There's no crying in the country

So last week I told you that I was going to the country to meet my boyfriend ED's parents and see the farm he grew up on. I asked for your opinions as to what to wear and you did not disappoint! Your advise was spot on! I know this because I didn't listen and wish I would have. Ah well! I always did have to learn my lessons the hard way.

Designer boots or no designer boots? That was my original question. You convinced me not to take them and I decided to bring my hiking boots instead. Well, I decided to, but I actually forgot to put them in my bag so I showed up bringing only the lightweight tennis shoes I had on. Doh! Strike one for the city girl!

Let's see, what other advise didn't I listen to? Oh, the whole get up early part. I half way listened. I got up about on time, jumped through the shower, did my hair and put on some light makeup. Little did I know that the day they had in store for me was one of manual labor. Luckily ED's mother, let's call her Mama ED, was kind enough to tell me to leave my fancy purse in the room (so I don't get mud on it) and handed me a pair of leather work gloves and some sunscreen.

First chore - dig a ditch with a tractor.
Second chore - get tractor unstuck from the mud.
Third chore - dig ditch by hand.














Mostly I was on supervision duty along with stacking random pieces of wood from dead trees in the burn pile (score one for me not having appropriate shoes!). Luckily I had the guidance of ED's 5 year old nephew to show me the ropes.

Fourth chore - set the field on fire.














After watching the field burn and pretending not to have anxiety about fire containment and whether or not the reported the fires to the proper fire burning officials, we stopped for lunch.

Although I was ready for a nap, I sucked it up and found a way to redeem myself by 1) learning to drive a tractor and 2) hauling tree branches that ED and his brother were chainsawing, onto the trailer bed and then onto another burn pile.


This post is getting quite long and there is probably no need to tell you EVERY detail so I'll try and wrap things up.

Day two - the wind was incredibly strong so they decided that the days chores would be to cut down a tree that had fallen in front of their grandfathers farm "just across the way". That's right, because wind and sawdust go perfectly together. However, lifting heavy tree stumps was totally worth seeing the way ED can swing an axe. I literally had to tell myself to stop eye-raping him before someone noticed.












Joking and eye-raping aside, I had a great time. ED's family is amazing. I finally understand where he gets his incredible work ethic. I am sore, bruised and exhausted. I got to see so much. Like regular horses, baby horses, all sorts of bunny rabbits (I even held one, but not the one with the red eyes because it looked evil...like it would chew your head off if you gave it the chance), chickens with feather shoes on and a crap load of farm cats and dogs. When I asked ED what the bunnies names and the chickens names were he told me that "not all farm animals get names." I told him that on my farm, ALL animals would be named - even the chickens. Granted their names would probably be Shut-the-hell-up-noisy-ass-bird 1, 2, 3, etc.

Farm life is great but I'm glad to be home.

The end.


Blogfully yours,

Summer

P.S. Do I label this post as a vacation? That just seems not-quite right.

Computers will be the death...or salvation of me!

My personal computer at home is a custom built PC laptop that I bought over 4 years ago with my ex-husband. Luckily in the divorce I ended up with it. Unluckily, I know nothing about it, or any other computer for that matter, outside of how to turn it on, close all the pop-up anti-spywear thingys and get onto the web.

Computer savvy I am not.

The other day I brought my laptop to work on a paper during my lunch break. I booted up, entered in my not-so-clever password and the bastard decided that it didn't feel like working today. No, instead it felt like restarting itself over and over again, like it had some sort of compulsive disorder and no amount of sweet talking (my normal way of getting it to work) was going to calm it down.

Good news? The place I originally bought it from, Superior Computers, is still in business and has a lifetime service warranty! Woo Hoo! No out of money expenses for my computers therapy!

Bad news? I have been without a computer for 3 days! Holy cow I didn't realize how dependent I have become on one. Luckily I have my lover the iPhone, only he has his "short comings". I can't exactly type up my 5 page essay for English (that is due on Tuesday!) on him, but he has been there in most other ways. Stroking my hair, telling me everything will be ok and playing me a happy song when I need it.

Now I know what most of you are thinking, "you should get a Mac," yeah, well I can't exactly afford one right now because this starving college student made a mistake on her federal witholding form and now has to pay on her taxes. So unless someone has an extra Mac notebook laying around they want to donate to help the cause, and by cause I mean me, I'm stuck with my manic PC.

Oh well, could be worse. I could be without a computer all together!

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Sure, I'd love to see your farm!

I have great news! This weekend I am going to hang out on a farm somewhere in the middle of no-where Utah! Yay me!

The other day ED asked me, over a plate of cheese fries from The Training Table, what my plans for the weekend are and what my homework load was looking like. I told him that I didn't really have any plans and that homework outlook seemed low, then added suspiciously, "why do you ask?". Then my darling ED told me that he was going to go to his parents house for the weekend, along with his brother, to do some work on the family farm. Then he oh so casually asked me if I would like to join him... at his parents house... for the weekend! I am happy to report that I did not jump across the table and kiss him, nor did I start hyperventalating from a full blown panic attack. I kept it cool and collected and simply said, "Sure, that sounds like fun."

Later I got a call from my best friend Karin The Russian (that's right she started her own blog) to tell her about my conversation. We went over all of the important details, like what the deeper meaning could be, how I felt about things and what the traveling arrangements would be.

We got off the phone, less than 2 minutes later Karina called me back up.

Karina: "I totally forgot to ask you the most important question! What are you going to wear? I think you should wear the new shirt you got from bebe yesterday! You look so sexy in that!"

Me: laughing "Well, I am going to be on a farm, so I don't think a silk blouse from bebe is the best choice. Plus, I don't want to appear all uppity fancy-shmancy high maitenence. I was thinking I would just wear jeans and casual tops and my cowboy boots."

Karina: "So let me get this strait... you won't wear a bebe shirt, but you are going to wear your DESIGNER cowboy boots? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Me: "Boots are boots! They won't know the difference. I just can't wear them out in the mud...come to think of it, that might give me away."

Karina: "Whatever. OK, here is your To Do list items while you are there. Are you ready? Number one: Wear overalls! Number two: Have sex in a barn!"

Me: "Oh. My. God! You are too funny!"

Karina: "I expect a full report on these two items. Just make sure that you do not have straw stuck in your hair when you go back in the house. But if you do, just hurry and put in your mouth and they will think you are one of them!"

Good old Karina. Always looking out for what is important!

All joking aside, what do you wear to meet the parents? I'm slightly out of practice here folks. In fact, the last parents I met, were my x-husbands. Wow... "but I am So not going to do what everyone thinks I am going to do, which is totally FREAK out!" Sorry, had a Jerry McGuire flashback for a minute there.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Furthering My Social Marketing (i.e. nerd) Training

I'm a little late to get this post up, but better late than never (story of my life!), right?

Last Thursday I went to my first Social Media Club of Salt Lake City (SMCSLC) meeting. I had a great time. Actually... I had social anxiety until I recognized some happy familiar faces, Erin (Finding SLC/Poor Penmanship) followed by Susan (Off The Chest).

Most of the time (surprisingly) I understood what everyone was talking about, although I still always end up with a worried look on my face in pictures. Good news was that I sat next to the lovely Roby Storms who kept me laughing and tried to answer my questions on the "harder" stuff like where to pick up the latest Social Marketing fashion trends or why mommy bloggers tend to dismiss other bloggers as unimportant.

Luckily my transition to nerdom has been underway for a little while now. I had my iPhone with me, which turns out is a good thing because it serves as a pass to get into the "cool kids club".

All kidding aside, I had a great time. I am truly fascinated by the new revolution that is Social Marketing. For my industry, it is one of those ships that comes sailing through and you either need to jump on board or get left behind. I've obviously chosen to jump on board and I am looking forward to attending future events and to growing my knowledge which will (hopefully) make me a more marketable/sought after employee.

Cheers! Hope to see you at the next one!

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Could You Please Just Lie To Me?

I'll be the first to admit, sometimes I fish for complements. It started when I was little girl. My Mother would take my sisters and I shopping for school clothes and when we got back we would force my Dad to sit there while we did a fashion show of all of our new digs. With each new outfit I would ask "Daddy, what do you think of this one?" and being the well trained man that he is (having a wife and 3 daughters did the trick), he would always respond that it was "very nice" or "cute". If his enthusiasm wasn't quite what I hoped for I would give him THE LOOK. You know, the look that says Dad this outfit deserves much higher praise and if you don't recognize that I might just cry, or at the very least pout! To which my Dad would either validate with higher praise or give me a hard time because he is mean like that.

ED has not received proper training. He keeps insisting on this whole honesty thing. "Babe what do you think of this top? Do you think it is too tight or can I pull it off?" Pause... More of a pause... I give him THE LOOK... Still more of a pause! Finally, as I am already yanking it off to find something else, he starts in with "no, I think it's OK. I'm just trying to thing of what everyone else will be wearing and yes, I think it will be OK."

I realize that is a very minor example, but he is like that with almost everything. The other day I read a blog post from Wasatch Woman's Magazine that was talking about honesty and giving opinions and it got me thinking further about this component to my relationship with ED. I have to admit that I really do like dating someone who has an opinion. He is constantly opening my eyes to different points of view and it keeps things interesting. I also know that he will never let me leave the house looking inappropriate, which truth be told is really a good thing. But every now and then, when he doesn't give me the simple complement I am fishing for, when he over analyzes and complicates things, I look at him and say "could you please just lie to me? Right now I don't want to hear the truth."

Is that so wrong?

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Pain is Beauty - St. Patrick's Day Style

Now I remember why I haven't worn these shoes in almost a year.


Happy St. Patrick's Day! May your day be filled with the luck of the Irish and may your shoes not be 4 inch heels that are half a size too small.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Spring Breaking It!

I successfully survived the first weekend of my very first Spring Break as a college student! Since I am going back to school later in life, I never fully understood just how awesome Spring Break actually is.
My original plan was to party every night to make up for all the boring weekend nights that I have spent staying in to write an English paper or to study for one test or another. I didn't really stick to that plan completely for 2 reasons.
1. I am no longer a wreckless 21 year old.
2.I am old(er) and partying takes it's toll on me. Recovery time seems to take a lot longer.

Friday nights original plans were to go to a Wine Gala, but it was canceled for one reason or another. Instead I went to the gym then over to my sisters house, played card games with her boyfriend and passed out watching Knocked Up. WOO HOO! Party animal!

Saturday night however, I made up for it. My beautifully crazy friend Ariane had the rare experience of having a sitter for her 2 beautiful children and demanded asked me to join her for a girls night out. Everything that Ariane does is in grand fashion so it was no surprise that she was able to get us a VIP booth at Harry O's in Park City for the Spring bebe fashion show. Since Park City is a good 20+ minute drive up a super winding canyon, she also got us rooms to stay at over night. Not too shabby, right?

I got all dressed up (in bebe of course!) and headed up with 5 other girls. Inspite the the fact that Harry O's is known to be a bit of a meat market and that ED the boyfriend wasn't thrilled about me staying over night with a bunch of single chics, I had good time. The fashion show was small but really cool to see, I got to dance my ass off all night which is awesome because I haven't gone dancing in what seems like forever and last but not least, VIP booth = Champagne!

Girls night out are rarely without drama and of course this night was no exception. But the important thing is that even though we got less than 4 hours of sleep, we made it home safe.
I'll tell you though, after a night like that I'm fairly positive that I will be celebrating the rest of my Spring Break by catching up on my DVR and snuggling with ED. There is far less recovery time that way!

Blogfully yours,
Summer

My Mom The Drunk

I can't stop laughing. Just typing the title to this post is cracking me up. You see, my Mother is an incredibly religious woman. She dragged my, as well as my sisters, collective asses to church every Sunday. She was Young Woman's president, Primary president, and held a million other positions. Growing up she placed a "Return With Honor" sign on both the front and back doors. She makes Sunday dinners every week and before anyone can touch their food, a traditional Mormon blessing is said.

So you can imagine my surprise when I read the following text message from her:

Mom: "So funny! I am at a church chili cook off contest right now. The winner of 30 entries is sitting at a table. He is my neighbor. I quickly got up so I could try a bowl of his chili. When I took my first bite I thought I tasted alcohol, I asked him. He grinned and said yes. I think that is so funny!

Me: "Wow mom! Not sure which is worse... The fact that there is booze at church or that you recognize the taste of it!"

Mom: "I'm a woman of vast experience."

Who knew! St. Victoria had a crazy side to her at one time. I am thinking of ways to use this information to my advantage. I haven't come up with any yet, but it's just a matter of time.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

3 Reasons not to Work out with ED

1. "Come on! Suck it up Sally! One more! It's the last one that makes a difference! Hate me now - love me later!"

2. "That weight must have been to light for you, you hardly struggled at all. I'm going to up it by five."

3. "No, the 15 minutes of cardio we already did was to warm up. We still have 30 more to go. Let's head up to the step machines now."


There were too many witnesses around to strangle him and now I am too sore to even try. He did make up for abusing me by spending 2 hours cooking me a fantastic dinner (rack of lamb anyone?), so I can't really stay mad at him. Plus my arms are starting to get some killer definition... so I suppose I'll keep him around for a little longer. At least until I'm ready for swimsuit season anyway.




Blogfully yours,

Summer

Dream Fasting

The other night I went over to Karina The Russians house after I got out of school. I had a long day and really missed having some quality BFF time. We put her (our) Russian children to bed, opened a bottle of wine and started to share our days with each other.

Somewhere, near the bottom of our first glasses of wine (Russian style to the brim), something remarkable happened, we started "Dream Fasting." Don't act like you don't know what I am talking about! Really? Seriously? You have no clue? OK fine! I'll refresh your memory....

So you know the cult movie from the 80's, The Dark Crystal? Remember? Yeah I thought you might. So there is this scene where the guy Gelfling character, who for some reason is named Jen, meets a girl character while he is stuck in the mud. She reaches out and gives him her hand and BAM! they can actually see each others memories from the time they were little! Jen asks her what is happening and she tells him they are "Dream Fasting."

THE SAME THING TOTALLY HAPPENED TO US! I kid you not! I have all these images of sweet little 7 year old Karina walking through snow up to her waist in SIBERIA wearing 3 pairs of pants and with scarfs wrapped all around her face so that only her eyes are showing! I see the beautiful icy frost patterns on the windows! I see her grandmother! I see her neighbor checking in on her while her mother is away for weeks at a time! I can see her walking her (at the time) emotionally unstable mother to and from work! I can see them tricking her father to sign to let her come to America! I can see everything and it is wicked cool!

But then wait! What is it that Karina is seeing? It's little Summer walking home near a field smelling something funny burning. WHOSH! Now she is walking from school singing songs to angels and talking to Jesus. WHOSH! Now she is overhearing her elementary school teachers reporting that "she has her head in the clouds." What now? It's tween Summer in braces with the first boy to hold her hand. WHOSH! WHOSH! There she is finally recognizing the impact of one family members dark secret and then slammed with a sad realization of anothers!

Whoa!

What just happened? Did Karina slip me another roofie? Was there hallucinogens in the wine?

No.

We totally f'ing "Dream Fasted."


Blogfully yours,

Summer

Baby Steps

I'm not very good at relationships, truth be told. I tend to freeze up, close off and sabotage them some how. This is not a confession, this is the truth.

I am not very good at relationships.

When the boyfriend and I started dating, we agreed to take things slow. Real slow. We are both romantics turned realists who have gone through the wringer several times with bad relationships. To say we are jaded or damaged is too cliche (even for me) as I believe that almost everyone who has ever dated ends up with some sort of emotional baggage. The good news is that we know we have personal issues and are still committed to making an effort to overcome our damaged selves.

This is round two for us. Moving forward has been one foot slowly in front of the other. We are using honesty and sometimes forced communication to avoid making not only the same mistakes we made the first time, but also the mistakes we've made in other past relationships.

ED and I have been dating for just over 2 months and things have been going really good! I have tried my best not rush things along. A few weeks ago I tried to push him to re-meet my parents, but he wasn't ready. Once I understood that I backed off, recognizing that he just needed time to do things at his own pace. So you can imagine my surprise when last week he asked me if I wanted to have dinner at his brothers restaurant, and by the way, his brother and wife will be joining us for a drink afterward. I held my enthusiasm and nervousness in. You see, while ED met my family during our first go round, I never met his.

Despite my nervousness, it ended up being a really great night. ED and his brother greeted each other with an enthusiastic "Brother!" It was very amusing for me to watch them interact. Their mannerisms and the way they speak is so similar. I guess my younger sister Staci and I are the same way. We ate amazing wings, shared a few pitchers of beer and watched the March snow fall. Honestly I couldn't have hoped for a better casual meeting of a beloved family member of his!

ED and I are opposites in so many ways. Sometimes I start to fall into my same horrible self sabotaging ways of closing off and distancing myself, but he catches me doing it before I even realize and calls me out, asks me to communicate and actually listens to what I say, now that's a first! While it's not easy to be called out on my childish lack of communication skills when it comes to matters of the heart, it is pretty damn cool to have found someone who is starting to recognize it and cares enough to say something.

We are not running a marathon or even speed walking. It's baby steps all the way.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

A first for us

One of the down sides to dating a personal trainer is that they work on the weekends. Something about needing to be available when the clients need them or whatever. So ED and I have never had the opportunity to spend a lazy Sunday together. That is, until yesterday and let me tell you, it was awesome! ED canceled his sessions and neither of us had pressing homework or obligations, except to each other. We spent the entire day doing nothing but eating, watching movies, napping and cuddling. The best part was, we actually got along the entire time AND I am not sick of him! Now that's a first!

I didn't get my couches cleaned, I didn't make it snowshoeing, I didn't touch my homework, I didn't make it over to my parents for dinner and I didn't get to see the new Nordstrom. But you know what? I don't regret it at all. Being lazy totally kicked ass. Plus, there is always next weekend to be productive.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

My transformation to nerdom is almost complete

As I was driving home from school I started thinking about my day. I went to lunch with my friend Sarah and was reflecting on our "we only have an hour so lets catch up on everything that has been happening over the past 2 weeks" conversation. We talked about the stresses of juggling both school and work. Then we discussed blogging and Google Analytics. Next up was the BlogHer convention we are going to in July. We followed our lunch up with talking about iPhones and whether or not to use them as iPods as well. I think we discussed boys for a total of 5 minutes (ED don't be mad. It's not that you are not important or interesting baby, because you are... and special too....and you can bench like 350 lbs so that's cool too.)

I remember a time, not so long ago, when my conversations were all about who is dating who, where I went out to last weekend, Oh my god where did you get that outfit!, sex, and other fun trivial topics. Now I discuss technology and school. I Twitter. I blog. I facebook. I wear glasses more often than not and right now I am sitting with a pencil in my hair.

The worst part, I ACTUALLY considered making a pie chart to illustrate my social life now versus a year ago! Yeah! I have become that girl. People used to call me to see where the action was at!

But never fear! I promise not to get boring on you (or me for that matter)! Spring break is only a week away and I plan to take full advantage of it.

I WILL HAVE A LIFE AGAIN... even if it only lasts for a week.

Blogfully yours,

Summer

Here goes something

So my good friend Sarah encouraged me to check out or rather sign up for the Grace in Small Things website. She told me it is great for when you don't have anything "good" to blog about. So I thought, sure, why not? I'll check it out. I looked at it and I'm still not really sure what it is all about, but it encourages you to write about 5 positive things everyday and claims it will send you "challenges" every day. Don't worry, I won't really be doing that - except for this post. Not because I have nothing to write about, but because I've had a stressful day and I think a little forced positivity never hurt anyone... at least not seriously... that I know of.

Here we go! 5 Positive Things!

1. My cat. God I sound pathetic but she is rubbing against me right now (she hates when I ignore her) and it is really sweet, plus her fur is soft against my leg.

2. I get to see the boyfriend like 4 or 5 times this week! Normally we restrict it to 2 - 3 nights per week. OK restrict is the wrong word... it's just that we are both so busy and both have school so that is about all we can fit in. But not this week! I played hookie from school last night to do homework so he came over and he is actually on his way over as I write this. So this week is looking good!

3. As I was cleaning up and organizing my filing box last weekend, shredding old stuff and what not, I came across the most horrible sight! About 4 years ago, when I was still married, I had let myself go and was probably 15 lbs heavier than I am right now. In an effort to get motivated, my ex-husband and I took pictures of ourselves in swimsuits from all angles as well as wrote down our body measurements. Why in the world I still have these pictures I have no idea. They are incredibly disturbing to look at BUT seeing them made me appreciate how far I have come as well as realizing that I never want to look like that again! PLUS, of course I had to measure myself to see what I am now and I am like 2-3" smaller in most areas! Hells yeah!

4. HEROES! I am so totally addicted to this show. The boyfriend and I keep renting the DVDs and staying up until 1 to watch them. It is not great for the sex life but DAMN are they good! We are midway through season two and although I have been watching all of season 3 simultaneously it is so cool to get caught up on what I have missed. Yeah, I know I am a dork, but my Dad raised me to like comic book type shows.

5. Last but not least, writing. I was thinking about it a lot today and I do a lot of writing. I am sure right now you are thinking that it doesn't show because my grammar and punctuation is always off, but I really do dammit! For work, for school, for myself and for you lovely Internet. I absolutely love it. It is a release and a chore. It helps define me as well as challenge me. Without it I'd probably end up in a mental institution talking to myself.

Whew! So that wasn't so bad right? I feel more positive and healthy (mentally) already. I don't know what "challenges" this Grace in Small Things will throw my way next, but don't be surprised if the good ones end up on here occasionally.

Peace out!

Blogfully yours,

Summer

I think the flower distracted them

Saturday night was an event that I look forward to all year, The ADDY Award Gala. For those of you not in the advertising industry the ADDYS are awards given to advertising agencies as well as in house agencies for their creative work. The award gala is a formal affair and of course I LOVE formal affairs. Any chance to get all dressed up is one I will take! Of course I had to buy a new outfit (yeah, twist my arm right?). I ended up going with a black fitted knee length pencil skirt and a light pink halter top with a ginormous flower at the top.
Only problem was that I am pasty white. I decided to get my first ever spray on tan, just enough to "give me a glow". Little did I know how serious spray tanning needs to be taken. I ended up with one arm darker than the other, my right wrist looks dirty and my left wrist looks freckled.










Luckily my dashing date ED chose to make the right decision and pretend like it wasn't so bad. He's a smart man. We ended up having a lovely time and ED got exposed to the advertising world that I work in, complete with all of the egos that fuel us. I didn't take a full length shot, but here are the two that I do have.




Blogfully yours,
Summer

Russians say it best

One of the things that I love about my best friend Karina the Russian is that she has no filter. She always says exactly what is on her mind and uses the word vagina more than a gynecologist. She is one of my biggest supporters (a fact that she is very vocal about), she spells words how they sounds and she is constantly revealing parts of the story that I am leaving out. Her crass comments leave me in stitches on a daily basis so I thought I'd share some with you!

"A cautionary Tale"

"Everyone else is doing it"

" Kicking 8.5 miles in its mountain ass"

"I'm positively positive"

"The year for my girls"

"Environmental Dating"

"Happy 2009"

"Worlds greatest TV show: Crotch Mafia"

"Tacky Christmas Party"

Blogfully yours,

Summer