Friday, September 5, 2014

It's just me.

Hi. So, like always, there is no real reason for me not posting in an excruciating amount of time (because I know everyone cares so much), but I'm back.

All of August I was busy busy busy when I was completely planning on relaxing. I know I haven't posted even in April, June or July either, but... we'll just skip all that. Besides maybe that Sean took me to Fantasy Con and I got to meet Simon Pegg and he told me Happy Birthday and signed our action figures.

Or when my sister-in-law Laurelin came and stayed with us for the good part of a month...
(pictured from top left: Brady and Katie, Aaron and Melissa with their kids Aiden and Katherine, everybody, Aunt Melanie and Laurelin, Sean, Me and Katharine again) I think that's a good overview of my summer. If not, I've got a facebook or twitter or instagram and you can join me there. (@elleohellen - twitter, @ellen_donner - instagram).

August started out normal and boring since my internship ended mid-July. Then, one day, Sean came home and said "I have a crazy idea..." And it was. The next friday, we left on a suprise road trip to Minnesota to give his friends Marcus and Whitney Penny the best housewarming gift. We drove all day and got to his parent's house that night after finding one of Sean's friends in a neighboring town and giving them a ride home.

Saturday, we met up with Sean's oldest brother Damien for brunch. We spent some time at Damien's house after playing with his dogs and watching the Twin's game. Then we went to the Mall of America to kill some time and to buy me a jacket. We pulled up to the Penny's house and barely got out of the car and into their driveway when Marcus comes booking down the driveway, full speed, to give Sean a huge hug. The entire trip was worth everything for that one moment.


It was one of the most fun housewarming parties ever, just to see Sean with all of his friends. We left a little early and went back to his parent's house to spend some time with his mom who'd just got back into town. I do love my in-laws. I am one lucky girl.

The next day we drove to Gillette and spent the night with Sean's youngest brother and his girlfriend and it was tons of fun there too. I miss them so much!

Then, a week after that, Sean and I moved into my parent's house. It's been pretty good so far. We repainted the bedroom,
and set up the living room the way we like it. We're settling in pretty well (including Erma). This weekend, we're going to the Oddball Comedy Festival and I am SO EXCITED!!! So, you could pretty much say I've had an incredible summer. I might've missed some things... like that one time we went to the dam.
Or the time Sean's book made it to the Summer Reading List.
Or when Sean live-tweeted Independence Day.
Or when we went to Oregon with my family for Abby's Senior Trip.


#BESTSUMMER

Now, let's just wait and see what Autumn and Winter bring us...
Love, Ellen

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

It Keeps Gettin' Better.

Even though I know the title of this is alluding to a Christina Aguilara song, I've had this Avril song stuck in my head since work today...

Don't judge. It's just like that.

Anyway, I'm sure none of this has to do anything with anything. But I do have some good news! Even though I won't be at my internship too much longer, I've obviously proven myself useful because I got a pay raise today! I couldn't be happier there. And just to prove myself and make getting a raise worth the trouble it's been for others, I've been working on a lot of fun things for our upcoming sales conference that I'm pretty excited about.

In other news, today has been pretty good. Sean got to come home a little bit early today and that just gives me a little more time to hang with my bfff (I added an extra f because best friend forever forever). I think I'm gonna make him go on a walk with me later. Walking is fun plus it's pretty outside.

Maybe after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is over.
love, Ellen

Monday, June 16, 2014

The Internship

As I'm sure you've probably noticed by now, I've been a horrible blogger since I started my internship. I just have one thing to say. This internship has been incredible for me. The company I'm working for is beyond excellent, the people I work with are all so nice and fun to be around, I've learned so much and I'm so appreciative of having this whole experience.

I've also been pretty busy. Last weekend, Sean and I got back from a much needed week-long road trip to the Oregon coast with my family. We stayed in a fantastic condo right on the ocean, ate delicious food and got some good rest. Here are a few of photos from the trip:

This is me wearing some rad ammonite earrings while walking on the beach with the hub.

Famous Carr family pose, pointing in directions. Such weirdos ;)

#seaselfie with the hubs. We like walking on the beach.

Sunset. Maybe you can see two blobs on the beach, that's Sean and I.

Close-up of the hand-made ammonite earrings. #prehistoricjewelry
This is the handsome hub-cap totally lovin' crab fishing with my dad. 

The sis and I building a rad sandcastle. Meanwhile, Sean was in a fight with the ocean. It was a draw.

The view from our first night's balcony. The Hood River.

Also, Abby Graduated High School!! Congrats-o!

So I would say it was a success! 

Other than that, Sean and I have been going to Bountiful a lot and, for father's day weekend, we went up to my Grandpa's and went to the Ogden Art Festival. Such talent! And for father's day, we went up to B-town and made dinner, cleaned the kitchen, and then went out for treats in SLC. We went to Harmon's and got dessert treats and cheeses. Newest Fave Cheese: Wisconsin Butterkase. If you ever get the chance, best cheese. 

AND! We finally have a moving day! I've posted before about our difficult living situations, and we finally have plans to move in with my parents at the end of August so we can save money to buy a house! I know living at home will be a struggle sometimes, but thus is life and if it will get us ahead, that's great. And I completely appreciate my parent's generosity in letting us stay with them. 

Today is a kind of gloomy-weather day. Something I've been wanting for kind of a while. When it's gorgeous outside, I get restless and we end up spending too much money doing something. Days like this, we usually go grocery shopping or just stay inside and relax. 

Anyway, I'm gonna go nap or watch a movie. Thanks for not giving up on me as a blogger. 
love, Ellen


Saturday, May 10, 2014

I'm back...

Hey, so this is my third attempt at posting this blog. I got a new phone and now I have to learn how to blog on here. My computer works but it is frustrating and I pretty much just use my work computer for stuff now. Or I will until July when my internship is over...

My new phone is an LG G2 and it's heaps smarter than my old phone. I'm still trying to get used to it, but I think I like it.

In other news, Happy Mothers Day Tomorrow!  I have the best mother and mother-in-law and I hope to be just like them someday. I Love Them!

Speaking of moms, we finally decided where we're gonna live. We're moving into my parents basement in August. Even though we still have a couple months, it'll be okay because we'll be closer to my internship until it ends in July.

A couple weeks ago we got into an accident at the aquarium. No one got hurt except the cars. We parked a mile away, waited in line in the rain to get in, and the aquarium was partially empty because it's still pretty new. When we got home, our ceiling was leaking. Needless to say, it was a rough day.

Luckily, though, I have a great mom who came with my sister and her boyfriend to have dinner with us at Carrabbas. Yummy. So it ended alright.

Anyway, I'll try to keep up with my blog now... Sorry for my absence.

Love, Ellen

Thursday, March 27, 2014

The Unclean

Have you ever heard the term "The Rule of Threes"?

I'm LIVING IT.

I started out the day waking up earlier than I wanted when Sean left without saying goodbye to me. Turns out, he was just outside trying to light our water heater. Good guy. He couldn't and I went without showering this morning. I feel DISGUSTING. I get so greasy when I don't shower. I sometimes take 2 showers a day because I work hard at the donut shop.

Anyway, my day starts out like that. Then I go to work and stuff there isn't working on the network and I have to start a different project in the middle of the one I'm already doing. It's fine, I go on.
But then I check my bank account to see if I have any money to buy a soda from the break-room. Nope. In fact, the organization who I have my student loan with took out twice the amount I thought it would. Turns out, it takes A WHOLE WEEK to just report that I paid. Note to self, don't forget that you already paid them. UGH. That's what savings accounts are for, I guess.

Then I get home, forgetting about the hot water problem and turn on the kitchen faucet. It pretty much explodes water and pasta sauce all over me. ULTIMATE SAD FACE. I make dinner and, during the course of cooking, I forget that the faucet is a **** and it scares me. In turn, I punch it in the face and now we have to buy a new faucet. ALL THE SWEARS.

Now, dinner has been done for 15 minutes and Sean just came home.
I need a chocolate. and a shower.
love, Ellen

Friday, March 14, 2014

G. Cloo and his Rag Tag Teams

I have exciting news. I've got an internship at a company called AtTask as a copywriter. I AM SO EXCITED. It's exactly what I want to do and it will help me qualify for real positions as a copywriter for any company even though I only have an Associates Degree.

Anyway, I'm sure by now you're wondering about the title of this post. In honor of my getting this internship, Sean and I went out to dinner at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries and then went to see George Clooney's new movie Monuments Men. To say that it was great would be an understatement. It was heartfelt and funny and just all around a great movie.

When Sean and I were sitting at dinner, we discussed the quality of George Clooney films and came to an incredible realization. In comes the title... Almost all of G. Cloo's movies involve him heading up a rag-tag team of misfits.

Case 1: Monuments Men. G. Cloo gathers artist of differing respects in order to save historical art pieces and preserve cultural artifacts during World War II.

Case 2, 3, and 4: Ocean's 11, 12, and 13. G. Cloo and Brad Pitt arrange a casino heist after rounding up 11, 12, and then 13 individuals of varying degrees of speciality.

Case 5: Men Who Stare At Goats. Jeff Bridges recruits G.Cloo in a company of men known as Jedi's for military use. Although, George is not the leader, he does teach Obi Wan the ways of the Jedi.

Case 6: Fantastic Mr. Fox. Mr. Fox (voiced by G. Cloo) leads a band of various wildlife in a revenge mission against three angry men.

Case 7: O Brother, Where Art Thou. George coerces a few miscreants with promises of treasure into assisting him in a jail break in order to retain his marital status.

And if 7 cases doesn't convince you... then you might need to re-think your life-style choices. Or, if you're so inclined, you may also include Batman and Robin in the list. I, however, would rather appeal to George Clooney's wishes to not be remembered for the film.

Mr. Clooney, if you are reading this, please continue to make such movies. These 7 are among my top most favorite films and my list is capable of expansion. Thank you.
love, Ellen



Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Under the Covers.

Dang, I'm clever.
Lately, at work the early morning bakers have been putting on a radio station that occasionally plays this song:

(FEEL FREE TO NOT LISTEN TO ANY OF THIS)

And automatically my face warps into something more like someone in the room let one rip rather than a song came on. Immediately, though, my mind jumps to something Sean gave me more than a year ago. 
You see, when we were dating, we'd gift each other mix cd's every once in a while and one of his last ones to me was a mix called "Mix Cover" and on it was the same song done by New Found Glory:
(FEEL FREE TO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO THE WEIRD VID)

And my mind sighs with relief. Since Sean and I have been married (so somewhere in the ball park of a year), I've been listening to a lot of New Found Glory. They have a neat album that has tons of covers called From The Screen To Your Stereo and it has tons of great covers such as:
(SAMEZIES ABOUT THE VID)

And "That Thing You Do", "Never Ending Story", and "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing". I highly recommend it. 
Some of my other favorite covers that I've more recently discovered include 99 Red Baloons by Goldfinger:
I love how it has the German part in the middle. CLASSIC.
Also, MxPx's 500 Miles:
It never strays too much from the original, but it's still fun and a little more upbeat. 
And try Cartel's Wonderwall on for size:
Great, right? So classic. 
Ben Folds does a great In Between Days:
This is one that gets listened to a lot when I'm in the shower. 
And you can never go wrong with a little Backstreet Boys done by Allister. 
Hah. So little. 
And to top it all off, the most creepy stalker song turned beautiful. You go, Copeland. 

I could put so many more on here, but I think this is enough. I've probably taken up too much of your time as it is. Still. I hope you enjoy. 
love, Ellen

Sunday, March 2, 2014

#Oscars2014

I think I'm pretty smart and witty... so I'm live-tweeting the Oscars @elleohellen.
Come follow!

or don't. I won't hate you.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Internet Diet Update [or] "On Writing"

SO. I'm having a hard time because a lot of the people I care about are on facebook and I want to know what they're doing with their lives and I wanted to show all of them this:

My most lovely Mother-in-Law made this BY HAND for me! Her body and button-joints and hair and face and clothes and shoes and dinosaur are all hand stitched. How IMPRESSIVE is that?? She is so sweet and I love how much this little doll that I've named Karen resembles me. She has my same eyebrow shape I love her little hat and her fun sock monkey overalls (that really work as overalls, you can unbutton them and everything!) and her Dinosaur named Deeno...
What a great Mother-in-law I have.

I've been to facebook a few times but it hasn't been as excessive and I feel like I'm making strides here. I haven't been to any of the waste time sites I usually went to. I've found a few things on pinterest that I like. I've made dinner the past couple nights (besides tonight because Sean wanted to grill) and I sort of rearranged our living room and I've been feeling better about myself. I learned some new make-up tricks and my hair has been looking exceptional...  It's all been better.

Right now, Sean is writing his latest work which he is really excited about and I'm really excited for him. I think it's really important that he writes because I know that it's something he loves and I like seeing him write. He types a bunch and then reads me a chunk that he's proud of and I love it. Plus that gives me an opportunity to pull out my editing skills and give him a few pointers and stuff. We both can do what we love and it's excellent.

There's a little book exchange that opened up a block or so from our house and the ladies that own it are super sweet and fun to talk to. Sean and I have been there twice and both times we've stayed for about an hour just talking about everything. Sean gave them one of his books (which you can access here and here and here or just google "sean donner unlucky" and you'll have all the websites) and they're all excited to read it and host open-houses or things for his future books. Which is one of the reasons he's so excited about writing this new one.

Yay! What a great time.
love, Ellen

Monday, February 24, 2014

This is harder than I thought.

I might've accidentally already checked facebook once today. But I quickly realized that I didn't care about anything on there, really.

And now I'm watching taxi and finding a crock-pot recipe for dinner tonight. I might try taco soup or something. Or we have all the things for mac n' cheese but I don't think that's a stand-alone meal...

Sunday, February 23, 2014

I need a break: My Internet Diet

I decided just a few seconds ago that I need to go on an internet diet. I'm going to (do my best to) cut out facebook, twitter, 9gag, iwastesomuchtime, slow robot, and what ever other mindless scrolling website that I go to too often. I'm going to cut back on pinterest and youtube. I'm still going to allow myself to do online jigsaw puzzles and crossword puzzles, and I'm also going to be online doing bills and researching stuff. I'll also keep doing online surveys that help me earn a little spare money.

I'll also continue blogging because it's a definite outlet that I can just relax and write down all my stuff.

I just have been feeling really useless lately. I just sit on the internet endlessly scrolling through page after page of ridiculous posts about stuff I don't really care about and not enough improving myself.

Instead, I will do things like
1: Clean and organize my house
2: Read a book
3: Do arts and crafts
4: Exercise
5: Learn how to cook better
6: Getting ready to move
7: Watch television and movies without  internet
8: Gardening
9: Practicing skills like photography and writing
10: Learning new skills and gaining new hobbies.

I needed to just set this all up for myself because if I didn't I wouldn't really do anything about my goal. I have a hard time sticking to things so I needed to set certain boundaries and allowances so I wouldn't go crazy. I was originally thinking just an internet fast and then I realized I still needed to pay bills online and I still want to blog and do crossword puzzles so I just cut out the junk.

It's just like a regular diet. You need to cut out the junk food if you're going to get anywhere and you need to have better snacks there in order for you to not turn to the unhealthy ones, which is why I made a list of "Insteads" that I can go to when I don't know what to do.

Plus my computer has been frustrating lately and the last thing anyone needs is that one more annoyance to fuel the fire. If you have any other good ideas of things I can do, please let me know! I'd love to hear them because I'm sure there's plenty of things I forgot. Thanks!

love, Ellen

Saturday, February 22, 2014

And I Helped.

Today my parents made a million freezer meals (okay... 20 something... still a lot) and I helped a little.
Anyway, now my hands smell like garlic and it's really gross.
Good thing I have smelly lotions I can put on so they don't gross me out all night.

Also, I feel like I should put this here because I felt beautiful yesterday (not a first, but not always something I feel) and decided to document it.
I think it's really important for everyone to feel beautiful once in a while. I know I have my days where I show up to work at 6 am and then around 9 I finally look at myself in a mirror and think "I seriously looked like that for 3 hours and didn't do anything about it?" But there are plenty of days where I come home from work and realize that I don't even need that second shower because my hair looked just fine and my makeup was still good and all I need is a change of clothes and I'm good.

I know for a fact that no one sees as many flaws in oneself as they do (sense?). I could tell you plenty of things in this picture that I'm not a hundred percent happy with, but I could also name plenty more that I'm in love with.

Cons:
I have zits
My hair needs a trim
I should smile better
I own too many grey sweaters
etc.

Pros:
I have pretty eyes
I like how my hair curls
I have a cute face
I like my cheeks
I look good in grey sweaters
I can pull off almost any color of lipstick
etc.

See? I know that Even behind all the things I hate, there's a thing I love. I just need to look past the zits and hair problems sometimes and be glad that I have all the things I like.

This ended up being a lot longer than I thought it was going to be. Originally I was just going to post my selfie and tell you about my garlic hands... Hmm. Maybe someone needed to hear this.
love, Ellen

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Is it Spring yet?

I am so excited to be able to go outside and play. Only 6 weeks until the opener of the Bee's baseball season! (sidenote: the Bee's are Utah's Minor League baseball team.) Sean and I have tickets to a bunch of games this year and I'm so excited to use all of them! It's going to be so fun!

I'm so excited to go out and play catch again. Sean and I have a couple times this year but it's been a little chilly and the ground was still pretty wet, but it was great. It's one of the only things I like doing that is similar to exercise.

Speaking of tickets, we also have tickets to any Hale Center Theatre play this year. My bosses bought them for us for Christmas. Yay! I'm pretty sure we're going to see Big River, which is a great play.

Anyway, I'd say this year is going to be a good one... once it starts being Spring. haha
love, Ellen

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Valen-Times 2014

Wow. I've been really bad at writing on here. I don't really have any excuses... Sean was a little sick this week (and wrote this), we're still on our way to buying a house, our apartment is particularly moldy, it's been raining, the Olympics are on... Really just stuff you'd expect.

A week ago tomorrow was our 2 year dating anniversary and we went to Red Lobster. It's a lot easier to celebrate that than to fight the hoards of people on Valentine's day itself. Plus it's a little more special for us. We are still going to do Valentine's gifts. I painted Sean a picture and he got me something from the internet. I think we might go to Five Guys or Rubio's or something just because. Other than that, Valentine's is a pretty normal day.

Our first Valentine's day... Whoo, it's a good story. I guess I was soooooooooo blinded by Sean's adorable-ness that I didn't realize it was a hilarious story and should've written it down here but I didn't.

It started out pretty great. I walked over to his apartment because I didn't have time/wrapping paper enough to wrap his Build-a-Bear which I cutely named Sean the Jedi and dressed as a Jedi. Plus he had to finish a few things with dinner. I got there, rang the bell, and then straight away gave him the bear when he opened the door. He handed me a cute bag with 3 awesome Beatles Mugs and a Batman magnet inside.

He pulled the steaks out of the oven and they were heart-shaped. AW. He also had potatoes in a casserole dish ready for eating. He dished it all up for us as I sat at the counter and admired the roses and candles he'd put out. The steak was super delicious, I remember because my first bite was much too big so I was chewing it forever while trying not to choke because Sean was laughing at me and I was laughing (as much as I could) too.

We finished eating and then went on a drive and ended up at Blickenstaff's Toy Store in Provo. We wandered around and then... Actually... I don't really remember what happened after that. I think we probably.. OH YEAH. We went back to our neighborhood and went to our friend Jayme's house to pick up my copy of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World she'd borrowed. Then we went back to Sean's and watched it.

It was really sweet. Like he always is. The funniest part of all of this, though, was that he spent about $200 on the whole night. "What?" you ask. Yes, he had to buy household items to have Valentine's day at home. He was offered reservations at a nice restaurant but turned them down because he didn't want to spend a ton of money on a girl he'd just started dating. HAH. Joke was on him. He bought plates and stools and food and flowers... What a guy.

Anyway, I still love him just as much as then and I'm so happy he's my forever Valentine.
I gotta go check if our bed is still wet from me stupidly putting the humidifier on it while vacuuming... bad idea.
I'll post a picture of my painting once I give it to him tomorrow. Squee!
love, Ellen

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

On Decorating.

So, as you might know, Sean and I are in the process of getting a house. It's going to take a few months to mend our credit, find, and buy the house, but I've been really into getting ideas and inspiration for future spaces. We've toured at least one house that we'd be very interested in purchasing and, so far, that's the only one I've been able to think up lots of ideas for. Anyway, I thought up some great rules I will stick to while decorating.

6 Rules for Decorating a Home

1: Make it beautiful but functional. Or at least as functional as possible.
2: The perfect color can make or break a room.
3: With that being said... Match, but don't over match. Too much of one color can make a space drab.
4: Too many objects on a surface can make cleaning a pain and the table useless. Keep it simple and put together but add flair.
5: Personal taste is everything. Pinterest is NOT law.
6: A house IS NOT its paint color. A paint job is the easiest way to fix a space.


When Sean and I do buy a house, I will definitely take all the pictures of it and post them on here. I can't wait. We're hoping to move in March or April, but we'll see.


Monday, January 13, 2014

House

So Sean and I are seriously looking into buying a house. No wonder I've been lazy at posting on here in a while, eh? Buying a house is a big deal. It's so grown up. The house has 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths, a huge backyard on a corner lot, a super nice kitchen... I'm pretty excited.

 Of course, it is possible that we don't get it, like it is with houses. I am hoping for it, but I won't be devastated if we can't get it. I've come to the conclusion that everything happens for a reason. Also, I'm super ready to not hear banging and shouting coming from both sides of my apartment or being told to move my car because of whatever reason.

We'd save on gas because Sean would take the train for free, our house payment would only be a little less than double our rent (which we could potentially do if we refinanced Sean's car and used less gas and other things). [I can't tell if that's crying coming from next door, one of the girls in a sheet trying to scare someone, or a real ghost. All I can say for sure is that they continually drop heavy things and are obnoxious.]

I'm really excited for it all, but at the same time, it's nerve-wrecking. Are we going to be able to afford it, can we still live comfortably like we do, will we actually even get it? Any way, we'll find out. I'll keep you updated on it all, like I do.

love, Ellen

Friday, January 3, 2014

Resolutions...

NOT. I don't want to make resolutions because they last a month and then I'm back to scarfing donuts and watching tv too often. Instead, I'm just going to resolute to keep being myself.

I'm going to keep cleaning my house as often as I do.
I'm going to keep loving my husband and taking care of him as best I can.
I'm going to continue to work hard and do my best at my job.
I'm going to continue to eat food.
I'm going to write blogs.
I'm going to paint pictures.
I'm going to be happy with what happens and remember that everything happens for a reason.
I'm going to be smart with my decisions.
I'm going to play and watch baseball when I can.
I'm going to love my family.
I'm going to keep being happy with myself and my life.

HAPPY NEW YEAR.
love, Ellen