Elzinga Family 2.0

One Crunchy Post...

2010-04-29T18:06:00.000-06:00

Wanna know what I'm talking about? Click the post title to be redirected to our new blog.

You know what I love?

2010-04-27T20:34:00.000-06:00

Wanna find out? Click the post title to be taken to our new blog for the answer!

3...2...1... BLAST OFF!!! (hopefully)

2010-04-10T06:16:00.001-06:00

Wanna see how I plan on losing weight for the big race coming up?

Check it out over here!

What makes a house a home...

2010-04-07T10:46:00.002-06:00

New post at the new blog!

Elzinga Family 2.1 - What makes a house a home

Check it out! And remember, this blog is not active any longer... I'll be doing all my new posts at the other blog. Please update your links and bookmarks! :-)

Done and over...

2010-04-05T18:05:00.005-06:00

This blog... seriously. Done and over.

Clean slate over this way -----> The Elzinga Family 2.1 thomasandaubri.blogspot.com*

Please update your blog rolls, links, RSS feeds, etc. I'm done with "zingarette" :-) The apology for the inconvenience can be found here. Really, seriously... go thee hence! I love you, but there's no need to linger sadly at this now abandoned blog. Move on with me, please?

*updated to add: different URL (I know, I know!) sorry for the confusion! I didn't like it after sleeping on it, so I changed it (again, I know, I KNOW!) :-) Thanks for loving me anyway!!!

Teeny Little Super Guy

2010-03-28T12:35:00.000-06:00

Anybody else remember this? Man... I love childhood!

The World Is Just Awesome... indeed!

2010-03-26T16:18:00.002-06:00

I'm the first to admit I'm significantly abnormal. I recently tweeted my love of DVD previews... and now I'm going to own up to another fascination of mine. I love, I mean love cool ads! I was SO excited when I saw this Discovery Channel ad today. They released a similar one a couple years ago, I'm jazzed to see another one! And in case you missed it, the original is at the bottom of the post.

Dear Mother Nature...

2010-03-13T17:38:00.003-07:00

Dear Mother Nature,

I want to thank you for the huge gift you left me on my cars today.

It's not very often that people really understand how much I love nature. That you remembered my deep love of trees, and longing to be closer to a forest was touching. Thank you for bringing the forest to me.

Really Mother Nature, this is just too much. Thank you again for your grand gesture. I will certainly never forget it.

Your faithful friend,

Aubri

Oh man... priceless!

2010-03-13T07:05:00.002-07:00

Okay, there's nothing more adorable to me than little kids dancing. They can do it from birth, seriously. They can even do it in their sleep... watch

What a cutie! I love his skull and crossbones binkie. I SO need one of those for my future kids! Punk rock babies, all the way.

Deals make me smile...

2010-03-12T19:11:00.002-07:00

When we moved back to Connecticut, we drove out here in our two cars (a Volkswagen New Beetle, and a Mitsubishi Outlander) and nothing else. No moving vans, no U-Haul trailers... just our two cars. We loaded those suckers to the gills, but we still didn't have enough room for everything we needed, let alone everything we wanted to bring. We made do! And it was a fun adventure. In fact, it was the easiest move in day we've ever had. And when you take into consideration that we have moved eight times in the four years that we've been married... you have a lot to compare it to. :-) At any rate, we've had to slowly rebuild our furniture and household goods since the big move.

Last Saturday, we finally bought a piece of furniture that I have been dreaming about for months. A box spring, and a bed frame! I know it sounds silly, but it was really one of the last pieces we needed to complete our bedroom. Most of our furniture was either free, or really inexpensive (more on that in a later post!) but our mattress was one of our big purchases. We bought a memory foam mattress (no, not the crazy expensive one from TV!) because I have a bad lower back. Up until last Saturday, we were just sleeping on that mattress on the floor. Not my favorite situation.

We were out on a date last week, and after finishing dinner (Jani restaurant in Norwalk, highly recommend!!) we noticed that the mattress store in the shopping center was going out of business. We stopped in to see if they had a box spring for cheap. Oh boy, did they! We ended up getting a $700 box spring for eighty bucks. Pretty sweet deal! Even cooler, since it was their very last night ever, they were clearing out everything... including some really nice pillows. We got Thomas a $600 memory foam pillow, a $200 memory foam pillow for me, and a $100 down pillow for me... for FIVE DOLLARS a piece. So, for a grand total of $15... three nice and expensive pillows. Love it! I had bought a sheet set for about $14 earlier that day too... so it was like a whole new sleeping experience when we got home. I LOVE it!

Just had to share. :-)

Ahhhh my friend...

2010-03-06T08:02:00.002-07:00

This made me think of my friend Kristin... :-)

Because, she often wonders what her kitties are thinking... And I saw that on youtube, and I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. Now, right now that's not much of a feat, considering I'm dying of the plague... but still, there was a LOT of laughing. Kristin, isn't that fun?

A post requiring a disclaimer...

2010-02-18T16:32:00.004-07:00

Normally, I'm not a fan of people taking iconic music out of context (for example, I love Mama Mia, but parts of it are a stretch...) and the whole concept of Across The Universe kinda bugs me in general. But, today I've had one song from the movie stuck in my head.

Before you watch this clip, I must warn you, this movie is PG-13 for many reasons, including the mature and violent scenes in this clip. This clip references the 1967 Detroit Riot, or 12th Street Riot as it's also known. It also has to do with death, as it references the death of a Vietnam soldier. Other than that, it is a beautifully done piece. It is my all time favorite rendition of Let It Be.

If you'd rather not watch the clip because of the violence (and I absolutely do not blame you) you can find a "video" with the movie poster displayed, and the audio playing here. It's truly beautiful.

Hooray!

2010-02-14T13:15:00.010-07:00

Happy Valentine's day to you, dear reader! Today is one of my very, very favorite days of the year. Hubbie and I were married in the Portland LDS Temple this very day, four wonderful years ago! :-) If you're going to get married on a holiday, I say Valentine's is the day to do it!

For those of you who weren't there, and don't want to go through my blog to find pictures... here are some photos, and recollections from that awesome day!

This is quite possibly my favorite formal picture that we did. (My actual favorite is a silly one!) I love that it's in black and white. I love how happy we look! It was cold, but I didn't even notice. I was just so entirely thrilled to be marrying my best friend. We took our photos before the ceremony, and it was wonderful. We just missed the rain that day (in Oregon, in February... that is a miracle!) thanks to some heavy-duty prayer and fasting from many family members and friends.

This picture, the one of us looking like we belong in a Kung Fu movie? This is my favorite. It's the desktop background on my computer, and has been for four whole years. It pretty much sums up Thomas and I to a tee! I had no idea that Ryan (our photographer, and my cousin through marriage) was anywhere near us. Thomas did, which I guess explains why he wanted to do some silly things!

Left to right you have Tom's good buddy Brett, best man Telek, my brother Ian, and me... laughing my head off. These boys were fantastic. I love them all. Telek is pretty much holding me up all by himself. It was funny. This was taken inside the temple, after the wedding. One really neat thing about the Portland Temple is that it has this gorgeous atrium in the waiting area. It's entirely enclosed, and beautiful. It's great for those wet Oregon winters, and you can still get beautiful pictures without getting entirely soaked.

We took a few photos after the ceremony, just with the people who had stayed at the temple for the wedding. It was neat to do a few little shots in the atrium. So gorgeous!

As you can tell, Thomas got jealous of my rad pose idea. Of course, he made it his own... silly goose. I'm so glad I have a silly goose like him as my hubbie!

:-)

Okay, I know you'll probably never believe this, not in a million years... but I did my nails in the car on the way to the temple. During a bumpy, rainy car ride, on my lap... while eating McDonald's because I'm classy like that. :-)

I had literally forgotten about my nails. I had my hair done professionally, I made sure my makeup was perfect, and I had on a pretty red dress... but I completely spaced my nails. I grabbed a bottle of white polish and an opal top coat as I dashed out the door, and hoped for the best. Apparently, it didn't turn out too terribly!

Again, another one of my favorites... This pathway is normally lined with hundreds of beautiful flowers. In fact, there were hundreds of beautiful flowers there on the Saturday before our wedding, when I went through the temple for the first time. When we arrived at the temple, for our wedding however... there were no more flowers! They had pulled them all up! There were a few little stragglers here and there, but for the most part, it was just some random greenery and dirt! But, when you make it black and white, it's a gorgeous photo... and makes me smile at the memory of bare flower beds!

Holiness to the Lord
the House of the Lord

That bold, beautiful statement can be found on every temple on this Earth. I feel so blessed, and grateful to have been married in the Lord's house. :-) Especially on a day that celebrates love!

Today, Thomas and I gave talks. Thomas' talk was based on this talk by Elder Neal A. Maxwell and it was wonderful. Unfortunately (due to myself and the youth speakers taking more time that predicted) he had to cut it short. My talk was on Charity, and I based in on this scripture (Moroni 7:45-48), and this talk by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. I learned a lot while preparing that talk... for example, my favorite thing that I learned was that charity is not an act, or series of physical actions, but rather a state of being. An attitude if you will. It is a trait we can cultivate, as opposed to a duty we should perform. I love that idea! Go read those talks, they're pretty much amazing.

Tonight, we're having some friends over for dinner, and I'm thoroughly jazzed about it!

Only the Best of Etsy Sample Packages GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2010-02-13T06:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, that's awesome. GO!

Only the Best of Etsy Sample Packages GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Sigh.

2010-02-10T06:14:00.003-07:00

My hard drive crashed. And crashed hard... It was on my big computer, the one with ALL my scrapbook pages and scrapbook kits, and photos, and memories on it. I was absolutely devastated. I'm still working on rebuilding.

That's why I'm not blogging. I know I'm all about excuses lately... Oh well. There will come a time. Maybe later today. It's a snow day today, so maybe I'll catch a break in the cleaning and organizing I plan on doing and I'll blog then.

Lookit!

2010-01-19T16:28:00.001-07:00

I made this today!

I figured since we didn't get a chance to put a tree up this year, the least I could do was scrapbook our ornaments. :-) Enjoy!

Check out my steal of a deal!

2010-01-13T18:04:00.004-07:00

First and foremost, there is a huge reason why I haven't been blogging. We had this whole big surprise hatching, and now that everyone has been thoroughly and completely surprised, blogging may resume. Wanna be clued in on the surprise?

...drum roll please?

WE MOVED BACK TO CONNECTICUT!!!!!

:-) Betcha didn't see that one coming! Or, well, maybe some of you did. But the ones we were planning to surprise had their socks blown clean off. Specifically one Kristin Jenson. Seriously, girlfriend, I wish you could have seen your face! We surprised most everyone by showing up out of the blue at church the Sunday after New Years Eve. Kristin and Mike weren't there due to being out of town, so I had to take matters into my own hands. I went to Kristin's apartment that Tuesday, and asked her apartment manager to help me out. She called up to Kristin's to tell her she had a delivery in the office. When Kristin saw me, I'm pretty sure she about had a heart attack! It was fantastic! :-)

We didn't surprise just Kristin though, we surprised an entire ward! I was so excited to see my friends again, I got so many hugs and so many "Welcome back!" exclamations... it's been fantastic. I was even stopped in Costco today! :-) It's nice to be back.

There is one thing that I've been just dying to talk about though, if you can bear to hang on for another couple of paragraphs. I'm totally stoked about this... I think at some point on this blog I may have mentioned my love of free stuff, specifically freecycle.org but just in case I haven't, (to borrow a phrase from our President) let me be clear: I love free stuff! I'm really excited to be back in this area, because I'm pretty sure the Freecycle group here has the best stuff around. Case in point, check out this sweet desk I scored today.

That picture really doesn't do it justice. It looks like a really nasty color in the picture, but in all reality it is a beautiful sage green with white trim. Largely neutral, but feminine enough to fit perfectly into my sewing room. Yes, I have a sewing room in my new apartment. And Thomas has a "Man-Cave" too. It's not a huge apartment, but it's plenty big for us. We're still working on getting it furnished, but my sewing room is mostly done. That wasn't on purpose, just how things have worked out. I've got a little love seat, and my desk, and Tim the Grey is in there as well... he's loving it. It's a very sunny room. We also have a mattress (memory foam! YAY!) and a bureau, and my kitchen is done too. Eventually we'll have couches and a TV and all the fun stuff, but it's little by little.

At any rate, that's what I've been up to!

:-)

2009-12-30T20:21:00.002-07:00

You'll get a full, updated post soon, I promise. But, until that time here is something to tide you over!

Merry Christmas! Here's the Martin Family (Aubri's side) Christmas Photo:

You know what's awesome?

2009-12-21T17:55:00.002-07:00

I'll tell you what's awesome... being home for Christmas, that's what's awesome.

Why Aubri's Ducks will beat Kristin's Buckeyes

2009-12-11T09:46:00.007-07:00

My friend Kristin and I are pretty close. We agree on almost everything. We would never say anything hurtful, or mean to each other... that is until her Ohio State Buckeyes were pitted against my Oregon Ducks for the Rose Bowl.

Now, IT'S WAR!

Kristin, for your benefit, I have created a list of why exactly your Buckeyes don't stand a chance against the raw power of my Ducks.

We may both have a 10-2 record, but we beat both teams that beat you
Pretty decently creamed those teams, if you wanna get picky.
Your quarterback. Picking Buckeyes over Ducks? Not a good call Pryor, but you'll learn ;-)
Our quarterback? He'll run you over. Straight up. Masoli's a machine!
Your defense might be tight, but again, our offense is pretty outta sight too
Again, on the D, it's really the only thing we're remotely concerned with.

Kristin, I hope you realize, it's on.

(p.s. I still love you! I really do! You're just going down.)

Oh dear...

2009-12-11T08:16:00.002-07:00

What a crazy week I've had! I can't even begin to describe it, it's just that overwhelming. I'm trying to get everything done that needs to be done before we leave for Oregon... and hoo-boy. At least I have friends willing to feed the birdies. Which reminds me, we're down to two birdies. Stratford found himself a new home. He's now living in Montana, and he sounds happy. He needed to be in a place where he would be an only birdie. Having Big Tim around was just too stressful for him, not to mention, we couldn't let him out without him flying over and attempting to attack Tim. Tim is easily five times his size. Tim could kill him in an instant. It wasn't working out. So, Stratford is happy in a new home. I do miss him, a ton... but he'll be a lot happier there than he was with us.

Now, since I'm too frazzled to explain what's going on, I leave you with the video that's currently stuck in my head. Or rather, the song from the video ;-)

Where I've been, and what I've been up to... sorta

2009-12-02T08:17:00.003-07:00

I've decided in the last few days that life is hard. REALLY hard. I'm not going to say that I bit off more than I could chew. It's more like when you're feeding a baby with a spoon, and you give them a little more of those mashed peaches than their teeny mouth can handle. They want the peaches, they really do, but they just can't keep it all in. I feel like someone is pushing the peaches a little faster than I can handle right now.

I love peaches. I really do. I just need to learn how to eat faster.

In other news, I'm really getting psyched for Christmas. I can't wait to see my mama and daddy! Unfortunately, my mama isn't doing so well. She's got a bad sore throat that turned into blisters on her vocal chords. She's on total vocal rest (no talking, whispering, laughing, crying or making ANY noise) for three weeks. If all goes well, she'll get to talk at Christmas, but not for the first half of me being there. I think there will have to be some sign language and note passing going on... Poor mama! Keep her in your prayers please, if you're the praying type. I want her to get better RIGHT NOW.

More later, I'll try not to blog slack.

The last of the many

2009-11-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving is done enough for today. Food made, stuff put away, dishes almost done, and Thomas in a comatose state (or at least taking a nap...) while Michael and I watch movies. I'm finally making more progress on my crazy awesome afghan, and hopefully it'll be all stitched together today. I'm done blogging for now.

Hope your Thanksgiving left you thankful!

4 of many...

2009-11-26T14:30:00.002-07:00

It died. The turkey died. I truly hate my oven in this apartment... it just doesn't regulate heat well at all. Oh well, there's always next year. :-) Every other dish I made turned out fantastically, fabulously, incredibly well. So it's not as though we were starving ;-) Pies in the oven now, and playing with my poor neglected little birdies :-)

3 of many

2009-11-26T11:27:00.003-07:00

Paula Deen would be proud of me today... all my recipes pretty much start off with "first you take a pound of butter..." and end with "Y'all come eat!" :-)

My stuffing is done, my take on sweet potato pie is done, my green-bean and corn casserole is done, my turkey's in the oven, I just have potatoes and gravy and salad left. It'll be a feast, that's for darn sure!

Also, I'm channeling another one of my favorite chefs today. Sookie St. James from Gilmore Girls. I have my hair up in pigtails while I work :-)

2 of many

2009-11-26T10:01:00.002-07:00

Okay, a little update. Turkey is buttered, herbed, and tented, ready to go into the oven as soon as the sides are done. It's a tiny little thing so probably no more than 90 minutes to two hours. Really, it's just over 8 lbs. The sweet potatoes are ready to go in, the green bean casserole is about to be started (as soon as the food processor parts are dry!) and for the most part, the other sides are instant or just need reheating. Yay for that!

Also, NOBODY told me how nasty turkey really is... just sayin'.

One of many to come today...

2009-11-26T07:54:00.004-07:00

It is 8:00 am on Thanksgiving morning... the boys are both still sleeping and I haven't started cooking. All across facebook, my friends are giving turkey status updates. Apparently, I was supposed to have this bird in the oven already. Whoops! Looks like we're eating late today...

What I'm looking forward to...

2009-11-23T08:19:00.002-07:00

Okay, I'm a bad blogger, I know. The past few months have been crazy-pants. I promise, come Christmas week, and the New Year, life will slow down for me (it always does... that's how the beauty industry rolls) and I will blog more. For now, just be grateful I'm blogging at all! ;-)

This week brings lots of joy and excitement. I'm going to be hosting my first ever traditional Thanksgiving feast! We bought all of our feast foods on Saturday. Two boxes of stuffing, stuff to make fudge, a ton of mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole stuff (complete with marshmallows!) lots of salad, green bean casserole, biscuits (yes biscuits not rolls... biscuits are yummier and the leftovers can be eaten for breakfast) and of course, the pièce de résistance, my teeny-tiny turkey! I scored an 8.15 lb turkey! Still not sure how I found that tiny little three dollar turkey... but I did!

I'll post pictures as I go :-)

If you don't have anything nice to say...

2009-11-06T14:34:00.004-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Remember in Bambi, when Thumper's mama asks him what his father told him that morning, and he responds with a classic line? "If you don't have nothin' nice to say, don't say nothin' at all?" Yeah. Pretty much that sums up why I haven't blogged in about a month or two.

I've pretty much been a perpetual grump lately. I could go into all the details and tell you ALL about my fluctuating hormones and the subsequent irritability, but that might just be TMI.

Instead, I'll give you a lovely little recap of the latest events. :-)

For Halloween, I was Velma from Scooby Doo. And yes, I rocked it. Here, have a picture!

Ian, on the left, is an Emo Doctor. He fixes broken hearts. With ultra-sensitive poetry, STAT!

I am the lovely Velma Dinkley. I look WAY too much like her, it's kinda creepy actually.
(and yes, I TOTALLY kept the skirt. It was too perfect not to!)

Next, I discovered something today. Something that really needs sharing. I mean, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't share this with you. The bad kind, that's what kind!

Just when you thought it was safe to turn on the radio, the BACKSTREET BOYS make another comeback attempt! I must say, the heavily pierced, tatooed one is my favorite. I like that he looks like he's physically in pain. It's funny. Also, I've decided that if Nick Carter were cheese, he's be pepper jack. He gets hotter with age. :-)

Enjoy!

Proud of me...

2009-10-19T16:39:00.004-06:00

Image via Wikipedia

I just have to announce that I stayed up til 1am last night Monica Geller-izing my kitchen. I'm kinda proud. I got into one of those cleaning fits where you just can't stop. You see, it started with the dishes. Then, once I had gotten those all nice and cleaned up, I saw the counter top. It was atrocious. So, I brought out the cleaning stuff, and started scrubbing. Once the counters were scrubbed, buffed and polished, I realized there were probably fifty-billion germs making their home on my counter. So, out came the bleach. That sat for ten minutes while I scrubbed, buffed, and polished my dining room table. Then, that got a good spray of billion-proof cleansing alcohol. Basically, by the time I was done, my house smelled like a hospital. :-) Just the way I like it. And, today I continued this cleaning spree with the Bird Room. The other cages were cleaned recently, and so I deep cleaned Tim's cage today. Pulled everything out, vacuumed all the teeny-tiny crevices, and sprayed the whole thing down with vinegar (cuts the smell, and powers through tough bird mess like dander and other lovely things).

At any rate, my kitchen, and my computer/bird room are clean. Not the rest of my house, but hey! It'll get there!

Slacker = Me

2009-10-18T08:35:00.005-06:00

I haven't posted in a long, long time... Partly because I'm still ridiculously busy, and partly because I'm just a slacker. I really ought to be cleaning my house, because it's a titch more important, but I am here, updating my blog so that the e-mailing and commenting about how I never post can cease.

What have I been up to lately? Great question. The following news bulletins are in no particular order (other than the order in which I remember them).

I got accepted into BYU-I for Winter/Spring of 2010, and I start in January
I got to see my really good friends from Connecticut, Jared, Lindsey and baby Kerrigan (blog = here)
I went to see The Proposal with some of my very good girlfriends during Priesthood session of General Conference
I formulated a "life plan", made a minor comment about it as my facebook status and everyone thought I was pregnant... No.
Work has been going famously, and I'm absolutely loving it.

Want some pictures?

Ashley, Patricia, Melody and me at the Rex after watching The Proposal

Me, Lindsey, Baby K, and Jared at Ramirez in Rexburg for lunch.

So, there ya go. That's what I've been up to. :-)

Hmmm excited much?

2009-09-17T21:03:00.003-06:00

RODNEY!!!!! And MEEEE!!!! WHEEEEEE!!!
(isn't he like, super adorable?)

Watchin' You

2009-09-12T10:37:00.003-06:00

Last night, I hung out with this guy:

That's Rodney Atkins... and as you can tell, I was pretty close to the stage during the concert. :-) I also hung out with this guy:

That's my awesome brother Ian. We had fun! More later, gotta get to work.

Oy.

2009-09-08T18:06:00.004-06:00

Still editing the pictures from Matt and Elizabeth's wedding. Why do they all have to be "keepers" I mean really... And I don't know HOW to edit some of them... Also, note to self... brides move FAST when it comes time to shove cake...

Crazy Dream Chronicles... the Bri edition

2009-08-30T17:16:00.005-06:00

So... if you haven't ever read my friend Allanna's blog let me explain the title of this post. Allanna has some crazy-vivid dreams. She tends to post these on her blog under the title of "Crazy Dream Chronicles" and they are so much fun to read. Now, I have some crazy-vivid dreams sometimes as well... like a few nights ago, for example. In between dreaming that I had teamed up with Harry Potter, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna to save the world and dreaming that I had teamed up with Bart Simpson to save the world (both funny dreams, in and of themselves) I had a real gem of a crazy dream.

The dream opened with me standing in a restaurant... or what would soon become a restaurant. I had been hired by the owner to be the creative consultant during the design process (I worked with branding, and ambiance mainly) and then would become the manager when the place opened. I needed to run to the radio station where I worked to check up on a commercial we were having produced. [side note: while I do actually work as a morning show co-host, that is the only similarity to my real life in this ENTIRE dream] So, I get to the station which is on one of the higher floors of this gigantic high-rise office building, and I have to talk to the CEO of the building, who happens to be my sister-in-law's husband's dad. I can't get to him, but sitting in the lobby of his office is Matt's (SIL's hubby) brother-in-law. This wasn't actually Matt's actual real-life brother-in-law, but in the dream, they were related... does that make any sense? No? Well... pretend then please.

At any rate, this guy was sitting there with his Macbook Pro and his iPhone fiddling around, as I walk by all frustrated from not being allowed in to see the CEO (sister-in-law's father-in-law). The second I pass him, he jumps up and grabs my arm. I whirl around all PO'd and demand, "What!?" and then recognize who it is. He responds with, "Hey, girl! What are you doing here?" (side note: he bears a remarkable resemblance to Joe Don Rooney from Rascal Flatts... as in, he is Joe Don... but not really. Again, not making much sense here) and I explain that I work there and couldn't get in to see his father-in-law. He responded by telling me that no matter what the problem was, he could fix it... if I would just give him my number. I instead tried to get his number, but my cell phone kept deleting it, so I had to give him mine. I was weirded out, but went on my way.

As I walked down the hallway, I heard someone venomously shouting out my name. I turn around, and there is my sister-in-law Elizabeth with a seriously irked expression on her face. "Home wrecker!" she shouted at me. My eyes got all big, and my mouth gaped open. She continued, "You know he has two kids at home, right?" I just gaped back and replied, "No... and I don't see how that matters." I was bewildered... "I only gave him my number so he could call me about a work issue." I had no idea what she was getting at. She turned and stormed off, muttering something about how some people never changed. I had no idea what that meant, until it hit me. I must have left Thomas. Why else would she be that mad at me?

I made my way back to the restaurant, pondering my epiphany. I said hello to the owner, who was actually my sister-in-law Natasha (only, not so in the dream... it looked and sounded like her, but was like Natasha playing a part in a play... the dream girl wasn't called Natasha, nor was I related to her. Kinda like Joe Don playing Matt's brother-in-law. Making sense yet?) So, I relayed the encounter to Not-Natasha The Restaurant Owner, and she just shook her head and exclaimed, "You moron! He was hitting on you, and you let him, right in front of your ex-sister-in-law!" Oh... so I did leave Thomas... ouch. She continued, "You do know that man has cheated on his wife four times, right? And that he has two kids?" What is up with the two kids thing? Why was everyone bringing that up? She then proceeded to tell me to go out for my evening run, as I needed it. Whatever that meant. N-NtRO proceeded to tell me I ought to go out for my evening run, so I left.

The dream jumped to the bottom of a hill, and I was all laced up and ready to go for my run. I got out of my car and jogged over to meet my running partner... my AP English teacher, Mr. S. (o_O <--my face = wierded out) I looked cute... like I had tried to look good for this run. Cute running skirt, pink top, adorable running shoes. Much more like a Nike ad than usual. So, Mr. S and I started up the hill. He was laughing, and teasing me about lagging behind, so I started really trying to beat him up the hill. We were having a great time when it hit me... "Mr. S?" I asked, "Is this... a... date?" Then, he looked at me and smiled and said, "I really wish you'd stop calling me Mr. S." My jaw dropped, and I blurted out, "BUT!! What about MRS. S!?!!?" He looked to the side and said, "Oh... she's gone."

I woke up gasping. Whoa. First and foremost, while Mr. S is a pretty handsome man, I do not think of him that way. AT. ALL. Nor have I ever. Also, I had his wife as a teacher as well... She and I didn't get along super well, but I did like his teaching style. Also, I graduated with their son. Ummmmm I haven't thought about any of them since almost five years ago.

Secondly, what the heck is up with my psyche? Why am I a hubby-leaving home wrecker in that dream? And, WHY JOE DON ROONEY of all people? Hmmmmm??? I leave the question for you. What does this mean for my psyche? Answer in the comments.

1, 2, 3, 4...

2009-08-24T12:20:00.002-06:00

I'm editing Matt and Elizabeth's wedding pictures... this song is stuck in my head.

(yes, this is a lame video... I just want you to hear the song.)

I love this...

Oh the e-mails I get...

2009-08-17T21:27:00.004-06:00

Tonight, I opened my e-mail inbox to find a little note that quite literally made me laugh out loud. There was a one-line e-mail from my new boss, Ted. It read simply,

"When are you going to do a YouTube video on your new job?"

:-) I personally think it's rather cool that my boss checked out my YouTube channel. Now, this probably has you wondering... How on Earth could it possibly be a good thing to have the person responsible for your new job to be checking out your YouTube channel? Well, my friends, when you're on the radio it's not bad at all!

I started my new job at Q102 FM last Tuesday. I am the new morning co-host alongside Catfish while the regular co-host, Kelsey, is out on maternity leave. I just have to say that working in radio is a lifelong dream of mine, and it has been a blast and a half this past week. I'm really enjoying hanging out with Catfish in the studio! I'm there starting at around 5:30 AM, and we're on the air til around 10:00 AM. I have never enjoyed being up early this much in my entire LIFE! :-) My mom can attest to that fact... just ask her about waking me up for Early Morning Seminary! HA! But this time around, I'm up and at 'em, and loving it!

I'll post more details about the job later... and there will be a video up tomorrow, per Ted's request (and many, MANY others as well!) so look for that. And, if you happen to be in the Upper Valley (Rexburg, Sugar City, Parker, etc.) Teton Valley (Driggs, Tetonia, etc.) or Jackson (Jackson Hole, Star Valley, etc.)* areas, you'd just better tune in Monday through Friday from 6 - 10 am! :-)

*I'm aware I may have missed many towns here, but trust me, you are still loved! I know you're out there, and I'm glad you're listening!!! :-)

For Elizabeth, since we discussed this yesterday...

2009-08-16T17:18:00.002-06:00

This video was stuck in my head ALL evening... :-) I love Queen, and I just couldn't stop thinking about this, since I was at a wedding and all...

Brian & Eileen's Wedding Music Video. from LOCKDOWN projects on Vimeo.

Zooming back to the top of your blog rolls...

2009-08-16T15:35:00.002-06:00

:-) I'm still here... just busy.

Things that will come up when I actually post a "real" blog post again:

New job!
Sage Day Spa updates
Elizabeth's wedding

... and much, much more!

I just wanted to let you know that I'm alive, and well... if not freakishly exhausted. :-) More later.

Half Blood Prince! FTW!

2009-07-20T14:13:00.002-06:00

Did I seriously forget to post this here? My bad!

Ahh Taylor...

2009-07-17T23:59:00.003-06:00

Taylor Swift is adorable... and really, really easy to relate to.

Thanks for writing a song about me at 15, Tay... ;-) By the way, my mom will totally attest to the fact that I did indeed dance around in my bedroom, singing into my hairbrush and trying on various outfits in my vanity mirror. That is SO me. SO very much.

Free Association and MAIL!!

2009-07-11T00:10:00.003-06:00

New youtube vid! You'll probably be seeing a lot more of these. It's SO much more fun for me than regular-type blogging... :-) If you have a youtube account, feel free to log on and rate, comment, respond etc.

Rules: A Rant About the Gym

2009-07-10T11:34:00.002-06:00

The secret is in the sauce...

2009-07-06T00:09:00.001-06:00

Hey all! Thought you might be interested... I made a new youtube channel! :-) It is http://youtube.com/sparklesauce and it is live and up TODAY!!

For your viewing pleasure, my first video: The Google Verb Meme

Cake, or Death?

2009-06-25T13:51:00.002-06:00

I love Eddie Izzard. Mostly, like everyone else on the planet, I love, "Cake or Death." I also love Lego... and stop-motion animation... so naturally, I love THIS:

The Fabric of Our Lives?

2009-06-24T11:00:00.002-06:00

Okay, I don't even know how I stumbled across this today... but I'm vacillating between being exceedingly weirded out, and actually enjoying it.

The people at Cotton (as in the commercials with the tagline, "The touch, the feel of cotton. The fabric of our lives.") have come out with a new campaign. I don't have a TV, so I can't tell you if the commercials are annoying, or everywhere, or even what they're about. Presumably, they'd be about cotton, but who knows. As a part of this campaign, they've set up a website where you can go to download the songs from the commercials. Now, I've seen many a commercial that made me think, "DANG! I want that song!" but a cotton jingle? Maybe not so much. Also, Zooey Deschanel sings? Okay. Alright... Secretly though, I kinda dig Miranda Lambert's song. I mean really, what fabric is more quintessentially country than cotton? Besides leather... Her song makes sense. The other two genres I don't see as being very believable.

At any rate, feel free to go check those out. :-) You're welcome.

Buffy and Edward...

2009-06-22T14:23:00.001-06:00

Truly, full of win. Thank you to whoever just made me laugh so hard, if I'd been drinking milk, it'd be out my nose.

A Post? Reeeally?

2009-06-17T16:06:00.002-06:00

So... I'm a serious blog slacker. I'm just in a perpetual sad mood... or lack of motivation is probably a better term for this. You see, it's been one of those months... the kind of month where you get laid off... and you say, "Well, it certainly can't get any worse!" And then your good job... well... this happens. :'-( I know it may seem silly to some people to cry over the place you've only worked for two months... but holy cow. Seeing it like that made me bawl.

I promise, when I get some more motivation going, I will blog more.

2009-06-15T09:26:00.001-06:00

On my way to IF. I get to play with the VW dealer today! Joy!

Quickly

2009-06-15T07:43:00.002-06:00

Okay. I deleted the post with the knock knock jokes. It was annoying me with it's autoplay feature. Any time anyone brought up my blog, it would just play. I wasn't cool with the concept of it yammering out knock knock jokes forever, so it is gone. If you haven't seen it, and want to, leave a comment with your e-mail and I will send it to you.

I promise I'll put up a real post soon. Life is just crazy right now.

2009-06-11T15:09:00.001-06:00

Okay... Just figured out how to blog from my phone. Blogger now joins Google Text and Twitter as one of my all time favorite things to do with my phone!

It's here! It's HERE!!!!

2009-06-08T09:37:00.002-06:00

Disclaimer:
I am a Twilight fangirl. Yes. I am "old enough to know better." Yes. I am aware that Alice can't be my best friend, Edward is too high a standard to judge any man by, and I am not anywhere near as cool as Emmet and Jasper. Don't worry, I'll try not to squee and drool all over you... and if I do, well... go get a towel. It's my blog, after all.

All that aside, THEY RELEASED THE NEW MOON TRAILER!!!!! YAYYYYYY!!!! I literally squealed when I saw this. Here, watch:

Now, I do take issue with a few parts... but I'll try to be nice. After all, this is the first trailer. I know that there will be more, and I'll hold out hope that they'll be better put together than this. Which brings me to issue number one.

First of all, if you haven't read the book, this doesn't make you want to see the movie. Everything in this trailer is plot detail. It was a wise move to include the paper cut scene... but nobody is going to understand why Laurent is there with bright red eyes talking about how mouthwatering Bella is.

Secondly, what's with the mish-mash of Bella running scenes? (Yes, I have watched this many times this morning... I am a geek) She's wearing several different outfits, and is in several different locations. Did the editors think we fans wouldn't notice? Silly editors, Twilighters are WAY worse than Harry Potter fans... We notice everything. Laurent is not in Billy's backyard, by the way... he's supposed to be in the meadow... odd.

I'm not going to go into too much detail, because I love the trailer, really... and also I don't want to spoil it. BUT I sincerely hope the next trailer is a little more enticing!

I'm a PC and these kids can do more than I can...

2009-06-05T13:29:00.003-06:00

Okay, not really... but they can definitely do more than I could at that age! Enjoy some cute Windows ads from YouTube.

This little girl is adorable, and I just want to gobble her up. Way to go Windows... finally catching up in the ad department!

This is Lewis... and his accent melts my heart!

If you've ever watched the later seasons of Gilmore Girls, you might remember TJ. TJ is married to Luke's sister, Liz. This kid is TOTALLY little TJ. Favorite quote, "I'm gonna screen this puppy for ya."

Bring On Summer!!

2009-06-03T15:26:00.004-06:00

For those of you who are curious as to why I bugged you via text during work hours yesterday (Ben, Jared, Brian...) I assure you it was very important. I needed to know the Yankees home game uniform colors so that I could do THIS:

(Ignore the smudgies! I'm clumsy and polish on my toes rarely stays smudge-free)

Can you tell I miss Connecticut? Also, it was a very slow day at work... :-) Thank you to all who answered my text message! It's too bad I'm not going to any Yankees games any time soon... Technically, I could watch tonight's game online over at mlb.com... at least I think you can. I've never not had a TV before, so I'm not sure how that works... I could also just go watch it at the gym.

At any rate, WOO-HOO! I'm pretty sure this is the coolest my toes have ever looked.

Regardless of Personal Opinion...

2009-06-01T10:52:00.002-06:00

I don't like to get too political on my blog. But I saw this today, and regardless of your opinion on abortion, this is a must watch. I'd like to introduce you to Gianna Jessen. Gianna is a late-term abortion survivor. What that means (as she explains in her speech) is that she was supposed to be aborted when her mother was over seven months along. Supposed to, being the key words. Gianna's birth mother was given a saline injection that was supposed to kill baby Gianna. Within 24 hours after the procedure, the mother delivers a dead infant. Gianna was born alive.

I'm not posting this to sway anyone's opinion one way or another. I personally am very pro-life. I believe that abortion is wrong, and akin to murder. But, in my country, it is legal. You have your choices, your agency, it's up to you. I still find it wrong, but until it is illegal, it will continue. I honestly feel that anyone considering an abortion should be made aware of all the facts, side effects, and dangers, and should probably watch Gianna's speech.

Here are the videos:

Part One:

Part Two:

Isn't she something? God really did want her here... boy does she have a powerful message. I do love that she has such a powerful testimony that she is a daughter of God. That, as she says, she is a princess. Go Gianna!

No more cookie dough for me...

2009-05-31T00:11:00.003-06:00

This week has been... interesting. I was asked on two separate occasions at work (by my MALE co-workers, thank you very much) if I was pregnant. The first occasion was when I was STUFFING my face, and I was just simply ravenous. He was like, "Maybe you're pregnant. That's how my sister feels right now, and she's pregnant." The second occasion was when I fell asleep dialing out for surveys (call center, in addition to working at the spa). The computer dials, you just listen to the ring and wait for a person. I just conked out. Then, another co-worker asked if I was pregnant.

You know, I think it has less to do with those occurrences, and more to do with the fact that I look like this:

(please ignore the water spots on my mirror, k thx!)*

No, I am not pregnant. Not at all. When I gain weight, it ALL lands on my belly. It took me til today, when I walked past my bathroom mirror there to realize, "Holy COW, I look like I'm like, 5 months pregnant!" It's so STRANGE to me... I mean, my arms haven't gotten bigger. My thighs haven't gotten bigger. Just my belly. In a little, round, pregnant-looking bump.

Not. Cool.

Looks like I'm back on the Biggest Loser wagon.

*ironically, those are prenatal vitamins in the lower left of the photo. I take them for my hair, skin, and nails. Just thought it was funny that they happened to show up in the picture.

BACKPACKS!

2009-05-27T22:10:00.009-06:00

It all started with a crazy dream. Now, I'm not going to say that this dream was prophetic, and I'm not going to put it up there with Joseph or Lehi's dreams... but it was sure monumental, and life altering for this family! On Sunday night (or rather, early Monday morning) I dreamed that there was a major disaster coming. Now, for those of you unaware, I live very near what is referred to as the Yellowstone Caldera. Basically, Yellowstone National Park sits on top of an active volcano. Now, if the caldera ever blew (Discovery did a tv special about this cheery topic) it would be bad. And it would most definitely be felt in my area. Now, on to the dream.

In my dream, we had received word that they were evacuating the area due to increased volcanic activity, and there were mini-earthquakes happening... and I looked at Thomas as I was hastily shoving poor, frightened birds (our three parrots) into their carriers and said, "Get the 72-hour kits!" At which point, we looked at each other, wide-eyed and panicking and mutually realized, we don't have 72-hour kits!!!! This was a problem. So, we started to race around the apartment, in a state of panic, grabbing anything and everything we thought we would need. The mini-earthquakes kept happening, things were falling out of cupboards, and shattering... and all of our neighbors were waltzing by, calmly and collectedly to their cars, 72-hour kits in hand. That's when I woke up. It was about 3:30am at this point, and I was wigged, but oddly calm. It's the kind of calm you have when you've experienced a major epiphany. I can honestly say that I felt the Spirit comforting me, as if Heavenly Father was saying, "This is a warning." So, since there was nothing I could do at 3:30am, I went back to sleep.

When I woke up in the morning, I calmly explained the whole thing to Thomas. We decided that after I got done with work for the day, we would go to Idaho Falls and buy some supplies. We went through what was left from his 72-hour kit as a kid. Almost none of the flashlights worked, there were two very stale boxes of raisins, and several half-empty first-aid kits. Not much to go on. So, we went to IF, and came home with all of this:

Now, let me explain a little. We had the brilliant idea (thanks, again to Heavenly Father!) to make our 72-hour kits our backpacking kits as well. Aside from the water bottles, everything is pretty lightweight. We bought great backpacks, and we loaded them down with the following:

Sleeping bag
blanket
hand crank radio
hand crank flashlight
hand crank lantern (side note, the lanterns are AWESOME they were $18.88 and have multiple types of illumination [bright, dim, flashing], a siren, they have an internal radio, and a siren, PLUS you can attach your iPod and it will play music out of the speaker!)
two gallon-sized ziploc bags full of granola bars (we'll add MRE's later)
12 bottles of water (which is nowhere near the gallon a day you actually need...)
2 bars of soap
hand warmers
knives
a (new, BPA free, FDA approved, no cancer bottles for us!) Nalgene bottle
a full, 170 piece first-aid kit
toilet paper
a mess kit
a can of sterno

and I think there were more things, but I can't exactly remember... At any rate, that whole couch full of stuff turns into this:

Now, we were lucky. We already had a lot of the items we needed. For Christmas, we were given the radios and the flashlights. We already had the hand warmers. We already had the knives, blankets and a few other little necessities. The only downside? With the water and the sleeping bags? It's one heavy pack. Thankfully, in most cases, we'd be evacuating by car. If that were not the case, the water would be left behind. We are going to be purchasing pump filters for our packs, to purify water when we're backpacking. Those will remain in the packs in case of emergency as well.

All in all, it was a pretty sweet family home evening activity! I'm really glad we were able to take advantage of the Memorial Day sales at the sporting goods stores... they sure helped. I know it's not always feasible, financially speaking, to buy a whole 72-hour kit... but it sure is helping me feel more safe and prepared. I highly recommend going to ready.gov and checking out their recommendations for a 72-hour kit. I found that site through the Church's website, providentliving.org (and really, that's another great website too).

Anywho, that's what we did this weekend!

Scrabble!

2009-05-08T22:27:00.003-06:00

What's a seven letter word that makes me happy? Winning! :-) We played Scrabble the other night, and while, I didn't win, it was still a complete blast! I thought that since I've been a blog slacker lately, I'd post some pictures.

Thomas is concentrating hard on trying to beat me... he succeeded. The laptop? Yeah, that's our dictionary :-)

Matt and Lizy

2009-05-04T16:13:00.002-06:00

I made this! I also took the pictures... I didn't do the song though... that credit goes to the lovely gents of Vetiver.

My pretty little sister-in-law is gettin' hitched! I did their engagement pictures, and decided they were awesome, so here's the video. If you want, you can check out my photography blog to see the images in higher quality. Just head over here.

Little update...

2009-05-01T23:38:00.003-06:00

So, I changed my blog music around. I was missing my musicals... I'm desperate to go see some Broadway! Maybe I'll have a Broadway on DVD movie marathon... Phantom, Les Mis, The King and I, and who could forget Hello, Dolly! I'm sorry, but "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" makes me teary-eyed. (Allanna, I just can't see Cornelius as the Phantom... it just doesn't work in my mind... I love you, but I just can't do it. I know we've had this conversation at length, but seriously... when you hear him do "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" does that sound Phantom-y? LOL ;-) I love you!) I also have West Side Story, pretty much everything Rodgers and Hammerstein, and many, many more. Too bad my husband isn't as into musicals as I am into action flicks. Little secret about action flicks and I... we go way back. Yippee-ki-yay er, um... lovely people! (note: It doesn't hurt that I have a mega-huge crush on Bruce Willis, Vin Diesel, and many, MANY other beautiful bald-headed action-men rawwwrrr!)

Anywho, enjoy some B-way for me. :-) And if you're having a bad day, what better to cheer you up than the Lollipop Guild followed by Louis Armstrong singing, "Hello... Dolly, this is Loo-issssss, Dolly!" I mean, seriously. That's so good, and so classic it was even used as an obscure pop-culture reference on Gilmore Girls. :-D Not only that, but there's a banjo in it! It so reminds me of my Grandad... it's like Louis does Broadway all mashed up with a Dixieland Jazz Band... and that's my idea of musical heaven. Well, that and Irish punk music... I never said I was normal.

Golly gee fellas, have a little faith in me fellas...

Oh, and also, if you haven't seen the Tim video go do so. Also, remember, if you live near a beach to check out the other post. Thanks again everyone!

200th Post! :-D (complete with long awaited images)

2009-05-01T18:50:00.006-06:00

Okay, so I'm not good at lying... I was going to say, "in honor of my 200th post..." but really, I was planning on doing this anyway.

I HAVE PICTURES AND VIDEO OF TIM!!!! And I'm going to share them with you! He's finally stepping up! Yay! I'm able to pick him up, and carry him around, and even give him kisses. It's great!

So, there he is! Now, some still images.

Here's the kissy-face one I mentioned in the video:

Here's one of him just hanging out on my hand. I feel like I look silly without my glasses on, but I had just gotten home, and literally just took my shades off.

Now, some of you are very good at observing things. You will have noticed some color in my hair that wasn't there before. That's right! I'm a pink-head! Having pinkhead is much, MUCH better than having pinkeye! I'll tell you that much! :-D Whoa... I just realized that in those pictures, Tim and I match. I'm wearing grey, he is a Grey. He's only got one bright color, so do I. Weird. Any ways, that wasn't the plan... and he's got a red tail, not a pink one. I don't have any pictures of my hair down, but it's pretty cool... you know what, that's a lie. I do have pictures with my hair down. They're on my phone. Lemme see what I can do about that.

Success! Yay for being able to send pictures to e-mail from your phone!

Sassy-face!

Serious face... good idea of the vibrancy of the color

This one just screams EMO!!! :'-(

Honestly though, it's a good shot of the cut. I love it.

So, now you know. I have pink hair, I have a happy bird... all-in-all I think this is a great 200th post. :-) Now, if you don't comment, I'll have to go hang out in my room and cry. With my emo hair.

A little thought...

2009-04-29T12:10:00.002-06:00

Saw this on Brittanie's blog...

Do any of you live near a beach? I know my Oregonian readers, and my Connecticut readers do... Would you be willing to do something simple for a complete stranger? Something simple, but wonderful?

If so, go here.

Melissa and her husband lost their baby girl shortly after her birth, and as a way of remembering her short little life, they're making a scrapbook of her name written in the sand on beaches from around the country and the world. They're doing this in celebration of her 2nd birthday. If you're planning a beach trip, or are near enough to a beach to take a day trip, would you mind taking the time to write her name in the sand for them? Keep in mind, it doesn't have to be an ocean beach. If you have a lake beach, or reservoir beach, or even a riverbank... that would work too! All the information is on the site linked to above. There is a deadline, they'd like all the photos by June 1st.

Thanks everybody! :-D Remember, sometimes, God sends His angels in the form of people lending a hand to their neighbor. Whether we know the neighbor or not.

Some things...

2009-04-27T18:19:00.002-06:00

So, I've got another blog! My friend Rachel and I started a team weight loss blog. We are now, Skinny Witches, or at least we will be... when we meet our goals. Let me tell you, putting the picture up of me at my heaviest (I look almost pregnant) and writing down my measurements was painful. For sure. But, Rach did it, and well peer pressure and all that ;-)

At any rate, feel free to follow our progress! We're really excited to launch this project. It works a lot better if we have readers though. Our aim with the new blog is to encourage each other and our readers to accomplish our goals. :-) It's going to be fun, so go on over, subscribe, and read us!

In other news, I'm on my way out the door to run again. I'm also trying out a new recipe. Tonight it's Spinach and Crab Enchiladas. It's one of those that sounds like it's either going to ROCK or totally bite... no pun intended.

I'm off, more later! And, and update on my other blog... later.

I'm not Amish!

2009-04-21T17:54:00.001-06:00

I have the internet again! :-D

I'm really happy, as I sit here and type on my laptop, wirelessly connected to my very own internet. Unfortunately, I'm paying fifty-billion dollars a month. I'm not the biggest fan of the fact that Cable One has a monopoly on fast internet in this area. :-(

So, updates... Thomas got home safely, and he's so freaking handsome! :-) Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all, but I think he got hotter in the month we were apart. He lost weight on the accountant diet... (work 14 hours a day, only have time for one meal) and he's just really happy to be here with me.

Tim, the Grey is doing really, really well. He's taking food out of our hands, and learning our clicks-and whistles. He even made a beep-noise that was eerily similar to the microwave. Normal, but I am not looking forward to it. Maybe I'm too self-conscious, but I don't want guests to think that all he ever hears is the microwave! LoL! While we're on the topic of the feathered-babies, Kaya and Stratford are doing well too. Kaya is going through a particularly heavy moult. I'm a little worried about her, but I think she's fine. She's ridiculously happy to have Thomas home. Stratford has turned into a worry-wort. He's all of a sudden overly freaked out by the vacuum... and he's not too thrilled when people are over. He'll get over it, he's moulting too, and moulting = hormonal. It's kinda like birdie PMS.

Tonight, I'm trying something new for dinner. I'm teasingly calling it "Asian Surf and Turf." It's Crab Rangoon (which Allanna will recognize as "Crab Diapers") and Tangy Beef Stir-fry. So far, so good. The Crab Diapers are an old favorite around here (btw, they're called that because of how you fold them... semi-gross name for a freakishly delish food) but the Tangy Beef Stir-fry is new. It smells amazing so far! I've got the beef marinating right now. It said to let it marinate for five minutes... I've let it go much longer. I don't do short marinades.

Other than that, not much is new. I'll be online and posting MUCH more frequently now... so no worries! :-)

Update

2009-04-17T11:02:00.001-06:00

My honey is coming home!!! He's driving across the country right now!!!

YAY!!!

Ummm... let me clarify

2009-04-11T23:13:00.003-06:00

Just a quick little update. I ran into a friend, who reads my blog, the other day... She pointed something out that I hadn't even thought about. If you're just tuning in to my blog (either for the first time, or after not reading for a while) you might be a little worried about me. There has been a lot of mention of me being with my immediate family... and moving out to Rexburg by myself... I just want to put this out there for those of you who have expressed concern.

Thomas and I are still together! :-) We are ridiculously, deliriously happy. He is finishing up the last week of his tax accounting internship on the East Coast. We've been apart for about a month, which is not a happy thing. We are both pretty sick of the whole long-distance phone and e-mail relationship thing. He comes home freakishly late on the 19th (or freakishly early on the 20th, depending on how you want to look at it). I came back a month early to get our stuff packed up in Oregon, moved out to Idaho, unpacked, and organized. He's coming back mere hours before classes start on the 20th, so I'm taking care of all the moving work. This way, he doesn't have to stress.

Thank you all for your concern, I feel really loved :-) And thank you, dear friend (you know who you are!) for pointing this out to me. I didn't even realize how it sounded!

The Trip!

2009-04-07T11:25:00.008-06:00

Okay... I don't know how I did this without suffering major withdrawal symptoms, but I haven't been online since Friday! That's three whole days without any internet. I'm a hero. I came in to the Library today to use their wi-fi... I had 47 new messages in my gmail inbox. Yipes.

So... I'm safe. Tim the Grey is adorable... he still won't let me touch him. That's okay, we're getting to know each other. He's a lot bigger than other Congo African Greys I've seen. He's just cute as a bug's ear! I won't prattle on too much, I don't want to get annoying. I have pictures, but unfortunately, they're on my big camera. I can't find the cord... stupid unpacking! I'll get it eventually! But, until then, you'll have to wait until I'm all done to see pictures of the bird, the apartment, and the trip. I can give you some ideas of how the trip went however. (All pictures belong to somebody, but I couldn't easily find identifying markers... all images courtesy of google image search.)

We started off in Albany, OR... which looks a lot like this:

We took off a lot later than planned... but at least we got under way. Soon enough we were at The Dalles (which you will remember if you ever played "Oregon Trail" as a kid) which look a lot like this:

So, we kept on truckin'. We had walkie-talkies, and they were AWESOME! Ian and Dad were in dad's SUV (we call it "the truck" so remember that when I talk about "Dad's truck" throughout the rest of the post...) my mom was driving my Mitsubishi, and I was in the Bug with the birds... The walkies were really fun. I decided we all needed handles. I announced that I would be India Golf Niner Niner (ten points for the first one to catch the reference, Mom no cheating! You were there!) Mom was "Mama Bear" and Dad and Ian were "Bravo Team" with Dad being "Bravo Leader" and Ian being "Bravo Two." It was really fun. After a long (and obscenely gorgeous!) drive, we landed in Lewiston, ID... which looks a lot like this:

Lewiston is pretty, and has a lot of neat older buildings... unfortunately, this was the only one I could find a picture of... so you'll have to trust me.

In Lewiston, we picked up the bird. We named him Tim. He growled at us. It was an experience. African Greys growl when they're scared. Tim sounds like one of the Velociraptors from Jurassic Park...

We continued on through what is, in my newly formed opinion, one of the most beautiful highways in America. Highway 12 runs from Lewiston to Missoula (well, actually it runs a lot more places than that, but that's the part we were on) through Clearwater National Forest, along the Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers... and it's amazing... it looks a teeny bit (only sort of) like this:

Those pictures DO NOT do it justice at all. It's amazing. Along that gorgeous road, we experienced some automobile technical difficulties. The engine in Dad's truck started kind of coughing and sputtering... it was riding really rough too. We pulled over at a little cafe for dinner. It was pretty good food, and the people helped us figure out where to go to stop over for the night (this was Friday) so we could get the truck serviced in the morning. They told us to go back to Kamiah (pronounced Kam-EE-eye) as there was pretty much nothing else for miles and miles. Kamiah was only a mile or two back. We stayed the night at this motel:

As I'm sure you can see from the picture, we stayed in the room above that white pickup in the parking lot. Note the extremely subtle arrow... ;-)

The motel (the Clearwater 12 Motel in Kamiah, ID) was nice, and it sure was good to get some sleep. Mom and I had a HUGE giggle fit and almost couldn't get to sleep. Then, we had weird dreams... I woke up yelling, "No! Kaya! No!!" From a dream where Kaya (our sweet, neurotic, little bird...) was trying to kill me because she was jealous of her new "brother." I also had another dream where I was trying to turn a door handle, and I woke up trying to turn Mom's face. Oh dear.

In the morning, after a yummy continental breakfast, Mom and I set off down the road. Dad and Ian stayed at the motel to wait for the truck to be fixed. Turns out there was air in the gas line. Dad and I had also checked the oil, and found it to be low. Luckily, I keep oil in my cars... so we filled it up. Mom and I sure had fun on the road. We figured we'd stop in Lowell for gas... only the gas station was closed. This left us in a bind. Mom's gas light was on, and there was NOTHING on that road... We both said prayers, and put our faith in the Lord. He came through (as always!) I'll have to post pictures later, as they're on the other camera... but out of the blue, in the middle of nowhere, there was a gas station at this little hide-away lodge place. It was random... and it was wonderful.

Eventually, we got to Missoula, MT which looks a lot like this:

And Google image search got confused. Misssoula, MT does not look anything like this:

Not once, not ever. But I thought it was funny that according to Google, that was Missoula. It was literally captioned, "Missoula, MT" I laughed.

About four and a half or so hours later, we arrived in Rexburg, ID which looks a lot like this:

and this:

This should look really, really familiar to at least one of my readers... ;-)

And now I'm here, exhausted, internet-less, and attempting to find a job. Wish me luck everyone! Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have internet... and if not, I'll be at the library a lot... I promise more pictures will come. As soon as I get life straightened out. Yipes. Thanks for all your prayers, you're all wonderful! All together, it was a good, smooth, wonderful trip. I'm so glad I got to spend it with my family. What a neat blessing!

Here goes!

2009-04-03T07:46:00.002-06:00

This is about to be one of my shortest blog posts ever. My mom, dad, brother, and I are on our way to Rexburg today. There was a bit of a change of plans, and we're taking the "long way" around. It was a good change of plans though... it means that I get to pick up my Baby Grey (who is actually the bigger boy that we wanted! So I guess I can start calling him Tim now...) today rather than Monday! Woo-hoo! It adds about four hours to the trip, but that's better than me drving 8 or so hours each way to pick him up Monday. Since it's going to take a little extra time, we'll probably stop off in Missoula MT overnight. Missoula is only about 4 hours from Rexburg.

At any rate, we'll be drving today (April 3rd) and tomorrow (April 4th) and then my parents and brother will be driving home on Sunday (April 5th). So, if you're reading this on any of those days, would you please send up a quick prayer for us? I mean like, right now... as you're reading this. Thank you! Your faith and prayers are appreciated! :-)

More to come as we arrive safely/I'm settled in.

Neat tool

2009-03-31T13:23:00.003-06:00

While I was at the dentist yesterday with my mom, she found this neat little tool in a magazine! It's on the prevention.com website, and it's a Virtual Model that you make of yourself. You put in your current weight, height, and body type, and your goal weight. It's actually kinda fun! For illustration purposes, I've included mine! You don't have to have your virtual model wear a tankini. I have a ridiculously tall torso, a severe lack of hiney, and a larger top half. I cannot find one piece swimsuits that fit all of me. I'm just not proportional. So, my solution is to buy a small bottom, and a much larger top! The neat thing is that modesty is "in" again, and so they're finally making extra long tankini tops! Woo-hoo! Unfortunately, my virtual model didn't come with an extra long tankini top... but oh well. I will! :-) I like that you can put your face on the model. It doesn't work so well with the profile of the models, but when you're looking head on it works! Now, if only they'd make virtual clothing for the models. It would be nice to see what my skinny body looked like in skinny jeans! :-) That's my goal... when I'm finally a size that will look GOOD in skinny jeans, I'm buying a pair!

Before and after

Now, I have lost weight, and am down about 10-12 pounds from the "before" image. However, a lot of me still LOOKS like the before image, so I put it up. Also, they didn't have my haircut. Sigh. So I just picked a cute one and called it good.

Everyone who's trying to lose weight ought to do this... it's fun, and it gives you a useful motivator! I mean, it's easy to look at models and think, "I could never look like that" but when you have your face on a skinny body... it feels a little more possible.

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles...

2009-03-30T23:29:00.002-06:00

So... today has been busy. I mean, seriously all my days have been busy, but today was busy with lots of different things. I helped my mom get stuff set up for her class at U of O. She's teaching one class this semester. Then, we came home... and I started cleaning bird cages. Then, mom had to go to the dentist. I went with her so that in case she was loopy from dental drugs, I could drive. After that, we came home and I continued to clean cages. I felt bad for the bird-babies so I let them have some out of crate time. They'd been in their crates all day almost! It was about four hours. Stratford could care less, but Kaya doesn't enjoy it.

So, they spent time on all of our shoulders, and eventually they both ended up downstairs. I was trying to eat dinner. It's kinda hard to do when you have a bird on your knee and a bird on your shoulder. Dad was holding Stratford for a while, and I put Kaya on the coffee table, where I'd laid out a towel. There was a bowl of apple pieces that Strat had been eating there as well. Pretty soon, Stratford started to chew on dad's ear (he's weird... I don't know why he does that) and so I decided to put them together.

This was a risky move. They don't generally get along. They tend to fight, bite, and argue. I figured I'd give it a try anyway. To my surprise, they coexisted peacefully! They didn't fight, or pick on each other or anything! In fact, at one point, they even ate out of the same BOWL!!! I was shocked. Thankfully, my camera was nearby so I could take pictures! Glad I did, or Thomas would have never believed me!

Stratford (front) and Kaya (back) peacefully chilling on the same coffee table. Normally, being this close to each other would result in a charge towards one another and a fight. Not tonight!

Sharing the same bowl. Happily. Without incident. If I didn't have the picture, even I wouldn't believe it!

Twilight Parodies!!!

2009-03-30T00:36:00.001-06:00

Just had to share these... I'm a Twilight fangirl... it's been mentioned before. These made me giggle. If you haven't seen the movie, these probably won't be very funny. But if you HAVE seen the movie, or the preview for the movie, or read the books... you might get a little chuckle out of them.

My day with my brother...

2009-03-26T00:11:00.003-06:00

I am sooooo jet lagged. It's not even funny. I want to write a post, I really do... but I don't think I know how at this moment. ;-) I'll try...

We did so many things... I got quite a lot checked off my to-do list. I even had a fun experience with a dead battery in a car that has more electric functions than I thought possible. It led me to a new conspiracy theory. The modern Volkswagen is passive-aggressive retaliation for our defeat of Germany in WWII. Everything runs on the battery in my Bug. The battery had no love for me today (not that I blame it after three months of being left in a cold, grassy field...) and I couldn't unlock all the doors, open the trunk, or do anything. If it had an actual place for my key, I was okay... but beyond that? Nothing worked. EVERYTHING on that car is electric. And plastic... very interesting. My Mitsubishi started up like a champ. It is not as sensitive as my Betty (my pet name for the bug, 'cause she's a sexy surfer girl...) and was happy to see me. The SUV is a boy, I think. Betty resents me for leaving her. I mean, I have awesome in-laws, who went out to the field the cars were living in and periodically started them... they started up just fine for them. Not for me! I'm tellin' ya, Betty was punishing me. Okay, so maybe it's not passive-aggressive retaliation. Maybe it's just Betty. She's fine now. We took her to the shop to get a part replaced (long story, not very interesting, and not at all related to today's incident) and they washed and vacuumed her.

While we were in Salem for Betty's doctor appointment, we picked up the "new" cage for Baby Grey. My fifty dollar bargain cage. It's seen better days, for sure. But, it was only fifty bucks, and she threw in a ton of extra stuff. A training book, some toys, some food dishes. Way nice of her! It's probably not going to be Baby Grey's cage forever... it's in a little bit of a rough condition. I'm going to scrub it, and steel-wool the rusty bits, and coat it in some olive oil to prevent more rust (can't use anything that isn't edible [i.e. WD-40] because birds climb with their beaks, and will therefore ingest it... this is also why I can't just re-paint it). It'll do for the nine months of Rexburg, and then we'll buy a new one in Connecticut.

We also picked up all my much needed pretty supplies. Mascara, shampoo, conditioner... the whole nine yards. I ran out of everything right before I left Stamford. Good timing, really. So we shopped. While doing that, my brother Ian picked up a copy of Twilight on DVD for us all to watch tonight. I'm a thirteen year-old girl... I squee at the mention of Edward Cullen... though some people disagree. Which I respect. I just hold to it that there's a reason that dogs are man's best friend, whereas diamonds are a girl's. ;-) (1. if you haven't read the series, that will make no sense 2. I love you anyway Brittanie!!)

I had a great day, all in all. I'm glad I got to spend so much time with mi hermano. He's a pretty rad guy. We had some fun conversations. My side of the family is pretty Twilight Saga crazy. Also, my little brother likes nice cars. He admires Edward's Aston Martin. Well, not so much Edward's Aston Martin... just the fact that he has one. Ian considers it good taste. Ian wants an Aston Martin some day, before he gets married is his goal. We were talking about investments, and he said that his plan was for his investments to do really well in the next few years, while he's doing his first year of college, and his mission so that he can pay for three things. College, an engagement ring, and his Aston Martin. I laughed pretty hard when he told me that. I responded with (and again, if you haven't read the book, you probably won't get the joke here...), "Well, you better find a Twilight fan-girl to marry then." and he asked why. I replied, "So that she'll appreciate the car! And then you can tell her it's a "special occasion" and take her somewhere romantic. You can look at her and say, 'Well, I may not sparkle... but this does!' and then give her the ring!" Ian laughed pretty hard at that one! He said he may have to use that line. I really hope he does.

Holy Cow, I'm safe...

2009-03-25T02:17:00.002-06:00

Well, I did it. I arrived in Albany, OR! It is 1:17 am, local time... and I'm exhausted. I think that's because it's 3:17 am back in Stamford... and thus, what I'm used to. Jet lag much?

My flights all went well. I arrived at the airport in Hartford, CT earlier than planned, which turned out to be a good thing. They had bumped me up to an earlier flight. I literally walked in, checked in, breezed through TSA (where there was NO line... which NEVER happens!) and sat down for about fifteen minutes, and then got onto my new flight. Holy cow! It's a good thing we were early. Divine Intervention is the only explanation there.

The flight itself wasn't all that fun though. I got airsick... reeeeally airsick. It was a teeny-tiny plane, and there was a LOT of turbulence. Not a good combo. Even though I took my Dramamine, I still needed to use the "convenience bag" (sorry if that's an over share, be grateful you weren't sitting next to me!) We landed, I survived, and I had a several hour layover. During my layover, I had three different departure gates. Thankfully, they were all relatively close together, so I didn't get lost. Newark Int'l Airport is HUGE!

The second flight was much better. I love me some 747's! Relatively smooth, other than the nasty weather pattern we passed through around Chicago. Bit of a bumpy landing too, but again, too be expected with the weather going on in the country today. There was a movie, and a dinner service. I ate the salad, but the "Beef" and Swiss sandwich left much to be desired. It was straight up cafeteria mystery meat. Blech.

Mom, Dad, and Ian came and picked me up from PDX. It was great. We had a safe and smooth ride home. Woo-hoo! The birds were happy to see me... well... at least Stratford was. Kaya was as terrified of me as ever. Though she did let me hold her... a little. Stratford on the other hand literally jumped right onto my finger when I said, "Step up!" Which was awesome. He proceeded to give me kisses, and let me do wing scratches and the whole nine yards. I'm quite impressed actually. He hasn't seen me for three months. I was expecting to have to re-train him all over. But he knows his mommy! Kaya flew away from me, silly bird. Some things haven't changed! Little Strat is all grown up though... he has grown in most of his wing feathers, and looks a lot less like a baby bird now. He holds his head up straight, and he looks so long and lean! He's a cocky little butt to everyone but me. He did say, "Hello" when I opened the cage door, which was awesome!

Sorry this post is so incongruent... I haven't slept in nearly 24 hours... I'm going to go take care of that now. More later... tomorrow's post might even have pictures! :-0

All my bags are packed...

2009-03-24T06:05:00.002-06:00

But I'm not QUITE ready to go. I did complete my list... kind of. I still need to go to the store.

I've downloaded almost two hundred podcasts... I love "How Stuff Works" so much!

I cried like a baby for almost twelve hours now... I had no idea how attached to my husband I am. I miss him like nobody's business, and I'm not even gone yet. There's only a few blocks between us, I can't imagine what it will be like when there's a whole COUNTRY between us!

I'm gearing up to go to Target, the last thing on my list. Sigh. Better go. More later, live, from an airport near you! (Well, technically it's only near you if you live near Hartford, CT, Newark, NJ, or Portland, OR....)

Update...

2009-03-23T14:53:00.002-06:00

~~Step One: Pack~~ Done!

Step Two: Clean (probably will keep going into tomorrow... sigh.

Step Three: Goodwill (freecycled the kitchen stuff, waiting for people to pick up)

~~Step Four: Cancel all Utilities~~ Done!

~~Step Five: Change of Address Forms~~ Doing when I get to Oregon... not gonna do it today!

Step Six: Library

Step Seven: Daily trek to Target

~~Step Eight: Make appointments in Oregon~~ Done!

Step Nine: Buy food

Had to share...

2009-03-23T09:18:00.002-06:00

Okay, for the record... my church rocks. Here are some cute PSA's they've put out on Youtube. The first one is my favorite... but then again, I like swashbuckling action!

Too many things to do... not enough time to do them in.

2009-03-22T21:08:00.005-06:00

I haven't blogged in days. I'm not slacking, I'm just super busy. I'm preparing for this crazy move we're about to undertake. By the time we come back out here in December, we will have moved SIX times in our THREE years of marriage. Ouch. Here's my to-do list for tomorrow (just so you can understand where I've been/what I've been up to):

Step One: Pack
Although I'm largely packed as far as my shoes and clothes are concerned, I pulled a few random odds and ends out of the suitcase this week. I now have to re-pack it. I also need to be sure it makes the correct weight restrictions. I'm allowed 50 pounds. I think I'll be okay...

Step Two: Clean
I'm deep-cleaning the apartment so it is move-out ready. I'm leaving about three weeks before Thomas, but he's really only going to be using the apartment to sleep and shower. I'm going to have everything done, and then all he'll have to do is a quick vacuum and spot clean around the apartment.

Step Three: Goodwill
I have to take all of our random odds and ends back to the Goodwill from whence they came. I'm returning the pots and pans (Thomas won't be cooking, as they provide food at work) tomorrow, but he'll keep the plates, bowls, and silverware. I'm also paring down our food. (If anyone wants to "grocery shop" I've got pasta!!)

Step Four: Cancel all Utilities
I get to spend vast amounts of time listening to hold music while I set up cancellation and forwarding address information with our many utility companies.

Step Five: Change of Address Forms
I'm going to waltz down to the Post Office, and pick up/fill out our CoA forms. We get to do four this time! One each for us here at this apartment, and one each for us from Thomas' parent's house. Since we lived there for six months, and set up this apartment as a temporary move, I have to do CoA's for both addresses. As I learned last time, checking the box marked, "Family Move" is unwise when some members of the family (i.e. Mom, Dad, Michael, Elizabeth, Natasha, Jacob and Joshua) will all be remaining at the address. I know that sounds like a no-brainer, but when you've moved as many times as we have, filling out a CoA form is very routine. Whoops! I basically informed the Postal Service that there would no longer be Elzingas at the address in Oregon. *head slap!* We straightened it out, but for the time being, I'm doing individual move cards. Oy.

Step Six: Library
I then get to go to the Library to cancel all holds, return all materials... etc. etc.

Step Seven: Daily trek to Target
I will be picking up various odds and ends. I honestly don't even remember them all. That's a potential problem.

Step Eight: Make appointments in Oregon
I have to make "doctor" appointments for the cars. The Bug needs some front end part replaced, and they both need a good oil change.

Step Nine: Buy food
I mean for the plane. I have this thing against paying for airplane food. Which is an option nowadays. It's gross food... why would I pay EXTRA for it? I also dislike that airport food costs ten times more than it's non-airport counterparts. And so, I'm going to go buy myself a box of Cheez-its, and some apples. Yum! :-)

You know, there's more to this list than that, but it's minutia. I honestly can't believe all the stuff there is to get done! Yipes Stripes! Even more than that, I can't believe this leg of the journey has come to an end this quickly. Holy cow... My life is nuts.

More pictures of the Grey Babies!

2009-03-17T10:22:00.006-06:00

I got a surprise in my e-mail yesterday, and figured I should share. Our breeder sent more pictures! I've added the pictures of the two birds we're most interested in. There's one who is a male, very big for his breed, and one who is a female, rather small for the breed. If you've read this post and this post then you already know the explanations behind the names we chose. We're probably going to stick with Tim for the boy... the more pictures I see of him, the more he seems like a Tim. Anyway, check out the babies! Just FYI, the dates in the picture aren't correct. Christina changed her camera batteries, but didn't reset the date.

This is the larger male baby. Tim the Enchanter indeed!

I laughed when I saw this picture... He looks sassy!

If you look closely at this lovely shot of Tim's bum, you can see some pink on his legs, and thighs. He got that coloration from his dad.

On the left, we have the little tiny girl birdie. Her name, if she comes home with us, will be Polynesia.

Exploring her cage top.

Preening...
Playing with toys...

Aren't they just adorable? I'm so very excited! I finalized on the cage that I'm buying used from a lady on one of my e-mail lists. It's a four foot tall cage that formerly house a Macaw and a Cockatoo (on separate occasions!) so it is definitely a good sized cage. At the time of purchase it was $200.00 at Petco. I'm picking it up for $50.00 and boy am I just super excited! We'll see how this cage works out. We may buy a "nicer" one when we move out to CT permanently. We'll see though. This one is nice in the fact that it folds flat easily, and is fairly easy to clean.

Anyway, this has turned into another long post... I can't seem to be brief lately! I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up now. More news from life in general later!

What I did this weekend...

2009-03-16T09:42:00.013-06:00

DISCLAIMER:

This post is quite long, and picture ridden. It's fun to read though (at least I think!)
You've been warned!

I had an utterly amazing weekend. You may have read in my previous post about the fun I had on Sunday evening. Well, let me just tell you, that wasn't NEARLY the whole of the story!

My weekend started off with a bang! Kristin and I threw a surprise High School Musical themed birthday for our friend Cynda. Kristin and I worked long and hard to make sure it was a big success... I think our hard work paid off! We had all the cool decorations. We had of course, the fabulous Happy Birthday Banner featuring all the couples from the movies. ( I do find it a little interesting that Ryan and Sharpay are always featured as a couple... even though they're siblings... but that's another issue for another day.) We also had an amazing HSM birthday candle.

The candle was really fun. We had cupcakes, instead of one big cake, and the candle was as big (or bigger) than most of the cupcakes were were going to put it on! It was pretty awesome. It did make the cupcake slightly off balanced though.

Speaking of the cupcakes... Kristin and Mike baked them the night before (which was super smart of them) and then I decorated them that morning. We actually got the party preparation started at around 9:00 AM. I was there until around 5:30 or 6:00 PM. Kristin and I wanted this to be perfect. Anyone will tell you, when we commit to something, we go all out.

We also had streamers, and a High School Musical tablecloth... and thanks to Lizzie, we even had HSM3 playing on the TV in the background!

Bottom line, I think it was a pretty successful birthday party. After the whole "SURPRISE!!!" part occurred, we played several rounds of Nerts.

Unfortunately, my camera battery died. So if you want to see more pictures of the joy that was Cynda's surprise birthday party, you'll just have to head on over to Kristin's blog. I highly recommend that you do. She does a great job retelling the hilarity that ensued when Matt and Ami got to the apartment at the same time as our guest of honor.

After recovering from all the excitement of the night before, I spent Saturday afternoon in the City with Thomas. I am very privileged to live within a 45 minute train ride from New York. I have many friends in the city, some of whom I was lucky enough to spend four years of high school with. The photo on the left is of my good friend Naomi and me. We met up with our men (her boyfriend Yuriy, and of course, my hubby Thomas!) for lunch on 9th ave. I haven't seen Naomi in about five years, and we had a LOT of catching up to do! I feel bad for Yuriy and Thomas. Tom's never been to Minot, and though Yuriy has, neither of them knew anyone we were talking about. Don't worry, I don't think it was catty gossip, just catching up on how all of my old buddies are doing. Who's married, who has kids. Who's moved away and then come back, who doesn't seem to ever be planning on returning, etc. etc. We laughed about how none of us are doing what we thought we'd be doing. I mean, c'mon! Who'd have ever guess I would go into the beauty and fashion industry? We chuckled at how the people who were always saying they'd be far away from Minot forever are now back home, living with their parents, and just don't want to leave. It was fun to catch up. It's odd how many of "our group" are in the City now. I mean, we've got people in the fashion world, every aspect of the theater world... it's crazy! There are at least five people that I can think of off the top of my head that I graduated with that are in the City. That's 1% of my graduating class! Pretty nuts.

After lunch/dinner, Naomi pointed us toward Fifth Ave. I was very excited to see all the stores, and of course, the Redken headquarters. Not that I'm a Cosmetology nerd at all! We also went to the Disney store. Thomas was a total sweetheart, and bought me a big stuffed Winnie the Pooh bear. He thought it would be nice for me to have something to cuddle with while we're apart for a month. Isn't he the sweetest? And he's all mine! :-) Here's a picture of me with the Pooh bear. Note our awesome living room set, courtesy of the Stokes family. If it weren't for their camp chairs, we would be sitting on the floor! (thank you guys!) While at the Disney Store, I found a Winnie the Pooh sucker. Now, if you know anything about my awkward growing up years, you'll remember that I had a major obsession with Winnie the Pooh. I had Pooh bear overalls, Pooh bear shoes, a Pooh bear hat... not to mention my Tigger watch, and all my Pooh bear school supplies. I did this all the way up through high school too. (Again, you might be starting to see why me going into the business of fashion and beauty surprised some people... LoL!) When my family went to Disney, I developed a sick obsession with the Pooh bear lollipop. They're amazing. They're Pooh bear shaped, they're yellow (no red food dye!!! YAY!) and they're honey flavored. I loved those things. I made it a mission to buy one every chance I could. Here's where this ties in. At the Disney store, they were SELLING THEM!!! I freaked out and got all excited, and Thomas bought me one. Unfortunately, they are no longer honey flavored. But it was still awesome.

Of course, we did more things than just go to the Disney Store... We also saw Times Square and it was awesome. This isn't the best picture of the craziness that exists there. It's really quite pretty. I like the next one a little better as far as illustrating the crazy amount of COLORFUL stuff everywhere.

I'm glad we had the chance to go to the City on Saturday. It was truly our last opportunity to go. We wouldn't have had another chance until we got back in December. It was a nice day too, so that was fun. As you can tell, I'm not even wearing a coat in that picture on the left.

All in all, this was an amazing weekend. I definitely need to learn to blog as I go, rather than throwing it all together in one post on Monday morning! More adventures to come, I'm leaving in 8 days for Oregon. Yipes! I'll try to blog that one. Heaven knows I'm going to have a long enough layover to get at least a little blogging in! :-)

What I do with my Sunday evenings...

2009-03-15T20:11:00.005-06:00

Pretty much every Sunday night, this is what we do...

We get together at someone's house, and play Acquire. It's an in interesting game. You place tiles on a board, and those tiles become hotels. You buy stock in the hotels, and whoever has the most money at the end of the game wins. Very Donald Trump... ;-)

This is the game board. The colored tiles are hotels, the grey tiles around them are expanding them... you start out with two tiles to make a hotel, and the other tiles make them bigger, and worth more money. You merge hotels when the tiles from one hotel and another touch. The blurry thing in the picture is Tom's hand... slow shutter speed! Ha ha ha!

This is Cynda, still a slow shutter speed, so it looks like she's counting her money REALLY fast!

We seriously love this game... I highly recommend owning it... it's addictive and amazing.

My new band's first album

2009-03-13T15:58:00.002-06:00

To Do This Tag:

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar (i.e. MSPaint) to put it all together.

I TAG:
1. Kristin
2. Brittanie
3. Allanna
4. Cynda
5. Lizzie

Good friends...

2009-03-13T12:23:00.002-06:00

I am having the best day. I'm a super lucky girl. My awesome friend Kristin is helping me out with something that I've been wanting to do for like... ever. Well, at least since I got out here to Connecticut. We had some bananas sitting on our counter, that were either ready to throw out, or ready to make banana bread out of. I haven't been able to bake since I got here. I just don't have baking stuff. When you're only living somewhere for only three months, there really isn't a point in stocking your kitchen. So... I was sad, because I thought I wouldn't be able to do anything with my quickly spoiling bananas. :-(

Enter Kristin. Kristin is loaning me her kitchen, her bread pans, flour, sugar baking soda and salt. I supplied bananas, butter, and eggs... So, here I am, sitting at her computer waiting for my bread to bake. I'm so excited! She even let me throw in some of her fancy-pants chocolate chips! Now, that is love. I'm so lucky to have such good friends here! :-)

Maybe I'll post pictures when the bread is done... not very likely, as banana bread is the desert Houdini (it's great at disappearing!)

Sisterhood Award

2009-03-11T13:49:00.003-06:00

A big thank you to Brittanie for nominating me for this award. I was flattered! (Even if I airheaded it...)

The rules for accepting the award are as follows:
Put the logo on your blog or post. Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude and/or gratitude. Be sure to link to your nominees in your post. Let your nominees know they have received the award by leaving them a comment on their blog. Be sure to link this post to the person who nominated you for the award.

1. Allanna has been my sister-from-another-mister for a long while now... Almost five years. She's got a FABULOUS supply of attitude going on over there on her blog.

2. Brittney is one of the most awesome women I know. When you talk about a blog with gratitude... this is one. She's so good at seeing the good, the blessings, and the hand of the Lord in her life!

3. Lindsay is another great "attitude" blog. She cracks me up! She is such a great story-teller. I find myself absorbed in her posts... and I'm especially digging her projects from her cake class...

4. Lizzie has an amazing attitude in general. This girl is fantastic!

5. Lindsey is another blogger with attitude. She's hilarious!!! I love having her two doors down from me. She's a bright spot in my day.

6. Cynda is awesome. I love her cute posts! She makes me smile! I'm still craving the recipe from one of her food posts...

7. Kristin is one rad chickadee. She's always good for a game of Acquire ;-) and she's pretty competitive... so watch your back. Her blog is new, but made of awesome!

8. Lisa has attitude, gratitude, and joy in abundance. Her blog is fun, and I love the stories about her kids :-) I'm pretty pumped to come back up to ID so I can see her in Utah!

9. Laurie is someone who I think of when I think of an Attitude of Gratitude. I've always known her as Sister Fifield (she is Lisa's mom!) and she's always been such a good example to me. She's wonderful, and I'm so glad I found her blog!

10. Saving the best for last, My Mama! Attitude, gratitude, perseverance, joy, goofiness... my mama has it all! She's amazing, even if she doesn't post very often ;-)

Love you, ladies! I love many more of you too, so don't be sad if I didn't include you, okay? If you want, start it up on your blog too! Pass it on!

Music of your Life Meme (tag!)

2009-03-10T21:45:00.003-06:00

Pick one album you remember the most about every 5 years of your life and tell us why its important to you.

Age Five: Baby Beluga, Raffi,
This album got me through preschool... I'm pretty much sure of it. I can still sing most of the words to Baby Beluga, Joshua Giraffe, and All I Really Need

Age Ten: Rock 'N Together, Craig and Company
Man... I loved this CD. My parents won it at a silent auction at my school, and I'm pretty sure I all but wore it out. My favorite was probably the song "Haircut" and I would play it over and over. Boy, that wasn't foreshadowing anything ;-)

Age 15: I didn't have a whole lot of Albums at 15... I had a whole lot of mixtapes and Mix CDs though... 15 meant a lot of Ani DiFranco, Jewel, Sarah McLachlan, Lisa Loeb, and Alanis Morissette. Basically your standard Lilith Fair girls. I was really into girl power, and not the sparkly pink Spice Girls brand, either. Unfortunately, I think I also found Avril Lavigne around this time... Sorry mom and dad! I also had the good sense to fall in love with Coldplay at this time. (Mom: "It was all, YELLOOOOOOOOOOW!")

Age 20: Still not really into one Album. At twenty, and still, it's a lot of Death Cab for Cutie, Good Charlotte (I know... I know...) Dashboard Confessional (pre band!! Thank you!!) Jack Johnson, Coldplay, Coheed and Cambria, The Postal Service... I could keep going. At twenty (or rather 18-20) I was all about knowing bands that not many other people knew. I was so annoying. I honestly thought of myself as Lane Kim... man I was into myself!

I'm 23 now, and I'm really into Dashboard, Jack's Mannequin, U2, and many others. It often surprises people that I listen to Jim Croce. I really dig Helen Reddy too... and Carole King. What can I say, I'm my Mama's daughter :-D

So how about you, what are your most defining musical memories? I'm going to be mean... I'm going to tag the people I'm most curious about. Since it's a meme revolving around fives, I'm choosing five. Don't be offended if you're not on the list (I literally picked one person from each of my groups... Connecticut, NoDak, Oregon, Idaho, and Family)... I'd love it if you did it too! Just let me know in comments!

I tag:
1. Mama
2. Allanna
3. Lindsey S.
4. Lisa S. (I put F. first... lol!)
5. Brittanie C.

Pictures and Names...

2009-03-08T19:13:00.005-06:00

Okay, Christina (our breeder) sent me some pictures of the bird-babies. I'm really excited, and I figured, I'd share them with my blog readers, since several of you have asked what an African Grey looks like.

In this picture, the bird on the left is a boy. He's available, while the bird on the right is not available... that one is already at it's new home.

In this picture, the bird on the right is a little girl. The bird on the left has already gone home. This little girl is Christina's favorite.

We finally came up with a girl name. If any of you have seen Dr. Doolittle, the original one... with Rex Harrison, you might remember that the good doctor had a very helpful interpreter. Her name was Polynesia, and she was a Blue and Gold Macaw. In the books, Polynesia was simply referred to as a parrot. Her species was never made known. She was the one who taught Dr. Doolittle the language of the animals. As you've probably guessed, if we do bring the girl parrot home, her name will be Polynesia. African Greys are known for their ability to learn and use many different sounds. The language of their humans, common household noises (microwaves, phones, doorbells), and even the sounds of other animals! Just like Dr. Doolittle's Polynesia, an African Grey would be able to "speak" many "languages" other than her own. Thomas came up with this idea. I have such a smart husband! I think it's an excellent name pick. I do want to thank everyone who sent in suggestions though, they were much appreciated!

New Addition to the Family... Again!

2009-03-07T07:53:00.007-07:00

I found out something BIG yesterday. I talked to our breeder, and we will indeed be able to bring home a baby Congo African Grey when I get to Idaho! WOO-HOO!!! We're getting a wonderful bird, for a wonderful price... and from a wonderful breeder. She's very careful, and very selective with who she sends the birds home with, and I feel honored that we've been selected. She currently has just two left. They're not DNA sexed (with birds, there aren't visible parts, and the only way to 100% differentiate is with a DNA blood test) but as best as she can tell visually (there are some small distinctions) one is male, and one is female. The little boy has a feather pattern on his legs that's just like his daddy, and the little girl is basically our breeder's favorite. She will definitely hold on to one for us for sure, but they might both be there when I come up. If that's the case, I'll get to hold them and get to know them before choosing one. I am SO very excited about this, it's ridiculous. If you want to see pictures of our soon-to-be baby, you can go here. That's the website of our breeder, Christina. One of those birds in those pictures is ours. :-) Not sure which one... but one of them! Oh I'm so pumped.

YAY! Now we just need to settle on a name. If we end up with the boy, we're thinking either Tim (think Tim the Enchanter, from Monty Python) or John Henry... or maybe just plain 'ol Henry. I personally really like Tim. I mean, c'mon! If you've seen the movie, you know Tim the Enchanter is just about the coolest guy around. Doesn't hurt that it's a John Cleese Character either. AND as if that wasn't enough, in Spamalot, Tim was played by Hank Azaria. I mean, seriously. That's one cool character... for sures.

As I mentioned, the other option would be to use Henry, or John Henry. We're both huge fans of the old west. We love tall tales. As kids, we both equally adored the movie Tall Tale. You gotta admit it, John Henry is pretty much the coolest Old West hero around. And, truly, he was as real as you or I. That's pretty awesome. I think it would be pretty awesome to name the bird John Henry. Or... again, Henry works too!

The point being, we just want to make sure this little birdie has a freakishly awesome name. I mean, Greys live anywhere from 30 on up to 80 years. That's a lot of pressure to put on the person picking the name! Do you have any idea how many stupid names for parrots there are in this world? There are about fifty million (that's an estimate, of course!) Polly, Tweety, Petey, Paco, and Oscar birds out there. Not that those are bad names, they're just the Mary, John, and Joe names of the bird world. We don't know of any other Stratford birds, and I have only heard of one other Kaya bird... but many Kaya dogs... so, I think we're doing okay on originality so far.

At any rate, it's a ton of pressure. We just haven't figured out a girl name. I was toying around with "Shadow" for a while, but really, how unimaginative is it to name your GREY bird SHADOW? That's not much of a stretch at all actually. *sigh* What a tough decision. At least when it comes down to it, we already have our human kid names picked out... No worries there!

So, the way things are looking, I'll have the new baby by the week of April 6th. We've got a cage that we'll be getting (used, and freakishly cheap! SUCH a good deal, wicked excited) from Oregon. I'll pick up supplies before I go pick up the baby, and I'll have the cage pretty much ready to go when he/she gets home. We already have a few toys and treats and things that the new bird will be able to use too... Kaya likes slightly larger toys, so they'll be able to share. It's going to be really exciting, and now that it's official, I can start counting it down.

Woo-hoo! By the way, if anyone has any killer suggestions for girl names for a parrot, let me know in comments! Thanks!

Interesting...

2009-03-06T08:07:00.002-07:00

Smart Birds...

Check out that video, by BBCWorldwide. It's very interesting. The crows in Japan are genius! They're using humans as tools... check it out.

Digital Scrapbooking

2009-03-05T06:59:00.006-07:00

Okay, I was posed a question recently about my digiscrapping! Oh am I ever to excited to talk about it! :-)

I use Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, hereafter referred to as PSP. PSP is an awesome program. It's the equivalent of Adobe Photoshop, but less expensive, and I happen to like it better. I've never been a fan of paying more for something, just because it has a well-known name. I've used both programs... but I own this one. For me, I needed to the full version. Many digiscrappers use Photoshop Elements. It's another great program, but seeing as I do portrait photography, I needed a bit more program. I got that with PSP.

As far as my method... I really haven't changed that from when I was a paper scrapbooker. I still pull all my pictures out, and throw them in a pile.

After I'm done picking out some pictures, I paw through my paper stash... and throw it on the table (my mom will laugh, as she's seen me do this with paper scrapping too...)

At this point, I start to compare photos with papers. I usually pick one or two papers, and one to five pictures... I rarely do even numbers, as I feel that odd numbers make better groupings. Plus, random OCD Aubri thing, even numbers make me nervous...

After I pick out papers, I trim them to fit around the picture, with a simple crop motion. Then, I arrange them into the layout, as pictured below.

Once the pictures look comfy, I get to play with embellishments! I pull the embellishments out of my folder, and throw them onto my "table" to look at.

If you haven't already noticed, my inspiration comes best in chaos. I don't know why. At any rate, I look at this mass jumble and I reimagine the elements in different colors, sizes, and orientations. I rarely leave an element the way it was originally made. I almost always change the size, and the color. I love that ability. When I was paper scrapbooking, I didn't have that option, and I almost always found the "perfect" element, in the wrong color.

After recoloring the elements, (note the newly monochromatic rose, courtesy of the "convert to greyscale feature, the newly red gem courtesy of the color change feature, and the "remember this..." stamp in the corner now white instead of black) I arrange them into the layout. Once I'm satisfied, I flatten the image, and save it.

Voila! A digital scrapbook page!

Then, I let it sit around and wait for about a year until I have a Costco membership again ;-) At which point, I'll print all my pages and put them into my album. Ha ha ha! Truly, I'm collecting pages to print. It'll be a while... there just aren't many places that print 12x12 pages (that I know of) in the Rexburg area. If anyone reading knows of places that print them, inexpensively, let me know! The neat thing about digiscrapping, is that even if you're a paper scrapper, you can make these wonderful images, and frame them for your wall.

Any other questions? :-)

Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-03-05T06:37:00.000-07:00

Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY!!!!

Ummm hello! Yes please!

Old Blogs...

2009-03-04T09:50:00.001-07:00

I've been rummaging through my old posts. The ones that are lurking in my archives, unposted. This happens to me quite frequently. I'll start a post, and something will come up, and I'll hit the "SAVE" button, and then forget to post it entirely. Whoops! So I found this one, from February 13th, and decided to post it. It's got some neat things in it that I made. Enjoy!

I volunteered to make birthday e-cards that the presidency could send on to the members. I'm pretty proud of them...

(note: I organize my digiscrap supplies in an odd way, and I have NO clue where these all came from. If you are the designer, I'm really sorry I didn't credit you properly. Your work rocks... really! I'm glad you shared it with me... to all of you, hoorah! And thanks. Sorry your names aren't listed.)

I hope the RS presidency doesn't mind me sharing these... I'm kinda proud of 'em. For the rest of you, these will be my images from the week. Sorry! I'm not into taking pictures this week. Haven't been feeling well, haven't been feeling like blogging...

(this one actually says, "Happy Bloomin' Birthday" but it's a titch hard to read)

I'll share another digiscrap layout too... to make up for my lack of daily images.

I made this one in celebration of our third anniversary.
(we look so LITTLE in that picture! Awww...)

Why I would love to have a Cockatoo...

2009-03-03T12:17:00.006-07:00

Bird Shakes His Tailfeather @ Yahoo! Video

Seriously, I mean, how cute is that?

Monday Musings

2009-03-02T15:48:00.003-07:00

Okay, thank you to all who participated in the handywoman/homemaking/gifting tag!

Presents are as follows:
1. Mama
2. 'Llanna
3. Nikki
4. Heather
5. KD

For all the rest of you, too bad, so sad... you missed out :-( If you really want me to hand make you something, let me know. I might be able to be sweet talked.

In other news, seriously folk, check out this video. Why didn't I ever think of anything this awesome for a ward talent show?!?

REALLY cool tag...

2009-02-27T09:34:00.002-07:00

Spotted this on Lisa's blog this morning, and I TOTALLY want in! She's got an awesome sense of humor, so I'd love to see what my "gift" will be :-) At any rate, it sounds fun, and maybe this will encourage more of you to post more comments on my blog! I have a (somewhat hidden) stats counter... and I know how many people are reading posts each day. I also know where you're from. Since I know where many of you live, it's not hard for me to guess who's lurking and not posting comments! He he he. Anywho, if you want something handmade by me, sometime in the next year, read below.

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!

My choice.
For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year. (ha! 10 whole months :)
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! I do promise fabulosity here folks...

*Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! If you don't post a picture, my feelings may be hurt, and I might well cry.

*Happy Homemaking!

Holy Cow!

2009-02-27T09:29:00.001-07:00

It is FITFY FOUR DEGREES OUTSIDE!!!!!!!!!! :-D Right now! And it's only 11:30 am!

I think they need to open the pool...

Something I learned about God, from my friend who is a mother.

2009-02-25T08:50:00.004-07:00

My friend Lisa is amazing. I mean it. She and I go back... waaaaaaaay back. Back to Bel Air, sledding hills, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, obscure Star Trek quotes... We go back to being the New Kid, and The Professor's Kid, and the incredulity of Luke Domres asking, "Are you a Russian Spy?" We go back to singing at every single school function, being the "Token Mormon" in classes, and the Snerd/Smurf thesis. I remember all of that... and I treasure it.

As we've grown up, we've become wives and (at least in Lisa's case) mothers. I treasure her blog... it's such a joy for me to see her insights on life, to read the silly things her kids have done, and to hear updates from the rest of her family. Now, I have to say this again... Lisa is amazing. No lie. She can sing like a madwoman, she's got an awesome smile, and she's just dang cute. Not to mention being a great daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend, and scholar of the Gospel. (She's probably blushing right now, but I mean it! I'm serious! Lisa, you're great!)

Yesterday, I logged on to read my blogs, and stumbled across this post of hers. I've gotta say, if I was able to give out Perfect Post awards, this one would be awarded.

I was quite literally stopped in my tracks by her Parable of the Socks. In her telling of the picnic with her hubby and kids, she had gotten her son ready, and he proceeded to remove his socks. She had prepared everything, gotten it all together, and Lee took off his socks, and just sat there. She informed him that he needed to put on his socks, she wasn't going to do it for him. He ignored her, and so she reminded him again. He needed to put on his socks, because if he didn't have his socks on, he couldn't go on the picnic. She informed him that Daddy could call at any minute, and if he wasn't ready, he couldn't go. He started to put them back on but became distracted. Sure enough, in the midst of his distraction and silliness, Daddy did indeed call, and the time for the picnic arrived. Lisa "did the mom thing" and "left" (just to back the car into the driveway of course, she didn't leave her child!). She remarked that she remembered this occurring in her childhood, and lemme tell ya, I do too.

It was at this point that she realized something profound. I'm going to directly quote her, because she says it best. (I fully expect this to come up in a conference talk when she become the General Relief Society president, or Primary president someday.)

"That's when it hit me--our Father in Heaven is warning, asking, pleading, for us to prepare, to do what he needs us to do, so that we can enjoy the proverbial "picnics" in the eternal realms. And often, it is something as simple as putting on our socks. Not also our shoes, our coat, hat, and gloves, buckling into our carseats, and preparing the picnic; no, just put on our socks. That is all. And, unfortunately, like little Lee, we far too often sit on the chair, wanting to go to the picnic, but we get distracted or we pretend not to hear, and we drop what little we've been trusted with on the floor. We laugh about it, we ignore it. Hopefully it is not too late for all of us to bend down and put on our socks."

How many times have I ignored Heavenly Father's gentle reminders to put on my socks. How many times have I done it on purpose, and then begged him in prayer to do it for me? How many times have I heard the warning that it's almost time to go, and ignored it? I think we all do it, but that's not any kind of excuse.

Thank you, Lisa. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and your testimony. If any of you still haven't read the post, I highly suggest that you do. Go read, it was a great eyeopener for me.

Only in the Jello Belt

2009-02-21T17:12:00.004-07:00

I was just going through my archives at random, and came across a post that I had almost forgotten entirely. As I re-read my explanation of various "Mormon Stereotypes" I had to chuckle. To be honest, the "Jello Belt" has grown on me. I'm far from getting weepy at the concept of leaving Rexburg permanently, but I do have a bit of a soft-spot for the region itself.

Only in The Jello Belt:

Only in the Jello Belt can you be told your haircuts are "too expensive" at $20.00 for a cut and style.
Only in the Jello Belt can you "get away with" wearing a tee-shirt under a spaghetti strap tank top, with capri pants (and LOVE it! :-D)
Only in the Jello Belt can you find ham, jello salad, funeral potatoes, rolls, and NOTHING ELSE at a ward potluck (except for the one bucket of KFC)
Only in the Jello Belt can you let out an exclamation of, "Fetch!" and have people glare at you for your inappropriate language.
Only in the Jello Belt can you have a population of only 17,000 people and have three successful beauty schools
Only in the Jello Belt can knowing the best friend of the brother of the guy from Napoleon Dynamite grant you cool kid status
Only in the Jello Belt can you get "Genuine Hawaiian Shaved Ice" (with flavors like "Tiger's Blood") from a stand no bigger than an airplane bathroom
Only in the Jello Belt is it considered odd if you've never been to Salt Lake in your whole life
Only in the Jello Belt (and, well let's be honest, Jersey) is it completely normal to have a football helmet made out of your own teased up hair

You know, I love these little regional things. I really do. I love that I really have been a teased up blonde, worn a tank top over a tee shirt, and said typical Rexburgian phrases.

I love that when I'm there, I'm able to live within blocks of a Temple. When we move back in a little over a month, the Temple will actually be on my street. I love that I have the chance to be in an area of the country where I am surrounded by people who know and love the Savior. I love that I am able to learn, and grow, and figure out the whole married thing with people who are in the same boat.

I know, I kinda tease a lot about "Iceburg" and the Jello Belt. I know I kinda poke fun at myself when my hair reaches high altitudes. I know I roll my eyes at the odd little regional quirks that I still have a hard time understanding. I know that I don't always understand why people cry when they leave the 'Burg. But, you know, I'm beginning to get it a little. I definitely won't miss the winter. I definitely won't miss the snow. I definitely won't miss the shopping... or the lack thereof. But I will miss the history, the close proximity to Yellowstone, the Deseret Book Ladies' Nights, and the goofy little BYU-I activities. I'll miss the good stuff.

And I'm DEFINITELY going to miss Hawaiian Shaved Ice.

Bragging, just a bit... I'm proud of me.

2009-02-20T13:54:00.004-07:00

I'm being REALLY productive today... thought I'd share.

I caught up on all my correspondence and e-mail
I deep cleaned my kitchen (and mopped!)
I cleaned out my purse
I caught up on the laundry
I folded and put away the clean clothes pile in my closet
I disinfected the whole apartment
I cleared the pile of clean clothes off the top of the drier... I don't know why I always end up stacking the clean clothes there, I just do. It's not very effective, and it's odd...
I caught up on all my dishes
I took a photo of the day (but probably won't post it, it's not a great one)
I folded ALL the clothes I washed today, and put them away (today is apparently a laundry day...)
I organized my running gear
I called people I loved, and I told them they were loved
I downloaded the podcasts of general conference from last year, all eight of them
I synced them to my iPod so that when I tune out, I'm actually tuning into the Spirit
I gathered all the library materials that I've finished, and will return them either tonight or Monday morning, before the due dates even!
I will exercise for two hours, after I finish this post.

I just feel so domestic, and productive! I know a lot of these are little things, but I'm dang pleased with myself for doing all of them!

Yesterday

2009-02-20T10:38:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was awesome. I spent over six hours at the mall in White Plains with my CTBGF's (Connecticut Best Girl Friends, an anagram courtesy of the fabulous Lindsey). We shopped, and ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I didn't have any cheesecake. I was a little worried about the Red Food Dye, and they were SO busy... and I just didn't want to risk a confusion in the kitchen that resulted in my having a problem. When I have a doctor here, and insurance, I can take chances like that... and I'll be totally fine. But as Mr. Murphy and I are old friends, I just bet there would have been a problem. I'd have been told the syrup/topping/ingredients were fine, eaten it... and had a reaction. No risks for me right now! At any rate, the burger I had was FANTASTIC. And the fries? Oh the fries! Num num num.

After the Cheesecake Factory, Melinda and Lizzie had to run, so Lindsey and I went back to the mall. I got a free mini-facial, we got our eyeshadow done at MAC (by the most adorable little guy! His name was Jason, and he was super sweet! That boy was a wizard with eyeshadow...), Lindsey called me a duck with one foot bigger than the other (I was going in a circle at the time). It was wonderful. We came home utterly exhausted, which meant it was a WAY good day. True to form (lately anyway) I have no pictures. Sorry! :-( I totally forgot my camera.

I think that's all I've got for now... I need to clean my whole apartment. I took an unexpected nap this morning and slept for two hours. Whoa. So, I'm a little behind, but I can do it :-) Then I need to work out. I'm going to do a video and a run. W00T!

Blank Canvas

2009-02-19T06:38:00.003-07:00

Oh boy. I have a blank blog today. Now, you see, I actually made a really cute layout. I mean SERIOUSLY adorable. With a cute header and the whole nine yards. I'm apparently struggling to get it put together on to the interwebs, however. I will try to have it fixed soon.

Also, "365 in 365" is on hold indefinitely. I'm still going to post pictures, but I realized as I was struggling to find an apartment and employment in Rexburg (two jobs, not one!) that there is NO way I'll be able to do the project easily. I'll try still, but don't get your hopes up. I'm going to focus on posting more, maybe not always with pictures. I'm lame, I know.

On to fix the blog, hopefully it's cute by this evening.

Anniversary! Valentine's! Gifting! Oh My!

2009-02-15T13:16:00.003-07:00

(This is a very long blog. I haven't blogged since last week, so I've got a lot to say!)

Well, I'm alive... for those of you who were curious ;-) I'll give you a little wrap-up of my goings on as of late. Okay, really... just Friday and yesterday, 'cause that's all that matters (aka all I can remember right this second). I did mail my taxes at some point last week... but the rest of it is one big blur.

Friday the thirteenth was a great day. I don't hold to any of that nonsense about it being unlucky. I've always had good Friday the Thirteenths. This one in particular was especially fun. I got to go shopping with my good friend Lizzie. We went on a quest to find me something cute to wear for my anniversary date. I got a *really* cute top from H&M, a black wrap with slightly puffed sleeves and cute stitching details. Then on to Old Navy where I scored a cute puff sleeved tee for ten bucks (it was red!) to go under the wrap. At Target, I picked up a cute elbow length blue and orange striped tee. So, really not too many things, but it was just right.

After shopping, Thomas came home from work. He surprised me with a gift set of my favorite perfume. I'm a huge fan of Sarah Jessica Parker's perfume, Lovely, and I've worn it since it first came out. This is going to sound odd, but I love it because it smells like my grandmother. My Mimsey had a very pretty scent... a little like roses, a little like every kind of warm, happy, flowery, lovely thing you've ever smelled. The first time I smelled Lovely, I actually teared up. It smelled just like my memories of her. I've literally worn it ever since. Any ways, that was a bit of a tangent... So Thomas came home with a big 'ol bag from the department store and proclaimed, "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!" I opened it up to find a beautiful box. Inside that beautiful box was a large bottle of Lovely, a lotion, and a body wash. I was super surprised! I let out a resounding, "SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" rather excitedly.

On Saturday, I was woken up (at 6:50 am...) by my sweet husband wishing me a happy anniversary. I wasn't too thrilled at the hour, but I was super excited that it was finally our anniversary, and we would be able to spend the whole day together! I quickly got up, got ready, and put on my cute new outfit. Tom approved. :-) He thought I looked pretty cute, so woo-hoo! We left shortly thereafter, and I took him to the "new" part of downtown I discovered whilst mailing our taxes. I got a little lost looking for the downtown post office. On the way to finally finding it, I saw a lot of cool buildings. I saw the St. John's Catholic church, the Post Office built in 1915, and many other neat buildings. So, naturally I wanted to show them to Thomas. He thought they were cool, but wasn't quite as nuts-o about them as me... he's a good sport!

Then, we went to the mall! I've gotta say it... the mall here in Stamford is bigger than any mall I've ever been to. Well, other than the Mall of America, and I don't count that one. The Mall of America isn't a mall. It's a theme park for shopaholics. Well... and a theme park also. There's Camp Snoopy in the middle. So really, that's so not a normal mall. Anyway, the mall here is big. There are multiple floors, stores I've never seen or heard of before, and all sorts of stores I've only shopped in catalogs and online. It's beautiful. There's even a fountain. It's great! We love just walking around. We looked at a few things, talked about a few things, and didn't buy anything. It was fun!

After mall walking, we went to our favorite bird store, Parrots and Company. They've got a ton of birds. Macaws, Cockatoos, African Greys, all the way down to teeny little finches. It's so neat! They have great cages (a little spendy...), great food (very reasonably priced!) and lots of fun toys. We held several African Greys. We're considering adding one to the family soon... We played with one in particular. They lovingly refer to him as Cyrano, due to his big nostrils. He's a cutie. He's about seven to eight months old, and he cozied right up to me. He was fine with Thomas, but when we went to pick him up the second time, he bit Tom! Twice! So... needless to say, Cyrano didn't come home with us yesterday. It wasn't just the biting though, it was many factors. We're not permanent here, we'll only be here for another six weeks. We'd have to ship the cage, pay to carry the bird onto the plane, and hope and pray our new apartment in Idaho would allow a bigger bird. Not to mention, he was $895.00 before tax. That doesn't include cage, food, toys, or traveling cage. Not a good price tag right now. It's a good deal for a Grey from a pet store (most stores here charge anywhere from $1000 to $1500) but not a good enough deal for us to act right this very moment.

So, then we went home. We went out for Chinese as our date... it was gross... We survived. I'm not sure I will ever trust a place that serves Japanese and Chinese cuisine ever again. The sushi was okay, but I've had better... In fact, I don't think I've had worse. Oh well. The plating was excellent, I'll give 'em that.

When we got home from lunch, we hung out for a bit. We started talking about random things. Thomas has been talking about buying me a new iPod. We couldn't decide if we really wanted to or not though. I have two Nanos, and they're both full... and neither one of them holds all my music. We weren't sure if we wanted to get a Zune, or an iPod classic. We started price checking, and calling local stores, and finally Thomas bounced up and announced that we were going back to the mall. We checked out the Zune, we checked out the Apple store... we debated... we went to Foot Locker. I've been running more and more on the street lately, and my cross-trainers just aren't cutting it. They're fine on the treadmill, elliptical, and stationary bike, but they're not really cutting it on the asphalt. I've been looking into the Nike+ system for iPod. I like Nike shoes, and I already run with my Nano... so it was a natural thought process. We looked at the Nike+ shoes, and Thomas decided to get me a pair, with the hardware! Surprise! Happy Anniversary, again! :-) We went back down to the Apple store, and purchased an iPod classic (Surprise number THREE! Happy Anniversary AGAIN!) and it's huge. It holds a million songs! Okay, not literally a million, but maybe! At any rate, it's awesome. Now I can use my Nano for running, and my Classic for everything else. Brilliant.

All in all, it was an amazingly fabulous anniversary. I can't get over it! So wahoo! I'll post pictures of it all eventually. But today, I'm just enjoying. I'm really, really looking forward to running tomorrow. I set up an account at nikeplus.com and everything. If you're unfamiliar with Nike+ I'll explain a little. Nike+iPod uses a small sensor under the liner of the shoe that transmits to a receiver hooked up to your iPod Nano. As you run, Nike+ measures pace, distance, and calories burned. It will even give you feedback through your headphones! When you've completed your workout, you can sync your iPod with your computer, and your data is automatically uploaded to nikeplus.com! It's a great tool. In case you're curious, I've put my Nike Mini here on my blog. She'll keep you updated as to how my running is going. She's brutally honest. Today she looks super lethargic and lazy, because (as it is Sunday) I have yet to log any runs. That should change tomorrow.

Anyway, this blog is freakishly long. I should probably tie it up. More later!