Olympus High School Class of 2000 Alumni Website

I threw a party for all the Snow College Library student workers.  They have been a lovely group to work with.  Sometimes I am sad that Snow is only a two year college.  The students are here for such a short time, I feel like I am just getting to know them when it is time for them to go.  Here is a picture of them, minus a few who could not make it.

Here is what we look like on most days.  (Can you believe they are giving us a bigger, brand-new building?  What a bunch of suckers!)

I would have to say the rolling chair relay race was the highlight of the evening.  Yes, it takes a certain special something to become part of the SC library team.

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Library Staff Party

Interesting factoid about goldfish: if you buy a goldfish and you put it in a little bowl, it will stay little. However, if you put it in a larger bowl, it will get bigger and it will never fit in that little bowl again.

The same seems to be true for me and Kyle. Well, not that we get bigger (although that would be the best excuse for weight gain yet!). It seems that no matter where we live, we accumulate enough stuff to fill our home up. When I moved to Ohio, I shared an apartment with another law student and had a very spartan existence…a small bed, a small desk, a reading chair, and a little bookcase. When I got my own studio apartment, I got a little couch, a TV, a little table, etc. Then, when Kyle and I moved in together, we managed to take our two bedroom apartment and fill it to the brim with stuff. Fabulous stuff, but stuff nonetheless, which is why it looked like this when we moved out of it:

Now that we’ve been staying with my parents, my husband and I have taken over two of the upstairs rooms and most of the basement. I don’t know how or why, but we’ve actually managed to acquire even more stuff since the move…probably because we’ve never had a basement to fill before. So, when we were looking for a place, we kept thinking that it had to be at least three or four bedrooms with a good sized basement…and perhaps a garage…and maybe a storage shed out back. I mean, where else are we going to put all of this STUFF?

Recently, however, I realized that we’re probably going about this the wrong way.

I was perfectly happy in my own little space when I had a studio apartment and Kyle was perfectly happy living for years in half of a bedroom with his college roommates. So how is it that we’ve become unable to live together in tiny spaces? I think that Kyle and I, just like goldfish, have been adapting to our larger living spaces simply because we could…not because we actually had to. The downside to this, of course, is that we keep getting more stuff, which requires more housework, more storage, and more keeping-track-of.

So, now that I’m officially off the house-buying wagon for a little while (I’m sorry, but the whole buying a house thing was way no fun), I’m actually wondering if Kyle and I should go the other direction and just rent a one bedroom apartment. It’s apparently going to just be the two of us, at least for the upcoming year, and realistically, what do we need? A place to sleep, a place to eat, a place to hang out, and a little corner for me to do my writing. Beyond that, the rest of the space is just a place to put objects we like and people who come to visit.

What do you think? Is getting larger spaces a part of adulthood or is getting a space that is just big enough smarter in the long run?

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The Argument for Shrinking

St. Patrick’s Day is a big day for me and Kyle because one of our very first dates involved a lot of green beer and eggs on The Ohio State campus. Back then (about a million years ago), it was all about the Irish Car Bombs…a delicious drink with a very unfortunate name. An Irish Car Bomb involves pouring an entire can of Guinness into a glass and then dropping a shot glass filled with 1/2 Bailey’s and 1/2 Irish Whiskey into the glass of Guinness. You have to then drink the whole thing very quickly, before the Bailey’s curdles. I know it sounds ridiculous, but they’re pretty amazing and I think my husband holds the world record for most car bombs done in one night.

So, for this week’s holiday, I made some special cupcakes to take us back to our college days. They’re a Guinness chocolate cupcake with a whiskey filling and Bailey’s frosting on top and they are mmm mmm good. The big downside is that they’re also pretty alcoholic, so this is definitely a not-for-children recipe.

They turned out great…maybe a little too great, since I made 24 on Saturday and we only have 2 left. So, I thought I’d pass along the recipe in case any of you were feeling a little Irish…

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup Guinness
2 sticks (1 cup) of butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Chocolate Whiskey Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 to 2 teaspoons whiskey

Baileys Frosting
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys

Make the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup Guinness and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add Guinness-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Make the filling:
Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes:
Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using an apple corer or a grapefruit spoon, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way and circle it around until it comes out with the cake part inside. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Save the crumbs and cake pieces. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top. Top the ganace with the cake pieces you cut out. This will make it easier for you to put the frosting on. (Optional: you can skip putting the crumbs back so the ganache is exposed and just frost the edges of the cupcake.)

Make the frosting:
Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time. When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.

Put the frosting into a piping bag or Ziploc bag with the corner cut off and pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. This frosting is pretty strong and sweet, so don’t use too much. A swirl or shamrock on top should be plenty.

The best part about these things is that the ganache in the center is
warm and gooey when you first fill the cupcakes, but by the
next day it’s like a whiskey truffle in the center
of the cake.
Yum.

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Recipe: Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Last night I went to get a massage. I heart massages. I don’t get them nearly as often as I should. Mainly because I can always think of somewhere else to spend $100+ dollars. However, when my coworker Nicole told me about Healing Mountain Massage School, my life changed. I’ve been to The College of Massage Therapy before and couldn’t handle the florescent lights and the gigantic room separated by sheets. I just couldn’t relax. However, Healing Mountain has individual rooms just like a real spa (I like to pretend). AND you can have a recently licensed massage therapist give you a massage instead of a student. AND it’s only $35. Where do I sign?

Once coworker Nicole told me about this, I immediately emailed roommate Nicole and told her I was scheduling massages for both of us. Among our many similarities is the fact that we love to pamper ourselves. So I scheduled the massages and then made a paper chain to count down the days until our massages.

So yesterday came. The Day of the Massage. There were no more paper chains to tear off and I was excited. I emailed Nicole and asked if she was as excited as I was. And well, she forgot. SHE FORGOT ABOUT THE MASSAGE! How that is possible I don’t know? Well I do know. She is becoming a grown up and buying her own condo. She’s leaving me in the process and I am denial about the whole thing.

Anyway. She forgot and was double booked and couldn’t get out of her other plans. And the wonderful and lovely friend that she is called and paid for my massage because she felt so bad. Who does that? Seriously? I need more friends like her.

So I walk into the school/spa and go to the receptionist to give her my name. And this was our conversation:

Me: Hi, I’m Natalie. I have a 7:00 appointment.
Receptionist: Oh ok let me check. It looks like your husband already paid for you, tip included, so you can just leave right after you are done.

and without skipping a beat I replied:

Oh! Isn’t that sweet? My husband is the best. He always does these little surprises for me.

Imaginary husbands are the best! Aren’t they?

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I love my husband

Everyone’s doing a best-of-the-decade post today and I have to admit that it didn’t even occur to me. I don’t mind jumping on the bandwagon, so here we go…

• Crazy drama stuff with the drama kids.
• Graduation from high school.
• Started college life at the University of Utah as a theater major.

• Declared as a communications major with a focus on journalism.
• First major relationship begins.
• Summer trip to California with my girls.

• Dropped out of college to teach full time.
• Started working at Walt Disney World in the college program.
• Met my future husband.

• Went back to college as an art major with an emphasis on photography.
• Started working at Sam Weller’s as a bookseller.
• First major breakup.

• Visited Kyle in Ohio for the first time.
• Moved to the children’s department at Sam Weller’s.
• Got accepted to Ohio State law school.

• Graduated with an English degree from the University of Utah.
• Spent a month and a half in London with Michelle.
• Moved to Columbus, Ohio, to start law school.

• Finished my first year of law school.
• Did summer school at Oxford and went to Disneyland Paris with Kyle.
• Started working at the Commission.

• Got my own apartment for the first time.
• Wrote my first book.
• Got engaged.

• Moved in with Kyle.
• Graduated from law school.
• Started working full-time for the state of Ohio.

• Got married!
• Adopted Charlie and Scout.
• Moved back to Utah with Kyle to start our next chapter…

Hmmm, it’s been a pretty good decade!!! Can’t wait to see what I’ll be posting on 12/31/19.

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Everyone's doing a best-of-the-decade post today and I have to

A friend of mine is going through a breakup. She’s doing ok, but it’s only been about a week and a half and she’s right in that it-still-hurts-just-as-much-but-there’s-nothing-left-to-say phase. I went through all the usual “you deserve better” and “he’ll be sorry” at first, but now our conversations have pretty much boiled down to her saying, “yep, he’s still gone” and me saying, “dude….that sucks…”

Talking about it with her has naturally brought up my own past experiences and I realized something rather profound recently. I shared it with her, but she’s not in that place where she can believe what I’m saying, so until she gets there, I’ll share it with you:

My breakup is the number one thing in my life that made me a better person.

I’m serious, it really was. (And by “my breakup”, I’m referring to the end of my long term relationship with my college boyfriend.) That one adolescent act altered my inner self more than study or trauma or even death ever has. I can actually say that my breakup altered me more than my marriage did, which is pretty incredible when you really think about it! Let me break it down…

I’ve written about my breakup before, but it’s usually been in the context of this really hard things that I went through and when I came out the other side, I found Kyle waiting for me. That is my favorite perspective on it, but it does simplify things quite a bit. It suggests that it was this nasty thing that I just needed to get past so that I could be done with it, when in reality it was a major shift in my personality tectonic plates.

Before my breakup…no, wait, let’s go back even further…before my college relationship, I had a pretty set view on life. I was much more concerned with getting ahead in my education and occupation than I was in relationships. I felt like I was constantly at battle with everyone around me, including friends and family, simply because everything was always such a struggle. I think everyone has this feeling at some point in adolescence, although we approach it differently. My approach was to come out swinging. I figured that if I could understand life, I could at least dominate it.

My college relationship started unexpectedly when Kate set me up on a blind date. It was summertime, life was easy, and by the next fall I had shifted my focus from conquering the world to conquering one person. The relationship that lasted for the next three years was one of constant struggle, as a result, because we were happy but also very insecure, possessive, and self-centered.

I think we both approached the relationship from the standpoint that we were going to force the relationship into whatever form we needed it to be so that we could have the life we deserved. In my mind, this meant that he would be a constant companion, unquestioning of my authority, and dependable as we built our home and raised our family. In his mind, this meant that I would be a constant companion, unquestioningly supportive of his career goals, and dependable as he made his mark on the world. Unfortunately, you can’t run a relationship simply on the fuel of wanting to constantly be together, especially when you’re driving each other crazy and you’re both there for different reasons.

When the relationship ended, not by my decision, I was crushed. I was completely bewildered, terrified of going on alone, and outraged that he had the audacity to veer from my life plan. My dependence on our relationship had honestly led to an atrophy of spirit. I was dependent on him for happiness, for support, for validation…and I was so used to him being there that my reaction was not one of concern for him, but rather the selfish anger of a hurt child. It was terrible.

And then…days and weeks of lying in bed later…I don’t know. It’s like sparks started to come back. I made lists of all the things that he had never wanted me to do, all the books and movies that he thought were too dumb to watch, all of the people he didn’t like me to hang around with…and I dove in. I think it started out as revenge, but it quickly grew into revival. I found new sources of happiness that didn’t have anything to do with anyone else and every good discovery left me wanting more. It was like I was famished for life experience.

Before I knew it, I had broken off into a different person. This person was new and still frightened about the future, but she was much stronger, much more content, and, ultimately, much more interesting than the person I had been. We talked about rekindling the relationship, but by then it was too late. I was on a trajectory that was leading me up and away from that old life and, as it turned out, I would never go back.

There are other things in my life that have profoundly affected me. Having Kyle in my life and experiencing love that I spent a long time not being able to understand is one of those things. Kyle has affected me by freely giving me stuff I didn’t know I needed. But I have to remember that if it hadn’t been for that bump on the road to where I am now, I wouldn’t have ended up being the person who could turn to Kyle and give back. And for that, even with all of the past pain, I am intensely, intensely grateful.

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A friend of mine is going through a breakup. She's doing ok,