This Week

This week was pretty awesome. I scored some SWEET couponing deals. Got $105.00 worth of groceries for $38.00...GAFLARGINBARGIN!! :) (for you, Erin)



Brad and I also got to spend some lovely time at the beach. We love living so close!!






Happy weekend everyone!!

Baby Got Back

So Miami. This place is interesting. I am greeted by new, different, exciting, annoying, odd, ridiculous, and unimaginable things on a daily basis. Maybe it's because I have been living in the bubble of Provo, UT, for so long, but I really don't think even Virginia can compare to the craziness of Miami. I was expecting to feel a little out of place when we first moved here, but even with those expectations things surprise me every single DAY.

Yesterday, for example. I decided to go to 7-11 during my break because I was craving some DP. I pay for my drink, and as I am putting away my card/wallet, a black guys comes up to the register and buys two cigars. (everyone here smokes. Whatever.) I end up holding the door open for him since we are leaving about the same time. I then proceed to get one of the stares I get daily. I usually assume that this stare is because I am glaringly tall. I tower over most people in Miami, and I get told on a daily basis, "Wow, you are so tall!" (Weird, I didn't know that??) Utah was filled with tall people. It spoiled me.


Yesterday, however, was a different story. This stare was more in-depth. The man proceeded to say to me, "Wow, you are tall." (...long pause, as if thinking how to put this best...) "You, know, you don't see many tall, thick (uses hand-cupping motion, as if holding a butt), white girls. hehe!"

Umm...thanks?? Haha. I had forgotten that this happens. Comments(/compliments??) like that don't really happen in Utah. Now, growing up in Virginia for a large part of my life got me used to people admiring a large backside, (which both Katie and I were so luckily endowed with) but this was just another level. Thank you middle-aged black man, for pointing out my tallness, my bootyliciousness, and my whiteness, all three of which make me an odd bird here in Miami. Thanks for showing me once again that Miami is in a world of its own.

Bragging Rights

I decided that since I am married to Bradley, I have full bragging rights about his awesomeness. As you all know, Brad and I are living in Miami for the next year or so while he completes his Master's of Biomedical Science at Barry University. The point of this program is to heighten his GPA so that we have greater odds of getting into dental school on the next go-around. The whole program is aimed for people trying to get into medical/dental school, so it is nice for him to have people to study with that are shooting for similar goals.

This past week Brad had (GASP) two tests AND a quiz, and this week he has THREE tests. It has been a little crazy lately, but after this week he has a break from tests until finals. I am so proud of Brad because he got 100% on his last quiz and 94% on BOTH of his last tests!! That means that he has straight A's except for one class (he has an 89%), and all he needs is an 88% on one of the remaining tests and he will have an A! Brad has been studying SO HARD. Day and night he sits and listens to his recorded lectures and goes over mountains of notes. Although sometimes I wish we could spend more time together, I know his hard work is paying off. A friend in the same program who is taking the 18-month route instead of the 12-month route had EIGHT dental school interviews this time around, mostly because of his improved GPA and DAT after studying at Barry. At this rate, Brad is sure to get some interviews next year, and I am so proud of his hard work! Love you Brad!

***This just in. Brad got a 96% on the "ridiculously hard test" he took yesterday!! He is awesome :)

Scribe

As most of you may know, I FINALLY got a job a few weeks back (yay!). Now that I have officially been a working woman for a few weeks, I really feel like I need to be a grown up (weird). I go to work from 9-5 every day, which can be difficult, but I am definitely really lucky. When I graduated from BYU, I never thought I would actually be able to work in book publishing. But here in I am, living in Miami, working at Scribe where I am working with books from publishers like Random House, Palgrave-Micmillan, etc. Big publishers like that hire us to do their copy editing, typesetting, html conversion, and e-book creation. Basically they decide what books they want to publish and we do most of the work behind the publishing process.

Right now all I do is convert regular book documents into html e-book documents, but after my three-month training/probation period, I can take the editing test and become a more full-time copy editor! It is just such a dream come true to be able to work with books and to know what kinds of new ideas authors are having. I am excited to start editing more so I can really read each story and get to know the characters. I know I am so lucky to even have a job right now, but the fact that I have a job in the field that I love makes me even luckier.

I have also begun the game of (somewhat) extreme couponing. It is so addicting!! I am not good enough to get everything for free all the time, but I have gotten pretty good at least saving fifty percent on the my grocery bill. It is actually pretty fun, and I like being able to get the things I need for a steal! The best deals so far have been on things like make-up and toiletries. If you pay attention, you can get that stuff for almost nothing!

Anyways, I promise to be better at the blog in the near future. I need to keep you all up to date on our crazy life in Miami! (literally the foreign country of the U.S. At least I have a foreign-sounding last name now! I fit in way better. haha)