tay + kyns

wifed up wednesday: the two A's of an ideal homemaker

2012-02-22T19:13:00.002-05:00

this week, I present to you, a lesson in homemaking.

You may find yourself scoffing "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HOMEMAKING?" Well, I know what I've learned from reading this book.

You see, I found this book several years ago at the D.I., I saw the title and I saw the year it was published (1967) and I knew it had to be mine, because I knew it would be filled with sexist gems.

Since then, I haven't been able to get past the first chapter, but I've decided that from here on out I will pop in every now and then on wifed up Wednesday with a lesson in homemaking which I will learn from this book, which will require me to read it.

In the beginning of the book, she compares homemakers like unto a diamond. "Perfectly cut so as to bring out countless beautiful highlights. In both homemakers and diamonds, certain qualities must be present if each is to sparkle brilliantly and thereby be valued and cherished."

She then goes into listing a the twenty "facets" of an ideal homemaker....

Today, I am going to teach you about FACET NO. 1: "the two A's" that have the ability to completely change your world (assuming that your are a "real" lady and your whole world only exists within your home, as it should.)

The first is "A" is ATTITUDE

Your attitude can MAKE or BREAK your homemaking experience. You should not simply view your housework as a necessary evil that you must complete each day in order. If you don't enjoy your housework but complete it anyway, this is not good enough. You must love those dirty dishes, the skid marks on the toilet, the cooking, and the mountains of laundry. Otherwise, no one is going to appreciate what you do, and no one will like you. If you're struggling with this, it might help you to take your wedding picture and remind yourself of what a "SWEET" bride you were. Strive to be that sweet girl that your husband married, EVEN while cleaning the litter box.

The second "A" is APPEARANCE

BEAUTY IS A DUTY! Every morning you should get dressed VERY first thing in the morning. Getting dressed includes putting on comfortable clothes, combing your hair, applying make-up (EVEN A BARN LOOKS BETTER PAINTED), and putting on shoes. The reason most husbands are unhappy is because their wives have neglected their appearance. They find their wives slopping around in housecoats and curlers in their hair! CAN YOU IMAGINE? (Oh, don't forget about perfect posture!)

Remember, if you LOOK THE PART of a perfect housewife, you will ACT THE PART.

Are you still confused about what you should look like right after waking up?

Let me help you:

or actually, prettier than this.

We were bored, so I curled Taylor's hair.

2012-02-21T16:44:00.001-05:00

it got really weird, really fast.

but hey, at least I didn't put make-up on him.

wifed up wednesday: best pizza dough ever + DIY Fat Sticks!

2012-02-15T22:10:00.002-05:00

yo yo yo. so today i am bringing to you a fail-proof pizza dough recipe which I found on pinterest from the website "Lauren's Latest". Unfortunately this blog post will not help you lose weight and it's really long but I've got TWO recipes up in here and I promise it will be worth your time. If you're into this sort of thing.

She has a pretty awesome and easy tutorial to follow if you click that link above, BUT I made you a tutorial too. They really aren't that different except a couple of things. FIRST, her tutorial is using a kitchenaid stand mixer, which I am poor and do not have, so mine involves a hand mixer with dough hooks. SECOND, her recipe on the tutorial for the garlic cheese breadsticks, is different from mine, I made some adjustments as I don't really love garlic or handling things such as garlic or onions.

Here is what Lauren said you need to know about this pizza dough:

"{1} I use warm water-not hot, not cold. Pleasantly warm. Yeast likes warmth. And I don’t ever use a thermometer because thermometers are annoying for this kind of stuff. Don’t over think this step. If it feels nice and warm like baby bath water, then you’re good. {2} I use honey- I seem to get better results with honey. I don’t know why. You can use sugar if you prefer. {3}Bread flour- you must must must use bread flour. Bread flour means more gluten. More gluten means chewy crust. Chewy crust = good. The end. {4} Knead, knead, knead. Kneading means gluten! And we all know what gluten means. Knead your dough for 6 minutes pretty please. {5}Use a pizza stone if you have one. Put it in your cold oven, and then crank that baby up to the hottest temperature it will go to. For me, it was 500 degrees. That will really give you a crispy bottom, like you get at the restaurants"

So, this is the third time I've made this recipe. I want to tell you that I know for a fact that it is the best. I know this because 1) Taylor loved it, and he is SO particular, and he never likes homemade pizza dough. 2) April and I tried a couple other recipes and none beat this one.

Let's get started, first, here's what you'll need:
[this makes about 1lb of dough. which is enough for two 12-inch pizzas]

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (You have to use active dry and not fast rising, it makes a difference)
1 tablespoon honey (or sugar, like Lauren I also used honey)
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups bread flour (give or take 1/2 cup depending on head and humidity)

In a large bowl, add the yeast and honey (or sugar) to a cup of warm water. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes until the yeast starts to bubble and foam so you know it's alive. Pour in the salt and oil then add about half of the flour.

This the part where if you have a stand mixer you can use it to do all of the work. Other wise, pull out your dough hooks for your hand mixer. (Just so you know the first time I made this, I didn't realize that I had dough hooks so I just used the regular egg beaters to initially get the flour incorporated then I hand kneaded it to avoid burning up the motor. It was a pain in the butt, but it worked.)

Then gradually add the rest of the flour until the dough is at the right consistency. It should be slightly tacky but it shouldn't stick to your fingers when you touch it. When you get here it's time to KNEAD!! Knead for 6 minutes with either your hand mixer or stand mixer or your hands. After I discovered my dough hooks, I kneaded with those and then kneaded for an extra minute with my hands, just to cover my bases.

Once you are done, the dough should be smooth (like a baby's butt!) and easy to work with. Lightly grease the bowl so the dough doesn't dry out and cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise 1-2 hours.

While you are waiting, clean up your mess right away. It makes life easier. it also makes you seem like an awesome wife. ...or husband.

Then you're done and you can do whatever you want with the dough. You can also keep it in the fridge for a few days until you're ready to use it and I haven't tried to, but I'm sure you can also freeze it.

Today, we're going to make what I like to call "Fat Sticks" fat sticks are cheesy bread sticks that they serve at the pizza place (Roy's Pizza, formerly: FAT JACK'S) in my hometown. Sometimes when I'm homesick and reminiscing, I think of them and drool. This recipe is pretty close, and I kind of made it up.

Ingredients

1/2 of the pizza dough you just made
1/4 pound of grated mozzarella cheese (let's be honest, you can be much more generous w/ cheese if you want)
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder (or more if you like garlic, or you could use minced garlic if you want)
salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees with your pizza stone in the oven. (If you don't have a pizza stone, you can just flip a cookie sheet upside down.)

Prepare your dough on some parchment paper (makes it easier for transferring to stone or cookie sheet) and flatten it out to about 12 inches (if can be a circle, a square, a heart, a misshapen blob, it doesn't matter.)
*Here's a fun tip, if you're a poor newlywed without a rolling pin, you can just just use a round cup instead. That's what I do, because every time I go to buy a rolling pin the cheap ones are out of stock and then only have the 20 dollar ones.

In a small bowl melt the 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave. (about 10-15 seconds on high should do it) once butter is melted add the oregano, garlic powder, and salt&pepper to butter and stir. then dump the butter mixture onto the flattened dough and spread it all over that baby. (i recommend doing this when you make pizza too, it makes the crust better)

Then sprinkle the cheese all over and pop it in the oven for about 9-10 minutes or until bubbly and golden (I think you'll know when it's right.) Let it cool about 2 minutes before serving. Serve with marinara or my personal fave, ranch.

So, I accidentally bought reduced fat mozzarella (don't do this! gross.) and it did not cook pretty. I refuse to show an unappetizing picture of this. So I'll so what it's supposed to look like instead.

Let me know how you like it!

a valentine's public service announcement.

2012-02-14T12:21:00.001-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day, cute people.

Isn't this the cutest thing?

Today, we are poor so we are not giving into the commercialism of Valentine's day. I'm not really sure that Taylor will even do anything cause if he can't buy me stuff, he is completely hopeless. (He's SO romantic) Last night he did the dishes (we don't have a dishwasher, remember, so this is a big deal) and cleaned the kitchen and declared "THIS IS PART OF YOUR VALENTINE'S PRESENT." I'll take it.

Whenever I hear stories of girlfriends and wives getting offended that their man forgot Valentine's day, I think that's silly. Don't get me wrong, I like Valentine's day, but I don't like the sense of entitlement (or lack thereof) that it gives people. I don't like that it's a day where people expect gifts because they're in relationships or they feel sad because they aren't romantically involved with anyone. It's should be a day about ALL KINDS of love, cookies, and cutting out paper hearts. It should be a day where you get to creatively and openly express your love for the people in your life, whether that be your spouse, sibling, grandma, cat, child etc.

So, you feel like this is Singles Awareness Day? Instead of focusing on yourself, and what you feel like you're missing out on, focus on the people you do have in your life. They love you. And you love them. And that is a wonderful thing.

If you just flat out hate Valentine's day and don't celebrate it. That's fine. But I think you should still take every oppourtunity possible to let the people you love, know just HOW MUCH you love them. Not JUST because you never know when you'll never get a chance. But also because it helps them feel good. I know I feel good when people tell me they love and care about me. Don't you?

Oh, and it just wouldn't be a married blogger valentine's post if I didn't say, OMG, I LOVE MY HUSBAND! I also love my dog. She is the cutest.

I love all of you, too!

Giveaway Winner: ANNOUNCED

2012-02-14T00:47:00.002-05:00

First of all thank you all soooo much for your participation. All you guys waiting until the very last second are procrastinators after my own heart.

Anyway, I did this the old fashioned way as promised but, with a little twist, I let my dog pick the name out of the hat (beanie). I wasn't sure that she would be able to actually just grab one name out but, SHE DID. It was awesome.

AND

THE

WINNER

IS.....

JENALEE JOHA!

This was Jenjamin's submission which was super presh and awesome of her perfect child Gracie:

Congratulations Jenna, I hope you and Spreej use your fandango gift card wisely.

Thanks again to everyone who participated and if you missed the deadline for the giveaway just know that you can submit an art is picture anytime you want on the Victus Creus facebook page.

"remind me of your name again?"

2012-02-10T11:32:00.003-05:00

So last Friday we went to the Chili Cook Off at the church. We've actually gone to quite a few church activities which I am pretty proud of myself because I am normally a church anti-social. Where I come from I didn't need to be friends with people at church cause I had my own friends, also where I come from people at church suck. Here, people are friendly and cool/interesting.

Anyway, we've been in the ward for about... 4 months. Long enough that we're not really new. Long enough that we've met the same handful of people enough that we should remember their names, because they definitely remember ours, but for some reason my HUSBAND, can not remember anybody's names.

I was so embarrassed of him at this particular church function because people would be like, "hi taylor & kynslie" and Taylor would be like, "Remind me of your name again..." in a friendly tone, of course. But the time limit has passed where you can ask these people that without sounding like, "Hi, I'm an arsehole and you weren't significant enough to remember." I started keeping count in my head of how many times he said this to people that night, I got to 9 times and then got distracted.

He would even say that to people that we had never even met. Like instead of just saying, "Hi, I'm Taylor, what's your name?" He would say, "I'm Taylor, Remind me of your name again." and I just stared at him. I was in such awe of him, awe and embarrassment. There are other ways of talking to someone who's name you forgot. First of all, we're at church so you can just be like, "Brother" and "Sister" which to me is weird and what old people do, but it is acceptable, at church. There's also, buddy, guy, sir, ladyguy, ladysir, dude, bro, champ, sport, madam, girl, etc.

I'm not really sure how Taylor thrived and flourished so well in the single's ward before I came a long, with his blatant disregard for important personal details like someone's name. Maybe he lost his tact after he married me. Or maybe it was because he put out.

If you are reading this, and at some point this man of mine has forgotten your name, just ignore him. He called me Kinesly (pronounced Ka-eye-nz-lee) like the second time I met him, and I still married him. So he's obviously got some good qualities too.

wifed up wednesday: sigh, tissue pom poms.

2012-02-08T23:13:00.001-05:00

today i realized it was wednesday. i came home from work and i got distracted by video games. because i'm not really a good wife, i just pretend.

i was going to do a picture tutorial like last week but then some other things happened so i made this video. i realize that probably everyone on the planet knows how to make these.

sorry that i look disgusting and sorry that i'm so large. and sorry about my weird hair. and sorry about my dog. but really i'm not sorry about any of it. but i'm truly sorry for the aeropostale hoodie, I don't even know where it came from. i think my friend's exboyfriend. awkward.

here you go! enjoy. next week will be better, i swear.

Tay edited this video for me. I am grateful but I wasn't supervising so weird things happened.

Also, I took way too long and the camera cut off so there's no ending. but here is the end result, in my mouth:

i really hope i don't make a habit out of this video thing or it will defeat the purpose of a blog...

the time Taylor's neighbor got shot.

2012-02-06T00:52:00.000-05:00

throughout our travels i have found that when men tell stories to a group of people, their women (wife, girlfriend, fiance) like to "help" them tell the story. even, though, typically, it's a story that the woman was not around for, so most of the time their additions are either embellished or completely inaccurate. and so when this happens, it takes at least double the time for the guy to get through the story because she interrupts, or he has to constantly correct her.

in this video, Taylor tells the story of the time his neighbor was shot in the middle of the night. This was several years ago before we even met, but I help him tell the story anyway.

and sorry, a couple of times I almost busted up, because I think we are so hilarious.

ENJOY. (Nice thumbnail huh?)

don't forget about the GIVEAWAY.

HURRAY! A GIVEAWAY!

2012-02-04T12:16:00.000-05:00

Yes, you read that right. I'm doing a giveaway.

You see, my brother and his friends have started this company called Victus Creus. The main goal of their company is creating empowered, authentic art.

Here's a little tid bit about what they do:

'We accept art submissions from anybody who wants to contribute, that means you! We have a space where you can submit a scanned in copy of your piece along with a written statement of what the piece means to you, how it empowers you, etc. and your name (contact info if you’d like) and we’ll post it up for sale once it gets ten votes. Thus creating exposure for you, and creating a network of creativity that this whole community can benefit from. And the beauty part is that you can do this at any age or skill level! We want to help you on your path to a creative and empowering lifestyle!

Every piece comes with information about the artist. That means whether it was created by you or one of our other contributing artists, every piece (t shirts, hats, prints, that’s right, all of them) will come with a card like one you might see next to a painting in a gallery. These cards all contain written statements by the artist about what went through their head when they did the piece, why they did it, how it empowered them, etc. The cards will also come with contact info if you wish to include it. It is optional but we strongly recommend that you at least give a facebook page or email that people who buy your art from our website can reach you at. We want people to know that all of our contributing artists are important to us, and we want to support contributors in any way we can. Word of mouth advertising is important, so the more that people know about where their art pieces come from, the more support the artist gets. "

Anyway, currently, Victus Creus is working on a project called, "Art is....." They are asking everyone and

anyone to complete the sentence "Art is..." and write it on a piece of paper and take a picture of yourself (or have someone else do it) and post it on their facebook wall.

Kinda like me:

Obviously, you don't have to write it on a record, but you're also not limited to paper. You can get creative!

Now to the the fun part! The details of the giveaway:

I'm going to be giving away a $15 Fandango gift certificate! I know, I know it's not that crazy or cool. But, FREE MOVIES! Plus, I'll be drawing the name on February 13th, and the gift certificate is electronic, so you'll get it immediately, just in time for a VALENTINE'S DATE! (or whatever you want)

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY

1. Go "like" the Victus Creus facebook page (it can be found HERE!)*

2. Post your photo to their facebook page finishing the sentence "Art is..." (if this task is too daunting cause you're new at facebook, you can just email the picture to me and I'll get it to them: kynslie@gmail.com)

3. When you post the picture, tell them Kynslie sent you (So I know to enter your name in the drawing).

4. Tell your friends about the project and the giveaway! (you can just send them the link to this blog, to make easy on you)

5. If we get AT LEAST 10 submissions from this, I'll do the drawing. (So seriously, be sure to tell your friends!)

6. Check back here on February 13th for the announcing of the winner!

I'm not going to make any rules about how you have to follow our blog, but you're always more than welcome to, if you're not. We're not always the most exciting people, but there's always wifed up Wednesdays!

I'm just gonna do this the old fashioned way and put all your names in a hat, and whoever I draw out, wins!

Please don't feel like because you're not good at drawing or painting that you can't participate. I am seriously not good at anything . But art is everywhere and is part of everything, so this project is applicable to everyone! If you need to get inspired you can check out the other submissions by clicking riiiiiight here.

Plus, if you are one of those people who always takes pictures of yourself, this will be the easiest thing you've ever done.

*Why yes! I do also cater to time travelers: if you're old fashioned and don't have a facebook you can still participate by sending the pictures directly to my email!

by the way, we went kayaking.

2012-02-03T21:43:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I totally forgot to blog about this, cause it was kind of a big deal. Last month, we went kayaking on the river here in Savannah.

Let me tell you why this was a big deal, because Kynslie, does not like outdoorsy stuff. I like to fish, and I like to camp in a place that I didn't have to hike to. That's pretty much it. I mean, I like being OUTSIDE for like, the beach, picnics, four wheeling, tennis, outdoor movies, and being on yachts. But basically, anything that someone might wear Teva sandals, hiking boots, and/or eating granola for energy while doing, it's pretty safe to assume, I'll hate doing that thing.

Back to the kayaks. So, we went kayaking because April really wanted to, and everyone else was cool with it.. I really did not want to do, I didn't know how, and I figured I'd probably die and/or sink the kayak with my fat body. But it turns out that Taylor's aunt Martha's neighbor used to be a kayak instructor and she had like 30 extra kayaks, and since she loves Martha, she let us borrow hers, for free. So it was me, Tay, April, Jamie, and Jeff. Everyone had been at least once, except me. But she taught us some stuff before we got on the river.

me, looking like a boy, waiting to get pushed in.

First, Jamie went out, then me, I started to drift down the river slightly and Jamie had started to drift almost all the way across the river, everyone was yelling at her to come back thinking that she couldn't hear but really she was struggling to turn around. While everyone was focused on her, I started to panic because I was going down the river and couldn't turn around. Then everyone started yelling at me to come back. After much struggle and panic. some kind of miracle happened and Jamie and I both made it back. The kayak lady made us wait on the shore while she watched the others practice, because she no longer trusted us.

after i finally started to make my way back after almost drifting out to sea.

Finally, we were on our way, and I was surprisingly, pretty good at kayaking once I got the hang of it. I wasn't the fastest, but my kind husband kept my pace so I had someone to talk to. It was hard work. I was hoping that because we were traveling with the current that the river would do most of the work, WRONG. Also, poor Jeff and Taylor are so giant that the kayaks were not made for men of their stature and they both pretty much instantly lost feeling in their legs.

The entire journey took us over an hour, maybe more, it felt like we were traveling for days after awhile. ESPECIALLY when we got to the mouth of the river and the waves were crazy and I thought I was going to flip.

The lady dropped us off at our start location and then picked us up at the Isle of Hope Marina so we didn't have to fight against the current (I'm pretty sure I would have died.) While April was helping the lady pull the boats of the water her phone fell out of her jacket and into the river. It was funny. But she upgraded to iPhone so I don't feel bad for her.

The next day, my arms felt like they were going to break off of my body. But I was very proud of myself because I didn't complain, whine, cry, die, flip, or kill anyone or anything in the process. Hurray for doing new things! It was a cool way to start the new year.

wifed up wednesday: reusable dryer sheets

2012-02-01T11:43:00.000-05:00

are you ready for wifed up Wednesday round 2? I hope so, because I put a little more effort into this one.

This is something I actually learned about long ago, and something we have [kinda] been doing since our entire marriage. (A WHOLE 10 MONTHS!)

A while ago when we were still dating Tay bought me this craft book at Urban Outfitters. I must confess that I have done next to NONE of the crafts in the book yet (but I marked the ones I would like to try. That's what life was like before pinterest.) Except for this one thing.

reusable dryer sheets.

So, here's the run down. Basically, dryer sheets are made of the same stuff as fabric softener. Therefore, all you need is some kind of vehicle to get the softener up in there with your clothes while they're in the dryer. To do this, most people just go to the store and buy dryer sheets. Does this sound like you? Because it was me. But we can change that! Wouldn't you like to save money and help the environment just a smidgen? (It's really a win win.) You would? Then keep reading.

To do this, here's what you'll need:

One yard of cotton fabric

or random pieces of fabric that are big enough to cut out 8X8 squares.

Scissors, or rotary cutter

or laser cutter, whatever, just some way to cut the fabric.

Sewing Machine or Serger

Don't get discouraged, this is actually optional

Bottle of your favorite fabric softener

or the cheapest, or whatever kind you have.

Empty spray bottle

They can be found for like 99cents in the travel sized item section at Target

Choose your fabric.

Cut your fabric into 8x8 squares (don't worry if they're not perfect.)

This step is optional, but I ironed my squares, to make sewing easier.

rather than just leaving the squares as is, like in the book, I chose to double up on the squares. I did this because reasons. You don't have to do this, and obviously you can't if you're not sewing.

Then I sewed the edges for two reasons, 1) to sew the two pieces together. 2) to keep the edges from fraying over time. You can also use your serger on them. If you have one.

I have a serger, but it's in the garage, so I just tried out some of my different sewing patterns.

Then, you fill your spray bottle up with softener, keep the sheets and sprayer near your dryer. Right before you start drying a load just moderately spray your sheet and toss it in with the clothes. Pretty simple right?

*WARNING: if your laundry room has tile or hardwood floor, careful where you're spraying because the softener WILL make your floor slippery. I learned this the hard way.*

I actually came across a blog where they posted about the reusable sheets but instead of spraying they soaked the fabric in softener and water for like two days. I'm sure it works but that seems like a unnecessary amount of work. Whatever floats dat boat, I guess.

When we first got married and into our first apartment in South Carolina, I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get all of our household items under control. I had remembered the reusable dryer sheets idea, but I didn't have any random fabric so I decided we could try to use some cheap wash cloths instead. It actually worked pretty good for awhile until the wash cloths started to be used for other things like cleaning. So I think if you wanted, you could just use cheap wash cloths, or even cut up an old t-shirt. Get creative. I just felt like making something pretty.

A lot of people ask if this also eliminates static like dryer sheets, I can't really say YES IT DOES! But since we've been doing this, we haven't had any problems with static. So.

Try it out, and tell me what you think!

Priesthood Campout at Fort Pulaski

2012-01-31T23:44:00.000-05:00

The weekend before last I went camping at Fort Pulaski withthe priesthood brethren. Despite beingin January it was really good weather for camping. I arrived at sunset and the view back towardsSavannah from the bridge to Fort Pulaski was very pretty. When I got there everyone was gathered aroundthe fire making hobo dinners. To behonest, I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a nicer dinner ready, butI was surprised when a pulled out my hobo dinner from the fire and it wasdelicious. So delicious, in fact, that Imade a second. And I was delighted tofind that there was stuff to make smores with.

After dinner, everyone gathered around to sing a few churchsongs and to share a spiritual thought. It caught me off guard that they were doing this, even though I shouldhave expected it, but I was glad they were. It’s not necessarily the type of thing that guys would gather round thefire to do which is why it was nice that it was a priesthood camp out. We had Ben Clark play the guitar to accompanyus singing and also had a special number on the harmonica. Charles Jensen shared a spiritual thoughtrelating the battle at Fort Pulaski to the battle in our spiritual lives.

After the spiritual thought and music, a few of the adults and a few of the boyswalked over to the tunnels outside of the fort at night. Some of the leaders had enjoyable time frighteningthe boys by throwing rocks into the woods and making them think there somethingout there. One of the guys got a coke atthe vending machine with his credit card, at which time some of the boysstarted hitting the buttons. Notunderstanding that the transaction with the man’s credit card was still open, they startedyelling, “this machine’s giving out free cokes!” when two more cokes came out. I wasn’t there to see it, so I just thoughtDaniel really like coke when I saw him with three of them, but when heexplained it I thought that was pretty hilarious.

It had been a while since I’ve been camping, so I wasworried I might not sleep very well, but it turned out I slept pretty well. I woke up a few times early in the morning,listening for sounds of breakfast being made and debating whether I should getout of my tent to go to the bathroom. After drifting in and out of sleep for a little while I decided thateven though I hadn’t heard breakfast being made I should go ahead and getup. I was really excited about having breakfastbeing made without having been asked to contribute. When I finally peered out of my tent, to myastonishment of the campground was deserted. They had already left to start the service project without me.

With camping hair I went off to meet them. Luckily I had turned my phone off to save enough battery power for at least one call, but I hadn’t anticipated that it would be a help everyone left me I don’t know where to go call. When I met up with them, there wasn’t much left to do, so I walked with them as they picked trash up on the outer dike surrounding Fort Pulaski. In his spiritual thought the night before, Charles had told us about how the union army had defeated Fort Pulaski we have the newly invented rifle canon. It was very cool to see that the battered wall of the fort that they had destroyed from a mile away on Tybee Island.

friday i'm in love. then it's saturday and i hate you.

2012-01-30T15:58:00.000-05:00

I know it's not kosher to make things like this public, but now it's funny to me, and I want to remember it. So I am blogging about it.

All week long I look forward to the weekend, for one reason, and one reason only, because Taylor doesn't have to work on Saturdays and we get to hang out all day.

I suppose since we're going to spend thousands of Saturdays together in our lifetime, I should expect some of them to be a bust. And this Saturday was a bust.

I don't really know what it was but a couple hours after waking up, I found myself snapping at Taylor for no reason.

And it

all went

downhill

from there.

We went to the grocery store and disagreed about pretty much every single thing that went in our cart. And Publix was really busy, so I'm sure the other people in there thought we were nuts. THEN, it got to the point where I would be like, "We need this, let's get this brand of it." and Taylor would be like, "Um, no, we need this brand." and then I would be all, "FINE!! FINE! FINE. JUST GET IT. YOU'RE RIGHT .YOU'RE ALWAYS RIGHT." And I would storm off, but then obviously have to come right back, cause where am I supposed to go?

So, as the day went on it was like that with every single thing that happened. I found that the worse mood I got in, the more it rubbed off onto Taylor. And before I knew it we were both in such rotten moods, and I realized that no matter how hard I tried to convince myself that it was all his fault, I couldn't. Because it was actually my fault. But it was TOO LATE to fix it, because I'm prideful and once I pick an emotion, I stick with it.

Later on, on our way to Stake Conference, I finally told him I was sorry for being so mean. And he also apologized.

Afterwards we went and got ChikFilA and laughed about how we hated each other all day.

Then we went home and made out.

And now we love each other again.

On a slightly related note, here's my book recommendation for wives and future wives:

The only rule is that if you're going to read it, you have to put aside whatever triggers you to be offended by things, and open up your mind. Because otherwise, you're going to be mad and feel like she's saying it's entirely the woman's fault. Which she kind of is, but that's because, if you married a normal, nice guy (like me), it usually IS the woman's fault (just like Saturday being ihateUday, was pretty much my fault.) .. Anyway, you'll have to read and tell me what you think. I don't necessarily agree with everything in the entire book, but I feel like she definitely brings up some good points.

beautiful things.

2012-01-29T16:59:00.000-05:00

some of you may or may not know that Anthony Green is one of my favorite modern day musical artists.

some of you may not even know who the crap Anthony Green is. Well, I will tell you, Anthony Green is a singer/songwriter. He is the former singer of Saosin. The current singer of Circa Survive, and also a solo artist.

like City and Colour, I introduced Taylor to Anthony Green at the very beginning of the beginning of our relationship. At first I shared with him some Circa Survive, and Taylor wasn't totally into it. I wasn't actually surprised because when I love a musical artist, it's usually because they are weird and different (hence why I hate American Idol so much, because everyone sounds the same), and I don't necessarily expect people to feel the same kind of love and admiration that I have. Anthony Green is weird, his voice is unique, his lyrics don't make sense, and the way he yells in some of his songs will either terrify you, annoy you, or give you the chills (<-- me). BUT, I made a decision to make Taylor listen to Anthony Green's solo album, Avalon. (Because let's be honest, Taylor is just as weird as me, if not more.)

Low and behold, Taylor loved it. And overtime grew to love Circa Survive as well.

ANYWAY, so to finally get to the point. On Wednesday (January 25th), Anthony was playing in Atlanta for his Beautiful Things tour, as he just released a new solo album. For Christmas, Taylor bought us tickets. So we headed out at about 2PM to make the 4 hour drive to Atlanta.

We got to the A around 5:45PM and met up with Jamie [+ the Nef fetus] for dinner. And then she so kindly dropped us off at the corner for the show.

As usual before a show Taylor had an internal (with himself) and external (with me) conflict about whether or not to bring his camera. I do love having awesome pictures but I hate having to worry about holding anything at show. And also, sometimes they don't allow cameras and so you never know when you're going to lose your place in line to take your camera back to the car. So he settled for my crappy little point and shoot and these are the pictures he got with it before the camera died.

standing in line outside.

the dear hunter's keyboard

the singer for The Dear Hunter

And then just like that, the battery was dead. Along with the batteries in our phones. We literally had nothing to capture the memories with, aside from our minds. (imagine that.) It was really unfortunate because we were at the front (to the side, right up against the speaker.) But Tay's DSLR would have got some amazing shots. Probably even some drops of sweat on the lens.

[The strangest part of this show for me, was how everything was exactly on time. They said the doors would open at 7, and they opened exactly at 7. They said the opening band would play at 8, and they started playing exactly at 8. I mean the entire concert was over by 10:30 PM. Which was great for us who had to drive 4 hours home that night.]

When Anthony came on, he was his usual smiley, foul mouthed self. He loves to interact with the crowd and that's part of what makes him so fun to watch. He likes to high five, make eye contact, make jokes, and get everyone to sing along. The other part of what makes him fun to watch is how he moves on stage. I don't think I could ever describe it to you with words. So here.

He's my favorite. and he's a complete weirdo.

Also, in closing, I would like to say that aside from the "show hoes" invading my space, we had an all around good time. It was well worth the drive.

I will leave you with my favorite Anthony Green song ever, which was also the song that Taylor and I had our first dance at our wedding to. "Miracle Sun"

Oh also THIS.
[because I do what I want, and this segment made me cry a little.]

bowl cutz.

2012-01-29T01:06:00.000-05:00

this weekend is our Stake Conference. So, naturally, we made our way over to the stake center in Georgetown tonight for the Saturday evening meeting.

i just wanted to share with everyone a few things i took home from that meeting.

1) Do your family history
2) No seriously, do you your family history.
3) We are not joking, you really have to work on family history.
4) Go to the Temple
5) Clipping your nails in the chapel is not really the best place to do so, ESPECIALLY during a meeting, as the sound really resonates throughout the entire room. It's almost more obnoxious than a cell phone going off.
6) A person can actually clip their nails for 30 minutes +.
7) In 2012, some women still have bowl cuts.

anyway, tomorrow I'll probably blog about the Anthony Green concert in Atlanta last Wednesday.

wifed up wednesday: drywall screen

2012-01-26T12:42:00.000-05:00

Just so you know, I'm writing this blog from the car, on my phone. So please excuse any typos in advance.
I've decided to start doing what I have cleverly named, "wifed up Wednesday". In these posts, I will pretend like I'm a real good housewife and share some kind of cleaning tip, delicious recipe, crafting project, etc. Doing this makes me feel kind of lame, BUT I want to somehow contribute to the lives of the people who so kindly waste their time reading this blog. So let's carry on.
For my first wifed up Wednesday, I wanna share with you an item that I just discovered recently.
(This might be something everyone knew about but me. But whatev.)
Drywall sanding screens

Yes, these are used for sanding drywall. But did you know that you can use them for a common dreaded household task?
The other day I was in the store with my sister-in-law, April and she picked some up and she told me that drywall sanding screen can be used to get rid of the ring around your toilet.
And it works! If you're like me and ended up in a super old slightly run down home, you may have inherited a unsightly ring in your toilet bowl(s).
All you have to do is go buy a pack of drywall screens (they're only like 2 or 3 bucks), and cut them up into about 4ths (give or take depending on the size). Get some gloves (I prefer the serious yellow dish gloves) and get up in that toilet and scrub away. It comes off super easy and I didn't use any cleaner.
I should have taken before and after pics but that's gross and I didn't think about it.
If you're immaculate and you have a squeaky clean pee bowl, fear not, the use for drywall screens doesn't stop there. My mother-in-law also shared with us a couple of weekends ago that she used it to remove dead and rough skin from her feet. She said it worked even better than a ped egg. I mean, the price is right so you don't have much to lose do ya?
Anyway I hope this was beneficial to you in some way, if it wasn't I hope it least didn't take you too long to read. Also, sorry I have no cool pictures.

sippin on juice and juice.

2012-01-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

here's what we're up to.

recently we watched this movie (it's available on netflix and huluplus)

And needless to say, we were inspired. not only were WE inspired, but the entire Giddens clan was inspired. some pulled out and dusted off their old juicers and others bought brand new ones. We wanted to get our juice on.
this weekend while we were in Valdosta celebrating Kendall & Laney's first birthdays, we tried out some juicing as a family.
here's some testimonials:
April: "It's actually pretty delicious."
Nana: "I think you could just blend and it would be just as good."
Pop: "Can I juice a honey glazed ham?"
Thomas: "No way, I'm not juicing. I don't eat food!"
Jamie: "I'm pregnant. Where's the bacon?"
John: "I'm going full force on a juice fast. Next stop, total health transformation."
Angie: "John, get me a Dr. Pepper. STAT."
Alex: "Taylor bribed me with money to drink some mean green juice. I would have done it for free."

As for Taylor and I, we're trying it out. Slowly. We borrowed nana and pop's Jack Lalane juicer and Taylor tried it out last night. I actually, really don't mind the juice, but it always comes out warm and I like my beverages to be icy cold. So I went ahead and tried out this smoothie recipe (which I found on, of course, PINTEREST) in the blender which proved to be satisfying and delicious:
1/2 Cup Frozen Peaches1/2 cup frozen mango2 bananasa couple of handfuls of fresh spinachIcea little bit of water to help blend
Blend, and enjoy.
Super easy, super delicious.
Anyway, back to the juicing. Juicing is fun, and it's super good for you. The guy in the movie went on 60 day juice fast and did nothing but juice. He lost 80 pounds and was able to completely wean himself off of his autoimmune disease meds. I'm not sure that we will ever get to the point where we go total juice, but I would really like to see us get into juicing regularly. we only get this one body and i want to start taking better care of it.

FRESH BEETz

I'm not totally loving the juice yet though, but I feel like there are so many options out there that maybe I will find something that I like, or maybe it's like beer and I will eventually acquire the taste for it. I know Taylor is pretty excited about juicing and I think it's important to support him. It would probably be really hard for him if i was eating bacon and chocolate while he's trying to be healthy.
if you are interested in trying out some of the juice recipes that we're all trying, you can click HERE!

FACCCCCT. also, read me.

2012-01-17T02:28:00.000-05:00

apparently this little thang is going around. my cute friend Sarah Averett tagged me! this could be the most self centered blog post i have posted on our blog. but it was pretty fun. cause i like talking about myself and also seeing what other people said. you can actually do it if i didn't tag you and you want to. i just made that rule. here are more rules:

1 - you must post the rules.

2 - post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.

3 - answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.

4 - tag eleven people and link them on your post

5 - let them know you've tagged them!

11 fun facts about me:
1 - i love Georgia 1,000,000x more than my home state. [Utah]
2 - i love coke. not diet coke.
3 - i've never broken a bone. and i just knocked on wood to ensure that continues.
4 - to me, there is nothing more gross than boogers. not even poop.
5 - once i was going through some of my early high school paraphernalia and i found a bunch of notebooks and papers that I had doodled, "I love Me." and "Kynslie Rulez!" and, "I <3 Kyns". It made me feel good that I didn't waste all that ink on some idiot boy.
6 - i like video games.
7- as a child, my favorite toy was BARBIE. I played with barbies until I was like 10. i used to try to guess if my birthday/Christmas presents were shoes or Barbies, cause the boxes were the same.
8 - as of, today actually, I have lived outside of Utah for 2 years. best decision ever.
9 - my favorite artist is Anthony Green.
10 - the only girl i ever physically beat up was one of my best friends when i was 18. we're still friends. if you love your friend, kick their azz, if they come back to you, they're yours.
11 - back in the day [june 2009], before I ever met Taylor in real life, his sister Jamie told me to add him on facebook to look at some pictures he had taken of her. i told her i didn't want him to think i was a creep and she said, "Just tell him you want to see his Photography skills." so, as I added him I was on the phone with my friend making jokes about porn while typing the message and this was the first message I ever sent him (direct copy and paste) "Jamie said she wants me to look at your pornography skills, so I thought I'd do just that. I'm not a freak, but I am a little freaky. ohh snap. did I just say that? yeah. i did." I can't remember when i realized that this happened, but once I sent it, I couldn't undo it. Plus, I added that freaky part on the end which made it even worse! Luckily this potentially embarrassing mistake just lured him right in.

questions from Sarah:

1. what is your favorite holiday and why?
this is really hard for me to answer. I really love Halloween, but it's hard for me to love a holiday when it's not the season for the holiday. i used to hate Christmas because it just meant snow and cold and driving all over Utah to see all 60 sides of my family. but this warm southern winter made me like Christmas . anyway, i guess I'll just go ahead and say the 4th of July is my favorite because I love freedom and bbqs and it's also my best friend forever and ever's birthday.
2. if you had to pick between having hair all over your back that you couldn't shave or being bald and not being able to do anything about it, which would you pick?
hair all over my back, cause as a Mormon, i wouldn't be able to dress slutty, so people couldn't see it any how. and i think i married the kinda guy that would would brush my back hair.
3. what is your best memory of high school and why?
i have so many, i loved high school because i pretty much did whatever i wanted at all times. but i guess my favorite memory is senior year when Tim Dalene and I and our group, crashed the junior prom and went dressed like we time traveled from the 70's. some people were outraged and we didn't care. we made the DJ played Stairway to Heaven and we slow danced/rocked out so hard. i love time travel. and causing controversy.

4. if you won the lottery, what would be the very first thing you would buy?
first, we would pay off all of our debt. then we would build our dream home that would be on the river and we'd have our own private dock, and boat.

5. how old were you when you got your first real kiss? {12 and under doesn't count}
15.

6. what is your biggest regret in life?
not being a better sister to my little brothers after my mom died.

7. what's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you?
i think it's really nice when people laugh at my jokes. also to be cheesy: when Taylor said, "I do."

8. what is something you are looking forward to?
continuing to live my normal life with my wonderful husband. OH, and the Anthony Green concert on Wednesday in Atlanta.

9. if you could visit any country for free, which would it be?
Well, in real life, I got to go to England for free. which was awesome. i don't think i'll get that lucky again twice in a lifetime, but if I did, probably Australia, or Greece.

10. if you could eat as much as you wanted of one food and you would never gain weight, what would it be?
probably coke, and fried pickles.

11. in your eyes, what is the perfect date?
usually when Taylor and I go on dates, we go to dinner and a movie and then we run errands. and it's perfect to me. I like doing all three things, oddly enough. Because we usually have fun even doing mundane stuff. also I loooove going to the movies.

my questions:
1. What's your dream job?
2. Where's your favorite place in the world?
3. What do you think the definition of "love" really is?
4. If you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would it be?
5. What do you wish you were better at?
6. What's your favorite mode of transportation?
7. Finish this sentence, "I hate when people......"
8. What's your bedtime? What time do you actually go to bed?
9. What's your favorite way to get exercise?
10. What book(s) are you reading/intending to read right now?
11. What's your favorite AS SEEN ON TV product/commercial?

here's who i would like to see answer these. now go forth and please me... when you have time.:

Jenjamin

Vickie

Noemi

Sara Snow

Candace Sue

Jes

Tosha

Rachel Murph (who's having a baby tomorrow!)

Kristy Jackson

Danny and/or Ashley

Kellie

oh yeah, Christmas.

2012-01-10T18:27:00.000-05:00

I don't really care to write this blog post.

But for Christmas Taylor got me a super sweet gift.

He got our blog printed into a book. Which is seriously awesome, cause I am terrible at writing in my journal, and I feel like that is just as good, if not better. Anyway, it motivates me to continue to keep up with the blog and write seemingly mundane things because I like to think, if the world doesn't end in December, one day my Great Great Grandchildren will like to read about what our lives were like before they existed on this earth. I myself am kind of a sucker for family history. I used to find myself locked in the closet under the stairs at my great-grandma's house rifling through old pictures and letters.

I'm also really good at getting off track, apparently.

Eh, I'm probably not gonna write anymore. Here are some cute pictures from Christmas.

April's new wheels

Angie and Kendall the Elf

Logan's pants are off the chain.

If you look closely you can see that Curtis ruined the only photo where everyone was looking.

We love Christmas..

Fetus

Nom Nom Nom

Jammie Time

More Jammie Time

nana time

The Cutest present

In other news, I can't bring myself to take down our tree. So it's still up. Is that bad?
Jamie suggested I leave it up til Valentines, I'm considering it.
For the first week after Christmas it was up because of emotional attachment. But now I'm just being lazy, I know this because I'm clear sick of Christmas.

i'm late for art class.

2012-01-10T00:29:00.000-05:00

First of all, I'm not totally sure how I feel about this new blog layout. It's a little too girly or something. So I apologize for THAT.

Second of all, I wanted to give you a little peek into what life is like here in Savannah. Without pictures. Yes, sorry you're going to have to actually READ. (A BLOG YOU HAVE TO READ? Gasp.)

For starters, we live in the ghetto. I mean, it's really not the ghettoest of ghettos, and our particular block of street is decent. But, you have to tread through the more run down part of the street to get to us. It probably frightens all of our visitors. Could it really be THAT bad you ask? Well not to brag, but our neighbors told us that some drug dealer from Florida got shot and killed down the street. So.

Anyway, it's been okay. My life hasn't felt particularly threatened in anyway since we've been here. Except the morning that I was sound asleep and Taylor had to wake up at like 5 AM to go to work but forgot his keys and locked himself out so he had to pound on our bedroom window. I am not totally certain but I felt like I may have went into cardiac arrest. The dog went absolutely bonkers, once I realized what was going on and let him in she ran outside and ran around the entire perimeter of the house barking. She's a very good, protective watch dog, but due to her size and under bite, she would be totally useless in a for real emergency.

Like I said, I haven't felt threatened in any way, especially during the day. But lets just say, when I am out running errands I sometimes I feel like Will Smith in I Am Legend, making sure to get home before the sunlight runs out. (But just so we're clear, it's not because of zombies...)

On the lighter side of living here, to keep myself entertained while I am out and about I started a little game I like to call, "Spot the SCAD student"

For those of you who are unaware, SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) is a very prestigious art school here in Savannah. I got a small taste of what SCAD students were like in Atlanta, as they have a campus there too.

A lot of SCAD students are exactly alike in the sense that they are all hipsters who have a strong desire to be different, artsy, and stylish. So technically, no, they aren't EXACTLY the same, but they aren't usually very hard to point out and I typically run into them EVERYWHERE I go. Where I see them the most is at craft stores, goodwill, and home depot.

Usually they are wearing Toms, texting or holding their cell phone (usually an iPhone), and some have a strange odor.

Anyway, these are the rules of "Spot the SCAD student."

1) See the SCAD student.

2) When you spot them, you don't say, "I see you, SCAD student." You have to make up some back story about their art class and mock them.

Let me give you an example.

Honestly, I usually don't drag it out that long but you get the idea.

The most hilarious thing happened during a typical game of STSS. I was at Joann's getting some fabric and in front of me in the cutting table line, I spotted the student. In my head, I was about to start mocking her when suddenly, it happened.

The fabric cutter asked the girl what the fabric was for, and the girl replied, "I have to make a costume for my art class." and the fabric cutter replied, "Oh, are you a teacher?" to which the girl replied, "No. I go to SCAD."

It was at that moment that I knew I would never feel guilty for playing this game. Because almost 99% of the time, I am totally right.

shaving.

2012-01-05T00:47:00.000-05:00

i know that technically, as a married blogger i am supposed to update on the holiday happenings. but this isn't it. maybe tomorrow.

i love Taylor's beard. seriously, i love it. it's multi colored and a little gingery, but i just think he is so cute with a beard. i love him without it too. but i really feel like he is personalizing his face specifically for me when he sports his technicolor dream beard.

but sometimes, he has to shave it. i don't really understand why, but i guess it's probably good to let your face breathe once in awhile

at first i would get really sad when he would shave it. but it grows back pretty fast, so it's fine. but we've (Tay) has gotten into this new thing where he shaves it but he likes to take multiple hours to do so.

he'll shave it into weird designs and hang out like that before he shaves it all off and then try to make out with me and it upsets me. he'll do mutton chops, Hitler stache, goatee, chinstraps etc., but today he did the worst thing ever, he did a Fred Durst-esque kind of thing and it was extremely unsettling.

April is visiting us and she encourages his exploration of facial hair design, as she finds it humorous or cool. i am definitely an advocate for comedic and/or ironic facial hair but not when it comes to the man that i share my home and bed with.

it's harder for me to love him when he looks like he belongs in a limp bizkit video.

don't worry though, i bartered some kisses to get him to shave it off and it's gone now.

for my husband, i prefer a nice manly mustache. or a well trimmed beard. but legally i am obligated to love him, even when he looks like trash and takes pictures of himself in the mirror to amplify the trashiness.

sigh.

shocks. pegs. lucky.

2011-12-27T23:42:00.000-05:00

this isn't going to be my full post about Christmas, but rather a quick little post to brag about one of my Christmas gifts.

That's right you crafty ladies, It's a Cricut 2. And for those of you who have no idea what that it is, it's basically a die cutting machine. Top o' the line die cut machine.

Taylor totally surprised me with this one, I didn't even ask for it. I mean, I have said off and on throughout the year that I wished I had one. But, you know what I'm saying.

Anyway, I don't scrapbook. I don't have the money or the patience for it. I think this is mostly used by scrapbookers. But I feel like the possibilities are really endless for me.

I used it for wrapping our nieces birthday presents for their first birthdays that are coming up. I realize a 1 year old will not care about the wrapping job, or even probably care about what's inside. But this is mostly for me OKAY?

Oh yeah, I have also gotten into making my own bows. Did I mention that yet? It's super easy and fun and cheaper. You can find the tutorial by clicking HERE.

I am excited to get down to some serious crafting business after the holidays are over.

In other news, we are still down in Valdosta and I am sick and Taylor has bad allergies. Boo. I woke up the day after Christmas super sickly and I mostly laid on the couch all day. Lux was my super cuddly buddy.

Also, Thomas:

merry & bright

2011-12-25T15:40:00.000-05:00

We've had a good Christmas so far.

(And hope the holidays have been good to you too!)

I'll blog about it later. But in the meantime, Merry Christmas!

I just wanna thank everyone who helped and supported us this year (Especially our families!). Between getting married and moving 3 times (even living abroad), it's been a seriously crazy [fun] year. We love you all and couldn't have done it without you!!

Tay & Kyns

“May each Christmas season remind us to lift up our voices and fill our hearts with joy and gratitude that Christ the King has come! Christ lives! He is real. He is our Redeemer at Christmas and always.”

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

party in our house and our mouths.

2011-12-21T21:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Taylor's Birthday. To celebrate, I attempted to throw him a party on Saturday, which ended up being really small, but also really fun. Niki came to stay from Atlanta and Thomas came up from Valdosta. We also had some new friends from our ward come over.

On the actual Birthday, we didn't really have a party. But I gave him some gifts and made him a roast. Gifts which included, Birthday Chex. Get it?

It just so happens that it was also Lux's birthday. We didn't really do anything for her except she wore her snuggie like a boss and I kept calling referring to her as "birthday." I also gave her a bone. She only cared about the bone.

Now to the most important part of this blog post. There was this recipe I found on pinterest for Caramel Buttermilk Syrup that claimed that it would change my life. Well it was not kidding. I decided to finally make it tonight and just have breakfast for dinner.

The recipe is super simple and can be found by clicking: here.

Just as a warning, this is not healthy at all, in any way. But the holidays aren't about eating healthy are they?

I swear I wasn't trying to be trendy by storing it in a mason jar, that's just all I had.

Taylor has been on this kick of taking pictures of things I cook for him.

It could be because he's worried that my kick of cooking things will fade.

After I made this I was getting my panties in a bunch stressing about how it was too runny, but it thickens up as it cools. I'm probably gonna make this for the fam this weekend for Christmas festivities. I just want everyone to try it once.

In other news, not having a dishwasher kinda sucks. The only plus side is that it forces us to keep up on our dish washing. Because I HATE dirty kitchens. I hate food mess. So if you have a dishwasher, don't take it for granted.

how to be a mormon hipster.

2011-12-16T03:15:00.000-05:00

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming of boring married blogging to bring you:

HOW TO BE A HIPSTER WHILE KEEPING IT REAL WITH

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS.

If you are of the LDS faith, being a hipster might seem to be an impossible task what with the V-necks and the excessive drinking of Pabst Blue Ribbon. But I am here to tell you that it is not. Through observation, google search, and this thrilling article in the NY Times (it can be found HERE) I have done a minimal amount of research on how you can make this possible.

1. Everything you do, DO IT IRONICALLY.

This is the most important step. I can't stress that enough. This will help you seem super cool with anything you do. Wear stone wash jeans from the thrift store, ironically. Listen to hip hop, ironically. Watch VHS tapes instead of DVDs, ironically. Basically, be poor, ironically.

2. Hair

Hair plays an important role in a hipsters image. I actually don't know why, but it does. For women, it's best to have short hair. As short as you're brave enough for. If this is not possible, it has to be long, and wavy. As far as color, you can dye it or not. If you choose to color it, don't talk about it, ever. This will leave room for people to think that purple hue is your natural color. If you don't color your hair, feel free to brag about this often for street cred purposes. For men, there are several acceptable styles for the mormon hipster but these two are the most ideal:

the ironic mullet

This is really a time for you to get creative.

3. Facial Hair

It is essential for men that you have SOME kind of facial hair. Whether that be a moustache (personal fave) of any sort, beard, or five o' clock shadow. Of course, goatees and mutton chops are not acceptable, unless of course, you have them IRONICALLY (refer to step one). Female hipsters are not completely exempt from this step, though you are not required to have facial hair, you ARE required to like and date and marry men with facial hair. If you don't like facial hair, pretend that you do. Also, wear fake mustaches whenever possible and acceptable.

4. Clothes & Accessories

I am honestly not going to get super heavy into this one because this could take days. There are so many things that hipsters can wear and still be hipsters. Especially when you throw in irony. Irony can make any outfit cool. (refer again to step one.) HOWEVER the staple in the unisex hipster wardrobe is of course, SKINNY JEANS and baggy tops for women and tight tops for men. Make sure the clothes you buy are 50% from the thrift store and 50% from H&M. If you are rich you can use some of your H&M half at Urban Outfitters, J. Crew, or Anthro. BUT you can never cut into your thrift store half. Thrifting is ESSENTIAL! Also, make sure you're always wearing glasses (prescription or not_. These are the preferred styles of glasses. (all styles are unisex)

(we srsly <3 dallas green though)

For the guys: how to get around V-Necks

This probably seems hard. But it's possible. Honestly, the V-neck situation in the world is getting out of hand anyway. The V-necks are getting so deep that people are drowning in the sea of exposed chest hair. So don't feel too bad about missing out on this one because you are endowed. Here are some alternatives: Flannel shirts, t-shirts with wolves on them, t-shirts from bands that are so underground even Brendan Fraser couldn't find them in his Journey to the Center of the Earth and sometimes you can wear suit coats or cardigans over said t-shirts. Also, turtle necks, and ugly sweaters. MAKE SURE NOT TO FORGET TO WEAR A SCARF! Even in the summer.

What about church clothes?

A big part of being a Mormon hipster is that you are, still a Mormon, and being a Mormon means you gotta go to church. Because being inactive, is NOT hip. For the women I have 3 staples for you, Thrift store dresses, flats, and SHOULDER PADS. For the men, make sure to wear fitted dress pants, they're kind of like skinny jeans but for church. As far as ties, don't even THINK about wearing regular ties. This is unacceptable, (UNLESS, it's a tie with a pattern which is appropriate for church, and also ironic.) Some good alternatives for regular ties: skinny ties, bolo ties, or bow ties.

5. Music/Books/Movies

Navigating the hipster scene of multimedia can be daunting. What to watch!? What to hear!? What to read!?

I'm here to sort of help.

Music

Well, fortunately you being a hipster means you are not stuck with one genre of music. You can do electronic, acoustic, hip-hop, instrumental indie rock, whatever your mood. However it is SO SO SO important that you only listen to underground music. This will give you the upper hand in situations with your "normal" friends. There might come a day when your favorite underground gets out and gets popular, but do not fear. You heard it first. Before they were cool. You are king. Also, You are allowed to listen to top 40, either secretly, or ironically. If you have a Spotify, be VERY careful to only listen to music that no one knows, or makes you look cool.

Books

Don't read Twilight. Too late? That's okay, just tell everyone you hated it. Even if you didn't. Because hating Twilight is what hip people do.

Movies

Movies can be tough because a lot of LDS members don't watch rated R movies. And it's usually pretty essential that hipsters watch and LOVE Wes Anderson movies. Which are pretty much all rated R. Fortunately for you, there is Fantastic Mr. Fox. Watch it. Love it. This is your ticket to cool.

6. College

I am not going to tell you that you HAVE to go to college to be a hipster, but you pretty much do. This is where you will find other hipsters to hang out with OR other hipsters to avoid (avoiding people is cool). If you can't afford school, or just don't feel like it, just go to your nearest college and wander around campus with your backpack and macbook (APPLE PRODUCTS ONLY! FOREVER!) and act like you're studying. It is important to note that you can attend any college you want, EXCEPT BYU. I'm sorry. BYU is not hip. However, BYU-IDAHO, is acceptable. Mormon Hipsters tend to thrive and flourish there. Any school that is an art school is ideal, though.

In summary

If you follow all of these simple steps and add a small amount of your own imagination (but only a very small), you can be a hipster. Follow the winds of change in the hipster scene and never conform to the norms of society. But I mean, you still have to follow the word of wisdom and the Prophet and stuff.

Also, ride bikes. But only road bikes or beach cruisers. If all else fails, long board. Or roller skate, ironically.

ok, ok, i admit it, I HAVE A PROBLEM.

2011-12-09T22:59:00.001-05:00

hi. my name is Kynslie, and for the first time ever, I am admitting that I am beauty productaholic.

I suppose that all women have their vices, for some it's shoes, others it's men, purses, clothes, etc. but for me, it is beauty products.

The biggest problem for me really, is hair product. I think this problem stems from growing up near my aunt Holly, who is a hair stylist. I've always been overly obsessed with my hair. Yes, oft times I am too lazy to actually DO my hair, but I still, cherish my hair. I am the kind of girl who cries after haircuts if it gets cut too short.

My step-mom, Brooke has what I would most likely consider a dream job. She does retail for a beauty supply and she has to try a lot of their products in order to be able to recommend them to customers. She has also, on occasion assisted me in my addiction because whenever I go home to visit, she usually gives me a buttload of shampoos, conditioners, oils, and hairsprays.

AND HONESTLY, it wasn't until fairly recently that I started to realize that I might be a hoarder of product. While we were moving in, April was here visiting and she kept making comments about how much HAIR AND BODY STUFF I had. And I was like, "yeah, I mean I have a lot but not like, A LOT A LOT..."

But actually I do.

Tonight Taylor went through our bathroom stuff closet and actually organized and unpacked it all, [believe it or not, he is the least procrastinating of the two of us]. When I say OURS, I most mean mine.

And so for the first time ever, I am sharing with the world, my extensive collection.

DON'T JUDGE ME.

some of these were acquired while dressing up like Snooki.

This does not include make up in my makeup bag, or the shampoos and body washes in the shower. But this is pretty much it. This is me putting it all out there.

Am I ever gonna get rid of it? No. Am I gonna stop buying more stuff? Doubtful. Does all this stuff make me prettier? Nope. I mean I am not even one of those girls who gets ready EVERYDAY.

BUT I CAN'T HELP IT! I LOVE BEAUTY PRODUCTS! Every time I buy one it makes me feel like it's gonna be the one thing that changes my life. There hasn't been anything life changing yet, but I won't give up.

But hey, now you know who to turn to if you need advice on beauty products. Or if you need a make over, I've got the supplies.

she bes domestic.

2011-12-07T19:04:00.001-05:00

I have been working on living room decor since we moved in. The search for throw pillows/fabric to make throw pillows has been nothing short of a nightmare. Until recently. I found some fabric at Ikea when we stopped there on our way out of Atlanta. (I didn't even know they had fabric) and then I found some mustard throw pillows at world market for only 10 bucks. Then I found some aqua-ish damask-ish fabric at Joann for the long pillow.

Using my sewing machine has been a little bit of a nightmare cause my presser foot lifter broke in half (even after we glued it.) so even though making pillows should be a simple task, even for a sewing noob like me, it took like 3 days and a couple of cut up fingers. BUT ALAS, I have finished.

the color isn't very good cause this is a cell phone picture.

the pink a little bit darker than that.

I won't lie to you though, those pillows look like a 5 year old made them. but they work for now so it's fine.

in other household news, we finally got our crock pot which I may have already mentioned, and so I went a little crazy with the whole "LET'S SLOW COOK!" kind of thing. I've made pulled pork BBQ sandwiches, chili (from scratch!), a Sunday roast, and the list will continue on. Tomorrow I am making this http://pinterest.com/pin/82542605640025936/

And I actually really love using the Crock Pot. It's been fun. Especially since we don't have a dishwasher and there are less dishes to wash. I'm not going to go into super detail but I just wanted to share a recipe with you if you ever feel like slow cooking. Cause that is what my life is now, getting excited about crock pot recipes.

This one is Taylor's Faaaavorite

Crock Pot Chicken

In the bottom of a crock pot melt 1/2 cube butter

Add 4 chicken breasts, thawed.

2 packets dried italian dressing mix

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

Garlic as desired

Let it cook for anywhere from 4 to 5 hours, and about an hour before serving add 1 pkg of cream cheese and 1 regular sized sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over rice or noodles.

I know I should have taken a picture of it but it looked like vomit, it was delicious though.

Also, just as an added bonus, I would like to share with you the most simple recipe of all time. Whenever I would tell people about this they were like, "yeah, I already knew that" so I think it was one of those things that everyone knew but me, but I'm gonna share it on the off chance that someone out there was like me. And apparently this is a weight watcher recipe, just what I heard.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

In a mixing bowl combine the following:

1 package spice cake mix

1 package chocolate chips

1 15 oz can of pumpkin

Preheat oven to 375. Drop spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. bake 8-10 minutes.

Keep an eye on these because they look pretty much the same in dough form as they do cooked. Since they are so cake-like you can stick a toothpick or a fork in them to check if they're done. That's what I do.

"world travellers"

2011-12-03T21:23:00.001-05:00

Get ready cause I am about to shove more Christmas ornament stuff in your face.

Today we went to World Market, they had ornaments on sale, and also I just think that store is real fun. Anyway, last month we went and looked at the ornaments and decided we would get a couple to represent our adventures this year, since we weren't smart enough to collect them while we were actually in those places. So anyway, here's what we've got so far.

we got a hula girl for our HONEYMOON to Maui

A snowflake to represent our snowy wedding day in Utah

We wanted a Big Ben without Santa but they were gone.This one was for London.

A cute red phone booth for all of our English adventures.

We got this little globe for all of our other travels, and also, because on our boarding pass when we went to England, there was a little thing that said "World Traveller" which was for whatever reason, amusing to us, and has been a little joke between us ever since.
[also traveller is spelled wrong]

Guess you had to be there.

This is a cute little ornament that we didn't buy but we Jen's mom gave it to us while we were in Utah for Thanksgiving.

So that was fun and then also I found some Fentiman's Curiosity Cola. Which was this tasty little beverage that I had while we were visiting the Dover castle. Never thought I would see it again.

The moral of the story, is that World Market is super fun and I wish we were rich.

oh! Christmas tree.

2011-12-03T02:52:00.001-05:00

OK, so here is our standard run of the mill newlywed first Christmas tree post.

So I don't know what it is about being married that has me all stoked for Christmas stuff, but it does. It's probably the same thing that makes me blog all the time. Marriage is magical.

Get this, I am actually listening to Christmas music, RIGHT NOW. I mean, really. Me. The person who has cursed Christmas music for her entire life. However, it is the Indie Christmas Pandora station, so it's like Sufjan Stevens, a little more my taste. But, STILL Christmas songs guys!!
[Don't worry, I am never going to be able to listen to it on my own before Dec. 1st though.]

Clear back in August while I was homesick in England I was daydreaming about our life when we get home and what I was going to do with our Christmas tree, and I decided that I was going to make miniature tissue pom pom's for our ornaments. I KNOW, it's kind of lame, and uncreative, but it was cheap, easy, and cute.

I also bought the cheap snowflake ornaments at Target.

We tried to make decorating the tree together an ordeal, but it took about 5 minutes. It was still fun though.

Behold, the tree.

We just used Lux's Santa hat for a topper cause I'm cheap.

ALSO we bought LED lights. Which are AWESOME!

P.S. if you want to know how to make the tissue pom poms..

click HERE! and just follow the directions, but use small pieces of tissue paper. Also I just bought the cheap little ornament hooks from target (300 for a buck!) to hang them on. I'm too lazy and not pretentious enough to do my own tutorial, even though a lot of people ask me how I made those, since I also made 2000 of them for our wedding.

you're probably in this post somewhere.

2011-11-30T18:31:00.001-05:00

WOW, so I am starting to wish I wrote this sooner, even though I am only a couple days late on it. It's just going to be a loong one, and I've got more things to update on, like Crock Pots and Christmas Trees!

For Thanksgiving we went to UTAH to see my family, and friends who are family.

I'd be lying if I told you that I was excited for the trip. I was tired of traveling and really reluctant to leave behind my sunshine and 75 degree weather. But, it's always worth it to be able to see my nearest and dearest. Even if it is stressful and sometimes impossible to fit everyone in such a short time period.

The number one thing that I was most excited for was to meet the precious spawn of my best friend, forever. [and ever.]

Gracie Ruth

Is she not the most beautiful little thing ever? If those eyes don't melt your heart, then you probably don't have one.

So when we got in at 10:30 PM mountain standard time on Wednesday, we got the rental car THE FIAT.

this is real life.

my first order of business was to head down to AF to see the nocturnal infant and her parents {Jen and Scotty}.We stayed and chatted until the wee hours of the night. I was pretty tired so I was basically drunk, and don't remember what really happened other than, I loved that baby.

I don't know what it is about Thanksgiving that makes it so dinner is at like 3PM, but that's how it always seems to go. So on Thursday afternoon we headed over to my Aunt Tonya's house for dinner. Everyone kept cracking jokes about how it was so "classy" because we ate on paper plates and sat on the couches/floor and watched TV. But I thought it was great. We had delicious food and it was super chill. Who needs dishes and tables? Not the Coffins. After dinner we went to see some of my mom's side of the family, like my Aunts and Uncle and my cousin Ranee and her family. My aunt's 300 pound cat sat on me and demanded that I pet it, and then bit me. Cats suck.

On Friday we didn't go to any black friday sales because I can't think of anything worse than shopping and being stuck in a crowd of Utards. I know, I grew up in Utah but every time I go back, I can't believe how ridiculous most Utahns really are. I mean, the rednecks here are dumb, but at least everyone is nice, and at least they know they are dumb. I had to make a trip to the craft store but I waited until a little bit later in the day to go so I wouldn't get trapped. It was still pretty busy, and I still ran into some idiots. But it wasn't too bad.

Friday night we got to have our SECOND Thanksgiving dinner, HOLLA! My step-mom's family all got together at her parents house and we had delicious everything, but this time we used real dishes and sat a table. But, we enjoyed both Thanksgivings.

And after dinner we headed down to Manti to get back to my roots. That night we hung out at my aunt Holly's house, and my bff Sherry came over to see us and we made plans to take pictures of her little girl, Nixon.

So on Saturday we got up and headed out to see my Grandparents and take Nixon's pictures on the farm.

Taylor asked my Grandpa if he could ride a horse, so they saddled up old Fluffy for him and he hopped on, like a rhinestone cowboy... in a J.Crew hoodie.

Then, the unthinkable happened. I mean seriously unthinkable.

I.
rode.
the horse.

IT'S CRAZY. I used to love horses when I was a little girl but I had an accident with one when I was about 8 or 9 and have REFUSED to ride a horse since that day. But I finally overcame my fear and got back in the saddle. YES, my grandpa led the horse for me but I couldn't believe I finally got on. In my dress at that. I was pretty dern proud of myself. and I'm still alive!!

I also cannot believe that I was wearing only a cardigan in Utah at the end of November. It was surprisingly warm.

That evening, we had plans to eat at the restaurant formerly known as Fat Jacks, in Ephraim with my beloved A**ley and her fiance, Danny. I referred to it as a double date. But it ended up being a lovely family affair, Danny's mom, and Ashley's entire family, minus one sister came with. This was a great time for me because it was the first time Ashley and I saw each other in TWO YEARS plus a month. Also, Taylor finally got to meet the woman that I spoke constantly, and highly of. So needless to say it was a joyous, pizza filled occasion. After we ate the four of us decided to go to pollie's so that the fatter two of the four (us) could get candy and ice cream at my childhood hang out spot.

The following is a series photos which depict Taylor's attempt to take a picture of all 4 of us with my cell phone.

FINALLY GOT IT.

Also, I just realized we are ALL wearing gray. Favorite.

Sunday morning happened pretty fast, we both got haircuts (and I got color) and then we headed back up to American Fork to spend the day with the BFFAE and little baby G-Money.

Taylor took some baby photos and some family photos for their Christmas card. I will try not to bombard you with every photo but I freaking love these guys.

Train tracks SHOT

G money and her mustache daddy.

That's just the light, not a gray patch.

Also I have bangs again.

After the photo sesh we ate dinner and went over to visit Jen's parents, who just so happen to be my second parents. (LOVE THE WADES!) and chatted about England and looked at the pictures together and ate pie. It was a smashing good time.

So that basically concluded our trip. We had to get up at 5:30 AM on Monday to catch our plane. And we had dinner with Jamie and Jeff in Atlanta, and stopped at IKEA and I found the perfect fabric for my throw pillows, YES! And then we drove four hours and we made it home.

I realize this is the longest post ever, and I do mean ever. If you read it all, kudos to you.

Stay tuned for my upcoming posts about our Christmas tree, my DIY ornaments, and how we finally got our crock pot, which is my new favorite thing.

Landlubbers.

2011-11-22T02:29:00.001-05:00

This last weekend, our dear friend Kyle came to visit us. Just for fun!

Kyle.

AND BOY DID WE HAVE FUN.

Kyle was able to spend our 2 year anniversary with us and accompany us to The Pirates House for dinner.

The Pirates house is supposedly haunted. Nothing scary happened while we were there, until we got the check (ZING!). Anyway, Pirates used to eat food there. and die there.

Earlier that day we drove over to the beach to take some photos for our Christmas Card (no one get your hopes up, it probably won't top my other Christmas cards but, when you get married you get boring, it's the rules.)

I thought it would be a fun concept to wear sweaters at the beach, Lux included. It wasn't actually as cool as I had anticipated, BUT we got some good ones (yes, I'll give you a preview, for those of you haven't seen them on facebook already.)

It was crazy windy, which I somehow always forget about that aspect of the beach, but since I am a [plus-size] model, I handled it, and so did my model dog. And my model husband. and our model friend Kyle.

Also while we were there we saw dolphins all up in the ocean! While I was watching the dolphins I was just thinking, man! it is so cool that we LIVE here. It's really great to live somewhere you love, and to live somewhere that people will enjoy visiting. It makes all the instability up until this point totally worth it.

After we went to dinner that night we walked over and explored River Street and bought bubblegum cigarettes and took pictures of us that looked like we were smoking cause we thought it was funny.

It was.

Since we are all old people and boring Mormons, we went home pretty early and played like a buttload of Halo. Which is just how we roll.

Monday, before Taylor went to work and Kyle went home we went to see Breaking Dawn. I forgot how stupid that storyline was. Wow, really stupid. But I liked the movie, I thought they did an ok job at not making it horribly long and boring like the book. I mean, I think it's really lame that Stephanie Meyer makes a cameos in these movies. It's not necessary. Anyway, as per usual when I see these Twilight movies, I always laugh at inappropriate times. Like when Bella is dying, or when Edward isn't putting out. I think I have offended many a twihards in my day. Also what's this new craze with acting like Harry Potter is cooler than Twilight? Both are for losers. That's an exact case of the pot calling the kettle black. Which in lieu of that saying I'm going to start saying, "The Harry Potter fan calling the Twilight fan gay." Pass it on.

best 2 years.

2011-11-20T00:09:00.001-05:00

Today I reached a milestone no other female has reached before.

I have officially been Taylor Giddens' woman (girlfriend, fiance, WIFE) for 2 years.

Most people know the story. And I'm not going to get real far into it. But let's just say, Taylor and I had a real immature start. I mean, homeboy, asked me to be his girlfriend on facebook. and let's not talk about how twitterpatted I got over that move.

Anyway, I wish that I could say that we've gotten more mature over the past 2 years, but we have not. We stay up way too late playing video games on work nights. We laugh at tasteless jokes. And we eat children's cereals.

But I think it makes for more fun.

Anyway, I made this little slideshow with a picture of us together for every month we've been together. It took me like 3 days to gather these together, and some of them are really ridiculous cause I REALLY had to scrape...even cell phone pics. (So not our style, right?)

(However, November is missing, because we weren't actually together until December...see: facebook relationship.)

Honestly, you'll probably think this video is lame. But it's FINE.

we're in love.

the massacre of 11-11-11

2011-11-16T15:48:00.001-05:00

I've debated sharing this. But I decided, it was kind of funny, although REALLY gross. And PETA really irritated me with this little STUNT they pulled. And I was like, you know what PETA? Go stuff yourselves.

Anyway.

So the other day, while we were moving the couch into the house I noticed that there was something inside the door that wasn't there before. Upon looking closer, I realized that it was a frog/toad that must have been smashed when Taylor was on his way to work that morning.

It must of hopped in as the door was open but was not quick enough to get out of the way and was CRUSHED as the door slammed shut. Was it planned? Was it suicide? Accident? Who's to say?

At any rate, as much as I don't really care that much about toads (except the baby ones I found last spring in South Carolina), it was still kinda sad. I mean not as sad as the time I saw a baby bunny with it's legs ran over dying in the road in England (yep, I cried. And Tay wouldn't let me save it.)

THEN, I realized, Friday was 11-11-11! what a bad omen.

OR maybe this amphibian's 11-11-11 wish was to be smashed in the door of the house of two really ridiculously good looking people in love.

WISH GRANTED!!

Now how to get Taylor to clean it off...... yuck.

party central.

2011-11-14T20:33:00.001-05:00

Well well well, look who has a couch, THESE GUYS!

Please ignore that rug. It's not staying. I just like having A rug in here until I pick colors.

So I would like to make some throw pillows and curtains. But I have NOOO idea what I want to do with this grey couch. I mean, yeah I have an idea. Yellow. Obviously I love yellow and grey. But I feel like I'd be overdoing it with the yellow and grey combo. Even the bathroom in this house came in yellow and grey tile. Serendipitous.

I'm not a pink person, but I feel like some pink pillows would be fun (like a blush). I DON'T KNOW. I'm lost here. Help. Help me please. I'm serious, help.

Anyway not much has happened since the couch story so here is some stuff.

Is it so wrong that maybe deep down the driving force behind choosing to live in this house was because I wanted to have a fireplace mantle at Christmas time?

I can't stop daydreaming about how pretty my Christmas tree is gonna be in that corner. This is the first year in a long time that I have been really excited for Christmas time. I guess it's just aided by having my own little family and our own place.

We got our couch on Friday night and it had CAT HAIR ALL OVER IT. I was kinda hoping they would TRY to clean it off before they handed it over, but they didn't. I have never hated and resented cats more than I did when I tried everything to clean it off. Not only are we both allergic to cats, but I did NOT like looking at it, and getting it all over our clothes. Plus, I didn't want anyone to think that Lux sheds. CAUSE SHE DOESN'T. Anyway, the point to this story is that on Saturday morning we decided to go buy some giant lint rollers to try and get the remaining hair off of the couch. So, on the way to Target we saw a sign for a garage sale down the street and decided to see if we could find any treasures like, rugs, desk chairs or a china hutch for our dining room.

Well, we did find some treasures, just none of the things I just listed.

This vintage suitcase set.

Taylor saw them from the street and knew that he wanted them. "Can I get them?!" He asked me. Yes, I allowed him to spend the money that he worked for on this dope suitcase set. ;) My favorite part of this set is the little make up/vanity case, which Taylor so graciously gave me full use of.

A little mirror and everything! Isn't it awesome?

It was at this point that I believe Tay began to turn into a Garage Sale addict. He wanted to find more and look for more THINGS. We stopped at one other and had no luck, it was pretty picked over, as it was pretty late in the afternoon already. Maybe next Saturday though...

Hmm, let's seeee what else? Oh, we got a TV. It's on it's way to us. I didn't want to have to search for a TV stand on top of everything else so I was just trying to get creative and find something we already had or something cheap. and that's when I thought, HEY how about that Ikea bookshelf? and I think it's actually gonna work out pretty good:

Ha, that's not our TV though, that's just Tay's desktop screen which is our TV screen substitute for now.

Also, you probably don't remember but we (mostly Taylor) like to refer to things as "party central" like that time we were at Cardiff Bay in Wales. and there was also this house (which I haven't blogged about) that we would drive by all the time when we were in Oxford and they had a bunch of Christmas lights hung up flashing all the time that we could see through the window and we referred to that place also, as party central.

So anyway, as I was meandering through hell (aka WalMart) trying to find cheap plastic drawers. I found this doormat for 2 bucks and HAD to get it because I knew it would make Tay smile when he came home from work.

ISN'T IT AWESOME?

Okay I need some suggestions for color combos... aaaaand GO!

The Couch Story aka My 1st REAL Redneck Experience

2011-11-11T11:11:00.001-05:00

Just to clear the air before we get started, this is NOT the couch that we are picking up today.

This is a story all about how our life got flipped, turned up side down.......... For a couple of hours.

So as I said, I was in --what felt like, a never-ending search for a grey couch. So you can imagine my delight and excitement when I saw a grey sectional posted on Craigslist on Sunday night. Normally I skip over the listings without pictures, but I had to see it. So Taylor called and the guy emailed the pictures to me.

Sometimes I have to consciously make an effort not to be a photo snob, because I've been spoiled by Tay's DSLR. But these pictures were taken on a cell phone and they were pretty bad. Anyway, no matter, I was still all amped up about it being grey. So Taylor asked the guy where he lived, "near Hinesville" he said. Which is about, 45 min -1 hr away. Which is where they have a lot of trailer parks. And I said to Taylor, "Oh, he probably lives in a trailer park." To which Taylor replied "No, he said he has the couch in his shed. People who live in trailers don't have sheds." And he is more of the trailer park expert so I listened. Anyway, we made plans to go see the couch Monday evening after Taylor got off of work.

[The guy posted the couch, again (for about the 4th time) and this time with the *high quality* pictures along with it. So this isn't the listing that I initially saw, but I thought I would screen shot it for visual aid purposes.]

Okay, let us pause and analyze for just a moment, so the couch here is listed as a REMBRANDT sofa. Go Google Rembrandt couch and see what comes up. Go ahead. I'll wait. Okay, see how there is nothing?? So I knew from the start that couldn't be right, I knew that Rembrandt makes teeth whitening products, and I was pretty sure they hadn't ventured into the furniture business. But anyway, more on that in a minute...

So the guy gave us his address and we put it in the GPS to see how long it would really take us to get there. Remember that he said he lived near Hinesville. Let me show you where Hinesville is in comparison to Savannah (where we are):

So, it is quite a drive, but worth it for a grey couch for me. So we go ahead and put the address his gave us in the GPS, and this is where he actually lived:

As you can see, the B marker is where Hinesville is, and the C marker is where he lived, outside of a [horrendous smelling] town called Jesup. Just so we're clear, that is almost TWICE as long of a drive as the drive to Hinesville. So I was starting to feel like maybe the couch wasn't really worth it.

When I woke up on Monday I kept feeling like I should just forget about the couch. It was too far, and we don't have a truck to get it here so it would probably cost us a buttload and a half just to get it home. And it would have to make a SECOND trip there and it didn't look THAT great. So I had decided we were not going. And then I got a call from Taylor at work, who was trying to figure out a plan to go look at the couch that night after her got off work. "I don't want to go. I don't think it's worth it." Then Tay was like, "Come on, we have to try. You might love it!! and it's a lot cheaper than a brand new one. and if we get this cheaper couch we can get a new mattress." I told him I didn't care. But after we got off the phone I started to feel guilty, I thought about how I had been acting like a brat all week and maybe it would be the best couch ever. So against my better judgement.... we went.

So we're driving along and Taylor is tired so he's boring and Lux isn't doing anything particularly exciting so I just started yelling things and laughing about how stupid we were for driving almost two hours to go look at some redneck's old couch, that he bought used from Craigslist.

FINALLY, we get there. And it's dark and as we pull up we can see that they do in fact, live in a trailer. There's a very butchy woman in the kitchen window, and at first I'm not sure if it's a man or a woman. Taylor gives the guy a call to make sure we're at the right place and the guy is at Wal-Mart [of course, a town with only 700 people, still has a Wal-Mart...... ugh.] and says he'll be there in 5 minutes. So we wait in the car.

About 2 minutes later, a truck pulls up. So we get out, and go introduce ourselves to the man who gets out of the truck, who looks like he's 65. As soon as he opened his mouth I could hardly stand myself. I've heard all sorts of southern accents, but his sounded exactly like the way me and Tay talk to eachother in jokey southern accents. I mean EXACTLY. Well it turns out this guy isn't the guy with the couch, but his BFF. So the butchy woman then emerges from the trailer saying "Ya'll come on in here!!!" and we obeyed. We go inside and meet the butchy woman, who is couch guy's mom.There is a toddler sleeping in a car seat by the TV. Upon entering the light I can see that couch guy's BFF is not 65, he is young, in his early twenties. So we sit on the couch (not the couch on craigslist) and wait. Normally, in awkward situations Taylor is very good at chatting with people and diffusing the situation. In this particular instance, Tay was extremely tired and not up for chatting. So I am forced to make conversation WITHOUT laughing in this guys face. I ask him about the town and if he's lived there his whole life, he has, of course. He tells me there is about 700 people in the town. I tell him I grew up in a town with about 2000 to make him feel like I'm on his level, but he is more impressed than anything.

FINALLY, couch guy pulls up and we go out to meet him so we can go look at the couch.....in the shed. Behind his trailer. Couch guy is also, young, and is with his anorexic scraggly smoking girlfriend, who walks by, ignoring us, heading for the house. Which is totally fine by me, I don't think I can handle anymore stereotypes coming to life in front of my eyes at this point. Couch guy is a real nice guy, he is explaining to us how he lives with his mom and his girlfriend just moved in with them so they have a couple of couches to get rid of. He pulls the car up so that we have some light shining on the shed. I think that was when the reality of everything really hit me. It literally took everything out of me to not start LAUGHING. and I MEAN REALLY LAUGHING. There's what looks like 80 couches piled on top of each other in the shed and I see a roach scurry off. They pull out one section and the cushions and we sit on it. It's kind of romantic, sitting outside on part of a sectional, in the light of car headlights, just the two of us, and couch guy and his BFF.

So I know what you're really wondering, how was the COUCH? Well, it wasn't that bad actually. I'm not really sure what fabric it was but I know it wasn't microfiber, or anything that would ever be stain resistant. And the cushions were very obviously sat in and used. But it wasn't the worst couch ever, and I don't think it smelled like pee, sex, or cigarette smoke. Which is always nice.

While they were putting the cushions back I saw the tag with the brand name on the couch which was BERNHARDT. not Rembrandt. But I didn't say anything because I didn't want him to feel like I was patronizing him. If he even knew what that meant. And when Taylor asked him the brand while we were there he seemed so confident. He said "It's Rembrandt. Yep. Rembrandt." HE SAID IT TWICE.

We tell couch guy we appreciate him showing us the couch and inside I'm thinking, "These guys probably think we are the dumbest idiots, driving 2 hours to LOOK at a couch for 3 minutes." Then I think, "I can't believe I've gotten to this point in my life where I am worried about what people, let alone rednecks are thinking about me." He tells us he's no rush and he'd deliver for us if we pay for gas. He tells us he's not busy but he's in school all day. Then Taylor asks where, and he says the technical college down the road. Couch guy then proceeds to tell us he is graduating in May and can't wait to be done cause he's been there for a year and a half. And if I were Taylor, at that moment I would have been like TRY GOING FOR 6 YEARS!! But he ain't even like that. Anyway, it's not like I can talk, I'm a college drop out.

So then we part ways and spend the entire drive home laughing and I keep yelling,

"THAT JUST HAPPENED!!!"

I like to yell in the car.

Looking for rugs in all the wrong places.

2011-11-10T16:51:00.001-05:00

Upon doing a brief inventory of the stuff that we had, I made a mental list of things that we needed ASAP. The list (highest priority on top) was as follows:

Kitchen Table
Couch
Rugs
Computer Desk
Craft table

April and I spent all day searching and searching for couches and a table, I think we went to every furniture store and their scratch and dent sections. We searched high and low in several thrift stores.

I even found this little book for 30 cents

Which I HAD to get because I saw this page in it and was extremely amused:

Anyway, we found some couches that I liked, and even a couple of tables. But I didn't want to rush into anything a blow all of my money that I got. I was getting discouraged that I wouldn't find a cheap anything though.

I wanted to search on craigslist but without the internet it was difficult (this was before I discovered the craigslist APP for android.) but Taylor's mom was searching on there for us and found a Pottery Barn table with EIGHT chairs for 200 bucks, so I downloaded the app, looked at the table and I was like, gotta have that table. (We have a dining room that needed to be filled.) So we drove out to Skidaway Island and looked at it, loved it, and got it. We SOMEHOW fit the table, the two extensions, the eight chairs AND April all in the back of Taylor's Nitro, it was nothing short of a miracle. Thanks Sheryl, you saved the day with that find!!

Taylor made me hold the sign...... gay.

So then the next day we (April and I, again, she is a lifesaver) could focus solely on couches. We went to some new stores and back to couches I had already looked at. The thing that made it difficult about couches was that A) I was on a budget and B) I wanted a grey couch. I had a few visions for decor and none of them involved Earth tones, that is no offense to anyone who has or loves earth tones. I'm sure Ape thought I was being a total diva, but she was still very helpful. I saw an Aqua-ish couch at Ashley Furniture that I really liked, but it was too ballsy for to get a couch that wasn't a neutral color (at a high price), Anyway, so after I did all that looking I had to take Taylor back to see what he liked (cause I'm nice) and Mr. Diva was hungry and so he was doing the "this is too hard. this is too soft. this feels like it's pushing me off, this one is too deep. I can feel the wood in the arm rest" [that was sooo many that's what she said's in a row!!]and I was like I WILL PUNCH YOU IN THE CHEST! Then we fed him and it was all good. I love him.

Meanwhile, during the couch fiasco, I was looking for rugs. I feel like I really need rugs because A) wood floors are pretty but not cozy, and B) our wood floors were not even pretty. So really, the wood has nothing going for it. Other than giving us hipster street cred, which is what we need, with all the SCAD students lurking about. I was getting real real mad about rugs because I just wanted inexpensive rugs, that were simple, simple or cool and not like weird Persian rugs. I don't even have children yet, why should I have a grandma rug? There's not an ikea nearby that I know of, the closest is in Atlanta, 4 hours away. Not that even Ikea has a huge selection of what I'm looking for. So anyway I perusing craigslist on my phone when I saw a post for "Fun Accent Rugs" so I clicked on it and one was from Ikea, the cheapest one they have, and one was from Urban Outfitters. They were only 15 bucks a piece. I didn't LOVE the one from Urban outfitters but I figured it could go in the craft room/office (since, I'll probably get it stained with a spill of some sort eventually, let's be honest.) So I got em and here they are.

It's kinda dirty cause I was building shelves on it and Lux has been playing on it. I am pretty sure that everyone has this rug. But I don't care. 15 bucks. Bam.

This is the one from Urban, It's really not that bad. It'll do.

So that got me to thinking, WHY haven't I been looking at Urban Outfitters for rugs!? So I went on there and I found quite a few that I like, anyway I am pretty sure I can get all the rugs I need for the house for under $150!! BOOYA. My rug woes have ceased. I told Taylor about my realization about how I was looking for rugs in all the wrong places, and he thought it was funny. But it was serious.

Okay so that's a lot of luck to be had with craigslist already am I right? Well it doesn't stop there.

While I was watching a movie in the garage with Taylor on Sunday while we bug bombed our kitchen, I thought the movie was boring so I was doing some more craigslisting on my phone and that's when I saw it.

GREY SECTIONAL!

There were no pictures which is never a good sign but I had to see it so Taylor called and talked to the guy who was supposedly in Hinesville, anyway, this whole thing is a story to be told in it's own blog post. so I will stop there, and fill you in later. [i wrote about it, here.]

So anyway, long story (which I will share, don't worry) short, that wasn't "THE ONE" and I was discouraged, but also debating whether or not to bite the bullet and make it be the one. But then the unthinkable happened. Two days later I was going through the listings again and another one was posted:

Gray Micro Suede Sectional Couch - $400 (Pooler)And I was like WHAT. How is this possible? So I got a hold of them and we went and looked at it last night and WE ARE GETTING IT! It was a pretty great couch for a pretty great price. Apparently the guy got in Holland 4 years ago while he was stationed there in the army. So we are going to go pick it up tomorrow and WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A COUCH, a real life couch to sit on. There were pictures, but I would rather wait till it's our house to post pictures and also it kind of looks blue in the pictures they posted..

I don't really know why the text just did that but I'm too lazy to fix it.
Dreams really do come true on Craigslist.

But some people still get murdered because of it, so be careful.

OH and for the rest of the list, our neighbors are having a baby and trying to get rid of some furniture and gave us a pretty awesome (awesome meaning simple and exactly what we needed) computer desk FO FREE! It was great. and then I just bought a cheap little folding table for my craft table.

So the moral of the story is that things are really working out for old Tay and Kyns. We are super blessed to the maximum.

Ketchup - Roach Hotel

2011-11-10T14:36:00.001-05:00

This is the picture I took with my phone right before I walked in the house as it's latest resident. Taylor was still at work and April was on her way to come help us move in, so it was just me. (and Lux) I was so excited I could hardly stand myself. I walked in and I was just staring at everything in awe, "this is where WE live now!"

Okay so maybe I was running around the empty house yelling....

Anyway, after the excitement settled, I realized that was actually, quite dirty. When I went to pick up the keys they said they had it professionally cleaned. I'm not sure what "professional" cleaned this house, but it looked like they hired a one armed 5 year old to do it.

But, no matter, I'd just clean it myself. and I did. I spent about 5 hours or so scrubbing the floors and the baseboards and the outside of the cupboards. But it still wasn't enough.

Anyway, I'm not going to go into too much detail here, cause I could write a novel, but I just wanted to talk about what happened the first couple of days or moving in. When things started to go downhill.

First, it started with the filth. Then, the heat didn't work (still doesn't yet), then we discovered German roaches, and as I continued on doing things in the house I discovered more and more FILTH. The tub wouldn't drain, the floors were in worse shape that than I had noticed when we looked at it, and then finally the washing machine flooded. And that's when I cried a little.

April was a sweet sweet angel. I would have done more than just cried a little if she wasn't there. I would have gone into complete meltdown mode and probably burned down the house. She spent the entire day scrubbing out the nasty kitchen and lining the shelves in the cupboards. It's hard to believe that such tiny kitchen could take so long to clean. But it did.

Once all of our things were in the garage/the house I realized that we actually had even LESS furniture than I thought. [But at least we had a bed. and one dresser..] And I thought to myself, we have NO MONEY how am I going to furnish this place?

And then things started to turn around (and maybe I had a little bit of an attitude adjustment..)

That night, I started to think about how ungrateful I was being. I mean, we HAD a house, we had a place to live. I was getting everything I always wanted, and just because things weren't perfect didn't mean that they weren't gonna be OK.

So I said a little prayer. I apologized for being so ungrateful after being given so much and among other things, I prayed for a way to be able to furnish the apartment to make the place seem more like a home.

And, then of course, my prayers were answered...

When I woke up I checked my bank account and I had a lot more money in there than I should have. It turns out, I got my back end check from the company I worked for this summer. I really wasn't anticipating getting it, at all, because that company sucked hardcore. But I was happy nonetheless!

And so the search for furniture began...

Ketchup - Halloween.

2011-11-10T14:19:00.000-05:00

Well, I actually really missed blogging. Not being able to do it made me realize that I actually do enjoy documenting our lives (without having to scrapbook, bleh.). I love technology.

Today I'm gonna blog like I'm getting paid and the rent is due tonight. bear with me children.

Okay so I guess I will start from Halloween weekend.

We decided to go down to Valdosta for Halloween weekend, because everyone else was and it was the last time we were all going to be together until Christmas. and I mean EVERYONE. I'm talking Nana, Pop, Jamie, Jeff, Sally, Curtis, Laney, April, Thomas, John, Angie, Kendall, Logan, Dylan, Alex, Lux, Me, and Taylor.

Friday was Angie's birthday so we went to dinner at a hibachi grill.

John being a model.

Chatting.

Me and the birthday girl.

Giggling. Jeff was banished to the corner.

UM yes. that sushi roll is called PARTY IN YOUR MOUTH

The whole gang.

My snaggle teeth.

Curtis eating a baby octopus.

Angie, John, and Jared, all being models.

I made this same face for like a serious of 15 photos. it was creep.

This is how they fell in love.

Thomas is the outcast.

After dinner we went to back to Nana's for cake and ice cream and partied moderately hard.

Dylan helping helping with his mom's candles.

Jamie and KENDALL

Lux lusting after Jeff.

Laney telling us what the doggy says.

This picture just makes me LOL.

Saturday was the Trunk o Treat at the church and somehow we managed to get everyone dressed up, even the dogs.

Curtis and precious Laney

Thomas not being creepy at all....

my last minute princess peach costume.

Laney doin a jig.

John was my favorite for the night.

John and April

Angie's last minute pirate costume.

Some very appropriate things happened during this photoshoot.

Last year I was the star of the couples costume, so I thought I could take the backseat this year.

squIRREL!

Pop

OHHH THomas.

Me and Jamie should go blonde. and Sally should always do that with her mouth.

Curtis, from Waycross.

too bad laney was drunk (off breastmilk) in this picture.

So basically it was a super fun weekend and BTW all of those costumes were last minute costumes, so we're pretty much amazing.

But on Sunday we had to go home so that we could move into our new place on Monday

Next up, the post about moving in.

spanish moss.

2011-10-26T20:24:00.000-04:00

So, good news! We got the house!

However, we don't move in until the 1st. But at least we can rest easy in the meantime and relax and enjoy our weekend in Valdosta with the fam. AND I CAN BRANG MY PUPPY HOME FINALLY.

I will definitely take pictures when we get in there. Or, make Taylor do it.

So today was mostly a day where I killed a lot of time. I also went and got some Halloween costume stuff for the husband and I.

On a side note, WHY DO ALL WOMEN'S COSTUMES HAVE TO BE SLUTTY? That's why I never buy costumes but it gets so old it's like, everything has to have "Sexy" at the front of it. Sexy Grandma Costume, Sexy Baby Costume, Sexy Horse Costume, today I even saw a Sexy Flamingo . Which actually does not look like a flamingo at all but rather a fluffy hooker.

Also, I went for a little walk today around the neighborhood and I have to say, I fall more in love with this place everyday. Ever since I was a tween, I have wished that I could live in the South, and now I do. Not only do I live in the South but Savannah really embodies the whole southern essence that I love, the southern drawls, the spanish moss, the trees, the marsh, the screen porches, the big old plantation houses, the rivers, everything.. It really feels like I am home. I just hope we get to stay here for awhile. I feel so blessed to have ended up somewhere desirable.

So, while I was walking I took some pictures and I thought I would share. This place is just so beautiful.

our new house.

Just Kidding, maybe someday I will have a house like this.

home coming, house hunting, and another hospital visit.

2011-10-25T20:28:00.000-04:00

So, we made it in one piece with all 6 pieces of luggage!

Everything went pretty smoothly on our way home, surprisingly. Even though we had to recheck in our luggage when we got to Atlanta to fly into Valdosta.

I was pretty tired when we finally made it to Valdosta but my first order of business was to go get Lux from Drew and Julie's and I was really scared she would forget who I was. But, when we walked in she was really excited. She was shaking and licking the crap out of us when we picked her up. It made me happy.

It made me even happier when I fell asleep that night and I woke up with her in between us on her back under the covers with her little paws and head poking out. I love my sweet puppy.

Our initial plan on Saturday was to get up and go to Savannah and look for a place to live since we are coming back to Valdosta for Halloween weekend. But we of course, didn't. We stuck around and visited with everyone. It was nice though. And my sweet Mother In Law saw my blog and made sure to have Diet Dr. Pepper waiting for me. :) Thanks Sheryl! You're the best.

We finally made it out of the house by 12:30pm. and headed to Savannah to look at house that I was pretty sure was going to be the one.

That was until we got there. AND THE BEDROOMS AND LIVING ROOM HAD DIRTY WHITE LINOLEUM [like linoleum that they used to put in school halls and cafeterias] instead of hardwood or carpet. I can deal with a lot of things, but I just can't deal with living in Lunch Lady Land. Also when we went back outside and the yard was huge, but it had a chain link fence and our potential neighbors had some crazy redneck situations going on in their backyard. And yes, I often judge people based on how they keep their yard. SO WHAT?

Anyway, it just wasn't for us, I just didn't like the vibe I felt when I was in there.

So then on Sunday we went to the ward we will potentially be in and it seemed pretty good. A lot better than when we were in Florence and no one was under the age of 75 (very sweet people, just no one to socialize with). Then we met up with Aunt Martha and Uncle Gary (who are so graciously letting us crash at their place and feeding us delicious food!!) for lunch and I ate some Chicken and Waffles for the first time and I have to say, GREAT COMBO! Taylor ate fish and grits. I love America. and I really love Georgia. and I really really love Savannah.

After lunch we spent about 5-6 hours driving around looking for rentals. We found some, and we were able to get a feel for the neighborhood better. But we weren't really able to look at any on the inside. But all in all it wasn't a totally wasteful day. We decided that our preference was to live in town. Since we're so hip and cool and indie.

On Monday Taylor had set up a couple of showings during his lunch break (he's already started working) so I met up with him to go look. The first place was okay but it was a little pricey and a lot of repairs needed to be made and it had a separate occupied apartment upstairs which I wasn't very keen on. Then we headed over to the house that I had my eye on for awhile when I was looking on the internet from England. I actually blogged about it (with pictures!) here. I was nervous to go look at it because I had been disappointed by so many and I really wanted it to be as cute as it looked online. Luckily, it was! It was dirty (they will have it cleaned though) It has wood floors all throughout, a separate dining room, fireplace, 3 bedrooms, a HUGE two car garage (maybe we can get started on some food storage), a fenced backyard and a big screen porch.

So we have pretty much decided that that is the one we are going to go with. We turned in the rental application today so we should hear back in a couple of days whether or not we got it. If we don't, that will be awkward and we will be homeless some more. But if we do get it I am going to be way excited!

Today has been a busy day for me. Remember how I had to go to the hospital last week in London and they told me it was food poisoning? Well the horrible pain has been coming and going all week (its even woken me up in the middle of the night it's so bad) and I talked to some friends and my dad and they all said it sounds like I have kidney stones. Which makes a buttload more sense than food poisoning. So I finally got to see a doctor today and then the doctor said it could just be gas (seriously?) but it's possible that it is kidney stones, so he gave me a prescription for some pain killers and sent me over to the hospital to get Xrays just to see if I need to go as far to get a CT scan.
They gave me a wrist band when I checked in for my Xrays. Which made me a little scared that I might be trapped there forever. But it only took like 45 minutes.

It's still kind of crazy to see my new last name on stuff.

hopefully those numbers don't mean anything significant. don't want my identity stolen.

Also, when I dropped my prescription off at Walgreens, the pharmacist dude looked like Drake. Which automatically made me like him.

I had to drive all over town going to doctors offices and the hospital and target and best buy and the real estate office, which normally I would have hated but I went so long without the freedom of a car in England that I was actually just grateful to be able to drive myself around.

OH. Speaking of Best Buy, I got my Kindle replaced. (cause I already broke it, but Taylor knew I would so he got a replacement plan) Unfortunately they didn't have anymore white ones, which made me sad. But I didn't want to seem Ereader-racist, so I accepted the black one. Plus the white ones get dirty so easily. I am just happy to have one again.

So that's pretty much everything that's happened so far.

I knew blogs would be boring when we weren't England anymore. WELL SORRY! I still love our life!

Fragile bird.

2011-10-20T11:56:00.000-04:00

WOW.

So this is probably going to be our last blog post in England. So as a warning, it might be long.

In fact, I really should be packing but this sounds more enticing.

On Tuesday, we had our last date night.

We went to dinner and then went to see The Three Muskateers in 3D. It was actually really good, and was surprisingly released here in the UK before the U.S. which is not typical I've learned.

They gave us the left over Harry Potter 3D glasses. I initially declined them because I am not a Potter lover, but the lady said they were more comfortable so I was like, fine.

They were more comfortable.

Last night [Wednesday], was the night of the City and Colour concert at Roundhouse in London.
The Venue was actually really cool and LED ZEPPELIN played their first show in London at Roundhouse so I thought that was pretty rad. I'm not sure if I've ever been to a venue where the greatest heavy metal band that ever existed played.

I found the original flyer for that concert so I had to post it. Awesome.

So, we drove into London and parked at an underground station and took the underground to the venue, it was a pretty simple process. And when we got there it seemed like we had to wait forever for it to start, but luckily we had seats on the upper deck, but unfortunately they were kind of crappy, there was a pillar and some speakers blocking the stage. But I could see a lot better than I would have if I were standing down on the floor. It sucks being short at shows.

Taylor got up early [5:30 AM] to do the early shift at work so that we could leave early enough to get there on time. (We probably would have been fine if he didn't though.) He was pretty tired. He actually fell asleep while we were waiting for the opening band to start.

the view from our seats

the ceiling.

i tried to take a picture of Taylor sleeping and FAILED.

So after what seemed like days, City and Colour finally came on stage. They looked super classy. Dallas Green had on a white suit coat. But he wasn't wearing his 50 year old dad glasses. It's fine though.

See what I mean about the speakers? Oh well.

The music was, well, music to my ears. I love every second of that concert. After a few songs the band left the stage and Dallas Green played some of his earlier City and Colour stuff, solo. At one point he busted out his harmonica and asked everyone to put the their cell phones down and stop recording, tweeting, facebooking, texting whatever, and just enjoy the song and live in the moment, for at least that one song [body in a box], and surprisingly everyone listened. It was really cool to be above the main crowd and watch the cell phone lights go out. During the song, one by one, lighters started to go up. It was pretty awesome.

You can kinda see all the lighters. It was like we traveled back in time.

All in all, it was an incredible concert. The really cool thing about City and Colour was that it was *I* who introduced him/them to Taylor, and he loved them. And so basically all the songs are tied to memories with Taylor and I. It made me really happy, and it was also a kind of romantic. I think I teared up at one point.

Here is some baby makin' music, if you need it. We recorded this.

This is the part where things get kind of dramatic and disgusting, you have been warned.

So after the show was over we got on the train and headed back to the car. We were both tired and I was really thirsty. We started the drive home and kept getting stuck in traffic but I suddenly got a burst of energy and was acting kind of crazy [in a fun way]. I had to go to pee kind of bad and then I started to get this pain on the right side of my stomach. I wasn't really sure what it was but I told Taylor he needed to stop so I could go to the restroom as soon as he saw one.

Suddenly the pain got REALLY bad, and I also had to pee really bad as well. So I started freaking out a little bit. Plus we were trapped in the car in traffic. I was so desperate for any kind of relief but the pain was just getting worse. It started kind of spreading to the middle of my stomach. We finally were able to stop only to find that there was no restroom open at that time. I got out of the car and debated peeing behind a bush but there was a truck parked by the bush so I decided not to. I climbed in the back seat of the car and realized that I could have appendicitis. "GREAT" I thought, "JUST GREAT! Couldn't it wait until I was back in America??"

I told Taylor to take me to a hospital. which is really weird for me because I avoid the doctor at all costs. I never go to the doctor and I don't think I have ever been to the hospital for myself, let alone the emergency room. But for some reason I just felt like it was something we had to do.

Then I started to feel nauseated and Taylor was trying to find a hospital on the GPS, that's when I felt like I was going to throw up so I opened the car door and threw up just a little bit. At this point I started shaking and shivering and I couldn't stop. It was a combination of the fear, the cold, and the vomiting. Taylor was kind of scared I could tell and I felt so bad because it was midnight and I couldn't imagine how exhausted he was. I took the GPS out of his hands and found the nearest hospital and handed it back to him. It was about 10 minutes away so we drove there only to find that it was just a day clinic. I decided that I just was going to pee behind a bush so I did. I only felt a little better, the pain was still there. Taylor called 911 to find out where the closest hospital was to us. I grabbed the two little grocery bags in the car and doubled them up in case of another puking incident.

He finally found the right hospital on the GPS and we headed over there. I was still in the backseat in pain and shivering but trying not to scare Taylor anymore and I just kept apologizing to him. That's when I really puked. Right into the bag luckily. Normal when I throw up it's really dramatic and I like cry and stuff and I hate it but I just did not care about the vomit because I was in so much pain. Luckily, in spite of my pain I was able to get all my vomit into the bag. I held the bag out the window so Taylor didn't have to smell it and prayed and prayed that I did not throw up again before we got there.

FINALLY, we made it to the hospital. We went inside and checked in. The lady told me it was going to be a 3 to 4 hour wait and I was like THIS IS ACTUALLY AN EMERGENCY! So she got me in basically right away. The nurse took my blood pressure and told me she needed a urine sample. This was literally like 8 minutes after I just peed behind that bush so I was like MAN THIS IS GONNA TAKE FOREVER. But I got some. I brought it back to her and she took my blood, gave me some pain killers and sent me back out to the waiting room telling me the blood work would take two hours. It was about 1 in the morning now and I hated that it was going to take that long but I was grateful they had at least seen me. About 10 minutes later the doctor called me back again and took me in a room and did the rebound test and asked me about various things and let me know that I wasn't pregnant. She said that I probably has premenstrual symptoms, OR had food poisoning. I figured it was probably food poisoning. She said that she didn't think it was appendicitis but if I get a fever within 24 hours to come back, but that I could go home with anti-vomit medicine. Taylor asked her about the blood work and turned out that she didn't know that I had got blood taken so she couldn't let me leave until the results came back. So she sent me back to the waiting room and the painkillers started to kick in. I had Taylor say a prayer with me that I would be okay.

I have never in my life hoped I had food poisoning, but if it was food poisoning, at least I would still get to go home on Friday.

So we waited about 2 hours and finally the doctor came out and told me everything was normal and that I could go home. I was sosososososo happy but SO tired, and still in a little bit of pain so I asked for more painkillers. They were nice. DON'T WORRY I'M NOT AN ADDICT.

On the drive home I wanted to sleep, but I felt guilty sleeping since Taylor had almost been awake for 24 hours. So I stayed up and talked to him. We spent most of the drive talking about the bright side of the situation, and how it could have been worse. I've noticed we always do that, at least we're kind of optimists, well, Taylor is.

Kyns: "At least it didn't happen at the concert."

Tay: "At least it happened while we were in the car."

Kyns: "Good thing they got us back there quickly."

Tay: "At least you're not dying."

Kyns: "Good thing it happened to me and not you cause I couldn't drive this car."

Tay: "At least we don't have to clean puke out of the car, you did a really good job of keeping it clean in spite of your condition. I'm impressed."

Kyns: "Thanks, I'm professional."

The good news is that I'm alive. The bad news is I'm not totally sure it was food poisoning, just because, I didn't throw up again. But, I did have those anti-vomit pills which work like a charm. But it ISN'T appendicitis and that's what is most important here.

Also, Emergency room visits in the UK are free. So even though I have travelers insurance, last nights little fiasco didn't cost a dime. But they still treated me really well

Overall I was satisfied with my English healthcare experience, but now I am ready to come HOME!

See you tomorrow America.

we're coming to america.

2011-10-16T11:20:00.000-04:00

We may or may not be a little more excited than necessary about our rapidly approaching departure date to get back to the U.S.A.

The reality of it all is really overwhelming me. I have various emotions but my biggest one is anxiety, because even though it is now only FOUR DAYS away, it feels really far away.

We've both been talking about the things we want to do when we get back. So I decided to make a boring blog about our "IMMEDIATELY TO DO" lists when we get back.

Please note, I only have three, but that's because I also want to go bowling, eat zaxby's, and play halo and I didn't want to get too repetitive.

(I made collages to make this seem more exciting than it is.)

We also plan on driving up and down the streets(on the right side of the road mind you) singing the Star Spangled Banner out of our windows.

I know we're way lame.

I have a feeling this blog is gonna be way less exciting when we aren't in a foreign country...

love is a battlefield.

2011-10-16T10:55:00.000-04:00

Our initial plan for Saturday morning was to get up at 8AM and make the 2 hour drive down to Hastings for the Battle of Hastings event.

If you know us at all, you can probably guess that it didn't happen that way.

Not only do I loathe the morning, but since I am still battling with my sickness, the mornings are when I feel the worst. So it was hard for me to drag myself out of the warm bed. But eventually I did.

So anyway, by about 11:30 AM we made it out of the house. We got stuck in some traffic but we finally made it to Battle at around 2:30PM. I kind of felt guilty because I knew that Taylor was really looking forward to the battle reenactment that only takes place once a year, and I figured we'd already missed it. The event for the day was supposed to go from 10AM - 4PM. So when we got our tickets and program we realized that the reenactment was the LAST event of the day and started at 3PM, so we got real lucky. And I was actually glad we didn't get there at 10AM cause I don't think I could have hung out there for 5 hours.

To me, it wasn't actually that exciting, but it was pretty cool, and as always, it makes me happy when my husband is happy and I think he enjoyed it.

Here are some pictures to help you feel like you were there with us.

If you're a girl, you probably think is boring. Sorry.

So then we went into Hastings because we just wanted to see the coast one last time. So we drove into town only to discover that we were there the same night as their huge bonfire night.

They have this big bonfire society and they do this to celebrate the Battle of Hastings as well as the downfall of Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up parliament. (Remember, Remember the 5th of November) So they were having a big old carnival on the seaside, and then they had a parade with torches, not unlike an angry mob, and then they lit this huge thing on fire.

i guess they don't know about burning crosses and how it's not kosher.

and of course once Taylor learned about this, he NEEDED to see it. Which I was fine with, at the time. SO we walked around and stopped for dinner then walked around some more then waited on the street for the parade. It was getting colder and colder and I was getting more and more impatient, and sicker and sicker and

BOOM!

There was a huge boom that rang in our ears and everybody screamed. I looked around to see if there was any indication where it came from. I had initially figured it was part of the parade.

Then we quickly learned that some idiot teenager kid threw a firework, not unlike an M80 behind the crowd, and it landed right behind us and right next to a lady and her two small children. Luckily no one got hurt, except the guy standing next to us got hit in the leg and it was swollen up pretty bad. He had a pretty good attitude about it but everyone was really mad. The police came but the kid had already taken off. If I had children there, that kid would have gotten his face smashed into a car windshield long before anyone was able to report it to the police. But I digress. Apparently this kid and his friends had been walking up and down the street dropping these fireworks near the onlookers waiting for the parade. I don't know what kind stupid person does things like that, but apparently they exist.

The nice thing about the incident was it made me forget how cold I was for a minute.

So FINALLY the parade made it's way down to us and it was cool for a second, but then it got really repetitive and a little too loud. They were pushing these tin barrels and kept throwing exploding fireworks in them. So after I begged Taylor finally agreed that we could go, luckily he was also cold. So we had to figure how to get across the parade of fire people to get to the car park. This was really tricky because A) I am pretty sure it's not allowed to walk across them and B) There is A LOT of fire and a lot of explosives going on (which is so stupid and unsafe.)

So I am standing on the side of the road waiting for a break when another firework goes off right in front of me, but the genius missed the barrel so it just exploded all up in our faces and I got hit in the leg with some piece of something and it hurt SO BAD. At that point I was mad at the entire British population and my adrenaline was going a little bit so I weaved through the crowd (Taylor following) to find a break in the parade to run across. At one point I heard Taylor yell "LOOK OUT!" from behind me and another explosive went off. We saw a break without fire or explosives and ran across as some people yelled at us about how we couldn't do that. But I didn't care. They were all idiots to me at that point, and they can't tell me what to do.

Smokey the bear needs to get his rear in gear and get over here and teach these people about fire safety.

We have a video of most of the parade but I am too lazy to wait for it to upload. SORRY. but here's a video from the parade two years ago that I found on youtube. it's the exact same

5 Days until we come HOME!

7 days to homelessness.

2011-10-14T11:02:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it. I can't believe we only have 7 days left in Jolly Ol' England.

I remember two days before we left America, spending 5 hours in the southern heat, just the two of us and our restless dog, unloading the U-Haul into the storage unit. I remember hating everything Taylor owned and swearing to get rid of all of it. And I remember when we finally finished, taking one last look at all of it before we pulled the door down thinking, "I don't have to deal with any of this for 3 months, hallelujah."

Now, I am just days away from having to deal with it.

I'm less worried about dealing with all of that and more worried about FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE!
I realize that I don't have to decide RIGHT now, and I also realize that we will find a place to rent but it is tricky, let me tell you why:

1) Savannah is not necessarily a safe place and even though I ain't never scared, I still would like to live somewhere relatively safe, since my dog is useless as far as protection goes, and really, who wants to live somewhere they might get shot up? Anyway, it's really hard to determine where is safe and where isn't safe when all you have to go off of is this crime rate map.

2) I've said it once, and I will say it again, my husband is a diva. I found this super cute (old, but still really fun) house that has a fire place, a garage, 3 bedrooms, a washer and dryer, a separate dining room, and a big screen porch. And on top of all that it was cheaper than any one bedroom apartment we've found (that ISN'T in the Ghetto) Here are some pics:

Okay, so yeah it's a little ghetto right? But still, it's cute. I like it. But Taylor was trying to act like it's not good enough for him. It might have been cause I was PMSing but I thought I was going to go all Wayne Brady and choke him out. Doesn't he know that I am a woman and I can make anything awesome? Anyway, moving on.

3) We don't want to rent an apartment, I understand that beggars can't be choosers and we are definitely beggars right now. However, usually with houses you have privacy, and they are the same price if not cheaper than smaller apartments. I also understand that we don't necessarily need a bunch of bedrooms. Sue me if I want to have a craft room and a place to put Taylor's computer without it being in our bedroom. Also, if we have enough space we won't need a storage unit. On top of all the that, I always want to have a guest bedroom, because I want people to come visit me all the time, and I feel like since I will be super close to the beach, that will lure them all in. Anyway, so the problem is not that we can't find a house to rent, but that we would ideally like a lease that is not a year long (just because Taylor hasn't passed is "trial period" at work yet) and most house rentals require at least a year (that we've found so far.)

So what is a young married couple to do? I don't want to temporarily move into a tiny apartment because I JUST WANT TO STAY PUT SOMEWHERE FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD. I hate moving. But you wanna know what I hate more than moving? I hate living somewhere knowing it's only temporary for a couple months. Even though my best friend's beast of a sister-in-law once referred to me as "UNSTABLE", I am not, and I don't like feeling like our lifestyle is unstable either.

Normally, I would like to put this all aside and enjoy the time we have left, but I've been sick and stuck inside for 3 days, so I've only just had time to think and worry.

Don't feel bad for me though, I'm like the luckiest girl ever. I got a man who love me and 3 months of English vacation under my belt.

There's about two things left on our English agenda, Tomorrow, the Battle of Hastings reenactment and then my most favorite thing...

CITY AND COLOUR CONCERT IN LONDON ON WEDNESDAY.
I can't really describe to you how stoked I am to go to this concert, not just because I love LOOOOOVE City and Colour, but because I get to go to a show in LONDON,

EAT YOUR HEART OUT HIPSTERS!

and now, I shall leave you with a video of City and Colour so if you aren't jealous yet, you can be.

booya.

"i'm in a glass case of emotion!"

2011-10-09T18:25:00.000-04:00

um, so this week was super crazy.

Wednesday morning, April left. I woke up to an empty apartment. Something felt weird about that morning. A text came in on the borrowed phone that I have that was across the room, but I figured it was probably some junk message from the service provider, so I ignored it. About an hour later I got a call on the house phone from Taylor at work.

This is how the conversation went:

Tay: "Hi, did you get my text message?"

Kyns: "Uhhh no."

Tay: "Okay well, you probably won't like this but today I talked to my boss, and it looks like they will be sending me to China for a month."

Kyns: ........................

Tay: "And unfortunately they said I can't bring my wife."

Kyns: ......................

Tay: "You're crying aren't you?"

I was crying. That might sound like a stupid reason to cry, but who in the world wants to be away from their husband for a month? Let alone any time period at all. AND THAT'S NOT THE ONLY THING, we haven't even established ourselves in Savannah and now that was going to be delayed even longer.

So I spent all of Wednesday feeling sorry for myself.
Thursday accepting everything, but secretly wishing that he couldn't get his visa to go.
And then Friday rolled around and I had just written a "woe is me" blog about the further delay of my normal life when I got another phone call from the Mr. himself.
and this is how that conversation went:

Tay: "So, what would your emotional reaction be if I didn't go to China?"

Kyns: "Well, obviously I would like that."

Tay: "You would be happy?"

Kyns: "Yes! Very."

Tay: "Okay then I won't go."

It turns out that they decided it wouldn't be fair to send Taylor to China when we hadn't been given a chance to get settled in Savannah. Once again, I am extremely grateful that he has a manager who cares at least a little about his family life.

I kind of feel like I had to experience that moment of drama to be sure that I appreciate the mediocre life that is ahead of me. Because that's really, all I want is to call somewhere home and have some sense of stability.

Taylor was a little bit bummed, cause he was a kind of excited to go, (there is still a chance he could go, but not until after we get back.)

So naturally went to get Chinese food to celebrate. We found a pretty good place in Oxford that was pretty legitimate for real Chinese food. They had "Hot Pot" which is not a drug, but basically Chinese fondue. [Are you ready for another Wikipedia link? Okay aaannnd NOW.]

IT WAS DISGUSTING. But Taylor enjoyed every second of it. It made me happy to see him happy, and in general I was just happy that things might actually go my way. So nothing could get me down, not even plastic flavored meat or shrimps with their heads still on.

It's pretty crazy to think that we have LESS than 2 weeks left here, 12 days to be exact. But as you can tell by my previously mentioned dramatics, I am more than ready to get back to America and be a normal boring human being with my little puppy and my husband.

P.S.
Today is our half-anniversary! We celebrated by eating delicious salads and portobello mushroom sandwiches.
And we watched Mean Girls 2 which is the worst movie on the entire planet.
Anyway, yay for marriage!

our weekend ended in shambles.

2011-10-06T08:50:00.000-04:00

and by shambles, I mean, The Shambles, a little shopping street in the town of York.

We spend Monday after noon exploring and visiting York Minister, which was pretty amazing.

I don't really feel like writing today so here's the pics.

Clifford's Tower

For Jamie.

For Niki & Warren

Scottish Adventure: 3rd Installment.

2011-10-05T06:17:00.000-04:00

On Sunday we got up and had a delicious breakfast. Then we got ready and headed off to Edinburgh, for our last day in Scotland.

the b&b

April signing the guest book

i look like a fat drunk but i posted it for the memories.

Initially we has planned on making a stop in Glasgow, but no one, not even the Scots recommended that we stop there. So, we went ahead and cruised straight on through.

The two things we wanted to do in Edinburgh were number one, get Taylor a kilt and number two, go to the Edinburgh Castle.

UNFORTUNATELY, we didn't get him kilt. But we did go to the castle.

the entrance to the castle.

the view from one of the castle overlooks.

SWORDS

they were awesome.

my twin

all of those headstones are for DOGS. sad. but cute.

being naughty. don't look at my hair.

a park. but i'm not sure of the name.

the paparazzi after us again.

Kilts are actually, really expensive.

So the castle was awesome, but really overwhelming because it was SO HUGE. After we were done (they were closed) we went into this Kilt weaving shop and it was pretty cool, Taylor bought a tie, so even though a kilt wasn't in the cards for us, we still got something. Then we had to head back down into England, where a hotel in Leeming Bar was awaiting our arrival.

But we did get some cool cloudy coastal views on our drive.

So I suppose that concludes our Scottish adventure, but not necessarily our vacation (we stopped in York on Monday).

Someday we will definitely go back.

Scottish Adventure: 2nd Installment.

2011-10-04T09:03:00.000-04:00

So before I jump right back into day 2. I thought I should give a general idea of our trip. We basically made a very crooked loop around the UK.

It was a lot of driving but because of mine and Taylor's planning skills, we stopped enough places that it actually didn't seem that bad.

So anyway, we got up on Saturday morning, stopped for breakfast and headed over to Caerlaverock castle (which we STILL don't know how to pronounce). The drive was a short 45 minutes away and it gave us a chance to really take in the landscape of the countryside. It was a gray and drizzly day, but we felt like it added to the experience.

A church and graveyard outside of Gretna Green.

So we arrived at Caerlaverock and I was super stoked for this castle because it had a real moat, with actual water in it. No alligators though. :(

If you're wondering, yes, I fell on my face after this.

I started this new trend of jumping up the chimneys. stay tuned for another.

So after, we explored the castle for a little bit, we headed over to:

THAT'S RIGHT! THREAVE! I was really amused but this name. If you haven't seen the SNL Jeopardy skit, click here. (you can skip to 5:00 to get to the threeve part.)

The cool part about Threave castle is that it's on an island, and you have to take a boat to get to it! So we did.

you have to take a ten minute walk on a trail to get there.

there were like 12 of these little guys inside the tower.

another chimney shot. they work a lot better for taller people.

this was a really big ordeal...

just to get this shot.

the boat ride

a slug.

So then after that adventure, my shoes were soggy and I was starvin. But to my dismay Taylor and April wanted to go see the Threave estate gardens across the road. and fortunately we were able to see the reception of a Scottish wedding. Kilts and all.

So finally we drove through the Galloway forest and headed to the coastal town of Ayr. It was about a 1.5 hour drive. We checked in at the B&B which was absolutely lovely:

Then we went into town and got dinner at a place called Vito's. On the menu they had a dish called Chicken Valdostana. Which blew Taylor and April's minds since they are from Valdosta, Georgia. So naturally Taylor ordered that dish to pay homage to his hometown. He said he wasn't disappointed.

After dinner we went back to the B&B to rest and watch/listen to the second session conference on April's iPod. It was real weird listening to it live at 8:30pm. But as always, it did not disappoint.

So, that was our Saturday. I'll write about Sunday tomorrow.

Scottish Adventure: 1st Installment.

2011-10-03T19:02:00.000-04:00

This weekend, Taylor took off Monday at work and we ventured up north to Scotland.

Scotland is the red part. ;)

I've decided that since, we saw and did quite a lot of things that I would go ahead and break up the posts and give it to you day by day.

I absolutely LOVED Scotland. I thought it was so beautiful, and the Scots are so friendly. I love the kilts and the bagpipes and the castles and the landscape. I dare say, I loved it a little more than England. Something about the vibe there, it feels like a strong and rugged (but beautiful) kind of country.

I really wish that we could have traveled up into the highlands to Loch Ness and such, but alas, we were short on time and driving 11 hours to get somewhere to stay for one day, is a little much. BUT, I loved what we were able to see.

The first day, was nothing but driving. We were able to fully experience the extent of the horrible traffic that the Brits so often complain about. Taylor went to work early to get off at 2pm so we could make the 4.5 hour drive to our hotel in Gretna Green. To our dismay, the second we pulled onto the A34 we were stuck in a horrible traffic jam, that we later discovered was caused by a fender bender. It took it us ONE HOUR to drive 5 miles. That was quite the setback, and between the other pockets of congestion and stopping for dinner and potty breaks, we arrived at the Days INN 7.5 hours after we left.

There's not much to be said about the details of our road trip. However, there was a moment of "oh, that's why we're soul mates" when we stopped at a services exit [it's a type of rest stop off the motorways with stores, restaurants, gambling machines, and toilets]. April and I went into the girl toilets and Taylor to the boy toilets. He got done first so he was standing there waiting for us. There are no doors to the restrooms, they just have a long hallway sorta thing (kind of like at airports). Anyway, at the end of the hallway, they have some gumball type machines that have tampons, condoms, tic tacs, whatever. There was this one that I was staring at after I was finished, that had this weird/creepy chewable toothbrush, and it was only 20 pence, so I was like, MUST TRY. Well, low and behold Taylor was standing there waiting for us and saw me start to search my purse for change and knew what I was up to. He yelled my name and I turned around and he held up the little capsule and was like, "I already got you one, I knew you would want to try it."
It made me laugh.

Anyway, tune in tomorrow for the second installment of our Scottish adventure. And fret not, my tomorrow starts sooner than your tomorrow so it will be posted in no time. (Note how I am pretending that people read my blog. I'm cool.)

Here's a sensual picture of Taylor on the bed at the Days Inn to tide you over: