Here is your Christmas Greeting from me

Merry Christmas Everyone! So I feel bad about it, but I am not giving cards or cookies or treats out to my neighbors. I just don't feel like it. I think that I am a bit overwhelmed by how many friends I have out here that I want to give treats to and overwhelmed about Christmas in general. I feel like just saying forget all the presents. I don't want anything and I don't want to give anyone anything this year. Although, I am giving homemade gifts to my family. I have been a hat making machine. I just wanna give presents to people when I feel like it or when I see something that makes me think of someone. Am I horrible for not being in the Christmas Spirit. I am sorry to all of you who have brought me something that won't get anything in return. I have loved your goodies!! I just think that if I am giving people something it should be for the right reason, not because I feel obligated. So here is a picture of some cookies... imagine that they are real and enjoy! I love you all and I am sorry I'm such a scrooge!

This ones going out to my knitting posse

Its no secret to anyone who reads my blog that I knit. I should probably make a blog for that stuff so I don't bore the rest of you who don't, but I don't want to keep track of another blog. I hope when you all see that its me talking about knitting again you don't immediate press delete (for those who get my blog updates by email) or click the X (for those using Blogger). So anyways back to the point... I knit, but as of tonight, I also Create muahahaha. What I mean is I now not only knit patterns that are written by others, I also create my own. So here it is my first official Melanie Yates Creates (a joke for Christia) item the Holli Headband!
Isn't that an awesome Zoolander "Look" I'm giving you!?
Note: If you aren't a knitter feel free to tune out now because the knitting jargon is going to get kind of thick.
I had no intention of creating my own product line tonight. I was following a simple pattern for a headband that can be found here. The main idea is Stockinette Stitch (Knit 1 row, Purl the next row) for like 18 inches and then bind off and sew the two ends together. Now, my knitting friends, what is the problem with stockinette stitch....the blasted curling effect. My work is not knitting flat; it is rolling into a tube and you cannot keep your ears warm with that! I vaguely remember Julie from my knitting posse talking with Sandy about how to make that better a long time ago when she was doing a scarf, but at that time I couldn't have cared less about it; I was making mittens. So tonight I am somewhere like 12 inches into it (yes only 6 inches to go) and I decide there is no way its going to work. I should have come to that conclusion a lot earlier but somehow I thought maybe I could flatten it out with a book or something. I tear the whole thing out and start again. This time I do various things at the ends to see if I can't get it to lay flat. I slip the first stitch of every row for awhile, I purl when I should knit or knit when I should purl for the first and last couple stitches of each row. Nothing works!!! I rip it all out again.
I have been making a lot of hats lately as you all may have noticed. So I decide to use the techniques I have been using on my various hats to make what I was thinking would be the most precious head band known to woman. And boy did I make it complicated on myself. Check out my pattern.

The Holli Headband

Needed:
Wool Ease Thick and Quick
Circular size 11
Circular size 13
Big Ol' Needle

Cast on 41 stitches to size 11 circular needle
R1. *K1, P1* Repeat between ** to end of row
change to size 13 circular needle
R2. K1 *yo, sl 1 as if to purl, k1, yo, psso* repeat between ** to end of row
R3. K1 *drop yo, k2* repeat between ** to end of row
R4, 5, 6. Knit all st
R7. same as R2
R8. same as R3
R9. same as R1
Cast off

I am guessing most of that means nothing to all of you but it looks impressive right?
Anyways, it isn't fabulous. The finished product resembles a black garter thingy (you know the thing that brides where on there leg for who knows what reason). The cast off end is tight and then the other end is not. It is quite humorous to me for some reason. I imagined myself putting photos of me wearing it all sorts of places and having you all guess what it was actually intended to be. But when I took the first photo posted above and looked at it I realized that I can actually get away with it looking like a cool headband. So, scratch all that I said previously. It is perfect, the best head band pattern ever! I mean who of you was going to knit it anyway? No one. I could have totally gotten away with everyone thinking I was a genius. No one would have ever known what a piece of junk it is (except for maybe my mom "Holli" for whom I was inspired to create it for as a Christmas gift. So I guess I am sorry to mom, this item is no reflection of you. I just don't have any money to buy you anything you really need.
Sorry about the rambling.
The End.

Say Thanks

Cat Takes the Cake

While family can expect to get homemade gifts from me for Christmas this year, the cat takes the cake. He got his present early. While splurging for knitting supplies on ebay, I bid on this only half serious and won! I got a pretty good deal seeing how these things go for hundreds of dollars at the pet store. However, I probably can't afford it seeing how Christmas is around the corner and Cabello probably wouldn't know the difference if I didn't get him anything. But, he has my heart and so, with it, my bank account. Here he is guarding his spoils.
Besides, he deserves it since he will be home alone for the holidays.

Knit Crazy

After about $50 splurged for supplies, what you get is this super cute hat. Boy, just buying hats is so much cheaper, but knitting them is way more fun!

Warning Mom: Birthday Present Spoiler Alert

My great grandma's slipper pattern with a little finishing touch.

Maple Grove Medical Wives Club

I was recently told that there are girls out there who would like to be invited to the club. I sent some invites out today, if you didn't get one and you want to participate give me your email address in a comment or email it to me at melanieyatesyates@gmail.com.

You haven't experienced coolness till now!

So at my work I found these glasses that you put on that transform all points of light into Christmas shapes. They are so cool! We picked out our favorite two. I put the glasses on my camera to give you an idea of how awesome they are.

My favorite was the drive home (I wasn't driving) when car's headlights turned into two giant snowmen who looked like they were running up the road at me each time a car passed. I laughed my guts out.

On another note, my husband is an addict. I tell him he's had enough and its time to take a shower now. After a couple naggings, he reluctantly goes upstairs to get things done. I go up a couple minutes later to use the potty and see that his bathroom is empty but the light is on in the study. Scroll down to see what I find there.





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He's at it again!!!

Parable of the Fish and the Loaves

I stayed up to finish Brady's socks.

A miracle happened. Remember when Jesus was out teaching the multitude and fed them with the loaves of bread? Well I was convinced that I was going to run out of yarn and have to finish the socks with the leftover green yarn from last year's Christmas mittens. The ball had gotten so small. But what happened was this... it just kept giving. I swear it stayed the same size for like 3 inches of sock. And I even have some to spare!

Happy Thanksgiving!

101 Things to Do

The items in Red are the ones I've done. Cut and paste into your blog and see how many you get.

Things I have done in my life:
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (Not really, our band broke up when not all of us showed up to our first rehearsal. But it was fun to think that we were going to start one.I don't think it really would have worked anyway since none of us could play very well.)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disney World
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch Not sure what that means. I never invented one. I always learned from someone else.
15. Adopted a child – I hope to one day
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse I remember seeing something in elementary. I don't if it was total.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language. Sorta know some Spanish.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House (well I stood at the fence)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
101. Learned to play an instrument

There is still a lot of things that I haven't done!

Go to this site and see the cute Twilight gear

Look Here I want the shirt that says "Yes I am one of those Twilight people" and want the one that says "I'm her Edward" for Brady!

My Diaper Cake

While I was "blog stalking" I found the cutest idea, making a cake out of diapers. With my friend Whitney having a baby soon and all I had the perfect opportunity to try this out. I got on YouTube and watched some videos and came up with my own way to make one. So here it is! I used diapers, an apple cider bottle, tons of rubber bands, ribbon and the bear. It was super fun to make and I think that it turned out pretty cute.

Who do you think I look like?

I saw that Christia had done this on her blog and thought it looked like fun. So here are my celeb lookalikes.

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family album - Free genealogy

Tag: 8 Things and Fourth Picture in Fourth Folder

Here is the FOURTH PICTURE IN MY FOURTH FOLDER HAHAHA! This is the only picture in the fourth folder and it looks like a glamorous one my husband must have taken of me sleeping in!

8 Things About Me

8 Things about Me
My 8 Favorite TV Shows:
So You Think You Can Dance
Heroes
The O.C.
Kyle XY
House
Sweet Sixteen
Made
Prison Break (the beginning, I don't really watch it anymore)

8 Favorite Restaurants:
Tony Romas
Olive Garden
Famous Dave's
Panera Bread
Cafe Rio
Dairy Queen
McDonalds
Arby's


8 Things that Happened Yesterday:
Slept
Played Guitar Hero
Played Lego Indiana Jones
Cooked Dinner
Made Jell-O Jigglers
Talked to Mom
Talked to Jason
Talked to Colleen

8 Things you are looking forward to:
Planning Whitney's baby shower
Not working till Thursday
Eating soon
Visiting family for Christmas
Superstar Gymnastics
Starting a new knitting project
Brady graduating
Having a child someday

8 Things I Love about Fall:
Fall colors
Holidays
thats all

8 Things on My Wish list:
New car
New Shoes
Toned body
No Debt
Job I love
Baby
More kitties
Celestial marriage

So You Think You Can Dance Concert

It was awesome! I am so glad I got to go to this in St. Paul Minnesota Sunday. It was corny at times and Kerrington and Twitch got a lot more stage time than anyone else, but it was thoroughly entertaining. I love this show and can't wait till next season starts. Here are my favorite dances of this season.

Bleeding Love danced by Mark and Chelsea


The Garden danced by Mark and Courtney


Mercy danced by Twitch and Katee

Did you miss the last debate?

This pretty much sums it up.

Blog List

If your not on my blog list don't feel bad. It doesn't mean I don't like you or your blog. I am taking advantage of being a "follower" of peoples blogs. That way the updates show on my blogger dashboard and I don't have to go to this blog to get to yours. I would get rid of my blog list entirely but for some reason blogger won't let me follow certain blogs. Therefore, I must keep them on this blog if I ever hope to find them again.

I AM THE MASTER!!

Good News!! I finally beat a song in on Hard!! I bought this game for my birthday in April. I had beat all the songs on Easy and Medium and then hit a wall. I couldn't go any further, so I stopped playing for months. Well yesterday I picked up the guitar remote and got back to rocking! If you have never played guitar hero (which is just a shame), playing on hard means that I am using all of the five colored buttons while strumming with the other hand. Its pretty tough since you only have four fingers available. See the next picture for an example of the guitar remote. On easy you only use the first three(starting with the green one) and on medium you use four.
I know what your thinking! I am kinda nerdy. Only kids and husbands play those game right? Wrong! I love to play video games still. My latest game, Lego Indiana Jones, is about beat. Next I'm moving on to
Oh and by the way Iowa friends, if you don't see me tomorrow at church(or today depending on how you see it), it is because I am on my way to Minnesota to see the So You Think You Can Dance? concert. Jealous?!

Who do you agree with?

ABC has a test at the below address to see who's campaign statements, McCain's
or Obama's, you agree with most. They don't tell you who made the statements, of course, but a statement made by each candidate on the same topic (economy,
immigration, judiciary, etc.) will be side by side.
You just pick which statement you agree with and, after selecting all 13,
you'll find out which candidate's philosophy you support.
Try it at:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/MatchoMatic/fullpage?id=5542139

Cute Layout

Check out the new look for my other blog So Blessed. There are so many different templates you can use for your blogs. It is amazing! I am currently just a little bit addicted to blogging ( ;

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Its a Boy!

This is a way not good picture of me, but I just wanted to share my little buddle of joy with the world! Take a look at whats in my belly. He has just started crawling in my shirt to sleep lately. Isn't he cute! I just love him to death.
...And I am almost finished with my second sock!

Maple Grovian Medical Wife Club

Calling all the ladies!! Are you interested in participating in my club? I started a new blog at MGMWC.blogspot.com and have sent invites to be posters to several peoples emails. If you are a fellow Maple Grovian who didn't recieve this invite and wants to participate just let me know and I will send an invite to you. I'm not super restrictive so if you are a DMU spouse who doesn't live in Maple Grove or a resident of Maple Grove whose spouse is not a medical student that is okay. There is still a place open for you in this club! If you think this is a stupid idea and want to protest feel free to let me know also. Blog on!

New Twilight Book Leaked!

Attention Twilight Fans!!!
You have some reading to do. Because of a leak of her new book Midnight Sun (the story from Edwards perspective), Stephanie Meyers has released her unfinished draft. Go to this blog site to read more about it and get the link to her site where she responds and puts a link to the draft.

Tagged Again: High School

Pleasant View, UT

1. Did you date someone from your high school? Not very seriously

2. What kind of car did you drive? A big 'ol Suburban for awhile. It was awesome!

3. What was your most embarrassing moment in high school? Being cut from Warriorettes (drill team) my senior year. I was so humiliated I went to early college to escape. I thought that it was just so cruel after after having made the team sophomore and junior years for them to do that to me. I did quit the team junior year and they got a new coach after that who only knew that I had quit, so I guess I couldn't blame her really for not wanting a quiter on the team.

4. Were you a party animal? For sure! But only soda or red bull.

5. Were you considered a flirt? I don't know. I was more like one of the guys I think.

6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? No.

7. Were you a nerd? No.

8. Were you on any varsity teams? Drill Team as I described above. I actually lettered!

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? No. They were lucky if I came to school.

10. Can you still sing the fight song? I know the "Good ol weber" song. Is that the fight song? If not then no.

11. Who were your favorite teachers? Probably Mrs. Oyler because she said I was a good writer and didn't treat me like a kid. And Mr Chase for always giving me extra time on my late math assignments.

12. Where did you sit during lunch? depends on which year. Proabably at a table sophomore year and on the stairs with the soccer boys junior year. Weber State senior year.

13. School Mascot? Warrior

14. Did you go to homecoming and with who? I wasn't 16 (old enough to date) my sophomore year, Jared Christianson senior year and I don't remember who the other time.

15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? No.

16. What do you remember most about graduation? How it was like a reunion for me. It was kinda sad missing out on the whole year.

17. Where did you go senior skip day? Pine View Dam I think.

18. Have you gained weight since then? The scale says no but I feel like I have.

19. Who was your prom date? Quinn Bate (sophomore), Aaron Allred (junior), Eric Gardiner (Clearfield prom senior), and I don't remember the other guys name. He was from Fremont and I made him take me to my senior prom.

20. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? I don't know

21. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself? Be confident and care less about what everyone thinks.

I tag Megan, Sarah, Whitney, Angie, and everyone else too

You've been mooned!

Tagged: 6 Quirks

I was tagged by Megan. Here are the rules: Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

1. You know that web of skin between the pointer finger and the thumb? Well on the web of skin there is a vein. I find myself with my other thumb and/or other fingers feeling that veins pulse all the time and shifting that vein around. I am not sure why; I just do it. I will sit there and hold onto that piece of skin. Weird.

2. I pick at my scalp when I am nervous, so bad that I leave scabs sometimes. And that only makes it worse because then I want to pick the scabs. Its gross. If anyone sees me doing it please stop me.

3. I sleep really late. I have only seen the sun rise like twice in the past 5 years.

4. I hate touching anything when my fingers are wrinkly after taking a bath. It drives me crazy.

5. I can roll the bones of my knuckles and I think it is really cool.

6. I can make farting noises with my eyelids and I think that is pretty cool too, although I don't do it as much anymore because I am afraid that it may hurt me somehow or that my makeup (the couple times that I wear it) might get messed up.

I tag: Julie, Elise, Cassie, Jennifer, Bradley, and Angie

Followup to Hypnosis

So, the author of my hypnosis program said that I would never make it through the whole cd (I would fall asleep before then). If I did it was either too loud or I was trying to hard. Well this guy is wacko because I listened to the whole cd twice the first night before turning it off! The second time through I had it so soft that I could barely hear it. I was relaxed and it was nice to imagine myself "in a beautiful place in nature" or my body as a clear container filling with an orange liquid that drained out through my fingers and toes the color of maple syrup containing all my impurities, but no sleep came of it. I wonder if this guy realizes who he is dealing with here. I was the girl at the elementary school sleepovers who stayed up the whole night without even trying. I remember in the second grade having a sleepover with a friend who had to pretend she was just "resting her eyes" in order to get a break from our Barbi marathon. I have staying up so ingrained into my psyche that I think it is gonna take more than just a boring 27 minute cd of someone telling me that I am letting go and there is nothing wrong with me to cure my Insomnia. Nonetheless, I have continued to turn on the cd each night and will for the 30 days just in case there is some miracle. I am not too disappointed because my expectations of this program aren't too high. What I could really use is a cd that gets me up in the morning. If only I could harness some of the sleepiness I feel then and apply it at night!

Hypnosis

Tonight I went to seminar called Hypnosis to Relieve Insomnia. It was interesting. Was I hypnotized? I am not sure. We will see. It sure was relaxing though.The instructor says that hypnosis is not really like it looks in the movies. You don't lose control of yourself or go under or anything. And that we are all in several hypnotic states every day. Like when your zoned out or daydreaming. I was given a cd that I should listen to every night at bed time for 30 days, without missing. If I miss, I have to start over. I guess he says that the cd is so boring that it should only take a couple of minutes eventually to put you to sleep. This will be amazing for me since it usually takes a minimum of 45 minutes to fall asleep. I just lay there and think and think. How this thing is supposed to work is while you are asleep your subconscious is worked on by the cd changing your self image and curing you of the problem you have. Apparently this guy also does Hypnosis to promote weight loss, cease smoking, bedwetting, nail biting and on and on. If you wanna check him out his website is here. People have quit smoking starting the night they went to one of his seminars and never gone back. I figure why not try it. I don't have anything to lose. Wouldn't it be awesome if it were this easy? I'll let you know how it goes.

Follow up to Late Night Knitting: Look what I created!

It is finished! I learned how to graft there at the end all by myself and everything! Tell me how beautiful it is will ya.
I am pretty proud, can you tell.
Now I gotta make the other one though. And it looks like since Brady got a new video game (Star Wars Force) I will be starting the other one tonight for our date night.

Late Night Knitting

Not a whole lot to share. Just been working and knitting lately. Brady has been really busy with his studies. Look at my progress on my first pair of socks!

I just found out we must have been reincarnated!

Look I found photos of me and Brady back in 1956! How peculiar.

Countdown

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Welcome Home Shawn

I have loved the Olympics this year. In the past, I have stuck to mostly watching gymnastics and figure skating. But this year I watched it all! I am so sad that it is all over. What will I watch now?
Anyway, tonight Des Moines, Iowa welcomed back Shawn Johnson, gymnastics superstar, and I couldn't help but admit I am starstruck over our hometown hero. Luckily, Elise is too so we went to the shindig.

Apparently we weren't the only ones who had fallen in love with her. They said about 7,000 people showed up to welcome her home at the Wells Fargo Arena.


I was glad that they got out a big t.v. for those of us who showed up just on time so we could see her hold up her medals from way up in the nose bleed seats.

Way to go Shawn Johnson!

Antidepressant Withdrawal Hell

I have been unsure how personal I wanted this blog to get. I guess anytime you open yourself to people you become vulnerable. Online, and I guess also in life, you get the opportunity to either show the world only the pieces of yourself that you are proud of or comfortable with or you can be totally honest and bare it all. Well, I have been inspired by the post of an old friend to share a part of my life that is most painful. My struggle with depression. Since puberty, I have had some tough episodes in life. The most frustrating thing for me about depression is to feel so bad and wrong inside and not be able to associate it with anything that has happened. To be stuck in such a dark place and feel like it won't get better.
We have seen in the past decade or so an increased acceptance of depression as a mental illness. There have been numerous commercials and advertisements by drug companies for their various prescriptions and as much as 10% of the population has bought into those drugs. Brady told me that up to 1/3 of all visits to primary care doctors are for psychological problems like depression. It isn't hard to get a prescription for depression from one of these doctors who have limited training in treating these issues. And the drugs help at times; they really do. I have been helped by them since around puberty. The problem that I have with this is whether doctors have any idea what its like to try to get off these medications?
I guess that brings me to what my issue has been this last week. I have been married for almost 4 years and am 25 years of age and have no children. I live in a town home complex where I am a rarity. Few couples have been married longer, are older, and have no children. It is hard to be children-less around so many couples who have started their families. I have about had it. I Want Children Already! Well guess what... its recommended that you are not on any drugs while you are pregnant. So here I am, the past couple of years, slowly eliminating these toxins from my body and having a difficult time doing it. And no one had told me when started taking these drugs that it would be difficult to ever stop them. I doubt that the doctors who first prescribed them to me had any idea what getting off antidepressants did to people. Here is my latest experience.
There is one antidepressant in particular that I have been on for years and years. I don't remember when I started it, but it helps me get to sleep each night. Well, I've been tapering off it this summer. I went from one and a half to one for a while, to a half for a bit, then to a quarter and was doing just fine. Well last weekend I ran out of pills and went off of the drug. I didn't sleep well the first night and slept the most late that morning. What followed that morning was horrific. My mind and my body went berserk. I couldn't stop crying, my muscles were sore and exhausted, my brain felt like mush, I had diarrhea and was nauseated. I've come to realize that antidepressants are serious drugs that cause withdrawals like street drugs! After spending the weekend in hell, I ended up missing work Monday and visiting the urgent care. I was able to get a prescription for the drug that I had discontinued and started back on a quarter of a pill. It took a day after starting the drug again for my mind to become stable again and it took clear until Friday for my body to get back to normal.
Apparently I am not the only one who was suprised by how hard it is to get off antidepressants. I found hundreds of confused people online posting on bulletin boards about their own struggles. I can't believe that doctors don't know more about this and don't give more warning to their patients! These drugs are advertised as safe and non-addictive and yet they cause so much pain and sickness to so many people who turned to them to get relief. I found a story that ABC did recently on the topic and am glad that the world is becoming aware. Read it if you like at http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/withdrawal-side-effects-SSRIs-emerging.htm.
Anyway, I am just so relieved to be feeling better and feel so blessed to have had my husband there to support me through this.

Sunsets

I love sunsets and can't help but take oodles of pictures of them. I decided to try out the panoramic function on my camera and decided its kinda hard to get separate pictures to line up perfectly. But I thought that I would post my attempt.
This is just down the road from my house. Its a beautiful green field of... I'm not sure what. Every time I drive by it I just want to take a picture. I think that this picture illustrates what people meant when they told me, before I moved here, that in Iowa you can see someone stand up from miles away. I really don't think that is true in most cases, since the terrain flows in hills; but here it looks like it goes on for miles.

Yay for vampires!

I won't talk about what my title is referring to in detail in case there is anyone who is not as far as me in Breaking Dawn (which there probably isn't since everyone I've talked to seems to be finished), but I can't believe that the book is going where I wanted it to go. Well, at least I am pretty sure it is. I love the book so far and would just keep reading if it weren't 2 in the morning. I thought writing here would calm me down enough to sleep.
Meanwhile here are some photos from the Iowa State Fair today.


Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson made out
of butter.


Me and Brady enjoying the whole reason I came to the fair, deep fried oreos.

Good Morning Sunshine, The Earth Says Hello!

I had a great morning today. I got out of bed at 11 and was met with a story about a Sleeping Beauty taped on the wall that continued as I descended the stairs. At the bottom was a gift! This sleeping beauty will be attending the So You Think You Can Dance tour when it comes to Minnesota in October! I am so excited. What a wonderfully surprising husband I have.

Back To School

Yesterday I was reunited with Brady after six weeks apart. He had been playing G.I. Joe in Texas and I had been sent to Utah to await his return. It was like a dream when I first saw him. He appeared to be glowing and so much more good looking than I remembered him being. I wasn't sure whether after being separated for so long we were still on the same terms. Was I allowed to touch him however I wanted or should we shake hands and start at the beginning again. We paused...then embraced...pulled apart and embraced again. We walked to the parking lot and then came the kisses. I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I ran over the curb as I backed out of the parking spot. The ride home was long and exciting. Not only because I had my man again, but because we became fully aware we were not in the desert anymore. The sky was pouring buckets onto the already moist Iowa crop. We arrived home safely and that's as far as that story goes. After all, this isn't a romance novel.
Absence definitely makes the heart grow fonder. I am glad to be home, but I had such a great time in Utah with our families. Here are just a few of the things I saw when I visited Bryce and Zion Canyons.

Welcome to the Beginning

They say that journals are soothing, and from what I remember about journaling as a child or teenager, I remember that to be true. I'm all about adding things that make me feel better into life. My journals have always been in little notebooks or books labeled journal on the front of them. So this will be new. The older I get the less inclined I am to write with a pen. Especially after using a computer for everything in college. Because of this I've not journaled more than 10 times in the past two years. I have barely written anything that hasn't been assigned to me by professors. Writing used to be something I enjoyed and did for pleasure. I hope with this new venture I will make it so again. I also hope that writing this blog will help me to find who I am and what makes me happy. I am in a position that I am not comfortable with out here in a new town over a thousand miles away from what I consider to be home. Yes, my husband is with me on this adventure, but medical school can take a lot of a person. I hope that other spouses may be able to find my blog and we may be able to reach out to each other.