January in Review
On New Year's Day, we got up and drove to Ruth's Diner. There actually was no wait when we got there at 9:15am. After that, we came home and talked to my dad for a little while. I went for a run and then went to the movies. I saw News of the World with Tom Hanks. It was good, but I bit several of my nails off, so I'm pretty bummed about that. Matthew put together a date for us. He had me draw restaurants out of a hat, and dessert places out of a hat. He had a second portion of our date that didn't work out due to it being New Year's Day and places being closed. We tried to go to Cheesecake Factory, but the wait was 2-2.5 hours. We tried Red Lobster - 1 hour 15 minutes. So we went to Red Robin, which was only a 20 minute wait. We had a good experience there. After that, we tried to go to The Chocolate for dessert, but it was closed. So we went to The Scoop, which added Rowley's Red Barn ice cream to their menu. I got coconut cream pie, and it was life changing, honestly some of the best ice cream I've ever had.
January 2 we ate at Ramen Yama and went to Luminaria.
Sunday, January 3 we watched church on TV. Matthew cooked breakfast. I went on a walk. Matthew studied. We made an early dinner of salad, bread, and broccoli cheese soup for my mother-in-law to come visit. She brought us presents--a box of Canadian candy from John for Matthew. And two tops and some warm socks for me!
January 4 I was incredibly tired. I'm not sure what the deal is lately. I even skipped out on $100 from plasma that morning. Work was crazy that day. And Matthew didn't feel great that day--lots of nausea and headaches. I made us dinner: coconut curry with rice and naan.
Tuesday, January 5, I was up and at 'em for a workout in the morning. It's funny how hair washing day makes me more willing to get sweaty. Matthew helped his sister move in to her new place that day.
January 6 I had a dentist appointment for a cleaning. No cavities woohoo! I started watching Little Women since I finally finished the book.
Thursday, January 7, I met with Matthew and his friends for lunch at Slackwater. I got waffles with Brittney in the evening! I told myself a million times to take a photo or selfie, but I forgot.
January 8 I finally had a doctor appointment with my ENT to see what next steps are for my mucus problem. We scheduled surgery for February 19.
Saturday, January 9, we did our normal Saturday things (workout for me, laundry, groceries, cleaning). But we also went to my mother-in-law's storage unit to help her find some stuff. Turns out she found what she needed pretty quickly. That evening, I had dinner with Rachel at Itto Sushi! She gave me my Christmas present!
January 10, my mom's birthday! I sent her a text. That day, Matthew showed me how to play Chess. I feel like that will take me a long time to learn and do on my own without his help. He had to walk me through all my moves, basically. We made chicken, stuffing, potatoes, and broccoli, and we watched Bridgerton.
Monday, January 11 I closed on my new home loan! My payments are now $300 less, and my interest rate is down to 2.625%. If you need help getting refinanced, please reach out to Matthew!
January 12, Matthew went to Korean BBQ with his family. I made coconut rice in the instant pot. It was delicious.
Wednesday, January 13 I made teriyaki bowls and watched This is Us while Matthew studied.
January 14, we went to the Ice Castles with Kevin and Brionna. (This was also the day I'm still thinking about days later, as folks at Costco leave two out of three pumps sitting open while a line forms. So, since no one was taking the open pumps, I took one. And the guy who pulled up behind me was bothered, informing me that "there's a line." Yes. I am aware. But I'm also aware that there's a middle lane for people to pull up to empty pumps, and everyone was choosing not to do so. Also, I feel that gas attendants at Costco and Sam's Club should point out empty pumps. It's ridiculous for people to sit there. I feel guilty and bad about "cutting," but I also don't, because PULL UP TO THE EMPTY PUMPS DUH! This has legitimately been stressing me for days.)
Friday, January 15, we ordered Macaroni Grill for delivery. It didn't work out well because we were trying to use a gift card, and I guess it didn't charge to that. Our food was lukewarm, our salad was soggy, and generally it all wasn't very good. We watched Bridgerton, and I started laundry and cleaning to minimize the Saturday chores.
January 16 I went to Orange Theory, plus we did laundry and groceries. That afternoon, we had our couples massage and pedicure in Draper. We got On the Hook Fish & Chips at the food truck, and got groceries. I also picked up my Waffle Crisp cereal order. This cereal is still as good as I remember it being, by the way. Even if I paid an outrageous price for it. That evening, I watched Call the Midwife while Matthew studied.
Sunday, January 17, we watched church online, and watched Juliet give her mission farewell talk. I finished up the laundry. I took the dog for a walk and started a new audiobook. I practiced ukulele while Matthew studied. I made brownies. Matthew's mom came over to teach me how to make chicken pillows; they were super good. We hung out with her for a little while. We watched Bridgerton after she left.
Monday, January 18 Matthew went to Strap Tank for his friend's birthday. I watched the last of a funeral for the dad of one of my exes. He was an awesome, awesome guy, and his death was super unexpected.
January 19 I had a run-in with the downstairs neighbor, who pounded on the ceiling during my workout. I left a note on their door, not apologizing but explaining that it's my gym, and I only work out from about 6:30-7:00, and I would try to do bouncier ones in the living room. But I wasn't sorry because it's just apartment living, and 6:30 isn't unreasonable unless you work the night shift.
Wednesday, January 20 was Matthew's test! He passed! It was over a year since he took his last attempt. And he studied so hard for it. We celebrated with pizza.
January 21 was the Yelpies. I was nominated for the Salt Lake area Trendsetter. I have no idea what kind of trend I set, but I got a cute little award! I also went to the DMV to update my car title with my new name. It was easier than I thought. That evening, we got notice that Matthew's passport was on its way; then it become a really difficult choice of waiting to see if it would come in time for us to leave for Mexico, or if we should push our trip back.
Friday, January 22, we went to dinner at Cameron and Mariah's house. We brought salad and dessert. She cooked chicken parmesan for us. We played Cards Against Humanity afterward, and it was super fun.
January 23 I went to Orange Theory. I got a disastrous haircut. They took off an extra couple inches from where I requested, and after it dried it was worse than I thought. I cried for hours. So many women reached out and shared their experiences and expressed compassion for my first world problem. I was so grateful. Also, Matthew's haircut wasn't great either. That evening, we met with Matthew's cousin and her husband at Crown Burger and then played Cover Your Assets at their house in Murray. It was fun.
Sunday, January 24 we watched church on TV. We met Matthew's mom off the freeway to get our awesome quilt she made for us. We wandered around At Home for a little while. We listened to our Gottman book that day too. Matthew made delicious chili. I made Red Lobster cheddar bay biscuits. We started WandaVision.
January 25 we started watching The Good Place together while Matthew worked on his Star Wars Lego set he got for Christmas.
Tuesday, January 26 I had my first work-related meltdown since returning to my old position. Matthew listened to me yell and cry for a good 5-10 minutes while I was in the car. That evening, we went to Orem for our SIL Jordyn's 30th birthday at Classic Skating. It was really fun.
January 27 we used some Chili's gift cards because I had had a rough day at work and just wanted to go out.
Thursday, January 28 I talked to my dad for a few minutes who shared his awesome dream with me in which he saw my grandpa. We ate some leftovers, and I picked up free pies at Flake Pie Co in South Jordan. They were all super good.
January 29 I went for my first run in a long time. We started cleaning to have less to do on Saturday, and watched The Good Place. Matthew rubbed my neck because it felt so awful that day, as it often does.
Saturday, January 30 I went to Orange Theory. We did laundry and finished cleaning. I went to the car wash, Dollar Tree (where I had a 30 minute wait in line WTH), and Harmon's to mail my hair donation to Locks of Love (11 inches). Matthew buffed my headlights and made them look great!
We tried to use gift cards and eat dinner at Cheesecake Factory, but at 4:30pm the wait was 3-3.5 hours. WHO ARE ALL YOU PEOPLE?! We have to have a reservation to eat there; lesson learned. We ate at Red Rock instead. During our wait, we went into Fashion Place mall which was insanely busy. I needed new undies at Pink. We also went to Lolli + Pops, where we each got a small bag of gummy candy. I picked some rose flavored ones, pina colada, and pineapple gummy bears. Nom.
January 31, I took the dog on a walk. We went to church. I got my car washed again because I have a month long pass, and Matthew's headlight treatment got dust all over my newly washed car. I started packing for Tuesday's trip. Matthew went to Walmart for some things for our trip and then refurbished his own headlights. While finishing up this post, my SIL Jenn texted to invite me and Matthew for dinner so I have to run and get dressing and cheese for that.
All in all, not a bad start to the year with Matthew passing his test, and us on our way to Cancun.
Books I read in January
- The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman
- The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (audiobook)
- You're Not Listening by Kate Murphy (audiobook)
I'm still listening to Just Mercy audiobook and still working on Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk. I'm not super into it.
Comments