Happiness

Our 3 year anniversary just passed and I thought I’d share one of my favorite stories from our marriage.

So let me set the scene: We’re at Brandon’s brother’s house. We’re in town for a friend’s wedding and his brother has been kind enough to let us stay at their place for the weekend. The only downside is that the faucets in the bathroom in the basement are extremely sensitive. Brandon and I are getting ready for the wedding so we’re both in the bathroom – Brandon is attempting to shave and I’m attempting to shower.
Nat: I can’t get the hot water to run.
Brandon: It’s cuz you’re turning it the wrong way. There, it’s getting warm.
N: Oh, thanks. Good CRAP! That is scalding now! Alright, I’m gonna hop in as soon as it cools down a little. Are you shaving?
B: Yup.
N: K.
I hop in the shower and start washing my hair when a split second later the water turns frigid.
N: AH! What the hell was that?
B: What happened?
N: The water is freezing! Turn the faucet off!
B: Well, how am I supposed to shave?
N: I don’t know, but don’t touch the faucet until I’m done.
I continue to shower…
N: AAAHH!!! DAMN IT BRANDON!
B: Sorry! I just wanted to see if I could regulate the water…
Meanwhile the water in the sink is still running and the water in the shower is alternating between freezing and scalding.
N: Turn. It. OFF!
B: Jeez Nat, you don’t have to be a jerk!
As my flesh is melting…I’m going at the top of my lungs and so is Brandon.
N: TURN IT OFF!
B: DAMN IT NAT!
N: DAMN IT BRANDON!!
B: YOU’RE A MONSTER! (As he’s turning the water off) YOU’RE A MONSTER!!!
N: Ppfff!! (I start to roar with laughter) What?
B: You heard me…monster.
N: Haha!!

Our shouting matches end the same every time. One of us starts laughing, the other starts to laugh too and before we know it we’ve apologized, forgotten what the fuss was about and we go eat something.

Let me epilogue the story by saying that Brandon could possibly be the best person I know. He is certainly the peacemaker in our home. His ability to look past my Hulk-like outbursts never ceases to amaze me and I’m constantly asking Heavenly Father for help in becoming the wife that Brandon deserves. Only heaven knows how I got so lucky.

All this righteousness is why I LOVE the few, brief, and very delicious moments when Brandon loses his temper and has an outburst of his own; even if his are more like Buster (a la Arrested Development) than Hulk. It makes me breathe a little easier when Brandon reminds me that he is human and perhaps we ARE meant to be together – when even when we fight I can appreciate how amazing he is and how much I love him. Aah, bliss.

Ooohhh, aaahhh

Some of you may wonder why I like Twilight (at least I know Brandon does). Well, the leading man is really good looking, even if he is a weenie (and he smokes, yuch). The story is really engaging, if only passably written by Stephanie Meyer. And the more Brandon dislikes something the more I have a pull towards it. Plus it's just a fun story to get caught up in - probably because I'm past that stage and I can look back with humor at those very dramatic teenage years. Besides my fanpirehood only goes as far as having read the books and owning the movie. I don't have t-shirts that say "Team" anything nor do I have Cullen action figures. I save that kind of ridiculous obsession for Harry Potter. I'm warning you now, watch out when July rolls around.

Now that I'm done justifying that, here's the trailer for New Moon, looks fun, no?

Sex and Hazards

Well, it’s a girl. Don’t ask me how I feel cuz I don’t know quite yet. It’s not sad or anything, just… something. I’ll figure it out later.

But, speaking of bathrooms, I have a funny story. At least I thought it was funny after I recovered.

I’ve wanted to write a post about the strange hazards of pregnancy - at least my particular hazards. Every woman is different so we’ll see if any of you who have been pregnant relate. Don’t worry the funny story is at the end.

Hazard #1 - Looking like a balloon animal gone very very wrong. This is an obvious hazard but surprisingly unpleasant nonetheless. I’m just not Demi Moore.
Hazard #2 – Strange pains, in places you can’t really pinpoint, that aren’t painful more like annoying (i.e. somewhere between your kidneys and your ribs, but kind of in your lungs and also in your leg…)
Hazard #3 – Leg cramps like you just swam a sprint. Horrible, horrible cramps that wake you up in the middle of the night and make you blurt out incoherent things like, “Argheek!”
Hazard #4 – Sudden dehydration in the shower. Actually general wussyness in the heat is a big one, but being thirsty is like my thing all of a sudden (come to find out, it's because the baby loves to drink the fluid it swims in). Case in point:
One day Brandon was showering and right as he was done I hopped in to shower too, so there was no need for the water to be turned off. Because Brandon had been showering for about 15 minutes our miniscule bathroom looked like a steam room which was fine until I started showering. I was feeling ok up until I started to rinse my hair and all of a sudden I started feeling really, really faint…before you know it, I’m on the floor of the shower yelling, “Brandon! Brandon!”
Brandon walks in saying, “What’s up?” He opens the curtains and finds me on the floor practically twitching like a fumigated cockroach, rasping out, “water…water…so… thirsty…”
Thankfully he rushed me a glass of cold water which saved the day and I was able to successfully finish rinsing my hair. If Brandon hadn’t been there, I’m pretty sure I’d still be on the shower floor.
Hazard #5 - It results in a baby. I know, I got myself into this and we're excited and everything but there is nothing like a kid to remind you of your many, many, inadequacies as a person, let alone a parent. Wish us luck!

Hell's Chicken

If Satan were the kind of individual to cook delicious dinners for people, I imagine this dish would be one of his specialties. It was the hottest thing I’ve cooked in a really long time, possibly ever.
It all started out with me looking up recipes for chicken breast. The chicken breast and I are barely on speaking terms so I wanted something to spice up our relationship and I got way more than I bargained for. I still don’t know if I want to forgive the chicken breast but I will admit this dish turned out specially delicious, if I do say so myself. Once you get past the burning.
Also, warning: DO NOT cook this indoors. This is meant to be a grilling recipe (courtesy of Bobby Flay) and he means it. Please cook the chicken and the tomato jam outside unless you want a scene similar to my own which included: burning eyes, burning sinuses, a comatose dog, foggy vision due to smoke, burning throat, and shortness of breath.
On that note, cut back on the cayenne unless you’re brave and you can also substitute fish. This is not for that faint of stomach, but so so worth it.

Enjoy!

TANDOORI SPICED CHICKEN BREAST WITH GRILLED TOMATO JAM AND HERBED YOGURT SAUCE
Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons ground ginger
• 2 tablespoons ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground cayenne
• 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
• 1 tablespoon ground white pepper
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 3 (8-ounce) boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 pita breads, warmed on the grill
• Tomato Jam , recipe follows
• Herbed Yogurt, recipe follows
Directions
Heat grill to medium-high. Combine all spices and the oil in a medium bowl to make a paste. Rub a thin layer of the spice paste onto 1 side of each chicken breast. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until slightly charred and just cooked through. Remove from the grill, let rest 5 minutes, and cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch thick slices. Serve openface on pitas: the chicken slices, a few dollops of Tomato Jam, and a drizzle of Herbed Yogurt.
Grilled Tomato Jam:
• 5 plum tomatoes
• 1 serrano chile
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for grilling
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 small Spanish onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Pinch saffron
Heat grill to high. Brush tomatoes and serrano with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill tomatoes and serrano on all sides until charred. Remove from the grill and coarsely chop.
Heat oil in a medium saucepan on the grates of the grill or on the side burners. Add the onion and cook until soft. Add the tomatoes, serrano, balsamic vinegar, and saffron and cook until thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl and let cool to room temperature before serving.
Herbed Yogurt:
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

Awesome!

If I don't stop looking at trailers for awesome movies, I'm going to have a heart attack pretty soon. My favorite part of summer is escaping the heat for a bit and watching a really fun movie.

These are cool character spotlights for the Wolverine movie. How awesome are all these guys? Only Gambit could make that weird bowler hat look cool. And if I may add my two cents, if the Twilight kids want to act intimidating, they should take notes from these guys - and back off the weird constipated frown.

To the trailers!

AAHH!!!!

Excitement abounds in my soul.

Shout-Outs

I would like to send a shout-out to a few things that I’ve come to appreciate.
1. Blog-stalking. Had I not blog-stalked a girl I don’t even know I would not have found the below clip.
2. That thing that tells you when people have updated their blog and what the post-title is. For the above reason.
3. High School Musical. All three parts, although the second is my favorite.
4. My sisters-in-law, because without them there would be no High School Musical support for me.
5. SNL.

In that vein let me just tell everyone how awesome my sisters-in-law are: Brandon has 3 brothers and 1 sister meaning that most of the girls in the family had to come from outside sources. Marrying the youngest, I was one of the last to come in and from day one those girls have made me feel so welcome and so loved (minus the short stint at the beginning when Anne didn’t like me). As a bonus they are tons and tons of fun. When we get together for family events Brandon goes off with his brothers and I go off with my sisters-in-law and then we reconvene when it’s time for bed. It’s that fun. Sometimes we’ll send our husbands to bed and then keep hanging out while we go to a late movie. I suppose a shout-out is needed to our husbands that put up with us. Brandon told me the other day, “I don’t know what it is about when you guys get together, but it’s like you’re all 15 again.” Perhaps that’s why we all have this thing with High School Musical. As a bonus, one of them was a real live East High cheerleader when she went to East High. Sorry, Song Leader.

This one is for you, ladies.