Fa-la-la-la-lah

Many of you may know (of the three people who follow this blog) that I belong to a singing group that meets each week to sing songs and visit. I am convinced many of the worlds ills would be cured if it were brought to the discussion of these wise women. But I digress...
This year, we decided to put a Christmas program together because I signed us up to sing for the "EmptyNester" group in our ward. To practice this program, we also decided to have a Christmas Kick-off Concert for our family and friends. We sent out an invite -

and prepared our little hearts out.
Of course, the night before, I start to get the inklings of a sore throat...that soon turned into laryngitis. But that didn't keep me from singing. (Ironically, "How can I keep from singing?" is one of our pieces that we sing.)
My Mom, Duke, Katie June, and Millie came all the way from Idaho. Michelle came with the kids (straight from In-and-Out Burger) and Baa Haa and Lissa came up from Utah County. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooo great to have my family there supporting me. They are awesome! ( I think Michelle took pictures of my family and I so I will try and get them for archival sake ;) )

I love these ladies! They are so much fun to be with and to sing with. It was a great way to "kick-off" the season of celebrating our Saviors birth. I am so blessed to have these friendships and am grateful for each one of them.

Free giveaway on my friend's blog

http://fitmepink.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-favorite-fitness-giftswith-giveaway.html
She is so generous! Take a look and enter. She has a lot of great tips and encouragement for exercising!
Love her!

Ohhh yeah! I have a blog!!

OCTOBER -
Well, this was a great month! My cousin, Cami got married on October 1st. She met Javier Talamantes while serving a mission and a few years later, they got married in the Logan Temple. It was a fun day! She didn't want her two brothers (Josh is on a mission in CA) to destroy their car with wedding shenanigans, so they left it at the temple. Well, apparently Trent and Chubbs found it anyway. Haha! So funny, they are! Javier's Dad surprised the newly-married couple with a mariachi band at the luncheon. It was awesome!

The end of the month found me travelling to Albuquerque, NM for an International Educators conference. This was my first time to ABQ and I had a great time. However, it was COLD! My flight was delayed because of the weather. That weather followed me to the southwest.

Halloween couldn't come soon enough! I was sooo excited for my costume! I decided to be Frenchie from Grease. How'd I do?

I flew in from ABQ on Friday night, and left for Newport Beach on Sunday morning. So, Halloween was my only break. It was perfect! I went to my ward/neighborhood's trunk-or-treat, then went to see Grace, Hazel, Justice, and Will's costumes. (They were darling! I love having them so close! Even Michelle and her sister's dressed up --They looked awesome!) Then I spent the rest of the night at my BFF's house talking to her sister, Bonnie. I was invited to 10 different Halloween parties, and I was exactly where I wanted to be. Like I said...PERFECT!

Where did my summer go? May!! Represent!!

Well, it's the end of Summer 2009. I feel like once I got back from Spain and Italy, it has all been a huge blur. From graduations to births to family reunions to conferences to holidays and rodeos...it's been a VERY eventful summer.
So, we'll start with MAY.
On May 8, 2009, Maggie Luella Wilde was born to Katie Marie and Sefton. I got the call about 6 o'clock in the morning, went to work for a couple hours, then quickly went up to Preston to see my new little niece! (Isn't she adorable!!! All that hair! Just like her mama! (and possibly her Daddy, I'm not sure. Sef, I've never seen baby pictures of you! Remedy.))

Mothers Day was wonderful as we gathered as a family to bless Marc & Michelle's new little boy...Will Herr Mumford-- born January 9, 2009.

They joked that he would about be able to walk up to the circle to be blessed. This is because Marc & Michelle were moving from Los Angeles to Salt Lake and just barely moved into their new home. It was a fantastic day.

The next week I flew to AZ to see my brother Brad graduate from Arizona State University's Law School

Turns out he was sort of smart...graduated with distinction and everything! (Just kidding, Brad. I always knew you were brilliant. All my siblings are.) One thing I thought was cool was that they made a point of noting how many marriages and children were made during their 3 years at school. I love that they still celebrate those milestones when society gives a message that those things are not as important as money or a career. Speaking of children. Brad and Cassi were part of that number.

Congratulations Brad and Cassi!

My brother Marc celebrated a birthday on the 18th! (Yes, I'm still in denial.) I keep telling everyone that I used to be the oldest of 8, and now I'm in the middle. I now have 3 older brothers and a twin! (Baa Haa turned 29 on Sept 5th!)

The end of the month took me to Los Angeles for a week. I just got a new position in February and I had my first professionals conference. IT WAS HUGE!!! The event was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown LA. Being a rookie, I made some mistakes. I should have come in on Tuesday instead of Saturday. The LA Marathon was ran on Memorial Day, so there were 20000 runners right at my hotel. Thankfully, they had a pool and I just stayed put the whole day. I did get to walk around the city a bit. It was a lot of fun. Some of my colleagues, Dr. Settle and Dr. Flores (Enoc) were there too. Enoc and I were on a committee together and we always have fun when we go to these conferences. Because they had a car, I went out to an outlet mall with them. The first one we went to, we thought we were going to be hacked to bits. Outside the building, all these high end vehicles...inside the building...yeah, it could have been any number of country's underground. Korean, Italian, Russian. They were all represented. We got out alive.
So May was awesome! Love it!

I've got Tiffany wrapped around my finger!

So, you may or may not recall the tragedy last winter of me losing my favorite ring. It was a ring my brother and sister in-law bought for me while they were in New York. Next to my New York Yankee's hat...the best souvenir of that town that I could ask for! (And I didn't even have to ask.) I cried for days after it got lost in that wicked snowstorm, and am still saddened that even after the thaw I didn't find it--and I looked!

Well, I decided to purchase a new one. I have gone back and forth on this because the sentimental value alone made that ring priceless. But I reasoned that if replacing the ring brought the same feeling and joy and reminded me of my brother and sister in-law instead of the losing of the first ring, then I should go for it.

So, I did it.

Snow??? What snow??

Alle Fine! (The end) (of my trip, I mean)

Well, you probably wondered if I would ever get here, huh? Alas, it is a sad day when a trip of a lifetime starts to come to a close. But two weeks later, my ankles, knee, and pocketbook were a little worse for wear. That carpal tunnel in my wrist started to come back with my "charge it! charge it!"--haha, just kidding. I had been saving for over a year, so I did really good.

So we woke up Friday morning, after making the decision to "splurge" a little and take the fast train to Roma from Firenze. Sara took us to the train station after a tearful goodbyes. (Ok, so the photos don't show tears (I'm not a pretty cry-er), but trust me, there were tears. Sara told me not to cry, but I couldn't help it. And neither could she.)

We arrived in Roma 1 hour 40 minutes later. A drive would have taken 4 hours with traffic, and the slow train would have been nearly 2 1/2 more hours. Definitely worth the extra euros! And kind of cool, too! Mama Luciani warned us of gypsies at the train station, but we didn't have to worry about such adventures. Brad is a formidable discourage-er of all things gypsy. And with Alexa Jo. winning the hearts of Italians everywhere we went, we figured we wouldn't be a target. (Just a note, it costs €.80 to use the bathroom at the train station.) We also figured we should just buy our tickets to the airport the next morning so we didn't have to worry about it. We found out later from our "tour guide" Daniela, that our accommodations that the Luciani's had found for us were less than 3 blocks from a closer train station. Live and learn, huh?

So we find a cab that will take us and alllllll our luggage, she wasn't the nicest driver, and every time poor Alexa Jo. would scream, she would jump. (Apparently Alexa didn't win her heart.) We made it to our flat and Daniela was waiting for us. Now, I don't have a picture of Daniela because he basically kidnapped Brad and took him alllll over the city while Cassi, Alexa and I stayed back at the flat. When he returned, we were STARVING! So we commenced our eating and touring of the beautiful city of Rome. Their subway system is the best I've ever ridden on, very easy to navigate and hop on and off of.
We first saw the Colosseum:

Everywhere we went, Alexa would use her sounds to identify a dog or a kitty, or in this case..a horse ([naaaaay])

Then we went to Trevi Fountain. This place was PACKED, so I didn't even get to go throw a penny and make a wish. (Next trip! ;)

Then we were told by Daniela that we HAD to see Spagna. I kept saying it wrong, had no idea what it was, but it was beautiful...and PACKED. People kept going to the same things we wanted to see! It was annoying! haha, just kidding. But, we did have gelato here:

On our way to St Peter's Square, I found a shop named after me....AND we matched!

Here are some pictures from St Peters Basilica and the square:

Our last stop was the Piazza de Popolo. You may recognize it from Angels & Demons, the movie (or the book if you read the one with picture:))
In this plaza, a man tried to give Alexa a rose and he had to have his hand smacked! What a dirty trick! To give a kid a treat and then expect the parents to give you money for it. So naughty!
We walked home, got packed and ready for the train ride to the airport.

WARNING! International flights from the Rome airport is CHAOSand you should allow AT LEAST 3 hours! You stand in at least 20 lines just to get to your gate. Thankfully, I had nice people and the ticketing agent at Delta even told me we were going to be the same age this year. I told him I was in denial and still told everyone that I was "29" - he said, "well, you look it." And winked. He invited me back to Rome (he was American, so it wasn't just Italian hospitality) and he would take me out. So nice!!

The flight home was brutal-long. But not nearly as bad as Brad and Cassi's flight with Alexa. They flew from Rome to Pennsylvania and weather delayed them there and in Chicago for another 24 hours. They were so happy to reach Salt Lake, and grateful to an employee at the Philly airport who got their luggage squared away and gave them some water and blankets to bunk down for the looooooong night. See RyanAir? You don't have to be rude to be a successful airline!!!

I am so grateful to Brad and Cassi and Alexa Jo. for being such awesome travelling companions. We had THE BEST time and I know they loved their short stay in Barcelona. To Sara and Giuseppe..THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! I cannot say it enough how much we loved being with you. Next time, in CLIFTON! (cheers[clink]) xoxo

My Trip to Europe - part "due" (pronounced do-A) (That's Italian for "two")

Gosh - I've been a big slacker. I know I am not too good at this blogging thing, and I HAVE been out of town quite a bit with various job conferences and family commitments. But still - I've been home from my trip for almost 6 weeks. This is ridunkolous. :) (I overheard that word the other day and thought it was funny.)

So, on to my trip. I think I left with "Oh yeah, we hate RyanAir" - I really would prefer if no one ever rode that sham of an airline again. But, now I know that if someone (the RyanAir check-in attendant) with a Spanish accent says "fifty" they probably are really saying "fifteen". A minor difference when you are talking about peas or even pennies. But, when the conversation is about kilograms and meeting the airline's luggage weight requirements--things could quickly become problematic. She thought we understood, we thought she understood, we thought WE understood, it was a big mess that she only half helped us out of by reducing our huge overage charge from nearly 400 Euros. We could either pay it, or we couldn't fly - they wouldn't even return our luggage to us (to throw stuff away and have it re-weighed) unless we paid it. They held our luggage HOSTAGE! TERRORISTS!!

Anyway - we flew to Pisa and thus began a wonderful week in the gorgeous land of Tuscany. I will never, ever tire of this view and the million others like it:

(I think if you click on it, you can see it better. I think?)

So, in Pisa, we got to see the Leaning Tower. *Note to all those who decide to travel to Europe. As Americans, we may not be accustomed to walking most of the time. We walk for exercise, a romantic stroll, etc - rarely do we walk to get to work or to the market, etc. So when a European states that it is a [fill in the blank] minute walk, you are safe to double it. And that's if you are bookin' it. Here is a picture of our clan - me, Cassi, Brad, and Alexa Jo. She is still calling me "Bfff" at this time, we're trying to get her to call me Aunt Moff. Baby steps.

Of course, I had to have my picture doing this:

and it was really heavy - I almost didn't make it. Ha ha.

Sara and Giuseppe were our AMAZING hosts in Florence. This is Sara, her mother, me, and Giuseppe.Sara came to our home as an exchange student in high school back when we were seniors and we have stayed in touch this entire time. We have commented on how easy it is to converse with each other in spite of sporadic correspondence. I think that is the mark of true friendship and I love that she is a part of my family. She FINALLY (haha - that's for you, Sara) married Giuseppe 3 years ago July and they have a beautiful daughter, Vittoria who will soon be 2. She and Alexa Jo. became fast friends. This is is their first meeting:

While in Florence we went to the cities of Siena and Monteriggioni. These are both medieval towns that are so well preserved and just gorgeous. We visited several museums (I even got a picture of "the David" - yes, that's illegal, and one reason I have not posted it yet. I'm waiting for the statue of limitations to finish. HAHA - get it? STATUE of limitations! Hahaha - I kill me!)
and parks (Boboli Gardens is a must see - absolutely beautiful!) and ate like kings! Kings I tell you, Kings!

Sara is a wonderful cook. And Giuseppe could compete in the U.S. for his grilling skills. The meat there is making my mouth water even 6 weeks later. We LOVED the gelato and decided our favorite place was right off the bridge "Ponte alle Grazie". I found some wonderful souvenirs there and off the "Ponte Vecchio" or Old Bridge. Does gaining weight count as a "souvenir"? I say yes.

Sara ordered pizza for us one night, and I had no idea that it meant a pizza EACH. I looked at mine, looked at everyone else in amazement. By the way - when you order pepperoni pizza in Italy - it will only have ONE piece of pepperoni on it. Or if you get one with pepperoni and olives..yep, you guessed it, one piece of each. Anyway - the pizza is sooooooo delicious and you can see why they call it "amore" when it hits your eye ;) I'm in love!

We were walking down one of the bazillion streets (see picture -it's a big city) when I heard an accordion --a sound that will always remind me of Italy. I tracked this sound down and asked the man if I could get a picture of him (see below). Then Brad paid him a Euro. That was nice. :)

I had the best time in Florence! Brad got to drive, and he did AMAZING! They make 5 lanes out of 3 - genius, I tell ya! Thanks to Sara and Giuseppe for their generosity and their patience. We couldn't have asked for a better trip and better hosts. We are truly blessed.This man looked like he needed it more than the men who were standing in front of the Colloseum in Rome. They were charging at least 5 Euro, their reasoning? Because there are 3 of them. Ugh! Capitalists! jk We took a free picture in front of the Colloseum. But that is for Part 3...stay tuned.

My Trip To Europe - Part 1 (Spain)

Well, many of you know I recently took a trip of a lifetime to Europe. I spent about a week in Barcelona and a week in Italy. WE HAD SOOOOO MUCH FUN!!! Who is the "we" you might be asking? My brother Brad and his wife Cassi and little girl Alexa Jo. have been living in Spain for the past few months while Brad attended his final semester of law school in a study abroad program. So I stayed with them in Barcelona and then we flew to Italy and stayed with some very dear friends in Italy for another week. Then we flew home. :( Sad, huh? Obviously some of the highlights were seeing the beautiful sites of these wonderful, friendly countries. I have so many memories that I'm sure it's going to take a few entries to talk about them all. So, on that note, I will start.
I arrived in Barcelona in the morning and Brad came and got me at the airport. They have become quite efficient at getting around on the bus, so me and all my bags got a few dirty looks from people who were probably thinking "why didn't you just rent a car?" But it was awesome to take the bus ride and see some of the city. Brad started telling me about the city: 1-There hasn't been bull fights in Barcelona in quite some time. They keep trying to bring it back, but as you can imagine, there is a lot of controversy. 2 - Antoni Gaudi is one of their most famous residents, who lived back in the late 1800's and early 1900's. His influence is everywhere in the city - a lot of art deco. 3 - Catalan is the language that is spoken in Barcelona. (Incidently, Barcelona and most "c's" are said with a lisp so it's like "Bar-the-lona".)

We picniced at the beach, shopped off the Ramblas, drank fresh fruit drinks, visited Casa Mila, had dinner with Caterina at an Irish Pub, moved to a new apartment, and visited Sagrada Familia (see below).

We got rained on in Park Guell (yes, "someone" had an umbrella in their backpack, but we didn't realize it soon enough-haha). We got to see the rainbow off the Magic Fountains (also see below)

The walk home had Miss Alexa Jo. in top form with her spontaneous push-ups on the side walk. I was dying laughing. She would walk a few steps, then drop and give us 2-3 pushups. Then walk a little more and drop and give us 2-3 more. Everyone thought it was hilarious. After it had happened about 5 times, I told Brad that he should join her. He tried his darndest to encourage her to keep walking, but alas, she had to drop one more time (see below).

Our last day in Barcelona, we happened on to an Earth Day fair. It was the perfect way to spend the last day in the city. We had a delicious crepe, some thai food, and couldn't find a garbage to save our life. The train ride to Girona was fun, we made it to the airport and got to Pisa very late. I'll talk more about that in my next blog...and oh yeah---we HATE ryanair. :)

Wowza - That's Customer Service!

Has anyone seen the stupid DirectTV commercial where there is a bank robbery taking place and two "bank patrons" are laying on the ground and one (played by the great Gus on "Psych") whips out his phone just in case they aren't going to get out in time for him to record his show. UGH! I HATE IT!!!
So, I left such feedback with DirectTV saying that I think they could come up with a better scenario than a bank robbery in these times. I just thought it was lame. A couple days later, I got a generic response thanking me for my comments. I thought that was the end of it -I said my peace and went on.
Today when I came home, there was a package on my steps. I was puzzled by this, because I wasn't expecting anything. As I brought it in, I saw a note from DirectTV stating they appreciated me sharing my thoughts. "That was really nice of you, so here's a portable DVD player we really hope you'll enjoy."
Huh? When? WHAT????!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me? That's pretty cool - I will send them a thank you for the thank you!

Oh! And HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY!!!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" Ghandi

Well, where to start? I was reading online last week. Brian Williams of the NBC Nightly News said viewers were complaining.."isn't there any GOOD going on in the world?" (This topic has potential for many tangents, so I will "stay on target!") Brian Williams then asked for viewers to send in the "Good News"--Random or Regular Acts of Kindness in this cruel economy. Williams said that within minutes 100's of stories started coming in, and within hours--1000's. I was curious to see what kinds of stories people would be sending in, so tonight I watched. He called it "Making a Difference" --not all stories will get camera time--they told of one lady from our own Mapleton, Utah who said her neighbor owns a dry cleaning store and has offered free suit dry cleaning for people going in for a job interview. So great!

Then there is a small cafe in Denver that is serving homecooked lunches...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29604041#29604041...and you can pay if you can, but if you can't, you can work for it (sweep, wash dishes, etc) and eat anyway. The menu has no prices and people of all walks come in there to eat. They rely on donations, slipped into envelopes and then into a locked box. (I'm assuming to make it less awkward for those who aren't able to pay.) Amazing story!

It would be fantastic if they could devote an entire day of reporting to this good news. Sometimes I wonder, what comes first the chicken (media) or the egg (depressing news) or is the chicken the bad news and the egg the media? UGH! Anyway, I think that it would be a fun experiment to see, because if you are like me, it does my heart good to hear of these amazing people throughout the world who are doing a little bit to improve their part of the world. They are being the change...It certainly makes a difference to me.

With stories like these, I think it might stave off the very same depression that is now being linked to heart disease in women. Yep! That was the story minutes before the good news minute. Ironic, huh?

Please don't stop the music...music...music!

Ok - So I got tagged again on facebook. I was under the impression that if you didn't have a lot of bloggers reading your blog you would be safe from tagging. Loves...this is not the case. They get you anyway they can! So, this one was fun, you had to go into your iTunes (or the like) put it on random shuffle and then answer the following questions with the song titles. Some songs don't make sense with the question, but NO CHEATING!
IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY?

You Can Call Me Al (Paul Simon) – “I can call you Betty, and Betty when you call me, you can call me Al”
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?Dancing Queen (ABBA) –haha how funny!
WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?This Love (Maroon 5) – “This Love has taken it’s toll on me!” Amen to that!
HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?Love Is Blue-Instrumental (Paul Mauriat and his Orchestra) – lame
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?One Moment More (Mindy Smith) – A freebie from iTunes – not a bad song
WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?You Won’t Be Mine (Matchbox Twenty) – Please tell me this isn’t my fate
WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?The Stroll (The Diamonds) – An Oldie -very sassy, very COOL song - perfect!
WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?Devil in Disguise (Elvis Presley) – YIKES!
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?Fields of Gold (Sting) – hmmmm – I do daydream a LOT!
WHAT IS 2 + 2?Concerto for flute, harp & orchestra in C major, K. 299 (K. 297c): II: Andantino (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) – hmmmm…maybe there are 2 flutes and 2 harps in the orchestra?WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder) – I have a brother named Lucas that we call Duke, and he IS one of my best friends!
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?She Says (Howie Day) – I do have a LOT of funny stories! I say so!
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?Mmm Mmm Mmm (Crash Test Dummies) – I wonder if that means Hmmm? I don’t know? Or it STARTS with an “M”?
WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?The Best Is Yet to Come (Frank Sinatra) – Yeah, that hopefully sums it up nice and tight.
WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?Holiday (Green Day) – Probably because by the time I get my wedding they will declare a freakin’ national HOLIDAY! HAHAHA!
WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?Hey Julie (Fountains of Wayne)—hmm, don’t they know my name is Missy?
WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?You Can’t Stop the Beat (Soundtrack of Hairspray) – “You can try to stop my dancin’ feet, but I just cannot stand still!” – I DO LOVE TO DANCE!WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?Operator (Jim Croce) – I’ve been using the operator a lot lately, helping me place international calls. So many numbers!
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?Libiamo Ne’lieti Calici (Luciano Pavorotti) – I guess it’s a secret to me too. I don’t speak Italian…Sara?
WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?Sweet Lullabyes (Enya) – Yeah, sleep would be amazing right now.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?All I Want For Christmas Is You (Mariah Carey) – What perfect gifts all my friends are! (I know, I usually have my Christmas music ‘unchecked’ by now so it won’t play in the rotation.)
WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?Stranger in My House (Tamia) –Great song!

The dreaded tag!

Do you remember in Grade School when you played tag at recess and you would say "tag! not it!" cuz you didn't want to be tagged? Well, I was tagged...
25 random things by me --– In no particular order.
-I love my family like nobody’s business. Any of them who read this might disagree, but we really have little dysfunction, if we have any at all. Sure we botch up communication like all families, but we work it out in good time and focus on the good things. All my siblings married amazing spouses and my nieces and nephews are my pride and joy. I LOVE family gatherings- they are noisy but cozy.
– My Mom and Dad are incredible parents. Talk about unconditional love. I can barely type this sentence and not start bawling in gratitude for all they have done for me. Seriously, if I only had one wish in my whole life that I wish would come true, it would be that children everywhere could have as great of parents as I do and to have as great of childhood as I did. I know there are a lot of great parents out there, everyone deserves that.
– My feet always seem to be cold. Annoying. – I love Kentucky Fried Chicken. It’s a guilty pleasure. Admittedly I have many of those…Cheap Totinos pizzas, ice cream sundaes, nachos, bugles, peanut butter M&M’s, ok, you get the point…too many!
– I hate ketchup. I can’t stand even the sight, smell, or suggestion of it. I will throw-up on command if I see it or smell it. Revolting stuff!
– I love fresh sheets. I wish I had a close-line where I could dry them outside (in the summer I mean) because that is the ultimate fresh smell, but alas, Snuggle fabric softener and dryer sheets do a pretty good job. The key…don’t bring the day’s grime to bed…shower first.
– I love to sleep in. Weekends, holidays, and vacations are the best when I can sleep in. This year, church moved to 11:00 –YEAH!!!!
– I shower a lot. In the morning, after working out, before bed, before a date, etc. I think it stems from when I worked on the farm and had to be ready for softball in 10 minutes. I would get in trouble if I used all the hot water, so I learned to be quick. I like to be clean.
– I love foreign film. My favorite movie of all time is Life Is Beautiful. I know many people are bothered by subtitles, but they don’t bother me and after a few minutes I can’t even tell they are there. Chariots of Fire is also in my top 5 of best films of all time—foreign or otherwise.
– I get “sad” over silly things. Like the discontinuance of the flavored soda “Lemon Drop” from Jones Soda Co. I had to drink sparkling pink lemonade this past New Years. Or the first time JAG was cancelled. Oh the inhumanity!
– 25?? Ugh, this is taking forever!
– I hate most commercials. I say most, because there are a few ad campaigns that I am in love with. The Mac vs. PC is genius, Hillshire Farms “go meat!”, and the last few SuperBowls have had some good ones.
– I get a lot of my music off television shows. If I hear a song I like, I am relentless in finding out who sings it and getting my hands on a copy of it. Some of my latest Brandie Carlile’s “Have You Ever” or Beth Rowley’s “Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground”. Good tunes, man.
– I have to wear sunglasses outside. Ironically, I read the importance of protecting my eyes as I was waiting to get lasik eye surgery, so the fact that I’ve needed them a little more since then is double bonus. Thankfully I look good in them. I have about 7 pairs for different outfits and when I temporarily lose a pair. Eddie Bauer lasted the longest.
– I love Sonicare toothbrushes. I have been using them for 7 years now and really feel they are the reason I get better checkups. I am on my 3rd, they keep improving the features, so I have to upgrade :)
– I have fantastic friends. I moved around a lot as a kid, so making friends was never very hard for me, but I have been so blessed to have so many good influences in my life. From the “5 musketeers” in high school, my college roommates, my mission, to now, I’ve been surrounded by talent, goodness, and wisdom. They are soooooooo patient with me.
– I love it when my biceps are feeling tone –even when I look at them and they aren’t. Actually, I like it when any muscle is feeling tone. This usually happens the day after a good work out where I lifted weights. Light reps, and plenty of them. My trainers are often amazed at the capacity I have for heavy weights. I tell them my dad didn’t give me these thighs for nothing. :)
– I have a high heat tolerance. I love to lay in the sun. I can do it in the dead of summer when it’s blazin hot outside. I don’t usually turn on my AC until August, because it’s not really hot to me. Yes, I ask myself this all the time…What am I doing living in Utah?? haha
– I love Clifton, Idaho—or all of the Cache Valley for that matter. This place totally played a role in my perfect childhood. The people there are so genuine and humble and good. They root for you, even when you go away to college. When you come back, it’s like going home. I love everything from Papa Jay’s (yummmmy jerky) to Davis Lodge to Buck’s Peak to Twin Lakes. I have sooo many great memories of those places and the people I was with. Can’t wait for President’s Day when I get to go “home”.
– I hate budgeting. I am not good at it. I once gave my sister all control over my bills and finances because I was not making good fiduciary decisions. That was not too long ago, and while I’m doing better, to quote my nephew Max “Well, I don’t like it.”
– I love Cascade/Dawn tablets for the dishwasher. I will never use anything different as long as I am getting these results.
– I love KSL. I think it’s because I was raised with this channel and remember watching BYU football games as a little kid with the “Voice of the Cougars…Paul James”. I actually cried when Dick Norse retired last year.
– I hate RC Willey. I’m pretty sure they are connected with the mob somehow. They have junk furniture and even junkier customer service. If you don’t look like you can afford it, they don’t even give you the time of day. I hate all places like that, actually, RC Willey just happens to be at the top of the list. I will never buy another piece of furniture from them.
– I love shoes. I could spend hours in a shoe store and spend thousands if I had it. There are a lot of great compliments, but “Great shoes! Is one of my favorites.”
– I miss my Grandma. Please don’t take this to mean I don’t miss other loved ones who have passed. I do, terribly. But my Grandma was one of my best friends and there are days I wish I could just call her and tell her about my day. She used to whisper in my ear as I hugged her “Stay in Clifton” because she wanted me closer. I know there are a lot of people who feel this way about her. She made you feel like you were the favorite. She was wise and funny and soo generous. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

I probably have about 2000 more random things about me...But to quote the movie Babe "That'll do pig...That'll do."

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

I'll admit my bias up front. I love classic trends --not so much into the trendy, flash-in-the-pan type fashion, however. So that may explain why I'm cringing at the information found on this website: http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-look/makeup-skin-care-hair/staticslideshowlucky.aspx?cp-documentid=16638103&gt1=32002 Entitled "The Next Big Things of '09". It's an article on what are the upcoming fashion trends for this year. Sufficeth to say...I am not amused.
Exhibit 1:

Yes, this is supposedly going to be the "it" thing to wear. Mechanics all over the world are rejoicing that Gisele will be sporting what they wear everyday. (This is not meant to bash on mechanics and their attire --it's very functional for them as they use it for coveralls.)
The website says that the fashion experts had some doubts, but "Style it a bit loosely (legs and arms cuffed a little) and cinch it at the waist. Add low heels or ankle boots to contrast with the loose pant legs, and open the collar to expose your collarbone. A cuff bracelet finishes it off with a touch of softness." uhhhhhh, NOPE! Still doesn't work for me!

Exhibit 2:

This is supposed to pay an updated homage to the flapper-era. If I were the flapper-era....I would be really, really mad! This "dress" retails for $239. I say your money would be better spent on a roundtrip ticket to reality. 1 point for creative, 10 points for ugly. UGLY WINS!

Not all the fashion items were this bad, but I think it's a good thing I'm not buying clothes as much this year (it's a weight loss year --just using what's in my closet, for the most part.) Like I said, I'm thankful for the classic trends that never seem to go out of style. Oh yeah, I'll turn those heads yet. ;)

Let the haze begin...And I don't ski :(

Ick! It's like we live in Los Angeles (no offense, Marc) --Every year our air quality goes from "OK" to "Toxic" (slight exaggeration) and January seems to be the month that we are affected the most. I'm already not a big fan of January. I hate that Christmas is over and that winter is still here. The mountains are the only place to escape this pea-soup junk...and I don't ski.
So, in an effort to look on the positive, I will list things I like about January.
1) We observe Martin Luther King Jr Day. FKA Human or Civil Rights Day. Of course this is a day off from work for me, but I love that we pay tribute to this man and others who have stayed the cause of human rights in our nation.
2) The gyms are busy. Granted, this is also a source of my frustration. I have a bike and an eliptical glider and a treadmill that I really like, along with 200 other people it seems. But it does my heart good to see so many taking their health seriously. (I wish that could be considered cardio. :)) I know, I know, I need to hope this is still an issue in November. But I don't think it will even make it to February. haha
3)There are a lot of birthdays in my family this month. Brad, Mur, Melynn, Sachi, Hollie, Sara, Lissa, and Mackiah--HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you all!

There's a lot of excitement with the Inauguration happening tomorrow. President-elect Obama will drop the "elect" from his title as he is sworn in on the steps of the Capitol. He has a bit of a mess on his hands...from stabalizing the economy to fixing the broken BCS...it's not going to be an easy go. He's got a lot of people to please and having served as presidents of many different organziations..it's not possible to please everyone. I am reminded that he can't do it alone. I have to do my part to make our country better. I do not agree with all his policies and ideas, but I will pledge my support him and that office. Best wishes President Obama...my prayers are with you! :)

To Resolve or not to resolve...that is the question

Sooooo, it's that time of year again. The New Year. A time when you can reflect on the past year and make the same mistakes...I mean, improve, make changes, be a better person. Many critics say that resolutions just make one discouraged and don't really change much of anything. I look at last years list and considering the obstacles 2008 presented, I did pretty good. I had financial, spiritual, mental, professional, and health goals. And it looks like this year I will have the same. :)

I already started off this year better as I didn't start it off saying "2008 will be my year of health"...well, if that means "I will be spending more time at the doctor" then alas, that was my year of health. :(

So, no declarations, no shout outs, no tempting The Fates. Just a pledge to myself that I will make my world a better place by increasing my random acts of kindness, I will make me better by saving, exercising, reading, and improving relationships/friendships. I will cook more and eat out less and recycle more. I will dance like no one is watching and sing like no one is listening. This does not mean that I won't buy impulsively, go to a movie instead of the gym, opt for TV over a book, and grab takeout on the way home from work..but I will do it less than I did this year, and that's where you have to start.