my rose tinted world

The Big Move

2011-04-03T16:57:00.003-04:00

Where to start, where to start?

We moved to Washington. Thats a good place to start, right? It has been both really, really cool and really, really hard at the same time. We are broke, but that is to be expected when you first start to live the life of an artist. I am so proud of my Monkey!! He is pursuing the life he wants, and as frustrated as he gets, he still is a great father and husband. I am going to be taking the state boards again (lame) in WA because they don't recognize my active license.

We are living in a cabin on the beach which is very fitting for a small family of starving artists! I love it! I have worked all winter to get the yard in good condition for the spring. I am very excited for all my flowers!

We don't have internet at the cabin yet so it will be a little while till I can update again.

Dont lose faith in me! I will be back as soon as I can.

Here is a photo of Lala to keep you at bay, until next time.

p.s. She is talking in sentences and starting to potty train herself!! How did I get so stinkin' lucky!?!?!

Update!

2010-05-30T10:47:00.010-04:00

I cant believe so much time has passed since my last post! How the heck did that happen?! Lavender has 4 almost 5 new teeth now and is too stinkin' cute for her own good. A while ago I started working at the David Douglas Salon part time and love it there. It is a good fit. Luckily I did start working there because a few weeks ago Adam got laid off and is now looking for work wherever we can find it. My boss was pleased to hear that I wanted more hours so now I am working almost full time.

Luckily we have this beautiful little girl to keep us occupied! It's hard to not be happy when she smiles at you like this!!

Showing off my 2 bottom teeth. I have 2 on top to match now!

Love this one!!

Thank you Auntie Melinda for my cute swimsuit! It fits perfect now!

I love this little sideways look. She does it to her Papa a lot. Too cute!!

For Cora

2010-04-07T18:14:00.002-04:00

Valentine's Day

2010-02-25T16:32:00.005-05:00

Yeah yeah! I know I'm 2 weeks late! This past Valentine's Day marked our 6 year anniversary. I cant believe how time has flown! We did nothing special and enjoyed every minute of it!

These were our V-day outfits! We HAD to wear pink and red! I don't have much to say things are much of the same around here but I may be getting some work soon. I'll keep you posted.

Here is a little video of Adam playing with Lala. He can really get her giggling! I love it!

Cuteness

2010-02-13T13:37:00.004-05:00

I needed to post this. This is her favorite thing. She gets her bouncer going so hard that her head gets bounced off of it! Plus I caught her favorite sound on film! It was a lucky shot, and I needed to show it off. :P

The Little Things

2010-02-08T14:30:00.004-05:00

Almost two months ago I was washing a load of laundry when I smelt burnt rubber. I went running to the source of the smell (our bathroom/laundry room) and opened the door to a room full of smoke. It made our whole apartment stink! I opened all the windows and Lala and I hung out in our winter coats and snuggled in blankets for an hour. Losing something like a washer in an area that isn't exactly polluted with laundromats, is quite traumatic. Of course I had a great time going to my sisters house to use her washer but its just not the same. There are things that needed washing that got put on hold because of the inconvenience of it. The floor mats for example.

So here I am on this beautiful monday morn*-wait.. its afternoon already? er.... beautiful Monday afternoon, my shower curtain is soaking in the washer while my jeans are in the dryer. Lala is snoozing, the washer and dryer are humming from behind the bathroom door, I'm sitting down to have some lunch and update my resume. (side bar: I found a salon to work in)

Today is a good day to stop and appreciate what I have. What little things did you notice today?

my lonely shower curtain hooks. I think they are pretty, and I love the shadow behind.

My Top 10

2010-01-28T17:06:00.007-05:00

I have been blog surfing and I have seen a few people making a Top 10 list of either things from '09 or a list of resolutions for '10. I have always thought it is a good idea to write goals down to help your sub-conscience remember. Since I am a new Mamma, I am turning over a new leaf and this is the first time I am making New Years resolutions. I don't know if I can accomplish all ten but I may as well try, right? So here they are in the order that they pop into my head:

1. I am going to knit a sweater for myself. I have knitted many things for friends and family but nothing for myself.

2. I am going to make pillow covers for the pillows on my couch.

3. I am going to copy the smock that my Sis-in-law gave me and make me another one that doesn't have asian cartoon characters on it... and isn't lime green. :)

4. Knit, knit, knit! I want to design things. or see something and figure out how to make it (generally) so I will need to get more practice!

5. Spin, spin, spin! Right now I have 2 garbage bags full of unspun yarn under my couch. I really want to felt with the short staple and...

6. I want to pick, clean, dye and maybe even spin (if I'm not biting off more than I can chew).

7. Really?! Am I only on 7?... I am going to stock my kitchen with the dishes I want and the utensils I want. I don't own a muffin tin, and my 1 cookie sheet is kinda pathetic.

8. I am going to stock up my family's food storage. Which means I will be canning like crazy this summer!

9. I'm running out of ideas! This one involves my sisters photographic expertise. I am going to take a ton of gorgeous advertisement photos for my parents jewelry business Walker Goldsmiths. I have a bunch of ideas already, I just need to put them into action.

10. I am going to go outside!! I want to make more of an effort to enjoy the parks and canyons around where I live. Its one of the reasons Adam and I moved here so I should enjoy it!

There you have it folks! This post actually took me 2 days to write. I thought 10 would be easy but it turned out to be more difficult than I had thought.

What are you goals for this year?

and here's a pic of Lala enjoying her sink bath... just because she's so damn cute!!!

My name is Olea, and I'm a knitter.

2010-01-24T00:55:00.005-05:00

Over the last few years I taught myself how to knit and I LOVE it. This Christmas I made Christmas gifts for the Stier family and have a bunch of projects for friends and family I'm working on now. Up until recently I have followed patterns I've found online and if I ran into something I didnt know how to do it would be a learning experience. Here is a hat I saw a picture of and came home and knit. It was the first time I've been able to do that! Yay!! It is very simple and I got to practice grafting (I just learned how) plus I got to make pom poms for the first time.

I'm sending this hat to my niece Cora. I think it will be perfect for her!

More of my crafty creations to come, I'm sure of it.

Christmas time is come and gone

2009-12-21T12:04:00.011-05:00

I love Christmas!!

This year I was challenged to bring the feeling of Christmas into my home. It was difficult. With me not working the funds are low and with a baby who doesn't know the difference yet it was up to me to participate in all things Christmas that we could. I usually have no problem with giving instead of getting but this year I couldn't just go buy a gift for someone. For a while this bothered me. Then I started seeing all kind of homemade goodies everywhere and thought about how much I love getting goodies at Christmas from people. So this year was my year to bake!!

I had SO much fun!!

Here are some pictures of my baking goodness:

Pumpkin Choc. Chunk Cookies

My first attempt at fudge!

Adam gave me a Christmas Bouquet

Our little tree

Dear Lavender

2009-12-01T00:41:00.005-05:00

I am completely and utterly in love with you.

I love everything about you.

I love your wispy soft hair.

I love your long scratchy fingernails.

I love your squishy chunky thighs.

I love your clammy feet.

I love the smell of your breath.

I love your breathy laugh.

I love that you get happy and smile and kick when you see me.

I love that you twist your fingers in my hair.

I love your ear-bleeding squeals.

I love your snores.

I love that you 'talk' to your papa more than anyone else.

I love your bottom lip when you cry.

I love the way you make my home feel.

I love that you turned me into your mama.

I love you, and I always will.

AAAAHH!

2009-11-25T19:08:00.009-05:00

Lavender found her thumb! Hopefully she wont suck her thumb till she's 10 like I did! Oh well, I guess there are worse habits she could have!

Here are a few videos or your viewing pleasure.

Aunty Melinda put lipstick on me!

Give us a kiss!

All the Goings On!

2009-11-22T22:41:00.008-05:00

We have had lots of family coming and going over the last few weeks and have enjoyed every minute of it! After Glen left, Adam's mom, Marilyn came to visit, then it was Owen and Melinda, then Shanon and Matt and kids. Also my parents came and so did Sariah and Cora. Everyone was here for Lavender's baby blessing. We have had a blast! I know it really meant so much to Adam that his family that could make it, did. He misses them a lot! One of the days we took them all to the Hot Pots in Midway. Everyone had a blast! They were SO hot that everyone had to stand out in the FREEZING weather to cool down. Here are some pictures from the day.

This was too cute to not post. Cora's little bum about to jump back into the springs.
This is Adam's sister Shanon, her husband Matt and their children Cameron and Ashton. We had a lot of fun with them. We miss them SOOOO much!!

I would like to point out... I made Lala's blessing dress. I got some instruction from Jessica but am very proud of the dress. It turned out so well!! Me and the parents at the blessing.

I love this pic even though its blurry. For some reason my camera was being weird. Adam's mom is having a conversation with Lala.

I was so blown away at the amount of family that came to her blessing. It really floored me and made me realize that I need to make more of an effort to show appreciation for them. I need to not forget the little things that i love to get from friends and family so much and reciprocate. I've never tried to keep/make a new years resolution but this year I am going to. We'll see how attempt number one works out.

I am so thankful for my family, for their love for me and their willingness to express it.

I will post some more pictures and video of hanging out with O-dog and Mel soon... I promise.

thats life

2009-10-21T11:01:00.003-04:00

Lala loves her Papa!
Lavender has sensitive skin. She has a spot of infected eczema on the back of her neck. Of course it got really bad and itchy on saturday. She hardly slept at all that night. On monday we went to see her doctor, got some ointment for it and by saturday night she was smiling at her Papa. When I saw her smile I realized that she hadn't smiled for 2 days. How awful to not see my baby smile for 2 whole days! I was upset that it took so long for me to notice.

Anyway, Adam's dad has been here visiting. Its been nice having someone make breakfast for me every morning but I fear that Lavender has totally been spoiled and will scream when she gets put down. Its hard to tell a grandparent to stop picking up their grand daughter... its been a long week in this little apartment.

Momma-hood

2009-10-14T17:09:00.009-04:00

Who would have thought that I would love this so much? Sure it is hard and I miss communicating with adults. Shame on me for doubting that I would enjoy this! The funny thing is that I'm not just enjoying the mothering part of it. I'm having a good time becoming a better homemaker... I know... Olea?! a homemaker?!

I have been successfully following through on my promise to myself; that I would learn how to cook (and do so more often) once I was staying at home more. The internet sure helps! I have been looking up ideas and recipes and they have been turning out pretty good if I say so myself! I'm rather proud of it actually. Here are some pictures of Lavender for your viewing pleasure

Say what?

Camouflage.

You talkin' to me?

Lavender enjoying her Baby Einstein dvd. It amazes me how much she likes them. Her favorites are the Baby's first signs, Baby Beethoven, and Baby Mozart.

Our trip to the Doctor!

2009-09-28T21:12:00.008-04:00

Lavender has eczema!! You can kind of see all the little red spots on her tummy and her entire neck is red and rough. It started a few weeks or so ago. I had been putting apricot kernel oil on her and that kept it at bay but did not seem to make it go away. I made the mistake of switching to baby oil and BOOM! breakout... Plus she got her first set of shots. She did really well, only screamed for the second shot (the nurse said that is the one that stings). But she recovered very well and has been sleeping and snuggling her mama and papa all day! Its so hard to see her uncomfortable! As the day has progressed I have been putting Eucerin on her and the redness is starting to fade a bit. We'll see how the bath helps tonight!

On a better note.. she is 13lbs and 25in. She gained 2.5 lbs and 2in. in the last month!! 2 inches is a lot!! She is at a 93%. But did anyone doubt that she would be a big girl? I didn't think so.

Busy,Busy,Busy

2009-09-26T23:37:00.009-04:00

Today Lavender took her first bottle! This gives me hope that I may be able to work in a salon soon. Also, since I no longer work at Telos I colored my hair back to the way I like it, dark with a fuschia streak. I feel like myself again!

A week ago I was able to go visit my family in Washington. It was a spur of the moment trip when my Mother called and said she needed help canning 250 pounds of smoked salmon. I had a blast! Here are some pictures from my trip.

Here is my mom with a VERY small portion of the salmon.

This is my Dad showing all the grandkids how the apple press works. They were very involved in the process and were in charge of throwing the apples into the top while Grandad cranked.

Here is Grandad with Lala. She is trying to figure him out!

Here is my beautiful sister Sariah playing with Lavender in my parents backyard. (Lala looks like a podling from The Dark Crystal.)

The Many Faces of Lavender

2009-09-08T14:59:00.007-04:00

I can't believe how big she is! She is learning new facial expressions and likes to stare and Adam and try to make his faces. We cant get enough of her!

Lala loves being in her Papa's arms!
I almost caught her smiling in this one!
This is my impression of an old man!

Her trip to the Farmers Market in Papa's arms.

Give us a Kiss!

I'm a Mom...

2009-08-17T16:27:00.004-04:00

At least once a day you hear this in my house:

Me to Adam: Dude....I'm a Mom.

Adam: Dude... I know.

Me: I pushed that (point at Lavender) out of my vagina.

Adam: I know... I saw it.

Me: ...Weird.

Adam: ...Weird.

I do have to admit that I am taking to being a mom much more than I thought I would. On top of that I am TOTALLY surprised at how much this little girl poops! She is seriously a high production poop factory.

I still need to take her for her first well baby visit so I dont know how much she weighs right now but she seems to be getting some more rolls.

Lavender Matisse Mills

2009-07-29T14:40:00.002-04:00

Well she is here at last! Our beautiful girl was born on July 24. She was a wopping 9lbs and 22in long. I was in labor for 8 hours all together. Not too shabby.

We are both doing really well, and are actually leaving tomorrow morning to drive up to northern Idaho to the big family reunion! It is going to be an adventure for all three of us!

Adam is trying so hard to get some sleep whenever he can because he is working his butt off for us. More pics to come soon!

Due Date!!

2009-07-16T18:10:00.005-04:00

Well its finally here... I think someone forgot to tell the baby! My mom arrived this morning and came with me to the midwives' to get checked up. I'm having contractions but nothing really serious. Trying to stay active to 'encourage' this little girl to come on out.

We are SO ready. I'm not just saying that because I'm sick of being pregnant. Adam and I are as ready as we can be. We have the clothes, the diapers, we re-arranged the apt. Really.. we are ready!

So here are 2 photos of 'the belly' one is one of the first ones ever taken the next it the most recent ones.

Did I miss something?!?

2009-05-28T10:32:00.002-04:00

Well, well, well.... I'm here!! I had almost completely forgotten about this little page, much to the chagrin of my Mother, I'm sure. I guess I should spark this thing up again since I will be spending more time at home soon enough.

So... here I am sitting at home in front of this computer drinking liquid goodness (roastarama) and eating peanut butter toast wondering what there is to really wright about. I haven't done anything really exciting, except grow a life in my abdomen. Its getting big by the way. My abdomen.... not the life... well, I guess it is too... kinda connected. Anyway, I am looking forward to going on maternity leave because I am getting exhausted at work. I don't know how other women do it! Maybe if I sat down all day I wouldn't mind but running around the Academy is kicking my butt!

Adam is working at the foundry still and loves it for the most part, besides a pinched nerve in his shoulder.

We started our hypnobirthing classes last week and we are both really excited about it. 33 weeks today... not much time left. I should probably try to gather more things that we need. I'm procrastinating of course.

Wow...I'm kind of boring.

I will end this with the hope that it will be more interesting for others to read when I write next... and soon, I hope. :)

Winter

2008-11-13T20:41:00.005-05:00

I know, I know I haven't posted in forever. I keep thinking about it if that helps..? No? Well *shrug* whatever.

The other day I went with Jessica to get out Christmas tree tags so we can cut down a Christmas tree this year. Super excited about that. We came prepared to wait in line for hours but instead were given a bracelet to come back sometime before 11:00. So we went for a drive looking at some houses for fun and went to breakfast with the boys. It was so much fun!! So often I forget how much I love my family! Maybe I just got used to not having them around that I don't remember that as an option of ways to spend my time...did that makes sense. I love being close to those boys!! After we got our tree permits we went for a walk on the paths around where we were. The boys needed to get out of the car for a while and came prepared to play in the snow so we did just that! I used my phone and got some pics of the boys...

Uly had a stick as wide as my wrist, and about 3 in. wide. He used it as a snow-eating utensil. He would scoop up snow on it and bite or lick the snow off of the stick. Most of the time I saw him spitting snow out but I'm sure he was eating just as much of it!

Gar. He loves me!! It just melts me. When Adam and I go over to visit the other day he saw Adam and said 'Hey uncle Adam...Aunt Olea!!!!' and ducked under Adam's arm to get to me! I like to point it out to Adam how much he likes me!

Mag.

How can you not giggle at this little face!! I have to fight the urge to squish him!

Anyway, That was SO much fun with Jess and the boys. I cant wait till we all go cut down our trees, I think its a start to a great tradition!

That's all for now, I Am trying to write more... even though I'm not succeeding very often.

I am a Domestic Goddess!

2008-09-21T16:34:00.007-04:00

I have canned!! Thats right, you did not miss-read. I have become quite the domesticatic women. A few weeks ago I canned green beans with my aunt. Granted, I just assisted her with it.... but this past week on Thursday and Friday, I canned pears and peaches all by myself!

I know, I know.... its not that hard. But for the first time I did it all alone and I am very pleased.

Here is a picture of my beautiful canned goods!!

It's only just begun....

sitting here

2008-09-03T15:47:00.004-04:00

I am sitting at the front desk here at Telos. I dont mind sitting here doing nothing. It is a nice change from working with the boys which can be like hearding cats. Adam and I had a friend over last night for dinner and it was a lot of fun. Adam really likes working with him and I thought he was really funny. So...yeah. I am so excited for the Family reunion coming up! We have to go buy a tent, sleeping bags and sleeping pads still but we are very excited about it.
I am getting over a wicked cold right now and am looking forward to my day off tomorrow.

So... I just had an interview with my boss. He offered me the supervisor position of the mon, tues, sat afternoon shift. Which means that I will work 2-10pm. I kinda like that. I get to do some seriously fun activities with all the boys. That also means that I need to get better at consequencing the boys at the spur of the moment. I am making a list of things to get training on before I officially start the position. I also get health benefits and a $2 raise. I am telling you all this before I even tell Adam only because I cant really talk about it over the phone right now! I will keep you all posted about how it goes.
Adam got a $2 raise too. He was totally surprised. He has never had a job where they actually gave positive feedback to employees. They have told him that they recognize his hard work and willingness to learn. Finally an employer that sees how hard he works!!

So...now what?

2008-07-23T16:17:00.003-04:00

I know, I know, I really stink at this whole blog thing!
I feel like I have been working a lot lately but when I really count up hours I have not been working nearly as much as I did while in NC. Maybe because it seems like that's all we do? Adam has been working on a sculpture of Christ's hand that he is going to make some bronze casts out of. He is pretty excited about that. His boss thinks he could make a couple thousand if he sold 1 of them. But I guess the trick is to find the buyer first!
We knew that we were supposed to move to Utah. But now what? We both had great ideas about what could happen here but knew that it all wouldn't happen at once. It feels kind of stagnant now. So...now what?
I woke this morning with a splitting headache and feeling nauseus when ever I stood up. Eating helped for a little while but now I feel crappy again. Which isn't helping the feeling of having to wait for something. We are sure that we can't just sit around waiting for something to happen to us so we are doing what we can by working and keeping a float I guess. It broke my heart not being able to go home to the Rez and seeing pictures from that didn't help.
So here is what my positive attitude training from my mother has taught me; I am setting little goals of things to look forward to. Mom and Da are coming to Moab at the end of September and we are going down there to go camping and spend time with them and attend the Walker Reunion. After that I dont know.... it seems this year is flying by, but with little events for us to freckle the year with memories.
I have had a lot of fun visiting family and am helping out at Randy's Mechanical Inc. while all the Farnworths are at Gramma's Lake. Something different.
Work is going well and we are not hurting to bad financially....Just feels like someone in the room is holding their breath.
So...now what?

'The Dark Knight'

2008-07-19T23:41:00.005-04:00

Olea and I just saw 'The Dark Knight' and I was very skeptical because of all of the hype around Heath Ledger's death. I thought, as many probably do that have not seen the movie, that all of the hype was in honor of Heath. I have to say that this movie is one of the best movies I have EVER seen. Heath Ledger's performance was riveting. All hype aside. His work on this movie is an Oscar MUST! Not only was Heath's work amazing but the whole experience was something to remember. The story line keeps you guessing. The characters' voice was clearly defined. This has got to be an archetypal movie of our time. I wanted to cry at the end because this was the death of not only Heath but of Batman himself. No one in there right mind would make another Batman movie. It would be like someone trying to remake diVinci's 'Mona Lisa', or Michelangelo's 'David'. It should never be touched again. It is a work of art, a thing of beauty. If you have not seen this movie, or don't have plans to see it, change you plans immediately and go watch this movie.

Adam

PS thank you Olea for letting me post on your blog. I love you!

time flies when your working your butt off

2008-06-10T17:25:00.007-04:00

well here I am. I'm still alive I promise. It has been forever since I have posted. I realize that I promised I would right more often. So far I have not followed through on that promise!
Today was crazy!! I did a 14 mile bike ride 7 miles up the canyon and 7 miles down. It was a lot of fun although I feel like I got my butt kicked! It is very soar! It's hard to motivate teenage boys to keep pedaling as your gasping for breath. Actually I did pretty good for not having done anything that intense in a long time.

I promised some pictures of our teeny little abode and here they are:

This is our cute little living room! It has this great little shelf all the way around so we were able to stack our wine boxes up and make a bookcase/DVD case.

Can you tell we are used to bigger space! We are trying hard to downsize constantly!

This is our cute little kitchen and beyond is out cute little bathroom, I mean laundry room, no wait I mean bathroom.....
We are doing well here.
Our landlord is super cool. We invited him to dinner...using his BBQ 2 weeks ago, and this week we helped celebrate his daughters 11th birthday with him and his family. It is amazing the horror stories he has told us of past renters he has had. People who don't want to be disturbed by him or think that he is privileged that they are renting from him. Dumb people! He is a really cool guy, we are blessed that his renters were moving out when they did.
Adam is enjoying his job. He struggles with it sometimes, but he admits a lot of his struggle is just because it is like no other job he has ever had.
I am loving my job and am looking for a salon to work at. I think I may have found a place to rent a booth from. I don't know all the details about it, but I will keep you posted!
That is all for now.

well, well, well.

2008-04-14T14:01:00.006-04:00

Where to begin...

We are in our apartment. We found (well my aunt Xanthe found) a one bedroom basement apartment for $500. A pretty good deal. We are close to everything we want to be close to. Our apartment has 6 big windows so for a basement apartment it is very light and we are starting to get settled.

The update that everyone wants to know is that transferring my license hasn't gone as smooth as it was supposed to. So as of today we are still waiting for all the right information to be sent to Utah state department of licensing. ARGH!!

But the good news is today I got a job! I interviewed last Tuesday for a mentoring position @ Telos school for boys. They told me I would know by that Friday (the 11th). I didn't hear from them so I figured I would keep looking. Today I got a call from them offering me the Mon, Tues, and Sat morning shift. Also 1 Sunday a month I will pull a double shift. The cool thing is that all the boys (teenagers) have to go through triathlon training and I will be working out with them. It's a really great program that encourages healthy lifestyles along with healthy thinking. YEAH!!! So all the other days I will be able to do hair and build a clientele and soon open my own shop!

Over all Adam and I are having a really good time here. We go on little adventures together to get lost and then find out where we are. We have been having a lot of fun getting to know my cousin's and their families. Especially little Olea. She is soo squishy!! I love the thought of being around as she grows older! We have been to IKEA 4 times since we have been here and 2 of those times were with Ben and Kristina. Then on Ben McPherson's birthday, Adam and I went to IKEA with him....twice. It was really pretty funny, although I'm not so sure Ben had as good of time as we did!

Well, love to all those who have been harassing me for an update, and since Benji (Stier) let me use their laptop for my computer I promise I will keep updating more often.

We have arrived!!

2008-03-05T01:45:00.005-05:00

We made it! With only a few near death experiences, we arrived at Jessica's house late Saturday night. Things were fine all the way across the states until the last 15 miles when we got hit with a freaking blizzard! Adam and I were a little freaked out when we both got stuck in the snow and couldn't move anywhere, him in the truck with all of our belongings and me in the Honda with a walkie-talkie to communicate with him. We were a little spooked but we made it. 15 miles took us an hour and a half but we made it safe and sound.
We are staying with my big sister and her husband and 3 little boys. So much fun!!! These boys are so silly! which of course is perfect for Adam!
We are trying to find an appartment now. nothing over $650. We really dont want anything too nice because we dont have any furniture! We have our first appointment to see a place that my aunt Xanthe set us up wth. It sounds nice. It is a one bedroom appt. with 6 Windows! I like the idea of all that light coming in. It would really do my plants some good!! We made some calls to talk to a few other places about their availability but so far we haven't heard anything back. I will update as soon as anything interesting happens. It's exciting to start over and I was really ready for it.

on the road

2008-02-28T05:31:00.002-05:00

here we are at 5:30 am. We are getting ready to leaving Shanon and Matt's house. We said our tearful and silly goodbyes last night. Both cars are all packed up and the trailer and truck have had their weight test runs. We stop in Memphis tonight! We will see ya'll in Utah!!!
Please keep us in your prayers as we are worried we may hit some inclimate weather.

yowsers!

2008-02-21T12:58:00.002-05:00

Here we are. Not counting today I have 2 more days of work left. I am so excited! We have officially moved out of the house and are staying with my sis-in-law. I am off of work and am briefly typing this before running to the house to help Adam pack a few things and clean like crazy! Tomorrow is our last Sunday here and I am spending the afternoon with the girls from the shop. I will update you as the days grow closer.

Two Weeks and Counting

2008-02-16T23:04:00.004-05:00

The official countdown has begun. There have been other count downs but none of them as official as this official countdown. In exactly 2 weeks we will be experiencing our first day on the road. The last few days have been chaos. Fun, but chaos.

Thursday was the funeral for Adam's Grandmother. Nellie Rowena Mills was buried in a pink casket. It was beautiful! Adam, his brother Jeremy and myself sang Nearer My God to Thee. It went off without a hitch. The boys held back the tears and the voice cracks until right after the last note. It really was beautiful. Jeremy sang bass, I sang the alto part and Adam sang the melody.
There are a lot of family visiting from out of town for the funeral. Adam's brother has 2 teenagers and a small baby. We gave up the house that we live in to them and the in-laws that own the house, and are staying with Jeremy and his wife Bonnie (Bonzaii) We have been having soo much fun!!! We stayed the first night on wed. We all woke up together and went to the funeral on Thursday, stayed the night. Friday, Bonzaii and I had to work, but we stayed the night again. Saturday i worked but it was a short day and now we are going to stay the night again. SLEEP OVER!!

It has been really fun. The family staying at our house went home Friday!! We have been meaning to spend time with Jay and Bonzaii but it has been crazy hard trying to coordinate our free time, but this was a really great opportunity to have 2 on 2 time with them. We will miss them a lot. I think Adam will really miss Jay when we move out there so Bonzaii and I have been encouraging them to go off and do their 'brother stuff'
I better go I think we are going to play another board game.
Things are coming along great!

sick-O

2008-02-10T21:02:00.001-05:00

Here we are. Three weeks and counting until the move and Adam and I are sick as dogs. Things are absolutley chaotic!! Where to begin....
A week ago, I had come home from work to a lovely mac'n'cheese dinner and a movie (3:10 to Yuma) prepared by my sweet hubby. All of a sudden in the middle of a movie I felt like my eyelashes were folded into my eye. I went to the mirror to look and what did I see? I watched as a blood vessal burst in my eye. WEIRD! So for the last week I have has a Zombie eye! I forget about it because I dont feel it at all.
We went through the drive thru at the bank and the teller kept staring and smiling at me, I couldn't figure out why. As we were driving away I asked Adam why she was acting so odd. He had to remind me that I had a Zombie eyeball.
So needless to say I have been a little stressed. I got sick about 4 days after my eye incident and Adam is only 1 day behind me in our crumminess. I stayed home from 1 and a half days of work and didn't go to church this morning.
And now for the Grand Finale!!!!!!
Adam's grandmother, his last living grandparent, passed away about an hour ago. Adam is in good spirits about it though, she was 84 and smoked like a chimney. All her grandchildren would joke and say that the niccotine had petrified her. The last conversation Adam had with her was really good! She was in a rare 'good mood' and joked and giggled with Adam about how they used to play scrabble together. Also, a few days ago out of the blue she spoke to her younger sister who she hadn't spoken to in about 60 years!!!!! Her sister didn't stop the car when grandma Nell (Adam's grandma) needed to use the restroom, and she wet herself, and told her sister she would never speak to her again. 60 years ago!!!!! Too much work for me!
Crazzyness!! We are very glad that she finally felt like speaking to her sisters. ( I've met them both. They were always so sad whenever Nell came up. It would break your heart!!)
So...it is very chaotic around here and I wish I would write more but i am usually exhausted by the time I get home. We have sold almost all of our belongings. (The big stuff at least!) We only have boxes to bring to Utah now. I guess in a way it is better that Grandma Nell went before we moved because who knows if we would be able to afford travel to come to the funeral.

Update

2008-01-22T22:22:00.000-05:00

Wow! Time has just flown by! A whole lot has been going on in our neck of the woods. We have started to buckle down and really get ready for our move. (yeah!!) We have sold our couch and big puffy chair, our kitchen table, and one of our bookcases. So we are making a little extra money and puting it in our savings to get a place to live when we get out there.
I have officially put in my notice! My last day of work is February 26th. I can't wait!!!! I'm sick of it, not because it's a bad place to work but because I am excited to start our next adventure.
It snowed here on Saturday. Just about 2 inches. It didn't stick to the pavement but Adam and I enjoyed watching it fall. We had some friends over for dinner so we rant o the grocery store right as it was starting to really come down to get some makins for dinner.
Other than that we haven't done much. We are just truckin' along trying to pack all of our aquired junk and get rid of the things we dont need. I feel like a pack rat sometimes!
I'll keep you posted on our progress!

OLD SKOOL!!!!!

2008-01-05T20:04:00.000-05:00

It's the Walker kids! I stole this pic from mom a long, long time ago. And I wont ever give it back!! It's the only pic I have of all my siblings when we were kids, not to mention the only pic of me that is younger than 15.

Fresh Face

2008-01-03T21:40:00.000-05:00

ALLRIGHT!!! I will write another entry! I have been thoroughly harassed to write another entry. I have such a hard time writing on here.... I think about it a lot though.

Mom wanted me to erase that last entry but I'm not going to. That kinda thing doesn't happen very often and I understand it's not good to nurture the negative thoughts less they get burned into your subconscious. But I don't plan on reading it, and I would also like to have a comparison. If I erase it I will forget what I felt like and if I ever get frustated with my hormones and am typing I will be able to remember and stop myself from writing it.

Anyway, I will tell you all about my lovely holidays:

Three days before Christmas I got the Christmas Spirit. It took so long coming this year. Because of our big move coming up Adam and I didn't do any gifts between us, but we did a really good job of gifts for everyone else we needed to give gifts to. I felt like the proficient wife that I am striving to become! On Christmas eve we spent time with my sis-in-law, Shanon. Watched The Christmas Sory ( I love it!!!) and played with the kids (8 and 2). After helping put them to bed we played a game with just the four adults. Stayed awake way too long!!!! It wa the longest game of Settlers of Zarahemla that we have ever played!!! Needless to say we all stayed up way too late. Because Adam and I had kept them up so long playing a game we helped them put their Santa stuff together and it was a lot of fun! I had never done that before. I think it means that I am officially grown up. EEK!! We awoke fairly early (for us!) Christmas Morning and had our special christmas breakfast which has become our family tradition. This year we just had a cheese danish, in the past we make a big flamboyant breakfast, but we had to be at my mother-in-laws house by 12:00. Went to Mom-in-law's, had the gift exchange and ate too much food and had some laughs. Adam and I left after a few hours. Everyone had other family things to do and so the crowd dispersed and us with it. Although the only other thing we had to do was to sit on the couch and do nothing. We watched The Lord of the Rings the Extended version, and followed it up with the next 2 movies over the next couple of days. It really was a perfect Christmas.

That's all for now.
More to come. New Years....

We had a party!!

my argh list

2007-12-04T21:57:00.000-05:00

I'm frustrated.

I need to get healthy. My body hurts. I need friends. I need a digital camera. Owen and Melinda gave us one that they had but it doesn't work. It took 2 good pictures when we got it and now it wont work right! ARGH!! I have so many things I want to take pictures of before we move but....anyway.

My body hurts. My teeth need work. My shoulder is hurting, and lately my lower back has been feeling really pinched.
I'm complaining. I'm struggling to stay positive.

Tomorrow is my day off, it will be better.
I'm listening to doo-wop. Makes me really miss singing with Soleigha. Wish she would talk to me. argh again.

All I do is work and sometimes I feel like I'm missing life. I'm too busy to enjoy it. A week will go by and at the end of it I realize I did nothing except work, and maybe watch a movie.

Tomorrow I am going shopping. I have saved up my tips and I really need new church clothes. I will limit myself to a new skirt and a church worthy top. That will make me feel like I have improved my plot. I get so depressed.

It used to be anger. I used to get so mad I would punch things till my knuckles bled. I used to be so angry. Now I get so depressed I withdraw and lay around.

I dont think Adam ever reads this. He would be upset if he knew I was really depressed

Please stop reading this, this is depressing even to read. I'm stopping.
sorry

argh

weeks later....

2007-12-02T23:34:00.000-05:00

Wow! has that much time really passed since I last wrote on here! It amazes me how fast the time flies! It doesn't seem like anything has happened since I last wrote but when I stop and think about writing it all I start to get tired. HA! I dont know if it's because I'm lazy or because I have been pretty busy!!
I am sick, or better yet I have been sick for the last week ...or so. It's not really fun. When I am working my hands are constantly wet or in someones wet hair and it seems that as soon as my hands get on soemone's head my nose starts to run. Now this may not seem like a big deal to some of you but I assure it is a huge dilemma. Here is why; in beauty school we are taught that while you are touching someone (doing there hair) you limit the amount of touching yourself (ie; face, hair, skin) as much as possible. There are a few reasons for this. One is that there are skin diseases and disorders that can be passed a long from the client to me. Another is the other way around, I dont want to get them sick, they dont know what I have (not that I have anything) and they can easily blame me for whatever they feel I gave them. Lastly, it is a customer service issue. Once I divert my attention to the itch I have on my arm or in this case dealing with my runny nose, I am not paying attention to the person in my seat therefore I'm not focusing on their haircut. It sounds extreme but I assure you with the amount of hairstylist in this world, it makes a huge difference! Granted there are those faithful clients you've had for a while who are a bit more forgiving than others but.....more often than not, you can be replaced even if they say otherwise. They would rather not have the hassle of finding another hairstylist and "training" them. Back to my nose: This is a SERIOUS issue. In order to stop my runny nose from dripping down my lip (gross, to see and to taste) I have to have a kleenex. You may say 'no big deal. keep a kleenex in your pocket and keep cutting'. Not so simple. Cleanliness is HUGE in this industry and who wants to see someone wipe their nose (even with a kleenex) and then touch them? Not very many people. SO here is what I have to do. I have a bottle of hand sanitizer right next to my station, and everytime I have to wipe or blow my nose in to the kleenex I have to use some hand sanitizer. You can imagine that that combined with my hands being in water all day it is surprising that my hands aren't bleeding as we speak. I believe the only thing saving my hands is conditoner. When I shampoo someones hair I use conditioner and that is why I still have skin on my hands.

Anyways, that was my rant.

We aren't really celebrating Christmas this year. And oddly enough I'm not too tore up about it. Maybe that means I am offiacially grown up. I dont think we will by eachother gifts. Adam will probably will get me something though. He likes to break his own rules. It's sweet because I know he just wants to see me happy but it drives me crazy!!! If he goes with out a gift from me I go without a gift from him. I'm ok with that, and we need to save up for moving.

Ramble ramble. I took a 3 hour nap today when I came home from church and now it's 12:30 at night and I'm not really tired.

My Mind

2007-11-11T21:58:00.000-05:00

Well, a few weeks has gone by since I have written and honestly it will probably be like that a lot. I rarely feel like chatting or writing once I get home after working and if I try to make myself write more often I would just sit here staring at the blank screen until my eyes hurt. SO, you get what you get.
Here I am on a sunday night at 10:00 drinking Tension Tamer with honey. When I get to the last 4 ounces of my cup I go back to the kitchen and fill my cup almost full again with hot water which I'm sure is something I have picked up from my mother watering down everything I drank as a child.
My husband kind of shakes his head as he sees me fill the cup back up. "I just dont like the concentrated stuff at the bottom!" I exclaim.
He looks back at the video game he is playing, Madden I think, " I didn't say anything!" he says smiling.
I have a lot on my mind right now. Moving - Danny needs to get a hold of Adam. Adam needs to figure out what he is going to do about UCS - his power-washing business. Will his partner be willing to sell his half to Adam?
I still need to hang those red and white sparkly snowflake things at work that were supposed to be up at the beginning of the month but I have been holding out as long as I can to appease the anarchist in me to help deplete the already over commercialized Christas Holiday. Whatever happened to Thanksgiving? I need to print out the cosmo licensing transfer form so I can transfer my license. Man, I am really having a hard time typing on Mac's new flat keyboard!
I really dont want to wait until spring to move. I am having such a hard time focusing at work. I hate being a slack boss but I just dont care if so and so thought that today was a jeans day and is wearing jeans instead of slacks.
My friend Carol called a little while ago and I had absolutley nothing to report.
I have a lot of not important things on my mind too. I love Tom Waits. Ok...no wait, I dont love him, I love his music. My all time favorite song is one he wrote. It's not particularly fantastic but it makes me get really cool pictures in my head and if I was much of an artist I would draw it. Actually, if I really try I'm not that bad, but I have to admit that I am scared to try drawing what I picture because I know it wont do it justice. If your wondering, the song is Time. It's the last song on the Beautiful Maladies album. The song has a lot of different things in it but the thing I picture has to do with a girl and a razor and dead pigeons at her feet. Ok, I realized that may make you thnk that the song is dark but it really isn't. It makes me miss walking around the train yard in Bellingham with a big 50's style furcoat (fake) and a bottle of whisky. Wow, once again that sounds a lot worse than it really was. I should change the subject.
I made bacon today. Yes, Bacon. For those of you who have never ever eaten with Adam and I over the last 4 years, we used to be vegetarian. Since we have started eating meat we have both eaten bacon but, we have not bought it to make. We had breakfast for dinner and Adam, yes Adam, suggested I make the bacon that he purchased the other day. I admit I was a little surprised! We still dont eat steak or red meat and I really have no desire to.
This whole entry has been pretty boring for somone whe doesn't know me, maybe even for those who do. Anyway I dont have a whole lot going on right now. Just a lot of hurry up and wait.

Adam's birthday is on Saturday the 17th. That's THIS saturday. Wow. He wants a new watch because his old one broke. I am getting off of work extra early.
Here is something funny. Adam teaches the 10-11 year old boys in primary at church. 2 weeks ago they had a lesson on bareing your testimony and the proper way to do that, what to say other than the primary testimony answers. The coming sunday was fast and testimony meeting so he made a deal with those boys that if they all got up and bore there testimony he would do it as well and he would take all 4 boys to see the Bee movie that just came out. So on fast sunday we saw 3 little boys look back at Adam and then all get up at once and then the other 1 followed right after. Adam then got up and bore his like he promised. After the meeting he had parents come up to him just floored that there 11 year old sons got up and gave a great testimony!!! Now, this Saturday, on his birthday, Adam and I have to take 4 little boys to see a movie!!! It will be so much fun!!!
This has been a huge babble entry but I figure I need to get in the habit of writing even if I dont have anything to say.

I am starting to read Beowolf. I never read it in school because for Junior English my teacher was really a baseball coach and he would read to us. I'm sorry but who reads out loud to 17 year olds right after lunch and doesn't expect them to fall asleep!! In any case, I dont remember what books we read in Junior year because my teacher was dumb. It's Adam's favorite book and he read it first and wants me to read it before we see the movie. We like to watch movies.

My hands are cold so maybe I should stop typing. I will write more a lot sooner than I did last time. I need to go knit to warm my hands up, besides the colts are doing better now so I can stand to watch the rest of the game.
Goodnight

In The Beginning

2007-10-24T23:24:00.001-04:00

Ok. Here I am. Finally stepping into the year 2007 (just before it ends) to partake in the seemingly universal pasttime of blogging. I'm not good at computers, but in an effort to force an interaction between them and myself I started this blog. Plus I love to write but I stink at it. I have tons of cool notebooks for keeping journals but I...i...well.. I'm just busy. No that's not an excuse... I'm lazy after being busy all day. Plus I love to type. I've always been good at it since Mr. Smiths 8th grade keyboarding class @ Vista Middle school.
I imagine now is the time I should introduce myself. My name is Olea Mills. I just turned 26 on Oct. 18th. I have the most amazing husband named Adam. I am still overwhelmed at the thought that people can be as in love as I am and still function day to day. Before we got married I remember thinking "Wow! We're never going to get anything done!" I was right, when we are together we dont get a lot done, except cuddling. Lot's of successful cuddling and smooching. You could say we're experts! I am a hairstylist. I manage a salon in Cary, NC called Cost Cutters. I am also on the Design Team for the Cost Cutters Devision of the Regis Corp. Which means I teach stylists within the nine stores in the area, any continuing education that may be required to ensure that our stylists are executing the best services they can.

WHEW!! That was a mouthful!!!
Adam is out of town and today is my day off so here I am with the laundry and the dishes done, playing on the computer with the Jekyll and Hyde musical soundtrack playing singing at the top of my lungs. I used to do a bit of musical theatre and sing in a do-wop trio. I dont have a piano so it makes me excercise my pipes.. and if you have never herd the Jekyll and Hyde soundtrack check it out...freaking fantastic!

anyway.... i will try to post some pictures of Adam and I to start off right!

so you know who I am if you see me on the street

2007-10-24T20:34:00.000-04:00