Sunday, May 22, 2011

Madison, Milwaukee, and Marks

Last Sunday we went down to Madison to hang out with Stephen and Meliah and crew and attend Anna's violin recital. I snapped this picture of Anna and Mark on the way back to the car

I think it's pretty adorable!

We found an apartment! Behold our new abode in Milwaukee
(Google Maps and Paint)

As you can see, we're going to live in a brick fourplex with some awesome neighbors. It's on a quiet street with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a big kitchen (we can fit a table and chairs and still have plenty of room), a big living room (which is totally separated from the kitchen), a basement with a storage locker and washer/dryer hook-ups, and a little yard in the back. It's about 7 minutes to the med school, 15 minutes to church, and 20 minutes to the airport. The landlady is awesome and said if we wanted to, she'll supply a neutral colored paint of our choice and we can really make the place our own. The place is officially available July 1, but since we'll be in NC until July 9, we'll just move in when we get back. I think the best part is that this place is $650/month, which is what we were paying in Provo for a one bedroom apartment. Yay deals!

Since we finally have a place, Daniel and I started our furniture adventure this week. We went to several stores and quickly realized that furniture is expensive. But we found a couch and loveseat for $500 at a place called WG&R, Daniel is totally smitten
(Both from WG&R website)

These guys are made of bonded leather and are officially colored walnut. Now we're debating on getting a coffee table or ottoman, feel free to chime in if you love one or the other.

Since we were already out and about, we thought it would be fun to check out this place called Half Price Books, Magazines, Records, etc. and see if they had any good records we could use for our album wall. Instead of getting records of modern artists (Foo Fighters, Coldplay, etc.), we decided to go for more classic albums. We picked these bad boys up for about $5

Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen and John Denver's Greatest Hits. I thought it would be funny to do this

 Hahahaha!

We also found Silverbird by Mark Lindsay. So we bought it and presented it to our Mark Lindsay

Spitting image.

Also on the list to buy: a TV, dresser(s), side tables for the bedroom, end tables for the living room, a washer and dryer, and a bed. Thank goodness for Craigslist!

On a final, random note, these are the most comfortable pants I've ever owned. I think my mom got them for me, and I love them

-Jenn

PS: NC in 3 weeks!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Posh pad

Tomorrow, Daniel and I are off to Milwaukee where we will tour about a dozen different apartments. Hopefully we will find "the one" and move in mid-July-ish (but I'm sort of hoping it's sooner than that). All week we've been talking about decor ideas and we have some awesome plans! Here are some of our favorites...

* I mentioned in a previous post my love of cheese grater lights. Since we'll be renting we probably won't be able to do any major projects, but I did find some cheese grater lamps that should suffice...


(Courtesy of Google Images)

I think I want to try taking of those multi-arm lamps (is that what you even call them?) and adding cheese graters to the ends.

* On Monday we went to Goodwill for a little bit and found the record section. We picked the best album covers we could find and decided that having an album wall would be awesome. I've been scouting out eBay and music websites for some cheap vinyl from our favorite artists and have been pleasantly surprised with the selection. We're hoping ours looks something like this...


(Both from Google Images)

* We got a Pier 1 gift card for our wedding, so we went to the store in Appleton today to check out the selection. Daniel pointed these out hanging on a wall and I was instantly smitten...

(Google Images)

So this isn't the exact thing, but I couldn't find a picture of all three of the Pier 1 ones together, so this is the best I could do. I don't know why I love these oversized utensils, but I do. Unfortunately, they run about $70 each, so we're going to have to save up before we can get them, but when we do, our kitchen is going to be the coolest kitchen ever!

I'm bringing my fancy "new" camera (it's one of Jeff's old ones that he passed on to me, it's still way nicer than anything I would buy myself) with me tomorrow to take pictures of each place so when we're reviewing them later we can actually see what they look like, I'll definitely be checking to make sure there's enough room for all of our decorating ideas!

-Jenn

PS: Daniel and I will be in Wilmington in exactly one month! Woo!

Monday, May 9, 2011

New Look

This is Scott and Mark, Kendra's brothers and Daniel's uncles...


If you look closely, you'll see that their hair is upside down: it's on the bottom of their heads instead of on top.

Daniel has accepted his fate and is going the way of the Larson. Prepare to be amazed!

This is the Daniel you all know and love...

Clean face and blue BYU t-shirt 

Clean face and blue striped polo 

Clean face and blue button-up

Daniel's side of the closet is PACKED with polos, button-ups, and BYU gear. And practically all of it is blue. It was not hard to find a hundred other pictures exactly like these.

This is Daniel today...







We found the shirt at Gap on sale for $7. We got the shoes at Target for $20 along with these slip-ons, mostly because Daniel usually wears one pair of shoes all the time and trashes them in a few months, meaning we have to buy him new ones several times a year, so I think adding more shoes to his collection will help add longevity to all of his footwear. The facial hair is also a little bit of delayed rebellion for all the times he had to shave at BYU. It's not as good as Scott's or Mark's, but he's on his way!

Anyway, I like it. It's nice to see him in something other than blue stripes!

This is me today, just for fun...


What do you think of Daniel's new look?

-Jenn

PS: Shout-out to my friend DaNae for being my eighteenth follower!

Friday, May 6, 2011

When you move like a jellyfish rhythm don't mean nothing

I love this song!



I also like this kid's moves



-Jenn

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Info Overload

Ok, I have some time between loads of laundry to finally update! Here are a few important things that have happened lately...

* Bamber
(swiped from Facebook)

Ben and Amber dated in high school, then broke up before things got too serious. Amber wrote Ben every week of his mission and she joined the Church while he was gone. She finished her undergrad at UW-Madison in biology and came to BYU to receive her MPH (Masters in Public Health). They started dating again in December-ish, and came back to BYU together in January. Ben proposed in March at the Salt Lake airport after Amber returned to Utah from a trip to Mexico to visit her grandparents (they have a timeshare and leave Wisconsin for a few months every year). They're getting married in the Minneapolis temple on August 13, just in time to get back to Provo for school.

* Boise
(Google Images)

Unfortunately, Daniel's uncle (Kendra's brother-in-law), Jess, passed away right before the end of the semester. Jeff and Kendra were able to make it out for the funeral, and Daniel, Mark, Ben, and I made the trip up to Boise and back in 48 hours. On the way up, Grover ran out of gas, and it was very exciting to wave at cars as we were stranded on the side of the road. Luckily we met a very nice family who took Ben to get gas and help us get back on the road. Jess' service was beautiful and it was a good reminder that life is short so we should live to the fullest capacity.

* Graduation
(courtesy of my parents)

Graduation was kind of a blur in between packing and cleaning our apartment. My parents came in and we toured some classic Salt Lake sights (Temple Square, the Conference Center, Crown Burger, etc.), and they helped a TON with everything! My dad helped make sure Grover's back window didn't leak (among other things), and my mom scrubbed the bathtub until it looked brand new (among other things as well), and it made us both so happy to have such great love and support!

* Emmy
(Google Images)

I don't know what's wrong with R2, but he's never liked traveling very much. Every time I bring him with me on a trip, he gets messed up to the point where I have to wipe the hard drive and start all over again. I used to think it was just the x-rays at the airport, but when I tried to turn him on after driving to Appleton, I'm thinking it must be a pressure change or something because he wouldn't work right again. I still have Independent Study to finish, so I went to Best Buy and bought Emmy, a Dell Inspiron 14R. She's cute and pink and works like a champ. I moved all of R2's stuff over, so thankfully I didn't lost any important files, and it's been smooth sailing the whole time.

* Grandma Larson
(On the back deck of my house after mine and Daniel's wedding)

Grandma Larson (Kendra's mom) passed away last week after a short fight with cancer. We left for Salt Lake on Saturday and came back on Tuesday with two viewings and a funeral in between. It was a bittersweet experience for sure; we were glad because it was quick and she's reunited with Grandpa Larson, but it's hard not having her here. It's nice knowing she's not in any more pain.

* Independent Study
(Google Images)

Remember this time last year when I got mono? I signed up for my classes via Independent Study, meaning to work on them while I was sick, but never actually got around to doing so. I've been rushing through them over the last several weeks, and I'm finishing one next week and I have two 600-word papers, two midterms, and two finals to take after that. I'm supposed to have all of my work done by May 11, but that probably isn't going to happen, so I bought an extension today. $20 for an extra three months is way better than paying $30 per exam for expedited shipping, so now I technically have until August to get everything done. However, I am determined to finish within the next few weeks so I can finally start looking for housing and jobs and all that other fun adult stuff.

* Cinco de Sushi
(Google Images)

A couple of years ago, Daniel and I started a tasty tradition: Cinco de Sushi. The first year it was just us, last year we got a good sized group of friends, and today Mark joined us. We went to Koreana and it was good, I really liked the Love Love roll. My test of how good a sushi place is is by ordering a spicy tuna roll; the spicier the better! Koreana's wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. My favorite sushi place is Naked Fish's in Las Vegas, they've got a spicy tuna that will knock your socks off! But since we aren't planning on going to Vegas for awhile, I'll have to try out new places here, darn...

* Summer plans
(Home)

Along with all this other fun stuff we have more plans! We're going to North Carolina for about a month and we'll be going to Girl's Camp together (me as a counselor, Daniel as the waterfront coordinator) and working on our tans at the beach and poolside. Meliah is having her baby girl next week, so I will be an aunt for a third time, it'll be fun seeing the new little one! We'll also start looking for an apartment and a job for me, hopefully I can find something good so we don't have to take out loans. Regardless, we're excited for the future and all of our fun plans!

I'll leave you with this, presented without comment...



Also, I have 17 followers now. I'm kind of a big deal.

-Jenn