I love my Bosch!

Today Austin had to work (even though it's a Saturday) so I was home alone for most of my Saturday. I put on a Michael Buble cd and tackled a long list of projects that have been building up for a few weeks. One of those was to bake rolls, yep, with my mom's famous recipe.

One of the secrets to her amazing rolls is using a Bosch to mix and kneed the dough. My grandparents and aunts and uncles chipped in to get me a Bosch for the wedding and I can't even say how grateful I am! I love having this machine, it makes such a difference! I've used it to make cookies several times, but this was my first attempt at bread on my own machine.

They are pretty good if I do say so myself!

Me and bread haven't always worked out. My siblings love to tell the stories of times I've set garlic toast on fire or blackened the rolls that were supposed to be for dinner... Needless to say, baking rolls that not only taste good but didn't catch fire is a BIG DEAL for me :)

Thank heavens for midterms!

I know, I sound crazy. Can you believe I just gave thanks for midterm exams? Well, in case you hadn't noticed, I've been pretty absent from the blogging world. Here is the #1 reason why:
And this isn't even the complete stack of all the books I have to read this semester. Literature classes are fun and I'm really enjoying them, but taking 4 at one time means a full schedule! Don't get me wrong, I love to read :) and I'd much rather have reading homework than math problems, but it gets pretty time consuming! However, this week I have 3 midterms, so I don't have to read a Restoration English drama, a Shakespearian play or a book that was later made into a movie. Just have to read King Arthur legends :)

Married life is treating us quite well! :) We are definitely busy, and don't see each other as much as we'd like, but we are grateful to both have jobs (and cars!) and be able to make ends meet.

Since it's been so long since I've blogged, I thought I'd put in a photo collage of how we've been staying busy and having fun as a new married couple :)

First, meet our cute, little apartment:

Here's a few shots from the Switchfoot/Goo Goo Dolls concert we went to about a month ago. It was both mine and Austin's first concert and we really liked it! (It helps that those are our two favorite bands)

And here's a couple pictures from our Honeymoon in San Diego, CA. We also went to Disneyland, but most of our pictures are all on Austin's camera, which I of course don't have with me right now. I'll try to get those up sometime soon.

Happy Newlyweds

It was been quite a while since I last posted, because life has been crazy! The weeks before the wedding were busy busy! The day of was wonderful :) and life slowed down for about a week after that. But we're back to running non stop, now that school has started again.
Austin leaves for class at 6:30 every morning and then goes strait to work until 5:30. I leave a 7 twice a week for class and then go to work until 6:30. Other days, I go downtown for class, back to Chandler for work, then back downtown for another class and don't get home until 9. :( It's hard to be apart so much. We see each other for a half hour in the morning and then a couple hours at night. We honestly live for the weekends! But married life in wonderful and we are so grateful for the time we do get to spend together!
We got all of our wedding pictures back this week. It's been so fun to look through all of them :)
Here are some of my favorites...

Last day and 2 weeks away!

Today is the last day of a 10 week internship I've held this summer. It has been quite an experience. This is my sixth internship, but the first time that I've ever worked full time in the journalism world. Normally I work 2 or 3 days and spend most afternoons with Kids Express. It's not been what I expected. It's not difficult, but it's not what I thought it would be. And more than that, I've found that I really miss seeing my kids every day. I love being in the classroom and I feel a lot more comfortable there than in the newsroom. Who knows where I'll end up, but I'm considering getting my Master's in Education so I can teach instead. Only time will tell...
The other big news (well it's much bigger really): Our wedding is only 14 days away!
It hardly feels real; we've been waiting for this to come for so long that it seems like a mean joke and we'll be forced to wait another four months. But it's actually here!
So many exciting things are happening: next week we take our pictures, I'm getting my dress tailored (I sure haven't worn that thing enough and I'm eager to put it back on!), we're signing the lease on our apartment, family is coming into town... Gosh we just can't wait!

Cute doggies

Tonight, Austin and I were shopping for bedding at Ross (we scored btw) when Austin thought to go check for a small bed for one of his dogs.

The Baxters have 2 dogs, a Yorkie named Sailor and a King Charles Spaniel named Story (she's still a puppy ).

Sailor, on the other hand, is getting up there in years and has bad arthritis. She's also much heavier than a Yorkie should be. Most Yorkies weigh in at 8 pounds. Sailor weighs 21.

Like any girl should, Sailor loves to be cozy and normally cuddles up in a corner to sleep.

But look at her now...

Story was very curious

Here are both the girls

Wedding update: 25 days left :)

Less than a month!

As of today, there are 28 days left until the wedding! We are, obviously, so excited.

Life is just moving along. I only have two weeks left of my internship and then I get two weeks off before the wedding! Thank goodness

I'm living back at home right now. I have a month in limbo between one lease ending and our new one beginning. I could have stayed at the place in Tempe, which would have been great to be close to work, Austin and my great roommates, but dealing with the landlord has been such a nightmare. I was happy to leave all the drama that came with her. If you hear of someone moving into a house owned by Kathryn Jones, tell them to run FAR AWAY. I promise it will save you so much headache.

But life is good. I am sharing a room with Janie for the last time, and taking up all the space that she has gotten used to in the past 7 months! And she lets me steal clothes from her closet. I have a pretty sweet gig :)

Also, Austin has finally realized that reading is a good thing and bookstores are not all bad :) I can't tell you how excited it makes me! My family has gotten really excited with the release of the last Harry Potter movie trailer and Harry Potter fever has spread to Austin. He's actually reading the books!

We went to my 2 favorite stores, Bookmans and Half-Price Books, last night and believe it or not, Austin bought more books than I did! I am blown away and quite pleasantly surprised :) I'll make a bibliophile out of him yet!

Last night I also found the funniest gift card at Half-Price. Please tell me someone else gets it... Austin sort of chuckled and my parents didn't get it. Oh well, somebody must

All things green

so this week, the Reynolds Center for Businenss Journalism is hosting a "covering the green economy" seminar. as a lucky intern, I will be covering most of the classes and events.

It should be interesting. I'm not opposed to being green, in fact I think to some extent it's very wise, saving energy=saving money, and I use re-usable grocery bags and water bottles and all that jazz. But I'm not buying into everything... we'll see how this week goes.