Thanksgiving from Heaven!

Adam and Tiffany were awesome and took lots of pictures for us, but only a few turned out.

Here they are:

Eating my first Thanksgiving at a restaurant: the India Palace in New Haven, CT. Delicious! T was on call, so we decided to go out rather than ask her to make us a feast.

Setting up the Christmas tree together at Adam and Tiffany's! They had shatter proof decorating balls, which I thought was a genius idea.

Heron placing the angel (with a little help from Dad)

Heron and me learning to use "Paint" on the computer. I miss her and her cute brother and parents so much!

Our great patio

Finished Part of Basement

The finished portion of the basement, where the TV lives; Cam enjoying his favorite pass-time. :)

Welcome Home!

We have moved! We LOVE our new townhome! Cam and I were conferring this morning and we came to the conclusion that this place is superior to our old place in every single way. Here is a list to illustrate our joy:

1) The same base rent as our old place (although we now pay for gas, which we didn't before)
2) Over 2x more square footage!!! We even have a basement! We live in a mansion!
3) A dishwasher...joy of joys
4) 6x more counter space, and more cabinet space
5) Washer/dryer hookups, and our Craigslist washer and dryer!
6) TWO bathrooms, both of which have vent systems that prevent mold (yeah...the old place had a real problem...)
7) Plenty of outlets where we need them
8) Central air
9) Separate rooms for the TV and office
10)Living next door to at least 6 families we know from church
11)Superior design that lets in tons of natural light

The only negative, that Cam pointed out, is that it's further from campus, and thus, a longer bike ride for him. But he must think that's ok, because he pushed for this place even harder than I did. :)

We actually found our dysfunctional camera--hoorah! Now we just need to buy lots of batteries so we can replace them every 30 minutes, and then I'll post some pictures. :)

Loving you all,
Carrie

No Camera, No Pictures

While I am DEVASTATED that we don't have a camera to take pictures with, thereby preserving precious memories of our lives, Cameron is ecstatic at this new development. Of course, the camera was so aged that it would shut itself off after 5 seconds of being powered up, even with brand new batteries. So it needed to be replaced anyway. But we could still squeeze a couple of pictures out of it now and then if we really tried. Now, we don't even have that possibility. The only picture taker we have is the webcam, and it makes my computer have a complete breakdown, so I unplugged it. Yes, technological problems abound. Cam is going to wipe my computer tomorrow and reload everything, which will be a much needed detox for the system. It has degenerated to the point where scanning one page takes about 4 minutes, if I can get the scanner to work at all. Often I have to restart the computer several times before it will respond to any command. Yes, I am fed up, because my computer is the key to getting my job done!

But we look forward to our impending move! We are migrating 5 miles northwest to a lovely townhome. Many call the complex it "Little Provo" or "Little BYU" because somehow the Mormons tend to congregate there. Probably because it is HUGE for the price, and Mormons like to have kids while in school.

Cam is making great progress on a complete draft of his Master's Thesis! I can't believe we are already approaching this milestone, though I'm sure it comes as no surprise to him.

Cam did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen and went grocery shopping for me today! HOOOORaaaH! I loved it. Saturday is a working day for me and so he was a sweetie and did all the housework today. Last night we finished the laundry around 11:30 pm. We always seem to end up doing laundry late at night.

I got together with a group of friends from Relief Society to do some recreational singing today. It was lots of fun and we've formed a little Enrichment sub-group.

Family Picture (click this title to view)

Aren't these cute?

Sweet Dreams

July 3, 2008: In the wee hours of the morning, Cam turned to me frantically and said,
"Carrie, are you ok?!"
I was already mostly awake, so I said, "yeah, honey, I'm fine..thanks..why?"
He responded, "You just yelled REALLY loud in your sleep."
<>
"Oh really?" I said. "Well, what did I say?"
"You said, "Shut up.""
"Oh...I said that out loud? I wasn't sure...I was dreaming that."
"Who were you talking to in your dream?"
"Well, I can't tell you.."
"Was it me?"
"Maybe..."

The End :)

We'll Never Forget You!

Our dear friends, Jacob and Stephanie, are moving to Hawaii before July 1st! We miss them so much already, we can hardly stand it. Here are some of the great times we've had with them: singing karaoke for Jacob's birthday and bowling on another occasion.

Columbus quirks

Intro: this is an email I started about a year ago but just never sent. I just found it in my gmail "drafts" folder, and I thought you might enjoy it.

Hi family and friends,

I wanted to share a few funny things about Columbus with you. I've been inspired by our mutual friend Kathleen Young, who writes a monthly news-email to her family and friends. So you can look forward to more of these, hopefully accompanied by pictures in the future.

First, some reflections on "the city with character." Where I grew up in Provo, all the buildings are new. Everything looks kind of glossy and plastic-ish.

Since moving to Ohio, I have been delighted to experience Columbus--a city with real character. Here, every shop reflects tons of history, like the buildings have been around for much longer than Cam or I have been alive. Also, businesses here are not opposed to the use of creative advertising. Across the street from us, The Speed Factory bicycle shop posts a neon sign in the window: WE MAKE SPEED. Down the road a mile, a mexican restaurant boasts burritos "as big as your head." A couple of miles to the North, the outline of the Laughing Ogre can be seen on a huge awning over a mysteriously large store (I don't know what they sell).

I have also been struck by the number of tiny businesses that abound, especially along High Street (the street our apartment complex opens onto). Business that would be considered too lowly for the marketplace in Provo are healthy here in Columbus. Lots of old, wooden signs with cursive lettering painted on, advertising little hair salons, curios shops, etc.

I'm sure some of the differences between my Provo and Columbus experiences are due to the area of town I lived in. But even still, it's fun to note the differences.

2nd year over!

Hello, we will be writing as a team tonight. Cameron's comments are in carat brackets.

After staying up till 3 am several nights this quarter grading students' papers and tests, <<and working as hard as is humanly possible, almost to the point of breaking and throwing the bookshelves all over myself (sometimes in the tougher moments, I would curl into a ball, suck my thumb, and cry myself to sleep, knowing that I would have to wake a mere three hours later to work more)>>, Cameron has finished! One of his Profs, for whom he TA'd this quarter, took us out to lunch to celebrate. <<It's nice when one of the overlords throws the pions a bone. Being a grad student is tantamount to indentured servitude. Stephanie is one of the nice professors--she thinks it's ok if I sleep sometimes. >> This is why I was not interested in grad school!!



Cameron has also been bonding with his bike. <<no no, bonding is not the right word...what word describes when you take a wrench and hit something really hard with it? >> He ordered a long-coveted road bike in March, only to have it stolen a week and a half later <<by gypsies in the night--except it was actually at high noon in the middle of campus.>> So then we ordered the same bike, again. This time the tire popped--3 times in a period of 3 days. We think the Ebay merchant who sold us the bike should be publicly censured and put out of business for selling a bike with a defective tire rim.

That's all for now folks <>

Love, Care <<and Cam>>

JAZZERCISE!

Hello people, I LOVE Jazzercise. I just joined on Monday and I have been every day since then. Understand, I have been a total aerobics junkie since age 10. My favorite activity growing up was attending the gym with my mom and sisters and doing an aerobics class! But, it has been like 7 years since I had a gym membership, so I have forgotten how much I LOVE it!! I was going crazy and getting chubby, chubby, chubby and feeling very unhappy. I kept complaining to Cam. He's ask me what he could do to help and I al;ways said, " I need to work out more." So finally he was like, "you need to join a gym!" And so I did, and I am SUUUUPER happy!

Sound Bytes

OK, so Sound Upload told me I can't upload my songs b/c of possible copyright infringement. Sorry people. I'm disappointed, but I'll keep trying.

Seasons in Ohio

So we had some funny winter pictures I never added. In February, we had a day when everyone got snowed in.

So we got together with our great friend and next door neighbor, Aimee, to go tromping out in the snow.

I wore Cam's gigantic boots,

Cam got his game face on,

and Aimee doesn't take crap from anyone.

We played, we saw, we conquered.

It was a good day. :)

Photos

So, my blog is definitely a learning experience. Today we're adding pictures. :)

Below is a dish from Rachel Ray's cookbook of which I was extremely proud. It's made with portabella mushroom caps and yummy chili doused all over an English muffin. Thank you to whoever gave us that cookbook for our wedding!

No Sound Bytes

Unfortunately, blogger doesn't accept MP3 files! I may be shopping around for a new blogging service, unless anyone has figured out how to upload MP3s onto this one. :)

Blogging and Singing

Blogging is so much better than Facebook! I agree with my friend, Allison Harwood. Thanks Alli! So today after I taught my voice students, I decided to stay at the studio (I was the only one there) and do some singing of my own. I recorded some clips for you all. I hope you enjoy. But beware--my MP3 player can't handle the high notes very well. So there are some brief moments of intense static. But I minimized those moments, so it will still be worth it to listen to the songs.

On the subject of singing, Cam has just found out that he was not awarded any of the grants he applied for. Which means we won't be going to Spain this summer. We feel all right about it. In fact, I am now excited to find a show to audition for and hopefully be in. I'm still developing my musical theater voice, and loving it (you'll see that on the recordings). My singing has improved SO much since I took lessons from Gayle Lockwood my last year at BYU. Musical theater training will do wonders for a voice that is incorrigibly dark and stuffy sounding--like the annoying opera voice we all hate.

Love, Care Bear

p.s. I'll add the sound clips later when I figure out how!
update: it looks like blogger doesn't support MP3 files. let's see what I can finagle.

My job

I like my job. At the risk of being ridiculed for complacency, I will tell you exactly what it entails.

I am a paramedical examiner for a company called APPS and I do insurance physicals. What that means is, when someone applies for life or disability insurance, the insurance company calls APPS and asks them to do a medical checkup on the person. APPS sorts out all the requests and assigns them to examiners based on geographic location. So I get messages via website and email when new cases are ready for me.

I call up the client and schedule an exam time. During the appointment, I get to draw the client's blood (hooray! One of my favorite parts), weigh, measure, take BP, and possibly perform an EKG on them. I also have to ask them a bunch of health history and write down the answers. Medical abbreviations come in very handy here, let me tell ya. Also, this part can be very tedious if the client can't stick to the question, but tells you their whole life history along with the answer you were looking for. :)

Each client takes between 15 and 60 minutes, just depending on what's required. Plus driving time to their house and back, of course. But that's also a fun part, because I've gotten to know Columbus quite well through this job. All of you know what a crappy sense of direction I have. But nothing will teach you the lay of the land like driving all over it.

After the appointments, I come home and finish up the paperwork, then scan it into my computer and email the images to APPS. I send the blood and urine samples off to the laboratory. This part is rather boring, but I can do it at my leisure (within reason of course) and at home, and I like that. It means only a couple hours a day in the public eye, which tends to stress me out. Sometimes I like to be a hermit. And I certainly like being able to stop working and take breaks whenever I want to. I'm spoiled.

Anyhoo, it's pretty good money. Lately I've been averaging only about 2 clients per day, but that still makes me around $1250 per month. Not bad, eh? Of course, some of you make that much or more in a week, but hey, it's ok for now!

First Entry

Hi Everyone!

I've been meaning to do this forever, and now enough of you have done it to convince me that it will be worth it. :) I'm a late adopter, as they say. I didn't have a cell phone until 2006, after I had graduated from college.

So, it is finally spring here in Columbus, Ohio, and we are loving it! We have to take advantage of this beautiful weather before it turns unbearably hot. Ohio is interesting. It was freezing a few weeks ago, and even now, some days it's absolutely sweltering. Unfortunately, the climate here doesn't seem to be very good at maintaining a happy medium. I think maybe it's the humidity that just makes everything more painful.

Cam still is trying to convince me that we should live in California someday. Me and my visiting teaching group (some girl friends) were talking the other day, and we all agreed that California is the most beautiful state. So that certainly wouldn't be a problem. But since we won't be moving for at least three years, and that choice will be largely determined by job openings, we'll just "burn that bridge when we come to it," as Cameron says.