Summer usually consists of going home to Kentucky, eating an enormous amount of snow cones, vacationing in Florida, getting as tan as possible, and sleeping in.  My brother always gave me a hard time because he thought I was lazy, but I liked to call it relaxing. I believed that I deserved it since I pretend to work hard in school all year long and save up money through the school year.

Anyway, this summer is a little different.  I’m not in Kentucky, I haven’t had one Snowie, there is no Florida vacation in site, and I never get to sleep in.  My schedule consists of working, cooking, going to the gym, then sleeping.  Oh yeah, then repeating that same routine every day.  It’s not bad, it’s just not as exciting as usual.  I keep forgetting it’s summer, and I’m sick of it!

So to remind me of the season, I’ve made some goals.  For this weekend, first on the list is to go on a picnic and hike this evening, rather than doing our normal dinner and a movie date.  Then tomorrow, I’m going to the pool, equipped with my iPod and new Glee soundtrack, magazines, lots of otter pops, and of course, diet coke.

Also on the list is to finish the two books I’m currently reading.  We have the greatest hammock in our backyard (which I have always wanted) and it is a perfect spot to enjoy the shade and read.

And lastly, I’m going to buy a fire pit for our patio so I can roast coconut covered marshmallows and make tin foil dinners.

At my reception, I had a lot of high school friends and other non-LDS friends/family attend.  Outside of BYU, clearly it is not normal to get married while you still are in school and are just 21 years old. So, I kept getting asked, “Why did you get married now?”

Other than the fact that I love my husband more than words can describe, there is a lot more that goes into it.  So from the perspective of a Mormon, here is my answer that I gave to a few people:

“It all can be wrapped up these few paragraphs in the Proclamation to the Family:

http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,161-1-11-1,00.html

To me, my role in the family is the most important role I can have. Being a student is great so I can have a career, being a friend is important too so I can serve others, but what I really believe is my central role, is that role within the family.

So I found someone who believes that same thing, and we want to have our own family. (I’m not saying I want to have kids right now or even soon, our little family of two right now is good). But now we can fill these rolls in the family together as husband and wife, and later as a mother and father, more fully as we have been married for eternity in the temple.”

I have to admit, it took a lot of courage at first to send that as a message.  And after a few days I was nervous that I said too much and might have made some people feel uncomfortable.  But ultimately I realized, there is no reason to be ashamed to share the gospel, especially through a personal experience like this.

Going on a little bit of a tangent, both of my parents were converted to the gospel when they were in college.  I have realized that when kids move out of their homes and start a new life for themselves, they also try to find out who they are and some desperately seek for guidance but don’t know where to find it.  It is important to stand up for what we believe because, who knows, it might just be what the person needs to hear right then.  Just like my parents when they were in college, many young adults are trying to find a direction, a religion, or a hope in this world, so we need to stand as witnesses of this gospel.

I hope by sharing the Proclamation to the Family with others, I have helped someone understand what their purpose is and who they are in this world.  If you would like to learn more, write me an email or check out Mormon.org.

Today at work, we came across a thesis written by a man named Xylophone.

Xylophone.

So I clearly had to give myself an instrument name.  I chose piano.  And for my coworkers, here are yours.

Eliesa: Harp

Danica: Drums

Hayley: Clarinet

Tiffany: Piccolo

Christopher: Oboe

With love,

Piano

For the first few months when I was engaged, I felt that I should buy a bridal magazine every time I went to the store. As time went by, the pile became increasingly larger, but I started regretting buying so many magazines because they all had the same ads and information. But one magazine I 100% do not regret buying is Martha Stewart’s Bridal magazine. Let me tell you, Martha knows how to throw a wedding.

But that’s not all Martha Stewart knows how to do… she’s amazing! I lately have been surfing her website a lot trying to think of new DIY ideas to redo our condo. I also have been trying to cook a few new meals each week. So right now, Martha Stewart is a vital source of inspiration. Let me share a few of my favorite finds:

Chalkboard spray-painted pots

Now that we have been cooking a lot, I thought it would be fun to grow our own herbs, especially cilantro. It’s both useful and decorative!


Wicker basket pots

We have a really nice front porch and side patio, but it’s quite bare, so I really want to get some flowers, and these homemade wicker baskets are such a cute touch!

Garden-glow lanterns

We have a strand of these from our wedding reception and didn’t know what to with them, next time we have a little dinner party, I am going to hang them out on our patio!

Chocolate Chip Ship

We were given three cake platters for wedding gifts. I know I should have taken one, or even two back, but they were each so different and extremely presh, I just couldn’t give any of them up. But I decided if I was going to keep them, I had to use them. So first thing on the list: this chocolate chip ship-icecream cake! To beat Martha’s creativity, which is what it’s all about, I’m going to add those lego pirate men!

Superneutral Bathroom

I love love loveeeee this combination! Who knew that this peach and teal combo is just as cute as, my favorite, tiffany blue with ruby red! We have yellow tiled floor, so I don’t think this will work for where we live, but maybe one day…

Touch of Wallpaper

I think this is another great idea. I really like wallpaper. But clearly it can be overwhelming and too much chaos to wallpaper a whole room. So to put it in a closet is perfect because it brightens up the space and accents the rest of the room.

That’s all for now. Thanks Martha!

This weekend, I saw Karate Kid (Which, btw I loved it and will post about it soon).  Before the movie started, a new Kia Soul hamster commercial came on.  Call me immature, call me lame, I really don’t care, but something about these dancing and ghetto hamsters is awesome.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C48BTtAVsK0&hl=en_US&fs=1&border=1]

Kia came out with a commercial for the superbowl, I don’t know if you remember it, but it was pretty funny too. Way to go Kia.

Now that we are married, T.J. and I have been searching, or shopping, for our new ward.
Since we are students, we thought we should continue to take advantage of a student ward. This way we would make friends with other newlyweds and maybe find a group for FHE. So the first Sunday we were planning on going to our new ward, we were running late and I forgot the directions. We didn’t want to miss the Sacrament, so we ran to the nearest church building in hope they had a meeting at the same time.
We were in luck. We didn’t miss Sacrament and the ward looked normal.
As the meeting continued, the talks were given, and we checked out the different people in the ward, we noticed something was off.
It was quiet.
Slowly T.J. and I, barely married and PDA-ers, realized that we were in an adult singles ward. Needless to say, we hid our rings, stopped cuddling, and felt very uncomfortable.
So that was our first experience finding a new ward.
Next, still hoping to find a good student ward, both T.J. and I were guilt tripped into attending the family ward in our boundaries. From what we heard, it was simply the best ward around. A great variety of ages and families. “Lots of newlyweds,” said our new neighbor.
Afraid of offending our neighbors and the few others who recommended the ward, we decided to check out the ward.
Currently we are sitting in a Sunday school class and are the only ones under 75 years old.
So where are all those newlyweds and you families we heard about? Was it just a scheme to freshen up their ward?
Although everyone has been very cordial, I think we are going to continue searching for another ward.

So, here’s the deal.  I used to have a blog.  I was obsessed with  it, then just like most of my obsessions (e.g. Rihanna, Tuna, Buckle), it faded away.  It was replaced by a new obsession and merely forgotten.

But now I’m an intern at a social media marketing company and work with wordpress everyday.  With a little push of one of my coworkers, I decided to create this new blog and hopefully, but not likely, I will keep up with it.

I’m sure it won’t be read.  On a good month, maybe the tally will reach up to five or six views.  But maybe writing on here regularly will just help me keep my sanity.

After all, life as a Mormon, a wife, an advertiser, and most of… life as Katie Lee, it’s easy to lose it sometimes.