New Blog

I will no longer be posting on this blog. I refer you to www.lovinthenamechange.blogspot.com

I'm a graduate!!! NOT

Oh I wish that picture had come out clearly. It's PERFECT otherwise. Right now it would be the perfect background for a graduation announcement with a vellum sheet over it.

On Tuesday I graduated from CSUN with a bachelor of science degree in physics. They graciously allowed me to walk this May even though I don't finish school until December. If I had had to wait until NEXT spring to walk like they usually make December-finishers, I wouldn't have been able to walk and celebrate with my fellow schoolmates. I'm so glad I got to participate in commencement with the physics class of six students that I've studied and worked with for the past four years.

This is Christina, my best school friend. We're always study partners, lab partners, and now we're interns together for the same company and work in close conjunction with each other.

Heather and I are now both CSUN graduates! She graduated with a degree in history.

Brent's best friend Mike came to the graduation too. All three of us in this picture are CSUN graduates, as Mike graduated with a degree in business.

My bro and sister-in-law (and their bun-in-the-oven) came to watch and celebrate also,

as did my loving parents, no surprise,

and for some reason I didn't get a picture in my cap and gown with my parents- and brother-in-law, though they came to watch and celebrate also.

For a dinner celebration after the ceremony I requested The 94th Aero Squadron, a four to five star restaurant (in my estimates) that you would never guess is in the most obscure industrial-looking area of the San Fernando Valley. The theme of the restaurant makes the atmosphere so fun and the windows open up to the runway of the Van Nuys airport, so as you're eating dinner you get to watch planes take off and land to the backdrop of a brilliant sunset. I had a filet mignon which was excellent. I highly recommend this place, though it's pretty darn pricey.

Oh I forgot to post this picture earlier. This is my favorite physics professor at CSUN: Dr. Duane Doty. He's infamous among all CSUN students for the way he piles on unsolveable homework at a madman's pace, and yet you learn more under him than under any other professor. We're quite good friends now and plan to keep in touch even after I've left CSUN for good.

And Rita and I were being silly here after our delicious dinner. Brent gets a little creeped with I push my nose up like a pig...people hardly recognize me when I do so and give a little flirty wink. ;)

Me and my hubby.

I started full-time work at Spectrolab the day before my graduation. I am CRAZY about my job! I love the people I work with, I love the tasks I'm given, I love the relaxed hours and my ability to change my schedule any given week without authority from my bosses. It's awesome.

I think I caught a good one.

Yesterday poor Brent came home to a dark apartment with no wife bustling in the kitchen finishing up dinner as usual. Instead he saw her keys on the kitchen table, proof that she was home, but couldn't see any other signs of life when he walked through the door. He checked the bathroom and bedroom but both were dark and she wasn't there. He finally checked the living room and there she was fast asleep on the couch. He hugged her and kissed her and asked if she was ok, and she groggily asked if he would like her to make him some dinner. He said no and said she should continue sleeping.

So I really have not been sleeping well lately, for the past week, maybe a little less. Not sure why. Anyways, I think it caught up to me when I got home from school yesterday and at 4:36 pm decided that since I was having trouble keeping my eyes open, I was going to take a fifteen minute refresher-nap. I set my alarm for 4:51. I didn't wake up until 7:45. 

I went to bed again around 10:30 or 11 and had another very fitful, non-refreshing night of sleep. I woke up with a headache and a stiff neck. I told Brent of my discomforts, especially my lack of good nights' rests of late, and he asked me what my schedule for the day was. I was a little confused why he would ask me that then, but I answered.

"I have a class from 1 to 2, so I was going to work on my physics paper in the morning, go to class, and then come home and do chores."

He thought for a moment and then asked, "Would those chores include doing to laundry?"

Because I've designated Friday as laundry day, I answered, "Yes."

He replied, "Well then, don't do the laundry, let me do it tomorrow and with the time you save today, take a nap."

I think he's the sweetest thing that ever lived. I thanked him and asked if I MUST spend my extra time on a nap...couldn't I work on my physics paper more? He answered with a definitive NO, saying that my sleep mattered more to him than any paper that was due.

I love him. :)

Somethin' I keep forgetting to mention.

Spectrolab hired me! I'm not sure when I start. I sent my acceptance of the position to them this morning, and they're currently running a background check on me as Spectrolab is a Boeing company and there are a few security issues. Then drug-testing, safety training day, and then I work according to my schedule 10-20 hours a week until the summer when I'll be authorized up to 40 hours a week!

So praise God! He is SO faithful to Brent and me. Every time we've run into a financial "scare" since we've been married, we just have to think how faithful He's been in providing for us to get married in the first place with a roof of our own over our heads. If he hadn't gotten his full-time job last October, life would have looked much different for us today. We probably would have been renting a room from on of our parents. :) But God intervened, as He does and did with my job at Spectrolab, and did again today in the form of a raise for Brent at work!

Sorry for the delay in the sharing of good news, Aunt Missy. :)

Our Home

FIRST, ON MOTHERS

They're great. At least mine is. I called my mom up on Friday evening to ask her if she could come the next day to help me with a project I've been meaning to get to for a long time now. Without hesitating she agreed to give up her Saturday to come help me.

This is the fruit of our labor:

The comforter on the bed is what I'm trying to draw your attention to. It's a duvee cover that holds inside a feather comforter that is much less wide than the cover itself. Therefore, for the three and a half months that I've been sleeping in this bed, the feather comforter has been swimming in the duvee cover...it's miserable, because either Brent has all the feather comfort, or I do. It's always lopsided. 

So my mom came over and together we figured out how to fasten the comforter in place inside the cover with velcro strips. Hurray! Problem solved! Now Brent and I can have a full night's sleep under the comforter and make the bed in the morning without having to deal with a swimming feather blanket. My mom brought her sewing machine over to my home and did 95% of the work for this project while I helped where I could and worked on other projects in my home.

Another project we worked on together was a decorative pillow case for a body pillow that I don't use for sleeping. She made the case, I applied the buttons. I think it turned out cute!

Thank you so much for your sacrificial help, mom! Had tons of fun with you in my house!

OUR HOME

So when I started taking pictures of our bedroom to show off the above-named projects, it became apparent to me that now is as good of a time as ever to show you the home that Brent and I have set up. I always intended to show you our place, but you must understand that the moment the apartment became my home I had a vision for the way each and every square foot of the place could and should look. I wanted to take pictures of our home for the blog not only when our place was spanking clean, but also when all of the homey projects and decorations I had in mind were finished. Today I realized that might never happen because girls from the Hays family seem to always have new cute homey projects in mind. I think my home will be a constant project. And, I must admit, even many of the basics of our apartment aren't set up yet, meaning many frames are still stacked on dressers without pictures in them, entire dressers and wall spaces have no homey aspects on them other than the clutter associated with "moving," etc. We just haven't had the time to finish everything up yet. But without further adu (have no idea if that's spelled correctly, but feeling a little uninspired to look up the word), here is our home, as of right now. :)

The shelf on "my" side of the bedroom:

(The pile of purses to the left of the shelf will soon be hung on the wall, as soon as I buy the screws needed to hang a cute purse hangy thingy from Anthropologie (thanks to Amanda and friends!).)

"My" dresser:

The vanity/hallway:

Our bathroom:
Our entryway, complete with a frame from Sara Mallon, a vase from Mrs Schultz, a frame from my Aunt Terri, a table from my mom, and a guest book for all of the houseguests of our first year to sign their names:
The keyrack in our entryway, from Amanda and friends:
The dining area:
In this pic I see two aprons I got at my shower, salt and pepper shakers from my grandma and grandpa, frames from Ruth and Amanda and friends, placemats from one of Brent's aunts, and a table from my in-laws! Most newlyweds can probably look around their home and list many people they have to thank for the things in it that help to make it a home. I sure do!

My cozy kitchen:
The most disorderly place of the apartment (excluding Brent's desk) is my schoolwork area below the counter in the living room:
Shelves in the living room:
A nice view of our living room:

And that's our place! Hope you enjoyed the visit!

REAL Giveaway

So I'm sorry if the title of my last post and its following content raised your hopes and then dashed them. Hayley was just being selfish again. :)

But Casey and Alicia, my friends and the makers of Good Clean Soap, are being generous. They're giving away three bars of their all-natural soap, plus a wooden soap dish with the trio! Go here to find out how to enter the blog giveaway.

Luv you guys, Theules.

Blog Giveaway

So I'm gonna join in on the fun. Except on my blog, the rules are flipped. Instead of me posting about something I'M gonna give away, I'm posting about this recipe journal that the winner of the giveaway gets to buy me. All you have to do to enter is make a comment, even if you live outside the US, and if you win the drawing then I'll expect a package in the mail from you any week.

Ok ok, so life doesn't work that way. :) But I think this post emphasizes how much I like these recipe journals from Paperchase. There are tabs inside that divide up the different recipe categories and really cool pages on which to write your recipes, even folders to hold the recipes you haven't had time yet to copy down! I love it. I linger in the journal section every time I go to Borders ever since one of my crazy cooking friends showed hers to me.