27 December 2006

DEUX MILLE SIX!

Different than I'd expected. That's how 2006 has turned out to be.

The bests:
  • Duck Creek & Kolob Canyon trip (Aug)
  • Santa Monica Parking Garage (Nov)
  • LDSLinkup
  • Seattle (Jan)
  • X96, rfh
  • Buying my house (Mar)
  • BBQs
  • Hawaii (Nov)
  • My Ipod- George Michael
  • The 5k (Jul)
  • NFR (Dec)
  • Mission Reunion (Sept)
  • DDR
  • LVDP
  • Dodgers game (Sept)
  • Laughlin (May)
  • Mission Possible (Jul)
  • World Cup (Jul)
  • Stadium of Fire (Jul)
  • Golfing
  • Relief Society Ladies (Dec)
  • Kayaking (Aug)
  • Steelers game (Aug)
  • The Office
  • Arrested Development

15 December 2006

Universe

Something in the universe has decided that, amongst the 30-someodd junk emails I get everyday at work, I need to be receiving the "Dorks.com News" daily email.

I recognize that I'm not the coolest person in the world but, c'mon! Dorks.com? Seriously.

14 December 2006

RSL

I know some of you may be jealous that you weren't able to attend the Willow Springs Relief Society Enrichment Christmas Dinner and Program. So, for those of you who weren't blessed enough to be there this post is for you.

About a month ago I was informed by my dear friend and blogger buddy that she'd signed us up to do a musical number for the Enrichment Christmas dinner. No prob. It's not uncommon for us to have sing-a-longs and flute-a-longs when we're hanging at my place. So I knew we could pull off something great.

We take sharing our talents very seriously so we waited until the night before the performance to decide what we would do. Conkey came over and we ran through a few Christmas tunes, piano-flute duet style. Nothing seemed right... nothing. We were a little distraught. So, to clear our heads we had a spontaneous sing-a-long. And then, it happened.

Out of nowhere Conkey broke out into the Relief Society Lady voice. You know the one- the high pitched, uber-vibrato, old lady singing? Classic!

We laughed our way through a few songs and then it hit us. What if we were to sing like Relief Society Ladies for our musical number? The comedic value would be priceless! Yes! We would do it! Toss out the flute and the piano... We would share our vocal talents!

Now, in order to truly magnify our vocal talents we would need just the right costumes. (Un)Fortunately, I didn't have a denim jumper and a cheesy Christmas sweater in my wardrobe. My only hope was Goodwill.

With just an hour before the big debut of the RSLs I stopped at Goodwill. It must have been providence because the first thing I saw was a beautiful Christmas turtleneck. Now if only I could find a denim jumper. The gods were smiling that day because not only did I find a denim jumper, but it was 80% off dresses day! So, I got it for $2. I almost started jumping up and down with glee right in the checkout line. I also found a stunning sweater for Conkey. A fellow costume shopper at the store described it best: "It looks like someone spilled glitter on astroturf!"

I saved my jumping up and down with glee for when I got to Conkey's house and showed her my finds from Goodwill. She was as ecstatic as I was! In addition to the denim catastrophes we donned we also pinned on gigantic Christmas broaches (which were really just Christmas ornaments that I'd never actually put on a tree). It was all pretty brilliant. Naturally we needed stage names as well. We were totally on the same wavelength, that Conkey and I. She was Sister Johnson and I was Sister Anderson. It just felt so natural.

When we got to the shindig we suddenly questioned our judgment and both got a nervous knot in our stomachs. After 3 lovely and quite spiritual musical numbers it was our turn... there we were to totally kill the spirit of the evening. But we knew what we had prepared was just too good not to share.

So, we busted through the curtains and pulled out phrases like "we're just thrilled to be here" and "you sisters are treasures (trayzhurs) beyond measure (mayzhur)" all in our finest Utah accents.

We asked for audience participation as we sang "Carol of the Bells" in our most stunning Relief Society voices. It truly was the greatest gift we could have given!

I can say without hesitation that this was the most brilliant performance of my life. Rest assured that the Relief Society Ladies will return. Perhaps the next performance will be a pop medley at the next ward talent show. Any requests??

11 December 2006

5:15 miracle

Mondays = no good. Cuz, ya know, work.

My secretary came into my office and asked me what was wrong because she could tell I had "the blues." At least she didn't say I had "a case of the mondays." So, instead of telling her what the problem really was I blamed it on being tired like I usually do.

Well, I'd been craving chocolate all day. Finally at 5:15pm I discovered a whole jar of not only chocolate but dang good chocolate- Dove Caramels- by the front door of the office. Heaven. The inside of the wrapper said "Smile before bed. You'll sleep better." Then started the debate in my head. My favorite part of the day is when I climb into my bed and inevitably I get a big childish grin on my face. So I'm wondering- do I sleep so well because I smile before I go to bed or do I smile before I go to bed because I know I get to sleep. Huh.

08 December 2006

uncookedland

If you ever need to send me a greeting card please be sure to buy it here. Tears of laughter...

07 December 2006

CC + MK

I'm in LOVE! I'm in LOVE! It finally happened...

Something big happened for me this last week. I fell in love with a boy named Mat Kearney. Okay, so I don't actually know if I love him as a person, because I have no idea about his person, but I do absolutely love, like IN LOVE, love his CD Nothing Left To Lose. So good.

28 November 2006

A post at last...

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath for my next post. Well, here it is!
I've been a few places since we last met. I spent a week and a half in Hawaii. That wasn't half bad. See-
That's where I was. While I was there I slept, ate (like a ravenous carnivour), snorkeled, tanned, slept some more, ran, walked, drove, got an ipod, went to PCC, ate more, bought a hat, saw a waterfall, whistled like a frog, got some Vans, met some great people, slept more and watched the Office. It was pretty much amazing.

I came home refreshed and ready to get back to work.

Then, 4 days later I went to LA. Best ever. The worst part about the trip was having to come back to Vegas. That and I bought the wrong color lamp shades and broke a mirror on the way home. I really hope that 7 years of bad luck thing is just a joke.

This was my first year (aside from the mission) that I didn't go home for Thanksgiving. Thanks to the Hale clan for letting me be one of them for the whole weekend. The food was good but I'll be honest. I really missed the marshmallows on the yams.

Try sitting through 6 hours of church and meetings on sunday after having attended only 2 hours of church total in the past month. Not so easy. And now I find myself totally unable to concentrate at work after so much vacation. I think I need another vacation ;)

25 October 2006

24 October 2006

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

I don't even know what to say about this book other than "Awesome!"

I had to stay up until 2am last night to finish it because I couldn't put it down. It was really amazing to think about the tenacity of the human body and spirit when they are pushed beyond their limits. FYI- for those of you who don't know, this is a book written by the guy who got trapped in a Utah slot canyon for 5 days then ended up cutting off his hand to free himself.

So, I HIGHLY recommend "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" by Aron Ralston

Any suggestions about what I should read next?

10 October 2006

In love

Okay, I am absolutely crazy, head over heals in LOVE with the music from the new Pride and Prejudice movie.
I finally broke down and watched it this weekend. I'm wildly loyal to the BBC version so I wasn't surprised that I didn't like the new version as much (although it had it's moments). What I wasn't expecting was that I'd fall in love with the soundtrack. Thank goodness for ITunes I could buy the soundtrack without leaving my house but I had to wait for monday to roll around to buy the sheet music. It's AMAZING!
So, if you need me I'll be playing my piano.