Today

As anticlimatic as that sounds, it's actually a pretty big deal. Today is, among other things, the first time you've heard a peep on this blog since Shanghai, and a very big deal.

Today:

I tried out the shower in our new apartment, now outfitted with a shower curtain, hooks, towels, and all sorts of cute vibes. Not only did it not drain a single tablespoon of my water usage (a good way to become water conscious), it also employs highest water pressure I've ever felt-that is, other than that which causes injury (I have also felt. Ow.). Whew. I guess my showers will be really fast from now on?

The nice lady at BBB let me order my new can opener from online without paying shipping. I think $30 is just WAY too much for one of those things. Sweet of her, especially considering I was a total space job this morning.

After Physics 201, the walls/ceiling/floor/world starting shaking with tremors. Glass shuddered in cabinets and I thought the roof was going to cave in as a 5.9 earthquake hit and stayed for almost 2 minutes. There were students laughing at our caution as we hid under a door frame. Afterwards, a teacher walked around announcing "It's fine! Just an earthquake!" Um.. just? I drove home and found that the epicenter of the earthquake was only about 40 miles away. We were lucky to have no damage to our apartment.

I got calls from my dad, mom, stepmom, mother-in-law, and brother, as well as a FB message from my stepsister. I love you all, too. Thanks for worrying. (:

I did what I considered to be "lots" of homework, and then found out I needed to read over 60 pages of textbook in addition to the work I was finishing. Beautiful.

I did my French homework, then reluctantly purchased the required textbook that goes along with the workbook I already owned. *sigh* Another wad of cash gone.
By the way, never buy anything from the school bookstore. textbooks.com and chegg.com have become my new friends in saving [literally] hundreds of dollars on books. Love them.

I had a 30-minute battle with a spider on the window blinds. It was more of a phsycological battle. I can't kill spiders. At least not willingly. Finally, I made a mad dash at it with the was of paper towels in my hand, and it disappeared. [Insert mild panic attack as I search my hair and run around like a crazy person trying to "get it off me!!!"] Thankfully, it had landed on the floor instead of the me. After another self-battle, I eventually managed to slam it flat with an unwanted book... and then I smashed it another then times to make sure it wouldn't come out. Then I left the book there... for hours until I could get up the courage to put it in the trash. It was a struggle.

I found out there's a hurricane about to hurl itself toward Virginia this Friday. Really?! Why? The only two weeks I'm here alone without Michael there has to be an earthquake and a hurricane? ...I digress.

I found out a tutorial on how to use a Physics 201 testing site (by completing their examples) is really hard when you don't already know physics. Delta mass by feta m squared times three gravity...hm.

And I decided to finally tell you what's going on in my life. I will do better, I promise. If you're still curious, I'm going to post a huge linkable photoable clickable story of our stay in Shanghai. It will just take me a while to format and such. Stay tuned!

Shanghai!

This is the email I sent to my family today. Sorry for reposting instead of converting, but the free proxy internet trail ends too soon. Love you all!

By the way, Shanghai is acutally Sh "ah" nghai. Who knew?

Family! (: 

According to the computer it's 849pm on Sunday, which means 649pm for my friends and fam back home. If you would log onto your emails we could Skyyype... (: It's Monday morning in Shanghai, China. Something about erasing a day from my existence via fling here is really messed up. The day is just.. gone. I had no Saturday, thank you. But I can tell you about Friday and Sunday! Haha.

Friday: 

The plan: NYC-Detroit, land at 3, leave at 4. Detroit-Shanghai, land at 7-ish China time, take law firm's car to hotel, go grocery shopping, be in China. 

The not-so plan: NYC-Detroit, land at 3: all went surprisingly well. Delta allows not one, but TWO free checked bags internationally. I was a happy camper. I landed in Detroit and booked it down to my gate (since we were boarding in like 10 minutes). I sat patiently, hung out, and finally walked up to the counter and asked if we shouldn't already be boarding (since intl flights are a mandatory 30 minutes prior). The lady gave me a look of extreme pity and lovingly broke the news that our flight was delayed, something about the crew flying too long to be legal, landing in Seattle, and will be here in time for us to board at 11pm.

 ... ... ... wait, what?! Not leaving until 11? 

No, ma'am. 

...that's almost 8 hours late. 

We sincerely apologize. 

...um... okay.. I'll just go sit over there. 

She printed me meal vouchers, which I didn't even register until I was already sitting and noticed something in my hand. One for lunch, one for dinner, $6 each. I almost laughed out loud, it was really hard not to let pessimism get the better of me. What can you buy for $6 in an airport? A bottle of water. 

This wouldn't have been such an issue, but Michael's flight arrived the same time as mine ...would have. 7 hours earlier, now. He'd have to wait for 7 hours in the airport (which he did) or let me ride a taxi to a hotel we didn't know the Chinese address of. And we'd miss out on the free car there. ...beautiful. Regardless, I had over 7 hours, I might as well eat. I kind of like to sorrow in food.. it helps. So I bought an appetizer and a meal, and pondered over dessert, too. What? I got $6 off... it's like a free appetizer. The food was waaay bigger than I'd imagined, so I took my pasta/comfort food as leftovers and ate it as I sat at my gate for the next few hours. They kept coming over the announcer and apologizing, updating us on the situation (once again!) to tell us that nothing had changed. The guy next to me responded in kind with the F word. I pretty much knew how he felt. At the moment I was contemplating never using Delta again... at least Continental had little TVs... meh. I read Ivanhoe for upwards of 5 hours, stopping once to go buy overpriced, but amazing, chocolates further down the terminal. Of those waiting, about 3% were not Chinese. Haha. Eventually the announcer came on to tell us that our boarding time was pushed back to 12:15, putting us in Shanghai at approximately 3am. ... insert remarks from the guy across from me. Make that 8 hours. At this time I wished I'd called Bubs, since he was about a 2.5 hour drive away... but I didn't know how we would have hung out in the airport or anything, anyway. I had a funky mix of trying-to-be-nice-optimism and anger-pissed-off-i-hate-this going on. So I read Ivanhoe instead of deciding. 

When we finally boarded (at 12am) the 747 (HUGE!), I was relieved to see a window by my seat (also known as excellent sleeping mechanism), and a normal, quiet Chinese businessman next to me. Whew. Score. ...never assume anything, people. The cute couple behind me had a baby who, apparently, really hated the take-off. She screamed at an impressive rate of about 50x a minute... not the normal aaaaaaaaahhhh.... It was like aah aaah! Aaah! AAAh!! AAAHHH!!!... repeat for fifteen minutes. Holy cow. It was about at this moment I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or just maintain my normal "I'm sort of okay" face. I had a 13+ hour flight ahead of me, the aforementioned sitting behind me, and I really wished I could have stayed in NY, and I didn't want to live in China. You could call it my worst moment, but I don't know if the ones that came later are worse just because they're 13 hours later and in China... probably. 

The flight was really good. This is the break in the pissed off Tiffany of this story. Of 13 hours, I only remember about 4 of them. Whew! The kid in front of me (who liked to bounce in his seat A LOT) ended up sleeping in some way that put his foot through the space between us by the window... random.. and pushed his pillow (those little Delta sudo-pillows?) back to me. Hm... I took the opportunity to double stuff my oversized pillow case with both of our puny pillows, and created a perfect pillow masterpiece. Thank you, thank you. (: Between me and the wall, that pillow gave me almost 10 hours of sleep. Ah, love. LOOVE. The flight service has 2 meals (YAY!) of interestingly good airplane food. Each one had  "Western Choice" and a "Chinese Choice" option. Considering the flight was like 97% Chinese, I was amazed at how few of them liked their own food. ...just saying. The first meal was Chicken with a demi-glace sauce (<3!), stuffing?! (<3!), carrots (yay!), fruits (yay!), roll (yay!...okay..) salad (eh..), and spinach (avoid). Awesome. By the time the second meal got to the 57th row, the Chinese option was the only one left. Me: Do you not have any of the pasta left? Flight attendant: You'll like the [ginger] chicken. Me (to self): What the.. how on earth would you know? I really doubted I was going to like it, which is interesting later on. Anyway.

Sunday:

We landed in Shanghai at 2 am (early! Yaay!) and got through customs surprisingly easily. Did you know they do video face recognition to your passport? Hm...  Michael was so cute, after reading hours of Jane Austen and sleeping when possible, he looked very handsome and happy to see me. I was somewhat glad we'd flown separately, so I could have Tiffany moments without sharing them out loud. It had been hard for me, but making it hard for him would have gotten us nowhere. 

As we walked out, a taxi driver offered to take us to our location for 250RMB.. 6.4RMB/1 dollar. Michael's company had told him it should cost about 140, so we refused and walked out to the curb service. The lady gave us a "well, if you're that stupid" scoff.. made me a little nervous. Our driver didn't speak English (something I would find is very common.. crap) at all. We were very surprised to see the ticker at 4.7RMB/km go up.. and up... and up... above 140, above 200 (which is all we had at this point), and not stop until about 240. ...eeerm... This is what we have. Here's a $5 dollar bill to make up for it. He didn't understand the exchange rate, and demanded more from us in confused Chinese. So we got hosed. Okay. Fine. 

We got into the lobby at 4AM, and felt hosed again when they requested 2000RMB for deposit and 300RMB for the internet for 21 days. ... that's almost $400 unexpected dollars, and it's 4AM. Let's just do this, we have no choice... we paid our (what do they call the guy that does your luggage? porter?) in dollars, which is illegal, but he took it. We then did an inspection of our apartment, which is lovely, see link: http://www.metroparkhotels.com/hotel/eng/rooms.php?hotel=shanghai (except not quite that bright or decorated...that looks almost too cheery). 

5AM Shanghai time, and At LAST I was ready to collapse onto our bed and sleep. I sat down... and just busted up laughing. The bed was about as soft as your average ironing board. No joke. I didn't sink hardly at all, despite the sheets/covers/etc. Apparently this is very normal for China. Michael (hard mattress lover) = very happy.

I woke up early, since the plane sleep made up for a lot that night, feeling a little off. I attributed it to my fear of being in Shanghai, and stayed in bed as long as possible. Not that the bed was comfy or anything.. I just didn't feel up to the day as of yet. When I stood up, I was a little nauseous and light-headed, but I still thought nothing of it. I had slept with wet hair, for only 3 hours, after a 13 hour flight and an 8 hour delay, and we were in Shanghai... a little nauseous is kind of expected. Michael asked if I felt like we should stay home, but I figured skipping church is never a good idea when you need as much help as I did. I tottered downstairs, we got our destination in Chinese (yees!) and we walked to the Chinese Ntl Bank to change the rest of our dollars to RMB. I am awesome at getting taxis. Just a note. Not that it's that hard, or that much of an accomplishment, but something about being 5'10 and American is good for getting taxis. As we drove to church (in a large business tower in Shanghai, 2nd floor conference room.. whoa), I laid my head down as Michael remarked how Soviet-like the building complexes were. He tried pointing things out to me, but looking out at the zooming buildings wasn't  doing much for my nausea. 

It was about the time I stood up out of the taxi that I realized I was really not okay. Without explaining (mostly unable to), I ran into the building, and hoped the bellman understood the my frantic "bathroom?". He pointed, confused, and I ran for it. I swear, ~100 yards has never been so far. My body really really wanted to soil their lovely tile floors; it tried repeatedly, me running with a covered mouth to prevent a huge scene. I made it to the restroom, and ran to the first thing I saw, a sink, before I could finally take my hands away. Can you say instant relief?  I surveyed the damage. Hair: alright. Shirt: better. Face: not so lucky (due to my hands thwarting the previous attempts). The Chinese cleaning ladies that came in after me were very nice, despite not understanding a word I said, and brought me toilet paper for my face. Score one for humanity, no language barriers needed. It must have been a very strange scene to them. Honestly, I'm blaming the airplane food. 

The look on Michael's face when I walked out was the sweetest/saddest thing I'd ever seen. He makes this involuntary puppy face: "If I'd known you were so sick I wouldn't have even let you leave the room... do you want to go back now?" I assured him I was fine (instant relief, remember?), and we slipped in to Sacrament meeting upstairs a little late. I'll have to post pictures after next week, since we didn't bring the camera. It looks like this: http://www.colliersid.com/property_images/3011_lg.JPG

Also see the attached google map image, the conference center where we meet is on the right, a large circular room. 

Church was awesome, and in English! Oh, heavenly. The speakers were of Chinese descent.. but Australian. Interesting. The ward picks all the happy hymns, like Scatter Sunshine. Fun. (: Sunday school was bueno (about the washing of feet ordinance and the last supper). I'm constantly reminded how amazing Michael is whenever we go to church together. He makes all these little insightful side comments to me, references, stories, corrections on the speakers sometimes. Me: Dude, you should share this out loud, too. He did, and the teacher was amazed. "Oh. Actually, that's next in the lesson.. yeah.." I love my husband. Relief society was bueno (about DC 89 and the word of wisdom.. it made me want to drink more OJ), and life was all good. We gravitated towards Reid Smoot and his wife, who are here and in the ward. Very nice people. I find it somewhat hilarious that the Smoots have made such a huge company out of Zoobies. Spell? http://hollywoodhotmoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/zoobies.jpg

I LOVE it. It's like a pillow pet, but it's a pillow blanket pet. Zoobie. Cracks me up. Reid lives and works here solely based off of this business and how well it does in Shanghai. Jacob lives off of it in Utah. Apparently they're a huge hit. So cute! I like Lencho the lion. Michael has an alligator one (Kojo the croc) back home. We should get Alicia the pig and Momma the black bear. (My mind trails on: And Don the dog and Tara the zebra and Jamie the cow and....)

I caught the taxi home (I'm a master, I'm telling you), and our driver spoke zero English, again. Not normally an issue, but she also didn't know where we were going. During the drive she called her friend and asked directions. Haha. Even in Chinese, that's obvious. We did a little grocery shopping when we got home, and bought some OJ (see, the WoW talk totally inspired me), crackers, cookies, sprite (I had been sick), water (tap=a no-go here), and 2 noodle packages-like Ramen, but 10x better. So good.. I'm going to go buy it in bulk today. (: I decided to see what I could make of our bed/ironing board, and found a spare comforter, which I folded into a bed mat. Score! It was almost big enough to be my mat and my covers, so I had to try snuggling into it. Bad plan. Snuggling into something comfy after all of the above = instant sleep. Michael woke me up to our spicy beef ramen (amazing, like I said), and then let me go back to sleep. He joined me later just to say something.. I don't remember what, and fell asleep, too. Haha. We both slept through our dinner appointment at the Smoot's. Oops! They were really nice about it, and let us reschedule for a time when we'd be move alive. 

So we went walking for our dinner. Michael loves to walk in big cities, I tend to hole-up inside. He's good for me. We walked a few blocks and picked the most crowded of the casual restaurants on the street. Michael wanted a picture menu, since we both have 0 Chinese, and I wanted it to be good food for sure. We're kind of like sore thumbs here, and everyone stares at least a little when we walk anywhere. People on the street, in the restaurant, in the hotel. It's almost fun. Anyway, sat down and started trying to figure out the limited pictures they had on the menu, and this cute skinny Chinese guy gets up from his date and says (in English!): "Excuse [me], I [am] not very good [at] English, but maybe I [can] help you?" So cute. The fact that he can say even that much makes him a master here. He would have us write our English words (like "noodle") into his blackberry-type phone, and translate them to Chinese. He let us try his food, and then ordered for us at the counter. Love him. We got two plates of soy/saucey noodles with cabbage (bok choy?), and 6 of the house uberfamous specialty beef steamed dumplings. Unfortunately, we also got chopsticks. ...hm. I will say that I put forth a valiant effort, and noodles are really really hard to pick up no matter how skilled you may attempt to be. By the way, 2 plates of tasty noodles and 6 dumplings = about $5. Including drinks. Haha. We love it.

Michael and I stayed up till 11, thanks to our earlier naps and both of us still needing to read scriptures and say prayers together. (Kind of odd to have skipped Saturday in our daily routine, there. ...it's like unfortunate cheating. I guess we'll gain that day back when we fly home? Okay.) It's good to stay up late, because otherwise you'll wake up with the sun at about 5 AM. Hm. Let's not. My bed mat was awesome, I managed to sleep on my side, and it was all good. 

Monday:

This morning Michael tried the gym that's attached to the hotel (but a separate business...?). He said it's small, but good. We just have to get him gloves so the spiked weights don't rub his hands completely raw. Haha. Gloves.. in China... yeah, that will come eventually. I'm pretty sure he's dying for lack of a gym these past 2 months (with finals, UT, and NY). I'm glad he gets to have one here. Anyway. 

I spent the morning writing this email. I love you all. That was sort of anticlimatic, I know. More stories will come from today, I'm sure, but maybe won't take up such a huge email. Eek! Sorry, everyone. (: I am doing well, am excited to eat more beef noodles, and life is good. You should email me back, tell me stories, or add me on Skype. (: Loves!

Tiff

My "Once Upon A Time"s

Once upon a time, I watched countless Disney movies, as did almost all 90's children. The prince in the story would fight gallantly for the princess (wrestle on a rooftop/fight a dragon/jump from his rowboat to kill the evil sea witch... etc.), sweep her off her feet (kiss her awake/transform into a prince), and they would ride/dance/sail away together to live happily ever after. I wondered if life could have fairy tale endings, or if people could fall in love at first sight.

__________

Once upon a time, I was a junior at PVHS. My mother told me Michael Pergler was staying overnight with us later that day. I thought nothing of it. Later, I was at the bar doing homework (mild shocker, there) when my mother answered the door. I turned around to greet our guest, who I hadn't seen since my childhood. Our eyes met. I smiled. He smiled. My homework motivation was suddenly gone. We talked all night long.

Me: Note to self: date someone like Michael Pergler.

Him: Wow! She's cute! She's smart, fun to talk to... shame she's not a few years older.

__________

Once upon a time, I was 18 and graduated from high school. Derek received his mission call to leave in October of that year. He asked me if I would wait for him on his mission, and write him often. I unabashedly replied "Hey, don't worry about it! I'm only 18. You know I don't want to be married until 25, anyway."

__________

Once upon a time, I was a first semester Freshman at Utah State. It was an early morning in the autumn, all the leaves turning a bright yellow, the clear blue skies, and the little breezes that would dance around your feet. As I walked to class, I suddenly stopped and realized I was absolutely in love with Logan. I thought to myself: "I am so glad that a Bachelor's degree is four years! I can't imagine leaving Logan sooner than that. Even 2 years just wouldn't be enough time here."

__________

Once upon a time, Tara, Mom, and I were driving to SLC to help with Sharisa Pergler's wedding reception over Christmas break, 2010. Mom invented a wedding questionnaire, and asked both her daughters questions about their dreams of marriage. Mom asked, if we had to choose now who we would marry. Tara considered all of her options thoughtfully and eventually listed one of her previous boyfriends. I replied without a second thought: "Michael Pergler." (We had yet to go on a single date.) Mom asked what kind of details we envisioned for our wedding. Tara had a vision of an outdoor wedding, a white tent, knew all the foods and decorations she'd want, and was (by my consideration) pretty well prepared in her mind's eye. I knew almost nothing; I wanted a lace dress and a halo ring.

__________

Once upon a time,  Michael and I worked together to set up his sister's reception. He asked me on a date the next day. We walked for hours that night in streets covered with snow, talking about anything and everything, unwilling to leave. Talking that night, I realized my future had just been completely rewritten. Six days later, Michael told me he loved me and asked me to marry him.

Later, I started planning... with a lace dress and a halo ring. Then I got to figure out the rest.

__________

Once upon a time, a group of four second semster Freshmen huddled by my Mazda in the G2 parking lot outside Central Campus. The night air was bitter, but they hardly noticed. I had dropped all of my 17 credits and withdrawn from USU. Though I had postponed several days, I was finally leaving. Ari clung to me in a farewell hug, but her words wouldn't let me leave. "I don't want you to go. You can't go." I cried fiercely; my desire to do so was even less than hers. Kenny arrived just in time to say goodbye. I had never done anything so hard as to let go of him and drive away that night. I left them a group of three in the parking lot, my vision blurred by my tears.

__________

Once upon a time, a missionary in Montana had been out only three months received a letter from his ex-girlfriend, who was now engaged. He took it surprisingly well, considering.

__________________________________________________________

Once upon a time, I fell in love with Michael Pergler and it turned my world upside down. There are days when I feel like everything that was me doesn't exist anymore; like it's all just gone somehow. Everything I thought I wanted for my life is different. It used to confuse me, trying to start it all over again. 

But, you know, I think Michael is the best decision I've ever made. Marrying him is the greatest gift I've ever received. I love him, and I really want to marry him. I want my life to change. And I want to be with him forever.

So, just maybe, upside down is exactly the way my world is supposed to be. 

----------

Once upon a time, Tiffany had tried to make a huge plan for her life. 

Once upon a time, she was glad that God had something else in mind. 

"Our" Song?

It's important, right? To have a song? I always thought so. It's kind of dreamy in a sweet way, to have a song together.

Let me tell you, my friends, Michael and I don't have a song.
(Yet!)
*sniff*

But this is very two-fold.
One: Michael likes country FAR more than I. I like jazz, pop, rock, and chill music... basically everything but country.
Ex: 
My current list: For Life, You Make My Dreams Come True, She Hung the Moon, Then, Somebody Like You, Do You Remember, When Did You Fall in Love With Me, Magic, The Way You Look Tonight, Quando x3... etc.
Michael's current list (correct me if I'm wrong, babe?): Then, God Bless the Broken Road, 40 Dogs (Romeo and Juliet), Somebody Like You, Fast Cars and Freedom, and many other adorable country songs. 
Two: If it's supposed to be our song, I'd rather it not be everyone else's. Like Brad Paisley's "Then," or Michael Buble's "Everything." Oh. They're SO cute. They're adorable, sweet, the type of song you just gaze into each other's eyes and smile about.
But then again, a few hundred other couples have already done that same thing, for the same song.

Some of you probably (likely) agree with Michael in putting forth that it doesn't matter if other people like it. Everyone falls in love, but that doesn't make love cliche. Why does it matter if you like the same love song?
Maybe you have a point.
Maybe I just like different music and am coming up with excuses. Fair enough.

For now, I submit a fair warning to any who may be attending our receptions: The music will be random. If you don't like country, I suggest you try for the non-country hour of the mix. (; Kidding. I really have no idea yet. But it should be somewhat hilarious.


Until I figure it out, here are two of my current favorites:

Michael's "Quando Quando Quando." Surprisingly appropriate, if you consider.

& Rockwell Church's "She Hung the Moon." 

It's like Dave Matthews Band, but you can understand it a lot more. (:

The Worst Date Ever

I was thinking back on my dating past. Getting married makes you find new appreciation for the complete abandonment of the dating scene. It's hilarious to look back, but not so hilarious to tell stories. Because I generally dated people I liked, it's awkward if I try to tell Michael stories about my experiences. ...because I like him and only him... he generally knows these people anyway... savvy?
But! If the dating experience has no crushes (at least between dates) and lots of awkwardness, it's considered okay.

Therefore: my first date. One of the only dates I've ever gone on that I can thoroughly say I really wish I hadn't gone on. Really. To be frank, it couldn't have been more awkward. As such, those involved who would read this and be embarrassed by it will be given new names. My double date-er friend is now Amy. (Because it's easy and fast to type... let's not lie.)

The date was Tiffany & Brian, Amy & Taylor. Here's why it was an awful idea:

• Amy and Tiffany had been friends for several years (and still are, despite the worst date night ever). 
• Brian and Tiffany had kind of gone through a process of liking each other, Tiffany broke up with her boyfriend to like Brian, discovered she really didn't like Brian, and attempted to end it, but Brian didn't get that quite yet. He remained happy-go-lucky and sort of liked Tiffany. 
• Tiffany and Taylor had become close over the past few years until Taylor started to be honest about his creepy feelings after he'd worked his way into being close to Tiffany and Tiffany immediately stopped trusting him, really didn't like him, and didn't associate with him much at all. 
• Amy had always really liked Taylor and somewhat resented Tiffany for how close they had been and now that they were not, Amy really hoped she'd get a shot with Taylor. 
• Taylor hated Brian openly because Tiffany had liked Brian for a while. He hated him with a passion... more than is really healthy, and displayed it openly. 
• Brian was aware of this dislike, and that Amy liked Taylor a lot. He was a forced mediator, if you will.

So let's get this straight.
Amy-Taylor: likes a lot.
Amy-Brian: mutual okay-ness. The only mutual relationship here.
Amy-Tiffany: long time friends, somewhat resentment

Taylor-Amy: prior knowledge of liking, so far not very nice about it
Taylor-Brian: open hatred
Taylor-Tiffany: broken trust and somewhat creepy liking

Brian-Amy: mutual okay-ness *whew*
Brian-Taylor: willing to give him a shot, happy-go-lucky, aware of hatred
Brian-Tiffany: still harboring slight crush and, again, happy-go-lucky

Tiffany-Amy: long time friends, hopeful for happiness
Tiffany-Brian: slight annoyance with previous situation, mild tolerance
Tiffany-Taylor: distrust and dislike, somewhat displayed (apparently not enough since this date happened)

Here's what happened:
Taylor picked Tiffany up in his "macho" huge truck whose doors felt like prison bars when slammed shut. They met Brian and Amy at Fazoli's (which is now gone; moment of silence, please). Amy tried to get Taylor's attention. Tiffany dealt with everyone with some form of either nervousness and annoyance. Taylor glared at Brian and commented [the whole time] on the cars passing by outside with no thought toward any normal conversation. Poor Brian just tried his best to be nice to everyone and be a good date. He gets real kudos for that.
The whole group goes to the One Acts, and sits together rather awkwardly.. Taylor and Brian end up next to each other (insert distaste), Tiffany absolutely refuses to use the arm rest for fear of giving Taylor the wrong idea. Not sure about Amy.
Taylor drops Tiffany off after and it is somewhat apparent he expected more than a quick goodbye. As a result, Tiffany makes the goodbye even faster. They essentially haven't spoken since.

I don't know if I did this credit. It was absolutely the worst pair-up we could have made. I don't even know why we all agreed to go together.. it was certainly a bad idea. XD. Wow.

The Countdown

I feel like I'm biding my time. Productively, yes, but still. Just biding time until:

• this Wednesday. I fly to VA to see my love for 6 days. (:
• May 1st. I get to have my Stake Pres interview.
• May 8th. Michael will fly to SLC for the purpose of marrying me. ^^
• May 10th. We see most of you in our St. G reception. So happy!
• May 13th. I see the rest of you in the SLC reception. Sorry to have to split them.
• May 14th, especially. When I marry Michael in the temple for the rest of time.

Then I love him for all eternity.
_________________________________________

People like to ask me what I'm most excited for about marriage, what I look forward to.

Well, there's two answers to that.

1) Staying with him. We've said goodbye so much. So many times a day, every night, every visit, and I'm just about ready to just stay with him. I love him. I don't want to say goodbye anymore.

2) Waking up in the morning and seeing him there beside me. This may be my favorite. Something like this:

Kinda makes you smile, doesn't it?

34 days and counting.


(:

For the Record...

...the reason you should all post comments on my blog: you don't have to fill in awkward words like "ratchy" to do it. (That's the word Becca's made me write, and I still commented.) Yes, it would be "safer" and protect me from spam if I made you. But I'm sincerely not worried about spam on my blog... not to mention it's easy to delete.
Meh.
Point: you could comment if you wanted to, with relatively little hassle.

Today, my Gma asked me how long since Michael and I have been together. I immediately responded with "about a week." Come to find out, we'd been apart >4 days at that point. Wow. Fail. Have I mentioned every moment without him feels like an eternity? Literally. It's been 4 days, and I'm already sad/dying.
But it's okay.
Because we're getting married in just over a month.
AAAAAH!! So happy!!! (:

Want to see our wedding photos?
Erm. You can't. I haven't gotten them back.
BUT!
You can see my Mother's side shots, taken like a skilled Momma stalker would. Yay!

This is me after my 6:30 am appointment (insert groan and love for Jarom [the stylist who dealt with the 6:30 appt]). My flowers (which were LOVELY in person, who knew?), and my hairs.. which were 1930's finger waved and pulled back in to a french twist w/ (once again) lovely anemone hair pieces, too.
PS: Who knew Jarom was an amateur flower arranger? He fixed my boquet + inputted flower pieces into my hair. (:

I love him. (: This was our break... since photos aren't really a comfortable situation for either of us. Yay for random little benches in Temple Square.

These will be pretty when I'm looking at the camera and such.. promise.

I am so excited for these. Russ is holding up my veil, so the beaded edge makes it in to the photo with us. (:

Love his hair flower. XD 

Sorry, posting is a little sporadic these days. But, so is life. It's all good.