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7.29.2010

SURPRISE, DAD

So last weekend i got to fly out to denver to surprised my dad for his 50th birthday! Actually by the time i got there he already knew i was on my way because my brother, his wife, my uncle and aunt had already showed up in the early morning. But i got to see the surprise on video and he was totally stunned and teary eyed.

Im not a regular traveler. The last time i flew was almost two years ago and even then it was just a trip to colorado to visit them on thanksgiving. I feel like such a newbie when it comes to airports and flying. I almost missed my connecting flight on the way out there. My flight from ONT left late so i arrived late to Las Vegas and all ill say it that was the worst flight ive even been on and my motion sickness is not limited to just cars.
said couple so into petting each other
they didnt seem to notice the lurker
next to them taking their picture
As soon as i was able to run off the plane i bolted for the bathrooms which in that terminal was just two stalls and a line of women and children spilling out into the terminal. i had no choice but to wait and i thought i had 20 mins till my next flight started boarding. I got in and out of there so fast i stopped and bought some M&M's and water for the next flight and sat with the other people waiting for DEN in my terminal when someone over the intercom says, "CANDICE VAL-DESP...-BROUILEEE...? LAST CALL!" I jumped up and ran with my hand in the air like a child. Apparently the time on the ticket is when the planes leaves, not boards. So i had to do that walk of shame on the plane because i was the one that was holding the plane back. But i got to sit next to this greeeeat couple who  pretty much sat there grooming and petting each other the whole time. I just put on my head phones and played Fruit Ninja and ate my free nuts.



The birthday man boy in charlie brown couture

family photo


Beluga Head a.k.a. Rusty

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my dad and uncle freddy getting loose in the kitchen

Is was a fun and way too short weekend out there. I was only there one whole day so i feel like i just drove an hour and a half to my dads and back. Ive gotten to see them so much this year because of our weddings and my brothers, now this. i could get used to it.

Side note: Doesnt my dad look like Captain Paul Watson?


So ya, Sunday geoff got back home from being on tour for a week and a half at the same time as me so that was grand...

7.23.2010

Regal

I thought this got lost in the craziness of moving 6x in 6 months but I found it hidden in a bag in a box in a container in the garage! 
Left: june tipsy on pool water 4th of july circa 2008. Right: fridge magnet!

Im leaving June this weekend to go surprise my dad for his 50th birthday out in Colorado! Geoff is still on tour so my bff Natalie offered to house and dog sit for the weekend. How amazing is she?! Nat came over late last night to get the house key and June lost it with excitement when she came over. Just jumping up and nipping her hands haha
Love bites.

7.21.2010

the only rocky road i enjoy

maybe it was the heat
maybe it was the restlessness from being cooped up in the house all weekend
maybe its because im pre.m.s.-ing bad

but i was on a chocolate flavored binge sunday. first thing i made was ROCKY ROAD ICE CREAM! its my favorite food (i <3 ice cream) in my favorite flavor but made to my liking! when i finally got to taste the final product i felt like this.


Heres how to make Rocky Road Ice Cream:
1 can of condensed milk. (i used fat free)
3 cups of half & half (instead of using heavy and light cream)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Mini marshmellows
Almonds or whatever nut of your liking







Mix the cocoa powder and condensed milk over the stove on the lowest temp 
till it looks like this.










Then take the 3 cups of half & half and vanilla and mix with the cocoa mix 
till it looks like chocolate milk.
i used half & half milk to avoid that film-on-the-top-of-your-mouth feel you get with using heavy cream.











Then put the giant bowl of chocolate milk in the fridge to get cold. 
Lick the pan and spoon clean in the meantime.


After about 30 mins or so the bowl should be good to go. 
Hopefully before hand your machine's frozen stone or whatever it is that freezes the cream was frozen for about 24hrs just to make sure. You want it so cold the moisture from your finger tips makes them stick to it.
Pour the mixer in and turn it on!










In about 30 mins you should see it starting to freeze up on the sides, thats when you want to start adding in the almonds and 'mellows. I crushed the almonds with a cup and added them (i think 1/2 cups worth) into the mixture. then i just grabbed a few handfuls of mini marsh mellows and let the machine fold them into the cream.
so very thorough, i know.











The time it takes to finished depends on how or what you are using to freeze the cream up. mine only took about 45 mins. If youre using something like a jar in ice you have patience of a saint and you also need to get with the times. 

ENJOY!

rocky road

7.20.2010

Life is Wonderful...

...and then a pipe bursts under your house. and then your husband leaves for a week. and then you are thrown to the plumbers will.

what i thought was just a slow leak under the front patio of the house became a costly emergency.

one morning on our way to work we notice a little puddle in the front patio area and thought nothing more then hose must have leaked from watering the yard the night before. We get home that night and now its a huge puddle thats sitting in front of our doorway so i call the city and tell them there a leak from our water meter and they need to take care of it. The city water lady asked if there was gushing water and i told her no it seems to barely be leaking so she says she will send someone the next morning. The next morning the water is starting to run down the driveway and when i get home that night from dropping geoff off at the airport the water has reached the street and i have a note on the door from the city saying its not their problem. the next morning im calling around dealing with old men who sound like they hate their life. i set up two appts for a quote.
first guy seemed like he didnt care much and told me to jack hammer up the cement myself and then he will give me a more accurate price and will work from there. sure, okay buddy, let me whip out my jack hammer and get right on that!
second guy was friendly, timely, and helpful. he also explained to me that what i thought was the water meter was actually our sewage line and that he figured that out after he accidently lifted the cap to our sewage line and lots of mud and rocks fell into our sewage line to our septic tank revealing not a slow leak... oh no, a really big leak that was only barely noticable to us because when the cap to the sewage tank was finally start to back up from mud it came out to the top of the cement.
man, i miss having a landlord.
cant wait to see what our next water bill is going to look like.

the leak. so close to the actual opening too!
so after a leak detection, blowing out our sewage line, extenting our sewage pipe higher than the foundation, jack hammering the cement out of the way, repairing the leak, replacing the water pressure regulator, and replacing the front of the house faucet it was finally fixed.

every time this guy knocked on my door to deliver even more bad news i would just get so overwhelmed and start sobbing. i had no idea if he was lying, over charging me, what was needed or done right. all he sees is a girl whos "husband is at work right now" alone making these decision. so basically money signs! and looking back with a clearer head i should have gone with someone else because this dude seriously over charged me.

damnit i miss our apt now.

i know all is said and done now but i seriously felt so taken advantage of. its like when i went to this mechanic last december for a problem with my brakes. he started telling me it was all these things wrong with my car to make my brakes act up and he gave me a estimate of $900. he told me specifically this one part used would be like $500. so i called the scion dealership and got a price for myself and it was only $200. so i took my car and headed over to another mechanic and he fixed my car for only $120. it was just a clogged brake line.
i hate severely dislike men when they pull this shit.
and its so hard when i dont have a dad around to help me out and my husband is on the other side of the country.

Im really thankful for my mom and for geoffs parents. They are helping us out with the costs and were there trying to calm me down from crying my eyes out. And thank you to natalie and april and jason for checking in on me and keeping me company while i was stuck at home for almost two days waterless while that guy was working on the house. And thank you Obama for the first time home buyers tax credit. when we finally get that check in the mail half of it will be gone now thanks to this little leak.
Nothing was covered by the insurance company either. There to protect you, right?! haha

We're going to make it just fine financially thanks to the tax credit and the help of our parents but just sucks that we cant get ahead right now.
We get in a car accident the day after we get married. - HUGE deductible.
Geoff comes home from tour and was promised work but there is none. - only one income.
Now this. - Welcome back credit card debt.

oh the joys of being a homeowner and tour widow!

7.11.2010

treasure hunting

bored and waiting for a bunch of blueprints to come out of the plotter i found these things in our copy room at work:

the old paycheck printer:

i used to play with this when i was little and would fake sick to go to work with my mom. playing "office" was fun back then.


old motorola radio:
 old mickey mouse candy dispenser:
i actually remember this one from when i was a little kid sitting in my grandpa's office
there's m&m's in there that are probably as old as i am



and the thing i lost it over....
its a 8mm movie projector.
my mom has a tone of reels in storage of when they were all little vacationing at the nearby lakes. i wish i knew linear editing! 

7.10.2010

right hand ring dreams

so my birthday is coming up....

7.09.2010

sleep cycle

i love the sleep cycle app! as soon as i wake up i check the graph. yep, even before twitter.
for a couple days bryan and i would share our graphs via text at 6am! i love that someone else is as geeked up about it as me.



i had a dream last night that i was at a sleeping giant show with all our friends and all of a sudden i took it upon myself to introduce the band and a when i was introducing geoff i said he was the drummer and then played a drum solo and began to sing. but i was standing outside myself with my friends in awe of what i (my other self there at the show) was doing and apologized for being lame. then i realized that nicole had put a roofie in my drink! we all laughed at me and geoff was embarrassed.
sweets before bed = crazy ass dreams.

7.08.2010

newlywed recap// 3 months

So, I'm a little late on this post. Ive been sitting on the idea of writing this for a few weeks because i kinda didn't know how to go about it. I wanted it to be real but real for me equals being frank and over sharing and i know Geoff wouldn't appreciate that. But i didn't want to be fake and say its all sunshine and giggles either. So i think Ive managed to draw that fine line between being honest and still respecting the privacy of our marriage and the intimate stuff.

Some days I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that him and i are a team for forever. And let me say, we are a kick ass team together. We are now at the point where we just both start working without having to say anything and we get stuff done. I'm still learning that he is a grown man and doesn't need my direction on everything. Crazy concept for me to grasp. Ive just never really seen a self sufficient man before at home. My mom always did everything to take care of my brother and step dads.

Ive always wanted to be married since i can remember. I though that it would be awesome to live with the guy you trust with everything, your best friend, love, companion and that all my insecurities would disappear, and God would just be the center of it all. But it doesn't actually happen that way. Ive realized that yes, it is amazing and fun to live with my husband and play house, but, my insecurities haven't gone away. They've more shape shifted into different ones. Not that he doesn't do a good job of making me feel loved and safe, its just that I'm a human and sometimes my brain goes to worse-case-scenario on auto and i cant seem to flip that switch to off. I also didn't realize that you have to actually work at keeping God at the center of the marriage. At least for us. I love hanging out with Geoff and if hes home i usually just want to be in the same room as him (remember its only been 3 months) still. So finding that time, alone, when i can just talk and hang out with God has been challenging for me. Before we were married i had my mornings, evenings, and late nights to myself and would be able to talk with God. Before we were married i thought that when we did get married things wouldn't change so much because of the fact that we are always together. But, now, in retrospect, i can see we weren't together nearly as much as we are now and i have to discipline myself to leave and take that "me" time. It benefits us both. Luckily (sorta), Geoff has only been home from touring about a month and a half worth of time since we've been married. So Ive been able to get lots of alone time when hes gone.

Its gotten even harder when he leaves now. Before we were married it didn't hurt when he left and i was totally fine and cool with it. I missed him, ya, but not like it is now. I think its a combo of living in a new, unfamiliar area, no friends right up the street or coming over for visits and the fact that this is now our home and its not home without him. I get excited for him when he leaves for tour because its for ministry and they are always showing people Christ's love who have a serious misconception of what that looks like. But I'm also so bummed because I'm sleeping alone, coming home to a empty house and for the first few days all i want to do is bum it at home on the couch till hes back! BUT, when he does leave i tend to eat way healthier and exercise more. I bought a few of the Biggest Loser Workout DVDs and since the first time i caught Geoff trying to video tape me working out... he cant be trusted. Plus, the guy has a metabolism every girl dreams of  and he can eat whatever he wants without worry of getting fat. Meanwhile I have a metabolism of a old old woman. I've started eating as much raw foods as possible (with the exception of grilled chicken) and have lost weight and my stomach has never felt better!

Other things I've realized since marrying Geoff:
-I will never be able to have a son named Beau (Bo). Because really, who wants to do that to a child- Beau Brouillette? and i really liked that name...
-My childhood dream of a shorter last name will never happen. Its ONE LETTER LONGERR. Oh well, at least its at the top of the alphabet.
-I still feel like a perv buying condoms. Not that i was buying them before, but this one time, it was a few days before our wedding and we were at the pharmacy and i was at the counter picking up my birth control pills. Geoff comes walking up and slams down this Costco size box of condoms! And the pharmacy technician is this guy i went to high school with but we aren't really friends, more acquaintances, and Ive been getting my birth control from this guy since we were like eighteen and i always thought, this guy probably things I'm a slut because i use birth control. So when Geoff, lost in the thrill of being able to buy condoms, slams down that box, i turn bright red. I explained to my high school acquaintance-friend that we are getting married in a few days and he laughs and tells me hes getting hitched in may and we all start chatting it up and condoms are just building friendships!
A few days ago we finally ran out (heyooo) and i had to get some more before Geoff came home. 3 months married and i still feel like a perv buying them.
-Watching Geoff play video games has become increasingly less interesting...
-Toothpaste cleans a diamond ring better than ring cleaner. So in the morning when i brush my teeth, i brush the ring.

We are still in the process of getting our minds to remember that we aren't two lives anymore that its one now. Not that we weren't considerate before but its more an issue with money. Like if i wanted to start a membership here and he wanted to buy something expensive there, we are still getting used to checking in with the other on that. And boy, has money never been so tight as its been these past few months. God's been blessing us with just enough to make ends meet so we are making it but with a lot of superficial/social sacrifices. We cut back on eating out, gas, buying clothes, going to the movies, pretty much buying anything. We've been doing really great at it really. It just sucks sometimes because with our friends, going out and eating is a very social thing and we're not doing that as often as we used to. Geoff was unemployed for 3 weeks so that hit our bank account pretty hard but now hes working for my family 3 days a week in the shop making things with steel and being manly. Let me tell you, my husband looks so sexy working out there. Just sayin'... So hopefully once this tour season is over we will have a second income that will come in more consistently. Thankfully, Geoff made us each save up a lot of money before we could get married and its all come in handy.

Babes. They are still on hold for us for about 4-5 years. Not only are we petrified to have one but i dont think we are mentally or financially ready anytime soon. Only i will say this, seeing our friends with babies does me make excited to have one in the future with him. Ive never felt that before until recently. We joke about what names to name them and how we only want boys. Well that last part isnt a joke.One thing that worries me about having a kid with Geoff is that hes too loving and wont be the disciplinarian. He just wants to be the cool dad and the favorite. I can see that now in how he treats June. Im always the one to enforce rules and while he just wants to let her do whatever. 

Another thing we're realizing how we both argue and fight. He is usually silent and wont talk till he's ready (which is about 20-30 mins). When i get my feelings hurt, i want to talk about it till i feel better which doesn't really work with him so its still a learning process for us. Some space is usually the answer. Then we talk it out.

So, all in all, this time in our marriage is going great. I know I'm learning more and more about him and myself all the time. Marriage isn't as easy as i thought it would be, and i really thought i had over thought it enough and realized what it would be like. I'm still in awe of who i married all the time and how much i love him and he actually loves me. Hes more than i ever expected and knew that i wanted and i thank God endlessly for Geoff.

Here is a video of a conversation between geoff and i.
I was initially just trying to capture him singing while playing CODMW2 buuut it just got better so i kept it recording.
He had no idea the whole time it was taping, i promise! When he finally saw it on my computer last night he died laughing at himself.
so NSFW. a few f-bombs and such.



Be blessed,
Mrs. B.
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