twenty-eight

the night of jared's birthday, he opened presents at the house and we kept it low key.
i proposed crepes with some friends, and he voted me down. he loves friends but does not
like to be the center of attention. not one bit.
what he does love are the ray-bans he requested.


daaang they look good.


in true sunday fashion, we dined at mom's on yet again another amazing spread.
would you believe a table setting so lovely with such delicious food is the norm?
jared requested a ham ring + au gratin potatoes.


we finished with a chipman, off-key song of happy birthday and
jared's favorite german chocolate cake.

a sushi date

jared's birthday dinner...
brought to you by groupon and at 9 pm, which is how we roll these days.

eoy

four blog posts in a week! whaaaaa? can you handle this?

last week we went to our second ernst & young entrepreneur of the year event.
it's one of a few times during the year where
we dress in something more fancy than our usual sunday wear.
(aka fret for weeks straight about where to find a modest formal than doesn't scream PROM.)
this year's dress is made by suzi chin & ordered online two days before the event,
just to keep things interesting.

isn't my date handsome?

more on the night available here.

i love you more than warming my cold feet on your legs

we celebrated valentine's night separately at work.
that does not mean we love our jobs more than each other, right? right.

i skipped out on watching the bachelor on tivo last night, and we spent a half hour
exchanging cards and fourteen things we love about each other.

i love:
that he is no part mean, ever
his competitive drive
& his passion for futuristic cars/electronics (and how excited he gets telling me about these things!)

he loves:
that i can cook a tasty meal
how i interact with his friends & co-workers
& when i watch his tv shows with him.

image by heather.

red hearts and such

heather approached me a few weeks ago about doing a
lovely dovey valentiney photo shoot me and the mr.
i've followed her work for a while and i adore her style.
i begged jared for the go ahead and responded to her a split second later.

noted:
jared really loves me to pose for the camera in an outfit of my choice
while i smooch him with red lips.
heather uses the same camera i own. my oh my it's time to learn about iso/aperture/lenses/composition.
the colors in my hair need to be muted to be more similar and less streaky skunk like.
there are really kind and talented people like heather who i am grateful for.

gifting

one of my favorite gifts i received this year is this watercolor portrait by ashmae.
it's created from the image featured on our christmas card here.

i've seen ashmae's work on other blogs and at bijou market. i'm a big fan.
she has an etsy shop you can check out if you're interested.

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my favorite gift i gave this year was the pair of white shiny snow skis i surprised the mr. with.
he's been talking about new skis for a while,
but i convinced him they were too spendy.

i got lucky to find a friend who helped me get them half off.

a really short but lovely trip

we took a quick two-day trip to las vegas to see the mr.'s pride and joy boise state football.
by nature of my last name lish i am a boise state fan, but when boise state plays
the utes i cheer for boise state
like its my life on the line because it almost is.

the only other pictures we have are of the hotel since that's all we saw.
sleeping in until 11 am gameday really didn't allow for anything other than a shower and lunch, which worked for me because it felt like a million buckaroos to stay tucked away in warm covers with not a thing to do.

i love you forever christmas break.

behind the lens

{christmas card outtake}

i'm on a bit of a photography kick.
not the kind where i'm going to claim "professional photographer" and
open candace lish photography online (won't happen),
but the kind where i setup the tripod and force jared into a displayed outfit in front of the tripod.
i need kids so jared can get a break.

i wanted fresh never-before-seen pictures for our christmas card.
not that it matters, but that's one of many crazy ideas i get in my head and then there is no changing my mind.
so off we went to the canyon with our tripod.
pretty sure jared would rather have been anywhere than standing in front of the lens
while i ran back and forth clicking the 10-second timer.
the whole scenario reads m i s e r a b l e to my honey.
alas he survived and i have the picture above to savor the memory.

tre anni

to my handsome husband of three years, you make my world spin 'round. ti amo.

a snippet of pictures to come

"Let the sunlight in, I wanna feel it from within,
        You spin me around and make me feel like I could Shine." - Rosi Golan

love bugs

i think a day in the mr.'s heaven would look like this:

food from texas roadhouse
a new pair of shoes
the best backscratch
a package in the mail to "dick lish" (compliments of loving bro's/sis's)
german chocolate cake
a j.crew tee (psych! but oh i couldn't resist it's too sexy)
calls, hugs, and messages from good pals

and so we spent the day celebrating slash spoiling the mr. with all his faves.


and throw a little crazy family in there too.


we took about 5 of this exact same picture, and someone who likes to wreck havoc on all things photography kept pulling creepy faces.



and i leave with you the words from the adorable card my brother cole (12 years) wrote to jared:

J, thank you for being the best bro-in-law, and

thank you for being so nice to me and loving to me.

also, thanks for helping me with sports and

you're awesome = cool.

love,
bugs

dads are the best

I have a pretty cool dad who loves me and looks out for me. I'm not sure what's being said in the picture above taken on our wedding day, but I know it was a special day for my dad to hand me off to Jared.

Dad is always up for an adventure, and he can make a boring event fun. I remember the time in high school dad drove me, Skyler and Landon to Denver to see pearl jam and sit in the hot pots. what dad does that! and the times dad let me drive at way too young of an age as we both went to check on the car wash and eat a dq blizzard.

Dad had my back and called me nearly everyday I was away in Italy, always to make sure I was safe and to comfort me when the thick fog set in for weeks at a time, literally. Dad and I share our passions for Italy, Neil Young, road trips, and diet coke.

I can't help but be excited to see Jared build this same special bond with our girls one day. I have a feeling they will learn how to play basketball from their dad and ski with him in the winter months. he will toughen them up on the outside, but really he's a total softy and will be a great listener one day.

one day.

yours are the sweetest eyes i've ever seen

monday marked two years with the mr. i've been sick for a few days, and he's been hitting the books for a cpa test he took this week. we celebrated yesterday with dinner at chili's followed by the first jazz game of the season.

it's crazy to think two years have passed since we officially tied the not. despite still not having a wedding photo album and the few remaining unused wedding gifts that linger around the house, we've come so far--we finished school together, we moved to a new city, we found things like skiing & pasta that we both love, we each have our tv shows we watch with each other, and we enjoyed the journey to figure all of this out.

the mr. makes it a point to surprise me with a little something on our anniversary. his surprise this year has a nice sound.

can you guess?

you may be wrong for all i know, but you may be right.

"the best season of the year"

have i mentioned the mr.'s passion for fall sports? how he watches relentless hours of games, plays in a few fantasy leagues, tracks stats on his phone, computer and tv 24/7, and gets a phone call or two to talk about the huge game? it's a bit overwhelming, but i'm in for the long haul and i'm adapting quite nicely by learning a few rules and getting into the teams and competition.

i surprised jared with tickets to usa v. el salvador for his birthday. so cool to see a team like usa play in salt lake city. rio tinto was plastered with red, white & blue and rightly so.



byu cougs v. colorado state saturday. my first game in a while outside the student section. very. very. odd.




i couldn't help but notice some leaves here and there changing on the mountains. whoa! i can't wait to go picnic in the canyon.

so you see i'm learning why the mr. says it's "best season of the year."

here's to...

- late nights in the library
- restless hours of group work
- tripping down the granite stairs in the tanner, ouch!
- my jr. core besties, including the wonderful mr.
- exploring every square inch of rome, venice & torino (aka the puffy cheeks era)
- reading, reading, and still having more to read
- running on a few hours sleep for days at a time
- king henry, liberty square, crestwood & branbury
- the most unproductive summers of my life
- but mostly, here's to all of my friends and the good times we've had at the Y.

{my toast to you, fellow bloggers}

friday night wrapped up my college experience. i got a little choked up when the procession started and i was walking onto the stage with the organ playing the infamous graduation tune. don't you worry--it took just a split second for me to snap out of it.

the exercises were long, really long. i sat in my uncomfortable chair for 3 full hours, occasionally turning around to look at the audience for a change of scenery. every time i did, i saw people by the dozens hitting the doors. apparently i'm not the only one who thought calling 1,000 graduates by name was a little much for one sitting. but c'mon people, where's your class?

janeen used her photography skills and captured me and the mr. in our caps and gowns.

{the people who made it all possible. a big thank you from me to you.}

the madness of march

i'm not sure how familiar any of you are with the term church ball, but it's serious stuff. the mr. and i were married fall of '07, and subsequently moved into our current basement apartment where we go to a family ward of our church. this is where it all started for me.

you see, the mr. loves to play all sports. but you could say he has a special love for basket, as the italians refer to basketball. during the blessed month of march, and yes i did say month, the mr. is most likely found watching ncaa ball, playing byu intramurals, catching up with espn, joining the ward team for more playing action, researching his bracket, etc. you get the point. life for jared = basket, and he loves it.

church ball happens to be one of my highlights. each ward has a team of guys--old men, pre-mish in shape 18-year-olds, dad's who love to reminisce on the glory days of high school, and the newlyweds also tend to make their way out. the dynamic of the varied players, the families and ward members who cheer them on, and the referees and officials create so much drama. it is unbelievable how legitimate the games are and how intense the competition is. it's sheer entertainment, and fantastic entertainment at that.

our ward team played in the tourney over the last few weeks and won in the regional finals saturday. it wasn't just any win; there were flagrant fouls, a player getting thrown against the wall, technical fouls, an announcer complete with music, people yelling, crowds boo-ing, etc. one word: drama. i just can't fathom how people(bishopric members, parents, neighbors, etc.) feel justified with their actions, especially knowing it's church ball. there must be a reason a movie was created to capture all of the drama.

{the championship team}

their prize? t-shirts and cutting down the net, which now has a home on the refrigerator: