Blarghhhh

I'm pretty lonely.

I mean, I'm always pretty lonely. I've always been pretty much on my own. Now I'm on my own, but with my husband.

I don't need to go out every night, or throw tons of parties or even be around a ton of people. I just need to not stay home every night, and do nothing every night.

Ambivert. I'm drained by social interaction, but I'm drained by being secluded. I need to be with people, but not have any interaction with them. Actually, that sounds exactly like the majority of the time I spend with Derrick, hahaha.

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Christmas was hard. Blarghhhh.
D-Rawk usually spends the day at his aunt's house, with his cousin and Oma. I usually spend the day at my parents' house, hanging out with 35+ family members.
This year we spent most of the day in separate rooms, occasionally busting out a wolf whistle to let the other know we're thinking of them.

I missed my family a lot.

You know what doesn't help? Like at all? "Your husband is your family now."

Please point this out to me again, everyone. Because I don't think I got it the first several times.
My husband is my family. This tiny family is great, I love it.
You know what DIDN'T happen when I married Derrick? My siblings did not stop existing. My parents did not disappear. My nieces and nephews did not disown me.
I HAVE MORE FAMILY THAN JUST MY HUSBAND AND IT IS FINE IF I MISS THEM!!!

It does not take away from my joy of being with Derrick. I would love if we both could be there, hanging out with everyone. Ya know, without the forced guilt trip of "This is your family now."


Here is the thing, though: Derrick is one guy. He hears all of my stories, all of my jokes, he is the one person I talk to on a consistent basis. He is one of my best friends, absolutely ...But I also miss my friends, and that is okay.

I haven't gone to a movie by myself since May, or maybe April? Which is odd because going to the movies alone is one of my favorite ways to unwind. I can relax by being with people, but not having to even make eye contact with anyone.
I haven't gone to a movie by myself because if I have the time to see a movie, I'd rather spend the time with Derrick. I'd rather go to a movie with HIM, or hang out at home with him. I just enjoy being with him.

But I'm still lonely.

Making friends as an adult is not easy, especially when my ward is made of of 172-year-olds and toddlers. A few of my coworkers are friendly enough, but we tend to work opposite schedules, so my free time is their work time and vice versa.

Blech. I'm going on a drive around Portland tomorrow (after running an errand for my husband), and taking myself to lunch and a movie. We are pretty broke, but I have coupons, gift cards and cash tips.

Turkey

Breakfast as we pulled into the port. (My usual grits. I became very fond of grits on this vacation.)

Met at 8:00 in Medusa Lounge, got off boat onto a small pier. We had arrived in Alanya, Turkey.

Got on two buses, taking our places in the back row. (As there are three of us and all of the seats are clumped in twos except for the three seats across the back.)

First stop: Perge
According to Acts, Paul traveled through Perge then later gave a sermon in Perge.

I didn't quite understand what it was we were looking at, other than ruins. It was very interesting, none the less.

We bought these matching dresses in the gift shop on the cruise ship. I enjoy that, although we are dressed in similar clothing, we all have our own distinct style. (And I look to be 72% legs.)

There is a roped-off section where the dirt was swept away to reveal this beautiful tile work underneath. We brushed away the thick layer of dirt we were standing on and were pleasantly surprised to see these tiles underfoot.

Outside the ruins was a little gift shop. I dropped a 2 Euro coin and it fell through the slats in the deck porch area of this gift shop. :/ I don't think I bought anything in this shop, but I believe Celeste bought a scarf. (One of thoooooouuuusands she purchased on this trip.)
On the outskirts of the parking lot, a woman had jewelry laid out on the ground. I chose a chunky necklace, which I think I paid about $5 for.

We got back on the bus. Lunch time!

Our guide explained that lunch would be a buffet, and it was $10 a person. He would collect the $10 as you got off the bus. Objections were raised, and our guide agreed to let us look over the food before we decided to purchase the buffet.

I perused and refused.

I spent about $4 for this Coke Zero. I enjoyed this meal of Coke Zero.

After lunch we headed over to Aspendos Amphitheater.

Our cute little guide was born in Turkey but was raised in Germany. Oh my, what an accent! I had a hard time understanding 30% of what he said.

Our lesbian power couple Christmas card pose:

The gladiator that you had to pay well to pose with.

After Aspendos:

SHOPPING!

We were taken to a market that had shops down every little street. The shops and streets were all pretty neat and clean. We stopped in a few stores and chatted with the employees while looking at the goods. One man in particular LOVED AMERICANS! He got all gushy when we told him where we are from. Unfortunately, his watches and jewelry were way too expensive for me. Nice guy, though.
I bought a few keychains and bracelets (with a nazar for the Evil Eye) from a little shop being run by two brothers in their teens.
Celeste and Rachel went wandering down to, um, I'm really not sure where. I was wearing boots and my feet were killing me. I chose to stick around the shops.
I wandered into a store that had interesting knick knacks, carved chess sets, tea pots, etc. I ended up buying three rings with large stones (for about $3 each, if I remember correctly).

"I can show you the world; shining, shimmering, splendid."
Cele has found herself a flying carpet.

There were belly-dancing outfits EVERYWHERE. One guy kept trying to get me to buy one. I laughed. I laughed hard.

Back on the bus!

A little market, as seen out my window.

 

The sun sets over Turkey.

 

That time I went to five countries

My best friend's wedding

 Sarah, my gorgeous best friend since birth, got married this past Thursday.

 (Above: ages 27 and 26; below: ages 6 and 5)

Thankfully we both survived our horrible bangs years.

You can't scalp anybody unless you do a war dance first!

So, uh, I got strep throat.
For almost 11 days my throat was so sore I was threatening to cut it out. I could survive without a throat, right? At least a good chunk of it. I could slice it right out, no problem.

When it is excruciatingly painful to swallow you are very particular about what you try to eat. Every bite is well thought out. You don't waste a bite on something gross.

This got me thinking about what foods I dislike. The food-like items that make me shudder just typing their names:

fish

mushrooms

peas

green / red / yellow bell peppers

canned string beans

capers

lemon juice / zest

honey

peanut butter sandwiches

cooked tomatoes

tomato soup

tomatoes by themselves (cherry tomatoes)

ground beef (hamburgers / meatballs / meatloaf)

zucchini

sausage

thick cuts of chicken

celery

chocolate

white chocolate

egg yolk

almonds / pecans / walnuts / etc

beans (black / pinto / lima / kidney / etc)

pico de gallo

meat on the bone

chili (that whole ground beef, tomatoes, and beans thing. Blech!)

soggy bread (bread pudding / breakfast casserole)

bananas

Cool Whip / whipped cream / whipped dessert

eggplant

proscuitto / limp bacon

honeydew

cantaloupe

octopus, oysters and other strange seafood

raisins

dried cherries

cherry-flavored things

cranberries

goat cheese

gorgonzola cheese

bleu cheese

feta cheese

swiss cheese

hard cookies (biscotti)

olives other than black

cornbread

pumpkin pie

beets

rice pudding

barbecue sauce

Ugh. I just gagged a little.

I showed my list to my little sister. Meridith laughed at me. :/

Is there anything you DO like?!

 Um, yeah. His name is my boyfriend the potato. 

 

I like some foods that most people don't enjoy. I love brussels sprouts, asparagus, cauliflower and yellow squash.

...this may be why I have such a difficult time at restaurants in foreign countries. I hate not knowing what the menu says. I hate so many ingredients and I want to know that they will not be in my food.

Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh!

 

Tonight I took my 4-year-old nephew, Ezra, on his first Auntie Date.

Deborah dropped us off at the Ice Cream place, where Ez-Dawg got a little bit (and "just a little bit more...a liiiiiiittle bit more") of vanilla ice cream and Auntie concocted an egg nog/chocolate/butter pecan mixture.

After Ez couldn't finish the rest of his ice cream (told you so, E) we put our coats back on and headed across the parking lot to the movie theater.

We bought our tickets to The Muppets and headed over to the concession stand. E doesn't like candy, he doesn't really like sweet stuff (vanilla ice cream notwithstanding) so he was not tempted by the kettle corn in the same fashion as his chunko auntie.

So we both had our own popcorn: one kettle corn, one gross regular. I asked Ez-Dawg over and over if he wanted a drink, maybe a water bottle? He declined. So halfway through the movie he asked me for his drink. Uh...want mine? So the little dude tried, and liked, Vitamin Water Zero (Rise flavor).

Poor guy wasn't expecting all those "commercials" at the beginning. He kept leaning over to ask, "This the Muppets?" "Nope, little dude, this is a commercial for a different movie." "Oh." ... "This the Muppets?"

E seemed to enjoy the movie. It took a minute for him to get into it (me too, actually). About halfway Ez said loudly, "Umm, Auntie Susie, I'm done with this movie." Hahaha. I told him it wasn't quite over, he seemed appeased with that and sat back.

The little guy laughed so hard during the "Am I a Man or a Muppet?" song. Cracked him right up. So cute.

After the movie E-Z and I refilled the good popcorn and took pictures in the photobooth.

Then his mom picked us up.

A successful date.

"Whatcha call that? Stupid on a plate?"

I am tall. I love this (a lot) in general, but sometimes it gives me problems. I have 40 inches of leg to deal with. Do you realize what that means? Everything is way too short on me. :/

I am not against things being too short, haha. But that is the problem: I would totally go out like that. Oops. I would pretty much live in my black booty shorts if it were kosher.
But anyway, uh, yeah...my legs are long, my dresses are too short.

And that is a problem. I have a problem.

I'm in love with this dress:

(I am the one on the right, the one who is almost too busty for the sweater-like material. And yeah, I take pictures of myself in the dressing room. I have freakishly high self-esteem.)

It is incredibly short, even by my loose standard. Despite it being $80 I would like to purchase it and wear it every single day of my life, dressed up with delicate jewelry, funked up with chunky necklaces, dressed down with jeggings and boots. (Yeah, I wrote jeggings. This gags me, too.)

But is it a bit too much? It is short enough that if I fell or something I'd be almost naked...a hospital gown would be less revealing.

But I love this dress. The ruching on the sleeves, the different knits from the top piece to the bottom piece. Oh, it is fabulous.

But too short?

"He is 6 foot 6 of pure automotive knowledge."

There are many pleasant little moments throughout my day. Like waking up and realizing I have time to hit snooze, or that awesome moment when I get home and finally get to rip off my shirt.

Speaking of pleasant moments, how about this past July, huh? That was like a really long pleasant moment.
My friend Ashley came up from Las Vegas. Ryan and I got to introduce her to everything Utahn. I love Utah in July! (I love July in general.)

Bonfires in the canyon! Got caught in the sprinklers, shoes fell off, fell on the grass, stood up, fell again, got hit in the face with the sprinkler. Nice.

Hot Air Balloon Launch The Darth Vader balloon was there so the Star Wars characters made appearances as well. I found the look of Star Wars next to all this patriotic clothing hilariously odd.

Stadium of Fire! Sat outside the stadium with Ryan and Ashley and listened to Brad Paisley play. 

Then the blessing of my sweet little nephew, Noah! My sister is a fox.

4th of July Went to the parade in Provo with Ashley, Caroline and Emma Kate. Met up with Meridith, Ben and Kumquat. Took Ashley to my family reunion lunch (I hate those things.) Went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory then went to the Sandy City fireworks, which were fantastic! So fun.

Harry Potter midnight showing! Sat in line with friends in Provo for hours despite having assigned seating tickets in Draper.

Celeste and I threw ourselves an Italian-themed joint birthday party dinner! I excel at forcing people to celebrate me.

I turned 27 in style. I mean I asked my mom to take me (with Caroline, Emma Kate and Luke) to the Paleontology museum. We did our best raptor impressions and looked at giant sloth skeletons. We went out for ice cream and my Momma made a trifle. Then some friends and I gathered for dinner and frivolity (and I wore a tiara all day.)

 
A random potluck dinner at the park. I brought a ton of tacos. Like 20 tacos. An insane amount of tacos.

 

Seriously, July was awesome.


Let's do it again, shall we?