Free & cheap crap.

Alright, first up on the free crap list:

Starbucks gift card!

I got a Starbucks gift card from one of my teachers yesterday for helping in one of her classes. And I don't drink coffee so I don't want it. I know, I know, there is something there that isn't coffee that is delicious that I should try, but I'm fine without it. So, do you want it? It is only for $5, but hey, a free $5, is a free $5, so if you want it leave a comment (you might want to butter me up in case more than one person wants it) and I'll send it to you.

Deal?

Next up on the free crap list, though it is not free for you, FREE admission to Disneyland on your birthday! Guess who has a birthday on Monday...PHILIP! So guess where we will be?

Giving this boy the happiest birthday on earth at the happiest place on earth, of course! We just decided last Sunday to go, and let me tell you, being spontaneous rocks. I'm kind of a planner/control freak, so this is way exciting for me. Sighhh, I love Disneyland. What else could make us this happy? Oh, and as far as cheap crap goes, I got us a room at the Hilton by Disneyland for just $45 a night! I know, right? I thought it was pretty amazing too! I'm pretty much the next Priceline Negotiator, and I'm proud of it! Anyhoo, have such a good weekend guys! Sorry to say but mine will be funner!

Capitol Day & School Friends

Yesterday for school we had to go to the state capitol for hygiene day or something. It was a colossal waste of time. The hardcore hygienists in Arizona often talk to hygiene students and try to get us all riled up and make us want to fight for our rights and crap. Honestly, the only right that I'm gonna fight for is the right to PARTAAAY! Don't worry, I used that joke yesterday too, and it went over equally as well. So anyways, we took pictures. And let me introduce you to my cute school friends.

Meet me, Sydney, Diane and Crystal. They are kind of the greatest.

Me and Diane, who I carpool with and is basically my BFF in hygiene school, decided to try and take a nice picture together... ...since typically the only pictures we take together are when we are making fun of someone's car...

(apparently LOVE IS a purple mercury wagon)

...or someone's luggage...

...or saying cheers with our breakfast Diet Pepsi. Basically we spend ridiculous amounts of time together and therefore have become really good friends.

And meet the rest of the Group B girls! I seriously couldn't have asked for sweeter girls and have LOVED becoming such good friends with all of them! They have seriously become like family over the past year and I positively adore each and every one of them!

Back row: Sydney, Esperanza, Kristi, Alex, Valerie, Angel, Lorrie, Tonya, Gina

Front row: Crystal, Diane, Thuy, me

And apparently these girls think they are really funny, because I found this on my camera this weekend. Oh, and meet Ashley, she's on the right, she's one of our good friends too, but for some reason is never around when we're taking pictures.

So yes, that is my school family and I love them dearly. I don't know what I'm going to do once we graduate and I don't see them every day! Lunches will definitely be in order.

Okay, so this has nothing to do with school, but this morning as I was taking the second to last banana off the bunch, I was sad because I hate when there is only one banana left and we can't use our banana hammock (I know it's a hanger, but hammock is more awkward thus more fun), but a miracle happened! I managed to balance the one remaining banana's stem on the hanger! I was so pleased with myself that, well first of all, I'm posting it on the blog and expecting you to be impressed, but I also called Philip in from the other room and made sure that he was amazed at this wonder. That's all. Be impressed.

Oh, and back to the subject of school, I realized that I take my written and anesthesia boards in a month! AHHH! And in three months, I will be straight up graduated! I know, kind of crazy that it only took me 6 years to graduate from college, don't be too jealous...I am quite the overachiever.

Alright, wish me luck studying over the next month, I am soooo not good at studying. I kind of lack motivation and once I get started, I get bored and want to quit. Any hints?

Boys

Last night Philip and I played with a couple of Sara's boys for a while. They surely are attractive. I hope I like my kids as much as I like hers.

Apparently Oakley still needs to prove that he is the baby. This was before he rolled his eyes at me (what 2 1/2 year old rolls their eyes at people?) and also before he started sucking on one of Nate's pacifiers. He's kind of nerdy, and I like it.

(Melissa, I totally broke in. Here's for the world to see what it looks like. And, yes, that is him, a different day, in the bouncer, rolling his eyes. Punk. Love, Sara)

I also got to love on Nate for the first time! He is such a little sweetie! He was a large fan of getting his head/fuzz combed, and I was more than happy to oblige.

Um, nothing new here, Oakley jumping off the ottoman over the pillows, and looking like a champ while doing so.

Oh, and this picture is like a month or so old, but I thought it was too cute to pass up, especially since it was totally candid. I imagine Sara had a small heart to heart with Reese last night at the hospital too, and that it was equally as precious.

So that's all. Sorry nothing crazy exciting for you all...such is life I suppose.

Have a fun week! And I'm not going to say that I totally called it, but HELLO! I totally knew that it would come down to Melissa and Molly on the Bachelor! Shoot, I totally called it.

A Bellyache

Valentine's candy is one of my favorite things ever. And Brach's Cinnamon Jelly Hearts speak directly to my soul. I have been looking for them everywhere, and then lo and behold Target held the key to my heart today.

I was ecstatic when I found them! Artificially flavored happiness all afternoon is all I could think of. I ate them like they were going out of style.And then about half way through my first bag, I realized that my belly wasn't feeling so good. Not good at all, in fact. Then I realized that maybe this was the only thing I had to eat today, and then my belly got angry at me and told me to stop eating them. It turned out to be not as happy of a reunion as I had hoped with my cinnamon jelly hearts. And now I'm trying to figure out what I could or should eat that would make me feel better, because Diet Pepsi didn't.

Oh, and by the way, the face pictured above is one that would cause Philip to say, "What could I say to make you never do that face again?"

I bet he's going to be really happy that I posted that picture, and his token statement for when I do really ugly faces, on the blog.

Have a fun week friends and if you want some cinnamon jelly hearts, I have an extra bag and a half that I might not be eating.

Oh, and is anyone else watching the Bachelor tonight? I'm hoping/betting that he kicks Naomi off tonight. And it's about time! She has like the weirdest mouth, like it kind of looks like she had an underbite that was corrected, but she still has the tendency to talk like before the correction. And/or maybe her tongue is too big for her mouth. And for the love would she please get her hair out of her face?!! Let's hope I'm right.

Dinner.

Tonight I tried a new recipe. I RARELY do this, because first, if it involves more than like four ingredients, we don't have them, second, I get my hopes up and my heart set on something new, and third, I'm lazy. But tonight I decided to try it.

I made this:

"Tuscan Chicken Simmer" as Kraft Foods calls it, and doesn't it just look tasty?

Unfortunately, mine looked and tasted like this:

Poo. Me and Philip's favorite thing about it? That we never have to eat it again. But of course I ate it because I was mad that I wasted time and effort and cream cheese on it, and Philip ate it because he's a sweetheart. This is reason number eight hundred and ninety why I hate cooking.

Baking, on the other hand, I'm fairly okay at. So we chased down our poo dinner with the delicious brownies that I made yesterday.

(Not poo even though it is the same color.)

(And that is caramel-y goodness in the middle. Jealous?)

From now on when I think of trying a new recipe, I think I'll make brownies instead.

Dinner is just not my thing.

Anyway, have a good week guys and happy February!

Reading Material

Talk about a fantastic week...you guys are all the greatest! Seriously, what sweethearts you all are for leaving so many lovely comments, I was truly in heaven! I had so much fun reading the comments, and then following the link back to your blogs and reading up on your darling little lives! Yay for new friends, and revisiting friends from high school and junior high and all sorts! Yes, you guys are fantastic.

I did, however, want to comment to the uncommentables...there are just a couple...hopefully you don't mind.

...

1st - Jan Bowles! You don't understand how excited I was to see your comment! You always were, and still are, one of my favorite people on the planet!

...

2nd - Raylene & Brad...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and I truly adore both of you as well! But now you are private and I want in! Pretty please?

...

3rd - Nik, OF COURSE I know who you are, but I don't have your e-mail address, so if you could please e-mail that to me, I would appreciate it!

...

4th - Jill! You didn't leave a last name or route to follow, perhaps on purpose, but I appreciate the kind words, and would like to know who you are!

...

To everyone else, thank you again, and I am slowly but surely getting back to all of you. Doesn't this remind you of writing wedding Thank you cards or something like that?

Anyhoo, this week has also been filled with some light reading from the Mesa Public Library. In fact, I think I'm going to go again this afternoon to make some returns and check out some new stuff. But just a warning, if you go to the library and check out a book that looks like this:

I might have drooled on the first 18 pages when I fell asleep reading it. Whoopsies. And this might be funnier if I were joking, but I'm not.

I also read most of this book that I gave/ordered for Kev for his birthday. Lucky for me he was working out of town this week when it came so I had plenty of time to read it before giving it to him.

Brief summary given by Kevin: Don't spend money.

We both have a love/hate relationship with Dave Ramsey, probably because we both have a bigger and longer relationships with student loans. I hate expensive schooling.

Speaking of, after spending a pretty penny signing up for boards, they sent me these:

And I read them cover to cover, and then had a small anxiety attack about boards coming up. Yikes, maybe I should read and study my textbooks instead of blogs. Meh, they're just boards right? Not like they determine the success of my schooling, right? Yeah, boards can eat my poo.

So once again, thanks for reading and commenting and being overall very thoughtful friends leaving very thoughtful comments. And in case you're wondering, I think that I might put "74 Comments on Philissa" on my resume under Notable Achievements. Like I said, I was basking in comment heaven this week!

GOING PRIVATE.

So I recently had someone tell me that they look at my blog. I really like this person (hi Melanie), but I was just surprised that she checks the weekly ridiculousness that I post on here. And then it got me wondering about who else might be looking at my junk, you know?

Now, I have a confession. I'm not really going private, I never would because I don't think that I am important or darling enough to be seriously concerned about who is checking up on me. BUT, I am super nosy. Like ridiculously nosy, and I kind of want to know who is checking us out and what they think!

Sooooo...

leave me a comment and say hello!

Don't have a blog? That's fine, you can use open ID.

Don't know what to say? Tell me that my new pajamas are fun.

Totally don't know me? Uh, you read my blog, you know me just fine.

Basically what this boils down to is this:

I have a site meter and know that people are checking my blog, but people aren't saying hello. And I really want to know who you are Mrs. Idaho, or Dallas, or Missouri, or Atlanta, or Minnesota, or Illinois (to name a few) that are checking in...since I don't yet know people that live there!

Speaking of, did you watch the Miss America pageant last night? If so, please tell me that high cut swimsuit bottoms are not coming back in style. Was anyone else concerned about that?

Oh, and of course, the bottom line is that I LOVE comments. They seriously make my day...probably more than they should, but whatev.

So comment already! Thanks friends!

School is not as awesome as pizza.

You guys,

YOU GUYS,

I finished another semester, and I'm now 3/4 done with school.

Isn't that crazy? Like 3/4 is a ton. Like if you were eating a pizza...

...and you ate 3/4 of it, you may as well just polish off that last 1/4, because it's just a tiny bit left, right?

Your response: "No Mel, just you and the rest of chubby-ville would polish off the pizza, but congrats on being almost done with school."

I think that I ended the semester with a bang as well. It was by far the most challenging, and I hated almost every day of it, but it's done. I even finished my super huge and ridiculous project, and think I'll get a good grade on it, despite the fact that during my presentation I said, "My patient had a bunch of crap going on in his mouth...er...had a lot of issues...(cue excessive sweating)...that I learned a lot from."

Yes, I am indeed professional, and a champ. Other than that, the presentation went well and I'm glad that basically school is all down hill from here.

And last night I signed up for my boards. I had to upload a picture for our electronic application...

Doesn't this look like someone who is excited to take boards? I decided that there was no point taking a picture when I look decent, because I'm sure the morning of the test I'm going to look all sickly and barf-ish because of stress anyways.

So yeah, that's basically it. I'm really excited for another little break from school, and even more excited that I'm a tiny bit closer to being done!

Hooray for 4th semester!

Wordy Resolutions and Whatnot...

So last year, I set like a million (fifteen) goals for myself...and maybe that didn't work out so well.

So I'm copying my darling friend Megan, and evaluating them one by one.

Here goes...

~

1. Be punctual. Not just more punctual, but downright punctual.

Ha ha, you think I'm punctual now? I will say this for myself, I'm always on time to school...but anywhere else, not so much. I give myself a half-check.

~

#2. Walk my shoes into the closet every day.

Failed. Next one.

~

#3. Put on lotion every day.

I should have said, "Put on lotion five days a week. Then I could have given myself a full check. Instead, I am giving myself a 5/7 check.

~

#4. Make and follow a budget and be more frugal and look for opportunites to save.

Um, check-ish? Or not, I don't really know or care at this point.

~

#5. Use groceries before they go bad.

Check. I suppose.

~

#6. Learn to play the piano again.

Honestly, who was I kidding? This should be a negative check.

~

#7. Read more books.

Um, I've been in school the last 11 months, and basically I cannot allow myself to read because then I don't want to do anything else. So I will give myself a check, for the books that I've read during my breaks, and can't wait until May when I get to read as much as I want.

~

#8. Take Philip on a date that I plan once or twice or more.

Nope. I'm a bad and very boring wife.

~

#9. Take lots of pictures of everything.

Hooray! A full blown check! Yes, I took lots of pictures of everything. Don't believe me? Well then you haven't been reading my blog very long.

~

#10. Do cute things for and with my cute Sunbeams.

Did you see the aprons? I kind of redeemed myself at the end of the year. Check.

~

#11. Eat healthier snacks.

You should see me eat grapes. I eat them like they're going out of style. But is it healthy for one person to eat a 4 lb box of grapes every week? Eh, half-check.

~

#12. "I really want to lose three pounds." (It's from a movie, hence the quotes. I kind of can't stand when quotation marks are used incorrectly. That's besides the point though.)

What a joke. Moving on.

~

#13. Drink more water, and maybe not as much Diet Pepsi.

Check on the water, and no check on the Diet Pepsi. I'm not an addict though, I can quit when I want...

~

#14. Work out once a week.

Once again, who was I kidding? Negative check.

~

#15. Learn to cook healthy meals.

I probably should learn how to, and actually cook at all. Failed again.

~

So, perhaps 2008 wasn't the most productive goal oriented year for me, eh? So I've decided to keep this year's goals simple.

They are as follows...

#1: Graduate.

#2: Pass all my boards.

#3: Take a trip to NYC.

#4: Be less frumpy.

And that's it. Wish me luck for 2009! It's going to be a monumental year!

December Palooza!

Yes, December Palooza, not just Christmas. I've got pictures from the entire month of December to show you...so get comfortable.

First up, we had my Grandma Huber's birthday party! 75 years of being her spunky and lovely self, and we had candles to prove it!

My grandma is seriously the sweetest person on the face of the planet. Not only that, but she has sass, and is dang hilarious, and is basically my idol.

And have you met my grandpa (and grandma for that matter)? If not, meet Lee & True Huber, the two most amazing people ever. If you do know them, and were ever in their Stake, there is a good chance that my grandpa still calls you on your birthday. And perhaps my grandma is on the other phone, so they can sing to you together. It will make you smile and tear up every time. How lucky am I to know and be related to them? Very VERY lucky.

And while we're on the subject of families, let's talk about my Jones side. I have the most amazing and hilarious cousins on the planet. And this year we had our Third Annual Cousin Christmas Party. White elephants are always involved and always awesome, and this year was no different. As Kirk picked up this present, he started to shake it, and Sara nervously said, "Um, don't shake it." Good call. She also told us that she paid extra for the ugliest fish with the bulgiest eyes.

I think my favorite part about all of these pictures is the amount of people laughing while gifts are being opened. It was pretty much the best party ever.

That's a can of tuna. Have you seen a larger one in your life? The best part was that Emily had to sneak that out of the pantry so that Reid wouldn't see and get mad.

And of course I love that everyone is old enough to be included, and has humor that is definitely appreciated.

And every time I see my darling cousin Julia...

or adorable Jenny...

I think to myself, Is that what I should have looked like in high school?

Jenny and Julia, will you shop with me and dress and style me once I get out of school? I want to look just like you two.

Then, Christmas Eve we had our Second Annual bowling Extravaganza, which was awesome, per usual.

The little kids got in on it too, and you would not believe how long it took for this ball to get to the pins...if it got there at all. There was more than one occasion where the ball would stop mid-lane, and we would have to try and knock it to the back with another one.

Kevin told me that I looked like Mr. Ramos, from Mesa High when I bowl. Aka, I have no upper arm strength.This resulted in less smashed fingers than you would think...

And Brynn's job was to be cute...

Later that night we headed to hang with Philip's family, and watch the Nativity as it was performed by our nieces and nephews. Honestly, this is the best Nativity production that you will ever see. It is directed by Nancie, and there are musical numbers and kids know their parts and it is so lovely every year.

Grant and Jennifer singing their duet, and Sam being a perfect Baby Jesus.

Philip's dad always reads the story out of the Bible, and since he and Janet are on a mission, they recorded him reading the story...which made all of us a little emotional.

Kate, the angel, and Jolie and Griffin, shepherds, singing another song.

Enter the wisemen, Jocelyn, Aniston, and Janet...

And all of the kids singing the closing song, being accompanied by Michelle in the background. Seriously, it is amazing every year.

We also got to meet our nephew, Ben, and me and Philip tried our hand at parenthood. These baby boys are beyond cute, but nope, we're still not ready. CHRISTMAS GIFT!!!

As a long standing Huber tradition, we yell CHRISTMAS GIFT! as soon as we see another member of the family for the first time on Christmas. And you'd think that it gets old (and Philip thinks that it already has) but it is seriously a game every year, and we hide and come in back doors and stuff so that we can yell it faster and louder and therefore "get" everyone. It is awesome.

Anyways, yay for presents!

Philip didn't really ask for anything, despite me asking him repeatedly for a list, so it was kind of a simple and boring year.

I did, however, get the most lovely coat that I'm IN LOVE with...

And of course Philip was excited for the video game that he knew he was getting...

Oh, and I got legs. Two of them. And heels.

Merry Christmas Philissa!

We went to Philip's sister, Michelle's house where she fed us and we saw all of the toys and fun that her girls got. And Adam looked like such a little pimp in his old man pajamas. It was about the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Jolie was super excited about her baby doll that "swims like a real baby" according to the box. What? What real baby do you that know swims? She was excited nonetheless, and when she saw it swim in the sink for the first time, yelled, "Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!" Then over to my parent's again, where we gave Melvin & Elise a giant dart board. They were excited. Did you know they are huge fans of playing darts? Alright, that's all a giant lie, but they liked their non-dart board present.

Cute wrapping paper huh? I will be sad when I run out of that.

Get it? His name is Melvin too! I was really pleased with myself when I came up with the clever idea like back in August.

And a wreath hanger for my mom since she has a seasonal wreath on her door all year long.

Philip being pleased with himself for making me whine, and me probably saying something bratty like, "Give it! It's mine!"

New music for Philip, he was super excited, and has taken his selection of new music very seriously.

Remember how my parents are awesome gift-givers? This year was no different...

Kev & Nicole not knowing quite what their present from us is, but they like the looks of Mickey and Minnie on a gift card...

And these are their, "Seriously, a Disneyland giftcard?" faces.

I love giving presents that are totally not expected...and this year for the first time like, ever, I had brilliant ideas.

My mom made plates for Sara and Jason's boys...and they are crazy cute.

Reading the gift certificate that my parents printed out for us...

...and then getting emotional (imagine that) at the thoughtfulness of it. They are getting the fatty scratch on the bumper of our Civic fixed. I'm seriously estatic.

The Nielson girls opened a tetherball, and were led to the backyard where a tetherball pole was waiting for them. Jealous? What kids get a tetherball pole of their own?

And Alyson looking perfect, because she showers and gets ready on Christmas...

Basically Christmas was amazing.

As it always is.

And one more, just because we're darling...

Happy January, though I'm like a week late. And here's to 2009!