I'd like to get on my soap box for a second if you don't mind

So... I'm not really one for blog rants, but for some reason, this got me so worked up I have stopped what I was about to do (a little Yoga) in order to post this on my blog and tell you all about it.. mostly so poor Jered doesn't have to hear it anymore.

It all started innocently enough.  We were getting ready for our nightly work out (possibly bi or tri nightly) and Jered was complaining about his double chin and saying he wished that there was an exercise to get rid of all that pesky neck fat.  Me, the optimist, told him not to worry, this is what google was invented for and proceeded to type in "is there a way to work out your double chin?"  A web site came up claiming to have "workouts to lose your double chin."  This is when it all happened.  You all might be thinking my petpeeve has something to do with double chins or google or work outs... wrong on all accounts.  My BIGGEST pet peeve it this.. well just read it:

If you are interested in doing exercises to lose double chin here are a few of the very best and which are going to be helpful to you here.

Head Roll

One of the best exercises to lose double chin is the head roll. To do, you just stand comfortably and then let your head fall to your chest until it is resting on your chest. Now you want to roll it to the left and up, and then roll towards the other way to the right, until it is all the way there. You just stretching you neck but you will feel the work out in this area.

This is definitely one of the best exercises to lose double chin that you can try out, and one that is going to be successful if you want to get rid of that awful double chin.

Head Bob

Another great exercise that is going to help you get rid of your double chin is the head bob. This is another of the best exercises to lose double chin, because especially if you do it repetitively, you are going to find that you are able to get rid of your double chin.

As you begin to lose weight and get in shape, your double chin will start to go along with it. No one wants to have a double chin, and it is nice to know that there are lots of great exercises that you can do that are going to help you out with your double chin. If you want to be effective at this you will have to keep it.

Sorry it that was a bit lengthy to read.. but I hope you are all picking up what I'm putting down.  For anyone who has ever taken a basic English class, they will quickly pick up on just how POORLY this was written.  My exact words were, as I read it out loud in a voice that got louder and more annoyed, "it sounds like a five year old wrote it."  Run on sentences, repeating the same thing over and over.. she used HOLE for the word WHOLE for crying out loud.  AND THIS IS A PROFESSIONAL WEBSITE!  Like they sell videos and have a weight loss store.  My feeling is.. if you own a store and have your own set of videos and can't write.. HIRE someone! Or at least proof read what you're putting out for the whole world to read!  

SUMMARY: One of Mariah's biggest pet-peeves.. five year olds and grown ups who write like them.  

  

2011

I have been in such the blogging mood these past few weeks but we lost our camera cord somewhere in this one bedroom apartment (you noticed i didn't say studio?  More on that to come..)you wouldn't think things could disapear in such a small space but you'd be amazed.  We have searched this place from top to bottom. Then, tonight, my brilliant husband remembered that we had another adapter thingy that we could stick our sd card in to download all the photos!  So here I am.. ready for a major update.


First.. believe it or not.. would be Christmas.
We spent Christmas here in California with the Robinson clan.  I'll be honest, I was a little bit leary of spending Christmas with Palm trees and green grass, i thought it would be a little weird, but being able to make gingerbread houses and then display them outside next to a sparkling pool and getting frozen bananas at the beach on Christmas day wasn't half bad.. just different.
We spent Christmas eve night at Jered's parents house with everyone which was way fun.. complete with a yummy dinner, games and a trip from Santa.  I wish my blog would let me post videos because Santa was pretty entertaining.. so was watching Hannah with Santa.  It was a great night and Christmas was way fun too.  There was an insane amount of presents because there were so many people and it was just nice to have everyone together all day.  Highlights included getting hooked up with presents, being able to use Christmas and went to the beach in the same day, and Teena (my sister-in-law) announcing sneakily that she was pregnant with her third baby!  We later found out that it was her third and fourth baby and that she's having twin girls!!

I took this on Christmas eve... to prove it.. we put just a tiny piece of a christmas tree by the temp.  

Our gingerbread house.. we did the house from UP.  Jered's genius idea... and his balloons were def the highlight

Smootchin on Santa.. don't tell Mrs. Clause!

Santa's reaction to seeing Santa.. priceless

Me and my nephew Matthew and niece Zhoe..love these kids

Some of the crew on the pier at Balboa Island Christmas night

NEW YEARS: We spent New Years in Utah. iT was so fun and great because it was so close to Christmas that it kind of felt like a second Christmas.  Plus more presents which was great!  My parents splurged and got us a Vitamix which is pretty much something we'll have forever.  It's one of those turbo blenders that blends everything from soups to ice cream.  It's so great.. we love it!  The whole trip was great. Just lots of family time and games and it gave me my snow fix.  It's always so great to go back to beautiful Utah. I miss everyone there!! These are the only pics I took the whole time: 

January: I honestly don't remember a lot of what happened in January.  I remember we went apartment searching a bunch, our only criterion being that it was bigger than a studio and dirt cheap without being too ghetto.  We ended up finding a great place.. pics to come.. Jered started up another semester online..poor thing.. 15 credits is a lot of time spent on the computer.  Just kind of life.. I"m sure I'd think of more exciting things if I really took the time, but for now that's all i got.  We moved out of our apartment and into out our new one on January 29th.  That was kind of a bitter-sweet day.  We were happy to have more space but we have so many great memories there. It was the perfect apartment to spend our first year. And the greatest part.. you can only go up from a studio!!  

We also had a little photo session with our beautiful niece Zhoe for her first birthday.. these are some of  

Moving: When people found our we were moving, everyone kept offering to help and bring trucks over and stuff to help but we kept saying that we were fine because we had lived in a furnished apartment and we didn't have that much stuff to move but thanks anyway.  So we started making trips one corolla-sized carfull at a time.  One of us would go over and pack up the car while the other one stayed at the new apt unpacking things.  (our new place is only like 1/2 mile away from our old one so that made it nice.. it fact. we just moved across the street from our old ward boundaries :( ) we quickly realized, however, that we had accumulated a TON more stuff over that past year than either of us realized.  It took us like 10 car loads full to get it all over here.. the equivalent of like one truck load.. ha.. but I guess we learned for next time.  It has been so fun living in a place with a bit more space and having some wall space to work with.  We've been doing a little decorating.. here are some before and afters.

Me and Hannah painting

Turns out these pictures are all really yellow, but I bought this fabric that I'm pretty much in love with on sale at Joanns and put it on canvas frames with a staple gun.  The whole thing cost like $25.

I think we need more stuff on the walls but it's a work in progress!

This is my cutest little table I found at home goods.  Again the pic is really yellow but the table is like this bright happy yellow color.  Turns out I love everything about Spring colors! Jered says our whole house looks like Easter

All of the frames and shelves we bought from Goodwill and painted.  Same with the yellow vase. The owl one i got from Home Goods for like $10 bucks. Love

I can't get these two right side up but this is just another spray painted frame with some left over fabric in it

This one is also sideways, the floral pattern is just a 12x12 sheet of paper with matting around it

This is our kitchen.  I decided to paint it green in the end and I'm glad I did.  Adds a little pop of color to an otherwise completely white kitchen. I got the canaster from Good will and the pink flowers believe it or not are from my friend Janna's wedding flowers.  Resourceful eh?

This is the whole kitchen. Just a little guy but way more space than our last place

Our little card table with a table cloth from target that I'm obsessed with.

The wall from the side.  It's still not done.  I need more stuff to give it the look i'm going for.  It's a work in progress.



Other than that we've just been keeping busy with Jered in school full time and me working full time.  Life is good. Here are a few more pics from this weekend in Santa Monica