An actual update

I haven't given very many updates lately, mainly my menu plans and the first installment of our "how we met" story. I don't know how many people are so interested in it, but I actually really enjoy reading about how couples met.

Stephan started school on Wednesday, but had a training meeting on Tuesday for the Math Lab. Yep, he's still working at the Math Lab. In the past, Stephan has worked about 20 hours a week (in a normal fall/winter schedule), and every year he has gotten a small raise. He's still getting the raise, but his hours have been cut down to 14. Bummer. He thinks the time cut is due to how many more tutors they have hired this semester. And I thought that there had been a budget cut? Hmmm. Anyway, he told me this via text message while I was at work, and I told my supervisor about it (he works right next to me). He asked me right then and there if I wanted to increase my hours! It took me a couple of days to decide, but starting next week, I'll be working 30 hours instead of 25. That should make up the difference. And Stephan is tutoring one of his friends once a week for a fee (the friend insisted on paying him), so we should be fine in the money department.

So far, Stephan really likes his classes. He's taking an iPhone programming class, which is great because he's been trying to get into iPhone programming for a while. One of his favorite professors is also teaching it, which  is also a plus. He is also taking three math classes: Complex Variables, Number Theory, and Statistics. Only one abstract class, which means the others are more problem-solving.

After this semester, Stephan only has three classes left to take, and then he'll graduate in May! I hope it all goes according to plan :)

Menu Planning: Week 2

I didn't really do a "menu" last week because our schedule was highjacked by our trip to Cedar City, so this week is officially week two with a plan.

Monday:

Spaghetti
Broccoli
Bread

Tuesday:

Chicken and vegetable stir-fry
Rice

Wednesday:

Sloppy Joes (with ground up carrots in them)

Thursday:

Pasta with shrimp
Salad

Friday:

Burritos with the fixings

Saturday:

Homemade Pizza


Since we ate out so much while we were in Cedar City (didn't have much of a choice), menu planning will hopefully guarantee that we won't be eating out for a good while :)

The Stephan and Laura Story Part I

I got this idea from another blogger who chronicled her courtship and eventual marriage to her husband. And since we just celebrated our one-year anniversary, I thought this would be appropriate.

Most of the time when people ask us how we met, we tell them, "Blind date." Occasionally I'll add that my roommate and a guy in his ward set us up. Even our wedding website only gives the Cliff's Notes version of it.

If you hate long blog posts, I suggest you stop right here.








Still reading? Okay, but you can't stop now ;)

Our "how we met" story wouldn't be complete if I didn't include the story of Andrew. I met Andrew my freshman year of college in the non-audition orchestra at BYU. We became good friends, and I soon developed a major crush on him. It wasn't reciprocated, which was okay because he was going on a two-year mission for our church. While he was on his mission, I wrote him friendly letters and sent him a few things to cheer him up whenever he was having a hard time. But just nine months after he left for his mission, he suddenly was home for medical reasons. I had little contact with him when he came home, and I decided that since he wasn't exactly trying to contact me much, that it was definitely time to move on with my life. There was also a passage in my Patriarchal Blessing that I thought indicated that I wasn't to marry an early returned missionary. It said that my future husband would have "fulfilled" a full-time mission, and I took that to mean all 24 months.

Six months after not hearing from Andrew, I randomly ran into him. He kept talking about how we needed to do things together and he got my phone number (he had lost it). I fully meant to be friends with him only, but over the summer, he seemed to want more. He called me a lot, came over to visit, and took me to events with him. These are things that guys do when they're interested in a girl...or so I thought. I started liking him again, even though I had a very deep, sick feeling about him that I couldn't put my finger on.

At the end of the summer, I went home for a couple of weeks and then moved into my new apartment in Provo before fall semester started. This is when things started to unravel with the dear boy. He started calling less, for one. Deep inside, something was telling me to end everything with him, but I was denying it. I no longer had issues with the fact he came home from his mission early; I decided that he had completed the mission that he could complete.

With the new apartment, I had brand new roommates. They were all wonderful. One of them would be instrumental in my meeting Stephan. Her name was Jenny, and she was casually dating a guy named Andrew (not the same one). One Saturday evening, she went up to his single's ward activity up in Pleasant Grove. That's where she met Stephan, and determined that he was perfect for me. She and Andrew approached me with the opportunity to meet him, but I declined because (a) I was "dating" Andrew, even though I knew deep down that it was about to end and (b) I wanted to be the one person in my family who didn't need a blind date to meet my spouse.

Jenny did essentially try to talk me into breaking it off with Andrew. She told me that I deserved someone who would be crazy about me and who I wouldn't have to worry about not calling me. My other roommates, Jessica and Amy, pretty much said the same thing. I could tell that they didn't think highly of him.

Not long after I declined Jenny and Andrew's offer, they amicably stopped dating. And not long after that, I told Andrew that I wasn't dating for the heck of it anymore. He admitted that he wasn't interested in dating me...he was just being friendly and didn't realize that what he was doing could be leading me on! Yes, he was clueless. His parents had to tell him that he was leading me on. I've often thought about sending his parents a thank-you note for that.

We stopped going on dates (well, he thought we were just hanging out), but he wanted to stay friends and I agreed (I was too emotionally shot to say no). I sulked about it for a week, and I feel sorry for my roommates who had to put up with it. Even though I sulked, that sick feeling had gone away and I was at peace again.

The week after my break-up was General Conference and we roommates spent part of it with Jenny's family in South Jordan. As we were driving back Sunday evening, I half-jokingly said to Jenny, "Gee, it's too bad you aren't dating Andrew anymore. You could set me up with Stephan!" Jenny said, "Actually, we're still friends. Do you want me to talk to him about it?" I told her yes, having decided that I had nothing to lose and that I wanted to get back in the dating scene. This was my chance to get started.



To be continued....

Our Anniversary

As of Sunday, we have survived our first year of marriage! It's gone by so fast I can hardly believe it. Our first year was no bed of roses by any means. Personally, I think those people who say that the first year is the easy and blissful year are liars. Before I scare any of my unmarried friends, let me tell you that marriage is absolutely wonderful, but it is a lot of work. Our trials were mainly in the financial sector because I was unemployed for most of our first year and then at one point, we were both unemployed. There was also the car accident, health problems (mainly on my part), on top of learning how to be married. 

To celebrate, we drove down to Cedar City for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. We stayed at a bed and breakfast called Amid Summer's Inn, which was wonderful and we highly recommend it. The hosts were very hospitable and accommodating; the breakfasts were tasty; and our room was very comfortable. Plus, it was walking distance from the festival. We saw two plays at the festival: Pride and Prejudice and Much Ado About Nothing. After seeing Pride and Prejudice, Stephan decided to download the novel onto his iPod and he has agreed to see the six-hour A&E series in one-hour increments. Of course, I have to agree to read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as part of the deal. Yay?

I really wish we had been able to stay in Cedar City longer, but I had to go back to work today. Employers should give their employees a week off for wedding anniversaries. We had so much fun in Cedar City that we might make this an anniversary tradition. Yes, we're nerds, but we're cultured nerds. Ha!

What are the plans for our second year of marriage? The one we're definitely shooting for this year is having Stephan graduate from college. He is determined that he will graduate in 2011, one way or another. Hopefully, he'll have a job when he graduates, and it may very well mean that we will leave Utah. We shall see what this year brings.

Menu Planning: Week 1

I have made it a goal to plan out our meals on a weekly basis, so I don't get frustrated when the day starts drawing to a close and I STILL haven't decided what's for dinner, and so we're not tempted to just go out to eat. Last night, I came up with a tentative dinner plan for the week:

Monday:

Chicken Piccata served over pasta
Salad

Tuesday:

Black Bean Soup (new recipe!)
Corn
Watermelon

Wednesday:

Chicken Teriyaki
Stir-fried vegetables
Rice

Thursday:

Tacos with meat, rice, vegetables, beans, etc.

Friday:

Alfredo
Salad
Bread


Of course, I might make a few modifications. We just finished dinner, and it was really nice not stressing about it all day because I already knew what we were having! I'm optimistic that this will work out for us :)

So, what do I do?

I don't know how many of you are curious about what I do at work, but I'll tell you anyway.

My job title is "Marketing Assistant". One of the main things I do is look for blogs and other websites to put a banner ad on, contact the website/blog owner to see if they are interested in having our ad on their site, and go from there. Essentially, I get paid to surf the web, which is a pretty sweet deal. But I make sure to only do work-related web surfing. I waited a long time to get this job; I don't want to lose it over personal web surfing! But it's not like my web surfing is boring. That couldn't be further from the truth; it's a lot of fun.

One of our main advertising targets are food storage and emergency preparedness blogs. There are only so many of those that we can generate a lot of traffic from, so I've been branching out in my blog/website search. I don't know how much information I can share because I signed a non-disclosure agreement and I don't know how many of you are going to start rival food storage/emergency preparedness companies ;)

I do other "administrative" duties, if you will. My department is pretty new, so we are working on getting things organized. And because I have a background in writing/editing, I am often called on to edit things, whether it be articles to go into magazines, letters, website articles, etc. I have also done a little copywriting.

So, that's what I do and I really enjoy it. It's not a lot of pay, but it doesn't matter that much to me. I'd rather do a job I love and get paid less than work at a job I HATE and get paid more.