12 Inch Difference

What we've been up to...

2009-12-31T14:46:00.000-08:00

So we haven't blogged in a long time. Life has taken us both by storm so here's a little recap:

September:
James surprised Emily with a beautiful new macbook for her birthday (her old laptop was making funny noises and crashing all the time).
J & E both started school and realized that they were in for a busy semester -- full course loads, the opera, and work.

October:
Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) took over our lives, with rehearsals every day and then every night. James did a fantastic job singing the title role, making Emily swoon for him even more :-)

November:
We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend in Logan at Grandma and Granddad Hendricks' house. James spent the morning working hard with the boys getting some tree branches cleaned up and cleared out. Emily helped and chatted inside. And then we ate! The food was very yummy, but our favorite part was hanging out with family!

December:
We got ready for finals and juries and did very well on both! We had an early Christmas celebration with the Duncan family before heading off to Chicago for the break.
In Chicago we watched movies, played games, ate yummy food, spent a day in the city, and had fun being with the Hendricks side.

Now it's time to head back to Provo and start a new semester. Emily is pretty excited because it is basically her last full semester of school -- next year she just plans on taking voice lessons. James is excited to get started on a business minor to get him geared up for law school! Life is coming at us pretty quick and we are excited for new adventures!

Italian food, Escargot, and Cake Balls

2009-08-09T09:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some exciting new developments in our lives:

Emily got a job singing at "Gloria's Little Italy" on Saturday nights. It's fun and makes her hungry. She even made $5 in tips last night -- it made her feel good.

We had our first house guest -- Howard... Howard the snail. He liked our door and never moved. Then James kicked him off and he took some of the paint with him. Then Emily N. Hendricks, our next house guest, stepped on him. Poor Howard.

We had our second house guests -- Mark & Emily! They came down from Logan on Saturday and we had fun making really tasty cake balls , then waffles for Breakfast!(http://bakerella.blogspot.com/search/label/cake%20balls)

You see, it was James's brother Nathan's birthday and his parents were in Aruba, so Emily was put in charge of the cake. After taking it out of the oven, Emily put one of the pans upside down on the cooling rack, hoping that it would come out easy. It wasn't working very well and so the Jamesinator picked up the other pan and decided that shaking it would loosen it up so it would fall out -- not good. His cake turned in to lots of crumbly pieces, and Emily's came out, but because our oven is crooked it looked VERY lopsided. We ended up buying Nathan a cake and using our cake for the deliciousness that is cake balls.

We are happy and busy. James has to memorize the opera in the next couple weeks -- yikes.

Our Apartment: In Pictures

2009-07-19T10:55:00.001-07:00

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow...and SCONES!

2009-07-19T10:15:00.001-07:00

While James was plotting his new dress shoes (see post below), I was trying to decide what to do with my hair. I've been growing it out for the wedding and have become increasingly sick of it. Because of how long and how thick it was it took forever to do. I would spend atleast 15 minutes in the shower trying to get it all wet so I could shampoo, condition, and rinse so it wouldn't be soapy. Then drying it and stying added another 20 minutes. I've always been a short hair fan so I was ready to chop off my hair as soon as our Provo reception ended.

I researched different salons in the area, trying to find a place to go to that would be reasonably priced and do a good job. I was tempted to go to a hair school since they are so inexpensive but after reading my cousin Lisa's blog post about her hair's brutal attack at a hair school, I decided against it. In the end I decided to go to "Stuart Fraser". It was more expensive than I originally wanted, but I'd heard really good things and it was really close to our apartment.

I get to the salon and tell my stylist that I really don't know what I want, I just want it above my shoulders and easy to style. She plays with my hair a little (always I good sign of a good stylist I think) then suggests a simple razored bob. Perfect! She shampoos (my favorite part) then begins the cut.

An hour and a half later, I left the salon with a great short hair style. An hour and a half was WAY too long in my opinion, but the hair cut was good so I can deal with the time it took. I went to bring James his lunch at work (and to show off my new hair) and he seemed to really like it... a lot! I'm glad that my hubby likes me with long and short hair -- he's a winner!

In other news, today we made really yummy english scones for breakfast. We both fell in love with them while we were on tour to the British Isles this past May, and I was really excited to get home and try making them myself.

English scones are very different from the fried dough scones so popular in Utah. They are more like biscuit/cookies. I found a recipe online and substituted chocolate chips and a little cinnamon for the raisins. They were a GREAT success! Now we just have to figure out how to make them healthier so we can eat them a little more often. ;-) Here's the link for the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Simple-Scones/Detail.aspx?src=etaf

The Taming of the Shoe

2009-07-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Our first weekend of real life together was one of dramatic changes.

For years, not including those years I spent in Hungary, I've worn the same dress shoes for every occasion: a nice pair of Bass shoes I received for my 17th birthday. They proved themselves durable and comfortable, so I was reluctant to replace them, but having gift cards to Macy's department store puts you in the mood to try new things.

Upon entering the store, I noticed they were having a Men's Fashion sale, which was my cue to investigate the shoe rack. All the display pairs looked so crisp and professional--I had no idea I could be intimidated by shoes. However, upon discovering that with sale prices put nearly every pair into my price range, I felt a surge of confidence and superiority. I could stare down every Rockport and Bostonian without even flinching. It was a marvelous feeling.

I was disappointed to learn that the square-toed, Euro style shoes that every Eastern-European drools over weren't available in my size, but another pair caught my eye. They were what my 3rd semester sight-singing teacher would call "elegant," or "tastefully refined." I've never owned any article of clothing that would fall under such a category, but it seemed right to start somewhere.

Trying on the shoes was dramatic enough in itself. The nice counter-lady eyed my ankle-socks knowingly and said with a dry laugh, "You didn't bring an extra pair of socks, did you? Dress socks?" She had something strange in her hands--she fussed with it as she spoke. "You'll have to wear these."

Yes. They were nylons. The brown kind that make girls legs look tan and even.

It was a strange sensation, putting on little ankle-high girly-things. They would stick, here and there, to my rough skin, and my toe-hair stuck through the fabric. How odd. It felt as if I wasn't wearing a thing.

The shoes looked great, though, and felt great, despite the stockings. I bought them on the spot, and am now the proud owner of a pair of Black Bostonian Cushings.

New Marriage, New Apartment, New BIKES!

2009-07-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

With all the receptions and our honeymoon over with, we are now trying to get back into "normal life". We both returned to work this week. I'm working full time at the library for the rest of the summer and James is working at Pioneer Book and learning and rehearsing the opera. It should be a productive summer! Coming back to it from such a long vacation hasn't been easy, but it's nice to get back to work. We've also enjoyed being able to spend our evenings together after a day apart.

Our apartment is a work in progress. Everything is pretty much set up, but there are a couple things that still need some real organizing -- bookshelves, the bathroom, and the odds and ends cupboard. But it's been fun to put all our new things away! We were a bit overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends and family with the amount of gifts we received. Somehow, we managed to fit everything into our little apartment so it's already looking and feeling like a home!

We've had fun shopping with our gift cards to get those extra things we need to really make our place comfy -- like a dish drying rack, trash can, pots, and pans. Even after all that we still were shocked with how much we had left to shop with. We decided that it would be best to use some gift cards and gift money to get James a bike! We have a car, but our schedules aren't always the same and parking in Provo can be a real hassle. Plus James loves riding bikes and it's great exercise. So while Iwas at work, James went to Target and got himself a great new bike, helmet, and tire pump. He was so excited to show me his new bike and I got a little jealous... so we got me one too!!! Now we both have beautiful new Schwinn bikes. I have already ridden mine to work twice and love it! We both feel like this is a great investment: not only is it fun, it also helps us to save money on gas and gets us exercising. We can't wait to have lots of biking adventures together!

Freaky Friday

2009-07-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

Our first week of marriage was just great. Between opening presents and traveling across the country, we didn't have much time for anything but google eyes and lovey-doveyness. But...everyone knows that eventually something will happen to disturb that happily-ever-after haze that covers things like hairy toes and body noises. For us, as usual, that thing was dinner.

Our first real dinner together, back in Datingdom, began with a delicious recipe for Aged-Jack Encrusted Pork Tenderloin with a side of spinach salad, covered in a honeymustard dressing. The anticipation for a perfect meal was overwhelming. Only one thing could stand in the way of perfection: The Jamesonator! With honed culinary skill, he managed to cut the meat about an inch and a half too thick, pour dirty water on top of the freshly saladspun salad, and enjoy every minute of it. However, Emily wasn't too pleased with the result, and this particular dinner became instead a lesson in charity and patience.

Now, fast-forward to last Friday. Again, the flawless, and even simpler, meal plan. Just a bit of pasta with chicken, broccoli, and alfredo sauce. Easy, no? Much harder to mess up than do well, right? Looks like a job for, the Jamesonator! :) I mean, come on, who knew that you're supposed to boil the water beFore you throw in the broccoli, or that raw meat containers should NOT rest on food you're about to eat, or that it's much better to cover chicken you want to freeze in the freezer. Oh, yeah, and we don't have any salt, yet.

So dinner was less than perfect, but the lessons of patience and charity will never grow old, and it's nice to be able to look back on yet another wonderful dinner experience with laughter, instead of AAAAaargh!

And guess what? We still totally dig each other, and aren't going to give up on team cooking just yet.