Our first buy from....wait for it....wait for it..... Anthropologie!

When we got married a year and 9 and a half months ago, we bought bedding. We have realized that our taste, well mostly Andrew's which has rubbed off on me, has changed. Our old bedding was from Target and was ruined after its first ride in the washing machine. The color bled out. We just gave it all to DI at the beginning of the Summer and have been sleeping with a blanket.

Now that Fall is approaching and we need something more substantial, plus we finally had money to pay for it, we decided to go on a hunt for new bedding. After searching online for hours we chose this gorgeous quilt and Euro shams, new 300 count white sheets, and a scallop edged bedskirt. We LOVE it! It goes so well with our Urban Outfitters tapestry and new bed frame we bought at Ikea when we bought furniture for our living room (see our previous blog entry What're ya kiddin' me? We got ourselves an apartment here!) Wish we had curtains but not enough to do anything about it/spend more money. In this picture notice the chinese lantern hanging from the fan and the Mac products on and near the side table (that's just how we roll.)

This is our new poster from Ikea that my Graphic Designer husband had to have, as well as a travel size Ukulele/ Guitar (we honestly don't know which one it is) that we mounted on the wall.

In this picture notice the lovely Parisian picture above our dresser that my mother in-law Debbie gave me as a graduation picture. It's small but I love it.

Before Anthropologie bedding came into our life, our room was pathetic. Now I am so excited to actually make the bed in the morning and hang out in this room.

A Big Pet Peeve

People who speak English,

First of all, I hope the poster above makes you cringe when you read it. Will people ever stop using "your" and "you're" incorrectly? Today I saw "your hot" written on a car with car chalk and it just pushed my tolerance for this ubiquitous mistake over the edge.

If you went through 5th grade then you should be able to use these homonyms correctly. In fact, I think I might fight the school system in favor of a "No graduation until you can demonstrate the difference between these homonyms and promise that you will never use them incorrectly" standard. It is not hard. You use "your" when you talk about possession (ex: I love your new car). You use "you're" as a contraction for when you want to say "you are" (ex: You're hot). The End!

If a person makes this mistake, I automatically have less respect for their intelligence. It would probably be kindest if I assume that they are ignorant of the rule, BUT I am not perfect. Please be vigilant and try to correct or inform people that do not follow this grammar rule. PLEASE!

Side note: I sound like Lynne Truss, the author of "Eats, Shoots and Leaves." The lady does fight for a good cause.

Interesting Substitute Teacher Experiences

I had an interesting last couple of days subbing and I wanted to write about them.

I was at a school for severely disabled high schoolers the other day. I had worked with this demographic before and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it this time but it was also a lot scarier. I could not be a teacher or aide in these classes because it would break my heart every day. One boy with autism attacked another student and the aide had to try and pull him off. She screamed at him to stop and hit him before she finally got him loose and cornered him up against the wall while restraining his arms and still yelling at him that what he did was wrong. It was intense and I was scared to be around him for a while, especially since it was such a small thing that set him off. He attacked the aide one more time and I just thought how hard it would be to be his mother who has a couple of severely handicapped children like this.

There was another girl in there who was schizophrenic. I was thinking afterwards about how she should probably be at a mental hospital instead, right? Anyway, she had an episode where she was screaming at this invisible being and getting extremely mad for quite a while. It was scary because she screamed at me once too. I was not in my element so naturally all of this was uncomfortable.

But, as always, there was a sweetness and innocence in every single person's eyes that touched me. Their handicaps are not who they really are and they will be made perfect and live with God after they die. They are such special spirits and I enjoyed seeing their true feelings (whether it was love, frustration, anger, etc.). That was a good reminder that I should be more like that (but have more control) as well as remember that I am so blessed with a sound mind and a healthy body.

I also substituted in a fourth grade class and as always was worn out from substituting for elementary school. They do not understand that things will go differently with a sub. They ask way too many unnecessary questions and all at the same time. Tattle-telling is inevitable and this time there was a girl obsessed with the idea that Bloody Mary was trying to kill her. My reply to that was that B.M. (as the kids called it, lol) did not like school work so if she did hers then B.M. wouldn't bother her. What did she want me to say? Oh, I will go get my B.M. repellent or maybe we should go in a room with mirrors, turn off the lights, and say her name 3 times so she will leave. I can't believe that kids still believe in her. I remember going on a hunt for her when I was a kid.

I dealt with my first huge verbal fight where the boys were extremely mad at each other, crying, and saying horribly mean things which included, "I would rather kill myself than be his friend" and, "I'm going to beat him up really badly." I was sure that their friendship was over after they were sent to the office to work it out. An hour and a half later they came back into class as giddy as a meadowlark and best friends again. That would never happen if they were girls.

Lastly, I had a girl who tried to suck up to me so she could get on the good student list, which got a big prize when the teacher returned. I had not taught them anything all morning because I administered a test, took them to P.E. and took them to get pictures taken. After lunch she wrote me a note that was absolutely hilarious and soooo fake (emotionally). I hardly knew this girl and this is the note:

Dear Mrs. Beak,

You are such a great teacher. I love you so so much. I would not know what in the world I would do without you.

From,

(Student)

P.S. When will Mrs. (Real Teacher) be back?

What Are My Hobbies?!

I need to remember the things that are my hobbies AND DO THEM. I just remembered after playing volleyball with my friends that I love sports, especially volleyball and soccer, and I claim them as hobbies yet I don't do them that much anymore. I don't have a group that plays weekly and I'm not on a team so I don't play. I used to play intramural soccer at BYU :( I also love performing but don't do that either, another group activity. The closest I come is singing in ward choir. The other thing is that if I want to be in a great show, I have to audition against BYU performance majors whose life is the stage and I am way out of practice. Anyway, I just miss doing the things that I did so much in high school. Now all I do is watch movies, shows, or read and work out. Those are all individual hobbies, if you can call watching movies or shows a hobby. Granted, it takes more effort to do sports and performing but I miss them and should put that effort in. Can anybody help me?

I just found a new hobby. I am really jealous of the cooking skills that my friends have. I want to be a better cook and try new recipes. My problem is that I figure if I buy some obscure ingredient, I will never use it again and it is expensive to buy tons of new ingredients. I cook like this: Put some frozen chicken cordon blue in the oven, boil pasta and slap some store bought sauce on it, then defrost the frozen corn. That isn't real cooking and I want to be more legit. Tonight I realized that I can make homemade bread. Yes that is cornmeal for the texturization of the bottom of the bread.

What is my favorite food in the entire world? Bread and cheese. Figures, I'm a French teacher. Why don't I buy a ton of flour and yeast and make something that I will eat all the time? This is where I am starting on my journey to expand my cooking horizons. Thanks to our Relief Society cooking/baking group, I am having this epiphany. You might be saying, "Duh Ashley. Everyone makes their own bread," but I am a late bloomer in the "take effort to actually make good food" realm. For some reason I had it in my mind that you needed a bread maker to make bread. This is exciting! I can make my favorite food often and in my own kitchen.

Surprise Visit From Family

Last Friday we went to a rooftop concert in downtown Provo. We were there with Aurora and Jeff and had a delightful dinner beforehand (well actually the Mexican food made me feel sick). They are leaving for New York and will be starting their adventures on the big stage. We also spent time with Cody and Amy Fehlberg. We ran into Shanti too. It was a big party but we were disappointed with the main event. We went to support Imagine Dragons since Andrew loves Dan, but we realized that they are not writing music like theyused to and we just were not fans of the music.

Joy's family drove up for the weekend and we had SOOOO much fun just being with them. On Saturday we took them on a tour of our work places, then we ate at J Dawgs and did a tour of BYU. They reminisced about the olden days as students here and then we took them on a tour of Andrew's home that he grew up in. We went to dinner at the delectible California Pizza Kitchen and then headed over to see Meredith's apartment. That is when we met Meredith's boyfriend, Rick. We like him, and we do not always like the guys she goes with. He is pretty neat. We came back and played "Balderdash Beyond," our favorite game,

and then topped the night off with some ice cream. Macey's ice cream counter had closed for the night so we were sad. We bought drumsticks instead.

We ate them out by our car and told Tian to do his best model pose. He doesn't understand sultry yet.

Our Sunday was packed with church stuff but after church we had sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits with waffles. Me love! We headed up to Salt Lake to visit the gravesite of Quin's mother, Rowena. We saw former President Hinckley's gravesite too. We took a tour of the conference center and rooftop. After we parted and said goodbye to them, Rick, Mer and us went to a nearby park called Memory Grove Park. It is a gorgeous park and it reminded me of how much I appreciate them. That was one of my favorite parts of Paris. There were parks everywhere and they were just there for beauty, not for sports but rather for leisure walking.

School Starts

School has started for Andrew at BYU and for me as a teacher. Andrew loves his classes which are mostly Graphic Design classes within the BFA. He loves the BFA because he has the best teachers in the program and he gets to take classes in the coolest looking rooms. The walls are made of steel and they attach designs on them with magnets. Pretty sweet.

Tonight all the Juniors who just got in are going to Salt Lake for class and they get to have dinner together and watch an artistic movie. Apparently they are all going to NYC in February. We have to start saving for him to go on that trip. That's really fun for him though! Vada is doing really well; keeping busy and making money.

My first day of classes went really well. I gave everyone a syllabus and talked about how to succeed in a language class. The best part was the nutella and bread we partook of. I teach 4 girls who are in French 2, and one who is French 3, but they are all in the same class. The other class is made up of 14 kids in French 1. I am excited to get back to teaching what I love and create lessons that I love. I have good kids and they seem to enjoy class. I made them laugh when we practiced doing a French "r" sound by purring like a cat from the back of the throat. I make them do things that might be uncomfortable and I love it. I have a lot of free time still. Substituting is not picking up so I am reading a lot and I definitely have time to work out everyday. I feel bad that Andrew is working about 30 hours/ week and he is taking 14 credits. By the time he gets home he is exhausted and just wants to be with me, not work out. He is trying to work out as much as he can so he can lose weight, but I am way more interesting than exercise. Here is a picture of the school I work at.