Tangled in painted nails and dirty dishes

I am not super big on painting my nails, but every once I get the desire to paint them (though when I was younger I had them painted pretty much all the time).  Well, when I get that desire I just don't seem to remember why I don't do it most of the time.  So, I go ahead and paint my nails.......THEN I remember.  Every time I paint my nails I seem to somehow get locked into doing a bunch of dishes a day or two after.  Once again....I painted my nails (pink).  It was the day after thanksgiving (friday) and I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself (I had a lot of practice from those middle school days and I have to say it is one of those things I am actually better at doing).  Well, Saturday it was all over for my poor painted nails. 
As a bit of background information, my family always goes to my grandparents country club (where our wedding reception was) for thanksgiving dinner.  They have a huge buffet and it is amazing, but I never really have had the whole "traditional" cook all day long and eat at home thanksgiving dinner.  This year Juan and I decided we really wanted to cook an entire thanksgiving dinner to say that we had done it and to see if we could do it.  Since we went to the country club on Thursday for thanksgiving and Friday we were still kinda full from that, we decided to do it on Saturday -- cook all day and then eat that night.  Of course, I knew all of this when painting my nails on Friday night...we planned it in advance...however, my brain could not seem to register the fact that cooking a TON of food meant that we were going to be using a TON of dishes and that meant that they would all need to get washed....and of course that was pretty much my job.  So needless to say my nails were ruined...hahaha...not that I care that much...but you would think that I would learn by now that painting my nails is just something i am not meant to do.  Our dinner was amazing, if I do say so myself.  Juan was in charge of the turkey as well as dessert (which ended up being a german chocolate cake) and I covered everything else (mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, etc.).  It was so much fun to cook together and I really hope that we will continue to do it each year and hopefully it will just get better as we go.

Juan's beautiful turkey

The feast

AND, on a completely different note...Juan took me on a date tonight to go and see Tangled.  I have to say it is the BEST disney movie since the traditional princess movies.  I actually didn't want to see it at first (I have enjoyed the current disney stuff, but have always been a little disappointed that they weren't totally up to the disney standard that I grew up with) but I am SO happy that I went to see it.  The entire time I was trying to figure out the voice of Rapunzel (Mandy Moore..I knew I recognized it).  It was fantastic....definitely a MUST SEE.  I am now listening to all of the songs over and over.  I'm pretty much obsessed....oh well, at least it is a good obsession...right?

Pumpkins, apples, and bread....yep, it is fall.

Two days before Halloween I pretty much begged Juan to take me to get a pumpkin so that I could carve a Jack-O-Lantern.  So, we went out around 9:30 in search of somewhere with a pumpkin for me.  We stopped at Safeway (figuring it would be the only thing with pumpkins still open at that hour) and all of their pumpkins had these weird growth things.  We proceeded to a pumpkin patch we knew of that we figured would be closed.....and it was....but there was someone inside.  He let us in and let us pick out some pumpkins and even sold them to us at a fairly decent price.  Once home I realized that I had never in my life carved a pumpkin totally by myself (my dad helped me when I was little and it has been years since I have really carved a pumpkin).  To say I lack in creativity and artistic talent is a serious understatement, so carving a pumpkin was quite the task for me.  Alas, I finished my pumpkin.....and am actually proud of it (don't judge me).

Sooo Proud!

On the doorstep to greet trick-or-treaters

My other creations of the week included homemade applesauce (which was actually very tasty) and some potato bread.  Every time I have made bread in the past it has been way too dense.  This is my first loaf that was actually very fluffy (I give the credit to the extra 1/3 tsp of yeast that I used).

This much was gone in 5 minutes

And I only got 1 slice :(

And on a final note, I have to share the only family costume that was worn this year.....

Lovely bumblebee Luci

My First Blog

This is my very first blog and I have no idea what I am doing.  I wanted to create a blog so that I can keep a somewhat journal (I'm horrible at keeping a journal) so that I can remember experiences that I have had as well as so that I can share my day to day life with friends and family. 

My life right now.......Juan and I have been married for just over 6 months.  The day after our wedding we drove to Las Vegas where I started my student teaching the very next day.  About a month and a half in Juan got an internship in California and he was in California while I was in Vegas for the next month and a half.  After that I moved to California with him, expecting to be here through mid-September (when his internship was due to end).  Well....his internship was extended through December and we are still in California.  He has been working hard and I have been bumming around.  I just got a job teaching a Saturday Math Academy (4th grade class) and will start this week.  We know we will be in California through December, but after that our life is completely up in the air (which seems to be an ongoing theme in our lives).  So, through this blog I will keep an update on the footsteps of our lives....who knows where they will take us next.