One suspicious receipt

In my cleaning up the house since I've been home, I made a funny discovery -- a certain Target receipt on a certain April 17th, the day I flew home from France. Somebody did some last minute cleaning before my late-night flight landed at Sky Harbor. That's my man. :) 

9 years and a day

Nine years and five days ago, Tyler asked me if I would be his girlfriend and I told him no -- that I would not start dating him yet because I didn't want to be distracted during finals week. Luckily he wasn't deterred by what a mega-nerd I was.

circa 2003

Thanks for always humoring me, babe. 

Home Sweet Home

Three weeks home and I'm just now posting about it! It's been a busy three weeks (with the photos to show for it) with dentist/doctor appointments, interviews, wedding planning, seeing family and friends, visiting my favorite places, and going back to work. I miss France a lot already but I feel a kind of relief being home, with the bite of my first bagel, my first drive, the first hugs. Who ever knew kissing people on the cheek could feel so much less personal than a hug?

At the airport

The Proposal Story -- Mahna-mahna

The day after Christmas, Tyler and I went to see the new Muppet movie with my family. I loved it so much. It was funny and sweet and had the same old silly humor as always. One of the main jokes of the movie was that Amy Adams and Jason Segel had been a couple for ten years and still weren't married or engaged. I'd say sorry for spoiling the movie, but it shouldn't come as any surprise that at the end of the film, he finally pops the question. And what is her response?

"Mahna mahna." After Tyler proposed to me four days later, he said, "Well, I'm glad you didn't say mahna-mahna." I laughed out loud. I should have said it.

After twenty days, I finally sat down to write a detailed account of how Tyler proposed. It's lengthy with probably too many details, so skip to the last few paragraphs if you get bored. Here is the story for those of you who are curious...

Home for the Holidays: A Ragtag Round-up

I have attempted to start this post about ten times and am always feeling too lazy to write. I try to journal about events before blogging about them so that I don't waste my storytelling -- not that writing on the blog is a waste, but I tend to not write about events if I've already typed them. Recopying/handwriting in my journal a post that took me 1/4 of the time to type... it's just no bueno. Trust me. I've done it before.

I promise I'll give better explanations later, but here is a ragtag round-up of photos from my past month.

Childhood Christmas books

Tyler & me

The Greatest Event of 2011

I have so much catching up to do on this blog. On Friday morning before I got on my plane back to France, I was marveling at how fast my weeks back in Arizona went by when one of my friends said, "Because they were so eventful!" So true.

I would love to write all about it chronologically, but I'm having a hard time thinking about anything but the events since December 30th, the day Tyler proposed. That's right, folks. After more than eight years of courtship, our engagement is finally official!

For now I have more unpacking to do and planning for my classes next week, but details will be here soon.

Happy 2012!

Un rendez-vous

I enjoyed my low-key Saturday chatting with everyone on Skype and GChat.

It's not quite the same as a regular girls' night, family night, or date night, but I suppose it will do for now.

Une liste

Two things I'm looking forward to having en France..

Le pain au chocolat. This is my absolute favorite pastry (the ones on the right, not the croissants) and I can never find one in the US that ever comes close to what I had in Lyon.

 

Money sized according to worth.

One thing I'm not looking forward to -- not being able to see this guy every day.

I am most definitely not looking forward to being long-distance with Tyler again. 

5750.790 miles is awfully far apart. 

All images courtesy of weheartit

Rebecca Black, The Beatles, Tyler, and Youtube

First of all, I've been waiting all week to post this:

These lyrics are eerily similar -- coincidence? I think yes. But it still amuses me.

Second of all, "you know what today is?" Tyler's birthday!

This is one of my favorite pictures of him as a little kid (besides the one of him on the floor as a baby when the camera angle caused him to ask his parents years later why they trapped him in a hole). It was taken in Rocky Point and the photo timing couldn't be any better.

In honor of Tyler, here is a silly youtube video.

Have a great day, babe!

Disney and Dali

After showing Tyler my new favorite tumblr, we started doing a little googling to try and figure out why Walt Disney and Salvador Dali were hanging out and being awesome together. Dali is one of our favorite artists and we were delighted to discover that these men were collaborating and creating a short film.

According to the sources we read (thank you, wikipedia), the story boarding had been mostly completed but the project got dropped after eight months due to some financial concerns. When Disney started working on Fantasia 2000, they decided to finish what had been started. The short "Destino" is apparently on special editions of Fantasia 2000, but you can also watch it on youtube!

Again, according to what we read, it is a love story between the mythological character of Chronos (personification of time) and a mortal woman. (Chronos is apparently quite different from Cronus.) It is a pleasure to watch and Dora Luz's voice is enchanting.

I can't believe that it has been three years since our visit to the Salvador Dali museum in Figueres, Spain.

Like the book says, "Everyone should consider the museum as a work of art in itself." It was an incredible place that I would love to visit again someday.

Sadly, Tyler's book about the museum got lost somewhere between the train ride back to Zaragoza and the plane ride back to Arizona. :(

The girl who read to the boy about the boy who lived.

Tonight, Tyler and I started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone together. I was ecstatic that he actually suggested it, and it wasn't until the second chapter that we realized that I was even wearing my Harry Potter pajama shirt -- I am a serious nerd.

Pictures that cheer me up.

Well, that was random.

Cue Star Wars theme...

Does your boyfriend shave with a lightsaber?

Yeah, I didn't think so...

What is it with us and Star Wars all of a sudden?

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Happy Birthday Tyler!
I made these cupcakes today for the birthday boy since they're his favorite cartoon character.
Great success. :) Love you babe.

My Favorite Valentine

Happy Valetine's Day!

kate spade valentines - randi brookman harris & evan sklar

Happy Mother's Day!

I made this video for my mom tonight. I heard this song today and it just fits so well with how I feel about my mom. :) Hope you love it, Mama!

Happy Mother's Day! from Katrina Anderson on Vimeo.

Love

Today we celebrated Arlene's life and legacy of family and love. It was a beautiful ceremony and we got to spend a lot of important time with family.

Tonight I'm heading to Berkeley for Valentine's Day weekend to keep spending time with one very special person that I consider my family.

Also, this is inspiring work.

We love you, Arlene.

I'm finding that I can't express myself as well as I wish I could right now. My Aunt Arlene died very early this morning. My mom wrote a beautiful post for her.

New Laptop Heaven

I bought a laptop yesterday at Costco and oh my goodness do I love my webcam.

I talked with Tyler for at least two hours on it & I was in heaven.

I decided to not be mad that I spent the last four and a half years attempting to keep a long distance relationship going without this wonderful magnificent technology. I probably would never have gotten anything done. :) Now, I am perfectly happy to embrace this live chat awesomeness.

It's just crazy.

We spent half the time just staring at each other

and marveling at all the funny special effects you can make.

It was so fun.

Anyway, I went through our other computers around the house to upload all of my pictures, music, videos, documents and everything onto my new beautiful laptop and I ran across a gem that I would like to share. It's from Tyler's trip to Japan two summers ago where a bunch of guys started dancing to these guys playing music in mall or subway station - whatever that place is. Just one of those places that you wish you could go to while you're daydreaming in class.

I'm really excited about all of my classes this semester - especially all of the reading for French literature and African American Literature. Also, I'm really looking forward to my education classes so that I can really learn about what I'm going to be doing every day in the classroom. I can't wait to get started.