Hello from Orlando!

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update. I'll add pictures and more details later. Anyway, as you may already know, Ryan and I are in Florida! I was asked by a woman I've been editing for, another personal historian, to work at a convention here. It's the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. We're talking to people about my passion--writing their life story! It's going well. We work hard and long, but then Ryan and I get to play in the evenings. Last night we went to Downtown Disney; tonight, who knows where! Anyway, we love you all!

For the Girls

Boys, you can make fun of me all you want, but this one's for the girls. (Okay really, what boys read my blog? I think only my relatives...)

Anyhow, here's a picture of my new shoes! My discount at Banana is very good (50 percent off 5 items a month, 60 percent seasonally, and 30 percent off sale, for those of you who care), but even with it, I still can't afford many items! I'm thinking maybe I can buy one...maybe two...items a month. It really is nice to buy something that's classic, high quality, and will get a lot of use.

Today while I was working, a co-worker asked me what I'd buy if I could buy anything in the store. We had fun walking around (the store was essentially empty), imagining what we'd buy. She told me she had worked at JCrew over the summer and had spent every cent she made on clothes. All I can say is that that isn't going to happen to me! We've got much better things to do with our money...like buy groceries, pay the electric bill, and contribute to the second richest Catholic institution in the world, next to the Vatican. (A customer told me that today in a most serious tone. It made me laugh.)

Then after all this imagining with my co-worker, I told her that my husband and I had only brought a carload of things out to Indiana and that's all we plan to leave with. So I won't be collecting too many clothes. She was stunned. I'm pretty sure her wardrobe wouldn't fit in two blue tubs. :)

So girls, do you like the shoes? (25 bucks, baby!) Should I keep them?

Update on Life

1. So the other day I was working at Banana when I noticed this darling little black girl and her mother come into the store. I said hello to the mom and was about to say hi to the curly headed beauty when I heard her say, "I like your ring." I replied, "Well thank you!" And the next thing she says is "I like the bling-bling on there!" I guess bling-bling means diamond in her vocabulary. The mom laughed kind of embarrassed-like, but I thought it was the cutest thing!

2. On Monday and Tuesday this week I spoke at two different Rotary clubs in the South Bend area. I talked about the trends in autobiography and memoir in our country, the benefits people are finding in writing their life history, and a few things that make a life history something others will want to read.

It's my third time doing it, and I found that I'm not even nervous at all! I always sit next to the club president at the front-most table for lunch, and then they introduce me, and I take about 20-25 minutes, including Q&A. I give a handout with all my contact information, and then I hope people will want to talk to me afterward. Monday's meeting was particularly successful that way. Practically everyone wanted to tell me a family or life story after I talked. It was great. All in all, I've added 20 people to my email list, gotten three people to request a consultation, and had another three people offer to refer me to someone they think will be interested in working with me.

Public speaking is one thing (like music and Alaina) that will definitely make you feel alive!

3. We're trying to figure out how to get out west for Christmas without busting the bank... Nat, how bad do you think it would be to drive it in December??

Anyway, we love and miss you all!

Books! Books! Books!

All right, everyone. I'm in desperate need of some book suggestions! I'm open to all kinds of suggestions--fiction, nonfiction, memoir, more fiction...anything really! I just need something engaging. These days the main things I read are writing textbooks, material I'm editing, blogs, and Real Simple magazine. (Goodness I love that magazine!)

So please, please, pretty please share!

Plain White Ts

Last night, to prove to ourselves that we are a fun and young married couple, we went to a concert at Legends of Notre Dame. It was kind of funny going to a concert where we only actually knew ONE song played, and of course it was the last song of the night, but we still had a great time. We slow danced all the slower songs, which was my favorite part of the night.

For some reason, I apparently didn't get a long video clip, so if you listen to these short ones back to back, it will be (kind of) like you were there! Hey There Delilah...






You can hear the crowd singing more than the band, but we hope you enjoyed it anyway.

Sleeptalking

Last night in his sleep, Ryan said to me...
"Don't worry. We didn't arm wrestle with the Pope for nothing!"
Pause.
"Hahahahaha."


It was awesome.

Football Mania

Here we are — regular ol' fighting Irish!



We woke up Saturday morning to the sound of voices outside our apartment. Tailgate parties start early in South Bend! Two of the houses behind us have grass lots that had already filled up with cars and people wearing green. Two other young couples in the accounting program joined us at our apartment so we could walk over to the stadium. The entire walk was lined with people and tents, food and more food. We enjoyed lunch, put on by Ryan's program, and then we lined the street and watched the marching band go into the stadium (led by a priest, interestingly enough).


The game was PACKED! I mean PACKED with sweaty, enthusiastic, Irish fans! I was shocked to find that the benches were just little, five-inch pieces of wood that put splinters in your shorts and did not seem sturdy enough to support that many jumping fans! Everyone stood on the benches for the ENTIRE game. This was not like BYU where people sit down for TV time-outs, etc. No, no, they stand the entire time. And no one's chit-chatting with their neighbor either (which I admit I missed); it's all about the game!


Unfortunately the team's playing wasn't too much to talk about, considering the score...But the atmosphere was new and exciting to both of us! It was weird not knowing all the little cheers in the student section and even weirder not knowing the fight song! We did, though, sing some "Rise and Shout" while we watched the BYU football game on TV after our game ended. Go BYU!



We look forward to many more afternoons standing on those little benches in next few months!