HugginKiss

oh hi

2012-02-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

Oh hey blog... remember me?

I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't.

It has been maybe the longest stretch I have gone without blogging.

There are many reasons, I am almost sure of it, but I cannot think of a single one at the moment.

I haven't taken a picture with my camera in.... well it's been awhile.

But I have been taking lots of pictures with my phone... and I am sure most of you have already seen them on Instagram... but I felt like I should blog today... so get ready for some super awesome repetition.

New Years Eve:

Went down to Hermosa and ate on the pier at this lovely Mexi restaurant. Glad they put a flag in there so that I would know what country it was supposed to be from.

Told a certain someone

courtesy of Coldstone.

Brit's Wedding:

Someone was super tuckered out after her pedicure and fell asleep on the couch while I was getting mine. Planning weddings are apparently really exhausting.

So glad that I got to be a bridesmaids and go to her sealing.

One of the GREATEST friendships a girl could ask for.

My last night in Utah I got to stay with Jessie and sleep in her luxurious guest quarters.

If you have never slept on this bed before, then you are missing out.

It is honestly provides me with the best nights sleep every time.

I flew back to this crystal clear day

Birthday:

The next day was my birthday and I was waken with these lovely gifts

from a lovely gent.

And then had a wonderful birthday dinner at this place

Sunday Outings:

The weather has been lovely here lately and has allowed for some perfect Sunday activities.

Such as:

A beautiful drive through Hidden Valley. Aka my dream neighborhood.

And then last Sunday on the most perfect clear night a journey up to Griffith Park.

I am not going to promise to be better at taking pictures with a real camera or having pictures that I am actually in because I was never good at it before and I don't see that happening now.

Happy Tuesday.

My Christmas Present to You...

2011-12-24T11:28:00.000-08:00

Pretty sure I say about 99.9% of these things... and so do you

Consider this my Christmas present to you.

Merry Christmas

A Lassiez Faire, Flippant, Circuitous Sunday

2011-12-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

Originally I was going to fly up SF next weekend, but someone forgot that he was going to be in NY that weekend, so instead I drove and got in late Saturday night and then left early Monday morning.

Even though Sunday was the only full day that I was there, it was "the best"

Robert's place is so urban and nice and fancy and grown up.

Have you always longed for the city life?

Well look no further.

That's just the trolley going right by their window.

Sunday morning we finalized our tickets and then went up to the roof top for a self timer photo shoot.

(this is the best of the 500 we took)

You might think you are in a movie, because the amount of urban-ness is unreal.

There were numerous times I was pretty sure I was in an episode of Gossip Girl attending some roof top soirée.

After we finished with our submission tape for America's Next Top Model, we went to

Tartine for brunch.

It was delicious.

It was full of hipsters.

The guy at the counter gave me a free scone.

I was pretty pleased.

After that we headed down to Candlestick. We only had to park like 7000 miles away...

We lucked out and got some pretty good seats online.

In case you were wondering, approximately 87% of NFL fans that attend the games,

did not go to college. This was made super apparent by the people sitting near us and on our walk in.

Luckily this kid got the first tackle of the game!!

Not a bad view...

Now here comes the best part:

So we were told that we didn't need passes to go down and visit Dave after the game.

So after walking around the stadium and talking to lots of the people working there,

most of whom had no teeth, we found this nice lady working the gate to the players parking lot.

We asked her where the visiting team buses would be and she showed us where she thought they would be, but she wasn't super sure and told us we needed to have passes.

Well passes... we did not have.

We chatted with her for what seemed like hours. Robert said he knew the deal was sealed when she gingerly touched his arm after some joke he made.

Thankfully we are two white kids, who were not dressed head to toe in 49er's or Rams gear.

As this media guy was passing through the gate, she told us to Just Go!

And go we did.

Until we came to another security person at the next check point.

Robert again, told him we were there to see our friend who plays on the Rams.

The guy's name was Dice.

And he was Nice.

And let us through.

At this point I am thinking that I am going to try this method at all kinds if sporting events.

"Yeah my friend on the visiting team,

Tim Tebow,

he said we didn't need passes and could just come on down."

It was a feeling of supreme accomplishment to to be standing in the buses waiting area and be the only two people without credentials.

Dave came out and we were able to chat and have some kind of mini photo shoot, which definitely included some hair flipping on my part.

(That dry windy weather just wreaks havoc on volume and curls)

Best Friends.

Casual Friends.
On our way back to the gates, who did I see, but this fellow:

Looking dashing in a suit.

Maybe we made eye contact.

Maybe we are in love and getting married.

(Only one of those statements is true, although it might be hard for you tell which one.)

I bet you thought that this day could not get any better, didn't you?

Well you would be sorely mistaken.

As we had passed through the player parking lot the first time we had seen that they were setting up some sweet BBQ catering for the 49ers.

Robert was determined on our way out that we would get some of that food.

When we got to the checkpoint on our way back through the lot, Dice was gone and a new girl was there.

She told us that we could not go through unless we had this special ticket, and

Robert said, I'm just trying to get to my car in the parking lot.

She said: What lot?

Before he could even answer

She said: The players lot?

Which of course he said yes to.

So we strolled right up and got ourselves some delicious food, with such tasty treats as corn bread, hot dogs, chicken, sausage, potato salad and Diet Cokes.

It was perfect ending to a perfect day!

The look of accomplishment.

I suppose I should blog

2011-11-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

The mere idea of blogging seems horrible to me. Mainly because I would rather be watching Gossip Girl on netflix... like I did all weekend.

I felt like there were too many things that I needed to post about... and they were lengthy... and they were going to be time consuming... and my mental acuity isn't what it used to be.

I am pretty much 100% better. Sometimes it feels a little weird to swallow, (which makes me feel weird even saying that), and my strength is slowly coming back, but other than that I am good as new.

Here is my incision 3 days after surgery:

And this is what it looks like today, 23 days later:

I am super grateful for health insurance.

$10,657 for my stint the ER and admittance to the hospital?! Yikes!

I weigh about 20 lbs less than I did 3 months ago.

I allegedly am like a high school girl now.

And since I always, I repeat, always weighed more than this while I was in high school...

this is some kind of Freshman/Teenage Dream.

And that's really is the only the thing that matters.

Well maybe it only matters to me.

So I'll post some things that might matter to you.

So here it goes:

I went to Boston the 2nd week in October.

For 6 days.

It was great.

It was warm and un-fall like which was a bummer.

What wasn't a bummer were all the fabulous excursions that we went on and the even more fabulous people that were on said excursions.

Jamie took ah-mazing photos.. too many to choose from in fact.

Seeing the house where one of my ancestors lived.

Jamie indulged my obession with fall foiliage, mainly because I think she is equally obsessed. It was so nice to have someone be as excited about the leaves changing... although barely changing...

I miss this little lady on an average.... at least once a day.

Best friends.

(don't judge my rear in this photo)

And don't even get me started on this tender little soul....

Bottom line:

Jamie is the best host/tour guide/ friend/ mom ever.

I was some kind of sailor for Halloween.

Also I have creative friends.

This kid nailed the Mormon Hipster.

If you didn't read the article and you want something to get fired up about and also laugh at the same time and also be embarrassed that these kids are the poster children for "Hip Mormons", then you should read totally read it.

Merely Zack Morris and AC Slater.

Also most ridiculous face, which I am going to blame on having my butt pinched the minute this was taken.

I had a thankful friendship dinner that I hosted for my friends Shauna and Stephanie.

I made:

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

Hericot Vert with a Mushroom Sauce

Turkey Cordon Blue with Green Chilies

and

Dutch Apple Dumplings.

It was delicious, but the company was ever better.

(I of course, took no pictures)

And yes it was spectacular.

I'm sure there were other happenings... I just forgot them... Although judging from my lack of social interaction I wouldn't be surprised if those were the only things that happened.

Next on my agenda, San Fran next weekend to see this kid.

I just booked it today.

Oh and my flight only cost me $5.00.

Thank heavens for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card.

Cancer Free and Some Complications

2011-11-07T07:21:00.000-08:00

Ok this post is going to be long... and it took me awhile to get it up since I had to go back into the hospital... and it's the only hospital story you are getting from me for a while (no labor and delivery stories for me) so just bare with me. Also please excuse that some of the pictures were taken with my phone.

Thursday:

I arrived at the hospital at 6am ready to get things started.

The nurse called me back into pre-op, took my vitals and info and attempted to put in the IV.

Attempted being the key word.

She was trying to put it in my left arm, but my vein kept rolling. So she called in another nurse who tried, but couldn't get it to go in, and then they both tried together like holding my arm and vein and trying to get it in.

Didn't work.

So then she tried my right hand.

She got it in, but then my vein blew.

Awesome.

Oh and right about this point I got flushed, broke out into a sweat and thought I was going to throw up. Which is weird since I have been jabbed with needles at least 700 times this year and I have never had a problem.

So they called in a gurney, embarrassing, and had the anesthesiologist put the IV in the crook of my right arm. Which in case you were wondering, is not the ideal place to have a line placed into your arm.

My sweet surgeon came in and asked if we would join him in a word of prayer. It was lovely.

They walked me back to room, and I hopped up on the operating table.

They put these fancy leg compressors on my lower leg, which are supposed to help prevent blood clots and then laid this thing that looked like a blow up rectangle pool raft on top me.

(skip to 27 sec in)

It had warm air circulating through it and it was luxurious.

The anesthesiologist put the oxygen on me and the next thing I know...

I wake up in recovery!

My doctor said:

Amanda, wake up. Everything went fine. There was no cancer. You are staying over night. And you probably won't remember anything I tell you.

Well I did remember.

But you know who didn't remember anything her doctor told her?

The most ridiculous woman in the curtain next to me.

You would have thought she had brain surgery, because her brain kept resetting every 30 sec.

She kept asking the same things over and over again, and if I had been able to shout, or even talk for that matter, I would have yelled at her every answer.

They wheeled me up to my lovely room

where I had the most beautiful flowers waiting for me from Jamie and Joy.

My dad said that my room looked like a hotel room in Vegas and he kept wanting to go downstairs to the buffet.

I slept off and on, but had no pain at the incision sight.

My throat was sore from the tube they put down it, but I felt ok.

Then I started to feel nauseous.

Like bad nauseous.

So they put a shot of Zofran in my IV and I waited 15 min.

Still nothing.

It just so happened that my doctor had dropped his iPad on his foot and so he had come back to get his foot x-rayed so he was able to give the go ahead for something stronger, but it had to be a deep muscle shot.

They gave me Phenergan and I instantly felt better.

Granted my left thigh felt like it had just ran a marathon and then got the crap kicked out of it, but as long as I could finally eat something and have ice chips I was fine with it.

I got a new nurse at night and he said that we could probably take my IV out, so that I could sleep better.

The thing about hospitals, as most of you know, is that unless you are on heavy narcotics or something of that nature, you don't sleep very well. Mainly because they come in to check on you every 4 hours.

At least I could watch Private Practice on the TV and Grey's Anatomy on my iPad while in my hospital bed... Medical Drama overload?

They came to take my breakfast order, and since I was on a soft liquid diet, I opted for fruit and oatmeal.

I was still having trouble swallowing, but I kind of just thought it would go away.

They discharged me around 9:30 am and I just had to go over to my doctor's office so that he could check everything out.

(decent looking incision)

He said my incision looked good, and that if you couldn't see it, you would have never known that I had had surgery. I had excellent coloring and felt great.

Then he said he had to check my vocal chords... which I was dreading.

Mainly because the endoscope I'm convinced is of the devil and the most dreaded thing on earth.

I was nervous because the time before he had done it, I had gagged the whole time and then felt sick the rest of the day.

And since I had just had my throat operated on, I wasn't too keen on the idea of gagging/puking.

Everything checked out fine, but I did not feel good.

I came home and still did not feel good. I couldn't swallow anything still. The pain in my throat felt like when you have strep throat, which is heinous.

The plus of it all was that I was greeted by lovely flowers and cards and gifts from:

Rick, RS Presidency, Callie, my grandma, Caroline, and then of course the flowers Joy and Jamie had sent from the hospital.

I started to feel really nauseous. My mom said she would go to Whole Foods and get me some soup, so that I could eat. As she was getting ready to go, I asked her to bring me a bucket.

She did and I instantly threw up in it.

No food.

Just clear liquid.

My mom stayed around obviously as I continued to throw up and throw up.

I am not exaggerating when I say that from 11 am to 1 pm I probably threw up at least 22 times.

My mom looked at my bucket and informed me that it was not clear liquid, but bile.

Which means that there is nothing in your stomach for you to throw up.

And it was bad.

Like heaving, and choking and not being able to breathe.

My mom called my surgeon, who quickly said that none of this was his fault and that he had no idea why I would be throwing up. He said the anesthesia would have been out of my system by then and that this NEVER happens.

He called in some anti-nausea medication and my mom went to get it.

Well about 15 min after she left I threw up more than I had all morning.

I was chocking, I couldn't breathe, and I had no energy.

I called my dad in a panic and asked him if he could please come home from work.

He did.

I think he was surprised to see how bad I was.

He told me not to force it.... since clearly I wanted to throw up and was forcing bile out of me...

(my dad shows concern by being angry)

My mom came home with the medicine.

Now maybe you are processing this and thinking, hmmm, how is she supposed to take medicine to make her stop throwing up, if she is throwing up and can't keep anything down.

Well... let's just say I didn't take it through my mouth... so that really only leaves one other option....

Needless to say after all of that, it didn't work.

Around this time my aunt called and said that when she gets bad migraines she goes down to the Urgent Care and gets a shot.

So we headed down there.

We saw the nicest doctor, who thought that I definitely needed to go the ER.

I apparently had a fever, which after surgery is sort of not the best thing to have.

Not to mention that I was severely dehydrated.

We went over the ER, where we made it in, in record time.

Like we maybe had to wait 5 min.

I don't know if it was because it was 5:45 on a Friday night, or because I had just had surgery and had a super sweet looking incision on my neck, but we got in super quick.

And we didn't just get into the triage area, but we got into the back area with private bays.

So far I am 2/2 with private rooms.

I saw a million different people.

The ER doctor, 5 nurses and countless other people, that I really don't remember.

They hooked me up to an IV, took blood and got me started on morphine.

Once the morphine kicked in, which actually hurt pulsing through my veins at first, I was out for the count.

You can barely see the rash that broke out on my cheeks and neck from the morphine.

My sweet mother talked to every person that came in.

She said that there were at least 12 different people who came to see me while I was konked out.

Running blood tests, taking chest xrays (which they can do right in your bed), checking my vitals, hooking me up to a heart monitor, giving me anti-nausea meds, potassium, and morphine.

No one knew what was wrong, but they knew that something wasn't right.

They wanted to admit me, but they could not get ahold of my surgeon or my thyroid doctor and the insurance was making them jump through all kinds of loops, which they said is common and ridiculous.

Fortunately enough, the internist who I had seen this summer was on call that night and we had seen him when we were walking in. My mom mentioned to the ER doctor that I had seen the internist before and so he was able to clear me to get admitted.

They were finally able to get ahold of one of the surgeons in my surgeons group and he cleared me to stay as well.

They wheeled me up to a room ( another private room 3/3) at about midnight and gave me another round of meds.

The morphine gave me the weirdest dreams, more vivid than any dream I have ever had.

Like in the ER I swore my mom was standing next to me braiding my hair and I woke up and she most certainly was not.

Or that night in my room I had a dream that they were bringing an old woman named Grace into my room and I was really upset about it because I thought I had a private room, and then at the doorway were all these people who kept saying I had to come with them and they were waiting for me and it was my time to go with them. And I kept saying, No, I don't want to go. I'm not ready to go.

So basically I never need to do mushrooms or LSD because I got to experience all those hallucinations at the hospital.

I woke up at 8 and the internist said that I could leave as soon as I could hold down food. My surgeons partner came by to check, said the incision looked good, and said he had never heard of someone having that delayed of a reaction to the anesthesia before.

My dad showed up.

They gave me lydacane, which is a numbing agent, to swirl in my mouth before I ate so that it would numb my throat and I would be able to swallow.

It looked like hair gel, and I am pretty sure if I ever eat hair gel, it will taste exactly like this.

I got to eat delicious pudding.

I feel back asleep.

I had lunch.

Went back to sleep.

And then as luck would have it, my sweet friend Robert was down for the weekend from San Francisco for work and so he stopped by the hospital with these lovely balloons.

I am sure I was a vision of beauty.

Pale skin.

Pink incision.

The breath of someone who has been throwing up for a day.

And a hospital gown that was soooo flattering, and as I found out later, completely open on one side.

That afternoon around 4:30-5:00 they cleared me to go home!

My grandma brought over different kinds of soups and smoothies and I just relaxed.

It felt so good to be home.

I was super surprised when I woke up from a nap last night and found out that the girls in my Relief Society and dropped off these beauties

and the sweetest card, with such wonderful sentiments.

I have only had a few little set backs since then, but other then that I feel great!

I woke up this morning, after my first good nights sleep in 4 nights and I feel good.

The back of my throat still kind of hurts, but nothing like it did before.

And my incision still does not hurt, but it just tight, and it reminds me when I try to move my neck in certain directions, that that is clearly not going to happen.

I just really feel so grateful for wonderful parents who have taken such great care of me.

I don't know how people get sick without anyone to take care of them, and pay for all their medical bills for that matter.

I am grateful to be living at home so that they can watch over me and make sure I am ok.

I am also grateful for all your thoughts and prayers and concern. It really is true that you can feel them and it gave me so much more peace.

I am down for about 1-2 weeks, so I'll probably be watching a lot of Oprah's Life Class and figuring out what I am going to do with my life!

These beauties are still going strong and are making a lovely addition to my surroundings!

(excellent choice with the yellow roses, totally compliments the color palette of my room)

HOME

2011-11-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

I had to go to the ER last night and was admitted and spent the night... and just got released!!! I am so glad to not be throwing up anymore and to feel like more of a normal human being, a human being that has been poked and prodded, but a human nonetheless.

I started to write about my surgery Thursday night, but feel asleep, and then yesterday was just nutty. So when I do finish the posting about this, it will be a doozy!

Surgery: Thursday, November 3rd

2011-10-31T09:54:00.000-07:00

I will be checking into this lovely place on Thursday, November 3rd at 6:00 am.

My surgery will be at 7:00/ 7:30 am

I will try and update this when I wake up, which knowing me and how much I love to sleep, who knows how long that will be.
(I realize I have yet to blog about Boston or Halloween, and with the amount of down time I have coming up, I'm sure those will be up here shortly)

It took them awhile to wake me up after my knee surgery...

What can I say, I relish a deep sleep.

Supposedly if all is well then I might be able to go home that day, but it all depends on what the doctor says.

There is a part of me that wouldn't mind having to stay over night... Espcially since the rooms are all private and look like this:

And there is a chef on site( although I don't know that I'll want/be able to eat)... so basically I'll be having surgery once a year.

I think I'll be able to have visitors even if I don't stay over night, because I'm sure I'll be there most of the day, and if I do stay over night than visitors during the day will be awesome.

The address is:

401 E. Rolling Oaks Drive

Thousand Oaks, CA 91361

(805) 777-7750

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and positive thoughts. They mean the world to me and have honestly made such a difference.

Update

2011-09-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

I just spoke with the surgery coordinator and I will be having this lovely surgery on:

Thursday, November 3rd.

I'll update date with more details, such as where and when exactly, once I find out.

Thanks for all your sweet comments, positive energy and prayers.

They mean the world to me and have really helped me maintain a positive attitude.

30% chance

2011-09-26T17:07:00.001-07:00

So as most of you know I have been having weird thyroid (or what I thought were thyroid problems all summer) I went and saw a new doctor, one who specializes in the thyroid. He checked my levels and said that they were normal and so my thyroid wasn't the problem but as he was doing an exam, he came across a lump on my thyroid.

Here is what your thyroid looks like:

He asked me how long the lump had been there. And I said, "Uhh.... I wasn't aware that I had a lump." So he did an ultrasound right there and found that the lump was almost an inch, which I guess is kinda big and it looked maybe a little weird?

So he scheduled me to come back in for a FNA, a Fine Needle Aspiration, so that they could extract some cells (as in stick a needle in my neck 6 times) from the mass and send it off to pathology and get some results.

The FNA was just last week, Tuesday the 20th.

He told me when I was leaving to go ahead and schedule an appointment 6 months out, and that he would call me with the results Friday and if everything was fine he would just see me in 6 months.

So all week long I am thinking, perfect, it's totally going to come back fine.

So I saw that I had a missed call Friday morning when I was with Parker at the Park and that it was from his office. I thought "Oh I bet they are calling to tell me that everything is fine and I will see them in 6 months."

I was floored when the message said, " The doctor would like you to come in so that he can discuss your test results with you."

I started sobbing.

Like hard sobbing.

Like couldn't talk sobbing.

I composed myself enough to call back and schedule an appointment for today, the 26th, since he isn't in the office on Fridays, and then called my mom and started bawling again.

All I could think was... I totally have cancer.

This is why he needs me to come in and see him.

I tried to stay busy over the weekend, but I definitely had moments where I would just start crying.

Crying because I was scared and nervous and there was just so much unknown.

And having to wait allllll weekend long, for a girl with no patience is torture.

Sunday at church I was able to receive the most wonderful blessing from a member of our bishopric.

It was so powerful.

It is such an amazing feeling to know that our Heavenly Father knows each and everyone of us, that He has a plan for us, and more importantly that He will always give us the skills we need to accomplish and deal with anything in our lives.

I left feeling nothing but peace and comfort and love.

I have not cried since in fact.

I had my appointment today at 4:20.

My parents had asked if they wanted me to come, and initially I said no, but then I decided that my mom should probably come.

I told her to just sit in the waiting room unless I came out to get her. I somehow thought that if she came in it would automatically mean bad news.

The doctor asked if I knew what a follicular neoplasm was.

I said, No.... actually can I go get my mom.

Follicular neoplasm is something I thought my mom should be around to hear about.

So hear is the bottom line:

My cells focally show nuclear grooves.

What are nuclear grooves you ask?

Nuclear grooves are longitudinal invaginations of the nuclear envelope bilayer, which constitute a characteristic feature of papillary thyroid carcinoma.

These findings are suspicious for a follicular neoplasm.

Follicular neoplasm is the second most common form of thyroid cancer, making up about 25% of all diagnosed thyroid cancers.

The bottom, bottom line:

About 30% of these are cancerous.

My doctor told me that these are great Vegas odds, but not the type of medical odds you want to mess around with.

So here is what they are going to do:

I will meet with the surgeons sometime this week.

I will have the surgery, in which they will take out the left lobe of my thyroid, which has the lump.

While I am under, a pathologist will be dissecting the whole thing to make sure that there is not any cancer hiding out anywhere in there, since those cancer cells can be pretty tricky.

If there aren't any, then they will just close me up, I'll stay in the hospital for a night and I'll be good to go.

If they do find cancer cells then they will remove the rest of my thyroid while I am still under.

After that I would just have to have some radiation therapy and I would be good as new.

Oh but the icing on the cake....

None of the symptoms that I have been experiencing, the soreness, fatigue, etc, are being caused from this. Which means I need to see ANOTHER doctor.

I just want to thank those of you who I told, for keeping me in your prayers and your children's prayers. I know it sounds funny but every time I started to feel kinda down, I knew that I had people out there who care about me and were praying for me.

On a slightly sad note:

When you have something like this happen it really makes you realize who your real friends are and who are people who are too consumed with their own lives to even text or gchat you back.

Empty Nest

2011-08-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

Today we took my little brother up to school.

We joked that people would probably think that I was the freshman moving into the dorms, and we were kinda right.

As we were walking across the street from the car to the dorm, a group of guys drove by in a car and one shouted out the window:

"I'm gonna f*$@ your daughter."

We're not in Provo anymore...

It got me to thinking about when I went up to school over 9 years ago...

( I say over 9 years ago, since I went up to school 10 days after high school graduation in June for summer term)

I vividly recall leaving my parents in the parking structure of our hotel in Las Vegas and playing Dixie Chicks "Wide Open Space" as I drove away crying.

I drove the rest of the way by myself, because I wanted to have enough room for all my things, and thought 3 extra people in the car would have meant that my mom was going to have to ship things. And when you are moving 12 hours away from home and living on your own for the first time, you just really need to have your things. I don't think they understood/were really hurt I said they couldn't come, but I just wanted my things and I wanted to get settled on my own.

My mom asked me if I ever imagined the day when my brother would go to school, and I said yes, but I just thought I wouldn't be living here and would be married with 2 kids.

While I am glad that I am done with school, I have to admit that there are some days when I wish I could go back to that summer for just a day.

(There are plenty of days when I would go back to Junior/Senior year)

Everyone standing next to their respective roommate. I think we took the picture the first day that everyone was there.

?, married, married, SINGLE, married, married.....

Notice how there are tons of people outside and I already have my pajama bottoms on...

They were probably making ice cream sculptures or playing ultimate Frisbee... which means I probably had zero intention of coming outside but was convinced to do so.

Up at DT for some kind of small music gathering that some of the kids had put on there...

After summer term was over, we got 2 new roommates.

( And of course Jamie who had been there all along as an honorary member of Shipp 115)

College pranks....

Notice who is on the bottom of the totem pole... also notice who probably weighed the most and therefore had to be on the bottom...

First Sunday all going to church in September...

Horrible outfits all around...

We look like we are about 55 and about to attend Women's Conference or something...

The bane of my existence...

While I despised the cheesy activities and the "freshman boys", I loved most of those girls.

Some of my fondest memories from that first summer:

-I don't know how Joy put up with me keeping her up until 3 every night, and then went to early classes. We had so much fun. We jumped on our beds and got into water balloon fights with the boys across the way. I made up songs about boys that she was dating, and changed her screen saver to reflect said lyrics.

-Taking American Heritage and crying almost every class because they would talk about something patriotic or show a picture of Ronald Reagan. I loved that class and never missed it once... which if you know my attendance record later on in college, you would know that that was a huge thing.

-The wonderful afternoon thunderstorms that would roll in and make it so that Joy's tennis class was cancelled, which meant that we could hang out. I swear I wasn't needy.

-Eating at the Cougar Eat, and buying 1000 boxes of cereal at the Creamery and going through them once a week.

-Making diagrams on the wall at 2:30 am to show Joy how I didn't understand how some words you could put un- or ir- in front of and others you couldn't.

-Making signs for sloppy roommates that had pictures of Smokey the Bear and said things like "Only you can prevent dirty kitchens"

- Jamie coming back and regaling us in stories about the cheese-tastic lines boys would use on her on dates. "Oh baby..."

-Taking all my Abercrombie bags and writing things on them to make them appropriate to hang in our room...

Like having this guy say " Ere you left your room this morn', did you think to pray?"

Needless to say... I never forgot to say my prayers... as they usually included that guy in them.

A valid reason not to post...

2011-08-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

Most people don't blog for a long period of time, for one very good reason...

The symptoms of this reason are as follows:

Fatigue/Tiredness

Nausea

Muscle-aches

Headaches

Weight gain

So here in lies why I have not blogged

If you guessed pregnant... boy are you wrong.

I would have some serious explaining to do.

But if you guess Hypothyroidism... then you would have hit it right on the button.

About 8 weeks ago or so I started feeling extremely tired. I just attributed this to my new job and thought it would go away. But it never did.

And then I started gaining weight... and by that I mean about 10 lbs in 2 weeks.

(Which didn't make any sense since I had not changed my diet or my exercise.)

Clearly this would make sense if I had a child growing inside of me, and if you looked at me, you might think, hmm she's about 16 weeks along... but again you would have been wrong.

Then I started feeling like I had just completed a marathon... which I hadn't. I felt physically exhausted. I could barely move my arms and I would just get hit with it.

I was getting horrible charlie horses in the middle of the night and the pain was not going away. When I woke up in the morning, my legs would still be sore.

I went and saw an naturalist because I had heard some -iffy things about the synthetic thyroid, and at this point I was thinking it was probably a thyroid problem.

She tested me and found out that I was operating on almost no thyroid. Like it was crazy how little thyroid I had.

She put me on armar, which is the natural one... also it comes from a pig.

On day two, I had stopped getting the charlie horses, but all of my other symptoms were still there. And the fatigue was only getting worse.

It was horrible.

I was depressed.

There is no worse feeling in the world, then not feeling like your self.

I never wanted to do anything or see anyone because I felt tired all the time, on top of that, my clothes weren't fitting because of my weight gain and you can only get away with flowy skirts for so long before people start to think you have joined some hippie commune and are going to grow out your leg hair.

(which thanks to laser hair removal, I have little of)

After about 3 weeks on the armar I decided I had had enough and I went and saw another doctor.

He decided to put me me on the real deal, not as many mg of thyroid as I wanted, but at this point anything was better than what I was on.

I have been on that for a little over a week, and overall things are much better.

I definitely don't feel horrible everyday, like a zombie, which is nice.

But I still don't feel like myself... and by that, I mean my clothes still don't fit like they should, which means I am taking my hermit status to all kinds of new levels.

I would just like to have one solid week of feeling good.

I think I have had one amazing day since I started this.

I just wish that the weight would kinda melt away.

But I guess these 10 lbs. are here to stay.

Father's Day... Vegas Style

2011-06-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

My mom had the great idea that for Father's Day this year, we should surprise my dad, who always wants to be surprised, and take him to Vegas. I was able to get off work early on Friday and we headed out. My dad knew we were going away, he just didn't know where.

Well as soon as they picked me up and I got in the car we had the Elvis Presely song "Viva Las Vegas" come on. It took awhile and then my dad went... "ohhhhhh" He was super excited.

We did a lot of eating at delicious places and shopping at amazing stores.

Maggiano's

El Segundo

The highlight of the trip was definitely the Boneyard Neon Museum where they have all the old neon signs from the strip. It isn't officially open to the public so my mom had to go online and get a secret password, it was pretty intense stuff.

My brother forgot to bring his good camera, but he was able to take some amazing pictures with my point and shoot and then made this lovely collage so that I could put them on my blog and not bore you with a 1000 pictures.

When we got to dinner the first night the waiter took the wine glass away as soon as I sat down. I thought, how perceptive of this man to be able to sense that I don't drink. I of course paid no attention to anyone else at the table, because... well... that's just not in my nature.

So when the waiter comes back to pour the wine, he starts to pour some for my little brother, who lo and behold still had a wine glass in front of him. They had to inform the waiter, that brother would in fact not be drinking.

Apparently my brother who is 18, looks without question to waiters, old enough to drink...

Whereas I, who am 27 years, don't look 21....

My darling mom puts up with me when I throw fits because my head looks gigantic in every picture.

It's not like this is a new thing, my head being large, I've been wearing a bigger hat than my dad since like 8th grade.

Side note: I had just had IPL done the day before, and so all my freckles/sun spots were super dark... don't worry that all my sun spots are gone now... best thing ever.

It was a great trip to Vegas and luckily my mom popped for 2 rooms, so everyone got their own bed.

Heaven. On. Earth.

Keeping Up.... Ruined

2011-06-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

After my little stint Keeping Up with some of The Kardashians I thought that I could continue to watch the shows...

however after tonight's episode I can't watch anymore.

There were like 7000 things in the episode that were not "reality" but rather "scripted/produced/staged".

Their real house:

The house they show on the TV show:

You know it's bad news when they don't even use the real front of the house....

I know that these shows are not documentary style (Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes) or even really reality, but I thought that they might be kinda reality.

But after watching the episode that was shot the day I was there...

I can't believe how many things are not real... I guess a better way of saying it, would be staged.

Maybe you think I'm joking about not watching the show anymore, but I literally stopped the show mid-episode and I have taken it off my DVR To Do List.

Thank goodness Pretty Little Liars started up again....

Guilty Pleasure times a million!!

Blah 2.0

2011-06-04T08:36:00.001-07:00

Not sure why this didn't post yesterday but oh well... Now you have something new in your Google Reader, which let's be honest is one the greatest gifts in life you can get.

It has been kind of a ridiculously long time since I have blogged, but I guess I have been busy or we we had nice weather, so I didn't want to be inside on a computer all day or... I don't know. The point is, is that it is happening right now... Yep right now, as we speak... Blogging.

Here is my brother and I on Easter Morning. Yes we both are over 18 and still get Easter Baskets. More importantly we still have an Easter Egg Hunt. Go ahead... be jealous.

For Mother's Day we went up to Santa Barbara. It was nice because we were also able to tour the campus and see the dorm where my little brother will be living.

The Santa Barbara coastline is amazing.

I would love to live there one day.

Well actually I would love to live next door to Oprah and Rob Lowe.

I'm thinking that's totally do able on my salary.

Cute family, eating the traditional clam chowder from the Pier.

My sweet mom is allergic to all kinds of scented flowers and so since sunflowers do not have a strong scent or maybe a scent at all? I hit the jackpot.

I think I have like 3 solo pictures of my mom and I think all of them involve her sitting with puppies.

After not being able to see my Elle Belle for like 3 months I was finally able to meet up with her at park by her house.

To say it was an emotional meeting would be an understatement. We saw each other from across the park and both started running. She has the most darling run and was shouting... "Oooohhhhh!!!!" We met in the middle of the park in a giant hug. We got to spend the rest of the afternoon going down the slide and swinging and playing on the see-saw. It was amazing.

As we were leaving and it was time to say goodbye, her little bottom lip started to quiver and in the sweetest most tender little voice she said " Bye Manda, see you soon"

When I got home I didn't even have a word out before I started crying, my mom started crying and I think my dad and brother thought we had lost it. It was such an emotional day. It was tears of happiness at finally being able to see her. I'll explain below why it meant so much...

Her self portrait.

It has been a really emotional journey. Since she started at her pre-school (although it's more like she goes to work since she is there M-Th, 9-4) she has not spoken. She has become selectively mute and does not talk at school. She has not uttered one single word. We were only made aware of it because her grandma, who is friends with my mom, had called her to ask about any ideas that my mom had, since that kinda things is my mom's forte. My mom was able to suggest some social stories and some play therapy ideas that they could do with her.

It just breaks my heart because she has the most amazing little personality and she charms everyone she meets. It also saddens me because for a child to become selectively mute it means that they have experienced a trauma, which in her case was having her sweet little world turned upside down. When you are just barely 2 and you go from being at home every day with someone who loves you and who you have a tender nurturing relationship with, to school all day long with no one who loves you... it just breaks my heart even writing it.

I think this picture that I took of her a year ago sums up her sweet spirit.

On a lighter note:

This is the new little boy that I just started with, Parker. He turns 2 on the 18th and he is a funny little duckling. Anytime we are in the sun he has his glasses on. I die.

My brother says he should start a music blog because the kid has amazing taste in music.

He likes Bruce Springstein (Boo-sa), The Foo Fighters ( Fighters), Fitz and the Tantrums (Fitz), and Sia (Sia). He has specific songs that he requests and he oddly knows every single word to Bruce's Thunder Road. Like if I sing, " Roy Orbison singing for the...." he finishes it off with "lonely"

If he can't wear his Bruce shirt... we are in trouble...

That's all for now... hopefully it won't be so long until next time.

2011-05-10T20:55:00.000-07:00

I have been laughing about this ever since I saw it....

Mainly because this is exactly what happens when you ask any two women

or really awesome guys about one of their friends that they are supposedly

really good friends with.

I have been speaking in hushed tones every time my mom asks me about someone or something... Hushed tones are amazing.

For reals this time

2011-05-03T19:49:00.001-07:00

Now that at least one part of my life is in order I feel like I can blog again.

I finally got a job, for now it's just June 1 to end of August,

and it is with a darling little family that is NORMAL.

They don't have a security detail that could rival the Secret Service.

(Although if the security detail had looked like Matthew Fox, maybe that would be a different story)

But since that is all taken care of let me finally and officially tell you about the families that I had the chance to meet with and spend a few days with at their homes in my journey through the Nanny World...

This little munchkin, who makes you want to cry he's so cute and tender.

She was beyond polite and is a VERY good and attentive mom.

These two... who are the funniest humans alive and also amazing parents.

Maybe she said I was funny.

Maybe she is greatest.

Oh and he's not too bad either.

Their two little ladies were so cute I could hardly handle it.

The older one in her British accent told me to say "the proper words" when I accidently read the story wrong..

And this little one fell asleep in my arms... I die...

Oh and we can't forget these little lovelies...

She is so pretty you dont't even know what to do... and also hilarious.

And he... well... what more needs to be said..

Nicest most polite boys you have ever met.

Said I was their favorite.

The most whirl wind fairy tale weekend.

I promise that I was actually having fun in this paparazzi photo with Ken Paves

Each of those little boys has such a special quality. Whether they are a charmer, tender-hearted or the funniest little person alive, you can't help but love them.

All in all, though it was super stressful and gave me more anxiety than I have had in awhile,

I would not change it for anything.

I feel truly blessed that I got spend the days or weekends with these amazing families.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T07:46:00.000-07:00

Love this video. Such a great message and so special on this Easter Morning.

It gives me peace to know that He literally suffered for not only our sins but for the hurt in our hearts and the sicknesses we would suffer. More importantly He knows the sometimes feelings of utter loneliness because He walked that long path utterly alone.

I love that we don't ever have to walk alone,

whether it be in our sins, our sickness or our sadness.

The list keeps growing... and more

2011-04-07T08:56:00.001-07:00

You know how sometimes you don't blog for awhile, and not because you are prego, which by the way is the most tell-tale sign that someone is with child, but that is besides the point....

And you feel like you need to bring the heat with a post...

but maybe your best effort is just lukewarm.... like right now.

Well my list keeps growing... as of today, I know now 18 people who either have had babies in 2011 or are expecting them. And I have a sneaky suspicion that by the end of the year at least 3 more of you will be added to the list, you know who you are :)

I did no sugar for approximately 3 months. You can do an air high five to computer if you feel like, I'll accept those. I had some green apple licorice from Sprouts to celebrate my decision to try sugar again, and it was pretty good.

I also have indulged in some fro-yo, with all the trimmings and the girl scout cookies that have just been sitting in the cabinet.

Here is this the tricky thing: I did not lose a single pound by cutting out sugar. Not a single one could be attributed to my not eating sugar, now to me not eating at all... yes a few pounds can be attributed to that, but not from cutting out sugar. I did feel better I guess and had less cravings, but for a girl who is obsessed with numbers, it didn't really do the trick. So I decided the other day to bring it back, but the best part is, those things don't even really taste that good to me. I don't crave them, I just found myself eating them because I finally could.

In other news, some of you have had the complete, like from beginning to now, account of my experiences so far on the nanny hunt.

Unfortunately, I cannot share most, well any of it, on the blog because you have to sign a confidentiality agreement and we can't have these things in print. So if you really want to know, you can call me and we can spend a good hour on the phone, because that's how long it takes.

Just have your people, call my people and we can set up a time :)

Question

2011-03-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been reading about this whole rear vs forward facing car seat business.

Many people have shared links to articles on their blogs or the face and I have seen this video quite a few times...

I guess my main question slash problem with this is that the kid in the back is just in a glorified booster seat. The seat belt is literally what is keeping him in the seat, unlike below where she is harnessed in a forward facing carseat.

I am all for safety, I used to tell Elle all the time "Safety First".

I am just confused why this video is all over the place.

In the AAP article they say at one point..

“A rear-facing child safety seat does a better job of supporting the head, neck and spine of infants and toddlers in a crash, because it distributes the force of the collision over the entire body,” Dr. Durbin said. “For larger children, a forward-facing seat with a harness is safer than a booster, and a belt-positioning booster seat provides better protection than a seat belt alone until the seat belt fits correctly.”

Maybe I am just being ridiculous here... but wasn't everyone putting their kids in a harnessed forward facing car seat when they turned one... or where people strapping them in boosters with seat belts?

Is it not ok to put a kid in forward facing seat if they are harnessed in?

Your thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated as I try (for no real reason... since I don't have a kid to strap in a car seat) to figure this out.

Please come to Boston for the Winter...

2011-02-23T23:09:00.000-08:00

This song "Please come to Boston" plays in my head every time I think about Boston. Granted the lyrics are Please come to Boston for the springtime... but I feel like changing it to Winter, makes more sense for my latest adventures.

This summer after some emails back and forth in which I was asking Jamie about the summer fair she worked at in high school, she wrote back and said:

"I miss you. A lot. When are you going to visit Boston? I should con you into visiting me in the dead of Feb or something since you are one of the only people I know who likes the cold"

Well she didn't have to do any conning.. I was ready and willing to come in February... the colder the better in my book. So book a flight I did. For February 17th, about as smack in the middle of the dead of February as one can get.

Jamie is an amazing photographer. She took some simply wonderful pictures and also played paparazzo, snapping photos and action shots like it was her job.

Friday we ventured into Boston, but only after driving by Harvard.

I wish my parents had taken me there when I was little so that I could have been diligently striving my whole high school career to get in. Beyond beautiful. I alas did not take a picture.

She took me to the Public Gardens and I think I should have warned her that on vacations I turn into an Asian Tourist and snap pictures of landscapes like.... well, an Asian Tourist.

We had to get a picture with the ducks... and of course pictures of Jamie's little ducks...

Bryson put on a splendid ice skating show for us... Bryson also might be the world's most sweet, kind hearted and tender little soul. His little raspy froggy voice makes every thing sound adorable.

And the Queen of Sass, Miss Eliza with a Z, made a stunning turn as the most darling little girl you have laid eyes on.

It boggles my mind to know that our Founding Fathers walked these streets or sat in the different church pews that we saw. It felt like hollowed ground to me. It actually was some sort of testimony builder. It just furthers my knowledge that Heavenly Father had a plan and that America was destined to be the free and marvelous country that we live in today.

I am grateful for the inspired men who came before us and all that they lived and died for.

George... which is a name on the comeback... watch out Aiden, Ethan and Jacob.

Can't you just see Paul Revere cruising down this street, cobblestones and all?

Or better yet, maybe you can picture me hailing a cab...

(Courtesy of Jamie Cook)

As luck would have it was Iwo Jima day and they were having the most wonderful military parade complete with bagpipes playing Amazing Grace at the State House.

Now maybe I have seen The Town or The Departed one too many times, but to me that was the essence of Boston.

(Courtesy of Jamie Cook)

After that we made our way passed thousands of historical sites:

I posted this one just for Jamie who could not have been more pleased to see GREENERY abounding!

The other great thing about hanging out with Jamie was that she loves working out as much, if not more than I do. I was so happy that she was able to get me a guest pass so that we could work out Friday and Saturday. It makes me think it's ok to eat nachos when I work out...

And eat nachos we did, at this darling little place called The Brick Alley Pub & Restaurant in Rhode Island.

Before though, we strolled through the Vanderbilt's summer "cottage", The Breakers.

It really was like out of a movie. I could have stayed in the house for days I think just wandering and exploring and learning all about the family that lived there.

Here is an aerial view from the water that I found online.

Unreal.

After that we took a little drive along the coast and saw some of the most beautiful modern day "Summer Cottages"

Here is my future home, as you can see it is still under construction...

I am hoping it will be ready for me by the time summer rolls around.

The boat I'll use to gather and catch all the seafood I won't eat at my summer lobster bake.

One of the truly wonderful things about spending the weekend with Jamie is that she is very well read and knowledgeable about foreign and domestic affairs. We had hour long conversations about everything and anything.

My most profound statement in talking about the book Guns, Germs and Steel, was when I said, and I quote

"Africa has been around for a long time...."

After which I am sure I made a face like this...

(Courtesy of Jamie Cook)

See I totally could have gotten in Harvard....

Some of the truly wonderful things about this weekend were as follows:

-I felt like I had a roommate again. It has been so long since I got ready to go out in a shared bathroom. It was nice to do our hair and just chat.

- Jamie's husband Dan I think should be in the running for husband of the year. You could not ask for a better provider, father, and husband. He let me steal his wife away for the weekend and watched the kids so that we could have fun days out.

-Jamie is the best story teller and it was great to be able to just chat and listen to all of her wonderful stories.

-I am pretty sure that if given the proper tools and instruments Jamie and I could collectively:

get paid to critique people... as well as their blogs.

It's an art form that only a few have mastered.

-Jamie is also a wonderful and patient mother. Our last real day to day interactions(light years ago) usually consisted of her being very passionate about one thing or the next and being very boisterous about it.

So to hear her speak in the most kind, gentle and loving voice to her children was something I was not prepared for. She is the model of calm.

-I feel so blessed to have her as my friend and I cannot wait to go back and visit her!!

I'll leave you with some killer paparazzo shots... they sum up the essence of this trip...

Walking

(Courtesy of Jamie Cook)

Knee-Slapping Laughter

(Courtesy of Jamie Cook)

My room and some random thoughts

2011-02-13T22:30:00.000-08:00

My mom had the handy man come and fix some of the drywall in my room and he kinda painted the new stuff a slightly different color... So it was only natural that I decided that I needed to like seriously paint my room.

Before:

After:

I love that I can actually utilize these huge windows and get more light in my room.

I also feel like the gray/charcoal color makes my room look like it could be in some design magazine (Just the color, not my actual decorating)

Random:

I sent out some super awesome Valentines, to 10 uber lucky friends.

How cute is this?

I tried to stay trendy with the teens so I put current things on the conversation hearts... you know things like...

There were some gems that also said Page Me, Fax Me and of course for the kids, Tweet Me.

My lovely lovelies took pictures of their treats... so you get to see what the finished products looked like

This tasty one I sent to my cute BFF Jen

We both love us some Gossip Girl.

The cute little boxes and packing that they came in.

I sent those two off to my friends Chris and Eric.

The precious little "love notes" that came with each cookie.

Usually I could give a rats about Valentines, but it felt really good to send off treats to some of my favorite fellow single friends around.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I went to Utah...

2011-01-27T14:50:00.000-08:00

... and didn't take a single picture.

But you know what I did do?

Have lots of fun.

Here is a breakdown (not that anyone cares)

-All night chatting with Jessie, using their awesome gym, and spending quality time with my BFF Brody in his circus tent.

-Lunch at Zupas, which has become a staple in Jessie and my outings.

-Meeting Julian for the first and hanging out with his mom, aka my favorite roommate ever.

-Dinner at Lone Star Taqueria with Andy and Dave.

-Sundance with Brit

-Makeup at Nordstrom with Brit, done by her lovely friend Meg.

-Greatest friendship ever with Brit.

- Malawi's with Chris, Eric and a handful of new friends.

-Prom at the Provo Beach Resort... the queen to Eric's super cute king.

-The Roots concert @ Sundance(who played nonstop & were amazing)

with Bryce, Dave and Eric. I had never realized how lovely it is to have a friend with a NFL Player Pass who can get you into places for free...

Esp. when the girls behind us in line had paid $3,000 for a table.

-Sunday football with Andy and his family and a delicious homemade meal.

In case you couldn't tell this trip consisted of lovely friendships,

accompanied by even lovelier food.

It also found me wearing a lot of t-shirts and light summer blazers in 20 degree weather.

Apparently I think that this is acceptable,

but then again so does this guy...

27

2011-01-16T08:56:00.000-08:00

I think that this is the first year that I can genuinely say that I am looking forward to.

I don't know why, but I just feel really positive and hopeful about all that 27 has to offer.

I recall being newly 21 and going to a birthday party of a friend in Provo who was turning 27 and thinking,

"Oh hell he's old."

But I don't feel "old" per se, so much as I feel like I finally know what's up. I look back at that 21 year old self and think wow did you have a lot to learn. And I think at 27 I still have a lot to learn. But I am anxiously awaiting those things.

On Friday, the 14th, my sweet sweet friends threw me a lovely birthday celebration. The best part was that they let me make my own treats. Being the controlling and slightly perfectionist baker that I am, this was the best present that anyone could have given me.

I spent the WHOLE day baking and frosting. Talk about my ideal day.

I made Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, Sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting, Madagascar Vanilla cupcakes with strawberry frosting and then Raspberry Napoleons with a lemon curd. There was also an assortment of lovely pink, white and red candies.

All of my favorite people came over and it was so nice to spend the evening with people that I actually care about. (Minus the few stragglers who somehow managed to show up)

Don't worry that Robert put ALL my candles on a cookie...

The thing weighed like 17 pounds...

Making a wish...

I think my wish actually ended up being...

"Please let me blow all these candles out in one blow..."

I seriously have some of the best friends in all the land.

The next day I was inundated with phone calls, cards, texts and FB messages from some of the loveliest lovelies.

It was my little cousin's 9th birthday and so since I am "cool" she asked me to come over and do make-up for TEN 9 year olds. It actually ended up being so much fun chatting with the girls and putting on crazy colored eye-shadow.

I guess at 9, pink hot pink eye shadow still seems like a good idea.

After that my mom, dad and brother and I went to the most delicious restaurant.

(I forgot to take any pictures while we were there)

We had the arancini bolognese for an appetizer, the most delicious salad, and then the primo steak with frites.

Heaven on earth.

My sweet parents gave me a ticket to Utah and I'll be there next week...

for birthday weekend 2.0

I really feel so blessed and good about this year.

Baby Season

2011-01-13T18:30:00.000-08:00

Bet you didn't know it... but I know 10, that's right 10 people who are going to have babies within the first 8 months of 2011.

While a few potential new best friends will be born throughout the year, most will join this world within 3 weeks of each other this summer.

Which means great thing for the makers of baby clothes, since I tend to go overboard.

Additionally 2 of these friends find out that they pregnant just days after I stayed with them.

Just a warning to Jamie... you might want to re-think letting me come.

I'll leave and two days later you will find out that the reason you felt sick or swollen the whole time I was there, was not because we ate too much candy or ice cream.. but because you are in fact with child.

So if you want to find out that you are pregnant, have me come stay with you.

I'm like the baby whisper. Beckoning them to come down and join in the fun.

I seriously cannot even wait to meet all these little ones!!

2010: Dating Recap

2010-12-31T16:31:00.000-08:00

To the Married's out there:

Make sure the kids are napping, pour yourself some hot chocolate, sit back and get ready for a treat.

I realize for most of you out there, you haven't been on a 1st date in many years.

In fact some of you only ever went on one 1st date and that was it... your fate was sealed.

But for some of us it's a challenge... and by that I mean we didn't meet our husbands when we were 15, or 18, or even 25 for that matter...

And so I thought I would take time to make note of the 1st dates that I went on this year.

I am classifying a date as just me and a boy.

He paid.

We made plans to go out in advance.

So let's start with the first 1st date of the year:

Jeggings:

Upside:

He thought I was funny and it was the first time in over a year that a boy had asked for my number. Holler.

He was cute.

He is super nice and caring.

We talked about sports and he was funny.

Did I mention that he was cute?

Downside:

His jeans were tighter than mine.

He was more slender than I usually like.

He spent more time on his hair than I did on mine.

He asked me out for a second date on Valentines Day... immediate panic attack...

Papa Disney:

Upside:

He was great. He was funny. He has an excellent job. We laughed.

We ate a fancy restaurant.

I am pretty sure we could have talked all night about how Cher's "Heart of Stone"album is her best by far.

He sent/sends me the funniest emails of my life.

Downside:

I would have hung out with him a thousand more times.... keyword: Hung out.

I think we stand the chance of becoming BFF's.

He might have put his hands very gingerly over his mouth when he laughed, which made him look like a little Asian girl, mind you, he is not Asian.

He was incredibly rude to our waiter the second time that we went out.... Deal Breaker.

G.I. Joe

Upside:

Uh, Hello.... He's in the Army?! Duh. I heart men in uniforms and buzz cuts.

He was leaving the next day for some kind of top secret mission.... I have committment problems apparently...

He loved Friday Night Lights.

He was cute and had amazing teeth.

Downside:

He left the next day.

He came back and his hair had grown out, he was not nearly as buff and he has sporting a mustache.

He also turns out to be creepy and kinda out there. (Like he refuses to sustain new elder's in church)

Texas Ass:

(Not so much a date, as a hang out... but we'll count it, just for fun)

Upside:

Where to even start... So cute, so funny, great butt.... what... Yep I said it... He had one of the finest butts on a white boy that I have ever seen or felt... what...

Laughed and Laughed.

Greatest dinner that has probably ever existed.

Smelled nice.

Saw one of the best movies of the year, "The Social Network"

Has a great job.

Is one of the most genuine people, super nice and a total gentlemen.

Into churchy things... which just so happens to be something that I am into as well...

Loves Texas just as much as I do.

Downside:

Doesn't live anywhere near the same state as me.

You know how I have read the book and seen the movie, He's Just Not That Into You, well I have taken that knowledge and put it to use.

He just wasn't that into me.

Word Vomit:

Upside:

Had a great job and loved it.

He was kinda cute, in like a non-conventional rugged way.

I think other girls in the ward wanted to go out with him? (Or maybe I made that part up)

Downside:

He has been diagnosed with Word Vomit, which is incurable and deadly. Also maybe he was diagnosed with bad breath.

He said Matt Leinart was lazy... uh Deal Breaker.

He had no rational reason for any of his sports theories and did not listen to a single thing that I said regarding them.

He talked and talked and talked and talked.....

Was way way way way too touchy, and for a girl who doesn't like being touched by people she barely knows... disaster.

The Doctor:

Upside:

Uh hi, he's a doctor and he let me talk about Gray's Anatomy for hours. And he didn't seem to mind that every medical question was started with " This one time on Gray's..."

He thought I was funny and I think he might have been funny as well.

He loves his job, which I admire... because a lot of people don't.

He sometimes uses questionable language... so vital to my existence to be able to say things like "Rat Bastard" and "Douche Bag"

Downside:

I sometimes don't remember what he looks like.

He calls me Chica... which would totally work if I was 36 year old Puerto Rican woman...

but alas I am not.

He sometimes does like weird voices trying to be funny... it's not.

He posts waaayyy to much on the face. I like boys to be a little bit more mysterious...

Now let me take this time to say that I am truly grateful for each and every one of these boys.

I am grateful that they asked me out and spent money on lovely meals.

I am grateful that they took enough interest either from first glance or a few times talking to ask me out.

Or that they even wanted to hang out when I mentioned I would be in their next of the woods.

I definitely learned something about myself on each of these dates, what I like and what I don't like and what I think is important... it's all apart of the process.

So here's to 2011... may it be filled with a few more 1st dates, a handful of 3rd dates and hopefully one last 10th date to seal the deal.

Happy New Years!!!!

Tenaya Lodge

2010-12-28T16:17:00.000-08:00

Since we don't have White Christmas's here, we decided to head north to Yosemite and get our snow fix.

We stayed at this super nice place called the Tenaya Lodge and it was amazing.

My poor dad was super worried about the snow and ice (such a southern california guy), so luckily for him it didn't snow the entire time that we were there, but just dumped the night before we got there. So luckily for us who like the snow, there was plenty of it on the ground but not "on the road".

While we were there my mom and I went snow shoeing, which was a blast. I have always wanted to do it since Jeri said that she and Scott had to snow shoe into the cabin. It sounded like a great workout, which I am huge fan of and the chance to frolic in the snow, which I am an even bigger fan of.

My mom and some girl with a ginormous head....

Tromping through the snow

Just a beautiful icy creek... NBD... they are all around apparently.

After the snow shoeing, my parents treated my brother and I to a massage. It was unreal. We both ended up getting the Sports Relief Massages and it was by far the best massage of my life. The facilities were unreal. I took the worlds longest shower (someone from Guinness was actually there to record it) and relaxed in the coziest robe that has ever been created. I kept thinking that I would probably enjoy it more if I was "getting away from the kids" for an afternoon off, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I also became best friends with my masseuse. We chatted the entire time. She was hilarious... she thought I was hilarious... a best friendship ensued.

The low light of the trip was as follows:

Every night in hotel part of the lodge (we were staying in these separate little bungalows) they serve the most delicious hot chocolate. Well they had ran out and so in getting more they left all the condiments (freshly whipped cream, marshmallows and peppermint candies) out on the table. Well apparently children and the worst part, ADULTS alike, thought it was ok to stick their grimy paws in the marshmallows, without using a spoon, and Lick, I repeat LICK the whipped cream off the spoon. I caught a grown woman and a child both doing the above mentioned. Needless to say, stern looks and verbal disapproval, said loud enough so that they both could hear, were made.

The next night my sweet mother stood in line to be the first to get me my fresh hot chocolate and condiments, before anyone else could touch it. She is a champ!!

Our one and only family picture taken.

My family was amazed at my nonchalant attitude about the cold and the fact that I rarely wore my snow jacket or snow boots.

8 years in Utah will do that to you.

I hope that everyone had a delightful and delicious Christmas!!

Tiger, Tiger, Tiger

2010-12-07T17:53:00.000-08:00

Those words could be heard from the lovely British man who was standing behind me on the 18th. Just picture a sweet middle-aged man reprimanding Tiger for a missed shot and you might think you are there with me.

This weekend some of my sweetest and cutest guy friends came into town to visit our friend Robert. They realized that Tiger was leading the tournament and that I only lived 10 minutes away from said tournament. Needless to say... we went and braved the rain.

The Lake Sherwood Country Club is what I aspire to become... well not the CC per se, so much as being a member of it. Beautiful does not even begin to describe it.

We got there and worked out way backwards to the 8th hole to wait and watch Tiger tee off. I thought "oh great we are going to get a sweet picture." False. You could take pictures of all of the others golfers, but not Tiger. He traveled with 3 guys in Tiger Woods red shirts and an armed police officer. These guys were on the camera slash phone look out. Anyone with their cameras out or phones in position to take a picture had them either taken away or were severally warned. Totally normal. He also never smiled like the entire time.

(Side note: I forgot I had brought my camera and had been using my phone to take pictures the whole time and so it wasn't until the end of the 18th hole that I remembered and took it out)

We spent most of the day just watching some of the world's best golfers and then made our way back to the 18th to watch some of the last sets finish.

We followed Furyk and Cink from the 17th to the 18th, right here.

You can see this shot of Tiger's if you look really closely just to the right of the tee... the ball just landed there and didn't move.... it was unreal.

Crouching Tiger...

Tiger walking back to the top so they could have a shoot out.

It ended up being a shoot out at the end between McDowell and Woods... Woods lost which was super unfortunate. The crowd was pretty bummed as well.

(I was just glad that there were too many people for the security to properly keep track of and so we were able to sneak in some video and pictures)

(We had to turn the camera on before he took his shot because it made a noise and we didn't want to get caught... hence the ground shot for awhile)

Allow me to take this time to tell you about a very interesting phenomenon...

I have always been a fan of Tiger's. I would watch him in the finals on Sundays and cheered for him in life. I also always thought he was decent looking... I mean he was no LeBron, but come on... who is? I also sort of became disenchanted with him post Mistress Gate 2010. I understand that he is like the best at his sport and a ba-jillionaire... but I just didn't understand why all these women flocked to him... and then this Sunday...

I was baptized into the Church of Tiger...

I cannot begin to even describe it.

For starters the man has got arguably one of the finest butt's around. It really is a sight to behold.

Being in his presence and so close that you could touch him... (well if it weren't for the armed guard) is something else. It's like being in the presence of greatness. When he is around things just feel different.

As we left we were all talking about how there is just something about him. Something that you cannot even put words to.

We also said that he looked kinda evil with his goatee and that he looked super unhappy and not just because he lost... It was weird to think that here is this man, and everyone there knows all the bad things he has done. I cannot even imagine it.

I'll leave you with some parting shots of the course and the homes surrounding it...

The great things will outnumber the not-so great things

2010-11-21T21:14:00.001-08:00

I have plenty to say... you are thrilled I'm sure....

Some great things:

1. The other night driving home from work there was this obnoxious car behind me, a white pick up truck, with those new fangled headlights, the kind that are like bright white and super hard to look at, who was like riding my butt like we were in a club. I tried to get over for the longest time and no one would let me. Finally I was able to move over and let this insane truck pass me...

well not 10 seconds later I see the flashing lights off to the side and this wonderful police officer is crossing lanes like a mad man and gets right behind the obnoxious truck....

Justice was served.

2. The other weekend we had this new girls brunch for the newer girls who had moved into our ward. I was chatting with some new girls when one of them said, I have to tell you that we (talking about her friend and herself) think you are so pretty. Like every week we talk about how pretty your hair is, or how you have a rockin bod, or how you have the cutest clothes.

Obviously one of the greatest moments of my life to this point, duh, but more importantly it was weird not to be the one saying this to someone else. I feel like I always give people compliments when I feel like they deserve them and never have a problem telling someone that their outfit or hair looked amazing, but it kinda ruled to be on the other end of such a compliment. Also it helps that they are new and I have worn like 3 amazing outfits the past 3 weeks... just wait until next week... disappointment will abound.

3. Oprah's Ultimate Favorite Things... you had me at Oprah. Why did I cry when the audience walked away with the brownie edge pan? I don't even like brownies and yet I was so excited for them that I could not contain my joy. I was crying tears of joy.

4. Decision Points.

Whether you like W. or not,(I clearly LOVE him....) the book is great. I think one of the most amazing things that I have learned so far is how many friends he still has from when he was a child and high school and college. He has maintained these everlasting bonds with people and I think that says something about someone. Also I wish he had son....

5. This kid.

He makes me laugh. He is a giant. He thinks I am funny. And he doesn't think it's weird that I text him when we are sitting right next to each other in church. He will gossip like there is no tomorrow. He makes fun of people just as much as I do, if not more. He brings me his girl problems and listens to me go on and on about my irrational crushes. He also tells me I have Texas Sass... because I am being groomed to become Coach's Wife. A girl could not ask for a better looking or better BFF.

6. That Elle Belle calls me "May-Nah". It usually goes like this.... "Hi Ma" (which she has called me for months now) and then I say "Hi Elle Belle" and then she smiles and tilts her head and says "Hiiii May-Nah". I die.

She has become my little best friend. We talk about boys and Elmo, what's wrong in my life and horses (or Hores as she calls them)...

I love that my family has fallen in love with her just as much as I have. She has a special relationship with each of them. She calls my mom Too, and always prefers to be with her. She gives my brother hugs everyday when he gets home from school and always asks where he is when she gets here at like 9 am. She asks for Ky-uh right after my brother gets home and thinks it wonderful that he gives her chips. She can say Bonjour and Muy Importante. And she can say in a most exasperated voice, "Ohhhhh Tooooo". It kills me.

Some not so great things:

1. The amount of static-electricity that has been in the air here is just stupid. When you are trying to create massive amounts of volume for your hair, it doesn't help.

(On a side note one of my favorite parts of Mean Girls is when Damian says that Gretchen's hair is so big because it's full of secrets)

2. The lack of blogging in the blogosphere.... I don't know if it's the post Halloween blues... or the anticipation of the holidays, but I feel like some of you need to step it up in the blogging department. How I am suppose to live vicariously through you or know what is happening in your lives when you don't blog... depressing... and boring...

I am doing my part... with this posting... and although it is not as thrilling or ascetically pleasing to look at, as those of yours with pictures with your precious and adorable munchkins, at this point in my life... it will have to do...

Twinners

2010-11-08T19:10:00.001-08:00

This is what happens when best friends have a similar taste in clothing...

and go to the same social events...

Twinners!!

Pretty much from hair to toe...

and speaking of hair... just a little teasing and tousleing before the photo shoot that ensued.

Some kind of hair commercial... I am sure of it...

A Very Jersey Halloween

2010-10-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

My friend Jessica and I decided that we should pay homage to our favorite show on television and be "Guidettes" for Halloween...

Let the fake tan, Ed Hardy gear(courtesy of Katelyn), fake nails, teased hair and poufs begin!!!

Jessica informed me that we were not allowed to smile in any of our pictures because the Jersey Shore kids never smile when they are posing for pictures.

Fake tan and fake nails? You might think otherwise... but it's beautiful.

In fact we could not stop saying that everything about our outfits was beautiful.... and why not... they totally were.

It wouldn't be the Jersey Shore without a little girl on girl fighting... and hair pouf envy..

We were thrilled to arrive and see that our friend Rachel was also sporting a pouf and Jersey girl attire.... Let the posing begin...

There were a bunch of girls with cameras who kept saying "Snooki, Snooki, over here!!" And snapping pictures like we were on the red carpet... We could not stay in character....

The best costume of the night was my friend Corina (next to me in the hat)who was the Sun-Maid girl... she had the dress, the basket of grapes, the bonnet and the sun behind her.... it was genius.

You can see Corina in the background here... Us with my friend Lindsay... who was a Toddlers and Tiara's tap dancing princess.

On a side note: This evening was brought you by silkies... which ride up just enough and pull down just enough that outfits such as mine could be worn...

Love the pose against the wall... so angry... so Jersey...

We wouldn't be true Guidettes if there wasn't some major fist pumping... We might have killed it on the dance floor...

...my arms also might be sore this morning from so much fist pumping... But my friend Robert told me that there is actually a scientific name for it... it's called Guidal Tunnel and it's similar to Carpal Tunnel, but with a little more hairspray.

*Secretly Jessica and I wished we could dress like this, i.e. fake nails, darker than dark tans, fake nails and excessive hairstyles every day... but alas we live in California...

I see Jersey in our future someday though...

Houston we have a problem...

2010-10-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

...I had too much fun and didn't want to come back!!

(Reader Beware: World's Longest Post to Follow...

and by LONG I mean it took me TWO days to do this...)

I feel like there is just so much to report on... I don't even know where to start... so I guess I'll start at the very beginning... I heard it's a very good place to start...

Thursday:

This was state of my room the day I left... I think I brought every pair of jeans that I own and like 17 different pairs of shoes. A girl's gotta be prepared.

I arrived super late Thursday night and was thrilled beyond belief to see Katelyn!! I felt like we picked up right where we left off and didn't miss a beat even though it had been over a year since we had seen each other.

We arrived at her house, she showed me to my room and I was greeted by this!!

And slept on this...

Katelyn was the ultimate hostess the entire trip!!

That night we stayed up until 3:30 just chatting and chatting and chatting...

(Here is what her house and neighborhood look like during the day)

Now if you are like me, you probably are looking at these pictures and thinking that this looks like where Coach and Tami Taylor live... and that you half except Coach to be catching passes from Matt Saracen.... Don't worry I compared everything I saw to FNL.

Friday:

We woke up and went for walk in her parent's-in-law's neighborhood.

Some of the houses are just out of control...

Just another reason I could totally live there...

After that we grabbed lunch at Cafe Express which was beyond delicious.

Obligatory shot of us with food...

After that we headed over to F21 for a shopping extravaganza!!

Even the Forever 21 had Texas Pride.

We returned from the depths of shopping and then it was like we were back in Provo, getting ready for a night out.

I happened to be going out that night so Katelyn, being the professional that she is, did my hair and makeup. She put the velcro rollers in my hair and gave me the full Kim Kardashian treatment.

I met up with arguably the cutest boy in Texas at Pappasitos and had some of the best Tex Mex food of my life. And I know a little something about Tex Mex food, so that's saying something.
After that we went and saw the Social Network, which blew my mind and was amazing.
If you have not seen it yet and you love The Face as much as I do, then you should probably go and see it.

Saturday:

We went for a walk in Memorial Park and I think this was the moment that I realized that I could legitimately live in Houston. It was so pretty.

The weather was perfect. The scenery was beautiful. And the companionship was ideal.

Can you even believe all the beautiful woodlands?

I couldn't... I was dying...
Of course after we finished being one with nature we had to go shopping...

That evening Katelyn, her husband Matt and I all went out to Pappasitos. Yes I did eat there two nights in row... Yes it was the most delicious food ever... Yes I probably would have eaten there every night had it been possible.

We stayed up late pretty much every night either watching Guilianna & Bill, Real Housewives of..., Keeping Up With the Kardashians or just looking at old pictures. Which were an absolute riot...

Sunday:

The day we had both been waiting for.

The Texans Game!!!!

I seriously felt like we were VIP or something. Katelyn dropped me off to pick up the tickets, player passes and parking pass. As I asked different people where I needed to go to get everything, it was like I was being escorted through secret passages.

With everyone saying "Right this way ma'ma" and like velvet ropes being moved.

After running what seemed like several blocks I met back up with Katelyn and we drove to the Teal Lot to park. The man who took our pass was hilarious and said the following:

"Hello there pretty girls." And then "You have a nice time at the game pretty girls"

(On a side note, I felt like we received that treatment everywhere we went. It must be mandatory in Texas to call girls, Sugar, Sweetie, Darling, Sweetheart and Pretty Girl, which is something that I think I could definitly get use to.)

We walked to our seats and they were amazing. We were on the 28th row straight up from the goal line on the Texans side.

The game was more fun than I could have ever hoped for.

We got roasted sugary nuts.

And cheered our hearts out.

I had two friends on the team, well three if you count Matt Leinart... and why wouldn't we count him? My friend Dave Anderson that I went to high school with is #89 and plays on special teams and is sometimes used as the 3rd receiver and my friend Dave Nixon is #53 and also plays on special teams.

Katelyn was like the papparazzi because she had the best camera so every seven seconds I would say, oh that's a great shot, take a picture of that!

Right before half time the Texans Middle Linebacker got hurt and so they put in #53!

He played so well and had something like 6 tackles in the game. We cheered super loud everytime they said this name over the loud speaker... which ened up being a lot.

The Texans ended up coming from behind and winning in amazing fashion.

But now the best part of the whole thing...

We had player passes and so we went down to the service level and waited for the team to come out.

Unforunately I think we were just too exicted to remember to take any pictures once we were down and so we have none.

But it was still amazing to see Matty walk by, he was the first one out and made a beeline for the exit so my thoughts of saying hi or getting a picture were quickly dashed.

I got to chat with my friend Dave Anderson from high school and we also got to see some really interesting families who were there waiting for their players. It was like the ultimate case of rags to riches... slash new money. It was the most random assortment of people I have ever seen.

Dave Nixon finally came out after giving some interviews and we went and sat down to eat, although no one even ate anything, I think Katelyn and I were still too exicted from the game.

We left and met some really interesting people on our way back to the car, like Reggie, who told us we could call him Big Reg and informed us he had been to every home game since the franchise started. He was beyond funny.

That night we went to the Bergeson's and had a delicious dinner. Katelyn, her mother-in-law Bonnie and I chatted for probably 3 hours. It was great.

After dinner with the Bergeson's we headed back to Katelyn's for some delicious Blue Bell Ice Cream that I before I had only ever dreamed of.

It lived up to the hype...

Monday:

Having already warned Katelyn that I am nerd... she was nice enough to go with me to the Houston Space Center... as in "Houston... we have a problem", although technically it's...

A little background... I loved the movie Apollo 13... like love love loved it. So to see the mission control room and be in the room where Jim Lovell's wife was waiting and listening was kinda awesome.

We also got to see this Saturn rocket that they built for the last Apollo missions that they never ended up taking. To say it was big would be an understatement.

I kinda felt like we were in the 1960's, perhaps on an episode of Man Men, when as we were walking through the center, this Australian man stopped us and asked if we were flight attendants... and then told us it was a compliment.

Just waiting for the tour to start.

That night we had a delicious dinner at Matt's parent's house. His family was an absolute blast!

Tuesday:

My last day in Houston.

So Sad.

We went up to the Houston Temple before my flight had to leave and it was so lovely.

It is surrounded by the world's largest homes and so many trees.
It is so precious and tiny inside. And for the most part, all the little old ladies there were so cute.

We had just enough time after the temple to stop by the Texas Tea Room for one of the best lunches of my life.

They had me at Strawberry Lemonade in a Mason Jar...

After that it was time to say goodbye unfortunately...

I had such a blast with Katelyn.

Matt was nice enough to share slash let me hang out with his wife 24/7 for five days. I had so much fun with the both of them

They love each other so much and are so good together and to each other. It was so nice to be around.

... Remember when I said we were looking through old pictures and it was a riot... I happened like probably 15 minutes ago in your reading (remember worlds longest post). Well we happened upon this little gem that was taken like 3 years ago at the Hot Pockets as I like to call them in Utah. This picture and many others from that night contributed to my not needing to do abs for days because I laughed so stinkin hard that night.

Please do not mind me or my crazy swimsuit...
but peer just over my shoulder at the creeper in the back...

Gollum called... he wants his ring back...

Another sign of the apocalypse

2010-10-01T15:35:00.000-07:00

Today my mother and I were having a heart to heart... a much needed one at that.

(Mainly because I refuse to talk about my feelings and cry at the drop of of hat.)

Anyways I was telling her that I bit the bullet and created a profile on LDSsingles.com

(I know, I am as embarrassed to write this, as you are to read it. I have no picture, no info., just was looking at it to see if there was anyone worth anything on it in the Pacific Northwest Area. In case you were wondering... there is not.)

Well lo and behold... I come to find out... my mother created one for me!!!

(I know... I was shocked as you are)

She even filled out things about me... which she called my little brother in to check over.

(So now my mom and brother are in on this...)

He told her people did not talk that way anymore and that for the question "How would you describe yourself?" Saying: Pretty, smart, funny and independent, were not things that people ever said about themselves and in such a manner.

Apparently and according to my mom, she has had 4 people want to be friends with her version of me... so I have that going for me....

Because I only post 0.7 times a week

2010-09-24T16:58:00.001-07:00

Do you know how I know this? The lovely little stats tab on the dashboard of blogger. It also tells you how people are getting to your blog. Like of the 11 people that viewed it today 5 people came from this blog, 4 from this etc.

Maybe I am behind on the times, but it was kinda awesome and had lots of interesting facts. Like a while back, well when Katelyn got married, I did a post entitled Iprobablydatedyourhusband.blogspot.com. Apparently that title has been searched on google 15 times since I wrote that posting and a handful of people of have viewed this little blog because of it.

And for some random thoughts:

1. I am continually amazed, (I have said this before) by girls who are not married and have no sense of style. Simple tanks and short shorts do not cut it. Or maybe I just don't like this particular girl who was wearing this bland dismal outfit... but that's neither here nor there.

2. The newest Pottery Barn magazine has me clamoring for cold fall weather... and also a house for every season. I swear you would need to re-decorate like every aspect of your home just to make it transform into a Halloween Spooktackular or a Thanksgiving Harvest.

3. Praise be for all my shows which are back. I could care less that Yang and Owen got married. Their characters mean nothing to me. Although Meredith did look great in that episode.

4. I am hearting Texans football. I might also be hearting a player here or there... but that really is besides the point.

I am actually going back there in October and I am making it my mission, well really I am making it Katelyn and mine's mission, whether she likes it or not, to see Mr. Leinart, since he is on the team now. (We can pretend he is blowing a kiss in that picture) I have been told that if I play my cards right I stand a decent chance of becoming his 2nd Mormon Baby Momma.... fingers crossed... fingers crossed.

5. In addition... I think I need to find a boy who wants to live in Seattle.... I need to live there and this 90 degree weather does not make it any easier.

(I need to be back on this ferry.... greatest city in the world)

6. I think it's strange that some people don't see or understand the power of prayer...

7. Oh and in the laser hair removal front.... I think it's working.

8. I have gravitated to the middle of my bed. I use to sleep on the left side (if you are looking at it) and then I changed to the right side when I moved home... but now I sleep smack dab in the middle... Which I think means I probably can't get married anytime soon because I don't think my husband would like the idea of me asking him to sleep in another room so that I can have an entire Cal King size bed all to myself.

9. I am seriously contemplating going back to work at Anthro part time for the holidays. Except I just don't know if any store could top the one in Bridgeport and if I could get as excited about the new fall and winter wear when it's a billion degrees out.

Well this has probably upped my posting percentage and not much more than that....

Canning

2010-09-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

If you'll recall from last year we have a splendid apple tree in our back yard that just dumps apples by the tons.

It has also actually been feeling (temperature-wise) like fall here. It never got above 70 (up until today) and was just breezy and cloudy and glorious!!

My mom and I decided to harvest some of the apples the other day and this was what we ended up with...

Since lately I have been loving food storage (and all other things beloved by 45-year-old mother's of 7) I decided to learn how to can and actually do it.

It was sort of an arduous task, but it was fun.

Because there are lots of Jews in our school district, we get the Jewish holidays off. And Thursday happened to be one, so on my brother's first day off of school this year... I made him document my first attempt at canning.

Just peeling and peeling and peeling and peeling and...

Letting the apples do their thing in the simple syrup.

Pouring the apples into the cans.

Who needs to lift when you can screw lids on all day....

I let them boil for 20 minutes in the pot and then....

Ta-Da!

The finished product...

All in all it was a fun task and something that I would probably do again... but maybe not until I am 45 with 7 kids*

*Which means that there is a huge possibility that I will never do this again.

Lovely Ladies Luncheon

2010-08-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

Since moving home there is one thing that I miss more than anything... and that's entertaining. Most of my 8 years in Utah were spent entertaining to some extent and I had felt lost recently not being able to create and host.

Well lucky for me I have some lovely girlfriends who decided to make the journey up my house and spend an afternoon by the pool with me. But I figured if they were going to make the drive, there needed to be some kind of incentive... so I got to baking...

(Side note: I have been dying to throw a shower or party or any kind of part really and might have pretended like there were 15 people coming instead of just the 3 of us.)

Lucky for me I have a little bro who is super handy with camera was able to snap these delicious photos.

Cornmeal Blini Bites... kinda like a little bite of heaven.

Crispy Zucchini & Potato Pancakes with Goat Cheese... you had me at the Goat Cheese.

Of course we had to have the Strawberry Graduation Salad, an absolute staple when it comes to hosting fabulous friends.

We washed it all down with this delicious Herbal Iced Tea that my mom found in a Barefoot Contessa cookbook. Simplest thing of my life and super tasty.

We finished it off with these....

Strawberry Napoleons. A staple in my dessert dishes for quite some time now. I even managed to write an English paper about them in Writing 101 at BYU. Got an A... of course.

(Only A of my college career)

It was the greatest day!

I'll leave with a quote from my friend Jessica who said " Sorry I haven't been talking much... I am just so content right now, I can't even talk."

It was a great day, filled with great friends and great food.

B.O.E

2010-07-27T10:08:00.001-07:00

In case you were wondering, B.O.E. stands for Best.Outfit.Ever!

This post is probably only interesting to JJ since she inspired the shirt and loves random postings such as this...

Have you ever had one of those days where you were obsessed with your outfit?

I had one on Sunday.

I have been trying to emulate this look for a long time now.

I have seen it in magazines and on other super stylish people on their blogs and I always thought, Naw, I could never wear that.

Well I finally got the perfect capped sleeved striped shirt at Anthro and paired it with this gem of a yellow skirt I got at Target months ago. I was in love... and in fact still am.

Lupus

2010-07-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

See this gem of a lady? Well she just so happens to be my totally loving, positive and awesome mom.

She also just got diagnosed with Lupus.

She asked me to take it to the blog-o-sphere, to see if any of you (the whole 3 of you who read this) know someone who has it and how they have dealt with it, etc.

Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Highlight of the whole situation: When my mom told my grandma she said "Oh dear, the only people I know who have this are black...." To which my mom said that it must explain her affinity for black people.

Lots of white people

2010-07-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

I told a friend of mine that I was going to Utah and he said have fun with all the white people...

and have fun I did!!

(There are very few pictures because I was having too much fun to remember to take them. Also there is a chance that this posting will only be interesting to 3 people...

myself being one of them)

Thursday:

My dear friend Jessie picked me up with my little bff Brody and we went straight to Kneaders. I had my favorite Avacado Salad and then we went and hung out at her house. Her husband made us both two HUGE bowls of popcorn and we watched TV, chatted and devoured our popcorn and candy.

Jessie is one of the greatest friends that you could ask for. She asks the right questions and can relate to anything that you can tell her. She genuinely cares and listens and is one of my favorite people to hang out with.

Friday:

I went and saw my good friend Jeri and also to got to see my little friends Hank and Max, who are actually not even little anymore.

Then Jessie and I went to Blue Lemon and had the tastiest lunch ever!

We took it to the Splash Park and had a picnic with her little guy.

When we got back to her house she let me curl her hair and we had some lovely girl time.

Brody is by far the cutest little boy on the face of the planet. We really became best friends. He let me hold him and snuggle him... which Jessie said he rarely does.

Can you even handle that face?

Then Jenna came by and picked me up so that we could have the yummiest dinner!

We went to Communal and I told my mom later that I thought I might have to just end my life because it was the most delicious dinner of my life and I did not think it was worth living and not being able to eat there every day.

The chef in the kitchen brought us over sauces to try because Jen was unsure if she was going to like the mushroom sauce on the chicken. It was like greatest dinning experience of my life.

We went on a great walk after and then got us some delish fro-yo.

Saturday:

JJ and I went on the best walk! We went up the canyon and I wanted to die. I forgot how beautiful it was. I did not even want to leave it was so gorgeous.

I met up with Joy and Bethany and their families at the park. It was great to catch up with Bethany who I had not seen in like 5 years and Joy, who I really feel blessed to have in my life!

I came back and Jen and I got ready for our evenings. It pretty much consisted of a dance party while curling our hairs. Justin Bieber might have dominated the playlist.

Jen is the greatest person on the planet! We can laugh, dance, sing, and car dance like their is no tomorrow. She indulges me in my crazy thoughts and doesn't seem to mind when I pretend to faint due to dramatics.

I went to Guru's with one of my best friends Chris, and we were joined by Bryce and Dave.

Chris and I use to go to Guru's all the time and sit outside on Center Street and pretend that we were at a little bistro in Paris. It was great to get back into the swing of things.

After that we all went back to the boys house and my "greatest friend" Brit joined us.

Over the course of the trip, I think I told Brit at least 17 times...

"you are the greatest friend ever!!"

We ending up playing some Truth or Dare... highlight of my life... there was some of this

and I will leave it at that.

Sunday:

After approx. 3 hours of sleep I awoke and decided that I could not possibly leave Utah that day. So I cancelled my flight and booked one for Tuesday... but then I decided that I could not leave Tuesday either and Brit and her some of her friends were driving out to Huntington on Thursday for the 4th... and she said I just had to drive out with her.... so I cancelled my other flight and resigned to stay until Thursday.

We went to my old ward and it was great to see the old bishopric and all my old friends from church.

Chris and I use to have a Sunday tradition of making dinner and the most delicious cookies, so after church he came over and I made chicken pillows and he made cookies.

Bryce, Dave and Cody joined and it was great!

Monday:

Brit and Jen both had to work so I read this book:

Which is in the young adult section.... which is awesome since I am one....

I went on a run here

I was in heaven... I had been missing it for forever.

Then I ran back and Brit did my lashes and we went to the boys softball game.

Oh how I have missed me some Provo men's city league softball games....

Tuesday:

I read this book:

Can you tell everyone worked and I had all the time in the world??? This book was actually marked as "Children's Bestseller 25%". Yep... Children's.

I went for two runs.

I also forgot to eat that day... well actually at like 8:12 pm I realized that I had not eaten that day and then it became some kind of competition with myself to see how long I could go.

Wednesday:

My last full day.

Lunch here:

with Bryce and Dave. Usually I detest Panda Express, as the food is quite often sub-par, but whether it was the company or just truly tasty food, the meal was excellent.

The most intense and glorious ran storm rolled in and so I went and sat out Brit's front porch and read this book:

and watched it just pour!

I was excited because Brit's roommate Tiff had been gone the whole time and got back late that night. It was great to see her!

Then Brit and I decided that we wanted to roast marshmallows... so Chris and Dave came over... some how it turned into Round Two of Truth or Dare.... there was lots of this:

We girls pulled an all nighter and then got in the car that morning for the drive out to California. It was one of the best car rides ever and Brit's friend Mikey had made us all cookies, brought us water and bagels (which of course I did not eat... bread). I use to hate that drive... but a car full of girls and one boy singing and dancing and chatting made it go by so fast.

I was sad to leave all my sweet friends but it left me definitly wanting more and with a greater resolve to come back more often!!

Withdrawls

2010-06-30T13:42:00.001-07:00

I have not even left yet and I am already sad and weepy about it...

I keep trying to rationalize staying longer... it is worked thus far.

*This t-shirt is in homage to Jessie and the t-shirts that we saw at (gasp) Walmart. I came this close to buying one... pathetic.

Pictures and stories, and let me tell you there are some stories, will be coming shortly.

Vegas...

2010-06-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

So over the Memorial weekend, my friends Jessica and Aimee and I decided that we needed a little "time away". We thought what better place, then to hit up the The Prairies... aka the English translation of the Spanish word, Las Vegas.

Day One:

Here we are staring off our journey. Hey super large head and face, known as Amanda.

We arrived at the Monte Carlo and headed straight for the pool.

Now growing up I always had specialty drink by the pool. Come to think of it, I had specialty drinks pretty much any placed that served them.

Well I come to find out that neither Jessica or Aimee had ever experienced such a treat!

We put an end to that immediately!

Just trying our hand at some Virgin Hurricanes (strawberry pina coladas)

*Is it strange that i loved, I repeat loved, ordering virgin drinks? Every time I kept thinking I wonder what these bar tenders are thinking? Three girls, clearly over 21, drinking like they are 8 years old? Nope just some Mormons in Vegas.

That night we headed out to Dos Camino. It is the best guacamole in Vegas, like it literally was voted such. Aimee and I had both been there before, so we were super excited to share the deliciousness with Jessica.

On our walk back we had one last stop to make:

Serendipity 3!!!!

I have always wanted to try their frozen hot chocolate, but since I have never made it out to N.Y.C, I had yet to do so.

In case you can't tell.... it was heaven!

This little gem was actually in our hotel, so when our friend Shauna said we had to go there, it was super convenient to just go down the elevator and pick a tasty treat!

Day Two:

Sipping on some kind deliciousness...

On our way out that night we noticed that Aimee, 25, and this other lady, oh probably 60 something, were wearing the same stretchy, faux leather, sparkly pants from Target.

It was too good of a photo opportunity to pass up.
Here are Aimee and I on our way down the escalator. Just getting getting excited for a night of tasty food and dancing...

...little did I know that neither were in store. The dancing idea was ix-nayed the second we got there and there was not a restaurant without a 30 minute wait.

Here are Jessica and I waiting outside of Sushi Samba to eat. It was the only place that could be quasi decided on or rather the only place that was near by without a ridiculous wait time.

Maybe you are thinking, wait Amanda hates sushi, like she cannot even eat it, it makes her ill.

Ring, Ring, Ring! You are right!

Another part of the plan, tasty dinner, foiled again.

Overall though, it was an amazing weekend that pretty much consisted of lots of pool time, lots and lots of shopping, and in case you haven't already noticed....

plenty of delicious food and treats!!

I'll leave you with this parting shot... because it's kind of awesome of my shoes.

WTF Glee

2010-05-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight on a very special episode of Glee...

Did you miss them saying that at the beginning of tonight's episode?

I didn't hear them say it either, but apparently Glee has gone from being funny and relevant to a montage of after-school special topics.

It all starts for me with the "Home" episode.

Newsflash Mercedes... you bring it to church and you are a whole lot of woman, but a cheerleader you are not.

Do you know how I know this?

Because you couldn't fit into the Cheerios costume and so you were wearing the track suit, (something Regina George did when where pink sweats were the only things that fit her anymore).

I don't know about you, but we did not have large and in charge cheerleaders at our high school. The girl can barely walk up stairs or sing without being out of breath. I can say these things about her since I use to be chubby. I still carry a "fat kid card" in case anyone was wondering.

And then she has the audacity to sing "Beautiful" by Christina and tells anyone who has ever felt fat or ugly to join her. Pretty sure Mean Girls has already been there and done that. That might go over well with the Color Guard crowd, but there is a caste system in high school whether people like it not. (I should know, since I still pretend like I am in high school.)

Don't get me wrong. I think Mercedes (a fictional character mind you) seems like a fine person. But there are certain things some people just can't do, and trying to do those things to break down boundaries, esp. on a show about show choir...well it can get a little obnoxious.

But the icing on the cake for me was tonight's episode "Theatricality".

Hey Burt Hummel, Kurt's dad, if Finn were also gay would you let him share the same room as your son?

I think not.

I hate, hate, hate how down on Finn the dad was. I get he was trying to protect his son's feelings, but honestly it wasn't even fair to Finn. We all have been in situations where we had to be around a boy that liked us and we did not return the same sentiments. Now can you imagine having to share a room with said boy?! Creepy.

Also why did Kurt think that doing their room in lots of draped sheer fabrics was ok?

Oh yeah totally not gay at all.

Super masculine.

Someone like Finn would just love that... not.

And the part that irked me the most was when Kurt said that being interesting and different was the best thing about him. Uh hello, you are so much more than your sexuality. If the best thing about you is that you are flamboyant and gay, then you are missing the boat and probably need to do some soul searching. Likewise, if I said that the best thing about me was that I made delicious treats and liked boys, that would not be a very fair assessment of who I am.

I just want Glee to get back to singing great songs and exploring other characters, maybe even perhaps "Other Asian" and stop with the special messages.

Worst Wedding DJ Ever

2010-05-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

So last night I was introduced to this little gem...

The Phil Collins in the air tonight is some kind of slight homage to Mike Tyson in the the movie The Hangover, for those of you who have seen it.

I of course haven't seen it because it was rated R

(false, I totally have seen it multiple times and have loved every second of it)

Greatest thing is, is that you never see it coming... and then he comes out with the one, two punch... well rather slap.

Thankful

2010-05-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

I know what you're thinking. Is Amanda blogging about track #9 on the 2003 Kelly Clarkson CD with the same name?

Well kinda.. I mean I probably should since I think at one point or another it was the soundtrack to my life....

As I was sitting here I starting thinking about some of the things that get me pumped and that I am grateful or thankful for. So I am going to share them with you in no particular order: (disclaimer... some of the photos came from the gems' below blogs.)

1. I am grateful that I am blogging this from this...

Oh hey blackberry bold. I decided it was high time I stepped in 2010 and I think I stepped in with style if I do say so myself.

2. I am thankful for this lady.

You know how when you are little and there is a cool older girl that you tried to copy and emmulate, well I still do that and I am 26. Pretty much whatever she likes I like. I remember when we first met I was drinking diet coke like it was water and had probably thought about investing in some kind of IV drip. Well I recall that she didn't drink soda. I remember her saying something to the effect of "I get enough caffeine from all the chocolate I eat." I think I like stopped cold turkey. I remember going out to eat and ordering water and wondering if she noticed that we were the only two drinking water... Like kindred spirits, like two like minds. Oh and I wouldn't mind having her wardrode too. Fact: I will be going out and trying to find the exact shirt she is wearing. She pretty much is like a surroagte older sister and I am pretty much indebted to her and so blessed to know her. Oh and her little munchkins too.

3. Usually I am not grateful for not having kids and a husband, as I think we are all aware... But I am pretty sure if I had either, I would not have been able to procure these little lovelies.

4. Jungle fever. Why am I grateful for jungle fever? Simple really... It's a one word answer. Lebron.

I love love love him. The other morning I went to breakfast with my friends Robert and Bryce and we were talking about the playoffs. They said something the Cavs series and I said, well rather I shouted whilst clutching my hands to my chest "I LOVE HIM! Oh my gosh I LOVE him." I then proceeded to rant and rave about him. But let's be real...He has like magical powers. Sometimes I think I get misty when I watch him play. Probably because "We are all witnesses"... it's kinda like the gospel of James (Lebron James that is)

5. This lady warms my soul. Like so many of us who sit on the couch and complain about politics or the state of our country, she went out there and did something about it. I was so inspired by her that my mom and I went to a tea party near our house.

6. These ladies!

I get to see them in a month and I could not be more thrilled. They always made me feel like I was just another sister and not just the friend hanging around. They are so positive and beautiful and I cannot wait to sit around and chat and laugh with them. If we don't leave the couch the whole weekend and just play with their little ones I'll pleased as pie.

7. I know there are lots of reasons to be thankful for Peyton Manning but my reason today is that him being on the front of the new Wheaties Fuel cereal has inspiried my dad to start eating a real breakfast every morning... As opposed to just eating a cookie.

Also let it be known that my mom and I scoured the store trying to find the box with Peyton on it, knowing full well that my dad would not eat another box of Fuel unless Peyton was the athlete gracing the front...

8. And how could I forget this little lady. Oh hey most beautiful little baby ever. I die. She is the cuddliest, funniest and sweetest little person that I know. We get each other...

9. Oh and I am like super thankful for this.

I pretty much spend hours at a time in it. It is part of my addiction. I say it's an addiction because we had a partly cloudy day the other day and I was convinced that I was not going to get my sun in... so I went tanning....

10. And I almost forgotabout these... Fabulash equals dates. It's a proven fact. No lashes... No dates... Lashes... Dates.

11. It's kinda related to the one above, but I am also grateful crushes. You might say hey Amanda, how do you weigh less then you did in high school? Well for starters I would say, That's easy gang... I was a whale in high school... but the real reason is simple, having a crush on a cute boy equals my dislike for food, my love for the sun and fake lashes, and an intense amount of facebook stalking.

Of course I would love for there to be a 12 in which I said I was grateful that said crush knew I existed on a romantic level... but alas.... we shall have to wait on that one... And I will have to make do with being thankful for Patience.

An observance

2010-04-05T14:39:00.001-07:00

This post is merely an observation about something that I have noticed in Conference.

The past two or three conferences I have made it my goal to watch all four sessions and write down little notes as they speak (minus the woman of course, because for some reason I usually tune out around the time they say "I love exclamation points")

I noticed the past two times that there was theme. I am assuming that these themes are not just noticeable to me but to all those that are watching. I felt like last conference the theme was all about repentance and that you can always come back no matter how long away you have been gone. When I heard that I remember thinking, "what must be going on in the church that practically every talk is mentioning this?" And then I thought, oh my gosh maybe I am just picking up on these things because they are about me and to me..." repentance... cough-cough.

But this time around I realized that I wasn't just picking up on things because they were things I needed, but because they were part of a larger theme. And that theme was Motherhood.

Again this makes me think, what is going on in the church that they needed to tell mothers, over and over again to teacher their children in the principals of the Gospel and to be examples to them?

Are mothers going off the deep end? Or does the Big Guy upstairs know that something huge-time is coming down the road and so mothers need to have taught their children and be examples to them?

I surely don't know what it means, seeing as how I am neither a mother nor a prophet.

Any thoughts?

Adam and Eve

2010-03-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was my week to teach in our Relief Society. The lesson was on Adam and Eve and so I thought what better way to teach the lesson and win the hearts of millions, then to make some scrumptious sugar cookies shaped like some tempting apples!

I thought that this tray my grandma gave me years ago would work perfectly! "From The Garden..." of Eden that is.

The lesson was a success. We spent most of the lesson sharing stories and laughing and me saying things like "How come the scriptures don't have more shout-outs to Eve?" I seriously love my calling. I love that it gives me once a month when I can really dig deep on a gospel topic and strengthen my testimony in different areas.

On a side note: If you want to get set up on a date, which none of you do since everyone that reads this blog is either married or engaged, I suggest you sit with a tray of cookies such as the ones above, out in the foyer of a church building and just wait for every middle aged woman to approach you and 1. Ask if you are single, 2. Ask if you would like to date either their son, grandson, nephew, or the only mid-single guy in their ward.

It works like a charm.

Ugly Kids and other things

2010-03-13T10:46:00.000-08:00

I know what you're thinking. Amanda, you just got back from a weekend in Seattle why aren't you posting pictures from your trip? Well I will tell you why, I am lazy and it seems like a lot of work right now.

But what doesn't seem like a lot of work is writing about nothing:

Fact One: I have a friend, who does not read this blog, (thank goodness), who has an ugly kid. I know it's probably super rude of me to say, but this baby is not cute. Even my mom thinks the baby looks like some kind of alien creature. Like if I saw the baby I would probably say something like this, " what a cute little outfit she has on", because there is nothing else that I could compliment her on. Granted she is like a new little child, but she is not cute. And the worst part is the that the mom wants to enter her into a Cutest Kid Contest. It's kind of like American Idol and the awful signers. Like the ones whose friends don't have the heart to tell them that they can't sing. What do you even say to something like that? Oh don't enter your profoundly ugly child. She will never win and it is a waste of the entry fee?

Fact Two: Oprah is not a real person and she pretends to be. A few weeks ago when Nate was on her show they were talking about Lowe's, the home improvement store and Oprah told him "Oh ever since you told me about it I have totally been going there." Uh, false. Oprah we all know that you don't go to Lowe's. You might have your people go there, but you most certainly do not go there. I cannot even imagine Oprah with a mider saw like cutting her own crown molding... probably because it has never happened.

Fact Three: I am deeply saddened that Alex Lambert got voted off American Idol. In fact I got misty. Poor little guy. I thought he was super precious and actually kinda good. Also Kara bugs like no other. Why is she constantly in Simon's shot? Move Away! She is such a creeper. And she always acts like she has the last word of the panel. Nope, sorry honey, it's Simon.

There it is... a post about nothing...

Justin "Veever"

2010-03-03T18:58:00.000-08:00

This little girl cracks me up.

Maybe because she is irrational like me.

Pretty much she is using the "secret." My mom suggested that we put a video out there of me so that I could meet someone I loved. I just don't think me crying about Justin Timberlake or one of my thousands of crushes would be nearly as endearing...

Springtime Bedding

2010-02-23T09:27:00.000-08:00

Allow me to clarify. I know that it is not spring yet. Actually, I am fully aware of that. But this bedding makes me happier then a clam, ( a phrase which I do not totally understand).

It all started with that gem of a pillow in the middle. When I was with my mom helping her pick out new bedding for her room I spotted it. It was love at first sight. I had been wanting to switch up my room for a while now, i have bedding A.D.D., as is diagnosed by the fact that I have had 7, that's right 7 different bedding's since 2002.

I had been loving the yellow and grey combo and was super thrilled to have found my "inspiration pillow." This was going to be what I shaped my new room around.

When my dear friend Brittany came out to visit in January I showed it to her and we have both been on the look out for bedding that what would go with it. You would think, oh yeah B.B. & B would totally have like a plain gray duvet, you would be wrong.

Luckily for me, she loves Target as much as I do and sent me a picture of this bedding. We both weren't sure if my "inspiration pillow" would go with it, so yesterday my mom and I took the pillow case with us and discovered that they match perfectly!

I am excited for my new bedding and the new look that it gives to my room and the fact that I need to go out and get lots of new things for it as well.

JoAnn's here I come!

FNL

2010-02-10T22:05:00.000-08:00

Around here that can only mean one thing...

Friday Night Lights.

(Oh and this guy... hey Tim Riggins...)

A few weeks back we started with season 1 and we have been watching religiously ever since. I may or not be some kind of FNL fanatic and demand that we watch it every night.

I am also watching the current season... so i am getting the most bang for my buck.

While I can't say that I am pleased with the way that the current Dillon Panthers are behaving, I do love the old ones. And so... my dad, brother and I decided that since we act like we know the characters, such as Tami Taylor ( a name which can only be said with a lovely Texas accent) and Coach Taylor we figured that we needed some Panther gear to make it more legit.

Just my dad and I, in our matching Dillon Panthers T-shirts.

My brother rebelled and went for the Dillon Football shirt.
My mom said that they were supposed to be our Valentines' Day presents and was shocked when my brother and I both insisted that we open them the second that we got them so that we could wear them while watching.

I think Buddy Garrity would be proud of our Panther Pride.

I know, I know...

2010-01-23T09:26:00.000-08:00

... two posts in one week. Sacrebleu!

But this guy,

who I will have you know I got his autograph in like 1993/94 when he was with these fools..

yeah that's him on the far right with the awesome shades..

He just got signed to, your friend and mine, Justin Timberlake's record company. They sang this song on Ellen this week, she says that he is her new favorite singer, which is like pretty awesome.

Anyway, I might I have fallen in love with this song and listened to it upwards of 50 times, like in the past day.

So listen to it, love it and then also check out their version of Hallelujah that they did for Hope for Haiti, which I of course didn't watch when it was actually on but have been enjoying all morning.

Un-Birthday

2010-01-18T17:54:00.000-08:00

** Warning... Longest post in the world to follow....

So a few weeks I decided that I did not want to turn 26. Why, you might ask? Oh I'll tell ya... Because 26 is the most disgusting number ever. See look at it:

twenty-six.

Gross.

You know what's not a gross number? 25. See look:

twenty-five

isn't she a beaut?

I went so far as to tell my parents I did not want gifts (noises of utter-disbelief to follow).

I told pretty much every person I know that I thought 26 was gross and I refused to turn it.

Well Thursday, the 14th, the day before my birthday, I realized that I would be even more sad and melancholy if I really didn't celebrate it. So I caved in and told my parents I did want something and called my friends in L.A. and told them that they now had my permission to plan something.

So the following chronicles my birthday:

I awoke that morning and had received some special cards in the mail from two very special people. I pretty much wanted to cry seeing that two of my dearest friends, who didn't even know that I was being the Grinch Who Stole Birthdays, had sent me the sweetest birthday cards ever.

This one from Jamie and her little guy Bryson. He picked out the card and probably has some sort of career working for Hallmark.

Then I opened a sweet card from Joy and she enclosed this lovely picture that Chase drew for me. It says " I love Amanda From Chase"

And then "Luck Charms and Luck Cafe". Which is perfect since at 26 I need all the luck I can get.

Then my mom took me to Nordstrom and

got me some sweet jeans.

Our Nordstrom has a Blue Stove, there are only like 4 other Nordstrom's that have them. It is like some kind of genius place that only serves appetizers! Heaven. Pure Heaven. The portions are super small, think like smaller then most side salads, but it is the perfect amount,

(Note: I sort of forget to take pictures of the food until we had already eaten most of it... but you get the idea)

We had Sea Salt Lavosh, (like basically tortillas), hummus and sweet peppers with feta.

An arugala salad with crispy polenta

And finally some sweet potato frites with a cilantro lime aioli.

It was such a lovely lunch and I was so glad that I got to spend my birthday with my mom, it had been 7 years since we last spent it together and it's kinda like a special day for her to seeing has how she labored for days, (literal days) on end to bring me into the world.

After lunch we came home and I went with my dad and brother to outlet mall and my dad bought me some totally awesome sweat pants, because lets be honest that you can never have too many cozies.

After that I headed down to L.A. to have dinner with my friends. My friend Jessica called around all afternoon and was able to get us a spot at the Pink Taco.

Now take your minds out of the gutter for seven seconds and realize that this is best mexican place in the world. Ok, so it's not like real Mexi food , but that's because real Mexi food makes me sicker than sick. They one in Las Vegas that I eaten at before with my family so I knew that it would be great. Plus the Google review says it's a great place to star watch.

( Disclaimer: There were no stars there that night)

So we get there, it's a party of 10 and our waiter, this guy

starts off by rambling off the 1000's of tequilas that they have. Everyone at the table was just short of sitting there listening to him thinking, poor guy, going through all this work and no one is going to order anything off that menu. So finally this kid spoke up and said, Sorry, we aren't very big drinkers here... The waiter looked uber despondent,

but he was sort of good sport about it, emphasis on the kind of.

It was great to celebrate at such a fun restauarunt with some of my friendliest and funniest friends.

Clearly afraid of the candle or the flan. I'm going to say it was probably the flan, I don't know flan.

We went back to the girls house after and had my favorite Red Velet Cupcakes. More people joined in the birthday day festivities and turned out to be one of the best birthdays ever.

I am so thankful for all of the birthday texts, calls, presents, facebook messages, etc. It truly made my day.

Oh but it doesn't stop there. My weekend just keep getting better. So my sweet friend Brittany had booked herself a ticket to California for the weekend and was able to spend Sunday morning and afternoon with me.

I made this girl's famous Strawberry Graduation Salad and it was amazing.

We also had paninis, well I had mine on a tortilla, so I guess Brittany had a panini and I had quesadilla, which were equally delicious.

We got to sit back on my bed and watch Gray's and Private Practice, which was fabulous. It made us feel like we were back in Provo again sitting on my bed watching our favorite TV shows, if only Idol had been on, then it would have been exact!

It was so great to see her since it had been since May, and get to catch up, chat, gossip, vent and laugh.

Clearly we laughed a lot...

And so ends the longest post in the world. I might phone Guinness to see if it qualifies for some kind of award.

Mary Poppins

2010-01-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

You probably didn't know it, but Mary Poppins and I actually have a lot in common:

1. We both have large bags. She pulls lamps out of her's, I can pull two 32 oz. of DC and red vines out of mine( a throw back to my Provo days)

2. We both like to musically express ourselves in "A Spoonful of Sugar".

She sings it, I whistle it.

3. She is practically perfect in every way... need I say more...

but how we are really most alike....

we are both nannies!

I get to spend three days a week with this little munchkin!

Holla at my new job.

And Holla at this little lady, who I get to spend my days with.

Her name is Elle and she is just barely 13 months.

It was such a blessing that I was able to find this job.

I was in such a funk. I was working at my dad's office, (which I still do and I am very grateful for) but I was missing little ones and I was feeling a little down in the dumps about not doing anything enriching. And it's not like any teaching jobs were opening up.

So my brothers' doctor was calling my mom to schedule an appointment and brought up that her daughter-in-law needed someone to watch her little one a few days a week and she remembered my mom telling her that I am obsessed with little ones.

We met and it was love at first sight!

She is lucky little lady in that she has two of the most amazing and dedicated parents who love her so much and try to spend as much time with her as possible, and grandparents (my brother's doctor) who spoil her with love, enriching toys and darling outfits.

She is the biggest snuggle bug on the planet and usually falls asleep on my lap while we are snuggin and watching Sesame Street or in my arms while I am holding her and she is giving me hugs.

The only downside.... Well it's not like when I was 6 and I would take my baby doll to the mall and I thought that people would think that she was real and that I was in fact old enough to be her mom.

When I take this little lady to the mall, not only is she real, but ahem ahem... I am old enough to be her mom... sigh...

*** Don't mind how annoying my voice is. Also she loves oldies.

Gimbels called...

2009-12-21T16:06:00.000-08:00

...they want their Christmas tree back.

This year it was a collaboration with my brother and I both contributing ornaments. He wanted a purely silver tree and I had gold and red ornaments. I suggested a "mash up" if you will of Christmas decor. He was not pleased, but conceded.

I am especially proud of my twirling, swirling ribbon.

In the end I would say that tree turned out rather nicely, even my brother agrees.

On a side note, I would like to thank the following families for sending Christmas cheer my way in the form of pictures of their cute families:

The Uffens

The Glenns

The Griffins

The Cooks

It has been such a treat to receive your Christmas cards and they are proudly displayed on our mantle. I love getting them and looking at them with my mom who always remarks that the wives are so beautiful and the children so very precious.

Merry Christmas!

WTF SYTYCD?

2009-12-16T19:27:00.000-08:00

I am so confused by So You Think You Can Dance.

I felt like last night's show was super rushed. One hour?! Really only one hour? Every other Tuesday night episode has been two hours, and for the finale, the grand-daddy of them all it was only an hour?

Not to mention that there were no solos. Lame!!! Esp. since some people's solo's are like boring times a billion to watch and I think people should have to see those so that certain people get voted off.

I was dying to see Jacob do his solo. The kid has some serious hops and is a technical genius and perhaps, dare I say it, a dancing god?

There was no special dance number. It wasn't at the Nokia Theater and it seemed so low budget. This doesn't seem like a seasoned show, it seemed like the local cable variety show.

But I guess the thing that most surprises me is America. I get the appeal of Russell.

The kid is krumper, which is not a style of dance in my opinion, it's like someone having a seizure, but I do NOT think that he deserved to win. Yes he has made leaps (no pun intended) and bounds since the beginning, but Jacob was and is America's best dancer.

The End.

Jacob was totally worth it

2009-11-24T18:11:00.000-08:00

The following post recounts a series of unfortunate events... It is entirely true and could probably serve as a warning.

So last night I went down to FHE for Mr. SM3(Santa Monica Third Ward). Hilarious. If I had the mind to take pictures I would have. There was a talent portion, evening wear and pick up lines. Two personal favs of the night... (warning: one is like uber Mormon and the other is uber not). The first one was "Is your name Virtue? Because you have been garnishing my thoughts unceasingly" the second one was "Is that a mirror in your pants? Because I think I see my self in them"

Afterwards I got invited to see this little indie movie, staring a bunch of no names about Vampires. It's called New Moon, maybe you have heard of it? I went with a friend who shall remain nameless for the fact that it would damage his masculinity, as well as the fact that he is the one that wanted to see it, and that...

wait for it.... he loves the movies.

So as we are leaving the church parking lot I think to myself, "you know you should move your car, they might lock up the parking lot."

"Pah!" I said back to myself. Why would I listen to such astute and sound advise? I just stuffed that "still small whisper" in my back pocket and started getting excited about seeing Jacob and his shirtless glory.

It took forever to find the theater mainly because it was in a strip mall and was the size of a Jamba Juice. Now let me paint a picture for you: There are approximately 10 people in the theater. We pick a seat in the middle of the middle. There are still plenty of seats. Then this crew of kids in odd clothes comes and sits..... right next to me! I look around... yep there are still at least 100 seats left including more seats in our row. But no, they came and sat down right next to me. After a few minutes they started and speaking and low and behold it was the beautiful language of love.... German!

Duh!

Of course it was! Of course they were! Germans love putting unsuspecting people in confined spaces. It's like kinda what they excelled at for a number of years.

The shocker of the evening was that I actually like loved the movie. Like really really loved it. It could be because Jacob represents all that is right in the world or could be because Edward was hardly in it at all... which meant that he and Bella had less of a chance to have awkward, breathing, staring moments with each other.

So we get back to the church and

the parking lot is locked. Like all three gates and even the gate for pedestrians.

Hmm that's weird. Pretty sure I knew I should have moved my car. Pretty sure I heard in my head "Amanda move your freakin car!" Pretty sure I didn't heed such advise. So at 12:45 at night my friend Robert, had to drive me all the way back home and then back. Yikes.

Now as I was getting out of his car, I thought "you should make sure you have your car keys" Oh please, like I even needed my car key. I didn't have my car. Why would I want to check for them? Why would I actually listen to that little voice inside.

So as I am getting ready to have my dad take me into work today, I realize.... drum roll please.... I DON'T HAVE MY CAR KEY!!!!

Well of course I don't have it! I left it in Robert's car. I mean it was only natural for me to continue to make bone-headed decisions.

So today included: Robert taking my key to the car, my dad driving by to move my car from the parking lot (which was finally unlocked), my dad driving back to work, then me and my dad driving back down Santa Monica and getting my car and then driving all the way back. Oh and did I mention that there was traffic almost the whole way down there and the whole way back?

All day today I have been thinking, "What am I supposed to learn from this?" Here is what I have come up with

1. That little voice is not my imaginary friend but just a close friend who likes to tell me things and hopes that I will learn to listen.

2. I have the best dad in the whole world. You might think your dad is the "World's Best Dad.", but mine actually is. I actually already knew that, but it was reaffirmed to me today.

And so even though today and last night were super stressful and I was ready to chuck something at anyone who crossed my path today.....

Jacob was totally worth it.

Dear swine flu,

2009-11-14T16:16:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time I thought you might be kinda fun to have. From what people were telling me about you, you mainly were just a sore throat and a cough.

Jackpot! I love a sore throat and a cough. So I thought, hmm... swine flu you and I might wanna hang out sometime. It would give me a sore throat and that always means a sexy voice to follow and let's be honest that it's never a bad thing to have a sexy voice.

But you tricked me.

Not only are you a sore throat and cough, but you also are dizziness, nausea, a runny nose, a stuffy nose, a headache, the chills, and a super annoying fever.

So I think we are going to need to break up. Because you are like ruining what little social life I had and are kinda getting on my nerves.

With no love what-so-ever,

Amanda

First Research Paper on Gray's

2009-11-06T08:15:00.001-08:00

So in the Winter of 2003 I took this class called Infant Development at BYU. We were required to to write research paper on something related to infants.... it could be anything. I detest research papers. I think that they are beyond lame. I did what I usually did and picked the most obscure topic imaginable.

It was about this method called Kangaroo Care. I picked it because all the research was done in like Romanian and translated and I thought my professor wouldn't have ever heard of it and so he couldn't give me a bad grade for saying or quoting something incorrectly, because he won't even know it was incorrect.

It is not really practiced in the US, but they do it a lot in middle eastern countries and eastern Europe. Basically they take babies who are in the NICU and have the mom's hold the babies against their bare chests. It helps the babies learn to self regulate and it helps them to thrive in an un-thrive-able situation, a cold bed hooked up to monitors and tubes.

Well I got a C+ on it, which was fine. I didn't really give a rats. My mom refers to it as "the most boring paper ever." Well low and behold it was on Gray's last night.

"When the baby’s fate seemed sealed, Alex's tenderness reappeared and he held her and assured her she wasn’t alone. His technique, the kangaroo hold, kick started her system. Bailey explained it often worked better with skin-to-skin contact, so he spent the rest of the episode shirtless. "

I knew that I liked Kangaroo Care.

The case of the perverted spider

2009-10-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

If there was a website for registered human offenders, that guy would on it.

Why you might ask?

Oh because I am pretty sure that he is the perverted spider that has been biting me.

But spiders can't be perverted you say, they aren't human.

Well the spider that has been biting me as of late, has one dirty, evil little mind. Not only do I have bites where the sun does not shine, but he has created what appears to be a third nipple.

Now that might be graphic or inappropriate for a forum such as this, but I had to get the word out there about this devilish creature.

As of today I have 11 bites.

I have washed all my sheets, vacuumed my mattress, showered incessantly, washed all my towels, and vacuumed the couches, but to no avail.

The bites itch like no other, which is super awkward, esp. given their unforunate locations and how in this society reaching your hand under your clothing at anytime is not socially acceptable. Oh and on top of that, they then hurt after they done itching. They also remain redish even after the pain and itching subsides.

So does anyone have a rememdy? Or know what could be causing this? Or want to start a website for evil spiders? I am up for any and all suggestions

Beckoning Autumn...

2009-09-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

For the past week I have been trying to will Autumn to come. Sometimes when I proclaim things like " 85, Sunny and Laying Out" what I really mean is, I hate this weather. That sort of temperature situation is fine for summer, heck it's even enjoyable in the summer, but come fall... it has to go.

I was looking at my dear friend Jamie's blog and I instantly became more melancholy for the harvest season. To me, she just embodies everything that is wonderful and lovely about the fall time. Not to mention her change of location to the Northeast, where they practically invited the Autumn Harvest.

As such I have been speaking incessantly about the Harvest Season to my mother.

To start off the fall season I went to Anthro and purchased this little gem.

It's a Pumpkin Ginger Pound Cake Candle. When I lived in the blue house, aka the Princess House, I knew that fall had arrived when we would go and purchase our Salt City Candles in wonderfully aromatic fall scents. This little sucker did just the trick.

Today was the first day that felt like fall. It never got above 78 and there was a chill in the breeze that had been missing the day before. As such I went outside and did what any other self-respecting fall-lover would do... I picked apples. My mom has this great little apple tree in the backyard that doesn't look like much, but it produces the most beautiful apples that are perfect for baking.

I made this little doozy.

It's an apple oven cake. The "cake" aspect is basically like a German Pancake and then you cook the apples in cinnamon, sugar and butter until they soften. It was just what the Dr. ordered.

Also today in an effort to help my mom liven up the front yard I planted some lovely fall colored flowers.

She had dug up this little planter the day before and I suggested that we plant colors of the season.

Before:

After:

I am so envious of everyone in the Northeast, Northwest and Utah that get to experience the leaves turning and the slow arrival of fall.

I think it's supposed to be 90 tomorrow... oh well... it was fun while it lasted.