Dilemma

Before asking for help, I just wanted to let you all know that Justin got a job! Hooray! He's working at A+ Book Fairs, a company that organizes book fairs for schools. It's not his ideal job, obviously, but his manager knows it's temporary and is happy to have him for the semester, and we're happy to have income!

Now I need your help. I'm taking a blogging class (yes, you read that right), and I have to create a new blog for it. My teacher wants the topic to be really narrow, so I'm doing mini desserts. I'm super excited, because I love baking mini desserts, but next week I have to come up with a name for it, and I'm stuck! Here's a few I've come up with:

Dessertlets (like tartlets)*
Small and Sweet
The Sweet Spot
Mini Morsels
Bit by Bite*
(EDITED AT 4:30 TO ADD:)
And Mini More*

*On my list of Favorites

I'm not in love with any of them. My favorite so far is Dessertlets, because it's the most creative, and Bit by Bite is growing on me. I need something that's a winner though, so I'm taking any and all suggestions. I'm no good at this creative name thing! If you can't think of anything creative, at least let me know which of my ideas you like the best. Thanks so much!

All Grown Up

I'm starting to realize that being a grown up isn't all it's cracked up to be. Okay, I realized this a while ago, but now I'm facing harder trials and tougher decisions than ever before.

Justin's internship with Avnet is officially over. It was a great experience, and he loved working there. His manager thinks he is the greatest thing, and would very willingly offer him a part time job during the semester, and a full time job after graduation. His manager's boss agrees. Unfortunately, if you've looked at the stock market recently, it won't really come as a surprise that Avnet has a hiring freeze right now. What horrible timing! As things are slowly evening out, Justin's higher-ups think they'll be able to offer him a job in the next few weeks. We are praying that this happens, but since bills don't stop coming in just because you're in between jobs, we're also looking for other work for him.We're still hoping Avnet offers something before we find a job elsewhere. (P.S. If anyone knows of places that are hiring, we'd appreciate any help! Job hunting is no fun)

Anyway, that's what's been occupying our minds lately. I'm also trying to work out what on earth I'm going to do when I graduate. Should I be a stay-at-home wife and work on getting one of my novels published? Should I try and find a job that I might end up having to leave whenever we end up starting our family? If I look for a job, where should I look? By the way, if anyone has answers to all of these questions, feel free to share with me! :-)

I guess I don't need to burden you guys anymore with all of my own burdens. So I'll recap some of the fun things we've been up to lately!

Last Friday, Avnet took all the Interns and a few others to the Diamonbacks game. It was awesome! I don't like sports, but I had a ball! They spent $5000 for food catering, so I spent the evening eating my way from one end of the suite (That's right - suite) to the other. I even got some inspiration for a chocolate cake I want to try and make now!

This week we've had lots of free time (the Writing Center is closed now until school starts back up, so we've both been off work), so on Wednesday we went for an adventure. We hopped in the car and drove east. We ended up exploring Globe and Miami. Did you know that there are 11 antique shops on Miami's Main street? Justin really wanted to explore the Pickle Barrel Trading Post in Globe, so we spent a good 45 minutes looking at all of their interesting merchandise. Sadly, we couldn't justify spending 35 dollars on the typewriter we found there (I've wanted one for as long as I can remember!), so I've informed Justin that Craigslist is a good place to look, in case he wants to get me one for Christmas :-)

Yes, that guy is drumming upside down, and doing it very well

On Thursday, we spent the afternoon in the movie theatre watching Drum Corps Quarterfinals. Every year they broadcast is to theatres, and we really enjoy being able to watch the really impressive Corps at work. Obviously it's much better live, but very few corps travel to AZ for a performance.

Yesterday, Ashley and Zach went to the temple and asked Justin and me to babysit Madie. Boy is she a cutie! She also wears me out! I had a blast spending the afternoon with her.

Next week, I have training Monday through Wednesday for tutoring and for the class I'm teaching this semester, then school starts on Thursday! I'm ready for school to start, even though I didn't get nearly as much done over the summer as I hoped. Still, I'm definitely okay with the end of this summer, and hoping that the next few months are as good as I think they'll be!

Sorry for such a long post, but thanks for reading if you made it to the end!

Summer

I'm ready to say goodbye. I'm ready to say hello to fun cobweb decorations, adorable baked goods, and the excitement of Christmas approaching. I'm ready to wave fairwell to the hot, humid weather, the endless days, the boredom at work. I'm ready for Fall! Anybody else? I know many adults dread the approach of Christmas with all the present-buying and constant nagging from children: how many days left? Can I have this for Christmas?

I don't know if I'm different because I don't have any children yet, or because I just genuinely love the spirit of the holidays. Everyone is so much more cheerful! I love thinking of things that I know my loved ones will like. I love putting up decorations (taking down is another story), delivering baked goods to friends and neighbors, and spending wonderfully ridiculous amounts of time with family.

You know what? Michael's already has Christmas stuff out. Does that mean I can start decorating? Please?? I don't know, maybe I'd get sick of Christmas decorations being up for 144 days... Probably not.

Well, for those of you out there with the summer blues, here's some holiday cheer:

Graduating Soon!

See that awesome pie chart? How it's all filled in with green? That means that I am almost ready to graduate! Everything is completed except what is in progress- the classes I'm taking this semester. I'm so excited!!! 

This is what I did today:

It's for a competition called Threadcakes, you can view my submission, including extra photos of the process, here.

Camp NaNoWriMo

So, you know all those weird blog posts from October/November of last year about me thinking I can write a novel in a month? Well, the organization that created nanowrimo (national novel writing month) has just unveiled a new program: CAMP NaNoWriMo! Basically, it's nanowrimo, but in the summer. So, starting tomorrow, I'm again going to try to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. And I'm VERY excited!

The thing is, my life has been pretty boring this summer. Summer school, tutoring, and lots of time on the internet and reading Harry Potter. This will give me a fun project to work on, and I've already got an idea for a plot!

Since I'm pretty sure all my readers are LDS, I can just say this: it's based on the book of Ether, during all those wars when brothers were killing brothers, sons capturing and imprisoning fathers, and just lots of great story-inspiring events are happening. My story will include murder, war, secret societies (aka combinations), revenge, politics, and lots of other juicy stuff. Like I said, I'm very excited.

I'll be sure to keep you guys posted on my progress (even though most of you probably get sick of those posts. Too bad!), and at the end of the month maybe I'll even give you an excerpt to read! Maybe. If I'm feeling nice. :-)

Thanks for reading!

1 Down, 2 To Go!

I am officially finished with one of my online summer classes. It's supposed to end at the end of the month, but my teacher allows us to work ahead. After our family reunion in Tucson this past weekend, I didn't really feel like doing much housework on Monday. So, to keep myself from feeling guilty about being lazy, I did my online class. Pretty much all of it, on Monday. Yesterday I finished up one thing I had left to do, and now I'm officially done!

Now I have more time to focus on my biology class, which is actually turning out to be kind of fun. This last week we talked about Chemistry and Physics stuff, which was nice since I took both of those in high school. Next week its back to Biology stuff, with Enzymes and Photosynthesis. I'm actually learning quite a bit since I never took Bio in high school. Just for fun, here's a picture of what I did this week:

This is what happens when Glucose and Fructose combine: Sucrose! Also known as sugar. Yum.

Right now I'm at work. My first appointment of the day just cancelled, so I have a half hour to myself. Should be pretty slow since it's a Friday. Who wants to get tutoring on a Friday during the summer? No one!

Well, there really isn't too much going on in my life right now. I made a skirt and matching purse last week, but I keep forgetting to take pictures. I'll try to remember to do that tonight. Monday I'm planning on my first attempt at making bread, hoping that will go well. Other than that, I mostly just feel like everyone I know is pregnant. It seems like every week or two I find out about another pregnant lady! I just have to keep reminding myself that my time will come, and that we made the right decision waiting to finish school before having kids. I really am glad that I'll be able to graduate. I think education is incredibly important, and this will show my future children just how much I value it.

Straight A's?!

For several weeks, I've been waiting on one grade to post. All of my other grades for the Spring semester posted ages ago, but apparently one teacher got sick, so he was unable to submit the grades by the due date. But this weekend, they finally posted! I was expecting a B or B+ (it was mainly just a class to get another 3 credits, I wasn't actually invested in it, so I slacked off a little. Or a lot. Whatever.), and was very surprised to see it post as an A! That means that out of my 5 classes, I got 3 A's and 2 A+'s, my best semester at ASU ever (better even than my first semester, where I got 4 A's and 1 A+)! I was quite pleased, and am still a little surprised!

Justin's internship has been going very well. He loves Avnet, and is very excited to continue working there over the summer. Last week was mainly training, he didn't even meet his managers at all last week. He met a lot of high up executives though, including the guy who will become the CEO in a month! The group of interns also did some community service on Thursday, and I was allowed to tag along. We went to St. Mary's Food Bank in Phoenix and worked on an assembly line for a few hours. It was fun, and really awesome to see how much Avnet cares about the community. They have five core values that all of their employees try to remember: Integrity, team work, customer service, accountability, and innovation. I think it's great that integrity and accountability (incidentally also two of the young women's values) are among their top five! 

This past weekend, my family had a Bag-Of-Crap-Opening Party! My dad won a Bag of Crap on Woot.com (it's a big deal), so we had a party to open it. We started at my house for appetizers:

I made these cute little ladybug crackers. They were REALLY good when I first made them, but the crackers got soggy after sitting in the fridge for a little while, so I was a big disappointed with how they turned out in the end. I also wish I could have found rounder tomatoes. Oh well, they were still pretty cute. 

After appetizers, we went to my parents' house for swimming, bbq, and fireworks! We also opened the box while there, and it was full of some pretty random stuff, including pet combs, a snuggie, and a batman helicopter. 

Monday, in addition to being Memorial Day, was mine and Justin's two year anniversary. I can't believe it's been two years! Sometimes it feels like we've been married forever, other times like it's hardly been any time at all. It's been a fantastic two years though, and I'm so glad to be blessed with Justin as a husband. He really takes care of me and is there for me when I need it, and I love doing things for him! It's so fun to pack him a lunch and hide some little surprise in there for him (today it was a yummy chocolate!). He truly is a good man, and I'm really proud of all he is trying to achieve. 

Today, summer ends for me. I start two online classes today, and they'll definitely keep me busy! One of them is five weeks, and should be fairly easy. The other is a science class, it's eight weeks, and will be quite a bit of work. At least I won't get bored! 

That's all my updates for now. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! 

Blueberry Pancakes!

I couldn't think of a clever title for today's blog post.

Today is Justin's first day at his internship! He is now officially a Supply Chain Analyst with Avnet. He was very excited to start, we even bought him some new dress clothes so he can look nice and sharp :) Here's where the title comes in - I asked him what he wanted for breakfast on his first day, and that was his request. I was expecting something like monkey bread, or something that's less common than pancakes (we had pancakes about a week ago), but that's what the man asked for.

With today being his first day at work, it is also my first day at home. Alone. All day. Without a car. Good thing I'm not too dependent on interactions with other humans. Give me a good book and I'm happy :) Although I am glad that I only have one week before my summer school starts and the writing center opens again.

What am I going to do with my first full day to myself? Hold on to your hats here, this is big...


Clean! That's right, clean. I already tackled the bedroom, and I didn't just put away clothes and make the bed. I cleaned off the dresser, I organized my nightstand, I even put all of my necklaces back into my jewelry box. Okay, so it's still not really that big of a deal, but when you're used to spending all your free time doing homework, it's stuff that doesn't happen very often.

I was going to tell you about all the other things I'll be cleaning today, but I was getting bored writing it, so I can't imagine you'd enjoy reading it. Instead, I'll share some pictures of desserts I plan to make at some point over summer:

Chocolate Pâté with Crème Chaud-Froid

This recipe intrigues me. Usually pâté is gross meat product, but this is apparently like a chocolate mousse that you can slice. 

Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Cheesecake

I've got quite a few cheesecakes I want to make (it IS my favorite dessert after all!), and this one definitely makes the list! Chocolate cake, layers of Cheesecake, peanut butter... how can you go wrong? 

Chocolate Mint Cheesecake

Another classic combination: chocolate and mint. In Cheesecake form! 

Chocolate Toffee Cheesecake

I warned you about the cheesecake. :) 

Eggplant Parmesan

They can't all be sweets. I've wanted to try my hand at eggplant parmesan for quite some time, and eggplant was on sale this week! I've got one sitting in my fridge waiting for me :)

Homemade Bread

Over spring break I really wanted to try making homemade bread, but just didn't get around to it. On my last post, Ruth suggested making bread, and it reminded me that I've wanted to for quite some time! 

Six-Layer Cake

Mine will be chocolate though. I've never made a successful layer cake (probably due to the fact that I've only tried once, and I was like, 14), so I want to try my hand at it again. And as long as I'm doing layers, why stop at two or three? 

Lasagna

Lasagna just tastes WAY better homemade, but I've never had the courage to try it. I'll probably make a few phone calls to my mother for help with this one. Her lasagna is SUPER yummy! 

Well, summer's just beginning, and as you can see I've got lots of new things I want to try. I'll keep you posted on how these turn out as I make them.

By the way, if you want to check out a dessert I've already made during my break, stop on by my crafting blog: www.creatingis.blogspot.com. Here's a little foreshadowing of what you'll find there: 

Thanks for stopping by!