Potlucks

  I have a love-hate relationship with potlucks.  I don't appreciate the bring-what-you-will affair because I like meals balanced.  I want to see a spread of main dishes, side dishes, and desserts.  I like to have an idea of what to expect from other people.  At the same time, I understand the desire to give people their freedom to bring what they choose.  (I get the whole agency thing--make your own choices, etc., but even Heavenly Father has rules lined out for us.)  Seriously can't a little bit of planning go into making the meal so that people won't all bring desserts?  Can't you say, "if you are attending, let me know what kind of dish you want to bring"?  Or "we're making burgers, bring a side dish"?

  I'm attending a potluck-type gathering, and I look forward to it because I like the people attending the gathering.  At the same time, I dread the next few days because I'm so indecisive about what to bring. The next several days will be me thinking about the food I'll bring.  I'll be really indecisive about what I'm going to make, and then decide on bringing a bag of chips (chips go with everything, right?) because I don't have the energy to put any more thought into making something for this potluck.

  Greg once had a potluck lunch at his work that I was also invited to.  I texted (nagged) this poor man to tell me what everyone else had brought so that I could bring something that would balance out the meal later that day.  I will do it again.  I will find out what everyone else wants to bring, but until then, I plan on bringing a dessert and main dish.

 I have a love-hate relationship with potlucks.

Five Years Ago

    I never expected to get married at nineteen.  I always knew that I wanted to get married, but my plan was whatever happens, happens.  My plan for marriage is unusual for me because I like to plan a lot of stuff out.  So, anyway, I wanted to share my story of official engagement with the internet world even though I have shared it with a number of acquaintances.  This story isn't as humorous as the story of my meeting Greg for the first time, but it is still funny. This story took place five years ago, so I thought I'd finally write this story up with all the details.

   A few of things you should know first before I dazzle you with my romantic husband's planning.  Greg and I first met in late October 2008, and by Christmas time of the same year we realize that we did want to get married (so much for the ideal long courtship and short engagement).  When we returned to Provo from our holidays, we went ring shopping together, but Greg did want to attempt to give me my ring in a beautiful fashion so I couldn't wear it right away.  Second, Greg told me that he was going to pretend to propose to me to throw me off when he really proposed to me.  I was told that our marriage would be built on "deceits and lies". For instance, while we were in the Costco parking lot, he got down on one knee and said, "Suzy, I need to tell you something...I have to tie my shoe."  Ha ha. And later, he also teased me that if I didn't cry when he proposed to me then he would spray me with mace.  Great!  The third item is Greg was supposed to call my parents, and ask them if it was okay for him to marry me, etc., etc.  I can't tell you how much I nagged for him to do it, and he had so much fun saying he'd get around to it.

    The night before he proposed, Greg told me that he had a reservation at 2 p.m., and that he was going to wear a suit.  So, I decided to ride my bike over to Shopko the next morning to pick up a pair of new black heels so that I could look divine at our reservation. Before Greg came over to pick me up, my roommate said to me, "I think he's going to propose to you."  I promptly replied, "But he said he was going to trick me into thinking he was going to propose to me, and then he wouldn't actually propose!"

   I texted Greg that I was ready to go, and Greg came over and picked me up a couple of hours early, and we drove straight over to the University Mall.  When I asked him what was going on, he said, "I don't know, but do you have somewhere to be?"  So, while we waited for our reservation, we walked around in the mall for what felt like eternity.  My new shoes were so uncomfortable!  I couldn't handle walking around in heels any longer.  Not only that, Greg was keeping more secrets; he stashed a black light in his coat pocket for "no reason".  About two o'clock, Greg and I headed over to P.F. Chang's for our reservation.  Our lunch was nice until Greg demanded his fortune cookie from the waiter.  "I want my fortune cookie--not this one!"  I told Greg to calm down and that we should go--after all it was just a fortune cookie.  But Greg insisted that we stayed for this fortune cookie.  So we waited another five minutes or so for a fortune cookie that said, "A diamond is in your near future."  When I asked Greg what this meant, he replied with "I don't know; I'm not the old Chinese guy who makes these fortunes."

  We left P.F. Chang's and head over to B.Y.U. campus.  I pestered Greg the whole way with questions to which he ignored or gave vague answers.  "Where are we going?"  "I don't know.  Do you have somewhere to be right now?"  "No, but I just want to know where we are going."  "You'll find out soon enough." We ended up at the Museum of Art; the place we went to for our first real date.  We rushed downstairs where I was ushered into a small room to admire bust of Abraham Lincoln while Greg prepared the proposal setting. At this point, I knew Greg was up to something, but I had no idea and my feet really, really hurt.  So when Greg told me that we could sit down on a bench in another room I was pleased.  While Greg and I were together at this bench, Greg's roommate was secretly taking pictures from another small room. I didn't notice him until later, however; I noticed this blanket tucked underneath, and I asked Greg what it was.  He knelt down first, and said, "Suzannah Michelle Packwood will you take this bouquet of flowers?" He pulled out a bouquet of flowers for me.  They were lovely and contained my favorite flowers: lilies.  I also noticed a book laying on the blanket as well, so he showed it to me.  He told me to read the last entry which was an account of a dream of his about how he knew I was literally the girl of his dreams.  I won't divulge this dream for Greg's sake, but it was a beautiful dream, and I did cry when I read his entry (no mace!), and I also had to use the black light he had carried in his pocket for a portion of the message which was written in invisible ink.  Afterwards, as he was still kneeling, he asked if I would marry him.  I said yes, of course.

Right after he proposed.  

Oh there's Greg's roommate secretly taking photos!

I'm so happy!!  Greg looks so shy. 

  Later that afternoon, after we called our families to tell them the news, Greg gave me a foot massage for making me walk around the mall "just because it seemed like a lot of fun."  He also informed me that he called my parents a couple weeks prior to his proposal.  When Greg was bouncing ideas around with his roommates about his proposal, he said he initially wanted to take me on a drive and propose in his car.  I'm kind of glad he proposed to me like this.  I definitely like his creativity.  I love this man.

So what kind of proposal did you get from your spouse?  Or if you aren't married, what kind of romantic or loving gestures did someone do for you that you appreciate[d]?

Sugar update: Jaunary

  This month I really focused on my eating habits because I'm now reporting to the internet.  I wanted to do my best at refraining from white refined sugar.  And I've gotta say this is difficult, and it takes a lot of preparation.

At the beginning of the month, I thought I was good.  Like all goals we attempt to make this goal was easy to keep for the first couple of weeks or two.  And then I kind of cheated a couple of times...  My excuse was this month was incredibly stressful for me.  Greg was sick again and I also had applied for a job, had an interview for that job, and then I waited and waited for them to call me back.  I just felt incredibly worried over this job, so I would talk with friends and family about it which would make me become really hopeful, and then I would become doubtful.  In short: I went through a cycle of emotions several times this last month.  Needless to say, I didn't get the job.

So each month, I will review my goals by telling you a couple of things I did well at and a couple of things I can improve on.

Things I did well at:

I consistently ate breads that I made from scratch.  I realize bread doesn't have a lot of sugar in it, but when the bread lists "water" as a part of their natural ingredients, I become a bit worried that they couldn't list anything else.  Also since carbohydrates are so addicting, I really wanted to make it from scratch (plus the cost of decent tasting bread is like $3 a loaf). I know baking bread is probably one of the easiest things to bake, but this still takes effort to do.  I'm proud of myself.

I have been eating more fruit lately to get my sweet tooth fix.  Yes, this is an area I want to be better at especially since I am picky about fruit.  To help myself out a bit, I like to cut up my fruit.  So when I want an orange for lunch, I'll cut it up into slices and enjoy it like that.  I have learned that I love pears now.  I don't know why I didn't buy them much before.  

Things I can improve on:

Being a bit more prepared or learning to just be patient even though I feel hungry.  I don't need to be gratified instantly with food the moment I start to feel hungry. Sometimes I think, "If I don't eat this crappy food right now, I'll have to wait another twenty minutes or something before I'll eat something and I might get really cranky!  Or I'll even get a hunger headache, and I don't want a hunger headache!"  This thought process happened to me when Greg and I attended a baptism a couple of weeks ago that was directly after church (Our church meets from 9:30-12:30).  The only food they had for refreshments after the baptism were a bunch of cookies, and I basically talked myself into eating these cookies even though I didn't need eat them, and thus I cheated by going over my only two sugary items a month rule.  I wasn't starving, but I was afraid I would be.

The one thing I noticed is while I cut out the refined sugar from my diet for the most part I also made what felt like a lot of sweets with substitutes sugars (coffee cake and cookies).  I think I should either find opportunities to share these sweets with others or half the recipes if I want to.  


Fortunately February is short!  Now that I have a record of how my body works, I can be better this next month.

What about you?  What are your resolutions and how are you doing at keeping them?