Birthdays: the more you have, the longer you live

I've been reflecting all morning on this, the day of my birth. I turned 23 today, and I don't feel any different, but it's just crazy thinking back on those 23 years of my life. My life, if I do say so myself, has been a pretty good one.

I've been blessed to have a mother who loves me dearly and gave me the best childhood. Who brought me up with music and taught me how to be strong and use my talents.

I have a wonderful, wise father who never loses his cool, who is hilarious, and who taught me to remember I'm a daughter of God and that I am worth everything.

I also have a smart, beautiful sister who can draw and write better than anyone else I know and who is a walking thesaurus. She is so smart and witty and we do nothing but laugh. Coldplay songs will never be the same between us.

And then there's my brother who introduced me to Donkey Kong, Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. All my video gaming skills I owe to him. He is a wonderful storyteller, and has charisma coming out the wazoo. He is infectious. He also taught me that there is life after Harry Potter books.

And last, but certainly not least, my adorable husband who has given me the best 3 years of my life. He's the reason I am who I am today, pushing me, teaching me, tolerating me, but most of all, loving me. He literally is my better half. I don't know what I would do without him.

A shoutout to all of my fantastic friends here in the Austin area that have made me love this place more than ever. The Barlows, the Harrisons, the Walshes, the Lowrys, the Riches, and the Hartleys. I love you all more than you'll ever know.

I don't mean to sound cheesy or anything, but I do feel blessed and extremely thankful to be alive today. I have a lot to be happy about. And I've decided to make a list of 10 things you don't know about me in celebration of my birthday:

1. I have never broken a bone or had a sprain of any kind

2. I've almost died twice

3. I have to go through every radio station on my dial before I choose one to listen to

4. I am a nazi laundry folder (seriously folks, Ander is not allowed to touch the laundry)

5. I love McDonald's chicken McNuggets

6. I could eat potato chips and cottage cheese for the rest of my life and be happy

7. I am a stomach sleeper

8. I don't ever remember my dreams

9. I cannot stand seafood

10. I have never seen Grease, The Sound of Music, Casablanca, or Gone With the Wind

Ander and I are going to dinner this evening, and then we'll be off to go and see Disney's The Princess and the Frog. Sounds like a good birthday to me! Plus, I'll be having a party with all my fabulous friends this weekend. Can it get any better? I submit that it CANNOT!

Adios to Anderson Mill apartments

FINALLY! THE MOVE! We were so excited to get out of the old and into the new when we moved. Our first apartment was okay, but moved into it in such a hurry because we had just moved here and it was the best we could find. Once we had time to actually look for something better, we found it. And it's ours.

First off, I packed all of our belongings up in color coded boxes for the move. I didn't want my dishes ending up in the bedroom, so (thanks to my friend Kelly's idea) I put little colored stickers on the boxes and put a piece of paper corresponding to the colors on each door of the new place. This made it incredibly easy for the people who came and helped us to know where to put their boxes.

This brings me to the people that came and helped us. We "began" the move at 9am... and we were completely moved into our new place by 10am. I counted all the people who came to help us from our wonderful ward, and there were 27 people in all that came to lend a hand. I was completely overwhelmed by love for all of these people that came to help, it really meant so much to me that they all donated a Saturday morning to us in our time of need. It was the smoothest move I've ever experienced in my life, and I owe it all to the fantastic people of our ward! It. was. amazing.

So GOODBYE to apartment number 122 in the Anderson Mill apartments. We were extremely glad to get out of there.

Hello number 1413!

I absolutely love our new place, I get excited every time I walk through the front door. I've taken some pictures, but they don't do the apartment justice. But you'll get the idea:

Family room with patio door.

Dining area and office nook. (Yes, built in computer desk!!! Hallelujah!)

Kitchen (with a puppy) What I love about his kitchen (other than all the cabinet space) is the fact that it's open! The kitchen at our old apartment was tiny and all closed in. Very stuffy. I can breath in the kitchen while I'm cooking.

We found a REALLY nice washer and dryer set for $140 on Craigslist.com. This is attached to the kitchen. Large capacity and everything, I freaking love doing laundry in my own home. Laundromats scare me.

Bathroom. Taking a picture of the bathroom is awkward, because no matter where I stand, it makes the place look tiny. I'm standing where the toilet is. It really is a nice sized bathroom. And we even have a linen closet in there! Now that's what I call good storage. :)

The same goes for the bedrooms. No matter where I stand, they look tiny, but they are MUCH bigger than our old place, (but they do need a little bit of cleaning, hence, no pics.)

I feel SO much more at home here than I did back at our old place. It's a little farther away from Ander's work, but it's the same distance from mine as our other apartment was, so no problems there. What a good move. Good form, I say.

Life without the interwebs

Many wonderful things have happened in the last month, but sadly, I have not been blogging about them because we don't have the internet at our house anymore. One of these days we'll get all hooked up and be able to access the world again, but for right now, I feel completely cut off. I will post about our move, more books, and Joe's big night soon enough. Bear with me, it won't be too long. I DO have a lot to blog about.