My Jeopardy Episode

My Jeopardy! episode was online for a short while.  Meanwhile, it was deleted from that site.

Here is a link to my episode.

Me and Alex Trebek

Ir's me!  With Alex Trebek!  Tomorrow is the air date! Set your DVRs!  Recap to be posted soon!

What is September 28, 2012?

Answer:  The date I'll be on Jeopardy!  I've been waiting for my promo photo of myself and Alex to show up so I can post it here, but so far, no dice.  Instead... Here's my Hometown Howdy!

I apologize for the autostart.  I tried to figure out how to just get it to show up and not auto play, but I failed to find it within five minutes so I gave up!

Licensed to Wed

Jason and I went down to the LA County Registrar's office to pick-up our wedding license.  It's official, we are licensed to wed!  The wedding is only five days away and I am finally starting to get excited about it.  It all seemed so far away and work has been so all-consuming, it's been tough to muster up energy to focus on just the wedding.

Now, all the big pieces are in place and most of the shopping is done, we're just trying to tie up the details and get the apartment ready to have three guests!  It's gonna get cozy!

My oldest friend in the world arrives tomorrow night.  I'm looking forward to hanging out with her before my sister and nephew arrive on Thursday night.  My mom and her hubby arrive on Friday as does my Main Man of Honor...

And then we get to set-up and prep for the wedding on Saturday!

*However, there will be one detour, which deserves its own post (to be published this week)... Just waiting for a picture to be emailed to me before posting the blog entry...

Rituals I miss: Reading the Lyrics Insert

Maybe it's just that I'm getting older, but as Jason & I put together our list of songs that we could potentially use for the wedding before the ceremony, I realize I miss something that I did religiously as a teenager...

Any time I bought a new tape (or CD in high school), I would unwrap it, and then take out the insert/booklet and read all the lyrics from start to finish.  I'd then listen to the whole album.

I'm not sure why it is, but it's really hard for me to comprehend lyrics from just listening to a song.  I'll listen to a song a hundred times and sometimes have no clue what it's about.  The lyrics only make sense when I read them.

I miss reading lyrics!!

That said, I rarely buy CDs anymore.  In fact, I hardly buy any music really.  But if I did, where's my lyric sheet??  

Side note:  When I was in high school, my mom gave me my first CD player.  It was my big Christmas present that year.  Between that and my subscription to Rolling Stone, which I read from cover-to-cover each month (that's another ritual that I miss), I felt in touch with music.  I kinda miss that too.

Seating Chart or Not?

The wedding is quickly approaching and now that the big pieces have fallen into place, it's now time to start focusing on some details.  One of which, is whether or not to use a seating chart.  Since the wedding isn't very formal, I wasn't sure if we should or not, but I think it will help relieve anxiety for the out-of-towners or the in-towners who don't know many of the other people who will be at the wedding.

So... I went ahead and made one.  Since Jason and I are board game lovers, I think we're going to use pie pieces from Trivial Pursuit to indicate which table everyone belongs to.  Unless of course, I can think of something better in the next week or so, but that's doubtful.

It's still open to revision, but I'm glad to have yet another to-do list checked off!

Off the Market

As of a couple weeks ago, I'm officially off the market!

It's kind of weird really.  At the start of this blog, I was married to my first husband and then over the course of events, got a divorce and then chronicled a lot of what was going on in my life, but especially my dating life!  I wonder if that means the next step will be my married life?  Seems like the next step...

Either way, my boyfriend, ISTJ, better known now as Jason (yes, the same as my first husband) asked me to be his wife!  And as my friend Edward said... I took the "very old-fashioned" route and said, "Yes!"

The Boyfriend becomes the Fiance
On July 8th, we went out for lunch after church and then Jason drove past my exit (for the third time this week! We had a couple "false alarms" earlier in the week, but third time is the charm or so they say).  Luckily, this time, it didn't involve Mulholland Drive!

Instead, we drove up to the Getty Center.

It was a beautifully gorgeous day with the perfect LA weather!  The kind that makes you never want to leave LA! We went up to the top floor of the South Pavilion, which has an awesome view of the Los Angeles.  There, Jason pointed out the various places around LA where we'd gone during our relationship, including Manhattan Beach, where we had a very long, tense walk just a couple months into our relationship, during which I came this close to breaking it off with him, but then didn't.  Divine intervention?*

After recounting our various escapades around the city, the trips, the restaurants, the activities, he started with all the mushy stuff about how much he loved me (and many other sweet things that will remain private).  He then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  I didn't have the heart to crack a silly joke.  So instead, I said, "Yes!"

Here's a snapshot of the ring... I picked it out a few weeks beforehand, so I knew the proposal was imminent.  We decided to go the non-traditional route ring-wise.  It also has a matching necklace, but I haven't taken a good picture of that yet, but I love it just as much as the ring.

The non-traditional engagement ring designed by Symmetry (Greek designer)...
18K white gold, custom made with two raw diamonds, two blue sapphires and one pink sapphire

The Aftermath
Then we sent emails, texts, made calls to all the appropriate people.  It was his parents anniversary, so that should make it easy to remember!

The After-Aftermath (aka: the Emotional Aftermath)
It's been weird.  But in a really good way.  I eloped the first time I got married, so the total time between "engagement" and "marriage" was about four hours.  This time, it's gonna be a whopping 2 1/2 months!  Since the first part of the engagement was consumed with my Jeopardy! obsession, I can now relax and focus on the wedding itself, which should be relatively simple and easy to plan.  Mostly because I'm not a girly girl, so I have no big "wedding" dreams that need to be fulfilled.

Emotionally, I've been feeling closer to him every day.  My day in the Jeopardy! studios was super-intense and he was there for me and so supportive in every way, which I completely appreciate.  I'm in awe of his support and caring for me.  It's a little unreal sometimes.  Sad to say, but I haven't had very many people in my life that I feel like I can count on like I can count on him.  My goal is to be the same for him.  Someone he can depend on to be his friend, confidante and lover.  I don't think that will be too difficult.

All of this just serves as a daily confirmation that I made the right choice in saying yes!

An "after" pic with our beloved Los Angeles in the background:

Jason & Steph in the South Pavilion of the Getty Center

Looking forward to many more adventures!!

* Turns out I had a "love language" I didn't even realize I had!  Acts of service!  So, we were fighting over the dishes, but really I was feeling unloved because he wasn't helping me.  Luckily, we got it ironed out...

Moving to a non-LA way of life

ISTJ (the aforementioned boyfriend) and I have been having lots of talks about our future over the last six months.  One of the recurring themes has been whether we will stay in Los Angeles or move elsewhere.  The top choices seem to be:


Nashville - His parents will be returning to Nashville in 2014, after completing their 14 year (by that point) mission trip to Venezuela.  They'll be moving into their home that they've rented out all these years after a bit of renovation/updating.  This, of course, makes Nashville a natural choice.

We'd have grandparents living locally, so that would be a great help and make it a lot easier for the grandparents to see the grandkid(s).  Additionally, the cost of living is much more affordable, so it would put less stress on us financially to live a modest lifestyle allowing me to stay home to care for the babes.  We'd definitely get more bang for our buck, real-estately speaking... >We would be within driving distance to many of the game conventions I love in the Southeast, which would make attending more affordable, if we could talk the grandparents into babysitting for a weekend every now and then!

The potential downsides:  heat, humidity, making new friends (although I do know a handful of people there, but not that well), not being near an ocean, having a small-ish airport, not having 24 hour everything at my beck and call.  Although, truth be told, it's fairly rare I need a grocery store at 2 AM, but when I have, I really have.


San Francisco - His job is in tech, so a natural choice.  It's beautiful, cosmopolitan, the weather is aaaaawwwesome!  How can you not love San Francisco filled with all its water and love?  I love this town.

The potential downsides:  It's really expensive to live here, which would make the whole staying-at-home-thing a lot tougher.  Also, no family and only a few friends, so probably no support if we needed it for kid stuffs.


In a distant third...
Atlanta - My mom lives here, so we'd have family support.  He doesn't love the city, but I know TONS of people, so friends would be the easy part.  It's less expensive than LA, but more spread out so more danger of getting pigeon-holed in a weird little suburb somewhere and end up not close to anybody.

The potential downsides:  heat, humidity, traffic, expensive real estate depending on the area we'd want to live in...

And of course, the
Staying in LA option - The weather is pretty awesome, we already have friends (although, they're not too kid-friendly for the most part), we know what we're in for, my rent is crazy reasonable because I'm the on-site manager.  It's only $950/month for a good sized one bedroom in a decent and convenient part of town.  We both have jobs, the beach is nearby, we have the world at the tips of our SPG Amex at LAX.


No decisions have been made, or probably WILL be made for at least a year or two, but just putting all this down as a kind of note to myself.

After having spent the last few days in Dunwoody (suburb of Atlanta) with my mom, it's been so nice to go to Costco and not wait in a HUGE line or sit in traffic while just trying to get in a parking lot.  The less dense population is kind of nice.  I feel like I have room to breathe!

Check out this lack of a line at 4:50 PM on a Tuesday afternoon!

I'll have to update this as more options/thoughts come up as to if or where we'd move, but these are the main options at the moment.

What's the opposite of June gloom?

I just re-read my resolutions for 2012.  So far, I'm doing okay with them, but as always, there is room for improvement.  The savings have been hit by the items below...

June has already shaped up to be quite an awesome month.  Some of it I can't talk about just yet, the other fun stuff that has happened the last month...

First, I finally got a better phone!  An iPhone 4S to be exact.  I love it so far, especially for Siri and the camera.

I also paid off my last student loan.  I'd been toying with the idea of paying it off for a while because I had the money in my savings account, but I felt more secure with having the money in the bank, in case I needed it.  I've been listening to Dave Ramsey lately and a woman, who is in my exact position called in, and he advised her to pay it off and rebuild the savings, so that's my plan.  I have a couple bonuses coming in over the next six months, so I will put those towards my savings account.

I also took a bit of my savings out and invested it in my Vanguard account in a balanced mutual fund.  I figure that it's got to be better than only earning 0.80% in my online savings account, right?  So far, I've lost about $15 over the last few weeks, which isn't too bad given the volatility lately.

I've recently sort of taken up very casual golfing and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.  So far, I've only played maybe a half dozen times, and most of those were at par 3 courses, but I love it.  I have a really old golf set that I got for free off of Craigslist, so I might splurge when I get my first bonus in July and buy a new set.  If nothing else, I really want a newer putter.  I'm going golfing before work tomorrow at 6:30 am, so that's why I thought of mentioning this.

I'm also getting ready to head off to Atlanta for a few days of hanging with my mom and then gaming at the Oasis of Fun!  I missed the Fun last year with my brother coming to LA to stay for a year, but now I'm ready to get my par-tay (and HANABI!) on!!

Life, in general, is going pretty well right now and I'm really happy.  My job is SO busy lately, but not in a terrible way.  Things are going really well with ISTJ as well, so I'm thrilled about that.  It's been almost two years and I'm so happy with how our relationship has progressed.  He's proven to be so awesome in these quiet ways that I just love.  I've realized that integrity is underrated.  I'm not sure if it's just in LA, or just in the 21st century, but it's something I just adore about him.  It's pretty irresistible.  As someone recently remarked, "how can you not love someone who is that secure?"  My point exactly.

New Movies (and TV) for 2012

I'm planning on just consolidating all my movie watching and completed seasons of TV shows of 2012 here...

1. The Apprentice S1 - My boyfriend and I love some reality shows and this is one we can both agree on.  We wanted to go back and watch the beginning to see how it all started and see the infamous Omarosa on her original season.  We were not disappointed!  It definitely had a lot of "first season" qualities (lots of bad audio dubbing, some awkward challenges), but I loved some of the challenges and I liked that it showed the cast out and about, at restaurants, drinking, having fun, not just the competitive stuff.  Also, man, I *really* miss Carolyn Kepcher, who is (by far) my favorite person on the show.  I love her comments, which I always agree COMPLETELY with.  She is not free and easy with the compliments, so if she says something complimentary about someone, she really means it.  I miss her.  *sigh*
2. The Muppets - It's been so long since I saw a Muppet movie/show that I honestly forgot there was going to be singing in it.  BUT, it was fun, nonetheless... The songs were funny (and short), so perfect for my ADD.  We saw it at the Academy Theater in Pasadena too, where procrastination can be rewarded in the form of a movie ticket for $3/each and delicious popcorn for only $3.25. 
3. Terriers - OMG.  With so much bad TV out there, I don't understand how good TV like this gets BURIED by who the hell ever gave this show the stupid name.  From the name, you'd have *no* idea what the show was about - it's a buddy/PI/mystery show.  The main actors are great, the plots are interesting without being toooooo detailed and complicated.  It's just good.  I have no idea what the back-story is on this show and I wonder why it didn't get the fan following that it seems like it should have.  I would highly recommend this!  It's available on instant streaming Netflix, which may be the best invention ev-er.  Well, right after TV on DVD.  THEN, instant streaming... 
4. Morning Glory - Cute movie with Rachel McAdams and Harrison Ford, who is grumpy as can be.  I'm not sure why I like the grumpy ones, but I liked him here.  I love her smile.  And I can't believe I haven't watched a movie since the Muppets, but that may be correct!  Just started Mad Men, S1...
5. Mad Men - I should've updated this sooner because I'm already on season 3.  It's surprising how fast it flies by...  This show is so tragic.  The overwhelming sadness of pretty much all parties involved is strangely compelling.  Everything is beautiful on the outside, but the characters all seem somewhat empty on the inside.  After watching this show, who would ever want to get married?  The men are drunks who cheat because they're trapped in an existence and life they don't seem to want or value, unless it's threatened to be taken from them.  I'm so thankful I wasn't born back then.  The chauvinism  is mind-blowing!  But I love it, even though I don't love all the characters.  It's quite addictive.  Why I never watched the S1 set that was loaned to me years ago, I'll never know, but thank goodness (again) for Netflix streaming!  A lazy woman's friend... Update around 6/1/12: Finished all seasons (1-4) available on Netflix and loving them.  Will probably splurge for the iTunes pass for the current season.
6. The Hunger Games - Read the book right before seeing the movie and loved the book.  The movie was pretty true to the book, so no complaints.  It was exactly what I expected.  
7. Hot Tub Time Machine - Silly comedy filled with lots of 80s and nerdy references (due to the time traveling).  I heart John Cusack, so thought this was pretty cute, although the ending was a little lame, but still okay.
8. Downton Abbey - SOOOOO good!  Love all the historical aspects, even though I have NO idea how accurate they are. We blew through the first season on Netflix in two days.  There are only 7 eps, so it's not too hard, but we totally enjoyed these.  Love the clothing, the different lifestyles.  I want some servants!  "What is a week-end?"  
9. Ted - Went with Mike to the DreamWorks free movie Monday on 7/30/12 and enjoyed the new Seth McFarlane movie, Ted.  If you like Family Guy, you'll love Ted.  not safe for kids. AT ALL.
10. 30 for 30 - Watched the one about how athletes go broke within a year or two of getting out of whatever sport they play.  As someone who is into personal finances as a topic, it's fascinating to see how much these guys spent on crap that didn't have value.  It was sad too to see how people just tried to take advantage of them every step of the way.  From their friends, family, management team, everyone!  Women trying to get knocked up because they think it's a payday.  Fascinating.
11. Moonrise Kingdom - Watched this as a screener with Doreen on 11/8/12.  Loved this movie. It's so sweet and touching in its innocence and capturing how everyone wants to be loved.  Having that steady love can be an amazing thing.
12. To Rome with Love - Also watched this one with Doreen on 11/8/12.  It had an amazing cast and full of love mishaps and adventures. I haven't seen hardly any of Woody Allen's older films, so not sure if they all have a fantastical quality about them.  I saw Midnight in Paris last year and loved that, partly because I love Paris and the film was gorgeous, so I thought I'd like this.  I did.  Rome looks beautiful.  Loved the acting and the little stories. The worst part for me was Woody Allen himself.  I didn't hate him, but I just wanted him to stop talking.  Ugh.  Why does he put himself in all his movies?  
13. This is 40 - Funny, but not nearly as funny as Knocked Up.  Maybe I'm not old enough to really appreciate this movie?