The wedding has been placed on hold for a few months.  That sucks a big suck, but in the end it will be perfect.

The little plans don’t matter.

What I said below is still completely true.

How great is our God.

Yesterday was my last day of work for the year. I worked from about 8:30am till 10:00pm with only a short dinner break. Needless to say, it’s been a long week.

I’ve had such long hours because of the performances of our Playmakers show The Christmas Carol. It was the same script I wrote last year, but it was a very different production with about 60 kids involved, not to mention mothers. But, all in all, it was a resounding success. I’m proud to be a part of such a cool children’s theater program, and running a show every few months is a good reminder of why I got out of stage management. When I walked out of the theater I said to my boss, “Next time you see me I’ll be a married woman!” And that was a happy thought.

So here I am, lounging around at 10:00 on Saturday in my snuggie, contemplating the year that has passed and the year to come.

I am sweetly excited.

I am not nervous. I am not giddy. I am slightly annoyed and frustrated. I am just ready to move into the next phase of my life.

My emotions a year ago were similar. I was pretty sure that Bubba and I were headed for a romantic relationship. I had felt like we had been a couple for a while—I had to stop myself from referring to him as my boyfriend out loud. But we weren’t enjoying any of the perks of dating (i.e. kissing). I was so ready to move forward. It took a few weeks, but we got there, and it’s been an amazing, wonderful, exciting, trying, insightful journey ever since.

Except now, I’m in the same place. We have reached the point that we are so ready to move forward. I am tired of being engaged. I can’t imagine why people would be engaged for longer than a couple of months. (Of course my mother might have other opinions. Thanks again Mom.) The accounts are combined. The house is furnished. The schedules are aligned. And I am ready to move on.

Thank goodness there are only 11 days, two hours, and about 20 minutes till we are in the sealing room together.  That is ultimately all the matters. I am inexpressibly grateful to be getting married in the temple, to know that our relationship will last through the eternities as long as we do our part. How great is our God? I’m sure I don’t yet fully comprehend this gift, but I am still very thankful for it.

I hope you will be able to party with us at some time or place in the coming month. We are really looking forward to our Wedding tour of the West (receptions in three of the places we have called home, too bad we couldn’t get to Texas). But we are even more excited to be starting our life together, officially. To tackle the challenges that will come hand-in-hand will be much more bearable than fighting alone.

(In order of my thought process)

Getting to marry a man who I love deeply, and who loves me for who I am, and what he sees in me

An amazing, loving, supportive family, who I can laugh with, and love to be around

A generous and gracious future mother and father in law

A job that I enjoy that that provides enough and to spare for me financially

A safe and comfortable home in a beautiful town

No more roommates

Only one more month of attending a singles ward

The gospel of Jesus Christ and his atonement

The Holy Spirit which guides me and answers my prayers

A Father in Heaven who loves me enough to let me make my own choices

A mother on earth who sacrifices her time and energy everyday to make my life better

An expansive network of extended family

Flowers that smell good

Chocolate

A strong and healthy body that allows me to do anything I want

Running

Windy days

A fireplace

Celadon—a particular green—and pearl

There are lots and lots more. But that’s all I can come up with before we leave to Aunt Nancee’s house. Turkey Time!!

Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome

Mr. Bubba Jackson and I will be getting hitched December 30th, in the LA Temple. (Still have to let them know that.)

We will be having receptions in the following places/days:

1. La Habra, CA –Dec 30

2. Pleasent Grove, UT– Jan 9

3. Cedar City, UT– ~Jan 15

You are invited to any and all.

Bonus points to anyone who can help me tactfully say in my invitations:  ‘Please give us cash as we only have a small car to drive back and forth from parties in.’

Yeah yeah yeah!!!!

After a long day of coughing (sick again) and packing I’m looking around at my empty room thinking that I’m glad I haven’t acquired much more than two car-loads of material possessions in this life.  I’m moving into my own place, around the corner from where I am right now.

This means that I am done with roommates, forever. Hopefully I will have just one more, of my own choosing, in the not so distant future. But for now I’ve got an indiscriminate amount of time to be living on my own. And, on the whole, I am thrilled about this.

I’ve had long experience in sharing a room/living space and at last count was at an even 40 roommates.

Here are some random memories I’ve had with my various roommates over the years

Home

Sally—One time I fell asleep in your bed without meaning to. You were nice enough to sleep in mine, on the top bunk.

Katie—I used to have dreams where I couldn’t get the phone to stop ringing, but then I would wake up are realize it was your alarm going off for seminary. I think this has given me a life long aversion to loud alarm clocks.

BYU-I Dorms

Amy

Laura—you were not good at hygiene or pronouncing words with ‘ng’ ending. That drove me nuts, and into the home of my excellent next-door neighbors.

Joni—I thought you were suicidal, but it turned out you just wanted to get married. Glad that has worked out for you.

Larissa

Quiet Girl I don’t remember

Girl from Virginia…Sara? Jen? Something like that.

Tara

Tawnya—In the top 5 funniest people I’ve ever known. Bless you wherever you are.

Colonial House, BYU-I

Lindsay—Sorry I yelled at you and your future husband, but seriously, get a room.

Jodee

Sarah—my best room-sharer ever. We both liked to sleep in the cold.

Patti

Natalie

Condo Row, BYU

Heather

Mean Heather—why were you so mean? It was just a cinnamon roll.

Alyson

London

Michelle

Lindsay

Australia Melbourne Mission

Miller

Clove

Tukufuka—Looking back on it, Mean Heather was a good prep for you.

Lynch

Morganti

Pedron

Wade

Wang 1—First roommate with a serious language barrier. It made for really, really, fun times. Seriously. Hilarious.

Vano

Wiltbank—Oldest roommate ever, at 73. How many people can say that? And you are awesome, by the way.

Wang 2

Deer Haven, BYU

Nicole

Sally

Cedar City

Melissa—I’m going to be honest. You are messy.

Tiffani

Phyllis

Bethany

Becky

Suzanne—You call it ‘Short-term memory loss,’ I call it ‘kleptomania.’

Jordyn

Janelle

So through the good times, the less good times, and even the Mean Heather times, I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to know such a wide variety of interesting, talented, hilarious women during my time as a single adult. I will miss learning from you all. But I am supremely happy that I will never have to wash your dishes ever again.

not my actual game.

I finally did it. Now I never have to play, ever again. EVER. I beat Minesweeper on expert. Such a fantastic and terrible waste of multiple hours of my life.

Just a small celebration required. Can I get a “Woot-Woot!”

no…

ok.

I understand.

Enjoy this when you think about me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHY8NKj3RKs

Thank you.

Some days working for Mr. Shakespeare really pays off –in my heart if not my check book.

In a pile of papers on my desk this morning I found this, and felt that it summed up how I’ve felt in the last few days and weeks. I’m very grateful for the love of a good man:

Sonnet XXIX

When in disgrace with fortune and in men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possess’d

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth, sings hymns of praise at heaven’s gate

For thy sweet love remember’d such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Today at work I took occasion to realize that starting in just about two weeks I will be diving in, once again, to the horror and ‘fun’ that is my life in July and August. What with staffing cuts and the added responsibility of actually knowing what I’m doing, this year promises to be even more exhausting than last. Starting July 6^th I will work 37, count them with me, Thirty-Seven days in a row at my beloved festival. I actually do get one lovely Sabbath entirely free on August 8^th, but the rest of my Saturdays and Sundays I will be at work 4-6 hours.

I hope I survive with any social skills beyond reprimanding teenagers.

I’ll be dead for a while. Alas, I do love my job.

In related news, I’m listening to Shubert’s #9 on my I-tunes a song that takes me straight back to almost three and one half years ago to a summery December in my beloved Echuca, Australia. It was so HOT, and I was so ON FIRE with missionary work. Ah… the hard times are the good times in retrospect.

Can’t believe I’ve been home for three years.

Just before my release, June 06. Looking a bit dazed, I think.

–So I Married an Ax Murderer

To top off this dream come true, there were actual snarky Russians wandering around the Palace of Fine Arts with us.

I had a blast last week in San Fran with my fav BYU-I buddies/roomies Sarahaha and Jodina. Since I saw most of the very touristy stuff on my visit back when I was an ugly child I didn’t feel inclined to see those things. Instead my friends took me to some of their favorite places.

We visited Muir Woods, a BEAUTIFUL redwood forest

And Stintson Beach. Loverly.

I got to meet some of their new friends at church on Sunday and then spent Monday and Tuesday entertaining myself in Downtown Walnut Creek. Very posh.

We ate a lot, talked even more, and laughed the most. I had a most refreshing and enjoyable time.

This was followed by several more happy days spent with my amazing fam at Doheney Beach in SoCal. The weather was agreeable and the company was amazing.

This is all I have to say:

Star Trek, midnight, amazing. JJ Abrams, brilliant. Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, and random Red-Shirt Olsen, hilarious. Kirk, HOT. Spock, still my fav. Dad would be pleased.