Life and Times of Brad Owens
Jenny
Things I Love: How I Met Your Mother
Nov 8th
How I Met Your Mother is really something special. It’s a show where all the writers, actors, and production team seem to really like the characters, and do their best to keep the show as grounded in reality and in these five people as possible. More >
How We Handled Holiday Travel, 2009
Nov 5th
It’s important to us that we balance both of our families. It’s difficult, because my family is in Ohio while Brad’s is an hour away. It’s also complicated because we both want to be with our own families at Christmas, while not wanting to be apart.
The solution we came up with is not ideal, but it will work. More >
Girly Halloween
Oct 31st
In this video I talk about my problems with finding a Halloween costume I like. Halloween for many girls is an opportunity to strip down. What do you do if you’re not a “mostly naked in public” kind of girl? More >
The Engagement
Jul 25th
Yes, it is true. In case you haven’t heard, Jenny and I got engaged last night.
I know, wow.
I’ll tell you how I did it and then you can watch the video and hear her reaction.
Jenny and I have had a running joke. She thinks engagement rings are way too expensive and instead she would like a simple twist tie to wear. A few weeks ago I discovered that they make shiny twist ties. Just this past weekend I ordered a few of them (2,000 to be exact) and decided that I’d use them in my proposal. I designed the ring the only time I could get away from Jenny in the beginning of July but it was ready to be picked up while I was in Ohio. My parents came to the rescue and picked it up for me and then Tim was nice enough to come “play with the puppy” (bring me the ring) Thursday.
I decided to take the ring along with me last night thinking that if the moment felt right and a few of our friends were around, I’d do it, but if not, I’d wait till sometime during the week. I went over to Jenny’s house and met her for dinner but before we left, I gave her one of the twist ties. She immediately started joking with me about it and playfully put it on her finger to which I replied “take that off, it’s creepy”. That didn’t sit well with her so I started the night out greeeeaaat.
We went out to a normal dinner at Boylan and then walked around the UVA Lawn a bit before heading downtown. Once we got there, I decided to give her another twist tie. She didn’t like this either. Her reply was “OK, I get it. We aren’t engaged. This is cute and all, but stop.” I was laughing on the inside while I tortured her with those twist ties. We got a drink at Siips with some friends where Jenny and I started talking about how well our relationship was going and how great we are together. She mentioned “the first place we really started to bond was on Alex’s roof” which was a rooftop apartment that one of my friends rented on the Downtown Mall. I saw this as my opening and started frantically texting people to meet at Alex’s roof!!
We got there and hung out with friends for about a half hour when I called Jenny over to me. I said “I have something for you” and handed her a third shiny twist tie. She started laughing and said “Wow, another one? Where do you keep getting all these? Seriously?” To which I replied “But, this time I’m not kidding.” She got silent. I made her put her purse down (which you can see me do in the video below) then took her in front of her friends and asked her to marry me. You can see her response below but *spoiler alert* it ends with her saying yes and everyone saying awwww.
Eating and Loving: Red Quinoa with Berries
May 29th
As I head into my qualifying “exam” for graduate school, I find myself craving comfort food often. Sadly, most of those foods aren’t exactly conducive to a healthy diet. Happily, many other people have worked out delicious, healthy, comforting foods like this quinoa breakfast bowl that I’ve been eating for breakfast, snacks, dessert…you name it.
Red Quinoa with Berries
This recipe was prepared verbatim from Heidi’s blog, over at 101cookbooks, (also the image source since I forgot my camera today) which offers a ton of healthy recipes, many of which are vegetarian. I made this a couple of nights ago with soy milk, toasted pecans, honey, and big fat blackberries, and spiced it with cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg. I brought this into lab today and received two interested “What is that…?” comments within three minutes of heating it up.
