Thursday, June 24, 2010

Ryan is currently working on his applications for the pediatric dental speciality.  It's a little bit stressful.  The forms demand to know his community service, research experience, teaching experience, awards and distinctions, work experience, GPA, test scores, blah blah blah...I mean, honestly, who applies to these schools?  Einstein??  Gandhi??

As we were filling out the portion about his awards and distinctions (and trying to come up with a few good things to list), Ryan gave me a little grin and asked if he should include his award from senior year of high school: Class of 2000 Secret Crush.

I had to giggle.

Do you think that a stuffy dental committee would be impressed to know that my husband was the Secret Crush of the most girls in his high school graduating class???

 I'm telling you, Cute + Quiet = Mysterious = Secret Crush.

I guess it's a good thing that we are not going to Idaho for Ry's high school reunion this summer.  Those girls might make a move on him!  He's still just as cute as he was 10 years ago.

But I don't think the application committee will be too impressed by that.  So we better leave it off.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

It's time to rejoice.

My last day of school is tomorrow.

Hallelujah!

I have big plans for the summer--and by big plans, I mean no plans.

This sounds heavenly to me.

Every summer since I was about 15 years old, as soon as school let out, I ran off to some summer adventure.  In high school, I spent every week of the summer working at an overnight camp for persons with disabilities--a total blast but not really a vacation--lots of hard but rewarding work!  Then in college, I spent the summers in El Salvador or going to school.  Since moving to Buffalo, we've gone to visit family or to Central America for the majority of each summer.

This year, we will be taking it easy.

I plan to read books, cook, garden, camp, go for runs, hang out with friends, get projects done around the house, focus on church service, continue with fertility treatments, work on our adoption application...it will still be busy, but hopefully a somewhat relaxing busy.  I have a couple of brief trips planned, but really, this summer will be spent kickin' it in the Buff.

Unfortunately, my personality is such that I tend to get caught up in my various "projects" and then accidentally work through my free time, even if I had every intention of relaxing.  So, Ryan and I have decided to make a weekly "Fun Plan" on which we will schedule something exciting to do together every  day (even if it's something small).  I will have to keep a record of some of our adventures on the blog.

I will tell you what, one event that is a true adventure (though not usually a fun one) for the Nielsons is cooking dinner.  We are just not good at it.  We always end up destroying something or spending two hours on a simple meal because we have no idea what we are doing.  We've decided that we are going to practice cooking this summer and hopefully become a little bit better at it.

This week's endeavor was a South of the Border Pizza.  We've made this twice before; the first time it was a complete flop, the second time was a little better, and this third time, I think we may have perfected it.  It was yummy!  (Thanks, Stephanie, for the recipe.)




I am looking forward to a great summer with Ry!  I welcome any ideas for fun around the Buffalo area, and I hope that our friends here will be willing to hang out with us.

Let the summer begin!

Friday, June 11, 2010

I have never seen this movie, and neither has Ryan, but we stumbled across this clip on YouTube, and we've been laughing about it ever since.

"How about love?  Luuuuvv? Love?"

It reminds me of a certain favorite janitor.

Will Farrell and warm weather make me happy.  So does eating onion rings on the pier--which is where Ryan and I are heading at this moment.

I think there is kareoke at the pier on Friday nights--should I give them something to talk about?

Friday, June 4, 2010

Even better than roses...

Earlier today, I claimed that my husband was being "shown up" by a twitterpated teenage boy.

I must eat my words.

Tonight, Ryan surprised me with a belated birthday outing.  My 26th birthday was on Memorial Day, but it was rather anti-climactic because we traveled home from Idaho and spent about nine hours in airports and planes that day.

So, tonight I got my birthday date, and it was oh-so-fun.  Ry told me to get ready for a bike ride, and we headed off to downtown Buffalo.  I was shocked when we pulled up to the Greek Orthodox Christian Church, and there was a huge party going on!

Who knew that I had so many friends in Buffalo wanting to celebrate my birthday with me?

But no, the hundreds of people were not there for me--it was actually the 33rd Annual Buffalo Greek Festival.

I thought it was a great event.  LOTS of delicious Greek food (which I love), live music, folk dancers, cultural presentations, and perfect weather.

Ryan even bought me a cute Greek bracelet.  (I don't think the bracelet is even slightly Greek, but hey, it was pretty, and we did get it at the Greek festival.)

Way better than a dozen long-stemmed roses!

Twitterpated Teens


I am always astounded by teenage infatuation.

One of my giggly students just came walking into my classroom carrying a three-foot-long rose box tied with a gigantic pink bow.

"Lucy!" (name has been changed) I exclaimed, "What are the roses for??"

"Oh, it's me and my boyfriend's anniversary, so he sent me flowers."

"Wow, that was thoughtful.  How long have you two been together?"

"One month."

???!!!

A dozen long-stemmed roses for their one-month anniversary?

Ryan better step it up.

:)

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Birthday Princess

A few of my favorite girlfriends took me to breakfast for my birthday!  What a treat!

They made me wear a rhinestone birthday crown, which was a little embarrassing, but I decided to be a good sport and go along with it.

When the waitress walked over, I was trying so hard not to laugh--especially since she didn't even mention the sparkly pink tiara I was wearing.  After she had been to our table several times, she finally said, "Hey, happy birthday!"

And I responded, "How did you know?" with a totally straight face.

It was funny.

Thanks, ladies, for a great belated birthday brunch!

Ticked

My school doesn't end until the 24th of June.  THE 24th!!!  What kind of a state is this???  When I taught in Utah, I was out by the 24th of May.

At this point in the year, I start to get a really bad attitude about the 5:30 a.m. alarm clock, the 30-minute commute each way, and the fact that all of my friends are out enjoying the sunny weather together.

Grrr.