Posts are coming

I have no excuse. I'm less busy than I've been in years, and I'm posting less than ever, but it's all about to change. November will be very different. So, prepare yourselves for some great recipes, book reviews, tips, projects, adventures with the family, and updates on my oh-so-captivating life. Oh, and maybe even some more wedding pics! 

I'm back in your reader!

You might be wondering why I'm showing up in reader again. Well, here's why. I used to be an open, publicly accessible blog, and then it sort of creeped me out that anyone could read it, so I went private. After a few months of this, I came to realize that I was just making it harder on people. I don't like having to sign in to friends blogs (they usually just go unread, because I don't think to check them.. reader is just sooo much easier) and I don't like having to sign in to read blogs. I figured, if I didn't like it, why was I inflicting others with it? So, I'm back to being not private. Welcome to my life, again.

Tell your friends!

I'm so proud of my darling Kimball! His first app was just released in the app store tonight! It's scripture golf (if you served a mission or even went to seminary, you probably played it sans iPhone). You just guess where a given verse is  - first the book, and then the chapter. Each guess is a stroke - you want as few as possible, hence, golf. It's surprisingly addicting, and it's seriously fun to play (especially between meetings in church).

If you have an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, search for "Scripture Golf" or "BOMGolf" in the app store and take a look! It's the one that looks like the cover of the Book of Mormon (see above - this cover art took him a long time. Check out that realistic, leathery texture), and it says Kimball Germane above it.

(It does cost $1.99, but it's worth it, because it will improve your knowledge of the Book of Mormon, and that will eventually help in attaining salvation, right? Apple gave him a very limited number of codes for free downloads, so if you're my sibling or his, or a parent, you can have it for free. My apologies to the rest of you - we both have big families!)

He's been working on it all semester and this week it finally got approved. He is brilliant to me. I don't know how he made it so fancy. For example, when you want to quit a game, you just shake your phone, and it asks if you want to quit. We spent many a night over the last few months working on our own stuff, sitting there with our computers... I'd be gathering addresses for wedding invitations (send me your address if you haven't yet!) and he'd be figuring out how to make it look like the cover was slowing being turned back on the screen. I loved seeing the progress he was making, and I love seeing it there in the app store tonight! We're super excited about it, and he's already working on app number two!

Are there any apps/games you wish were in the app store? He may start taking requests! (I want one that tells me which isle things are on in various grocery stores, but Kimball doesn't want to take the jobs away from those who've learned those things, so I doubt I'll get it).

Let us know what you think and what could be improved so he can start releasing updates and making the next version even better!

Unrelated - this has been floating around facebook, and I think it's funny (it's been photoshopped - trust, me. I watched Cinderella enough as a child to know that some details are WAY off... but still, it's pretty good):

what we've been up to

Things are slowly coming together for this wedding of mine. I'm currently living in our new apartment now, working on my dress, and waiting for the invitations to be printed (if I haven't asked for your address yet, be sure and send it to me! I can't remember who I've asked already...).

our new place... the tiny kitchen, at least. 

this was my bed until kimball and i went and got a costco membership!
we got a mattress, and life is much better for me now.

Things are busy, but since wedding-planning is all I have to work on these days, it's really not too bad at all. I had decided to grow my own bouquet... which was going well at first, but then Utah's weather decided to go turn back into winter, and my pretty little plants froze. I'm trying to revive them, but I will now be making my own bouquet, rather than growing it.

my cute little planter so warm in the sun in early april

just one week later, they had begun sprouting... now they're
all wilted and ugly. 

Kimball's working full time at the security lab (in the computer science department - think internet security, not security guard) at BYU, and he's been busy creating his first iPhone app! (It'll also work on the iPad and iPod touch). We're super excited to submit it to Apple (probably on Tuesday), and he's already got a plan for app #2! I'm amazed, really. I can't wait for everyone to see it! It's already on my phone and it's so well-made! I'll post more about it once it's out, so you can all go be the first to download it. Look out seminary students...

please notice the leather-like texture... he
worked long and hard to make it look like
that. the point of the game is to try to guess
where in the book of mormon a randomly-
selected verse is. each guess counts as
one stroke.

Oh, I also graduated from college a week and a half ago, which was exciting, but it also meant that my campus job is over. I was working for BYU Independent Study developing the online Arabic classes. So, you should all go take those courses and let me know what you think. It was great, but it required many hours at a computer, which was a bit draining. I am now unemployed, and I must remain so until my green card paper work is processed (the earliest that will happen is October.) It's a little stressful, not knowing how I'll fill my time, and I'm really just hoping I don't go crazy (any suggestions?)


Until I figure it out, I'll just busy myself with learning the "don'ts" for wives. It looks like a useful little book, full of wisdom. (Thanks, Tiffany!)

It's been a long time

I might start this blog up again. It might be sporadic. Pictured below is my dearest. We're getting married on the tenth of June. He and I were talking about my blog today as we ate Navajo Tacos on campus. He had read some of my old posts and it was weird to think that the girl he knows is the girl that doesn't blog at all. I just finished reading through my entire blog. What a great experience it was! I love this little record of me, flaws and all. 

I've changed a ton since I started this blog, and I realized that my past entries are like little time capsules. Each post preserves little trends that I was going through: not capitalizing anything, using certain words or phrases too much, throwing in Arabic randomly as if everyone knew what I was saying, and posting pictures of myself that I thought were pretty. I was proud of some of my more shameless posts: taped faces, awkward and ugly pictures that would have otherwise gone unseen, and detailing things that I just happened to have pictures of. 

Now that I've stopped blogging, I find that I've also stopped taking pictures. It's wonderful. I feel sort of free. I'm enjoying life instead of trying to record every detail. The downside to that is that I'll probably forget a lot of little things about this time, but I'm counting on the fact that life will continue to get better and better as time goes on, keeping me fully stocked with good memories and experiences.  

Kimball (my fiance) and I will probably have a blog once we're a family, in like 84 days. He's such a great writer, and he always has such interesting things to say. I'm hoping that he'll be a regular contributer to the family blog. I'm kind of counting on it actually. I hope he reads this. (I love you, baby!) 

On a side note, I have started a little blog detailing my current project: making my wedding dress. It's private, and I really just started it so my sisters all over the place could be involved in the process, well, and to keep me on track to finish in time. It's nothing exciting, and I'm not an excellent seamstress or anything, but if you're interested, I'll let you have access to it. Just let me know, and tell me your email address.

Obviously...

I haven't made this blog private yet.

I have also grown tired of blogging. Maybe that will change... maybe not.

So, that's the update.

Announcement!

No, I'm not engaged or anything like that. Sorry. 

*Warning: This makes me look very cold-hearted. Please don't think less of me* 

Even though I never write anything on this blog anymore, I have decided, just now in fact, that I'm going private! Isn't this exciting? If I don't know you, chances are you will no longer have access to this web log of mine. I really just want family (definitely including extended family) and dear friends to read it. So, no offense. I'm being selective. 

For those who I know and love, I'll need your email addresses to keep you on as eligible readers. Don't expect anything fancy on here, although I may post more frequently now. I'm just privatizing cause I'm starting to get freaked out by how transparent our lives are all becoming. It's strange. I don't like it. I also don't like how much time is wasted by people reading about other people's lives, especially those that they don't even know. This is me taking a stand against the time spent in the blogging world which should be spent with real loved ones. 

Email me, facebook me, or leave comment to let me know if you want in on this. 

An unapologetic note: If you don't have my email address, or you aren't my friend on facebook, you likely shouldn't be reading about my life. If you're too embarrassed to come forward and admit that you've been reading this but still want in, then please realize that embarrassment is quite possibly an appropriate thing to be feeling. Take the time you would spend reading my unimportant thoughts and go play with your kids or hang out with your friends. This in your best interest. 

That said, many of you actually are my friends. Chances are, if I've ever commented on your blog, or hung out with you in the last few years, I'm more than anxious to maintain a friendship with you. 

Don't be shy. I love you. 

Update:

As you have surely noticed, I just posted a ton of stuff about my most recent (well, not even most recent, but recent none the less) adventures. I blogged all about my time in Hong Kong so that I could continue blogging sequentially and continue on to blogging about being here in Cairo... Cairo, you ask...?

I arrived in Cairo a few days ago, and I’ll be here studying Arabic until the beginning of August. Subsequently, the next three or four month’s worth of posts will be revolving around my life here. Some posts may be lengthy and boring, while others, I’m certain will be full of dramatic pictures, funny surprises and other things that will keep you on the edge of your seat! We’ll see… but it should also be noted that this, for me, is a journal of sorts. I may include details that no one will care to read about but are important to me. May you experience a bit of Misr (Arabic for ‘Egypt’) through me.

One day!

In just 24 hours (exactly!) I'm leaving Utah and heading to Hong Kong! I can't wait, and I can't focus on the paper I'm supposed to be writing. It doesn't help that I'm studying in the "Asian Collection" section of the library...

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