new job, one year anniversary, and snow!

Well, it's been quite an eventful few months in our house. In August, I received a visit from one of the operations directors in my region at work. He informed me that their assistant had just left, and they wondered if I wanted to apply. Pros: more money, stable office hours (after working a few too many 7am-7pm days at the plastic surgery office, this is very appealing), supporting the admin team, and flexibility for vacation, appointments, etc. Cons: leaving my very close friends, starting over, and being the new kid. But, after a few days of deliberation, I decided to go for it.

Now that I am two months into the new position, I am very happy with the change. I miss my friends so much, but luckily I can stay in contact via email, and since I'm a patient, I still get to see them every now and then for follow ups. So that's been a huge change. Another exciting change is that Chris is back in school! He is taking some courses at SLCC due to issues with enrollment at Utah, but he will be back there for the next semester. He has been doing very well in his classes, even hard ones like thermochemistry and computer design.

The next big event we had was our one year anniversary! Crazy how fast time flies. We enjoyed sparkling cider and our one year old cake top. Surprisingly, it was delicious. My mom did a great job of packing it up so it was't freezer burned or hard at all. It was fun to remember what we were doing the night before, one year ago, and remember the amazing day! Being married has been a wonderful and exciting change for both of us, and we look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries.

Our awesome friend Diana won a free night stay in St. George, which she so kindly gave to us, so we packed up and headed down for a long weekend to celebrate. It was a lot of fun - we watched lots of sports, enjoyed the giant jacuzzi at the hotel, and visited some of our family. Such a nice way to relax and enjoy some time away from work and school.

The rest of October has been pretty uneventful, but we woke up this morning to a dusting of snow on the ground! I was not happy, but for Chris, snow means skiing, so he was ecstatic. I am hoping it was a fluke, and warmer temps will be coming our way....but who really knows in Utah?

Vacations

The past month has been very good to us. First we went to Vegas with our friend Megan, which was super fun and relaxing. We lounged by the pool, walked around TONS, and ate good food. It was so nice to get away for a couple of days.

Next we got to go to Midway for a long weekend to spend time with my parents and siblings, plus some of our cousins! It was so much fun. We rented a boat and went tubing at Jordanelle, swam in the awesome pools at the Zermatt Resort, and remembered and learned more about our grandparents. Plus, we played lots of late-night games and snacked on our favorite treats.

The next vacation is St. George, which will be coming up to celebrate our one-year anniversary in October! It seems too far away...

marriage.

this sunday will mark six months of marriage, which is kind of mind-blowing to me. i remember the many times i assured others that i would never get married, not because i didn't want to, but because i just wasn't sure it would happen for me. i dated here and there, but it never worked out and i couldn't imagine that it really ever would. it's a super cheesy cliche, and i'm embarrassed to even post it, but truth: those lame, commitment-phobic dudes along the way help you to realize how the right one is supposed to feel.

anyway. marriage is fun and i get to try new recipes since i'm not just cooking for me anymore. the only bummer thing i've found is that i've gained a few pounds...which may or may not be directly correlated to the previous statement. so i'm trying my hardest to get back into running, because after losing 100 pounds once, i KNOW it works. every time i go for a run, i feel so awesome and tough and strong. but the problem is that i just really love to eat, probably more than i should admit. so then i kind of counteract all that good exercise with snacks while making dinner, and dessert more often than not.

but anyway. i had a lot of friends and family members give me lots of good advice about marriage, so i feel like i kind of knew what to expect. plus, by the end of our engagement, chris and i were spending so much time together that not a lot surprises me. the one thing that is new is a small amount of snoring [ahem] which has been solved by the purchase of these. otherwise there would be a lot more couch sleeping, i imagine. we adopted a cat, which has been super fun with the exception of his various strange and persistent illnesses and ailments...but we love him, flaws and all. we also bought a condo, and so far [knock on wood] it has been awesome with no necessary repairs or problems. also, i've been working as a freelance writer, which means a little extra money to plan fun trips with friends to lounge poolside here come june.

i still like to look at the wedding photos and try to remember every detail about this amazing day. but even though the excitement of the day has passed, i try to enjoy every new experience with my new title as wife.

The whole tonsil thing was kind of insane, but 3 gallons of ice cream, 6 bottles of Powerade, 1 ER visit, and 2 10-lb bags of ice later, I am almost healed.

Christmas was a lot of fun. We missed our family who couldn't come, but we were super lucky to have everyone at our wedding a couple of months ago, so we look forward to more family gatherings in 2012! We enjoyed our first Christmas Eve at home with our cat, and spent Christmas Day with my parents, brother and sister-in-law, and then Chris's family.

Now we are looking forward to the next week - I am still off work until Jan 3, so I will be spending the week finishing up my recovery and organizing my house, and then we get to spend New Year's Eve with Lis, watching bowl games and eating awesome food! Maybe some of it will be cooked in this sweet new wedding gift :)

tonsils.

So, I went to Las Vegas in June 2010 for my friend's birthday. It was supposed to be a super relaxing weekend full of Diet Coke, lounging by the pool, and enjoying time with friends. However, on the second day, I started to get a twinge on one side of my throat. By the time we left, I had a fever over 102 degrees and couldn't even manage to drive us home. I stopped at Instacare on my way to my bed, where a strep test came back positive. I thought it was weird, since I've never had strep before, but filled my RX for antibiotics and went on my way, only to spend the next 24 hours in a state of the strangest stupor I've ever known. I still can't remember parts of it, I'm thinking probably because my fever was so high, but I would wake up in the bathtub, fully clothed with no memory of why I got in. I was so nauseated that I couldn't keep the antibiotics down, and my throat swelled to the point where I couldn't even talk! It was really freaky, so I went to another Instacare, hoping for an injection of antibiotics to get into my system. Instead, I was diagnosed with a tonsil abscess, which had to be drained in an ENT's office and I was given IV fluids for 48 hours, since I hadn't been able to keep anything down.

Crazy. So then, I thought that once I had been treated and taken my full 28 day cycle of antibiotics, that this ridiculous situation would be over. But since then, I have had tonsillitis about once every six weeks, always on that same side. So, after 18 months of dragging my feet, worrying, putting it off, and taking antibiotics x infinity, I have decided to say good riddance to those little suckers. Whenever you mention "tonsillectomy" to an adult, they cringe and wish you well. I am kind of afraid, but I am also afraid for my insides if I take yet another 14-day cycle of Augmentin. So, I will be going under the knife tomorrow at 1:30pm to say goodbye to them FOREVER.

I still blame Vegas, secretly.

married life.

So, being married is pretty fun. The first week was pretty amazing, with a lot of lounging and eating and napping. The second week was fun, because we were just unpacking and putting away all of our awesome new stuff, plus spending all of our gift cards on some new kitchen items. The third week was the part when I actually felt like this was my house too, and that I wasn't just on a super long vacation at someone else's house! And the fourth week was where I started to feel adjusted to cooking something for dinner every night.

Having a cat is super fun, and living with my buddy has been a pretty low-key experience so far. It is starting to feel more normal to not have to go home at night, but at first it was really weird. Also, the adjustment to being called Allie Blackham is sort of strange, but at least people can actually pronounce it. 3 hours combined at the DMV and social security office were well-spent, I suppose, since now it's all official.

I am moving and will have the internet again! So maybe (can't make any promises) I will start blogging again. Who knows? The reason I'm moving is because I'm getting hitched! Met the man in October of last year, getting married October of this year. 19 days, to be exact! I am SO excited. We bought a condo in SLC and he's living there now, but we adopted a kitty so I spend a good amount of my time over there snuggling with the baby kitty.

Pretty much everything is planned and ready to go...now it's just getting through the next 2.5 weeks of work, and then I get a whole week and a half OFF! Which will be glorious. We are heading to Mexico the Monday after we get married for a few days of relaxation, and then coming back to get our place all set up and ready for us.

Other than that, I've been trying to run more, but everytime I get on the treadmill, my stomach starts cramping. I don't know what the deal is, but it's super frustrating. I'll just have to keep trying. Can't wait to see my family in a few weeks and celebrate with them, and soon I will be Mrs. Chris Blackham!