I've been up to...

It's been a while. I feel like I haven't done a whole lot of exciting stuff. Here's what's gone down:

• Work has been crazy busy. Busier than ever. That's pretty lucky considering the economy. Let's hope it stays this way, and I may eventually get a raise :) It's been stressful.
• My bedroom has been clean for at least 2 weeks, going on 3. Frankly, that is amazing. Laundry and all. (I have to give a big thank you to Frasier Crane, Michael Scott, and Will Truman for getting me through the rough times.)
• I signed up for a Digital Photography class to see if I can hone some actual talent out of my hobby. We'll see. It starts in 3 weeks. When it was possible I might be getting a raise, I was looking into it a lot, but then it kind of fizzled out. Then Trevor's brother got a really sweet digital slr camera and I think I about died of jealousy :) So here I am.
• Speaking of pictures. Trevor has been (unknowingly) showing me a lot of stuff in Photoshop lately and I've felt much better about that side of my picture-taking. I've never been really great of detailed editing of pictures, and I've always been worried that I would hate the Photoshop-ing aspect. It's not so bad.
• I think I can say this now--it's close enough. Trevor and I are taking a week off work and life for our anniversary in October. We decided we're going to have a stay-cation and use the money we save to pay off an entire credit card. It's both deflating and bolstering. I want a vacation, dang it; with airplanes and hotels, and no chance of interruption. But at the same time, we'll be paying off an ENTIRE credit card--not just paying it down some-- ENTIRELY. So if anyone has any great ideas about what we can do here in Utah within an hour or so from our house, please tell. I'm thinking I'll be making a list of everything I can think of and then we'll just choose something we feel like doing each day. It's going to be great--it'll be like our belated, shortened summer vacation.
• Speaking of debt. In 29 days I will be making our last payment on the first credit card we intend to pay off completely. It is SOOOOO exciting to see the snowball effect actually happening now. We always have room for improvement, but I'm pretty proud of Trevor and I for sticking more to our budget these last few months (excepting the giant size tv Trevor HAD to have; but that's another story).
• Hm, what else? I read Your Best Birth by Ricki Lake and Abbey Epstein. They're the same people who did The Business of Being Born movie. You can go to Amazon.com and read some of it. Trevor thinks I'm crazy for being so interested in pregnancy even though I'm not pregnant or thinking about being pregnant any time soon. I don't really know how to respond to that except to say I'm interested in what I'm interested in, and there it is. I feel like this is such an important subject, I just can't stop learning about it. I've read a lot of stuff arguing both sides of the issue but mostly pro-natural birth. I think now I might try to find some arguments against natural birth (and everything else like it) that I think are legitimate. I have yet to find anything I can really whole-heartedly agree with. (PS on the book: the introductions by Ricki and Abbey use some swear words.)
• Your Best Birth: Know All Your Options, Discover the Natural Choices, and Take Back the Birth Experience by Ricki Lake
  
  My rating: 5 of 5 stars
  I learned a lot from this book about all the options that are out there. There are only a few parts that I had to kind of indulge them on, and I still found it extremely informative in a way that I haven't been able to find very much of. If you ever get the chance, read the flap on the cover and you'll immediately know if it's something you'll be interested in. It addresses the rising c-section, epidural, and medical intervention rates that "often leave mothers feeling powerless as their instincts are replaced by drugs and routine medical procedures." And a whole bunch of other important stuff.
  
  The book is pretty fair and doesn't badger women who've had c-sections or interventions. It's about empowering women and partners to feel free to make the educated decisions they want about birth, even if that includes a c-section and the like.
  
  View all my reviews >>
• Trevor's been looking for some new people to do a band project with. It's going pretty slow since most people want to "get big" and make millions. Or they just know nothing about the genre but think they do. He got promoted to Collections Manager at work and has been doing a great job. He works really hard; I hope it pays off in a really spectacular way some day. He's been really interested in going back to school lately to learn more design stuff. I hope we can make that work sometime soon.
• Other than those things, everything has been pretty normal around our house. It's been nice to see some friends during the summer, and to spend time with family the last few weeks for different things. I've been devoid of all crafty projects mostly because I don't have any more wall-space or money to fund the craft store; I've just been making food I like (like strawberry jam and texas toast french toast). Now we're just looking forward to our anniversary, my photo class, Halloween, Thanksgiving in Idaho with my whole family (YOU ALL BETTER BE COMING STILL!), and Trevor finally getting his iPhone at the end of November he's been "patiently" waiting for.