I always said once I got married I would become a regular blogger.

Eh...I say a lot of things.

There is muchly to update ya'll on. First of all, I live in Texas now, because I got married and moved (wedding pics are on Facebook). And I don't say "ya'll"....yet...but it's growing on me.

Sometimes Houston looks like this:

Most of the time, though, it just looks like this:

Also I have a husband. And I think that's the nicest thing that has ever happened to me. Behold his cuteness:

James and I can't decide whether we love each other more than we love doughnuts...because we REALLY love doughnuts.

With no further ado, here are some delish lil tidbits of my life as of.....well, since I last blogged back in April.

The husband and I went on a honeymoon. That's English for "luna de miel..." in case you were wondering. We went to Orlando and it was the BEST! We took pictures, and some of them looked like this:

Yummiest of all the foods we tried. Shrimp and kielbasa and hot sauce and beans and me hace agua la boca....

 Fresh salmon, tomato, and basil pasta

An Argentine dish you say? Why yes, I must try it.

Oh yeah, and we were there too. Here are pictures of things other than food:

There were paddle boats to rent on the little lake outside of our time share.

Classic shot at Disneyland in front of the castle

We bought plenty of snacky snacks to make lunches each day.

Swings at the resort where we stayed.

Breakfast out on our lovely balcony.

Our favorite roller coaster!

Flipping whales, yo.

Posing with our pal.

Getting eaten by a shark. Nbd.

I love sugar.

That's not us.

That is.

Dinner one night.

Cocoa Beach

Aside from our honeymoon, we took two other quick trips. One was for Laura and Mason's wedding and it was lovely. It was especially nice just to remind ourselves that mountains and dry, breathable air still do exist, even if they don't exist in Texas. It was so good to see old roomies and family. We didn't take many pictures, and although we were out for the wedding, you can't necessarily tell from these pics:

I love my Brooke and Mary friends. We love our Laura too, but she was popular on the night of her wedding dinner.

This is my new favorite picture of us. Just sitting in the McKean front yard drinking in Utah air and mountains.

This is James' new favorite picture of us. I was a bridesmaid for the wedding and LOVED the outfits!!!!

We also took a little time off and a little trip to Corpus Christi for the 4th of July holiday.  We just wanted to investigate another part of this massive state we now live in, so we took a memorable adventure, which we called "the P.S. to our honeymoon."

A street art fair. James loved all the jewelry and skull art.

We finally went to WHATABURGER-Texas' "In n Out" I guess. And this is the original/first restaurant.

Down by the gulf just people-, boat-, and seagull-watching.

Pretty.

This dude looked like a banana. So I snapped a pic.

Awesome museum. Called the USS Lexington and it was a WWII aircraft carrier. So cool.

Hey James.

James borrowed my sunglasses the whole trip. :)

Helicopter.

Planes.

Yella plane.

We went to the beach, but the water in the Gulf of Mexico is pretty nast. And there were dead jellyfish washed up all over shore and it itched to get in the water. So we played near the water, threw a frisbee, and soaked up some sun.

We ate at this AMAZING Mediterranean place.

We ate this too. You probably don't care, but I take lots of pictures of food.

 And for those of you who are interested, or who are just scrolling down....here are a few cool pictures from inside of the USS Lexington museum where we spent several hours:

Narrow stairways.

James wears his..MY.. sunglasses inside.

Just keeping my eye out for something...or saluting someone.

Close sleeping quarters.

Good movie.

Dining area.

Captain's quarters. How fancy.

Barbershop.

Cafeteria. Super real food and real workers.

Dentist.

X-rays.

Chapel.

Anyway, it was cool to see how much was included in that ship.

But normally our life consists of James going out of town every Monday afternoon and getting home every Thursday night and then we party hard on the weekends. I just finished a 3-month internship in corporate wellness with a fitness center here and  really enjoyed it. I got to teach some cycling classes, design workouts, create bulletins and flyers, perform fitness assessments, and a few weeks ago I taught several workshops on corrective exercises.


I finished the last elective for my major online in a few months this summer and am now cruising through my last general class (an English class) like a turtle in quicksand. That is all that stands between me and being officially graduated. I think I can, I think I can.

I'm working with the cub scouts, taking charge of the ward RS volleyball team and have been substituting playing the piano in primary quite a bit. James is teaching gospel doctrine and he rocks at it.

Here are a few pictures of normal life:

(Please note what most of these pictures have in common...hahaha)

We went to a cooking class!!...and posed by the knives.

Cooked with mussels...and they were disgusting!!!

Went out for frozen yogurt at a place that has dividers for your cups!

James was so excited he poured his all down his shirt.

We had a cultural night at the church and tried a little food from everywhere.

Plus dessert.

And then sometimes we try to cook at home, and we call each other "Chef Aleisha" and "Chef James" because we're obsessed with the Food Network.

When we're not eating or doing a number of other things we go to the temple.

But then we come home and eat again. Our apartment complex puts on a brunch each month. We had poptarts, mini muffins, giant muffins, fruit, and juice. Oh yeah and a Honey Bun.

We went to a Houston Dynamo's soccer game, courtesy of James' job.

Loved the people sitting in front of us standing and waving flags so we couldn't see anything.

Yes please, the more flags the merrier. Wave them proud; there's no one sitting behind you!

I know it looks like a volcano, but it's a firework.

We went to the Houston Zoo and laughed at these fish eyes.

And these antlers, which I learned are actually longhorns.

And we're cool.

We had an indoor picnic just this last Friday when the torrential rainstorm tried to put a damper on our date plans.

And there you have a most remarkable update of our lives. I was going to post some pictures of the apartment, but I will save that for another post.....probably 5 months from now.

Hey guys! Remember how I have a blog? Probably not.....our memory doesn't go that far back.

I do have a blog, and I have a goal that once I am married I will blog more regularly because that's what married girls do, right? They blog away about how exciting their life is.

Well, I've got news for you, people! My life is exciting RIGHT NOW. And that is why I don't have time to blog about it! How about a few brief updates since I last wrote......in October or November.

So Thanksgiving was lovely and Christmas break was amazing. I saw James for most of it both in CO and UT. For Christmas he gave me a "coupon" to teach me how to ski with a "handsome instructor named James F. McKean." I'd never been skiing before. I'm NOT a loser, I swear. So he took me and it was amazing fun and I veered off a green course onto a blue one and almost died and then cried like a little girl, but other than that....actually....including that....it was perfect.
                                           


James and I decided over Christmas break that in 2013 we wanted to set the goal to be married and we needed each others' help with that. So we went ring shopping and all the fun began!

I saw him every second or third weekend for a few more weekends after that, and then on February 22nd, WE GOT ENGAGED! You probably knew that from facebook though. And you probably knew about it February 22nd so this is super duper old news to you. Go you.

      

More like GO US! James and I were busy with wedding plans this whole semester....the least of which included engagements with my awesome Aunt Natalie, who did a fabulous job and we had so much fun!

                         

I'm about to wrap up an 18-credit semester. I worked 20 hours a week, and still made sure I made time for exercise and socializing. James has worked about....26 hours a day, but somehow still exercises and talks to me every night for a good while. It has been nutso. Wonderfully nutso trying to make time for everything.

So here are the coming weeks:

April 14-20: Last two days of classes, finals begin, and James moves into our apartment in Houston
April 21-27: Finish up finals, graduate college (well, walk....I technically don't graduate until August), and drive home to CO with the fam
April 28-May 4: Finish up final wedding plans in CO and drive back out to UT because that weekend we're getting MARRIED!
May 5-May11: Honeymoon (James won't tell me where we're going) and CO reception
May 12-May 19: Road trip down to TX and I move into our apt
May 20-May 27: I start an internship down in Houston with MediFit and start on my last two classes (through Independent Study so I can get my diploma in August) and James goes back to work.

And now that I've updated you through the end of May.....don't expect another blog post for a while....hehehe.

Last weekend (Oct. 26-28) I went to Texas, ya'll. And I did not want to come back home. Mainly because of THIS GUY, but also because I left all of my responsibilities and homework in Utah!

Doesn't James look dashing in this pink shirt? I'll take credit for that....

This picture was taken after we went to James' awesome work party in a mansion home on Friday night. The "mansion" used to be owned by an NBA player and looked and felt more like a museum than a home. There was a shark in the pool in the backyard, and even though I never saw it move I know it was real. They had a name tag especially for lil ol' me, everyone was dressed up, horderves were served (shrimp, stuffed mushrooms, fancy thangs), and everyone had a wine glass in hand (well, most everyone). The new guys were introduced, and James was introduced as the smartest new BA this year. He probably doesn't like that I put that, but it's probably true, so oh well. Dinner was awesome: steak, chicken, fish, eggplant, crabcakes, salads, asparagus, green beans, and then later came dessert: cake, brownies, and creme brulee. I really liked the people James works with; they're all very down to earth and personable, and it was nice to get a glimpse into his new life in Houston. It's easy to see why he's happy there. :)

The rest of the weekend was much more laid back. And that was perfect. It went too fast though.

He showed me his office! It's on the 26th floor and the view is awesome, minus the no-mountains part. When I asked James where the mountains were he said "they knocked them down for other things." I do not like the flatness of Texas.

Random walking lady took our picture. She almost didn't know how to use it because it's a camera and not an iphone.

I posed exactly the way that sign is telling me not to pose for a picture. Such a rebel.

This is personally my favorite. I love parks. and James. and not coming home. But I did.

Oh, and I would post the picture of us when we went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, but the waiter.....kind of caught us by surprise and we both look....well, bad, for lack of a better word.

I cheat on tests. Or at least I did this week. Makes for a great blog-post, huh? Bet you're thinking there's a catch, but I'm just that bad folks...bad to the hueso.

The best way to cheat on a test is to try and be so obvious about cheating that no one would ever guess you're cheating. I've got it down to an art. I refer to the calculator. Good ol' TI-83 Plus. You know him, I know him. Just luh dat guy. Got to a really hard math problem on my nutrition test...ya know, something like 7 times 75 and you bet I pulled out a calculator! I ain't doin' no LONGHAND. And what's shorter than longhand, ya'lll? Cheating, ya'll.

So anyway, I pulled out Texy (that's TI-83 Plus' real name) and he helped me out like he do and I was on my way like I is. I finished the test, completely dissatisfied with the lack of confidence I felt with regards to my score, and to make matters worse....as I handed over the bubble sheet I read these two words up in the right-hand corner:

NO CALCULATORS.

Oops.

Okay, well that oops gives away my "intentional" cheating.

So it was unintentional after all, but I decided it would be best just to try and get away with using a calculator on a test I wasn't supposed to use a calculator on since my score was going to be low enough anyway.

And now you know how bad I am.

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Actually, truth be told I was just horribly embarrassed. Really, Aleisha? You used a calculator to solve problems like "7 times 75"? Did first grade do NOTHING for you?

I came home and wrote a huge email about my huge saga to my professor, asking for partial credit because I at least knew how to solve the problems even if I didn't solve them LONGHAND. I worded everything perfectly and re-read the email a dozen times, making sure to leave nothing out.

3 minutes later my professor responded saying he didn't care one bit that I'd used a calculator; he'd never intended for it to be a "no calculator" test. Okay, now I'm embarrassed about writing that mammoth email apologizing and begging for partial points. And then, to add to my embarrassment, the professor mentions that he didn't think there were any problems hard enough to even need a calculator. So essentially, I'm dumb.

Embarrassed times three, dumb, and not really hard core bad girl after all. What a disappointing Monday.


Morals of this story: learn LONGHAND in case you ever take a NO CALCULATOR test. Always check the top right-hand corner of your bubble sheet just in case. If you have no morals and want to cheat, you can probably get away with it in the testing center because I just pulled that calculator out STRAIGHT UP in the FRONT desk right in front of one of them wandering "cheat-catchers," and they did not catch my unintentional cheating.

And I didn't do so bad on the test after all.