welcome back photo dump

i haven't posted anything since august?

gross.

i'm now going to flood your eyes with photos so i have things to talk about other than the fact that j and i both got sick in sunny st. george over our long weekend.

but we didn't have to wear 20 coats and 5.5 scarves to go outside!

and my hair dried in 2 hours instead of freezing into icicles and then proceed to look gelled for the next 5.

so it was a success.

for halloween, i was finally a dinosaur! jonathan was a shark. we went to a costume party and everyone scoffed at us because it just looked like we were wearing hoodies, but then when we put our hoods on everyone had to apologize (for fear of being eaten) and then they were jealous because they were the best/comfiest/no fuss costumes ever.

and we made them!

jonny boy gave me flowers for valentine's day. so cute, that husband of mine. he's also really talented. 

i made a real life dinner one night. just for funsies. 

elementary school crafts for valentine's day.

i tried my hand at nail art. it's a cheetah print, thankyouverymuch. and good news, the other hand didn't look anything like this. it's time like these that i wish i was ambidextrous. 

exciting new thing!

husband and i have officially started a new blog.
this magical blog can be found here or at www.zempter.blogspot.com (for those of  you who don't like to click on things.)

"...but natalie, does that mean you're going to abandon this blog??!?!?!?!?!"

hush, little reader. no. this blog will still be me, being an idiot, posting stock images and ranting about the world.

husband and i both have an interest in graphic design and thought it would be fun to have a place to post all of the fun things we create. right now, we're hoping to provide some fun cellphone wallpapers for all the children of the kingdom to download.

here's an idea of things you can find on the blog right now!

go check it out!

four (4) things that make me concerned

author's note:  i wrote this late at night when i thought i was being HILARIOUS.

1. the "it's complicated." relationship tag on Facebook
we get it, people. you're either cracking yourself up over this joke or you're attempting to send a message to your significant other. whichever umbrella you fall under doesn't matter. you're creeping everyone out. same goes for those in relationships with fake people, "in an open realtionship" (what does that even mean?) inanimate objects (unless it's pie.), animals, or yourself.

2. coworkers listening to dubstep really early in the morning
particularly without headphones. what has you so jazzed, man?
i like to look at dubstep like i do musak. sometimes it's unavoidable-it's playing at the grocery store, the mall, or the drug den you frequent. you can hum along, maybe a little soft shoe near the canned tomatoes (because you're making Italian food, naturally), but you never choose dubstep to bump in the office.

3. kate gosslin haircuts?

i guess people are still getting them.

4. this movie.

especially the part where the random asian keyboardist pulls the "one time" move like she's in the fugees.
please say that you know what i'm talking about.

here's what we do when we have spare time

Jonathan and I are taking some online classes from these lovely people and one of my designs was featured on their class blog!

We highly suggest the Illustrator 101 class and the Principles of Good Design class. We're signed up for a typography class in September - so this might not be the last you see of some of our design projects.

What do you think?

Oh I wish I could've gone to this concert, but instead - I made a poster.

(Did you notice how I used correct capitalization and punctuation for this post? Work is rubbing off on me in weird ways. I now end EVERY email with "Thanks!" or "Let me know if you have any questions!" It's weird.)

...or something like that

you guys, the life of a commuter is a weird one.
and bear with me while i sound like i'm speaking from some wise place of experience, will you?

i have a 30 minute drive to and from work every day - that's an hour of time to be with me by myself in my white crayon box of a car.

although there are days (like the last half of today) where i would die to be able to just walk home from work - i'm starting to use these little bursts of time to...

pick off my nail polish.

• i am no stranger to nails that look like this:

• i will destroy my nail polish at any time and in any place. i guess what i'm trying to say is that i don't discriminate. lest we not forget the night we got engaged?

write a screenplay?

• this hasn't happened yet. but i feel like it would make a really good book sleeve excerpt "in her twenty-third year, she wrote this book on the i-15" (i don't know why my book sleeve talks like that.)

pretend i'm a contestant on the voice.

• so...i did this before the voice existed...SPOILERS:  i win. always.

dream about pink lemonade and ways to aquire it.

(my sweet setup outside. with PL, of course.)

• i don't know what it is about pink lemonade lately. i think it tastes like summer.

condemn people to firey places for being bad drivers.

• my road rage has gotten a little out of control, you guys. sometimes i even resort to a few well chosen words...but all i can say about that is that i am my father's daughter.

and when traffic is slow...because of the glorious bottleneck around farmington...

take pictures of my sweet shades.

working girl rant.

number of emails in my gmail inbox as of this moment:  6322
how long have i had my gmail account? since my first year of college.
number of emails my work inbox as of this moment:  6345
how long have i had this work email? just under 5 months.

ohhhhhhhhh life.

getting introspective with grad cat!

(i know i've probably posted this photo before...SO BE IT. it's awesome.)

i know it's been ages.

something else i know is that i start almost every blog post that way.

i'm still not used to being a grown up where things like documentation and decorating are important.

just deal, okay?

i read a book called "a million miles in a thousand years" that made me think about life a lot.

it made me want to remember to write down on anything anywhere anytime those things that make up my life.

my life as a wife. daughter. sister. coworker.

what i'm trying to get at - is i really think it's important to focus on the life we live every day (hence the documentation in the moment) and not just wait around for some distant day in the future when we:

get a new car

get married

get a haircut? (i really need a haircut...)

to feel better about life/ourselves/other people

what about today?

i mean today i got up (late - surprise!), went to work, came home, watched tv, went to bed (well i will do that...).

but we don't live our life in the broad strokes...we live in the little things, right?

(i know this is turning sappy - stay with me)

if i was just focusing on the broad idea of my life:  born, try not to die, die, etc. etc. etc.

you wouldn't know that i had an awesome cinnamon raisin bagel while driving to work

or that my amazing husband told me he was proud of me

or that i drew a grad cap on a cat picture...

i know i've always been this annoying optimist...and maybe i don't actually see the world for what it is and i'll wake up one day to be extremely disappointed or something...

but today wasn't that day.

and i don't think tomorrow will be either.

in conclusion, be happy.

also, listen to this song.

(yet another song i found via gossip girl. i'm radical.)

in which i attempt to get out of a funk

i seriously think i'm suffering from bloggers block.
i have started at least 10 posts in the last 2 weeks and can't seem to develop any of them enough to where i want to post them.
so i'm going to try some mini bursts of writing and see what happens.
and i'm sorry - because it's about to get real boring/weird up in here...

but you'll get to see the wack-a-doo way my brain works.
for free.
because i'm charitable like that.

1. jonathan and i went to a concert last night and this guy (i say with gnarled, gnashing teeth) was talking. the. whole. time. and i was FLIPPING OUT. and i sat in my seat thinking - why is it always my luck that i sit in front of the jerk who decides to talk in the middle of a song? and it hit me. it's not that i have bad luck - it's just that there are a lot of doofy (this is an edited word becuase i'm trying not to say douche. oops.) people in the world who think that it's okay.
and get this.
when the lights came on - i realized that not only was this "kid" my age, but he was also sitting next to his parents. who were talking just as much as he was.
i know i'm only 23 and not allowed by the old person international handbook to say "kids these days," so i'll make it cooler and only say - KTD, you guys. KTD.

2. i love my job. and realize daily how incredibly blessed i am that i can say that. i was hired as a full-time employee at an advertising agency on the day i graduated from college. what??!??!? that is not even my life.
but it is!
and that's awesome.

3. i'm going to the carolinas in 2 days (for work. like a BOSS!...except actually a lowly advertising account coordinator) and i'm a little wiggy about it from time to time for these bulleted reasons you see below:

• this will be the first time since...last year that i will be away from jonathan for more than a day.
• i also have to pack business dress for 3 separate meetings. UGH. i think the biggest downer of my job is that i really hate wearing dress pants 4 days every week. - i feel like i can look perfectly presentable in jeans, thankyouverymuch. whatever...it just makes casual fridays THAT much better.
• i'm kind of a spaz in new situations sometimes (read:  all the time). but i also used to think that i hated salami...turns out i don't.

so hopefully it'll be the same?
italian meat and business trips.
sounds like a dashboard confessional song title to me.

speaking of music...
watch this video.
(do it. i don't do this for my health, people.)

*this is a legit offer. i need to stop eating wendy's chicken nuggets at my desk.

back from the dead to talk about love!

we've been pretty sick around our house. for almost a month to be exact. 

(all long stories about chicken fingers, food poisoning and horrible viruses you better pray you never get.)

and between hacking up a lung and being a full-time employed fancy pants (not that fancy. full-time employment. or my pants. sorry.)...

i've been a bad blogger.

i'm sorry.

so to warm everyone's hearts (and to warm you back up to how we do things around here) - 

here's a little post to my hubband.

this is my adorable husband being scared of splash mountain.

picture a parking lot in salt lake city on january 31.
it's dusk.
and a silly girl named natalie forgot to check her tires before leaving home that morning and thus...has a flat tire.
who does she call?
jonathan.
who drives 30 minutes out of his way to come rescue her?
jonathan.
who fills the tires with air while natalie just stands there?
jonathan.

you get the point.

all i'm saying is - i get to be with this dude forever.
and i'm sure if i get a flat tire in heaven, he'd help me out then too.
even if he's in a white jumpsuit. that has to be dry cleaned.

love you, honey lamb.

this is wedding day husband

next stop: knitting

i just submitted a complaint to subway because the store that i live by closed 30 minutes early.

this is who i've become.

miss me yet?