Monday, January 30, 2012

all at once, or not at all

For those of you who know me, I like long hair. And by me, I mean Jon. Long hair is awesome. I think I might have a problem (but that’s beside the point). And not just on the ladies. I don’t know what it is, probably some repressed childhood something something I like to grow my hair long:

And to eat.
And eat . . .
And . . . eat weeds?
Anyway, the point is I like hair. And, as always, I’ve been letting my hair grow out since escaping the tyranny of Utah, because really it takes no effort on my part: hair does just what good collections of dead cells do: grow.
Now normally I would be in discussion with my family and the wife about how I need a haircut: “You look like a girl,” “Gee, Steph, I didn’t know you married a woman,” “You look like Charles Manson with that hair,” and other such delights. However, this time I’ve been dying. For some reason the hair is killing me. True story. So what do you do when you hair is too long?

Cut it. Cut every last strand. All 100,000 thousand of them. And put them in a pile so you can laugh at how you are about throw them all away:
HA! Gone. And now I look like this:
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Side note: my head is really cold . . .





Saturday, January 28, 2012

Our Fantastically 2 Year Old Pup

Hi, my name is Margo Roth Spiegelman Alston, and today was my 2nd birthday!


As you may have noticed, I tend to move around a lot, but my parents did their best to get some fun pictures of me on my fantastic day!


First, I got to spend Friday night at the Weber's house. They are pretty awesome, even though I almost puked on them and messed on their carpet. Good thing I'm cute...

Saturday morning I was back with mom and dad! They sang Happy Birthday to me and then dad and I played :)


While mom went out with a friend for another birthday celebration lunch, dad gave me my birthday bath so that I would smell fantastic when she got home!

We went over to see my bff, Shasta:


Mom! Can I play with her?? Can I?? Can I??


We played "hide and go seek" ... I'm really good at it.


Shasta didn't even see me coming...


haha! I win! 


Shasta and I played fetch with dad (she is such a good runner!)



Dad, looking handsome. 


Water break!


Shasta: "Mind if we share a bucket?" 


Margo: "Be my guest!"



Nom nom nom nom nom.


This water basically tastes like magic. 


Shasta! Try and find me! (hee hee hee)


Life outside sure is good. 


In the afternoon, mom and I took a nap on the couch.
And by that I mean that I took a nap on her face.


Then for dinner mom and dad made meatball subs!


I supervised in the kitchen.


Dad looked like he needed all the help he could get.


Mom, please. No more freakin pictures...


While we watched UP (one of my favorites - so many heroic dog moments!) I chowed down on a tasty meatball! 


Happy 2nd birthday to me! 


(Stay tuned next week for my guest post on harness safety and good walking habits.)

-Margo A.


Friday, January 27, 2012

Re-creating our First Date

As many of you know, and some of you did not, Jon and I started dating in January of 2004.

Back then, we were not the exciting bunch that you know and love today. We were 16 and 18 and not very full of creative and spontaneous ideas.

Enter: January 25th.

Jon and I had been emailing and talking for a couple weeks and decided it was time for a real date so that we could get to know each other in person. We tried to set up a group activity and everyone we knew was busy :( We agreed to go out to a movie together, and the only thing playing that wasn't super lame or rated R was Cheaper By the Dozen. Jon came to pick me up and we had some time before the movie so we decided to get some food. Taco Bell was (and is) my favorite fast food place. So terrible and SO awesome. Well, that is where we went.

One 7 layer burrito, 2 taco supremes and 8 years later, here we are!

Usually on our dating anniversary we will watch Cheaper by the Dozen (the only time we ever do) and eat at Taco Bell (or some variation of this theme) but THIS year Jon came up with something new...

Yes, our first date was going out to a movie and eating crappy food, so from now on that is what we will do every January 25th - BUT it will always be a NEW movie and DIFFERENT crappy food!

First, he surprised me by taking me out to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie :) SOOOO much better than Cheaper by the Dozen! Here we are waiting for the movie to start:


  Just like teenagers...

We were ALMOST the only people in the whole theater. When the previews started this other couple came in and sat about 5 rows in front of us. We were the only 4 people there for the entire movie. So it was still ok :)

After the movie we went to In-n-Out!


I look like crap because I had a major cold, but the burger still tasted delicious at 11pm!

nom.nom.nom.


The best part of our date re-creation was me asking Jon all sorts of random questions. Just like on our first date when I asked him the color of his toothbrush. I like to get to know people in odd ways. I can't wait to see how our future first date re-creations turn out!

Now, just a highlight of our favorite pictures from this week:




Happy 8 Years!



Sunday, January 15, 2012

If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

Yesterday we took the spontaneous drive to San Francisco (an hour and a half away) to meet my cousin, Megan, who had spontaneously driven with her friend Lindsay from Utah for the weekend!

We really were there... see the Golden Gate bridge in the distance? It was a bit hazy.


Sea lions on the wharf: 


It was a gorgeous day and hardly chilly at all! California in January can be pretty great like that.

Megan and Lindsay on the wharf:


For the limited knowledge that I have of San Francisco, it was kind of fun being the one who knew more about it than the others and could recommend places to go and things to do!




After walking around pier 39 and thoroughly checking out the ocean, we decided on dinner at Boudin's. I had been looking forward to this clam chowder sourdough bread bowl ALLLLLL day! It was pretty magical.


Across the way there were a ton of natives watching the SF football game at the sport's bar. Luckily the niners won!

Me and Megs:


After dinner at the Pier we headed to Ghirardelli square - one of my all time favorite places pre-lactose intolerance.

Our picture for the day! (taken by Lindsay)



 Last time we were here I had a heavenly dark chocolate hot fudge sundae :) Unfortunately Ghirardelli square's ice cream parlor doesn't offer anything non-dairy, so I enjoyed watching everyone else enjoy their sundaes! Jon was so sweet and gave me the chocolate dipped strawberry from the top of his dessert.


We left on the promises of a "world's-best-hot-chocolate" (named by Jon) from Cocoabella's in the Union Square mall to hold me over. BUT after driving for about an hour to find parking, we made it to the mall, only to be the people in line DIRECTLY BEHIND the last person getting a hot chocolate before Cocoabella's shut their machine down for the night. And it was only, like 7:30. WHAT?? I told Jon it just means we will have to go back again soon :) And luckily we will be headed to Redwood City at the end of the month for a Nerdfighting adventure, so more on that to come...

Here is a picture from the middle of the central, round escalators in the Union Square mall. We are on the second level here of the 5 story mall.


It would have been way fun to spend a whole day in Union Square. Between the Tiffany's, Swarovski's, Saks Fifth, Kate Spade, Vera Bradley and Betsey Johnson - we definitely had our hands full. Jon ALMOST convinced me to get a Vera Bradley purse. In his defense it was 50% off, but I just couldn't do it. I have such a phobia of spending money! I felt like the REAL fun of the trip was just getting to come at all! A beautiful afternoon and evening in San Francisco with my best cuz and delicious food - that's really what it's all about.

Oh, and even without the hot chocolate, I still found myself a delightful 60% dark bar with cherries and blueberries and almonds in it. Happiness :)

Hope everyone else is having a great mid-January weekend!

Next stop: School.


Sunday, January 8, 2012

Catching the Week

What a CRAZY first week of the year! And I mean literally crazy.

Although I don't want to bore you with the small details, I thought I would give you a brief synopsis:

Jon and I were both sick this week. At various times we traded off being home from work. Many times during the week we napped. We didn't even go grocery shopping this week, so meals were getting interesting near the end. I definitely ate cream of wheat with nutella for breakfast one day.

This week was also busy and full of new things! We have already discovered that we need a back up plan in the case that we FORGET to take our picture for the day. haha. That has happened twice now. Our solution has been decided as such:

On said day that the picture taking is forgotten, Steph will draw up a stick figure version of us with the highlight activity of the day. Be warned that because we weren't feeling well this week, our activities were not very exciting. I think my second picture definitely turned out better than my first... although I have a long way to go on my paint program skills. Oh, if only I had a tablet...

Ate Panda Express and rented Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Ate pasta at home and watched Alice in Wonderland
 This last picture is us after church today. Jon got me a new grey dress pea coat for Christmas! but it was late in the mail so today was the first day I could wear it. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! It's so perfect :D and I also decided that I'm tired of trying to grow out my bangs, so I cut them this morning. I feel SO much better already. I hated not having them! I look like me again :)

Other happenings from this week: Jon got me the new Coldplay album Mylo Xyloto. OH MAN. I can't believe I went the last four months without it. I had only heard some of the songs from the album and I was trying to hold out until Christmas to get it. Let me just tell you that I have listened to it about 6 times in the last 2 days.

Also, we have a break-the-fast tonight with our ward's "childless couples" group. I'm so excited because Jon and I are in charge of root beer floats, and so of course they will be made with Henry Weinhard's. mmmmmmmmmmm. (and Almond Milk ice cream for me!) When we were running around last night trying to pick up the dessert ingredients, we rocked out in the car to Elton John's greatest hits. Best $5 invested at Dimple Records ever.

Hope you're all having a great start to 2012!