December changes

Well, one week from today, we'll be moving into our new apartment.

It's truly bittersweet -- we've loved living in Rexburg West. We spent the first year and a half of our marriage there. We spent the first 6 months of that with Carrie and Scott as our neighbors. The Taits have been our neighbors this whole time, too. We've worked in the Primary in our ward for the whole year and a half that we've lived there. Part of me is thrilled to be moving, but a corner of my heart is DREADING it.

PROS TO MOVING
- Cheaper rent
- Funky little apartment
- Closer to EVERYTHING (walking distance to: campus, Great Harvest, Teton Thai, cheap theatre, College Avenue Deli, Cocoa Bean Cupcake Cafe, Wells Fargo, Porter's, Plasma Center, Sammy's, Mike's Music)
- Back on College Avenue, which has got a whole load of sentimental value already
- Neighbors with my new friend Danielle

CONS TO MOVING
- No longer neighbors with the Taits (or my sister, who just moved into the complex)
- No longer in our ward

And those two cons alone almost outweigh all the pros. But it's the right thing for us to do. And it's not like we're moving across the country, or the state, or even too far across town. We're moving, like, 6 blocks. It just feels more dramatic because we live in Rexburg and it's our first move as a married couple.

In the meantime, we're here in Utah, jamming on the guitar with Jacob's extended family, planning a visit with our beloved Carrie and Scott, sneezing (the people we're staying with have cats, which make me sneeze), and trying to find a movie theatre that's playing "My Week With Marilyn." Which I'm DYING to see, but neither Rexburg nor Idaho Falls is showing it.

Enjoy your post-Christmas activities, everyone! I'm going to eat more pumpkin pie and watch documentaries. Maybe do a puzzle or two.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

image via Pinterest

(Pinterest is a black hole and I'm nearing the edges of its gravitational power.)

Now that school is out...

(UPDATE: Links have been added to the post below this one...the one wherein I recommend several documentaries.)

...Jacob and I have been doing the following:
Playing guitar (Jacob)
Watching movies (both of us)
and learning how to use Photoshop more awesomely (me)

Wanna see? I've been learning how to use gradients.

Fun, right? My favorites are the Buddy Holly one and the Beatles one. And the one of Jacob dressed all crazy isn't bad either.

(Also, I hope no one is offended by that last one. A friend and I were joking lovingly about Oregon once and he said that. I thought it was a hilariously accurate portrayal of Oregon. I love Oregon with my whole heart. Although I don't necessarily advocate smoking pot. I'm all for supporting lesbians, though.)

Documentaries! Documentaries! Keep your brain alive over Christmas break!

UPDATE: Links to each documentary have been added! Just click on the title! 

I know just about everyone's brains are TIRED at this point, but hear me out. I've discovered something AMAZING this last year, and you deserve to hear about it.

Topdocumentaryfilms.com. Free streaming of HUNDREDS of documentaries. You can't download 'em, and most of the videos are links from the actual companies' youtube channels. You can search. You can browse. You can make your brain jump for joy.

If you're not sold yet, here are a few things I've watched recently:

The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance
Before there was Michael Corleone, there was Cosmo de Medici. He and his family may have operated an enormous mafia racket back in the 1500s in Italy (or, ahem, "banking business"), but they were also patrons of Boticelli (who changed painting to be fantasy-based), Brunelleschi (who invented linear perspective), and a young man with a chisel in his hand named Michelangelo Buonarroti. Oh, and they "produced" four Popes, too.

Titanic's Achilles' Heel
Did you know that in the Senate Investigation of the White Star Line, the record states that the Titanic went down intact? The majority of eye-witnesses swore she sank in one piece. We're learning that James Cameron's famous description of how the Titanic sank might be completely incorrect.

Modern Masters
I've just started this series, but I watched the hour-long special on Andy Warhol, and I was fascinated. Just about every single thing that happened in graphic design and pop art (and experimental film and the look of rock music) can be traced back to this blond child of Slovakian immigrants. Did you know someone tried to murder him once? Crazy. I'm excited to watch the rest of the series.

Clever Monkeys
First of all, it's narrated by David Attenborough, so you really can't go wrong. Second of all, monkeys are crazy smart. People say language is one of the things that separate us from apes, but some apes seem to actually speak other monkey species' languages! And they use tools. And it's cute.

Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France
I read a fictional autobiography of Marie Antoinette this past summer, and have been fascinated by this woman ever since. The poor woman was the ultimate victim of the press, I think, and a figure deserving of more pity than we give her. (Incidentally, most people know Marie Antoinette only for saying "Let them eat cake" and for being beheaded. Only one of those things actually happened.)

The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs
Um, do I even NEED to sell you on this one? Scientists using fossils and math to figure out just how deadly a T-rex or Triceratops actually was? Oh, still not convinced? That steel T-rex skull on the cover is recreated from actual fossils. It's life-size. They feed it cow bones. (Why are you even still reading? Go watch it!) Oh, and Bill Oddie is delightful.

I WAS going to start decorating for Christmas...

...but we're moving into an apartment above the Cocoa Bean on January 1st. $80 cheaper rent, and back on good ole College Ave.

I decided today, as I was walking through the freezing snow and wind, that the extra $80 will be spent on a daily hot chocolate from the Cocoa Bean.

The alternative to counting sheep

Jacob and I spent last night playing improv games. I guess that's a little bit misleading, because really we were just laying in bed and playing wit games, but it was really fun. And there were quite a few gems.

Exhibit A: 

Patron: Waiter, there's an elementary school principal in my soup.
Waiter: Oh, that's where we put academic honesty!

Patron: Waiter, there's a volleyball in my soup.
Waiter: Someone must have spiked it.

Patron: Waiter, there's a volleyball in my soup.
Waiter: Tom will be so sad!

185 storks walk into a bar. Bartender says "We don't serve your kind here." Storks say "Oh, that's okay, we just needed a leg up." 

185 storks walk into a bar, and then everyone had a baby.

185 lamps walk into a bar. Bartender says "We don't serve shady characters like you around here!"

185 lamps walk into a bar. Bartender says "Get your own oil...the bridegroom already came."

Aaaaand my absolute favorite of the night:
185 foolish virgins walk into a bar. Bartender says "You're awfully purdy, come here and give me a kiss." Foolish virgins say "No! You'll get pregnant!"


(Jacob and I wondered if these would still be funny in the morning. 

 Yep. Still funny.)