Letter #3

Dear United States Postal Service Mail Carrier,
Please stop stealing my mail. I am OCD and need my grocery store ads every single Tuesday, not just when you feel like it. I also want my economic stimulus check, granola bar samples and Glamour magazine back. Thanks
Emily
P.S. I’m pretty sure mail theft is illegal bee-yotch

Travel "Partner"

Last week I got to go to Las Vegas for work. I was there for less than 24 hours but I still had fun, and even got to stuff myself at a breakfast buffet, which made the trip totally worth the time and pain of Jet Blue. Yum. Here's my travel "partner" Steph gambling my dollar at the airport slots. She is very fun and hilarious and even more hilarious to take on business trips.

Just So You Know

In case anyone was thinking it might be a good idea to try MetroMint Chocolate-Mint flavored water because, hey, it's only a dollar and it could possibly taste like drinking a delicious York Peppermint Patty and it has ZERO calories which is fantastic--DON'T DO IT. It's seriously sickening and doesn't taste anything like chocolate. Just so you know.

Farmer Dustin

People who know me know that I’m a serial killer of plants. I have never, ever been able to keep anything green from turning brown and dying—even if I try really hard to nurture it and read it books and stuff. For example, when Dustin asked me to marry him, he brought over some sort of plant, which I promptly killed. I put one of those clay worm soil-dampness checkers in it, watered it faithfully, literally cried when it withered up and prayed fervently that it wasn’t an omen for the rest of our marriage.

Luckily, our marriage seems to be thriving, but Dustin has decided lately that our apartment is a haven for at least two dozen potted plants, sprouts and seedlings. It’s a little excessive, and more than a little difficult for me to try to stay at least ten feet away from all foliage in order to prevent it dropping dead from my mere presence.

However, it really is darling to see him portend such a nurturing instinct as he transplants zucchinis and lovingly spritzes everything with water and brings everything inside when it gets too windy.

For everyone who doesn’t believe me, here’s Farmer Dustin with his plant jungle on our little teeny-tiny deck. I keep trying to explain to him that we can’t possibly grow all these plants, but he just tells me it’s food storage. :)

Yes, those are milk jugs. We're ghetto.

Letter #2

Dear Nosy-Nelly Pharmacy Technician,
Yes, I agree that my insurance should cover more of my prescription. Yes, I already know that we have a “hecuva” deductible on our plan. What I don’t know is why you happen to think this is an excellent topic of conversation in the middle of Smith’s at the front of a 10 person line. And no, I don’t think that we should get sick more often, or “have a baby to go ahead and meet that deductible.” The prescription I’m picking up already takes care of that, thanks.
Sincerely,
Emily
P.S. Duh

What a Hunk!

Dustin got to go on a business trip this week, which was very exciting for him, and a little lonely for me. He had a good time, and really enjoyed the idea that he only had to endure one three-hour meeting in exchange for two days of sightseeing in Washington D.C. He promised me that he would take a picture of him in his suit, all dressed up for his bureaucratic adventure, and here he is. What a hunk!

It's Magic!

So let's just say I have pretty bad luck with khaki pants. I am on pair number three or four this year because they always seem to garner really unfortunate stains like eyeliner, or newsprint, or stains from stain remover. And last week I thought I'd completely ruined another pair because, for some reason, daisy pollen is REALLY hard to remove.

But I loved these pants, and was unwilling to give them up, even after I'd washed them twice to no avail. So I looked online and found this crazy tip to put items with a pollen stain directly in the sunlight, and magically the stain would be gone. I thought, "Yeah right!" But given my undying love for these pants, I gave it a shot, left them out while I went for run, and guess what?!? An hour later, the stain was totally gone! It's magic!

Everyone should know this, just in case you happen to have a run-in with an overly aggressive lily or something.

Vernal

This is what else happened:

• We visited my sister-in-law, Jessie, at the plant nursery where she works for the summer and got some more plants for the jungle that Dustin is trying to grow in our apartment.


• Dustin slogged around in some huge rubber boots and fixed his mom’s sprinkler system.


• We ate some yogurt that Dustin’s brother Ollie makes from actual live culture bugs that he brought home from his mission in Mexico. It was actually pretty good, and he even put Splenda in it for me to make it “diet”—what a sweetheart!


• Dustin and I kicked ass playing Apples to Apples.


• I got super glue all over my hands. I’m fine now.

Also, this is hilarious! These things are ALL OVER in Vernal. They're just chilling. I mean, why? It's not like you can milk a llama, or like, make a steak out of it...gross.

Oh wait. Maybe it's to make llama-wool coats for everyone when it snows in June for pete's sake.

This is ridiculous

Traveling up to Vernal on Saturday, this is what we encountered. Yes, that’s snow. Yes, it’s June. Clearly Utah has no regard for seasonality and I’m living in the wrong state.

Letter

Dear Moms,
No, this is not like MySpace or Facebook. That is so 2005. Ew.
Blogging is so much more sophisticated. Obviously.
Love,
Emily

Perfect Picture...

This picture from our recent trip to San Diego is the most perfect representation of who we are. There’s me, trying to be the pretty princess. And then there’s Dustin, goofing off with a mouthful of chips. We are quite the pair, aren’t we?

MY FIRST POST!!

So, we’ve finally decided to do it—Dustin and I are starting our very own little blog! I was inspired by (ok, copying) my friends Steph and Rachel who have their own darling blogs, but we decided to begin a family page for many reasons. This is for my family on the East Coast who I miss dearly and don’t see very often. It’s for our moms so they can see all our vacation pics and feel proud of their technologically savvy children. It’s for our friends as a good way to keep connected through all our busy lives. And lastly, it’s for me—so that I have a hobby, a showcase and a record of all the good in my life.

For everyone wondering how we came up with the blog title—we contemplated and joked about and made up all kinds of names. The silly: She Cooks, He Eats, Big Hair and Big Head, Chips and Oatmeal (our favorite foods), the cheesy: Wonderful World of Wallis, and the boring: The Wallis Family. After all that, we finally settled for something plain and only mildly clever. The name of the blog is "Just Dandē,” which stands for our initials, just D and E.

I’m excited to keep you all updated on the happenings in our life, and look forward to hearing from you. So leave a comment or just say hi, and for all those who wonder how we’re doing, the name says it all. We’re fine…and just dandē!