We're Moving!

Okay, so remember when I thought I would be able to maintain a blog? Turns out the blog thing is a lot more work than I thought, and anyone of you who have tried to maintain one know what I'm talking about. You end up putting a lot of time into writing one post, and most of time, you can't justify spending that time. Well, even though I have things I should be doing, I do have a little break and I have decided to update this little blog that I have neglected for over a year.

So quick recap since the last time I posted: I have completed 3 more semesters of grad school and only have one more left! Omid is at his same job but has experienced numerous schedule changes, and when he finally got one he really liked, he was asked to manage the night team. So now he works nights and it kind of sucks.  It was supposed to be a temporary thing (6 months max they told him) and now its been about 8 months. But we're dealing. It's not as hard as some people might imagine it to be on our relationship (especially since my schedule is flexible and always changing), but it takes quite a toll on Omid physically. We are really looking forward to Omid's night shift being over... fingers crossed for the beginning of July. More things: about this time last year, we were on our way to a pilgrimage trip to Haifa, Israel, which was absolutely AMAZING. Here are a few pics of the Baha'i gardens that are in the Baha'i World Center in Haifa:

There have also been some hardships in the past year... We have lost some family members on both sides to death and divorce. And while it has been tough on both of our families, we are very grateful to have each other and all of the love and support from family and friends. On a positive note, we have also had lots and lots to celebrate this past year, including many marriages of family and friends and the birth of our beautiful niece!

So back to present day. I am filled with joy to announce that Omid and I are buying our very first home and will be moving into it next week! The home buying process has been interesting to say the least. We are getting a new home, which is very exciting in its own right because we were able to pick out some interior designs of the house and got to customize it a bit since it wasn't complete; however, with building a home comes a lot more unforeseen stresses and delays. All in all, we are so incredibly excited and grateful to be moving into our first home and can't wait to start building our family in the years to come. Anyone who knows me knows that I HATE moving more than anything. But hopefully the excitement of moving into a home instead of another apartment will take a little bit of the sting out.

I won't go into any more detail for now, but I do hope to be updating more regularly, seeing that we will have a lot more to share in the months to come. In summary, the last year was BUSY but pretty much the same - working, going to school, and visiting family. This next year will involve becoming homeowners, me graduating with my Masters and starting a REAL job, and getting a puppy! More details to come :)

Fasting, Family and some Free Time

March has been quite a crazy month for us, leaving me very little time to update our neglected blog.  So once again, I will try to summarize the many things we have had going on. 


For those who aren't familiar, Omid and I are members of the Bahá'í Faith. As Bahá'ís, we participate in fasting, for 19 days (or one Bahá'í month) once a year. Fasting is abstaining from all food and liquid from sunrise to sunset. And here is why we do it:

Fasting is a symbol. Fasting signifies abstinence from lust. Physical fasting is a symbol of that abstinence, and is a reminder; that is, just as a person abstains from physical appetites, he is to abstain from self-appetites and self-desires. But mere abstention from food has no effect on the spirit. It is only a symbol, a reminder. Otherwise it is of no importance. (Dr. J.E. Esslemont, Baha'u'llah and the New Era, p. 184)

Every year, fasting starts on March 2nd, which also happens to be my little sister's birthday. And this year, she turned 10 years old. Its crazy to think that she's not my baby sister anymore. I remember visiting her at the hospital when she was born like it was yesterday. She was truly, the cutest and sweetest baby girl I have ever seen. But I guess it is time to stop being in denial and face the fact that she is growing up and before I know it, I'll be going to her wedding. 

So Omid and I made the trip to Houston to celebrate this very important event, and it was definitely not easy to watch my step-mom cook enormous amounts of delicious food and then not be able to eat it. Fasting isn't easy, but it is a time that is meant to bring us closer to God - so   its worth it. The first few days are by far the hardest, but what was worse than the hunger was the headache I got on the first day from breaking my caffeine addiction cold turkey. But I survived. 


While we were in Houston, we also got to attend the graduation party of my best friend and her brother.  That was also quite nostalgic since I remember playing with them in our cul-de-sac when we were 10 years old ourselves. Big events like this make you realize that time really does go by fast. 


After spending some time with my family, we returned home to immediately pick Omid's parents up at the airport. We got to have them stay with us for the night (1st time!) and enjoyed a delicious blueberry pancake and eggs breakfast prepared by Chef Omid himself in the morning. Its always so wonderful to have his parents in town - with them living out of the state, we go quite a while sometimes in between visits. 


I also had my "Spring Break" from March 12th through the 16th. I didn't have class but still had to go to work every day. Sad that working adults don't get a spring holiday. So, I basically spent my break from classes taking naps and watching Season 1 of Glee. The Fast definitely messed with my sleep schedule and it got to a point where I would sleep 4 hours at night and then 4 hours in the afternoon. Not ideal. And then one weekend, I slept for a total of 24 hours. I literally slept half my weekend away. Kind of sad. 


But alas, school has started again and the last day of the fast was on Tuesday. Also very exciting is that the end of the fast marks the Bahá'í New Year, which is a time of celebration and new beginnings! So Happy New Year everyone!

Picture source: http://www.bahai.us

February: The Abridged Version

Okay, so I knew this would happen. I knew that once I got into the semester and back to being busy with school, that the whole blog thing would probably be a fail. But since I only have like 3 followers, I guess its not that big of a deal. 


So since I didn't write a single post in the month of February, here is my shortened version of a very busy month. 


The first weekend of the month, my dad, stepmom and sister came to visit us. It was such an awesome weekend. We went to the movies, ate a TON of delicious food, went shopping and spent some great quality time together. Every year (except last year, due to an ice storm) since I have moved to Dallas, my parents have come to visit me for my birthday. And I love that they still do it even though I'm a "grown-up." 


Feb. 6 was my actual birthday. It was a Monday so it was a pretty lame day. Went to work and then class that night. Although, I will say, I did have some very sweet coworkers make me signs and sing to me while presenting me with a delicious cupcake. I also got to have Starbucks with the BFF in Arlington (and my drink was free so that was pretty sweet too). 


Feb. 10 marked 2 years of Omid and I being together. We felt no need to celebrate now that we have a wedding anniversary and all. It was always an inconvenient time anyways. 


I really wanted to play into the whole Valentine's Day thing this year and do something special for our first Valentine's as a married couple but it was pretty impossible being on a Tuesday and all. Omid had work that night and I had class. He got me the delicious box of chocolates I requested (and a sweet card), and I made him a little goody bag with a sappy card as well. And that was our Valentine's Day. 


We were pretty busy this month with various weekend commitments, but we finally had time for a date night this past weekend and celebrated three glorious months of marriage. 


In other news, I had my first big paper due on Monday, which basically marks the intense time of the semester. Pretty much from here on out its going to be intense. But I think I got a pretty good hold on it. Hopefully no meltdowns have to happen this semester. I'll keep you posted. 


This week also brought very EXCITING news. Omid's brother and wife are having their first baby, and on Monday they found out it is going to be a beautiful baby girl. We CANNOT wait to be an aunt and uncle! Amazing times ahead.


And I guess that's it. Goodbye February. Hello March and spring time weather. I've been waiting for you. Tomorrow marks the first day of The Fast and we are leaving for Houston. More to come in the near future (I hope).  

"Real People"

When we were undergrads in college, my friends and I would talk about when we would become real people. In general, real people were those who were done with school, had full time jobs and real responsibilities. Some of use to dread becoming real people, and leaving the luxury of college life behind.

Fast forward to now, and many of my friends could be considered real people. All of them have graduated, many moving on to full time jobs and the beginnings of their careers. Thinking about my friends and the changes in their lives leads to me to the question... Am I a real person? I mean obviously, I am married and in a few days when I get my new phone, fully financially independent from my parents. We live in our own apartment, pay our own bills, do our own grocery shopping and wash our own clothes. But I still don't quite feel like a real person. So what it all comes down to is the career, and feeling like I am contributing positively to the rest of the world. And I will admit, the job I have now isn't quite as satisfying/rewarding as I hope my future career will be. Sure, its easy money and I like the people I work with. But its easy to feel useless, especially knowing you aren't maximizing your potential. Before this job, I was a research assistant at my University. In the lab, I felt important. I contributed to something that would build on the scientific knowledge of mankind. People cared about my thoughts and ideas and looked to me for solutions. And now, my current boss leaves me sticky notes asking me to retype a form or reminding to keep up with my filing (something I don't need to be reminded about). I know some of you can share in this frustration. But what I always tell myself is that this is only temporary. And soon enough, I will be doing something better.

Its not easy being in school when everyone else seems to be past that point in their lives. My schedule is crazy, meaning that vacations and family visits are planned around tests and papers rather than holidays and special occasions. It means weekends are filled with paper writing and online classes than fun with friends and free time. This past weekend, we went to visit Omid's family in San Diego. The trip was amazing, but we could only stay for two full days because my schedule doesn't allow for more than that. You can't miss a class that is once a week. Its hard when people ask when we can come again and tell us they wish we could stay for longer. And in my head, I know that we can't come back until August (before school starts of course) and that we will probably only stay a couple of days again. 

But higher education is a choice I have made, and worth the temporary sacrifices. In less than a week, I am turning 23 years old. Omid always reminds me that we are young and ahead of the game. These are comforting thoughts. I am lucky enough to have a husband that completely supports me in whatever decisions I make. Whether its to quit my job and take more classes, write a thesis, or eventually get my PhD one day, I know that Omid is right behind me cheering me on: "Don't worry about it babe. We can do it." 

I find that a lot of people my age are feeling very in-between right now. And you know what, that's okay. Most of us are. Don't worry, we have plenty of time to become real people.

Wedding Reminiscing

As you know, Omid and I have been married just shy of two months now. And it is still very fresh. The wedding doesn't seem that long ago and people are constantly asking us how married life is. I think its funny when people ask that sort of thing. I wonder to myself when people will get over us and find the next cute thing to fixate on. 


But I will enjoy the attention while I can. Its always nice to have people interested in your life. And after being engaged and waiting for the biggest day of your life, you kind of need to ease out of all the attention that you are so use to getting. It is so exciting to be engaged, and then the wedding comes and its amazing and then its over. And its back to real life. I will admit that I have had a little post-wedding blues. But something that helps is remembering how wonderful and special it all was. We finally got our DVDs of our wedding pictures this past weekend, and that was a nice little pick me up. Getting to share them with people is also exciting. And I will now indulge myself a little and post some pictures and talk about my wedding, because it makes me happy. And who doesn't love pictures?

The day of our wedding was the fastest day of my life. And I am so glad I can look at my 729 photos to remember every last detail. 

I will also take this time to give a shout out to my vendors because I loved them all and I would love to promote them:
Our Venue: Butler's Courtyard - absolutely gorgeous place. This unique venue (100 year old renovated bank building) has a gorgeous indoor and outdoor space, a house for the girls and a house for the guys to get ready in, and an amazing staff that made the whole day go smoothly
Our Photographer: Lindsay Dixon - she was not only affordable and fun to have, but did an amazing job on both our engagement and wedding photos. We were so happy with all of them.
Our Flowers: Flowers by Leanna - she made the bouquets, boutonniere, and the beautiful gazebo decoration 
Our Cake: Cakes by Jula - The cake was just as delicious as it was beautiful
Our Videographers: AGB Productions - We haven't actually seen our wedding video yet but we loved working with this cute couple! They were so sweet and gave us a great deal on the photo booth we had at the wedding, which was a huge hit with the guests and we got a scrapbook of all the photo strips with messages in it. So cute!
Our String Quartet: Divisi Strings - these people were absolutely amazing. They play classical and contemporary music. It was so fun to have them play a contemporary selection that we chose for the ceremony. One of my favorite things that we did!
Our DJ: Mark A. DuVerney - Mark was super sweet and did a great job integrating our wide selection of American and Persian music. 


Our wedding was everything I hoped it would be. It exceeded my expectations. And even though I am sad its over, I am so happy that I get to wake up every day next to the most amazing man I know. And I still have some things to look forward to, like getting our wedding video and getting my wedding scrapbook from the best Maid of Honor/Best Friend in the whole world who is making it for me. 


And before I go, I will leave you with some wedding advice. Disclaimer: I have not been involved with many weddings or even gone to that many for that matter. This is solely based on my own personal experience of getting married. 

1. Do not take on too much: If I could do it all over again, I would have held off on grad school for another semester so I could have not been so stressed out leading up to the wedding. I had a TON of help (in fact, I barely did anything) and I was still overwhelmed. 
2. Get yourself a badass wedding planner: My wedding planner happened to be my incredibly talented stepmom who made all of the decorations and centerpieces and planned the entire thing. I could not have done it without her and having someone to help do all of the little (extremely time consuming) things is totally worth it.
3. Pick an amazing Maid of Honor: The whole getting married process would not have been nearly as fun without my best friend. All of the planning and sweet things she did for me really meant a lot and made me feel more special than I could have ever imagined. 
4. Enjoy your engagement: I was also given this piece of advice, and its true. When we first got engaged, we thought we had all the time in the world. But it went by so fast (especially the last couple of months). It is a very exciting time and its gone in the blink of an eye.

So there it is. My little tid-bit about the wedding. In other news, the first day of classes was today. And that means its the start of another extremely exhausting and busy semester. But since its the beginning,  I am still excited and optimistic about it. That attitude probably won't last very long if I continue getting so little sleep. Still working on that one. 

New Year, New Name, New Schedule

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012. 


2011 was a busy year to say the least. We started the year as fresh college graduates. I took a semester off, worked part time and applied to grad school. Omid began the year with the grueling task of finding a job. It wasn't long after he started his job that we became engaged. Then it was celebrating several of our friends graduating and a very special wedding of some very special friends. Then I was starting another job and working full time. Then it was finding an apartment for the both  of us and moving me into it. Summer went by pretty fast and before I knew it, I was quitting one job and starting my first semester of grad school. This was also the time when I said goodbye to some of my closest friends as they ventured off to different parts of the world. And before my first semester was over, Omid and I were married. Then came due dates for final papers (while moving Omid into the apartment). Then our honeymoon and then Christmas. Yes, 2011, you were a very life changing year. There were fun times, exciting times, stressful times, and downright exhausting times. And I look forward to 2012 being a lot less eventful (fingers crossed). 


We have started the year off by putting our apartment together. If you read the previous post, then don't worry. Things are looking a lot better around here. Still working on thank you notes though (slowly but surely, they are getting done). I have also taken advantage of having this time off from school to start the ridiculously time-consuming task of changing my name. First attempt was Monday, the 2nd. I had the day off work and thought "What a great day to go to the social security office and DMV." I have no idea why it didn't occur to me that everyone else would have that day off work too. FAIL. So I went to the mall with some friends instead. SUCCESS.


On Tuesday, I was dreading going back to work after having such a long vacation. I woke up, took a shower, got cute and arrived at work only to realize that the remodeling happening in our office wasn't done and there was nothing for me to do. Perfect - I didn't have to work AND I could go to the SS office and DMV. The Social Security office was the first stop. It wasn't so bad. I showed up with my form filled out and only had to wait an hour. The hour would have been a lot better if I had a smart phone or at least a book. I had neither. I watched the woman next to me play games on her iPad. The woman behind me was approached by some creeper who kept asking her all these questions about her Kindle Fire. Hm, maybe I was glad I didn't have fancy technology things. Next Stop: DMV. I checked in at 1:07pm. I asked the guy if he had any idea how long the wait was. He refused to give me an estimate. I got my number and proceeded to the waiting area. Every chair was taken and there were people standing all along the walls. I decided to take a seat next to a pregnant lady sitting against a wall. If I believed in Hell, I imagine it would be something like the DMV. When I listened to the numbers they were calling, I realized there was more than one number system they were going by. I was 270, and all I heard was 47, 423, 705. Finally, I heard a 235. Realizing I would be there for a VERY long time, I left and walked to the Walgreens in the same shopping center. I bought two magazines and some cheetos. I ate half the bag of cheetos while I walked back because you aren't allowed to bring food inside. Then I shoved the other half back in my purse. I came in, took a seat between the pregnant lady and trash can and waited. An hour went by and they only had gotten to 240. I began to lose hope that my number would even be called. Pregnant lady was 250. We bonded. She waited 3 hours before they called her number, which ended up being the same amount of time I waited. By 4pm, I was STARVING and almost missed my turn because I had to wait 15 minutes to pee. But I made it. I got my new (temporary) license, and was informed that I would have to come back in a year and do it all over again when my license expired. AWESOME. But still, I left the DMV with a sense of victory. Yes, I conquered that horrible place of darkness and didn't go completely insane while doing it. I celebrated with a half bag of victory Cheetos. 


The worst part is done. But I still need to mail in my passport stuff (get a new photo taken first), change my name at work (requiring my new SS card that should be here in 2 weeks), and change my name at school (they want a copy of my marriage license too - seriously?). I am also in the process of changing my name on all of my accounts and credit cards. Now I understand why some women never change their name. Geez.


Beginning of the year also means changing of schedules. Being in Grad school, means I still view time in terms of semesters. Because of his job, Omid's schedule changes every quarter. So for January through March, Omid will be working Sun.-Wed., 1pm - midnight. Quite a change from his schedule last quarter: Sun.-Wed., 8am - 7pm. Thankfully, I have class Monday nights and Tuesday nights. And we live close enough to his job that he can come home during his break and eat dinner with me on Wednesdays. The only down side is that as soon as Omid gets home, we basically need to go to sleep within the next 30 mins (especially me, who still has to be at work at 9am). But neither one of us feels like we should be going to sleep because he just got home. I am a night person as it is, so his new schedule isn't helping me go to sleep any earlier. Lets just say last week, I averaged a 1:30am bedtime. Not good when I have to wake up at 7:30am. It would be okay if I was one of those people who only needed 6 hours of sleep at night, but I'm totally not. And then, I sleep about 10-11 hours on the weekend to make up for it (also not good when you have a lot of stuff you need to get done). Hopefully, it will be better when classes start on the 17th and I'm too exhausted to stay up past 12:30 anyway. But we aren't there yet, which is why I am awake at 12:13am writing this post instead of getting ready for bed. We'll get there...

From the Holidays to the Hell of our Apartment

So we managed to live through Christmas. With limited time to do our shopping and prepare to visit my family, we somehow purchased the gifts we needed and got them all to the car to make the trip. 


Now maybe some of you might be wondering why I am not going crazy talking about "our first Christmas together" as a married couple. But in all honesty, we didn't go out of our way to make it super special or anything. Omid spent Christmas with my family last year, which was extremely exciting because it was his first Christmas ever. I had a blast picking a present out for him and buying stuff to fill his stocking and introducing him to all of our Christmas traditions. But this year, Christmas just seemed to sneak up on us and wasn't nearly as exciting amidst all of the craziness of the last month of our lives. Omid and I agreed to not get each other gifts (he tried to trick me and buy one anyways, but it was an epic fail. serves him right). So in conclusion, Christmas was delightful, as it always is. A true vacation for me - I got to sleep in, eat infinite amounts of food and holiday treats, and spending time with some of the funniest and lovable peeps I know. But it couldn't last forever - I had to come back and face real life. 


And if I thought my life was a mess when I left, it was a natural disaster when I returned. Take piles of wedding gifts and other piles of old stuff that needs to be thrown out/donated and add Christmas gifts - you have what seems to be an apartment from the show Hoarders.  And if my words aren't convincing enough, I have included pictures (despite how embarrassing they are) to truly depict the horrificness of the situation.

Yes, Omid, it is quite terrifying

This use to be the corner the wedding gifts were neatly stacked in. 

This use to be the dining area. (yes, those are my thank you notes)

I know what you are thinking - "Geez, Brittany. How could you let it come to this?" Excellent question. Two simple words: GRAD SCHOOL. It's my excuse for everything now. Its my excuse for being tired, being moody, being stressed, not working out anymore, not cleaning, not cooking, not unpacking wedding gifts, not writing thank you notes, etc. The list goes on. There are some people in my program what work full time, go to school, have kids, have pets, cook, and do a thousand other things. Well power to those people, but I'm not one of them. Grad school plus getting married was enough to wipe me out - and the rest went to hell. So there you have it - my sorry excuse. But it's not too late. Alas, I have until Jan. 17th until classes start again. And things WILL GET DONE. These things include:

• Changing my name (getting a new social security card, drivers license and passport) 
• Writing thank you notes (So far I've done 12 - I think a faster pace might be needed)
• Unpacking the rest of the wedding gifts and finding space for them (easier said then done)
• Completely reorganizing the kitchen so that everything fits (we'll see about that one)
• Donate all the stuff that I don't need anymore (the pile in the dining area)

I should have made way more progress in the last three days than writing 12 thank you cards and doing a few loads of laundry. However, I was too busy being overwhelmed and watching a Law and Order: SVU marathon. But the time has come. The procrastinating ENDS NOW. And what I have come to realize is that my actions don't just affect me anymore. My unwillingness to accomplish anything makes my poor husband crazy. Its not fair to him that we live like this - especially because he is so willing to help with anything. Its not that he won't do anything - its that I get CRAZY when he does things without me. "Why did you put the bowls there?" "No, don't hang that picture, I am still deciding where I want it." "No, I think we should do the thank you's together." You see, I have some control issues. And I want to be part of all decision making when organizing our apartment. So if I'm not willing to do anything, Omid can't either. But Omid has an abundance of something that I barely have at all - Patience. And he's given me all that he can. He has reminded me that we are a TEAM. And we will get this done - together. So as a TEAM, we are tackling this place one step at a time. And hopefully, soon, it will really start feeling like our home.