"The Secret Stash"

This reminiscing is dedicated to my little sisters.

When I was younger, probably from ages 12-17, I had a nice bedroom. It was very neat and organized. A place for everything and everything in it's place. That saying makes me smile a lot because it just feels so good, but that is the best description you could possibly give of my bedroom at that age. The main reason my room was like this is that whenever I was in my room late at night, putting off doing homework, I would clean my room or at least a part of it, like organizing the things under my bed, etc. Anyways, it was a tidy room (I'm not actually sure this is actually relevant but it seemed like a good opportunity to explain the setting).

Like most young people who have siblings, I felt I needed a safe place to hide things, such as the little hard-earned money I had. It should be a place where I would not forget about but that no one else would ever find. I needed a secret hiding spot in my room. Not that I was worried about anyone taking anything, but you I just felt the need for privacy and a really great secret spot for stuff.

At some point I discovered that perfect spot and dubbed it "The Secret Stash". It was a hiding place so good, so secretive, that it would never be found. I know this because of the countless times I invited Jessica and Alyna to go through my room searching for it. Oh, how I would taunt them with it! "You'll never find The Secret Stash!" They were seriously curious about it and so I don't recall them ever passing up an opportunity to let them look for it. They looked everywhere! I gave them a clue every few months but after years and years of never knowing where it was, it was decidedly the best hiding place ever.

Mostly I kept money there but there were a few other things, including at one point a humiliating and incriminating list of boys I had had crushes on throughout middle school. Finally one day, I decided I didn't need The Secret Stash anymore. I told my sisters where it was. It was a big reveal for me. It was probably the biggest, best secret I had ever had - and it was great because 1) it was my secret to keep or tell, 2) there were people who wanted to know it, and 3) it didn't really matter whether I told it or not. So of course I kept it bottled up for so long. Even I am impressed with how long I had that secret place. Now the secret was out.

So now you are probably wondering where my secret stash was. Here it is: I had discovered that my radio alarm clock that sat on the vanity didn't really need batteries in it and so I started keeping stuff in the battery compartment. I also had two speakers that had battery compartments and those were also used. It was brilliant! At least it was when it was a secret. Oh well. I don't know why I thought about The Secret Stash, but the other day it just popped into my mind. Ah, nostalgia... Thanks for listening :)

Work and more work

What have we been up to lately?

I have worked. Basically full time every day for the past month. I have had a lot of work to do (yay!) and have managed to keep caught up. Jeran has also worked full time for the past month. He started a class or two and is trying to get some experiments worked out that will help determine what his thesis project will be. That doesn't seem to leave a lot of time for other things.

In most of his spare time for the last month, Jeran has been working on fixing the various things on the car that are stopping it from passing inspection this year. It was actually a really long list! We are really fortunate that we have two cars so we can take such a long time to get the old 1990 Honda back up to par. Jeran replaced a half-shaft, fixed old wiring, replaced bulbs, fixed seat belts, installed new headlight covers, and fashioned a new bumper-securing device. It has been a lot of work. Hopefully today it can pass inspection!

Of course, after a few Saturdays of working on the car, it was determined that we really need an exterior outlet in the front of the house so one day was spent on that. Fortunately, our friend Adam came to help Jeran out. It was a HUGE help to have him here! I got so much done since I wasn't having to pull on wires or install the outlet box, etc. Thanks Adam! It is pretty nice to have the box outside because Jeran uses the compressor and halogen light a lot out by the cars and now the front door doesn't have to be ajar and let the bugs in. Hooray!

I recently cleaned out my drawers and closet and I sure missed having sisters around to help me with that! It is a lot easier to get rid of clothes when there is someone close to you who might want that favorite old shirt than when you put them in a box and drop them off somewhere.

We are debating whether to go to Utah in December. There are many reasons we want to go. Mom and Dad get home from expatriating in Europe, my cousin Mand'y's wedding, Jeran's brother Rylen's mission farewell, snowboarding, general family-ness, Christmas... And there are a few reasons not to go: money, Jeran's work and possibly finals?, and getting someone to take care of our cats. Who knows. You never know what a few months will bring.

Happy September! I can't believe 2009 is already 3/4 over! In the nerdy part of my mind this reminds me that every year that we get closer and closer to overlapping a certain hundred year mark. I know this is a dumb concern, but I have had to think quite a bit about it when working with my work data. Here it is: So you are keeping track of people and their birth dates and some people tracked in the database systems are old, like DOB in the 1920's. Sometime these dates are stored like '04-19-21'. So in ten or so years, issues like this will start making my job a bit harder. When you see this date then, you have to wonder if it is this century or last. People's data isn't removed from these systems just because they die. Anyways, just a small insight into the kinds of thing I spend time thinking about while working. :)

Pictures from Europe

Some of the highlights from our trip to Europe this month can be seen here.

We had the opportunity to see a lot of Europe with some family members. My sister Lisa and her husband, Cameron, my brother Andrew and his wife, Lindsay, my Mom and Dad, and Jeran and myself, all hopped into a van and went on a fast-paced tour of Europe for two weeks.

We flew into Dusseldorf and went to Cologne and Marksburg Castle in Germany. The next day we went to a few sites in The Netherlands, Zaanse Schans and Amsterdam. Then we went to France and saw the sites in Paris for a few days. Then we went to Normandy and then crossed the channel to England via a ferry. We saw things in London and then some things in the country surrounding London. After that, we headed home. Woohoo! It was a great trip. Thanks Mom and Dad!

They finally found him

Jeran got some exciting mail this week.




The evening gown event should be interesting.

Double trouble

Jeran's brother Rylen was here visiting us for the last week. He came out just for a fun visit and to go to a Relient K concert with Jeran.

I came home from Girl's Camp on Wednesday and Rylen flew in late that night. On Thursday, Jeran went to work and Rylen mostly slept and played on the computer. That evening I headed back up to Girl's Camp to help them back up and bring stuff back on Friday morning.

On Friday, I got back from Girl's Camp with all the gear and whatnot and Jeran headed in to work. Rylen and I went around taking the camp equipment back to it's various owners (Thanks for carrying all that stuff, Rylen!) and went to the grocery store. That night we all went to our friend's, the Gladden's, house for pizza, Rock Band, and a movie. It was good fun. Rylen is really good at the guitar so we did better at Rock Band than we usually do. When we got home after that, we ended up playing Warcraft III until about 1 AM. Blagh... Rylen did finally beat Jeran with my pitiful help, or maybe just my lucky charm-ness, since all I did was stay alive.

Saturday we got ready and headed out to the beach. We went to Topsail Island which is just over a 2 hour drive. It was a perfect day, not too hot, but not so cool that the water isn't inviting. We had a good time playing in the waves and finding very small beach wildlife. I wish I had some pictures. Jeran found a tiny hermit crab in his shorts and we also caught some tiny horseshoe crab-looking creatures that were burrowed in the wet send near the water. I wish I had some pictures because it was a nice day. That night we went and played Carcassonne and Liar's Dice at some friends house.

Sunday we went to church and relaxed. I think Rylen got tired of everyone saying things like, "Wow! You look just like Jeran!" or "You two look exactly the same," or "Ooooh. A younger, smaller Jeran!" But it was true, especially since Rylen wore some of Jeran's clothes to church.

Monday we mostly just hung out and played games and talked while Jeran was at work. That night we went to a Durham Bulls baseball game. This reminded me that baseball is very boring and slow and that baseball games are only fun because of the people you go with and a little bit of the environment. We went with two other couples and had a good time talking, eating cotton candy and (for some people) hot dogs, and watching the fireworks afterwards. The Bulls won also, which is always good.

On Tuesday, Jeran came home early so that they could fit in some more Warcraft games. That night they went to the Relient K concert, which was apparently awesome. Besides that they got separated from each other right from the beginning and didn't find each other again until it was over, they had a great time. Here's a video Jeran took of Who I Am Hates Who I've Been if you want to sample their music:

Hooray! Thanks for coming to visit us Rylen! It was a lot of fun!

Girl's Camp!

Last week I went to Girl's Camp with the Young Women in our ward since I am a YW advisor. The camp is located about an hour north. The youth leaders and I left Monday and drove through really really downpouring rain, which was an ominous beginning. We set up our tents in a slight drizzle but that evening was really nice. Early the next morning at about 4:00 am I was lying awake in my tent, having been awakened by rain or thunder or a rock under me or something, and I hear someone yell, "Sister Stratford!!!" I clamber out of my tent and find that the girl's tent has halfway fallen in on them. Two of the stakes had slipped out of the ground so I fixed it. I finally managed to go back to sleep at about 6 am, just in time to wake every one up in the downpour at 7 am to go to their meeting.

Anyways, it rainned every night except for the last one but each afternoon it was fairly dry so it wasn't completely miserable. I did get to come home Wenesday afternoon and go back up Thursday evening, which was soooo nice. I got to take a warm shower, sleep in a soft bed without worrying about rain, flooding tents, or walking people to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

It was all in all a good time and it was fun to get to know the girls better. Hooray, Girl's Camp!

Bethany visits us in NC

I am way behind in my blogging! Here is a recap of my friend Bethany's visit near the beginnning of June:

The first day we went to Raleigh to go to the Museum of Natural Science. They had an exhibit on the history of Chocolate that was very interesting. The rest of the museum was pretty good too. It was a little bit weird because some of the exhibits were live animals, some were fake, and some you couldn't tell whether they were alive or plastic for a very long time.

We also went to the Free Expression Tunnel at NC State. This is a tunnel where grafitti is permitted and free speech is encouraged. When we went there in the middle of the day, there was a group of kids from the YMCA having a spray-painting activity there, which I found kind of strange.

The next day we went driving through the pouring rain to go see some of the largest pieces of furniture ever. In Jamestown, NC there is a very large highboy chest of drawers that is many stories high.

There is another very large chest of drawers in nearby High Point, NC. We had a bit harder time finding this one, but eventually succeeded.

We also went to nearby Thomasville, NC - home of Thomasville Furniture - to see the largest Duncan Phyfe chair.

The next day we went to the temple. It was very lovely, inside and out.

That day we also went to Pixar's UP in 3D. It was a good movie, but seeing it in 3D is not worth any extra money. It doesn't add too much, but the movie was very entertaining anyways. That day we also went to a few fun places around Durham. We went to Locopops, which is an organic popsicle shop that has many fun and unique flavors, including many that combine distinctly mexican flavors with other flavors - like Lime Chili, Tamarind Lemonade, Cherry hibiscus, etc. I had Tangerine Pomegranite, which was very different, and Bethany had Chocolate Brownie. We also went to a Panaderia and got pan dulces which were delicious.

On Monday we went to the coast. We went down to Kure Beach and went to the Aquarium there.

We went to the beach at the state park and had a good time. The water is so warm and pleasant, minus the icky-bicky saltiness that always lingers all over you. We didn't get too sunburned, only a little bit here and there.

The last day, Bethany and I went to Duke Gardens. It was very pretty, as always. Then Bethany flew home again! Bye Beth! Thanks for visiting!