How the Economy Affected the Quongs

So the economy stinks. It's been spiraling downhill for awhile and things are pretty bad. But really the only effect on us was that I lost some money in my 401K. Nothing huge. Obviously there are a lot of people out there suffering much more than we are. I didn't really feel like we'd really been affected. Until this.
Tyler's restaurant, La Vigna, closed. Without warning. Not even kidding, we found out on facebook. After the shift one Saturday night they said, "That's it. We're closing our doors". And that was it! No one had preparation or warning or time to look for another job. Not even the general manager knew it was coming. The owner just shut up shop.
We knew that La Vigna was having a hard time making it and they were struggling. They'd made as many cut backs as they could, but we didn't think they'd close for at least another few months. They'd been barely hanging on for awhile. BUT STILL. La Vigna just closed. Done, gone, no warning, and they didn't even call their employees to tell them. I'm just glad we found out before Tyler drove over to work his Monday night shift.
Thank goodness I have a good job and we'll be alright. But what craziness. Tyler is currently job hunting so if you hear of any awesome design jobs, let us know!

One solution to the problem....

Well, you could just cut it all off.

Kyle & Janet

Our friends Kyle & Janet came to visit us in Utah and try out snowboarding. They were here for a weekend trip and stayed with us. We had a fun time--introduced them to BYU's campus, went out to eat to the best Mexican place we know (Maria Bonita's!), went boarding at The Canyons, then went hot tubbing to recover from snowboarding, got a flat tire (not the highlight of the trip), showed them the scenerey of Utah's mountains, and had a good time just hanging out.

Kyle & Janet on the lift up from the parking lot.

Tyler & Dominique on the lift.

Tyler just chilling.

Dominique taking a picture of herself so she can be included. (I'm always the photographer so there's pictures of everyone else but not me....so I had to take one! ;)

That's Kyle with the blue board! I was right under him!
That's him in real life.

Janet making her way down the mountain.

Tyler twirling his gloves for me.

Kyle showing off his moves.

Tyler on his board. There's a lot of pics of us sitting down because that's when I'd pull out my camera.

What an awesome day on the mountain!

So I'm a dork....

I read on a friend of a friend's blog about changing the date of when your post is posted....and I thought it was GREAT! Because usually I have one chunk of time--not two or three--to update my blog. So I thought I would write TWO posts and then they would post at different times and it would look like I took care of my blog.
Well, it backfired.
Because I started writing another post yesterday and finished today just shortly before my other post was scheduled to post. And I forgot, and then the old/new posted, and then I tried to change it which is why the old/new post now says Friday. So I still have two posts on the same day, even though the dates say they are different.
Sheesh.

A Hair Lament

Some women would say I have the best of both worlds. I have naturally curly hair which straightens easily so I can go both ways. And although most days I like my hair and like that I can be curly or straight, some days I just want to yank it all out! Or at least subconsciously pass on a message for everyone to not look at it. Thus my hair lament.

Complaint #1: When I do my hair curly, sometimes it's FRIZZY. I don't get it. I've tried nearly every product available down the shampoo aisle at Wal-Mart--both gel AND mousse--and still have not been completely satisfied. And I'm too cheap to buy expensive stuff because I go through it too quickly. SOMEdays my hair turns out fine; other days I do the exact same thing with the exact same stuff and I get frizz-mania. Grumble, grumble, it makes me crazy. Here is a picture of my frizz ball from the other day. And hence the hat to try and hide some of it. (But notice I still smiled for the picture ;)

Complaint #2: Sometimes my curls are curly. Sometimes they are not. "That makes no sense!" you say. "I know," I sadly respond. Please, when my hair is curly, never look at the ones on the bottom right behind my neck. 99% of the time they are straight with maybe a little wiggle in them. I can't even classify it as a "curl". See picture below as an example. I do have the wind affect going on, but yeah. That hair is hardly curly!

Complaint #3: My hair wants to part down the very center of my head from forehead to crown. It is the bain of my morning routine. I blowdry, round brush, tease, rat, hairspray to no avail. Oh sure, my part will stay hidden....for a few hours at most. And then it reappears to my utmost dismay. It's aggravating. All I am asking for is no part on the back 1/3 of my head--that's it! Some people refer to it as "Utah hair", my sister Alicia calls it an "eggbert"(haha, she's funny), and I don't really have a name for it, but I love this picture of my hair because it did what I wanted it to do! I like a little volume back there!

And this is a good example of a bad example. It's good because you're looking down on me, so you can see where I parted my hair (the crooked part up front) and where my hair decided to part (the straight part on the crown). Stinkin hair....So I invite you to share the woes of your hair care routine, or assure me that you still like me despite my hair. ;) Or if you have curly hair and can recommend something good, let me know! I want less frizz and more crisp curls! Any beauty recommendations are invited!

One Cool Project

This all occurred over the span of several months, and was actually completed in December, but I didn't have pictures for awhile and now I do so I wanted to share Tyler's cool project!

There is a Hawaiian restaurant in Provo (across the street from DI) called Sweet's. Tyler worked with them and was asked if he knew anyone who could paint a mural. Tyler is very artistic and decided to give it a shot. He started one very big project! It took a lot of time, and a lot of paint, but he is now a muralist! I helped too, but just painting the big open spots that were all the same color. ;) To get the full effect, go to Sweet's and check it out!

In the process.....Complete!

All You Need is LOVE ♥

The Quongs celebrate Valentines Day on February 11th. This became tradition for two reasons. 1) Tyler and I have worked in restaurants for who knows how long....and the big money night is Valentines. You can't NOT work. So we work for all the regular people who are celebrating on the 14th. And 2) Tyler proposed to me on February 11, 2006! That's the much better reason to celebrate on that day. Ironically enough, we got married on August 11, 2006--exactly six months later. So we celebrated 2 1/2 years of love, sweet love!

The Engagement Story:

Tyler and I had been dating for awhile and we were planning on getting married. I had picked out a ring and was anticipating a proposal. Tyler surprised me with my Valentines present by taking me to get my nails done (having my nails done makes me feel so glamorous. Someday, when we're rich, my nails will always look good!). We had planned a double date with my sister and Tyler's friend for that night, but Tyler's friend called last minute and cancelled. We tried to find a substitute date, but no one could go so we decided to just go solo. (ahem, little did I know at the time that this was all part of the plan) We made plans to go up the canyon, packed blankets and pillows in the back of Ty's jeep, rented a movie, and borrowed a laptop. We parked right by Bridal Veil Falls and got all set to watch the movie. A preview comes on with the story of a princess and I thought, "I would love to see this show!" but suddenly there is a picture of me in my Halloween costume when I was little dressed as a princess. The preview goes on about how she's looking for her handsome prince--or cowboy! And there's a picture of Tyler when he's a little baby dressed as a cowboy. I'll spare you all the details, but it was a conglomeration of pictures of the two of us made into a movie preview that ended with a picture of the Timpanogos Temple and "Coming August 11, 2006". I, of course, was crying because it was SO sweet! But I had no idea that he was going to propose until he got on his knee, pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him. I could hardly answer I was crying so much but of course I said yes! And I'm so happy I did. ☺

February 11, 2009:

To celebrate Valentines this year, we treated ourselves to dinner at Mimi's Cafe. After we took it easy at home and just had a nice evening. Nothing big, but it was just nice to be together and be in love. It's wonderful being with the person you care about the most.

February 14, 2009:

Tyler had to work (of course) so he headed to La Vigna, and my friend Chantelle and I went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. It was cute! We had a fun night while Tyler made some dough. Tyler and I ended the night by preparing talks for Sacrament meeting on Eternal Marriage. haha, irony that we spoke on that the day after Valentines? Nope, not at all. Definitely planned.

I'm so glad to be married to Tyler and especially to be married for eternity. I think that's the greatest blessing we can receive. Not to get all mushy on you, but I just love that man! I couldn't have dreamt anything better. ♥