Looking Back on January

Here are some highlights from last month that I want to remember.

January started out strong with me getting yet another cold. Boo! Thankfully, Jonathan is very sweet and takes good care of me. We recently watched You've Got Mail and so I requested that he bring home flowers. Since I can be really picky when it comes to flowers, he sent a picture so I could pick out which ones I wanted.

He got me the cute little purply pink ones.

Jonathan also kept me well stocked up on soup. FYI the Campbell's homemade chicken noodle tastes way better than their normal chicken noodle.

By the following week, I finally started feeling better so we went to the temple. We keep going to the Houston Temple even though we should be going to the San Antonio Temple. It's because we aren't good at planning ahead of time. The San Antonio Temple is a smaller temple like the Sacramento Temple, but they like to have you call ahead and schedule which session you are going to attend. It's a bit too far for us to get down there on a week night thanks to traffic, so we go on Saturdays. We usually don't call the temple until Saturday morning and all the session are already filled. We then go to the Houston Temple because it is a larger temple and it's a first come first served style when it comes to doing various ordinances. Eventually, we will get on the ball with planning ahead and actually attend the temple we are assigned to.

Anyways, it was a lovely drive since there's been plenty of rain so the Texas countryside is green. I love being in the temple. It brings so much peace into my life and helps me get refocused on what truly matters.

Jonathan broke in his new suit that he got for his brother's wedding.
Part of me wishes he would get rid of the rest of his clothes and wear suits every day.

The following night was a super blood wolf moon. No, I did not make that up nor did a small child. It's called that because there were a number of different things happening that night. It was a super moon because it was at it's closet point in it's orbit around the earth. It was a blood moon because it was a total lunar eclipse. It was a wolf moon because it was the first full moon of the new year. Jonathan and I got out our trusty camera and took some pictures of it. It was really cool to watch the moon seemingly change right in front of our eyes.

If you look hard you can see a tiny sliver of the moon.
This picture was taken at the same exposure as the previous picture.

Then we changed the exposure and that's when you can start seeing the blood red color.
A small part of the moon is still in the sunlight.

A few minutes later, it was completely in the shadow of the Earth.

 Apparently Monday was feeling jealous of all the cool stuff we did the previous days and so it threw a curve ball at us. As we were getting ready for bed and discussing our plans for tomorrow, we heard a weird noise. We stopped talking because it sounded like there was water but not how it usually sounds. Jonathan investigated and saw water coming down the wall by our laundry area.

 Thankfully, I had just done a load of towels, but hadn't put them away yet. We pulled out the towels and grabbed a cup to catch what water was dripping in the doorway. Jonathan called the maintenance team while he headed upstairs to tell our neighbor. He knocked on the neighbor's door and as Jonathan heard him walking to answer it he heard splashing and the neighbor say, "Oh crap!" Apparently, didn't realize his washing machine was flooding his apartment.

  

There was a rather large puddle forming next to our washing machine and the only way to get to it without getting wet involved climbing on top of it.

Within 10 minutes, our maintenance guy was on the scene seeing all that happened. He said that his crew would be ready tomorrow to take care of fixing the damage.

This is how the wall looked after the water stopped.

The next morning, they came out and fixed the wall up in less than an hour. I was doing my morning scripture study during the same time and they finished up way before I was done.

It was only 13 hours before that the water initially was dripping down the wall and now it was wet with a fresh coat of paint. It times like these that I have no problem being a renter.

Later that same day, I had my first day of school. I'm starting to zero in on what I want to study thanks to some solid advice I got from my grandpa back in December. I'm still not ready to declare anything, but I am feeling more confident and like I am nearing the right path for me.

It was a grey day, but it was a very good day for me!

 That weekend, I walked down to my friend Liza's apartment to take pictures of her and her cat for her Valentine's cards. It has become a really fun tradition that I enjoy. Her cat was in no mood for pictures and that just made it even funnier.

The month wasn't complete without Jonathan also getting a cold and then him kindly sharing it with me. Jonathan tried to convince me to stay home from school, but we were going to be flying to California during my next class so I went anyway. 

On the last day of January, we flew out to California for Thomas and Morghan's wedding. While we were walking through the Austin airport, I spotted an ad with Stoffel Vandoorne's McLaren. Yes, I recognized immediatley that it was Stoffel and not his teammate. Yes, I love Formula 1. And yes, I can't wait for the new season starting in March.

I love how that orange car looks!

A few hours later, we were in California and eating at Chevy's.

January was a really good month with some good changes and too many colds.