Christmas Greetings

found here:

http://bradfordandcatherine.blogspot.com/

It's official, we now have a couples blog. We'll do our best to keep it real. Happy Holidays.

California Christmas

Photo by Daniel Sofer

What a great picture. I vaguely miss winter snow, but not nearly as much as I love ocean sunsets. Brad and I are getting settled in our El Segundo bungalow, one box at a time. The question is whether or not we'll be able to fit a Christmas tree.

Happy holidays to you all.

We're Married!!!

Apologies for the radio silence, I've just been enjoying some of the most wonderful moments of my life.

Somebody at work today asked me if I feel different after being married. I thought for a second and responded, "I feel lucky."

For a link to pictures from our fabulous photographer, Jason West, click here.

Getting Ready to Take The Plunge

I just can't wait.

(In this picture, I'm the little head sticking out from behind Bradford's left shoulder.)

CHI-City

Oh, to be a tourist...

Good times to be had in CHI-city! It was oddly nice to have a reason to wear a hat and leggings again. I created a playlist, started walking, and saw Chicago... Magnificent Mile, Tribune Building, Millennium Park, Bean statue, Art Institute lobby, Giordano's, a little shopping, Gibson's steakhouse, and a great view of Navy Pier from my hotel.

One day is not enough time to spend in Chicago, especially when the sun starts fading at 4:30PM. One day, however, is enough time to make a judgment that CHI-town's a pretty fun city!

A really quick review of Gibson's... a crowded, classic Chicago steakhouse with huge portions, loud people, a piano player in the lobby, and a take on Hula Pie that's about four times the size of Duke's version. Oh, and realllyyy good lobster.

Below are a few too many photos...

Posing with Mr. and Mrs. American Gothic on Michigan Ave.

A river runs through it. I would love to take the River boat Architecture tour someday--this was another disadvantage of my visiting the city post-daylight savings time switch. Last boat leaves at 2PM!

The "bean" statue! This looks so odd from far away, but it creates the coolest images of the Chicago city skyline.

This one's my favorite. I look like I'm in a bubble.

Fall colors in Millennium Park

Shopping on Michigan Ave. (aka the Maaaagnificent Miiile!!!) Does anyone else think of Oprah every time they here this??

And....I'm getting married in 12 days!! I'm a weeeeeeeee bit excited.

Greetings from...

...Chicago!

I'm here for a last-minute trip and I've never been here before.

Does anyone have recommendations of what to do or see?? Please share.

Thanks.

"The Reckoning" Book Trailer

My aunt has posted a trailer of her award-winning novel, "The Reckoning" on Youtube. Watch it here, and then buy the book on Amazon or Kindle. The Reckoning is a page-turning, intelligently-written story that brings the obscurity of the Arab world in to a light that any caring or adventurous American can relate to. In my opinion, the best way to develop an interest and basic understanding of hard-to-understand topics is through non-fiction books.

Two Words: Cat Fight

Actually, this is more of a cat beating. A very emotional (and losing) New Mexico Lobo soccer player decided to take out her anger on the entire BYU women's soccer team during yesterday's semifinal match of the MWC tournament. I'm not sure how the refs missed every single instance of Elizabeth Lambert's rough play. BYU, of course, won the game despite sucker punching, slapping, and the hardest hair pull I've ever seen in women's sports.

Witch's Ball

Speaking of amazing women, here are some pictures from the Halloween bridal shower that was thrown for me last night. Yes, we're all in witches hats.

How lucky I am to have so many great female role models in my life. My grandmother, mother, aunts, cousins, future mother-in-law, friends' mothers, and mother's friends -- ALL are amazing women and I am blessed to have them in my life.

Thanks to Sue Paullin, for hosting this fabulous party!
What a fun night.

Terry and Kathleen made a fabulous ribbon bouquet for me.

Aunt Dani, Cheryl, Sue & Diana (aka Lovey Lovey)

Jeffree, Sue, Chris, Barbara, Cathy, Judy

The future and current Mrs. Fishbacks

Cousins: Lindsay, me & Katie

I'm thinking of wearing this hat on the big day. Yay or Nay?

Lovely.

Thanks, Amy, for this picture!

Bryn got married last weekend (see beautiful pictures here), which means I got to see a lot of wonderful friends, some of whom I haven't seen in over a year. I was talking to Rae Rae at the reception about friendship and life (we're very deep thinkers). I said, "friends just aren't the same after college." Her absolute and amazing inability to hide her emotions (a character trait that I LOVE) caused her face to look a little sad, and she replied with a sincere, "I'm still your friend." I looked at her with a half-frown and said, "No, I mean, you just don't make new friends the way you did in college." She looked relieved and said, "Ohhhh."

Thank goodness for the amazing women in my life.

Birthday Boy

This is a bit late, but Brad's birthday was on Oct. 23. We celebrated with mango cheesecake and birthday presents wrapped in a Macy's cardboard shipping box. He thinks it's cool that his birthday is on 10/23, our wedding is on 11/24, and then Christmas is on 12/25. See a pattern?

Must be good luck.

A Bike City

photo via

I heard about this system on NPR a couple weeks ago.  A public bike system.  Several European cities, including Paris, Barcelona, Helsinki and Copenhagen, have taken to the trend of renting public bikes to commuters for a small fee.  What a great way to decrease traffic, increase exercise and experience a city!  This picture of riders using the Vélib' system in Paris makes public biking look glamorous.  (Paris would make the classiest looking bikes in the system, right?)  Montreal and Washington D.C. are some of the first North American cities to try it out.

I would love to have this in LA.  

Or, maybe I would just love to live in Paris.

Here they are...

Steven Wood kind of just fell from the sky. And, really, that's not too far from the truth. After a weekend trip to Utah, my Dad sent me a text telling me he had sat next to a fashion photographer on the plane. Long story short, a week later, Bradford and I found ourselves "fake-conversing" in gorgeous Palos Verdes locations while Steven shot over 2,000 images of us. We managed to find a couple good ones.

Steven actually just posted several in an album on facebook. Click here to see them. Below are more of my favorites. Steven might not be happy about all of these being posted because they're not all edited, but I think they look fabulous.

The future Fishbacks!

42 days to go!

Substance.

Pardon the late night post. When I don't have specific plans the next day, I stay up, irresponsibly. But the wheels in my head turn. Creative juices flow a little stronger. And I love these moments.

Recent blog-surfing led me to stumble upon this picture, and the image illustrates a goal I've been striving for lately: Living a life of substance and value.

Bear with me while I share an unlikely analogy.

A few months ago while shopping for new shoes, I noticed that I am drawn to specific details on clothing and shoes. I prefer braiding, lace, rouching, and other handwork. All of these are processes that, to begin with, don't require fancy materials. The raw materials can be (and usually are) very simple. What makes these pieces valuable are the time, effort, and handiwork that goes into making them. Something which, at the base, is so, so simple, can be transformed into an immaculate work of beauty. Money is not required, just time, effort, hard work, and perhaps, a little love.

I used to live in a world where buying a cute new t-shirt meant "today was a good day." Eating out made me feel validated, and spending money, even if it meant purchasing something as meaningless as a key chain, somehow made me feel good. Well, the truth is, those things usually made me feel good for about a day. And then, after that day, all I typically felt was a hole in my pocket.

Over the past year or two, I've realized something incredibly obvious. Life is more than today. To have "a good day." That's nice. But what about having a good year, a good decade, dare, I say, a good life?? Isn't that better? I had no idea how much my quest for everyday happiness was inhibiting the much more meaningful goal of life satisfaction.

Shifting focus from instant happiness to life satisfaction has already helped me to live out some of my dreams, and I feel very confident that several more have yet to be fulfilled.

So, here's to living a life of substance and fulfilling big dreams, no matter what the daily sacrifice may be.

Sneak Peek

of our engagement pictures. They are beautiful and fabulous, thanks to the wonderful Steven Wood. More to come.

Space Cowboy

This is gnarly and it's trippin' me out.  In a good way.  With so many faux, re-touched images out there, it's hard to believe, but this photo is not photoshopped.  This astronaut, Bruce McCandless II (wonder if there's any relation to Christopher) of the space shuttle Challenger, is floating in space, farther than anyone has ever been before.  Click here to learn more. 

Signs of the Times

Online advertising has officially surpassed TV advertising in terms of sales. 

By the end of the year, there will be more Subway stores in the world than McDonald's.

Will this knitted lego minifig be the new teddy bear?

Gold Spandex and Ghetto Fabulous

Has anyone else seen this? Leslie Hall is an Iowa native, living with her parents, whose main goal in life is to never have a desk job. I guess that leaves time to pursue other passions, like being a garage-band rapper. And rap-it-up she did. This girl has style, 'tude, and most importantly, beats. You've got to listen to her. Ready, go!

A Moral Issue

When something is important to me, I find it difficult to express my feelings publicly. I'm concerned they will be misinterpreted or even worse, ignored.

But I've held out for too long on the moral issue of our times, also known as the United States healthcare debate.


I loathe those two words because there are so many unclear, confusing messages associated with them.

Instead, I’m going to refer to the control of people’s life expectancy and well-being through medicinal practices as a moral issue.

This is the moral issue of our times.

First, two simple facts:

1. The United States spends $4,631.00 per capita on health care. That’s #1 in the world.
2. The average life expectancy of an American at birth is 78.11. That’s #50 in the world.

#1 in spending. #50 in life expectancy. For a country I believe to be very efficient in other areas, This. Does. Not. Make. Sense.

Simple facts such as this make me curious, and I don't understand why others aren't more intrigued. I've been shocked in the last few months by ignorance and un-Christianlike attitudes that I've witnessed in several fellow Americans. People (rightfully so) gripe about making their insurance payments, but when asked about the best way to help others, the response too often seems to be an “every-man-for-himself” type of answer.

This is where the morality of the issue comes in. Every man has the right to life, but the current United States healthcare system (a profit-driven industry) prevents that.

I urge all of my friends and family who are unsure where they stand on this moral issue to search, ponder, and pray about a change in American healthcare. Do so without fearing change. Instead, do so with the aim of helping others.

After some brief travel abroad over a year ago, I’ve had the opportunity to observe American culture through a foreigner’s lenses (some call it reverse culture shock), and what I’ve seen is an attitude that Americans tend to ignore reality when it is “just too sad.” Joseph Smith, the first Latter-day Saint prophet said, “We cannot be saved until we have risen above all our enemies, not the least of which is ignorance.”

Please rise above ignorance and do what you can to help others.

The following story brings a visual element to the issue, which is hard to find in the mass of misinformed speeches and text flooding our news sites and televisions. Click here, scroll to 1:10:17, and watch a 2-minute story.

This. Should. Not. Happen.

People are dying prematurely in our country, and it doesn't need to happen. Our country was not founded to survive without work. Work is required to fulfill the promises of the Constitution, including the promise of life.

I urge you to keep the debate going. Stay or get informed. Pay attention to facts and don’t be swayed by opinions.

Write your congressperson. Write something on your blog, or facebook page, or twitter page. Make a comment at the dinner table. Do something.

So Long, Sweet Summer

You've been good to me.