Not too good with multi-faceted life these days. Mostly we work, cook dinner, work on home projects, and try to plan our Sunday lessons ahead of time. A little update on us is in order:

- Nate is enjoying teaching at the University! We have come to the conclusion that the first few years of teaching will definitely require putting in more hours than one would expect. This requires me to be supportive, encouraging, and understanding when he leaves at 7 am and doesn't return until 7 pm.
- For my birthday last month we spent the weekend in Portland seeing lots of good friends and attending the endowment and sealing of our very good friends Ben and Jill. We also saw Multnomah Falls for the first time ... and although it was raining WHILE the Falls were spraying - we enjoyed it very much. We really want to go back in better weather and check it out.
- Unfortunately on our return from our weekend trip I started having progressively worse back pain and by the following Friday couldn't even bend over to tie my shoes. This necessitated a visit to a chiropractor. Unfortunately (or fortunately that I have the means and availability) I have been seeing the chiropractor twice a week ever since. Just as I am starting to feel better, I over do it and hurt myself again - it is very frustrating.
- I have been working on a few DIY projects (which I can't seem to leave alone because they are so much fun ... but then I hurt my back and have to set it a side for a week until I feel better and I keep catching myself in this cycle) that I will post when I have completed them. As a little preview - this is what I have been working on:

• 4 chairs to be painted and reupholstered
  
• one square pedestal kitchen table to be sanded and painted
  
• one side table to be sanded and painted

The list doesn't seem too long ... but I have learned (the hard way) that taking your time is very important. Doing it right the first time is better than re-doing. I bought fabric and paint and was a little too eager on everything and painted two of the kitchen chairs right away. A few days later, when moving the chairs around our tiny apartment, I nicked one of them and the paint came right off. One finger nail scratch later and I knew that I had painted in haste. These babies need a good sanding which would require removing the paint and re-painting them. I succedded in doubling my work :( Sigh.

I have, however, already painted Nate's bed side table ... a lovely shade of gray ... I love it. I purchased a staple gun and reupholstered two of the four chairs I have for the kitchen table. That was also a lesson in patience, having to redo one of the chair backs to ensure it looked right. I knew if I left it I would be self-conscious about it and hate it. So i took out what seemed to be a zillion staples and re-did it and I am soo happy I did. They are going to look great!

Pictures to be coming soon ... of before, during, and after! Wish me luck that it will turn out well and that my back will get better.

I am so into this whole furniture refurbishing thing that Nate bought me this for Valentine's Day, and I couldn't be happier:

(its an electric palm sander ... in case you were wondering)

happily ever after part 2

happily ever after part 1

I promise we did not get married in "The Little White Wedding Chapel" in Vegas.

This cute little chapel was found in Old Town Tustin - who knew!

Well into Month 4 ...

and blogging continues to lag. Sigh. Life is so busy and complicated! But here is what has happened in the last month or so - in list format:

- I decorated our little apartment a wee bit for the holidays!

- We listened to Christmas music, baked pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and put together an awesome San Francisco puzzle.

- Worked at our Stake's Creche exhibit as ushers and were asked to play Mary and Joseph for a bit as well. It was really a fun experience to share.



- Shared our first Christmas together with our families! It was sooo much fun! Spent Christmas Eve and morning with the Soelberg and Winder Families (missed Ben, Katie, Jonas, Joe, Sara, Libby, and Jenna)! I really enjoyed playing Christmas Songs on pipes as a family - who knew I had musical talent! We also had a blast watching Jimmie open his presents and holding baby Annabelle ... it almost made me want a baby ... (but I knew those feelings would be tempered with a visit to the Johnson house on Christmas Day ... and they were.)

- Shared the remainder of Christmas Day at the Johnson house where all 6 of us, our spouses, and all 8 grand kids were running around like crazy. Its hard to get that bunch sitting still and opening gifts when there are soooo many cousins to play with! One trip to the emergency room and six stitches later marks a good holiday! Christmas dinner, done in shifts, was shared with the Johnson Aunt, Uncle, and cousins - it is always soo much fun to get together with them. Needless to say our house was full of laughter - not just from the kids.







- Nate and I had a chance (amongst the commotion of my niece Mikyla going to the emergency room) to exchange presents on our own and as much fun as both of our families are ... this was a well cherished moment for us. Heartfelt gifts were exchanged and there may even have been a tear or two as we both felt overwhelming gratitude to have one another. Our love grows stronger everyday and for that we are grateful.

- Before leaving Eugene/Springfield to head down to Southern California for the holidays, some not great news came to me at work ... while the company I work for generously gave me a holiday bonus, they informed me (and all the Administrative Staff) that our hours would be reduced to 32 hours a week due to lack of work and a struggling economy. I work for engineers and architects and the building/construction industry is not an area of the economy doing well (what is these days). With that news we felt we would not be able to live in Oregon much longer if Nate did not find work. Our plan was to return to Oregon after the holidays and set the wheels in motion for moving to Korea.

- Of course, once we sent in our passports for renewal and an update on my new last name, the University of Oregon came knocking and offered Nate a job! YAY! While staying in Oregon is not a long term priority or preference for us, we are eager to get our feet under ourselves and begin to start chipping away at our school debts. This is really great experience and the position offers a little bit better pay than previously anticipated. We feel really really blessed right now, especially at a time when so many people are searching for work. We give thanks to Father in Heaven for the blessing of work and testify of the importance of faith and paying tithing - even when you have almost nothing to give. So looks like three more months in Oregon for the Soelbergs!

- Another exciting thing for us - new callings in the ward! I have been called as the Sunbeam Teacher (3 year olds) and it is an eye opening experience. Lets just say that Nate laughed a little when he heard what was in store for me. Two weeks into it and I am slowly getting the hang of it. Nate is teaching the 16 and 17 year olds and its giving him a little bit of a tough time as well. Teenagers are a rough crowd - not much feedback or positive reinforcement for the teacher and they don't give you much to go on. Whoa - does that make us old feeling this way already? We both are getting small glimpses of what it is like to be a parent. Its kind of a thankless job ... but super important.

Sooooo that is the update!

Married Life: Month 3

Three months into this whole marriage thing and we are loving it! (I know everyone always says that ... but now I know that it is true! ... being married is sooo fun!) About a month ago I started a job (and thus the end of blogging) and I am learning how to balance married life and working for a living. We are truly grateful for employment - of any kind - at this time of such great financial uncertainty in the world. Despite our great need of the job, I have to admit that I cried everyday before work that first week. Pathetic - I realize ... but we have been spoiled with how much time we have gotten to spend together these past few months. I was going through a morning period when I realized that one of us (or both for awhile) will always be working ... for the rest of our lives. Sigh. I know - that's life ... welcome to the real world ... its just the way it is ... etc. etc etc. It just seems so crazy to me that you spend 8-10 hours away from the people you enjoy the most. Working full time makes me feel like I can't be the loving wife I have always wanted to be ... dinner on the table and the house well kept - cliche but totally things that I would love to do (and have loved doing these past few months.) I hate the fact that I am tired when I come home and that we eat dinner and have maybe 3 hours to enjoy each other's company before off to bed and that "enjoying" time often includes doing dishes, laundry, and grocery shopping. (Believe me ... I understand I have no grounds to stand on for my complaining ... I know it becomes infinitely harder once you have children. But its my blog and my experience and I am belly aching about it right now!) My sweet husband said, "I think that is what being married is about ... realizing that the only thing you may have really wanted to do in your day - out of all the things you did - was walk to the corner together to mail a bill ... because we got to do that together." In his own way he was profoundly reminding me of the importance of this life and our committment to eachother. Sigh. I know its true. But I don't have to enjoy it all the time, do I?

Anyway ... a more exciting thing is to reflect upon the wedding day three months ago ... through pictures of course! These are some of my Bridal pictures taken at Crystal Cove in Newport Beach CA.

My mom altered my wedding dress (added some longer length sleeves to a strapless dress - the longer length sleeves prevented the whole "big arm" look really well I think!) and I really like how it turned out with the square neck and applique on the sleeves. I also really like how you can't tell its been altered ... she did a great job!

Another note about the dress - it was $100 at David's Bridal ... straight and simple and just what I wanted. I spent exactly 2 hours trying on dresses before buying. Never tried on a wedding dress until the day I bought one. So don't knock it before you try it ... that's all I am saying.

Nate thinks I look like I am morning my husband dead at sea on our wedding day in this one.

Can you believe i went out on a rock into the OCEAN in my WEDDING DRESS the DAY BEFORE our WEDDING DAY? I can't either. I was totally not worried about it ... like everything else about our wedding ... And the picture is amazing.

A frame that I painted and used at the reception.

This one is very VOGUE - strike a pose - to me.

More day of wedding pictures to come!

alabama, arkansas I sure love my ma and pa, but not quite the way that I love you

totally just saw this on a friends blog and whoa! its super crazy cool. i am totally perplexed by these people but there is something folksy and nice about this love song. sort of reminds me of the whole juno soundtrack stuff ... just the good stuff of life and love.



this is the juno song i am talking about:



and this one too:



so yeah ... just thought i would share.

our first apartment!

We moved in a little over a month ago and unfortunately we are still a little unsure about what exactly to unpack. With our immediate future plans sooooo up in the air, we don't want to accumulate anymore furniture than we have. In fact, we sold some of our furniture right when we moved (it was the start of the term at the UO so it was the best time to sell.)

So basically I am trying to justify our little apartment's state of affairs. So yeah ... its not much, but it is ours and I have done my best to make it home.

BEFORE
(aka - moving in)

(remember that face from this post? yup, told you i saw it almost everyday)

Stuff everywhere! This is our living room and the doorway
into the eat-in kitchen.

This is the opposite view - from the eat-in kitchen looking into the living room.

The eat-in kitchen was our "staging area" and still sort of is at this point.
We can conveniently store our packing boxes and bins behind the wall
separating the living room from the kitchen.

Here is our itty-bitty kitchen which of course does not have enough counter space.

The disaster that was our bedroom!

AFTER:
(aka: a little decorating to make it home)

Living Room

More living Room

This is on the wall behind the sofa - my thrift-store found framed mirror
(I found it at a Eugene Goodwill when looking for milk glass for our wedding)
and my dear friend Ally's two screen prints of a photo I took back in my DC days
of a light post outside the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress.
I love these prints and I love Ally - she is soo very talented


Living Room Corner ... trying to hide our storage bins :) underneath a scrap
piece of curtains, a lamp, a watercolor of the temple frames - under our
framed marriage certificate.

The entryway between living room and eat-in-kitchen. Thanks to my
old roommate Tiffany, we have a kitchen table and chairs to eat at!
And of course to help Nate feel at home,
we hung his Henry Weinhard's Root Beer sign -
the kitchen area seamed the most appropriate for it.




Eat-in-kitchen! Thanks Tiffany!


Itty-bitty kitchen ... not much change there ...
but I did hang a LARGE frame I already had and it fits perfectly above the sink.


Have I mentioned that I LOVE owls ...
I also found these two little guys at the Eugene Goodwill -
they were unfinished white ceramics which I snatched up while hunting for wedding milk glass. I hung these on the hallway wall across from our bedroom on the way to the bathroom -
not the best picture, but you get the idea.

My refurbished window frame turned bulletin board
hangs on our bathroom door.


Our blue and brown bathroom.

No photos of our bedroom because its not much to look at. We don't have any bedroom furniture besides a bed and box spring on the floor and two mismatched side tables.
We don't even have a dresser to put our stuff in ... we are that sad :( but we don't
want to buy one for fear we may be moving in a few short months.

So, that is our humble first apartment! YAY for new roommates!