last week.

the busiest week of all time happened to be last week- what with finals (thank goodness this semester is finally over) and birthdays and shopping and wrapping and work. but despite all that chris and i were able to tear ourselves away to give blood... you know, spreading that holiday cheer. the san diego blood bank is a pretty cool place to be at- the staff is friendly, and it's a pretty positive atmosphere. this was actually the first time after a year that i was able to give- i had been deferred for twelve months because of a scaler poke accident at work... since that counts as an "accidental needle stick" i had to wait a year to make sure i didn't have something like AIDS or hepatitis C or whatever. needless to say- i'm clean and healthy, and able to give blood again. which is exciting, because i love giving blood, and now i can go every 8 weeks again like i used to.

a little history: giving blood was actually one of the first things chris and i did together, back when we hardly knew eachother. i had known that chris was scared of needles, and so i thought it would be funny to invite him to my appointment to give blood (mean? yes i know. what a way to set the stage for our relationship). chris accompanied me, gave blood, and survived; and so it has been a tradition for us ever since to donate together.

anyway, giving blood is always easier for chris than it is for me... even though i like it much more than he does. i happen to be cursed with tiny veins- and i always get the same response every time the nurses tighten the cuff and feel around for them: "wow... did you drink enough fluids today??" to which i always respond "yeeees, i havent been making trips to the bathroom every 15 minutes for the past 24 hours for no reason". and then they do the poke and pray, and half the time they have to wiggle the needle around in order to get it wedged in the vein right, because not only are my veins tiny, but they roll too. poor nurses. i'm a flebotomist's nightmare.

chris, on the other hand, has veins the size of pipes in super mario. watching the needle just glide right into his big, bulging veins while i'm still hosting a stick-fest at my arm is rather humiliating. and not only does he start off easy, but he can fill up the bag in about five minutes too... it takes me twice as long! i guess some people just have natural talent.

after we gave blood this last time chris was "tired" and i was downright woozy... since this was the case we went and saw lights on pepper drive- we drove of course. these were the only pictures i could muster the strength to snap:

my personal favorite (of course).

jack & sally with zero, decorating a tree. coolest ever.

... and chris trying to mimic the sadistic expression on this pumpkin's face. he gets points for effort.

the holiday season.

so chris and i took our first road trip to prescott arizona to have thanksgiving with his parents. a grand total of 15 hours in the car together, and we both still like eachother.... marriage is going to be a peice of cake! the roads between california and arizona are riddled with oddities, which was a great source of entertainment for the both of us. chris has a hard time sitting for more than a couple hours at a time, so the trip was a little harder for him than it was for me.

before we left prescott, the saturday after thanksgiving.

christmastime is rapidly approaching.... and as chris likes to say, "you can't have CHRIStmas without CHRIS!" (sacreligious? yes. but he thinks he is sooo funny). chris and i are looking forward to spending another christmas together. chris went back to the day shift the beginning of october, so we are able to spend a little bit more time together than we did this summer, when he was working swings. this has also allowed him to get all of his christmas shopping done early, but i, in the midst of finals and projects, have yet to complete mine. only two more weeks left til christmas!

story of the week

so let's just be honest here. pretty much most- if not all- of the blogging here is going to be done by noel. and since it's kind of an awkward undertaking to talk about one's self in the third person, any first person referencing can pretty much be assumed to be coming from noel, unless otherwise specified. that being said here is the story of the week:


so naturally i am busy planning a wedding; and like any polite bride, i like to keep my groom updated with ideas and involved in some decision making. recently, while discussing some wedding plans, chris decided (suddenly) to change the subject to planning work-out regements for me when i'm pregnant with his first kid. the idea ellicited instant and adamant rejection from myself. apparently he got a big kick out of it, as he collapsed on the floor laughing (one of chris's favorite hobbies: cracking himself up). i have been given explicit permission to blog the event- i think he's quite pleased with himself. i told him he'd better stick to planning weddings from here on out, or there will be no babies for him.

commence: blog.

hello everyone. we're pretty thrilled about the idea of our upcoming wedding, and even though it seems somewhat distant right now, we're counting on the months to start flying by. as we are both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is important to us that we be married in the temple for time and all eternity, and it is our goal to do what it takes to get there. chris just recently got baptized and is enthusiastic about learning more about the gospel. we're shooting to get married on september 17 of next year.