November 6th

Twelve days?? Both Atlantean and I are in denial. We're convinced that it's been so long that if it hasn't happened yet - it's never happening, right?

But life has been fun and busy. Everything is currently kind of coming down to the wire - not all yet, but we're getting there. We're finalizing furniture, cakes, decorations, food, guest lists, stuff like that. And I'm just ready to hibernate. I don't want to do anything anymore. I recently made the last paper flowers for the boutonnieres and I'm just ... meh. I want someone else to take over. I just wanna get married already. The nice thing is at this point, my mom is very much willing to take the reigns on many things, things I've already laid the groundwork for, but don't want to have to carry through because I'm just getting to that point. The only two things that I need to be working a lot harder on and no one else can really help is memorizing Atlantean's speech that I'm only giving to him - and working on the dance. Like, we're really going to be performing this dance to my wedding song! We  need to have the ending worked out here!!

Other than that, we have been having a lot of fun. We recently got back from an awesome downtown date that I have been wanting to go on, I'm pretty sure since we started dating in March. The nice thing about dating Atlantean is that he's okay with a really scatter-brained schedule. Which is kind of what happened. So I couldn't tell you where exactly we went in what order, but here's a couple of the fun things we did. We went to City Creek shopping place, I asked my friend who lived there to come say hi, or even just wave out her window. She said it'd be a cute idea, and when I texted her we were there, she got busy, so we didn't get to see her unfortunately. But Atlantean got to see City Creek mall. Then we went over to Temple Square. Went to Eborn books, which is a HUGE bookstore that goes on forever, I swear. So Atlantean and I explored that and had fun getting caught on camera kissing ;) We walked back to where we parked to go drive up to the Capitol building (the first two hours of parking were free, so in order to get as much free time as possible, we took it out for a little bit and came back lol) Atlantean had never been to the Capitol building, and we got to wander around there. He was amazed by a display there that showed that everything came from minerals and kept saying, "That rock - turns into toothpaste" and now it's kind of an inside joke. I showed him the grand cathedralic halls and ceilings. There was actually a reception being set up at the time, and Atlantean and I both marveled at what it would cost to rent out the Capitol building. There was also a little boy, probably about six or seven who was obviously bored out of his mind, and started playing with us. And by playing, I mean, he'd make finger guns up at Atlantean and I way up on the balcony as we ducked our heads, ran around or pretended to get shot by him. I love Atlantean, and the fact that he's willing to play. We also got to march down the Capitol steps and he also kissed me beneath the Capitol steps, at least the ones inside. Outside, we saw people playing with big bubbles, ones made with a giant loop of string and a bucket full of soapy water, and we talked about how cool it would be to own a giant stone castle as our home like this one, but that there was something so much more appealing about warm small cozy homes. He talked about the concept of a "threshold" in one of his favorite book series that he's currently reading to me. We went to the Family History center which Atlantean used to have to visit all the time with his dad who is basically absolutely obsessed with genealogy, and he'd bribe young Atlantean with a treat, and Atlantean liked winding back up the microfilm. When we went in though, it was crazy different. It was no longer focused on finding genealogy and charting it, but more about telling your own story, and being very much more involved and entertaining for the general public and the 21st century. There were giant interactive screens and you checked out a tablet at the front desk and there were booths where you sat down and got filmed while you basically gave your story to be filed away with them. It was crazy modern.

Then we headed down to do something he wanted, which was go to Toys R Us or Black Cat comics. It was a little bit of a drive (really not all that much - and he knew where he was going) to Sugarhouse where they were, but they were both gone, so we went to Barnes & Noble instead. It was actually pretty fun. We at this point were kind of killing time before our improv show at ten pm. I read an entire comic called Everyone's An Aliebn When You're An Aliebn Too by Jomny Sum. It reminds me so much of my friend Pixie and I wanted to get it for her ever since I saw it for the first time. Atlantean had an inward battle of whether or not he wanted to spend his fun money on comic books. We actually need one new comic book to replace the table ornaments for our reception. (Half are my musical books and half are his comic books, and we've agreed we want one more to match a certain musical book I have, but to replace a mildly inappropriately covered one and also because we don't have any of this genre yet) But he ended up not getting them yet, though he's getting close to. We then went and found a more secluded place to park so we could get some cuddle and lip locking time in (eh heh) and then we drove down to the City Creek parking again and jumped on TRAX to get to Clark Planetarium to show him the gift shop I had grown up in lol. He was actually pretty impressed, especially when I told him you didn't have to pay to see the exhibits. We walked back and I showed him the pendulum and the meteors and the Rue Goldberg machine and we barely got to glance at the gift shop before we had to run back to TRAX to try to run to our show on time. We did get lucky, and the improv show was barely beginning when we got there. We got our free popcorn and drink and candy and sat down.

Dagnab, I love improv. And I think I've instilled a love of it in Atlantean as well. Atleast I hope I have. We saw one of our favorite improvvers from our local improv troupe, named Bryan. And all the rest of them were so good! Not to be offensive, but I haven't seen a ton of female improvvers that I liked, but Erin at Off Broadway was really good! They were all really good and I have a new favorite improvver named Kyle. But Austin and Parker were also just incredible. It was a great night of laughs. Atlantean's suggestions got taken for a couple scenes, so we got to see a Magyk the gathering battle which quickly devolved into Yu-Gi-Oh and then into Old Maid lol. I saw some games I'd never seen before, like one called "Back in My Day" where improvvers pretend they are old crotchety men and women talking about any item that they didn't have back in their day, with a one line zinger. Like, "Back in my day, we didn't have chicken. If a young man came to your counter asking for breasts and thighs - you ran away!" Another game (which I don't know if I caught the name of) was one where all the improvvers are linked together by their arms and they talk as one as they act out a famous person from history. In our case, they pretended to be Genghis Khan, and the MC interviewed them. It was pretty funny to watch them work together as they talked slowly and would take turns taking the lead and everyone would follow as they spoke. Genghis Khan was trying to be a comedian and he was going to kill his wife Wanda because she kept telling people he wasn't allowed to kill people. His catch phrase was "Mongoria!" and one of Bryan's favorite characters - of a Chinese samurai who is into tweeting and hashtags. It really is quite amusing.
After getting scolded by Kyle for yelling "fruitcake" too loud as a suggestion. (Kyle: Someone could get offended!), Kyle then nearly made me cramp when he played a game with a member of the audience. The member of the audience was supposed to supply all the noises while Kyle completed a scene from a suggestion. We suggested cleaning the bathroom. But the funniest part about the whole ordeal was the narration Kyle supplied the entire time. Lines like, "Better hurry!" After the audience member made peeing noises, or "this sponge is made of sandpaper" or "that was a little bit more of a feminine glove" and it was just hilarious. I nearly peed my pants myself. Atlantean came home with me and we took a nap and then he headed home.

The next day on Sunday, we failed in our goal of dancing and stick shifting again -_-
But at church, both Atlantean and I felt the pressure since it was technically our last fast sunday in this ward, that we should probably take the opportunity to bear our testimonies. So we both went up on the stand. He went first. I went next and bawled while I just said a quick few simple lines of how thankful I was to have been part of a ward that was the village that raised me. Next block - I taught my last lesson on prayer and it went very well :) Then I went to relief society and passed out the last of my furniture cards. Atlantean and I then went home and took a nap together which my mom woke us up early from since she was confused on daylights savings, but we headed over to the bishops office to have our interview at 3:00.

The bishop interviewed us separately and then together and gave us some advice. He told us that as a couple we had to become one. This meant that it was never "his problem" or "her problem" that it was always "our problem." So Atlantean and I have been teasing each other and saying, "Is our stomach full yet?" or "How is our Green Lantern comic book collection doing?" But it's actually brought us closer together. He told us other things, like that we shouldn't belittle each other, especially behind each other's back. Even just mentioning weaknesses to our friends was inappropriate. He also emphasized to Atlantean how important and apparently... superior... women are. I cant remember anything else specific, but it was all very good advice. Then we went home to head basically straight to Atlantean's house and attend a birthday party for Troll and two of his nieces and nephews. We got a Mario toy for the boy, a plush unicorn for the girl and a Star Trek notebook for Troll, who seemed to like it very much. We thought we did pretty well, all things considering. Atlantean has a certain soft spot in his heart for his second youngest niece, and he was very happy to see her so lovingly hug the unicorn he picked out for her.

After that, we headed over to Pixie's house to play some games and ended up walking away with more free stuff since they're currently still moving and they keep finding things they don't need. This included a king size bed frame! Which we have been looking for! What are the chances, right?? We have a fully furnished apartment and the ONLY thing we bought for it was bed sheets, and we ended up not even having to do that! It's incredible. We got away from Pixie's house with another set of sheets, a bread box, a bunch of musical books I don't own and would never fund but definitely wanted, a golden frame, an Agatha Christie book, a flour sifter, a hand chopper, and a whole bunch of little jars with spice names on them. All for free! I was amazed!

Let's see, what else.. other than that, I'm reading this book my mom recommended called Fascinating Womanhood. Its from the 50s and has some pretty outdated ideals, but I see what she's getting at with most of it. I'm learning from a lot of these marriage books that you have to take everything with a grain of salt, since some of them deliberately contradict each other. I'm a lot more used to books that I just take for truth since I've only ever read stories up til now, so it's kind of a whole new world. It is a good book though. Has kept me entertained for multiple hours here at work so far.
Speaking of books, I recently blew my budgeted fun money on two books - A Pioneer Sampler and Rhett and Link's Book of Mythicality on Amazon and they'll be arriving shortly. On Friday, actually, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pretty excited. The Pioneer Sampler is a dose of life with the pioneers, but when I read it, I really thought pioneers were so cool and I've really taken a fancy to them, so I figured I just had to buy it to be able to read it over and over again. I love it. As for Rhett and Link's book, I just really wanna see what's in there. They have been growing on me lately and I really want to see if I can find things to do or inspire myself with their randomness and positivity. They entertain because they enjoy making us happy. :)

Other than that, I have a bowl full of tootsie rolls at my work that's been working real well in keeping people coming to my desk to get some, it's kind of funny how well it works. I'm almost out of the bag. The bag was actually an off-handed gift from one of our custodians who gave it to me because he said his "mom would go ballistic if she saw him with two things of candy" and he already had a box of footlongs. When I told him how well it was doing up at the front desk, he seemed pretty pleased :)

Tonight my family and I are going to go see A Bundle of Trouble for our last Hale Center Theatre play at the West Valley one. It was written by a Hale (Ruth Hale I believe) And I'm not that excited about home grown theatre on a professional stage, but hey, maybe it'll exceed my expectations. I am a playwright after all.
Speaking of which! I have been actually working with Imp's brother... Spriggan... (made that up just now) and he has been writing music for my play that I wrote! And my family has agreed to read it outloud with me either on a sunday or a Monday family home evening. I know it probably shouldn't be a priority with the wedding coming up and all, but I can't help but feel it's my creative outlet and my happy place. And he's writing GOOD music. Gall I wish I had that talent. I'm excited to see what comes out of it as his semester gets closer to it's end and my wedding gets closer to just being finished!

Also, one of the perks of not ever wearing makeup is that when the drinking fountain splashes your face, you don't even think twice because you're not freaked out that anything got wrecked or you have to do any sort of a touch up or that you look like a two toned monster for the rest of the day.

Just a thought.

~Nymph