Why-o, why-o, why-o would a girl move to Ohio?

And why would she leave the perfect job that she JUST started a week ago? And why would she leave a free-rent house-sitting position? And why would she leave all of her family & friends she loves to see?

I can tell you why. Because I am getting married and my fiance just accepted a job offer in Cincinatti. I can't believe it! Ohio! What the heck is in Ohio?! Three of the 5 fastest-dying cities in the nation, if you read & believe MSN. THAT'S ENCOURAGING!

It has been a decision of a lot of mixed emotions for Ben & I. My job here is not one I have much of a hope of finding again. So, that's a bit painful. And we really weren't thinking to leave Utah for another few years. We had a great set up here and so many friends & family.

However, it's a great job opportunity for Ben. There is also potential for great educational opportunities for Ben out there. All things taken into consideration, it's the best thing for us to do. Especially because his current employer is just a few notches below the level of ridiculous that MY previous employer was. That is BAD.

And on my side, while it may sound like a big sacrifice, it's not so much when looking objectively: while I may not find THIS nonprofit job again, there are nonprofit jobs absolutely everywhere. And I can run the dress business from anywhere. I never realized before how portable me and all of my careers are. I'm incredibly versatile. And handy. Biotech pharmaceutical companies ---- are not everywhere.

One of the most interesting elements of this whole situation is the unexpected satisfaction I get in being able to support Ben. The sacrifice of my treasured job and all the things I have held dear here is strangely rewarding. It's like I'm offering that up as a kind of contribution, "payment in good faith" to our relationship. I'm gonna be SUCH a good wife! I can already tell. And so humble too!

Weird. All this marriage stuff. We're not even married yet. And torture of all tortures, he'll actually be starting work in Ohio on Sept. 8th, so I don't even get to see him the last two weeks before the wedding. Then again, that may be a good thing. No need to worry about being good behavior....

So, all in all, Ohio doesn't sound THAT bad. Don't get me wrong. It WOULD. But it sounds a lot better to me with Ben there. Marriage..... it certainly changes things. And people.

Special Announcement

Ok, so another reason I haven't had a lot to blog about the last couple of weeks is because, aside from being busy with the dress business, I have been very busy with other plans that I have not, until now, been able to formally announce. However, Male and I have just decided it's too hard to keep a secret from people (and to be quite honest, I have been terrible with leaking it out to certain people who it seemed impossible for me not to tell. I am too honest and open a person to keep this kind of a secret well. I mean really! Especially when you put me in a car on a 6 hour trip to Vegas for three days with three VERY GOOD friends.)

So, without further ado: Ben and I are getting married.

TADA!

Many of you have known this was coming. I've kinda known too. But only kinda. What can I say? It's not right till you're ready, and we really took THIS long for that to happen. And now it's great! I am really, really excited! Especially because now we are doing all that planning and preparation stuff and it's getting kind of fun. I just bought my wedding dress today! Now, of course, finding the right shoes... that is going to take me more time. MUCH more time.

We have also picked a date & time. We will be wed on Friday, September 26th, 2008 at the Bountiful Temple and be having a reception in Salt Lake that night. Please mark your calendars as very very busy that day and expect invitations with cheesy, happy couple pictures to be coming in the mail within the next couple months.

It is so soon, and I have virtually no time to plan an event like this, especially when the date is so soon (did I mention it was soon?), and I think we're nuts for doing so fast. Fast being relative, considering we've been buzzing around each other, dating and talking to and about each other for the past three years. But you know what I mean.

Umm, yeah. So, that's my big news. Wedding plans. And for anyone who doesn't know -- Male is Ben.

Of course, now I might actually have to tell him about my blog. Geez. Hmm... Maybe not QUITE yet. Somethings are better disclosed AFTER the wedding day. :)

Announcement!!!

The Logo is up and viewable on the Sartorial Freshman Blog, if you want to take a peak! Let me know what you think.

Enter Tom Hanks

There's a new man in my life. Ok, that's not true. But there is a new car that happens to be of the male persuasion. I apologize for not having any pictures of him or anything else lately. I am in a temporary state of not being able to upload any pictures. As soon as I get a new personal laptop (any week now, I promise), I will liven up the blog a little bit with photos.

Tom, TH, whatever you want to call him, was born in 2008 in Japan. He's a Subaru Outback. He's a kind of dark lead/silver color w/ black interior. He also has heated seats (I really like that about him.). Since it's still snowing in Utah these days, I've been able to make use of his all-wheel drive feature as well. He handles so well!

Tom's not quite as zippy as Pam was, nor does he have a sunroof, but he needs a lot fewer repairs, has a ton more head room in the back seat, he's HUGE (in comparison to Pam, of course.) and I haven't bottomed out of any driveways or other deep dips in the road YET. He's great. And he gets an average of 26 mpg. I love it!

Odd thing - ever since I've had him (aka last Tuesday) I now see his siblings all over the road. It's like suddenly everyone has a Subaru! Crazy.

I'll confess that Tom did not seduce me with his good looks. I was attracted to him for his more practical features. But I don't think I gave him enough credit at first. By now, I find him a bit sleek. But I still hate his new car smell. It makes me nauseous. However, that's supposed to go away, so I'm dealing with it.

All in all, I like Tom. There are always kinks to work out in new relationships, things to get used to and maybe even compromises to be made. But I think this is the beginning of something wonderful between he and I. Why, just the other day I discovered, to my delight, that Tom has an amazingly tight turning radius. It's fabulous, really! Way better than Pam's was.

I have car payments now, so that kind of sucks. And I'm still waiting for the smackdown from my car insurance. But wadda ya gonna do? Apparently cars cost money.

Finally!

I swear, I've been on the job search for an eternity. At least it felt like eternity. It's probably been 4 or 5 months. I can't remember when I started. And it's been a long haul. There have been interviews. There have been 2nd interviews. But never the job offer. At least, not from the job I wanted. And then..... it happened! Hurray! Yippee! I can hardly believe it! I can hardly wait! But I have to, for two weeks. If I can survive the commute in the every-other-day-mob-by-snowstorm we've gotten lately, then I will finally be there.

I just got hired by this fabulous nonprofit that ships donated medical supplies all over the world. Yeah! I can finally start helping to save a village in Africa. You've no idea how long I've had that on my to-do list. And they are training me to be their development director. I'm SOOOO excited about that. And the commute is 5 minutes from my house in Salt Lake. How fabulous is that?! I'm already daydreaming about how much extra time I'm gonna have to go to the gym. And I won't really have to work at Chloe Lane. So I can do LOTS of stuff. Like go to church on Sundays. I might even be able to pick up my guitar on occasion. And hang out with people on the weekends. And go to Will's "rock band" parties. Ok, I may or may not do that.

Anywho, I also don't need to get a new car so soon. Thanks for all the feedback, you guys. Really, you're great. But I'm happy to say, though a new car would have been fun, I don't have to get one just yet. I can wait till I can better afford it. And until I can afford the hybrid or diesel version. Double bonus.

Change

Yesterday was a day of great change. I had to work all day (it was the last day of Sundance. Thank goodness it's over), but that didn't stop things from changing. For one, they released the bishopric in my ward. Having grown up in the church, I should be used to this. The role of bishop was always changing hands from one friend of my parents to another. This one makes me really sad though. For one, it's the first ward where I've really worked closely with the bishopric, having served as the R.S. President for a while. It's also the first ward I've stayed in for longer than 6 months since I left my home ward in NJ. And the bishop, Bishop Ashby, was just the coolest, most down-to-earth, nonjudgemental, caring, wise and admirable person. I really adore him. And his wife. I was her visiting teacher for a long time. What a great couple. They're great. And now they won't be in the ward anymore. How sad for me. And though the new bishop will do a wonderful job, I'm sure, I am anticipating having a very hard time adjusting to the switch. I just feel a little robbed.

In another change of leadership, President Hinckley passed away yesterday. It's a bit silly that he was 97 yrs old and I still didn't see it coming. I saw it coming last year when he gave what sounded like a goodbye speech at General Conference. But not this year. And then it just happened, just like that. But I'm not quite as sad about that. I feel a lot like my sister-in-law mentioned, in that I am sure he is delighted to be reunited with his wife. He seemed to really miss her. You can't help in delight over a joyous reunion, even if it's your loss. He and his excellent handling of church affairs and all his wisdom will be missed. Sometimes I have mixed feelings about the policies of the Church and don't know quite what to think when the Church makes some kind of announcement about its opinion on various political issues. As a whole, however, I would have to say that I believe President Hinckley has lead the Church marvelously in a very tricky time.

They Left Me

It's official. My parents left me. Off to the MTC in Provo they went on Monday. Next week, they'll leave for London for a year and a half. And what has become of me? I have become an empty nester at such the young and tender age of 28. You may think I jest, but it's true. I'm the one with the empty house, and it is THEY who have left for greener pastures (not hard to do if you're leaving Utah -- everything is greener, except maybe Vegas). Here's a couple treasured pic's from their open house the night before they left. I spent my first evening without them at home cleaning up from the party. It was SOOOO quiet. I could barely stand it. It's a really good thing I have a roommate moving in. If I didn't, I'd probably go mad.

My Favorite Room

Hurrah! Hurrah! Last night, I hung sconces on the wall! It may not be the final touch in renovating my bathroom, but it is ONE of the final touches. And pardon my french, but they look !@*& good on that wall. Right next to the picture I bought that accents the room perfectly. The room would totally be incomplete without that picture. Good thing I found it.

You heard me right. Yes, indeed. I have actually taken some interest in my dwelling place and have renovated the bathroom. Of course, I'm on a limited budget. So sadly enough, renovating did not include replacing that unsightly white & green linoleum on the floor. But I repainted and redecorated. That was a financial undertaking in itself. Apparently, metallic paint is expensive. So if you ignore the floor, being in my bathroom is a totally relishable experience.

Oh, and I must give credit where credit is due. My sister was kind enough to offer her services in repainting the room with me for my birthday present. She spent from about 9am to almost 5pm on a Saturday helping me prep and paint. It made it go by a lot faster having four hands and someone to chat with throughout the process. She's a wonder. That's what she was doing for her "day off" from her five children. And then, of course, Male helped me. I ran into some trouble putting in the screws for the sconces and in figuring out how to work the caulking. Did I mention I'm not very handy? Fortunately, he proved to be most helpful on both those fronts. So, thank you, thank you, thank you.

So, I will put pictures up on the blog so all of you can see. I remembered to take BEFORE pictures right after I tore down the wallpaper, which was a little too late. So, sorry for not being able to promise you those. You may not completely understand the degree to which this bathroom has experienced a remarkable transformation. Those who have been to my house may remember the somewhat unremarkable or luckily forgettable experience of visiting my restroom.

I can describe briefly the ugliness that was my bathroom: On the bottom half of the wall below the railing there was a nasty, safari green paint. On the top of the wall and all over the vanity/sink area there was this tan/khaki, linen-textured wallpaper that had big brown faded palm leaves all over. And there was nothing worthy of calling decor to be seen in there.

And now? Oh, it's lovely. I should be an interior designer. It is SOOO much better. I still have to redo some caulking, but I think that will be the finishing touch. I can't help revelling in it during the ending phases of the renovation process. Over the last few days, I've taken every opportunity to just sit in there because it's so nice.

It might be recommendable that I renovate a room that would be more appropriate to hang out in, like my bedroom or the kitchen or living room. The kitchen....ooh.... that would be a smart way to get me to hang out in there. Ah, well, I'll have to save up for it, so it won't be happening at least within the next month. After all, the holidays are coming. But when I DO get around to the next room, I promise to remember to provide BEFORE and AFTER pictures.

Self Praise

I just thought I would state that I took the picture Sharon posted of herself. I was particularly impressed with myself on that one. It was taken on a fantastic whirlwind of a journey across the U.S. from Utah to Minnesota in a huge R.V. with 4 little kids, a gaggle of adults, and fun little jaunts hiking around rivers and waterfalls. It was a beautiful day to say the least!

P.S. I didn't take the picture of the lion, although I was there when it was taken. The shot is from a trip to Africa in the spring of 2006. Gorgeous country, lovely animals, and oh so funny stories.