Weddings and Birthdays and everything nice

So, I felt kind of important this weekend. I got to take a short trip to California to attend Lindsay (my future Sis-in-law) 's two bridal showers. Taking a weekend trip felt like something real, important people do. Alas, I realize I am not actually an important person, but I'm fine with pretending.

The bridal showers were lovely, I've never met someone so loved. She got so many wonderful gifts! My green-eyed-monster inside was dying to come out, but I was able to keep him sequestered within my brain. Matt's a lucky guy (for so many reasons)!

My parents also took me out for birthday celebrations (two days away!!!). I got a new dress, two new pairs of work pants and a new shirt. Not to mention a snazzy sombrero from Chevys - let's be honest, now, who doesn't enjoy a giant birthday sombrero?

A bit of advice: don't take a flight out of Oakland on the day of a Raiders home game. The airport was full of creepy, semi-inebriated Raiders' fans who felt it was necessary to comment on my behind. The most amusing quote of the night came from one Raider's fan who, as I walked by (attempting to go unnoticed) shouts, "Oh, I needed that!" I glanced over to give him a dirty look, but he appeared too pleased with himself to care and proceeded to wink at me. It's going to take a couple showers to get over that one. It was refreshing to come home to the arms of my husband.

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Twenty-one

As I am getting ready to embark upon year 22 as Amanda (and year 2 as Amanda Parker), I thought I'd take a second to reflect on year 21. Here are the top 21 moments of Amanda's 21st year (in no particular order):
1) My surprise birthday on my 21st - I didn't even know I had enough friends to make a party! It was so nice of all of them and my awesome hub to make the day special.
2) My job - I officially started as a full-time employee for BYU Broadcasting on December 14th, 2007 and I've loved every minute of it since.
3) Getting Rubio, our little bundle of dog-joy.

4) Buying the cars (Passat and the Mercedes) - although along with the joy of our new cars comes the memory and tragedy of the Probe and the Prelude...may they rest in peace.
5) I'd have to say Tissa's surprise party also falls into my favorite moments, she was so mad at Scott and her reaction was so worth the wait.
6) Matthew D Gamblin is engaged!
7) Geoff and my celebration of our 1 year anniversary. It was perfect.
8) Geoff's graduation from Provo College with a 3.9 GPA
9) Krista's baby and wedding
10) Geoff and I building a couch in 48 hours.
That was intense, but so much fun and a stellar memory.
11) Receiving my diploma from Brigham Young University (BA - Sociology, Minor: Communications)
12) My business trip to Pittsburgh. I had a fantastic time and got to feel like a "real person" (that one's for you mom). My memories of Fargo are good, too, but the whole canceled flight situation was a really stressful bummer. :)
13) Geoff and my spur-of-the-moment 4th of July trip to CA. The drive was exhausting, but it was really fun to be that spontaneous.
14) Moving from my cubicle to my office. I like my office. :)
15) Christmas - our trip to CA for Christmas was just perfect and Geoff and I really loved that first chance to spoil each other (however, this enjoyment has carried over to the rest of the year!).
16) Taking my hair through the spectrum of colors - started brown with blonde highlights, went red, dark brown, light brown, and back to blonde.
17) Moving to our new (current) apartment and gaining a bedroom.
18) My discovery of the life-changing effects of B-vitamins (perhaps more on this later).
19) Geoff's surprise date to get massages for our (I believe) 6 month anniversary.
20) Any opportunity to dance in the grocery store until Geoff is embarrassed (have you ever noticed how loud the music is sometimes? It's impossible not to move to the beat...much to my husband's dismay at times)
21) This last one may seem a little strange, but to those who were there, it will make sense. One of the best moments of my 21st year was playing poison with my parents and Geoff on our trip to CA for our anniversary. I can't remember a time I have laughed quite that hard.

This is in no way an exhaustive list, just a smattering of the best and happiest of the 21st year of my life. Hope your last year was just as eventful and wonderful.

'Til next time,

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Got the itch...

I don't have much to report on our lives at the moment...but I just have kind of have the "blogging itch", if you know what I mean. School continues for Geoff. I'll be excited for him when all the general ed classes are over, because that's when school gets to be a whole lot more fun!
Work is going well for me. I'm in the midst of a TV pledge drive, which is always kind of a mix of stress, worry, joy, excitement and exhaustion. I worked until midnight on Monday (well, technically Tuesday, I suppose) at a live shoot and I will be working at the studio until 10pm tonight. Luckily, I actually find it to be kind of fun. I just miss Geoff when I'm there!
Matt's Birthday is on Friday (tomorrow) and I'm excited for him. His last birthday as an unmarried man. It really means nothing...but birthday's were always kind of a big deal at our house growing up, so they are something I really look forward to. And, if his birthday is tomorrow then mine is 18 days away and Geoff's is 48 days away. Rubio's half birthday will be in November, but I suppose that doesn't mean much. haha.
My first trip this fall is approaching rapidly. I'll be going home to Cali on the 27th of September (just for two days) and then a couple days later (my birthday to be exact) me and Geoff are off to San Antonio for a conference for my work. I'm so glad Geoff is coming. A third business trip without him this year would have been way too much for me! Then we'll go back for the wedding in November. It all should make for an eventful couple of months - and perhaps give me more interesting things to blog about.
I guess that's all for now. :)

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Life goes On

This will just be a quick update since it's the first one! Hopefully I'll be able to keep this thing up-to-date and you'll get a lot more details. Leave comments if you want more info about anything!

So, it's been a busy and fun past month or so at the Parker house. We went to California for our one-year wedding anniversary (which occured on August 18th, 2008). We revisted our honeymoon for the anniversary and celebrated with breakfast at the same restaraunt we ate at on our honeymoon and a bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was great!

Before we went to CA, however, we moved! Our new apartment is working out great. We love our landlords, our new ward, and having laundry and a dishwasher in the apartment!
Geoff started classes at UVU last week and is getting into his pre-reqs for pharmacy school. Pre-reqs are the hard part, so hopefully he'll learn to love them for a little while. :) Work is going well for me. I love my job and got notified of a raise the day before I left on vacation (a great way to start a vacation, by the way!). I have a pledge drive next week, so hopefully I'll continue to meet my goals. I have a work conference in San Antonio in October and Geoff is coming, so that will be a fun little birthday trip for me!

Matt got engaged while we were in California as well. That was a very exciting day. We all love Lindsay and are so excited for the two of them to begin their lives together!

I guess that's all for now. :)

'til next time

Categories: California, Geoff, Matt Lindsay