Half The Sugar, Twice The Spice!

Tacky, immature, and ugly

2012-01-13T18:42:00.001-07:00

Let me repeat: tacky, immature, and ugly. Yes, those are the best words to describe rhinestone encrusted jeans for grown women. Fine, if you are in Junior High (or younger) it's not bad. Pretty cute on little girls actually, but grow up. Plus, it's obnoxious because it draws 100% of the attention to your ass and then you get mad at the poor guys who are looking and it's all your doing! Here is an example, just so there is no question what I'm talking about. Gross.

Trouble Sleeping

2012-01-03T23:32:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I know I posted a little while ago, but I can't sleep. I am laying here in bed (Yes now. One of the many benefits of being able to blog from my phone. I can stay in bed rather than get up, get my computer, turn everything on, blog, put it away, and go back to bed. But I digress...) and I am stewing over work stuff that is bothering me. I've gone so far as to create fictional situations in which I go through just what I would say/do if/when these things ever boil to the surface. So as I lay here, creating ludicrous situations that will most likely never happen because, for all intents and purposes I am a mostly rational person most of the time, I am winding myself up even more and making sleep impossible. That way I can tell myself that I will most definitely handle things calmly while at this moment my heart is racing and adrenaline is pumping just like I was in a real argument... No one will ever say I have a dull imagination. Let's just work on it not keeping me up nights for a start. That would be swell.

In other news: I don't give a toss about the grammar and punctuation in this post. I should be asleep so I have bigger things to worry about than sentence structure.

So Annoyed!

2012-01-03T21:06:00.001-07:00

Some days EVERY. SINGLE. THING. is just so annoying! Work is annoying, people annoy me, television shows annoy me, the choices for dinner annoy me, even the people who usually cheer me up annoy me. Especially when they try to 'help'.

Today is that day.

That is all.

Love

2011-12-11T22:17:00.001-07:00

Love is such a complex thing. I’ve been thinking about love a lot lately. What love is, what love isn’t. Love is kind, love is unselfish, love is painful at times, but most of all, love is worth it. It is worth having, it’s worth waiting for, and it is worth giving.

I love so many people in so many different ways. I love my family of course, and I love my friends. It’s something that I am so grateful for. I don’t know what I would do without love in my life.

This last week I saw two kinds of love that impacted me deeply. Firstly, my first and oldest friend, had her baby girl this week. I am always absolutely amazed with these tiny little ones. They are such special, powerful spirits. It is amazing to me that I can feel so much overwhelming love for such a tiny person that I’ve never met before in this life. It’s so powerful. So tender. The other experience is that I was able to attend a friend’s wedding. It was really beautiful seeing these two begin their lives together. They are so happy and they deserve it. The officiator was who really made some interesting comments that really made the impact on me.

Confession: I have a secret. I love someone. This is not a particularly new development. It is something I’ve felt for a while now. It doesn’t change anything and I am not expecting anything. I’m just truly grateful he’s in my life. He is kind, smart (crazy smart actually), funny, caring, handsome, driven, and he is one of the best men I’ve ever met. He doesn’t understand how amazing he is, but he’s absolutely choice. I can only hope that someday I will be loved by someone like him.

I have had struggles with wondering when I will find “Mr. Right” and when it will be my time. I have realized that it’s ok. I don’t need (or want) to hear how “someday I will find him” or how “I should be patient and it will happen when the time is right.” I get it that people are just trying to be supportive and give words of encouragement, but please, remember when you were where I am. Would you want to hear that same sentiment for the 523,482nd time? No, you wouldn’t. I know that I will find him. I have chosen faith, hope, and action instead of fear, discouragement, and disappointment.

I love my life and the opportunities I’ve been able to have. I love everyone who makes my life wonderful. My Savior is my rock, and my family, friends and my little best friend Moe are the greatest support. I feel so much love from all angles of my life, especially when I am having a hard time. Thank you for everything and thank you for helping me have hope and helping me know I’m worth it.

Wonderful Things

2011-11-30T21:59:00.002-07:00

I have had a lovely last couple of weeks.

On 19 Nov, I had my 6 month vocal recital and sang “Practically Perfect” from Mary Poppins (my favorite song from my favorite show by the way) and it went amazingly! I really had the best time! I’ve discovered the trick to performing and not being scared to death and it is fantastic!

That same day, was the opening of the Mystery Theatre production I’m in. It’s called Wanted: Dead. I play a bounty hunter and it is a super fun role! In actuality, I had one of my top ten moments that night. One of the guests at the show came up to me and said, “Due to your general badassary, I think it was you.” It was a brilliant moment and it took everything in me to keep it together, but I did because I’m just that good.

I found a new musical that I have been listening to also. It is a little edgy but the music is fantastic! It is called The Wild Party. I bought the cd and the book of music, all in the same day… Yeah, I may have been slightly overexcited.

I had the opportunity to go to the local fire department to take some stuffed animals that my church group raised as donation for calls they go on where children are involved. It was really neat to see how thankful they were for them. It made me feel like all the work I’d put into the project and all of the donations were way worth it.

The night before Thanksgiving, I went to a karaoke competition with my friend James. It rocked, and I won prizes! Yay! First public karaoke performance and I won prizes! It was fantastic! I sang “All That Jazz” from Chicago. I just played it up all the way and it obviously paid off!

Thanksgiving was, of course, awesome. It’s not my favorite holiday because the traditional Thanksgiving food isn’t necessarily my favorite (Except for yams… I LOVE yams! It also helps that I make the yams and I have the BEST recipe ever! I’ve been perfecting that for years. Don’t mess with my recipe…). Also, I’m not keen on eating myself stupid until I feel sick. Nonetheless, I love my family and I love spending time with them, therefore I love Thanksgiving. Plus, it’s a four day weekend. Lovely!

I spent Black Friday doing a bit of shopping (Petsmart and REI = no lines), lunch with my sister, then hanging out with my friend Paul. We went geocaching which was so fun! We found a bunch of them, and one had this crazy metal machine thing.

I don’t know what it was, but we had to hike to it.

I don’t hike. Most of you know that, but Paul decided we were doing it. I told him hiking makes me cranky, but brave soul that he is, we went anyway. Paul learned something new about me on that hike. I prefer pedicures to hiking… And that’s saying something. He made it up to me though by taking me to get tea at a great little place. Then we grabbed a pizza at my cousin’s work made with blackberries and some other stuff. Kind of a weird pizza, but definitely tasty! Also this lovely soup. We talked books, nooks, and musicals. It was great!

I have my house almost completely decorated for Christmas and I have my tree topped with a mini Mary Poppins umbrella. It is all practically perfect!This week I’m back at work, but I’m still going off of the awesome of the last couple of weeks and my show is back on this weekend. It will be awesome. That’s all for now, but things are going great! I hope you all are too!

You know who you are

2011-11-17T16:57:00.001-07:00

There is an individual that I know. Growing up, I was very close to this particular individual and loved them very much. While I still love this person, I have lost virtually respect for them recently. See, I have a history of being a big softie that takes people back time after time. I have a tender heart (even though I try to look/act tough) and I get my feelings hurt easily, but I tend to let people get close to me again and again even after they have done things to be hurtful. I do have a few things that are crazy important to me though, and those lines you do not cross. One of them is:

DO NOT LIE TO ME!

I WILL find out and we may not be able to remain friends. Sadly, this is the case in the situation at hand. I have found out and, I’m not going to pretend that I’m not sad. Frankly, I am hurt that you would cut me out like this. I am hurt that you would then try to cover it up with lies (multiple). I am hurt that you would think I am stupid enough to not notice. Mostly, I am hurt that you have done all of this to the people I love and care most about in the entire world. My family. Even though I have a really hard time letting people back after they have lied to me, you and I have a long history. We would have had a rocky recovery, but I think we might have been able to make it work. You have taken those I try my hardest to protect and you have lied to them, and some of them have believed you. This breaks my heart. The fact that they don’t see you for what you are saddens me, but it isn’t my place to rat you out. If I see you at a mutual event we are both attending, I will not stoop to your level. I will be civil, and I will treat you with the same respect that I would treat a complete stranger. Know that I will under no circumstances seek you out. I will always be here for you if there is some unforeseen crisis in your life and you need me, but I will not be extending my hand only to have it slapped. I feel like you have betrayed a bond that is precious, and that is unacceptable.

I do want you to know, that I forgive you. I forgive you, but I have to protect myself and the people who I trust and who mean the world to me, therefore I will not allow you to continue to be a presence in my life. I am letting go of the anger and the baggage I have carried around with me over this. I wish you happiness in your life with the people you have chosen as your family and friends. I hope you’re happy with this life you’ve chosen and that it gives you relatively few struggles. I hope you will be happy, healthy, and go all of the places you want to go in your life. I will always try to remember the best of times, and I will try to forget the worst of times. God be with you.

I’ve been wondering…

2011-11-06T01:10:00.000-06:00

Are people who are idiots born that way, or are they idiots because as a society we allow them to be? I mean this in all seriousness. I’ve met some people who just are about as clueless as they come. Some of them are super nice individuals, but they just don’t seem to understand, retain, or care about things. They can sound like a moron, and they don’t even seem to care! I don’t get it! Perfect example: On my study abroad to London, one girl asked (in a crazy loud voice in the middle of a busy tube station) why there was a musician playing “My Country Tis’ of Thee” because, isn’t that an American song? Me:… Um, yeah. It’s “God Save the Queen”, and we stole it from them… Of course this is also the girl who got left at the train stop simply because she just failed to get on the train with the rest of the group AND while visiting Paris, looked through a view finder on the Eifel Tower and saw one of the Lady Liberties and commented, I didn’t know you could see New York City from here! Me:… *walk away*

Part of the reason I’m wondering is because I want to know if society needs a good solid slap in the face for letting people get that way and then interact with the rest of the population. I’ve seen kids who play dumb to get attention from a parent, teacher, or friend. I’ve seen teenagers and young adults do it to look more attractive (Epic fail by the way. There is nothing sexier than smart as a friend once told me and I agree whole heartedly.) to someone they are interested in. I’ve seen adults do it to get out of things they don’t want to do or pay for (I see this especially in the elderly. It’s infuriating!). Part of me wonders if we just encourage, or at least accept this behavior for long enough, that the individual will eventually stop trying because they know that the people around them will just allow it.

On the other side, there are some people who come from some great families with very smart people and they just seemed to get skipped. They just don’t get it their whole lives. Beginning to end they just float through life like it’s a grand merry-go-round and that’s all they need to know.

I don’t get it. I’d be embarrassed if it was me. I know there are times when I look like a moron and I’m not the leading expert on every subject. We all have our moments when we are the idiot, but sometimes I think it’s a state of being for some people, rather than a moment in their life. Give me your feedback please. I’m curious what you think.

Things I’ve Learned In The Last Year With Moe

2011-10-23T18:42:00.001-06:00

One year ago today, I adopted my best friend, Moe. Well, more accurately she adopted me. I went to Petsmart with my sister to get some supplies for her dogs, having no intentions of adopting an animal, and came out with the best companion anyone could ask for. I made a quick stop over by the adoption center and asked to hold this one particular kitty because she had crazy feet (extra toes!) and as I held her, she reached up and grabbed my hair pulling herself toward me and I was hooked. She got to come home that day.

Truth be told, I had about a days worth of adopters remorse. What was I going to do with a pet!? What about when I went out of town? How was I supposed to feed, play, clean, and love another little life enough? I got really scared that I wasn’t going to be able to give her everything she needed because I worked full time, but she has been the BEST thing that has ever happened to me! She made my house a home that I wanted to come home to after work. She made me a happier person.

Things I have learned in the last year…

My sweet little kitty has a bit of an identity crisis. She is convinced that she is a dog. She likes to go for rides in the car, plays fetch (Her favorite game ever! She even has tiny tennis balls!), chews on shoes, comes running to the door when I get home to greet me, and she will sit on command. There has to be a treat involved in the last one. She’s smart enough to know she can get something for it.

Patience. I am not sure what her background was before she came to me, but she probably hasn’t had the best time. She wasn’t even a year old when I adopted her, and she had already lost some of her adult teeth . I don’t know that she was abused, but I can’t help but think she wasn’t 100% loved either. She can be a pretty jumpy and skittish so I don’t know what she’s been through. She also bites. A lot. Most of the time, I think she is doing it to play, because she’ll bite and run. She can bite pretty hard though so I’m not sure she isn’t traumatized from something before me too. (The vet did say that polydactyl cats are prone to neurological disorders as well as immune deficiencies, so we are working on that with vitamins as well. I hope that’s all her craziness is.)

Warning: Overshare ahead. I am very lucky on the hairball front. In one year, she has had only one hairball ever! It was totally gross, I’m not going to say that it wasn’t, but only one isn’t bad at all! She also sheds very little. Even when I brush her, hardly any hair comes out in the brush. Hooray for that!

I now have a baby proof house. She has opposable thumbs. Yes, it’s true. The configuration of her extra toes has given her the ability to open cupboards and drawers with her paws, which she does, so I had to put child locks on them to keep her out. Nothing like coming home to find your kitten sleeping in the pots and pans. That’s just unacceptable. When that happens, every dish in that cupboard has to then be rewashed and that is a lot of work. She does like to sleep in the drawer of the spare bathroom if I let her though.

Cats love boxes. She loves to sleep and play in them, but she also likes to chew on the edges of them! I prefer this to chewing on shoes (see earlier reference) so she gets pretty much all of the cardboard boxes that she wants.

Finally, I have learned that shoes are perfect “storage” places for cat toys. If I ever take a pair of tennis shoes to the gym and forget to check them first, it’s a really good chance that when I put my foot in the shoe, I will find a toy mouse or a crinkle ball stashed away. Also, dryers make great storage places! Until the door is closed… Good times.

Overall, this has been an amazing year getting to know my sweet “Little Bean” and I look forward to many more to come. We know each other pretty well now and we have gotten into a good rhythm for our daily routine. There are still kinks to work out, and she is still a bit of a baby, but she is my best friend. She makes me happy to come home, and I know she’s happy to be with me. I love her so much! Nothing beats kitten kisses and when she nuzzles her head on mine. She’s a keeper, my pretty kitty!

25 Random Things aka Everyone's Doing It!

2011-10-17T14:30:00.001-06:00

I was digging around on my computer and I found this OLD blog post from I don’t even remember when. They are all still applicable except for a couple that I updated and #21. I’m not sure what or when that was, but I’m back to not blushing all that easily. Now, for your blog reading and enjoyment…

I’m pretty sure that only about 5 people read my blog regularly, and I would like to know some crazy, awesome, interesting things about all of you, so if you read this, you’re tagged!

Since I’ve been tagged about 25 times now, I figured I’d actually do the 25 random things about myself. So now, for the moment you have all been waiting for, here we go!

I don’t like lima beans. At all. Ever. Eww gross!
I had had 3 surgeries, all on my feet, by the time I turned 21.
My all time favorite food is spaghetti
When I was a little kid, I would run around saying lines from my favorite movies all the while, expecting everyone around me to keep up on which movie we were in.
I love to dance. I believe it’s good for the soul. I never feel quite as happy as when I’m dancing. There are not words in existence to describe it.
I want to live in London (or very near there) for at least a year.
I graduated from BYU with a degree in Theatre – Costume and makeup design.
I own my own makeup and hair styling business
I am deathly afraid of haunted houses. Really, I am so petrified that I have a hard time even going near one I’m not familiar with.
I work at a haunted house. (Ironic, I know. It’s ok though, because everyone there knows my haunted house rule: Don’t scare Tiff ever, ever, ever, ever, ever…)
I taught nursery for my church calling (the kids are18 months to 3 years old for those who don’t know) and it was the BEST calling of all time!
I love to sing, but I will almost never do it except as a character in a production of some sort.
I can fit over $1.00 in random change (not all pennies) in my belly button.
I am still friends with two people (outside of my family) that I have known since I was 1 year old or younger.
I have celebrated 2 of my birthdays outside of the USA
I have been to the original Hard Rock Café (and I have the tee shirt to prove it!)
I had my first swimming lesson when I was only 6 months old.
One of my favorite things in this world is dark chocolate.
My favorite show I’ve ever been in is probably Peter Pan even though it will make me cry every time I see it/listen to the music.
My favorite musical ever is Mary Poppins. I saw it twice in London (I bawled through it the second time) and once in Salt Lake City. It made a deep impression on me.
I do not embarrass easily although for the last couple of months, I’ve been blushing much more than I’m used to. It’s weird.
I’ve been horseback riding four times in my life. One I was too little to remember, the second I had a GREAT time, my third the horse tried to kill me (several times) by breaking into a dead run, and the fourth time the stupid animal bit my thigh!
I am afraid of spiders to the extent that I will put a shoe on top of a dead spider until I can get someone to throw it out for me.
My bone density is 150% of normal for my age group. I have bones of granite!
I’ve kept a journal ever night (with a handful of exceptions) since my freshman year at BYU.

Baby Names

2011-10-14T21:29:00.001-06:00

I have so many family members and friends who are having babies right now! It is crazy to think about, but I’m excited for them. (On a semi related note, I’m finding out about a startling number of new pregnancies via facebook. That should come to a stop FYI. Come on people, pick up your phone and make a call. You know, it’s that method of communication we used for our close friends and family before the mass email/text/social media… Just in case you forgot… But I digress.) It’s kind of funny the way that works out. I think just about everyone has names that they have totally nixed because of knowing someone named that or something, but I have observed that (mainly girls) get very possessive over names that they like. I am no exception to this. I have 2 baby names that I am dead set on (well, one that is a must, the other is just one that I really like). I have had a couple of my girlfriends call me furious that a friend/cousin/neighbor “stole” their baby name! I can’t say that I blame them. I would be irate if that happened to me. I would probably not speak to that person for a solid space of time in fact. I have put it out there that I have dibs on these names because they hold a special place in my heart and I would hope that they would respect that.

That all being said, I’m sure I would forgive the person who did it and, frankly, I would still use the name. I do not care if that person is mad at me or anything else because it’s my name and I have made it crystal clear that I am using it. If you choose to use it on your kid then YOU need to be ok with our children having the same names. The people closest to me know my names and they know I’ve wanted them for sometime.

Ok, so that was a weird blog… Anyway, congrats to all of my expectant friends and to those of you who had your names taken, be bold and use them anyway! I’ll support you!

Ghostly Adventures

2011-10-12T23:48:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday, my friend Paul called me up and asked if I would go do a photo shoot with him at the Salt Lake Cemetery. I love doing photo shoots and sometimes even getting to be the model, so I was excited to go! We got there, took pictures, and got a little scared then it was time to head out. It was getting too dark to take pictures, so we decided that was enough. Of course, that would have been too easy. As we drove to the exit, we discovered that there were gates, and they were closed. At first, I laughed at the irony of the situation. Then, thanks to Paul reminding me that we were in a cemetery… at night… and the gates were locked, it got really unfunny really fast. I may have panicked just a touch. Actually, it was pretty much one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. Good thing Paul kept a cool head and we found an open gate. If it had been up to me, I probably would have jumped out of the car and ran full speed out of there! I’ve never been so happy to leave somewhere, but the photo shoot was way fun and we got some cool pictures from it. People probably thought we were taking bridal photos, so that’s kind of funny. The last one is my favorite. Great job Paul! Let’s do it again soon!

The Risks...

2011-10-01T01:48:00.001-06:00

Of transporting a pumpkin home by yourself. It had such a lovely stem/hat too! :(

Look what the cat dragged in...

2011-09-28T23:24:00.001-06:00

Ok, so there isn't actually a photo because I had a second of panic and instead of grabbing the camera, I was more worried about the giant leaf bug my kitty dragged into my bedroom and how to get it back out! It was big! I felt a little bad about how it came about meeting its maker, so I decided to do the humane thing and flush it instead of letting Moe play with it until it was dead. That was sure the adrenaline moment of the night though!

What Have I Been Doing?

2011-08-19T13:05:00.001-06:00

The last couple of weeks have been a little bit crazy in my life. The first week of August I finished up teaching the last of the makeup classes at the kid’s theatre camp I teach at during the summer which was so sad! The kids can be tough, but I really love doing it, and mostly they are awesome, creative, fun little people! (No pictures because I wouldn’t want some random person posting pictures of my kids online)

The next day, I went to Wyoming with my mom for a weekend to participate in a 70 mile bike ride from Afton to Jackson. My mom rode the entire thing! She is such a trooper!!! I could not be prouder of her than I am. She had an awful bike and it was a hard ride, but she was determined to do it and she did. Talk about enduring to the end! My mom is the coolest!!!

I had my extensions taken out which was about the saddest thing ever. I miss them and I will put them back in POST HASTE!!! Either that, or I’m cutting my hair short. We’ll see, I go back and forth every day.

Then last week I was super busy running the Salt Lake County Fair. “Fun!” you might say, “You get to work at the fair!” You would be mistaken, however. For me, fair time just means a TON of work, people constantly having me in the hot seat, fried food (that I try not to eat), dirt, and sometimes flaky employees. Fairs stopped being much fun for me about 5 years ago… This year I accidently intertied a kitten for 24 hours though. That was exciting! He was being given away and a teenage girl got him, then proceeded to tell me how she was NOT going to keep him. In a frantic attempt to keep him out of the garbage or worse, I took him to my house. Thinking he and my kitty might get along and be able to be playmates, I thought we would try it, but Moe was having none of that. So the next day we found Shadow a new home. He will be much happier with my friend Mary and her family. What a cutie though! His ears were way big for his head and he liked to play with the kitten in the mirror. SO funny!

This week has been a monster! I was sick with a mystery something from Monday through this morning when I was miraculously healed! Headache for 3 days, body aches, being freezing constantly, tired to the point of falling asleep in the middle of activities, and ending in a crazy fever this morning before I went and showered, slept for a few minutes and woke up completely well again! It was so bizarre!!! Don’t ask what I had because I have no clue. It wasn’t pleasant though, so I don’t recommend it.

Wednesday night, I went out to volunteer at the youth detention center where my dad is a volunteer clergy person. It was really cool. I worked with the young ladies there and did a makeup tutorial/makeovers with them. They are beautiful young women who haven’t had a lot of positive reinforcement in their lives (if any). It was a little sad, but I felt really impressed to let them know that they are beautiful and that makeup doesn’t make them who they are. At the end of the day, the makeup comes off and all that they have is what’s underneath, so they have to be good with themselves because that’s what matters. Who knows, maybe I got more out of it than they did, but I’d like to think that maybe I made a difference to someone.

I also opened an account with Etsy! So far, I only have one listing, but I’m pretty excited! I hope people like what I make. More to come soon, but if you want to check it out in the mean time, the address is tlcutie.etsy.com.

This afternoon I went to lunch with my dear friend, and former roommate Reese and her DARLING son. Sadly, I’m terrible and forgot my camera and currently my phone camera is on she fritz and I am waiting to get my new phone with a working camera in the mail. So no pictures there either. I made friends with the wild toddler and convinced him that they need to move back to Utah to be closer to me… He’s probably forgotten by now, but it was great for that moment! What a great little get together! I’m so thankful for my wonderful friends! Love you all!

So that’s my spastic August. Still doing voice lessons, looking for a roommate, growing my flowers and tomato plant, and playing with the kitten, but those are the new and exciting highlights. Hope it was as entertaining for you blog readers as it was for me!

Simplistic Version of the Constitution

2011-08-03T18:33:00.001-06:00

My friend had this on his facebook and I pretty much agree. We get into such an entitlement haze and it just isn’t reality. Anyway, just some things to think on.

We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid any more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior and secure the blessings of debt free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberal bedwetters.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: That a whole lot of people were confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim that they require a Bill of Non Rights.

* ARTICLE I -- You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV or any form of wealth.

More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.

* ARTICLE II -- You do not have the right to never be offended.

This country is based on freedom, and that means the freedom for everyone, not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc., but the world is full of idiots and probably always will be.

* ARTICLE III -- You do not have the right to be free from harm.

If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful. Do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.

* ARTICLE IV -- You do not have the right to free food and housing.

Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generations of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.

* ARTICLE V -- You do not have the right to free health care.

That would be nice but, from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in government run health care.

* ARTICLE VI -- You do not have the right to physically harm other people.

If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.

* ARTICLE VII -- You do not have the right to the possessions of others.

If you rob, cheat or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen TV or a life of leisure.

* ARTICLE VIII -- You don't have the right to demand that our children risk their lives in foreign wars to soothe your aching conscience.

We hate oppressive governments and won't lift a finger to stop you from going to fight, if you'd like. However, we do not enjoy parenting the entire world and do not want to spend so much of our time battling each and every little tyrant with a military uniform and a funny hat.

* ARTICLE IX -- You don't have the right to a job.

All of us sure want all of you to have one, and will gladly help you in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.

* ARTICLE X -- You do not have the right to happiness.

Being an American means that you have the right to pursue happiness -- which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.

If you agree that a understanding of no rights is necessary to "Secure the Blessings of Liberty," I strongly urge you to refer this to as many people as you can, or link it from your own web pages. No, you don't HAVE to .... Nothing tragic will befall you should you NOT refer it. I just think it's about time common sense is allowed to re-emerge in our society and flourish again. Thank you!!! "When all other rights have been taken away, the right of rebellion is made perfect."

Thomas Paine.

Piano on a bike…

2011-07-29T15:55:00.001-06:00

Have you ever wanted to move your piano and thought to yourself, “Dang, I wish I had a truck to move this piano, but sadly, all I have is my bike and two good friends. Well let’s give it a go!”? Obviously this guy did.

This is right outside of my office. I wonder how it all worked out. I’m not sure I’d be brave enough to do this.

The things I would buy if I were independently wealthy…

2011-07-25T13:13:00.001-06:00

I think this is the cutest! I would wear it around all of the time. It is, sadly, too expensive for me to get right now. Sadder still, by the time I can afford it, they will most likely be gone. This is life. So I will continue looking at it and loving it from across the pond.

Also, not for buying purposes, I wish I was in London this summer because they have this amazing exhibit happening! Gorgeous!

10 Things Guys Should Know About Girls

2011-07-18T14:23:00.003-06:00

Recently, I have had some of my close guy friends tell me that it’s really frustrating to feel like they know nothing about women. Or that as soon as they think they are figuring things out, it seems like girls change their minds. As I’ve been chatting with them, I’ve felt really bad because I can only speak for myself and tell them the things that I like/don’t like/want/don’t want/etc. It did, however, make me think about the things that I prefer or that completely freak me out. So now, for your general education and insight into my mind, here are the suggestions.

1) Secret admirers may seem like a sweet thing, but in an extended time frame, they are really more creepy than anything. To have a single rose anonymously sent and then later that day find out who sent it is TOTALLY endearing, but having a correspondence (especially if you are texting me repeatedly and I have no idea who you are) is creepy! Nothing says stalker faster and is a bigger turn off then not knowing who is withholding their identity from me. Who are you, what do you want, how did you get my number? All thoughts that cross my mind. And if you didn’t get my number from me, you DEFINITELY want to identify yourself. I don’t take anonymous messages well. Not coy and cleaver, it’s creepy. If the issue is fear of rejection and you don’t feel brave enough to flirt with me and be upfront about your identity, maybe you should wait until you build up the courage.

2) Please forgive me in advance for my hormones. Try to understand that I really have no control over them and that I REALLY, TRULY, do try to keep them as rational as possible, but it just isn’t happening sometimes. I also do try to apologize for being a crazy person after I have regained my senses. I know that I’m being insane, but in that moment (as totally weird as it sounds) when I am being mean and angry, I feel totally justified and completely validated in those emotions. It’s not until later that I can look back and realize that they were not.

3) Chivalry is still important to some girls. Myself included. Don’t use text messages to ask me out. At least not on a first date. I want you to make the effort to show me that you actually want to spend the time with me. There is nothing more annoying then a sloppy text message asking me on a date because it feels very cheap (not the money kind of cheap, the effort kind of cheap). And please open the doors. I think it is super sweet when a guy opens the door for me. Even if we aren’t on a date. I have a friend (you know who you are) who is married and he still opens the door for me when we are out. A very attractive quality.

4) Don’t be afraid to show your personality. I don’t have any problem when people are a little bit quirky. I like seeing your character come through with the creativity of the dates you put together. What isn’t attractive is when you are awkward and stiff as a board. That isn’t fun.

5) When I present an idea to you and say the words, “what do you think?” I am not really asking for your input unless there is something DRASTICALLY wrong with it. What I’m really asking for is your support in the matter. Now that’s totally different from when I say the words, “what is your opinion on X-Y-Z?” If I say that, then I AM looking for your opinion. I know guys are problem solvers, but most of the time we don’t want you to solve our problems for us. We are perfectly capable of doing it on our own, we just want you to genuinely listen to us, share our frustrations, and support us in our decision. And as I said, if we want your problem solving expertise, we will ask you for it.

6) Don’t do a movie for a first date. It isn’t a good place to talk or get to know each other. Also, it’s pretty cookie cutter. Mini golf or bowling are better alternatives to the movie. Plus, then you don’t have popcorn stuck in your teeth.

7) Things don’t have to be expensive. I like walks in the evening, a drive up the canyon, sledding and hot chocolate in the winter. I don’t think dating or even hanging out with friends has to be expensive or complicated. It can be, but that’s just not necessary.

8) I DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WANT TO GO ON A HIKE WITH ANYONE. That should be enough explanation for that point. But… There is a loophole for you nature lovers/hikers out there. I do enjoy rock climbing and taking a walk on a paved trail in the mountains. Those are totally acceptable alternatives.

9) I don’t like surprises when they come with absolutely no information. I still need to know the terms on which we will be going out. For example, I am a firm believer in dressing for the occasion. If you want an activity to be a surprise in and of itself, please tell me, in no uncertain terms, what I should be wearing. If it is a casual activity that requires closed toe shoes, I don’t want to be wearing a summer skirt and sandals, and if we are going to a dinner for your work, I don’t want to be wearing jeans, a tee shirt, and tennis shoes. I want to dress appropriately for the setting and to coordinate (the style) with what you are wearing. You can still make the activity a surprise, just don’t keep me in the dark. I will probably not have fun if you do that because I’ll be too busy worrying.

10) Unless you know me pretty well, or have inside information, planning an all day string of activities for just the two of us may be dangerous. There is nothing worse then being on a long date when you run out of things to say or there is that totally awkward point where you have no one else there to help break the tension and you have to continue doing that for another 3 hours. Oh yes my friends, I have been there. It’s not fun.

I could keep going, but I’ll keep it at 10 because that’s a nice round number. Ladies, feel free to comment and let me know what you think. Like I said, I can only speak for myself, but I have a lot of girlfriends and they talk so I have a fairly good idea that these are mostly universal thoughts. If nothing else, they are a good base that you can go off of.

Damn You Auto Correct! Too Funny.

2011-07-18T14:23:00.001-06:00

**Disclaimer**

Don’t visit this site if you are easily offended by language or content, but I laughed so hard at a couple of them, I cried!

Improper Usage of the Word…

2011-07-13T15:22:00.002-06:00

Case and point number 1:

UR is not, under any circumstances, an appropriate substitute for your or you’re!

It is infuriating! I will grant you that I am a little bit more neurotic about my text language (I mean really, I use commas) and I don’t expect that from everyone, but let’s use real English words shall we? No really, I insist. But that’s a soap box for another blog post entirely.

I would just like to take this short moment for an English lesson for those of you who slept through or decided you hated high school English classes (or any other English class growing up).

Your is a pronoun. It is possessive as in, “This is your coat.” It can also be used to direct, “The building is on your left.”

You’re is a contraction of the words you and are. That means that you may use this spelling when you are combining those two words. An example of this would be, “You’re wearing two different colored socks.” (see how that was used instead of saying, “you are wearing two different colored socks.”?)

There is a third usage. It’s not too common, but it can be confused in the spelling. It is yore. Yore is a noun. It means obsolete, of old, or long ago. Using it in a sentence may go something like this, “In days of yore, we had grand banquets.” Ok, so you may not actually say that, but it would work.

I know I’m not perfect in my spelling and grammar (I never can remember which then/than to use no matter how many times I learn it, so mostly I just avoid using it entirely.), but the you’re/your rule is an easy one. If it’s a one word thing, it’s your. If it’s combining two words, it’s you’re.

Most epic fail I’ve ever seen was on a film set several years ago we were shooting in a boys locker room (I know, there’s the first problem) and etched into one of the lockers was you’r. I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Sorry kiddo, wrong on both counts.” Super funny though! :)

Happy 235th Birthday America!

2011-07-05T14:28:00.001-06:00

Independence day! I love it and this year was no exception! Things got a little off track at the first of the day because of the weather (we were going to go skydiving, but wind/cloud cover/rain ruined that plan) so I cleaned my house, went shopping, and read a book. It was very relaxing! In the evening I hosted a BBQ at my house (you should be jealous by the way. It was delightful!).

Afterward we had chocotacos and watched Follow Me Boys

Then we finished up the evening with the annual Cottonwood Country Club fireworks that are shot off across from my parents house. Thanks for being born America! I like BBQ’s and fireworks!

The Facebook Poke

2011-07-05T12:49:00.001-06:00

I totally stole this entire post from my friend Marcus, who is hilarious! I take no credit whatsoever for writing this, but I laughed so hard I nearly peed. Anyway, it pretty well sums up the facebook poke. Read on!

“So I don't really understand what the Facebook poke is for. Facebook says it's a way to say hello to someone. Why can't you just go to someone’s wall and say hello?? And then what do you do once you have received a poke? Do you poke back? If so it could go on and on a long time.
Last time I actually poked someone in real life rather than the Facebook life they were not too pleased about it, I wouldn't exactly say it was a good substitute for saying hello.
For the past who knows how many months, probably like 6 months I have been in a poke war with someone. I will win. I will never lose. I think though it's more a question of who will die first more than anything.
I wish Facebook made it more clear what a poke means. Like a "Oi, I fancy you" or "I wanna marry you and have your kids" or "I wish you were dead and I could poke you with a stick". Makes more sense than a hello......”

Sunday Summer Evenings

2011-07-03T19:24:00.001-06:00

It's so nice living close enough to my parents to go over often. Today we had dinner, then relaxed in the back yard. My kitty was on a cable free to roam the yard and when I looked up I saw her watching my dad garden. It was so darling!

Flowers

2011-06-26T22:44:00.001-06:00

I did this last night. It's just a humble little garden, but I'm very proud of it. I also planted a tomato plant, some basil, and a couple of other flowers. Yay! Go me!

Birthday-ness!

2011-06-18T23:14:00.001-06:00

It's been a fun birthday week! I got to have dinner with an amazing friend, my coworkers decorated my office and were totally awesome on my actual birthday, then I had a family dinner. We went to the Spaghetti Factory for the 24th year in a row. It's tradition. I had probably one of my best voice lessons on my birthday too. Probably because I was feeling so wonderful! Everyone was so amazing that day! We should all try to treat each other more that way all of the time. It would be nice.

I got a super cute plant holder and a bunt cake pan from my parents. Sounds dorky, but I love it!

I also took my daddy on a date for fathers day. We went and saw X-Men First Class. I totally recommend it, but only if you've seen the others. It was awesome!

I watched Inception tonight, however, and it did not please me. I hated the lack of closure at the end. That's all I'm going to say. If you've seen it, you know what I am talking about. I am positive I am going to have messed up dreams now. :(

Birthday Blog

2011-06-15T23:57:00.004-06:00

It's my birthday and I feel so loved! All day I've had people telling me how wonderful I am and doing such nice things for me! I'm grateful for birthdays because we get to hear how loved and appreciated we are. I know I sure feel that way right now. And I truly feel that for my family and friends as well.

In other news, as of today I have blogging capabilities on my phone, so I, yet again, resolve to be a better blogger. This time it may actually happen! Here's to another AWESOME year! :D

Love at first sight!

2011-05-20T23:09:00.001-06:00

I saw this and LOVED it! Someone please buy it for me. That is all.

Men of the world!

2011-03-15T15:14:00.001-06:00

Men of the world! If you want to get married, date me. Then go date someone else, and you’ll marry her. I can’t tell you how much that’s happened to me. It’s enough to make a person crazy… Just saying. Now back to your regularly programed day.

Just a couple of things…

2011-03-01T22:29:00.001-07:00

First of all, how long do you keep telling someone things, and more importantly, believing what they tell you before you just step back and say, “Ok fine. If that’s how it’s going to be, that’s just it.” Sometimes I get so frustrated with certain people and I just want to turn off all of my phones, social media, etc. and sit at home watching a movie not talking to anyone. And sometimes I DO! I get so tired of putting so much out there and not feeling like it’s reciprocated.

Secondly, in church on Sunday my bishop did a Q & A which turned into a lot of questions on dating/flirting. I may have gotten a little frustrated with some of the responses about how girls don’t flirt enough (OK, if I don’t flirt enough, NO ONE FLIRTS ENOUGH! Just saying…), so I asked how we should be flirting since obviously I’m not doing it CORRECTLY (p.s. the answer was “if you’re flirting correctly, you’ll just know” that guy may be black listed FOREVER on my list…). Anyway after the class, a guy who I have been very interested in on and off for the last year-ish came up to me and said, “I think you flirt really well!” …FREAKING REALLY!?!?!? THEN WHY HAVEN’T YOU ASKED ME OUT, YOU MORON!?!?!? AHHHHHHH!!!

I hate dating… Strike that. I hate waiting to date, and while I have no problem getting out there and asking guys, I’m a little old fashioned and I’d like to be courted so I do my very best to be approachable and flirty and the best me I can be and I’m just exhausted with the results, or lack there of, I’ve been getting. I don’t mean to be whiney, but today I’m just a little bit frustrated.

On the up side, I cleared out my work email today and it is so lovely! Next step, my personal email…

WINNER!!!

2011-02-08T09:50:00.001-07:00

I totally won tickets to a Valentine’s party on the radio this morning! I am totally awesome! And excited! I am taking my Seester with me! Hooray!

10 Days–Day 10

2011-02-06T12:02:00.001-07:00

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn-offs.
Day Eight: Three turn-ons.
Day Nine: Two images that describe your life right now, and why.
Day Ten: One confession.

I am writing a book. It is on the super down low, so I’m not giving out any details, but it is going to be AMAZING!!! I’ll let everyone know when it comes out, then you can buy it and read it for yourself! Yay! So excited!

10 Days–Day 9

2011-02-05T19:56:00.001-07:00

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn-offs.
Day Eight: Three turn-ons.
Day Nine: Two images that describe your life right now, and why.
Day Ten: One confession.

1- I want to be doing this… I really want this feeling again. Pure magic! I’m actually going to start taking ballroom classes again I think!

2- I am tired of winter… Need I say any more?

10 Days–Day 8

2011-02-04T09:26:00.001-07:00

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn-offs.
Day Eight: Three turn-ons.
Day Nine: Two images that describe your life right now, and why.
Day Ten: One confession.

1- Sincerity

2- A fantastic smile

3- Compassion and service

10 Days–Day 7

2011-02-03T08:18:00.001-07:00

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
~~Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)~~
Day Seven: Four turn-offs.
Day Eight: Three turn-ons.
Day Nine: Two images that describe your life right now, and why.
Day Ten: One confession.

1- Put downs

2- Excessive swearing

3- Bad/too much cologne

4- Dirty fingernails and any kind of bad hygiene. If you smell bad, bad breath, just don’t have general good cleanliness. Not an attractive thing… Just saying.

10 Days–Day 6

2011-02-03T08:13:00.002-07:00

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn-offs.
Day Eight: Three turn-ons.
Day Nine: Two images that describe your life right now, and why.
Day Ten: One confession.

1- My parents are amazing people and I love them so much!

2- My SEESTER!!! Need I say more?

3- My Jen… So many firsts with this wonderful woman!

4- My Grandma – What I wouldn’t give to have you back.

5- Oh my goodness, Jeff is the best thing that happened to me in college.

Ok, so there are 6. I cheated and I don't care. There are actually many more, but I'm going to stick with only cheating a little...

6- My awesome voice teacher who inspires me in every lesson and always makes me want to be better for me, not for everyone else around me… But that too. (Picture pirated from Facebook… ha ha ha! Pirated…)

10 Days–Day 5

2011-02-03T08:04:00.001-07:00

I haven’t felt well the last couple of days, so being that this is slightly behind, I will be catching up a bit today.

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn-offs.
Day Eight: Three turn-ons.
Day Nine: Two images that describe your life right now, and why.
Day Ten: One confession.

Ok, so most of these are “wish I had” instead of “wish I hadn’t” because I don’t really regret most of my life. The things I’ve done make me who I am. Some of my decisions made the life lessons harder, but I’m still glad I have the knowledge that came from those experiences.

1- I wish I hadn’t let a certain ex boyfriend manipulate me to the point where I lost a lot of respect for myself and had to take so much time to rebuild my self-esteem.

2- I wish I had been less stubborn and self centered as a teenager and young adult. I have such a great friendship with my sister now and I could have had it for much longer.

3- I wish I had taken more pictures in high school and my freshman year in college.

4- I wish I had shown my love more/better to the people I’ve loved and lost. I miss you!

5- I wish I had kept in touch with some of my best friends. I have tried to reconnect with some of them, but it sure is harder to get back in touch than it is to stay in touch in the first place.

6- I wish I had taken more advantage of the opportunities I had all around me while I was in college.

10 Days–Day 4

2011-01-31T21:24:00.001-07:00

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
~~Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.~~
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn-offs.
Day Eight: Three turn-ons.
Day Nine: Two images that describe your life right now, and why.
Day Ten: One confession.

In no particular order…

1- Weddings

2- My kitty, Moe

3- Working out

4- Singing

5- New shoes

6- My friends and family

7- Summer

10 Days–Day 3

2011-01-30T23:28:00.001-07:00

1- Be my friend. Truly, be my friend. Friends are kind, they are truthful and they care about what the other is feeling.

2- An honest, sincere smile goes further than anyone can know.

3- Send me flowers for any occasion… Or for no reason at all! I love, love, LOVE getting fresh flowers!

4- Don’t smother me. I need space and time to really win me over.

5- Stand for something that is worthwhile.

6- Kindness and doing sweet little things for me is a great way to win my heart. Also, kind words that build me up. I need to know that I am appreciated.

7- Providing service to others you come in contact with (especially those who are less able to help themselves). That is EXTREMELY attractive to me.

8- Let me know by your actions that you care. Actions speak louder than words and I need to know that you want my heart by how you act.

10 Days – Day 2

2011-01-29T10:17:00.001-07:00

~~Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.~~
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn-offs.
Day Eight: Three turn-ons.
Day Nine: Two images that describe your life right now, and why.
Day Ten: One confession.

1- I majored in costume and makeup design, so if I give you advice on something fashion or makeup related, I actually know what I’m talking about. You may want to listen.

2- I love to dance! I would rather dance than do almost anything else.

3- I also love to sing. I think I’m pretty good and other people have told me I am as well, but don’t think you’re going to see me on American Idol. Really not my style.

4- I have a kitty named Moe. She is AWESOME!!! She has seven toes on each of her front paws, and five on each of her back paws. Super cute, but she kind of walks funny. Oh, she can also sit on command… My sister and I have trained her.

5- I love to watch movies and I am a self proclaimed film critic (let’s be honest, who isn’t?).

6- I would rather read a book almost always. Books are like best friends!

7- I have only one sister, and she is the best sister EVER! She is super funny and I love to spend time with her. She’s my Seester!

8- I do not like eating anything that comes from a pig. I also really don’t like lima beans or chewable vitamins.

9- I have 97+ pair of shoes. I have been told it is excessive. I. DO. NOT. CARE. Shoes make me happy and I have every intention of buying more.

10 Days (not necessarily in a row)

2011-01-28T19:12:00.001-07:00

One of my friends is doing this right now, so I decided I wanted to do it too. I think it will be fun, but I don’t want to make any guarantees that I will do it everyday because let’s not kid ourselves, I’m not the best at blogging regularly. I will try though.

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn-offs.
Day Eight: Three turn-ons.
Day Nine: Two images that describe your life right now, and why.
Day Ten: One confession.

1- I do not know how to tell you what I need. I want to tell you so much, but I do not know how to. I want to talk to you, but it is so hard when you have so much that you need to tell me.

2- ANSWER YOUR PHONE! For crying out loud!

3- It’s been a year and a half and I miss you desperately. Even though at the time it seemed like such a pain, I just wish you would call me and ask for help with your email or something. Some days I keep thinking you’re going to call until I remember that you can’t. I miss you.

4- You are a marvelous mother! Your sweet little ones are so lucky to have you! Some days I know you don’t feel like you are making a difference, but I know really you are.

5- I love you, I have always loved you, and I will always love you. You mean the world to me and I wouldn’t trade you for anyone else. Ever.

6- Where are you? I’ve been waiting for you and, truth be told, I am getting rather discouraged. Hurry up already please. Thanks!

7- I wish you would get over yourself. You are so stuck on being a diva and thinking that the world revolves around you that you can’t even see that you were being so absurd! I miss you as a friend, but I will not change my standards to make allowances for your bad behavior.

8- I can’t fully express how much you have helped me. You have been there for me as a friend when I most needed one and you have given me some of the best advice I’ve ever been given at one of my lowest points when I didn’t even like myself very much. I am so grateful that God put you in my life to help me.

9- I’ve wished the worst on you, but now I just wish I could forget about you. I want to forget about the things you did to me and the heart ache you caused. I have forgiven myself and I have forgiven you. I just need to find a way to forget about you now.

10- If you wanted to be my valentine, I would be totally ok with that… Just so you know.

Random Update

2011-01-05T23:11:00.001-07:00

So my computers have been having a bad time lately. I had a desktop that was very sick. Luckily, it has a lifetime service and parts guarantee, so I had to pay nothing. Sadly, my laptop was not as lucky. My AC port started shorting (I didn’t know what was happening though) and it fried part of my motherboard. Boo… So I just purchased a new laptop since replacing it would have been pretty expensive anyway and it was an older system. In any case, I have all new/healthy computers now! Huzzah! I will miss my old laptop. It went with me to London, college classes, and many movies watched and edited, but it will be good to have my new one.

My camera also died in November (obviously not a good season for the electronic members of my family)! This means that I am going to have to get photos from a variety of people one of these days. I did get a new camera due to a recent holiday though. Yay for parents! Love them! I can now document my life photographically again!

I have a new toy! I am now the proud owner of a Nook! I LOVE it! I am such a bookworm and I adore books. There will never, in any other way be anything that can replace a book. They smell wonderful (most of the time), they feel nice in my hands, they are warm and happy to me, but they are also easy to hurt. I don’t like taking books to work with me because I’m always worried that I’m going to tear it or damage it in some way. This is perfect! Plus, I can get some books that are out of print! It’s lovely! I will continue buying books, but it is really nice having one book with 800+ books worth of information on it.

I have adopted a new member of my family also. I have a sweet, wonderful silver-grey fluff ball who is my best little friend. My new, favorite roommate is Moe.

Sometimes she is a little demon, but mostly she is the best friend and companion I could ask for. Sometimes, I think she even believes she is part dog. She loves to play fetch, to go for car rides, she comes running to the door when I get home in the evenings. I love it! The first thing she does when she hears my alarm go off in the morning is come running to my door to meow at me until I get up and play fetch with her while I get ready. She is my sweet little bug. She is the most affectionate, loving kitty I’ve ever met. She is also a little special. She is bitsy. She is pushing 7 pounds soaking wet, she has the most awesomely striking giant green eyes, and she is a polydactyl. That means she has extra toes. Instead of normal cats who have little kitty feet (5 toes on the front feet, 4 toes on the back feet) my little one has 7 toes on each front foot and 5 on each back foot. She is the kitty equivalent of a Clydesdale. She even walks kind of differently.

I love everything about her! She sometimes sits behind me on the couch and messes with my hair. So very funny! She is also learning commands like “leave it” and “come here”. She is also really good at taking her vitamins. She’s such a good kitty! Love her!

In final news, I really want this:

I want it really badly. Anyone who wants to get it for me would be loved FOREVER… Just saying.

Time Drags Sometimes.

2010-11-16T16:33:00.001-07:00

I am of the opinion that to every time there is a season. I love, Love, LOVE Christmas, but I choose not to decorate for it until after Thanksgiving has come and gone. This is not to say that I go all out for Thanksgiving or anything. (My mom has some really cool hand carved wooden statues of pilgrims and Native Americans so I’ll probably have something like that one day, but I don’t have anything yet… Is pilgrim supposed to be capitalized? I digress…) I also don’t really love listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. This is mainly because I get kind of tired of hearing the same songs over and over, just done by different artists. It’s not really their fault, there just aren’t that many Christmas songs. It is what it is.

Lately, however, I have found myself in the Christmas mood. I still don’t want to break out Christmas before Thanksgiving, but I REALLY want it to be Christmas now! I want to put up my tree, I want to play the tunes, I want to hang my super cute wreath, and I want to be kissed under the mistletoe.

And I want this:

It’s super cute and not that terribly expensive! I bought two mistletoe decorations to hang up in my house when the time comes. I just think it’s a fun tradition. I think I’m getting into the spirit early this year because it got cold really quickly and I figure if it is going to be cold, it may as well be Christmas. My logic is sound, right? I thought so too.

In other news, for those who have been diligently asking about my love life, I’ve decided to start going on *dramatic pause* blind dates. I figure the worst thing that will happen is that I will have an awkward evening. It could be fun… I hope it is anyway. I am not desperate to get married or anything, but I would like to date more. We’ll see how it goes. I guess that’s all the updating I have for now. I have some other blogs coming soon, but I’m not sure when. Keep your eyes open for them though! :D

Random Day

2010-09-12T00:11:00.001-06:00

Today (well, technically yesterday but hey, I’m still up) is the anniversary of 9/11. We all know that. I’m not sure if I’m thankful that I remember where I was and what I was doing on that day or not. I talked to someone today who made the comment that while she still thinks it’s terrible, it didn’t have the same impact on her as she was in 5th grade and didn’t really understand what was happening. It’s strange knowing what I know now and seeing the hatred and violence that is sparked from fear and lack of understanding. It’s more than a little sad. I am a religious person and it is painfully obvious that these are the tools used by Satan to upset God’s plan for his children. In and of itself, that’s not a problem. The problem is that we choose to let these tools to destroy ourselves and each other. Anyway, I think I am glad I remember it because it is a life moment I will never forget. What happened then and what it means to me, then and now.

Also, three great quotes today:

In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying.
- Bertrand Russell

A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men.
- Anonymous

It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.
- Oscar Wilde

In other news, 1) I got extensions. I LOVE them! Pictures to come soon! 2) My family went to see the traveling production of The Lion King tonight at the Capitol Theater. Freaking amazing show! And afterward, our friend Anthony (who plays a gazelle, hyena, grass, dancer, etc) took us on a backstage tour!!! Pictures to come of that too… They may or may not be contraband… :D

Two Months… Ok, Nearly Three Months Late

2010-09-01T23:11:00.001-06:00

My cousin Lauren tagged me in a blog post well, nearly three months ago and even took the trouble of leaving me a message to check her blog because I was tagged. I feel a little sheepish to admit it, but I didn’t really check it until recently. For a minute though let’s be honest, I don’t even take the time to write for my blog, let alone read all of the blogs I can’t get fed into my Google Reader. In any case, here we go. 10 current things about me to share.

I bought a condo. It is awesome and I LOVE it! I finally got my living area put together so now it’s onto the guest bed/bathroom so I can rent it out and make some money on it. That’s the idea anyway. :)

My life is a mad house. I am trying to do marketing, be a makeup artist, look for a career path I want to take, be a good employee at our office and get my house put together. All while I would rather be outside in the sunshine… Well, it was sunny at one point.

I am getting extensions. I think it will be fun having super long hair again. It probably won’t be like that for a super long time, but I am excited anyway. (Pictures to follow… At some point.)

I am back in voice lessons! I love doing vocal training! I always seem to learn so much about myself when I sing. I also discover loads of emotional issues that need working on, but that’s to be expected I guess. In any case, I am really enjoying it!

I am trying to get back into the swing of things and get into more shows. I auditioned for The Drowsy Chaperone but I didn’t get in, so I’m going to audition for Christmas Carol. I would like to perform again. I miss it and I think I’m good at it, so I’ll just keep auditioning. :)

I really like teaching. This is an entirely new and seriously weird thing for me. I taught as part of a kid’s summer theater program this summer and LOVED it! I think I may be moving in that direction in the near future. Who knows. Unfortunately, I’m pretty limited on what I can teach, so then again it may be a while yet.

I am pretty amazing at throwing baby showers. I’m just saying. If you want a fun baby shower that isn’t too game oriented and still leaves everyone feeling like they participated and had a great time, I am the one to throw your shower. Also, I am super awesome at decorating. ;)

I work at a haunted house. It’s way fun to do the makeup out there, but I hate being scared. I won’t even go through the show and I KNOW everyone in it! It’s kind of weird, but we can just look past the irony there and move on. If you like haunted houses you should totally come through though! :D

I am a quarter of a century old. It’s not as bad as I was worried it would be. Actually, as it turns out I really don’t care much how old I am. I have done some pretty cool things in my life and I’m going to do a lot more. Hooray for me!

One of my favorite things EVER is go get flowers. For an occasion or randomly. I love it all! Even though some people think it’s a waste because they just die eventually, I think they are beautiful and they can cheer anything up. They also usually smell nice and they make people happy. They also don’t make me get fat… Like candy does. Moving on. My favorite flowers are snap dragons, lilacs, and daisies. I really love getting any flowers, but those are the best. Roses are amazing too! I got a really great bouquet of roses and hydrangea from my awesome friend Jen recently and an amazing 2 dozen long stem red roses from my parents as a thank you.

The beautiful bouquet from Jen (not my picture, but a good representation)

Also not my picture… Pretty though!

Anyway, that’s it for this blog. I love everyone so whoever wants to do this (if anyone) you are it. Now if you don’t mind, I’m off to bed now.

Ok, so 3 things…

2010-08-27T15:58:00.001-06:00

First, private blogs + Tiff = FAIL. I am sorry if your blog is private. I understand that you might want the extra privacy it gives you, but I RARELY read private blogs. I don’t have time to go hunting them down. It’s not that you aren’t worth it, but you took yourself out of my google reader by making it private and until someone can tell me how to get private blogs there, it will be very periodic. I bring this up because my cousin tagged me in a blog ages ago (which, buy the way I also can’t link because it is private) and I just got around to reading it. It’s true. Sorry. That blog will be coming… well, we can all see how good I am at regularly updating my blog, but it will be coming at some point!

Secondly, my mother has practically perfect teeth and my father has… well, not so great of teeth. They both take really good care of their teeth, we’re just talking genetics here. I landed somewhere in the middle. I have been very lucky though in that I haven’t had a ton of cavities… except for that one time. I love me some chocolate, that’s for sure, but I don’t eat a ton of sweets generally speaking, I don’t drink soda, I have bones of granite, and I brush and floss everyday. So how, you might ask, is it that I have a cavity right now? The sealant popped off of my tooth!!!! It’s not even my fault! Lame…

Thirdly, when it comes to hiring I hate that there are questions I can’t ask. I understand why you can’t ask them, but I’m not going to not hire you because of your age, religion, sex, etc. I’m just curious! So here’s a tip. Since I can’t ask you these things if you want the job, make it obvious. Maybe not the religion one, but put what year you graduated high school. I am interested in who you are as a person and I want to know how old you are so all the better for you if I can get it down to a couple of years as a window. Also, as awkward as it sounds, some people could go either way as far as gender. HUGE TIP: IF I CAN’T TELL YOUR GENDER, I’M NOT GOING TO HIRE YOU! I don’t want to be constantly wondering if you are a man or a woman. Make it obvious people. And a name isn’t enough. You just can’t be sure of that kind of thing anymore. Names are so interchangeable. There is a woman at my condo named Troy. Case and point.

That’s all. I love you each and every one in your own way. I always promise I’ll be better at blogging, but I am super busy so I will make no promises. Just know that I often think of it as I’m getting in bed, but then I’m too tired. But it’s the thought that counts!

Family

2010-07-25T23:47:00.001-06:00

I’m afraid I’ve been thinking. A dangerous pastime, I know. Just kidding, in all honesty I have been thinking about some pretty serious things lately. I am at a place in my life where I have achieved a lot of my big life goals. I’ve finished school, I’m working on my career, I have traveled quite a lot (not nearly as much as I plan to of course, but quite a bit for my age), I have a car that I own free and clear and I’ve purchased a home. At this point I am at a bit of a stand still. I’m not quite sure where I’m going now. I want a family. I very much want a husband and children. My own personal values are such that I don’t participate in sex before marriage, so obviously the children bit isn’t going to happen before marriage, so it’s frustrating in some ways for me to be stuck at this juncture. I have had a lot of dating experience and I know what I’m looking for, but for some reason I’m having problems right now with the guys I’m dating. I am not finding that I am able to date the men who have the attributes I am looking for. The ones who do have what I’m looking for aren’t asking me out. *sigh* I can’t even begin to explain how much I want a family and I feel like this is the next thing in my life. I know that everything will work out. It can just be hard sometimes.

Thief!

2010-07-09T16:44:00.001-06:00

Yep! I read these on one of my friend’s shared blogs so I really don’t know where she found them. Anyway, I laughed really hard… Then I stole them.

(Record Store | Las Vegas, NV, USA)

(A customer about the age of thirty walks into the store.)

Me: “Hello, how may I help you today?”

Customer: “Yes, I’m looking for some recent Beatles records. Do you have any?”

Me: *assuming she means recent re-releases* “Hold on one second.”

(I find some and hand it to her.)

Customer: “Thank you so much! The Beatles are my favorite band! I would shoot myself if they ever broke up!”

Customer behind her: “Well, get your gun ready.”

(Post Office | Brisbane, Australia)

Customer: “I need to pay this bill and the bank said I had to come to the post office.”

Me: “Ok, that will be $625.80.”

Customer: “No, it’s $500.”

Me: “No, it’s $500 US. In Australian dollars, that’s $625.80.”

Customer: “No, it says right there it’s $500. You are just discriminating against my daughter!”

Me: “Um…”

Customer: “How else can you justify a $125 fee?”

Me: “Our fee is $8; the Australian dollar is only around .8 of the American dollar.”

Customer: “So what you are saying is, I would be better off paying a thousand dollars?”

(This continues for some minutes until an old lady in line behind the customer speaks up.)

Old Lady: “I’m going to have to go to another post office. This will never get resolved. This woman is just too stupid to live!”

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

2010-07-04T23:37:00.001-06:00

I am proud of my country. I don’t say it enough, but I am very proud to be an American! I know that not everyone agrees with me, but I am so thankful and forever indebted to the brave military men and women who make sure that we stay free. Free to make decisions on how we want to live our lives. I’m thankful for freedom of speech, freedom to bear arms and freedom of religion. I am so thankful for God. I am thankful for the freedom to choose what I do with my life. That He has not made my choices for me, but that He gives me the freedom to make those decisions even if they are wrong. I am so thankful for my ancestors who did what they did so that I can be where I am today. For the brave founding fathers (and mothers) who built this country at the beginning and all throughout our history. I am grateful for the teachers who have made a difference and for the great people who have decided that people are people no matter what they look like or believe. As long as they are good people who act like decent, kind human beings, they should be treated nicely. I am grateful for the valiant politicians (yes, I think that there are a couple of you out there) who stand for something and don’t abandon their morals because it’s more popular. Keep going. And I’m thankful for my family. They support me when I am down and they help me be a better person. I love you!

Happy Independence Day!

Things That Annoy Me. Top 10 of the Moment…

2010-06-26T23:02:00.001-06:00

Not necessarily in this order, this is just how they came to me.

10. Private Blogs – I hate having to log in every time I want to read a blog that someone has blocked to the public (and yes, I know that in the very recent past I actually considered that as an option).

9. Lack of Kitchen Storage – That really says it all.

8. Loud Upstairs Neighbors – Most of the time my upstairs neighbors are AWESOME! Not up too early in the morning or too late at night, but seriously!!! Sometimes it sounds like a small heard of elephants live up there!

7. People With Bad Manners – Take some basic etiquette lessons people! Or at least use some common sense.

6. Un-alphabetized DVD’s – HOW ARE YOU EVER SUPPOSED TO FIND WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IF THEY ARE ALL A MESS!?!?!? (Alright, so an alphabetical organization is my style, but as long as there is a system that the majority of people can navigate around that’s fine)

5. Fresh Produce Going Bad – Sad story! I love fresh fruit and vegetables, but I get overzealous sometimes and I buy more than I can eat and then it goes bad and I am sad.

4. Waking Up Early – I just don’t like it. I have a tendency to get a lot done most of the time, but it is hard for me to wake up.

3. Bad Lighting – It’s hard to do makeup, pick out clothing or even have happiness. In fact, a little piece of me DIES every time I see a fluorescent light bulb…

2. When Spell Check FAILS – I have never been particularly gifted at spelling, so when spell check fails me, I am not a really happy person.

1. When Friends Are Flaky – It makes me not want to talk to or hang out with anyone. It kind of makes me mad at everyone even if it isn’t called for. Moral of the story, don’t be flaky! ;)

That’s pretty much all for now. I am tired and going to bed since I’ve been up for a long time. It was a good day, but I’m pooped!

Blogging is fun, and at times, hysterical!

2010-06-24T12:32:00.002-06:00

So I had a friend a little while back who was dealing with some issues with a friend while at the same time worrying that her blog wasn’t good enough. This is the hysterical conversation that ensued between the two of us. (Some minor editing has been done so that it isn’t so long and so that it is more anonymous. Also, so that it reads better.) I don’t know, maybe it was just funnier when you were there, but I knew it had to be out here in its true form and I still think it’s pretty dang funny!

J: I haven't shown my blog to anyone else. I am worried it's too lame

me: no way! your blog is great!

J: maybe...

me: i've read tons of way lame blogs and yours is not one of them :D

J: thanks! But you're biased!

me: yes, but that doesn't make it any less true. it's not my first time at this rodeo ;)

J: I am pretty bummed.

me: why?

J: I hate fighting with him

me: oh yeah? well, if he's being a douche...

J: yep. go home to your shrew of a wife

me: totally

J: who encourages you to get a haircut that makes you look like a pencil with a half used eraser

me: LOL!!! awesome! please blog about that!

J: why?! you are being too encouraging!

me: no, you are funny! you should write about it! plus, it will make you feel better about the situation

J: true! maybe I will... how would i make it look like it wasn't about his wife and him?

me: just say i have a friend and for the purposes here, he shall be known as chuck

J: lol! ok

me: and please, do call him chuck. i picked that name on purpose

J: done! "chuck is an asshat with a shrew of a wife"

me: sounds like a great title! i'd read it even if it wasn't your blog just because it sounds awesome

J: ok I'll write it! yikes! what should I say?

me: how about chuck is an asshat with a shrew of a wife?

J: what else

me: i don't know say how chuck is married to the crazy person named… mindy and how their tepid relationship has landed you in the position you are in and how it sucks that you are now the emotional/spiritual connection that is missing there because he is an asshat and she is a shrew and aparently can't have their own spiritual connections.

J: lol

me: i don't know

J: I'm rolling!

me: sorry if i got the details mixed up, but the punch line is definitely that chuck is an asshat and mindy is a fridged shrew yay for their kid whom we shall call bob. or maybe pat since that can be a girl or a boy.

J: lol! I am dying!

me: see! blogging is fun! now don't you feel better already? ;)

J: hold on I need to write a few things really quick

me: like mindy is a shrew and chuck is an asshat? i thought that would be easy to remember. oh, i forget, you need to remember the baby bob pat

J: hold on! this is going to be so funny!

me: i should hope so! i'll be disappointed if it's not

J: I’ll try

J: i just transcribed our conversation.. it makes a weird contrast with the post before it

me: but way funny

J: did you read it? seriously, it kills me

me: yay! i just read it and it is fantastic!

J: so funny.

me: you totally have to share your blog!

J: with who?

me: we can't be the only two people who are allowed to enjoy it! i don't know, James?

J: i think he reads it on the side (james, that is)

me: good

J: I follow his blog.

me: think he'll know he's chuck?

J: i don't know...

me: yeah, well he is an asshat with a fridged shrew of a wife or he might be a fairly funny, decent guy

J: so funny. I feel better

me: but he's still an asshat with a shrew of a wife and that's what's important

J: thanks dear!

me: remember the important parts like him being chuck

J: I might change the name of the guy

me: and she's mindy

J: why!

me: and they are going to have poor bob pat the baby and then he/she will have to deal with that whole awkward situation

J: what about biff instead of chuck?

me: that's very back to the future of you! i might forget and still call him chuck

J: lol!!!! i think i collapsed over the back to the future thing

Anyway, that’s the funny blog conversation. I hope this wasn’t boring. It was super funny while it was happening. I just sat in my office and laughed, so if it was lame, don’t tell me. I like thinking my life is super funny.

Final Decision

2010-06-10T16:06:00.001-06:00

I am not making my blog private. I have put a lot of thought into this and I am not going to let someone else dictate how I live my life. I will write what I want to write and if you want to mess with me, be prepared for whatever you get. I will not have anyone intimidating me and I will not be scared off. I am who I am 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I don’t change who I am for anyone. Take me or leave, but love me for that. There will most definitely be opinions up here and if you want to comment please do! I welcome other points of view and I’d love to hear from you. That’s all for the time being, but I will be back soon. Love to all!

Valuable Lesson Learned

2010-05-18T03:58:00.000-06:00

So my posts from the blackberry apparently don't post to the blog. Fail. Probably user error unfortunately. Now I "get" to retype all of my previous posts that should be here and aren't. Yay...

So moving on. I'm most likely making my blog private in the near future. I don't want my personal life out there for certain people to look at. And it's not even the random strangers who are looking at it, it's some of the people who I know/have known that I don't want involved with me anymore. If you want to continue reading my blog I'll add you to the list, but I'll need your email, so please let me know if you want to be included. :)

Also, it's very late/early, however you choose to look at it. This does not bode well for tomorrow being an awesome day. Somehow I can't manage to get to the sleeping stage of my day. Maybe it's anxiety. It could just as easily be excitement. Or that I just can't get my brain to shut off with all I have to get done in the next few days. Who knows.

And while I'm on this random blog streak, I really, Really, REALLY want this:

I can't begin to tell you how much I want this umbrella. My birthday is coming up guys... Less than a month away... Just saying.

Breakdown

2010-03-06T23:47:00.001-07:00

So today I had planned on being very productive. I started off well by going to the gym. The work out was hard, but definitely not impossible even though my legs were already tired from working them yesterday. Unfortunately, something in me snapped toward the end of my workout and I’m not even sure what triggered it, but it became pretty apparent to me that if I spoke, I was going to loose it. I held it off for a while and tried to channel my weird emotional instability into my lifting (by the way, I dead lifted 95 lbs which is a personal best and my trainer said he was proud of me for doing it, but I digress). For even a brief moment, I thought I was going to get away with it, but as I began my last super set of back extensions and inclined sit-up’s tears started rolling down my face and I could not control them. Now let me just say this: I do not cry in front of anyone at anytime for any reason. I do not do it as a matter of personal policy. In fact, I could probably count on two hands the number of times I have done it since I graduated from High School, so this was crazy! My trainer, being the sweet hearted guy that he is (even though he will never really admit to it) looked a little worried about me and told me to just leave it there for the day. It was totally embarrassing and I was not sure where it came from, but I went to the bathroom and just sobbed for a couple of minutes. Then I came back and ran for 45 minutes. It was quite upsetting and after that, my day went to pieces. I did walk the dogs with my sister and I got one load of laundry done, but mostly I sat on the couch and watched “Ghost Adventures” with my sister. Not a productive day. In fact, I rather feel like I didn’t do much and just felt gross all day. Sigh. Oh well. I guess we all have those days every now and again where it all just comes out and we break down a little bit… Mine was today. Hopefully, that got all of the stress and anxiety out of the mix and now I can concentrate on what needs to be done to get into my condo! Cross your fingers for me please! It’s taking a lot longer and way more energy than I had hoped or expected it to. Here’s to agreeing that tomorrow will be a better day and that maybe I’ll actually get around to doing my hair or actually cleaning my room. :D

Dear Universe…

2010-02-25T19:51:00.002-07:00

I don’t ask for a lot (most of the time) but there are a few things I would really enjoy owning that I don’t have the budget for at this point in my life. So if you would be so kind as to provide a giant lump of money to land in my lap or perhaps just send a wealthy suitor my way I’d be much obliged.

Love,

Tiffany

P.S. All pictures are linked to their respective sites for ordering purposes. Thank you universe. :D

Touching Day

2010-02-12T23:46:00.001-07:00

What a special day! Earlier today I was at the temple waiting in the lobby people watching (a favorite pastime of mine) there were loads of people in a hurry today. People rushing in and out. Some were obviously there for a wedding while others were hustling in to make good time. Then I saw an elderly man who was on his way out. He was walking slowly and not without effort. He was carrying his bag and his hat as he made his way toward the door and when he saw something on the floor he had so much respect for the building he was in that he bent down to pick it up. Then, only a few feet further he arrived at the door and waited until he was outside to again, put his bag down and place his hat on his head. It probably doesn’t seem like a big thing to some people, but it was a very touching gesture to me.

Also, the Olympics in general always touch my heart, but this year seems to be even more so with the tragic passing of the Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili. It was very moving to see how everyone reacted to the situation. My heart just broke when the Georgian athletes came into the Opening Ceremony. The solidarity that their whole team had, as well as some of the other athletes who wore black armbands made me tear up. I was so glad when they took a minute of silence as well as the flags being lowered to half staff. I really feel it was so appropriate given the circumstances. All in all, the opening ceremony was seriously awesome! I LOVED the performance and it was executed perfectly (except for the torch not working quite right). The imagery was BEAUTIFUL and the performance was just fantastic! I love the Olympics! It is a time where the world just takes a break and focuses on all of the best things and the things we have in common instead of their differences. The world gets the chance to get together and cheer for a common goal. Athletic excellence. Anyway, It was a great day. :)

Condo Progress

2010-02-09T23:04:00.001-07:00

Today I accepted the counter offer that I was given. It wasn’t as low as I wanted to be, but it’s not that much different so I’ll find a way to make it work. I am SO excited!!! I can hardly believe that it’s all happening! I have to kick my butt into high gear now because we have a closing date of March 1st! Yikes! Lots and Lots to do in that time!

In other news, my mom bought me a REALLY cute set of dishes and some freaking fantastic red pans! I’m so excited! I can hardly wait to get into my new condo and start using all of my new things! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m even excited to go in and deep clean the whole thing! After that, it will most definitely be party time! Everyone has to come and see me when I move in! :D

Disney Princesses on Ice!

2010-02-07T19:32:00.001-07:00

I found this in my saved drafts. This is clear from back in November so sorry about the delay.

For Kim’s birthday, I bought us tickets to go see the Disney Princesses on Ice show. It was so fun! We were not even the only people who were there without kids! There were a few couples on dates and some groups of ladies who were probably having a fun girls night out. It was great! The whole show was really fun and it was even better being there with my Seester! She’s one of my best friends and I LOVE spending time with her. Here are some pictures from the show. Don’t judge, most of them were taken with my cell phone so the quality isn’t as good as it could have been.

Some of the 7 Dwarfs

Belle and the Beast (my favorite princess!)

Tinkerbelle was hilarious!

I tried to get a decent picture of Belle the whole show, but her back was always to our side of the audience by the time I got the camera to work.

Backtracking

2010-02-07T19:12:00.001-07:00

So last fall there were a couple of things that I never blogged about.

1) My cute friend Jenny moved away to do more airline school. Still not 100% sure what she’s going to be doing, but she’s going to be freaking awesome at it and she’s going to look amazing to boot! :D Just sad that she’ll be so very far away now.

2) I went through the temple. For those of you who are not LDS and read my blog it’s a really special experience where we get the opportunity to make promises and commitments to ourselves and to God. It was the best experience in my life so far.

3) Thanksgiving: I ate myself stupid. Enough said there.

4) My car was in the parking lot one night just before Christmas and some guy with a giant truck backed onto the hood of my car and tried to run, but two great guys got his license plate and we tracked him down. It was sad because my car had just been fixed from the accident and had to go back to the shop, but it’s all better now.

5) Christmas: It was a good year. I got things I need for my new condo. Dishes and such, Good time with family and friends.

6) New Year’s Eve: Party at my friend Jake’s house. Pictures don’t turn out all too well when taken on a camera phone with weird lights and strobes going off, but I looked cute and it was way fun and that’s what’s important. :D

7) Other than going to work, I’ve been keeping busy going to the gym with my trainer 3 times a week, dance class once a week, fight training with my friend, Nick (who happens to be a professional MMA fighter) and ward activities. I have a great singles ward and I’m having a really good time getting to know them and going to some of the fun activities that they put on. Like ice skating!

Pretty sure I haven’t been on ice skates for YEARS! Thanks to the guys who kept me on my feet and for Jake for taking this picture. It’s nice to have proof that I did it!

I guess that’s all for now. I really am going to be better about blogging. I’m sure in the near future I will definitely have some things that are blog worthy. *cough* new condo *cough* Keep your fingers crossed though! Nothing has been set in stone yet. Good times though!

Playing THE Game

2010-02-05T15:35:00.001-07:00

It always seems like there is some kind of game to play so that you can please this person or get that thing you want and it can get tiresome. I am right now trying to play the game where I please my family, don’t offend someone where I should have the option on how to spend my hard earned money and playing the game of buying a condo. Yes, it’s true. After all this time I’m finally striking out on my own and signing away my life to the ‘M’ word: Mortgage. It’s by far the most frightening word I’ve ever had to deal with in my life thus far. For that matter, it seems like all of the good things that are a little scary in my life/future are M words. Mortgage, Marriage, Motherhood… But I digress. So I’ve been back and forth on a couple of condos that I really, really like but I am not willing to overextend myself for these places and it’s frustrating that they aren’t being a little easier to work with. I understand when I go in at a lower offer it’s not necessarily going to be a done deal at the lower price, but seriously!? Let’s try playing a little nicer people. It’s my first place and I really want to live there! Plus, you need to get rid of it! Now that we had that talk let’s get down to business. Pen anyone?

Bad Blogger

2010-01-21T15:55:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I’ve been kind of a bad blogger for a while now. I think that has been established. The thing is though, I have so much to do to catch up that I keep saying I don’t want to do a current blog until I’ve done all of the back dated stuff and who knows when that will happen. *sigh* I do want to say that I’m so full of stress and frustration and irritation though! I feel like I am getting hit from all different sides and I can’t really vent anywhere because the places I usually do my venting (blog, facebook, etc) are the places that the people who are making my life miserable usually see my stuff! For frustrating! I mean really! This is my space and I should be able to say/do whatever I want to on here, but instead I’m worried about saying something that will hurt someone’s feelings or make them mad at me when really, that’s what all of these people are doing to me so why should I give a damn? I think that it’s super ridiculous that I’m busy watching what I say so that I can preserve relationships while other people are acting like complete children and say whatever the hell comes to their minds without a care over what reactions will come from that. No worries that they are being selfish or mean or that maybe they could just be honest instead of going behind my back and lying because the truth will hurt my feelings. Guess what. I’m not stupid and I will find out sooner or later and it will still be what it is plus I’ll be hurt and angry that you lied to me. So suck it up and say what you have to say to my face or leave me alone! I don’t care if you are friends, family or strangers. I HATE, LOTHE and ABOMINATE being lied to. We will not be able to remain on good terms if you lie to me or try to manipulate me. Period. For those of you who are being good friends, I love you dearly. You mean the world to me and I will indeed try to be better about my blogs and I will also try to be less full of angst while I blog from here on out. Loves!

New Year 2010

2010-01-01T21:22:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I just finished reading 95 blogs that I was behind. Wow. That’s pretty bad even for me. As we all know I’m also severely behind on my personal blogging therefore my New Year’s resolutions are to catch and keep up on my own blogging and to read the blogs that I am following. Also, as some of you know, I am working out with a personal trainer and I am planning on being 115 lbs by June. It will ~~probably~~ not be fun, but it will be worth it. As a friend quoted to me recently, “Nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels.”

On an unrelated topic, how much would you pay for this bag?

Please leave a comment or email me on how much you would pay for this bag so I have a real idea. Thanks!

BYU vs. Utah Game

2009-12-02T09:56:00.001-07:00

The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. - Bertrand Russell

I am just putting it out there that I’m pleased with the outcome of the game last Saturday. That being said, I hate the game itself. I think it brings out the worst in everyone involved so I choose to not be involved in any way if I can help it. When people get competitive like that they seem to do things that are not in character for them and I will not condone actions or words from anyone that are just unkind for the sake of a game. I think it is so uncalled for and childish. Now I am fine with a little clean competition, but honestly, both teams are, and have been for a long time, about the same in quality. So get over it people. There is no need for name calling or throwing things at people or destroying property. I do not think it has anything to do with the fact that the LDS church owns one school or that most of the general authorities went to the other school. If you use one of those reasons as an excuse, you are just stupid and petty. Seriously, grow up and quit insulting the other school. And all this Max Hall stuff is so lame. Yeah, he said things that weren’t nice, but about half of you who are complaining about how stupid he is and how much he is a bad person have trash talked BYU and their fans so it’s about time for you to shut the hell up. I’m just tired of hearing about it. You do not know what he has had to deal with and he does not know what you have had to deal with. Good, I’m glad that we had that talk.

Moving on, let’s all just try harder to be nice and just have a friendly game of football with some non-mean competition. And while we’re at it let’s realize that everyone says things they don’t mean when they are upset and everyone (except for those people who are actually bad people) regrets saying those things after they have cooled down. And everyone has done it. I mean you. I also know I’ve done it so there’s no exception for myself. It sucks and it happens so like I said before, get over it and be nice.

That’s all. Happy December!

Health – or lack there of

2009-11-19T11:23:00.001-07:00

October and November have been hard for me from a health aspect. I was driving on the freeway on October 6th and as I was getting ready to exit I was rear ended. My car was hardly damaged, but I took the major damage to my body. I had a whiplash and a sprained back. Car accidents are no fun. And somehow in the accident the impact managed to put a massive dent in my stainless steel water bottle! That’s interesting to me. Then at the end of October I caught a cold. It was unfortunate, but just a run of the mill cold. Nothing too terrible. Or so I thought. I was working extremely hard and pretty long hours at that point and between that, the dust associated with working in a haunted house and just not getting the rest I needed and taking care of myself in general I became very sick.

This is the bacteria that causes bronchitis. It sucks. I have been sick for a month now and let me just say that I didn’t know that it was possible to be sick for this amount of time without having a disease like cancer or some serious something going on. I have tried every single thing I can think of to get well. I’ve tried over the counter cold medicine, home remedies, vaporizers and loads of extra sleep. It’s been a long, long haul, but the good news is that I’m nearly over it and that I lost a significant amount of weight and now I have my flat stomach! Woo hoo! Now I just have to get into the gym and keep it that way. I’m nearly well so hopefully I’ll be able to get in there on a regular basis. It’s been over 6 weeks since I’ve really felt like a real, healthy human being, so let’s keep our fingers crossed that I’m nearly over this string of bad luck in keeping my health. I’ve been coughing a lot less lately, but I really have pretty much no voice so if you call me either expect that I won’t have much of a voice or that I won’t answer my phone.

Wow, I’ve been MIA for ages!

2009-11-19T10:47:00.001-07:00

So life’s been pretty crazy the last few months. September was mostly spent working and doing makeup on the weekends, so not a lot to write about there. October, however, was crazy! I was working during the day, then at night I went to the haunted house to do makeup. This year was especially cool for me as I finally bought myself an airbrush!!! This made it a lot easier for me to get out more makeup and to make it look a lot cooler! Here are some of the people I did.

All in all it was a really great season. I had a ton of fun and, even though I never really got a chance to dress up, I had a new corset made which is AWESOME! I love it and I don’t have it. Sadly I had to have it taken in and the guy who made it for me left for basic training without giving it back to me before he left. Sad panda. There goes about $160 until who knows when. I also got these wicked awesome contacts and super long wig that I was going to use to be a character working in the front room. Sadly, as I said, that only happened a couple of times during the season, but I sure looked cool!

Catching Up On Life 2

2009-09-12T21:38:00.001-06:00

The following events did not necessarily happen in the order that they appear. This is just the order in which I thought of them.

June was an interesting month. A week after my grandma passed away I had my 24th birthday. It wasn’t a big deal, but I went to lunch with a friend and overall it was a pretty good day. 24 isn’t a really important birthday so there isn’t really much to say about it. During the summer I took a few fun little trips. A few of us went down to Las Vegas to collect the ‘Tart Cards’ for a friend’s art project. It was a pretty fun trip. We drove down one afternoon, walked the strip until about 3 am, then we organized the cards in the spare suitcase we brought and headed home in the morning. No pictures will be provided from that trip and I don’t think I need to explain why. What happens in Vegas… Well, you know the rest.

I went to a Bee’s baseball game. It was really fun! I didn’t think that it would be, but it was a blast! We went with the chiropractic association so it was great seeing some of my parent’s friends that I haven’t seen in a while, plus my dad actually caught a stray ball that flew up into our section! He was so excited! Truth be told, I just cowered and hoped I wouldn’t get hit or in any way be involved in the situation.

We went to stadium of fire. It was pretty cool! I couldn’t have cared less about the Jonas Brothers (sorry to any fans out there), but let’s be honest, we all go for the fireworks anyway. I thought it was interesting though. There were a plethora of tween girls there to see the concert and it was strangely reminiscent of an Elvis concert or a Beatles concert where the women were so excited and worked up that they would faint and the screaming was so intense that no one there had eardrums left by the end. Honestly, if I couldn’t hear the music (because it wasn’t nearly the same caliber of one of the other mentioned artists) I would have thought it was something along those lines… Like I said, I went for the fireworks though, and apparently I ended up on TV! I hope I looked ok.

Fire dancers

I went to an ABBA recreation concert. It was really quite good! I still need to get the pictures from my mom and my cousin Lauren. They got the best pictures so sadly there are none here.

The county fair was an experience as it is every year. I learned how to make pottery though and that was awesome! I made a vase that is so cute! I think it has great character. How about you?

Most recently I went to California. It was a really nice trip. Mostly it was just to chill out, but also I had the opportunity to visit Hearst Castle. It was AMAZING!!! I loved it! Seriously, he would be the friend to have. Get invited to all kinds of events and not have any of the bills. Sounds like a winning plan to me! I mean really, this guy had real Roman and Egyptian artifacts shipped to his California home just because he liked them and he could. That is an intense amount of money.

This is an awesome sign by Las Vegas!

Now I’m just working pretty much on the State fair that started this week. It’s off and running so now it’s just a matter of working some really long days.

Also, the haunted house is open now weekends. It’s going pretty well and I’m totally excited for the season! Of course, you should all come see the show. I’ll even be playing in the show when it starts getting busier. I’d give it a few weeks. Maybe until the beginning of October. Then come see me! Anyway, now you’re all caught up on my life… I think. I could have forgotten something, but I don’t think so. If I did, feel free to contact me and ask.

Catching Up On Life

2009-09-12T21:36:00.001-06:00

So for those of you who read my blog (which is probably not very many of you anymore) I know I have been really bad about staying up on things this summer. I have been chastised and felt the overwhelming remorse for my actions… Or something like that. So this blog is going to be kind of a catch up on the highlights of my summer.

My family went to Disney World in May. It was WAY fun! It was a torrential downpour pretty much the whole time we were there, but it was still very fun and I loved being able to spend the time with my family. I remembered a lot of the things we had done when we were there last, but everything seemed bigger then. Of course, I had much shorter legs back in the day so that was probably not too far from the truth! There were some changes, in the last 14 years (give or take). Some of the rides had been changed to reflect the movies that had been inspired by them, and some had been changed entirely. It was an overall great time though. We went to all of the Disney parks (Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot) of which I had only been to 2 in the past. Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom were new to me and surprisingly good! There were a lot of good times, but I would have to say that Hollywood Studios was the best of the new parks for me. Tower of Terror was amazing! The Rockn’ Rollercoaster was also freaking fantastic (we went on it twice!), but the best moment there was when one of the street performers was walking out in her 20’s inspired outfit and glorious hat saw a park patron who had a shaved head, a wife beater tank top on, and was quite buff. She dropped her suitcase on the ground and in grand dramatic style exclaimed “Mr. Clean!” One word. Fantastic. I laughed so hard I nearly peed myself. It was right then and there I decided that someday, somewhere I will use that line when I’m in a production. Anyway, enough talk, here are some pictures.

The Teacup ride

The AWESOME lady who called out Mr. Clean

Mickey’s Magic Hat from Fantasia

Animal Kingdom – Being Seesters!

We should totally be rock stars! Rock on!

If the Rock star career doesn’t pan out though, perhaps opera singers… Or Vikings.

In England! Oh wait, Epcot England that is.

Next we had the No Doubt concert. No Doubt was scheduled to go be in Salt Lake City the day we were getting back from Disney World. Kim and I scored wicked box seats for the event and got there at exactly the PERFECT time! It was a little dorky having our parents drop us off and pick us up, but we went directly from the airport to the E Center, so there wasn’t much of a choice if we wanted to be on time. We got there just a few songs before No Doubt themselves came on and as it turns out, we didn’t really care about the warm up band anyway. It was a blast! And it wasn’t so bad at the end when we had a ride to pick us up and we didn’t have to deal with parking. Huzzah! We even got to sing to Gwen’s little boy who had a birthday the next day. It was really cute! The music was great! A lot of it was from their older albums which I really liked since that’s my favorite stuff of theirs anyway! Here are some pics from the concert. Just random shots of them, my Seester and me, plus one of Gwen with her son.

As was previously blogged about, my grandma passed away at the beginning of June. That was an extremely sad event, but I’m very thankful that I know I will be able to see her again someday. It was very peaceful and in my heart I know that my Papa came and said it was time for her to go and do other things. Her mission on earth was done. I wish I still had her here with me, but I’m very happy for her at the same time. This blog is getting exceedingly long, so I will post more in another blog. Look for it in rapt anticipation! It will be good! Or maybe it won’t. You’ll just have to wait and see though! ;)

Working out again

2009-07-09T21:46:00.001-06:00

As of last night I’m once again working out with my personal trainer Chris. This is, of course, what I wanted because I really want to get back in shape, but everything below my earlobes is sore today. Sad story! The muscle soreness isn’t anything new to me. This happens every time I’ve started a new dance semester at school or any new exercise program, but today was different. I woke up and couldn’t move for about 30 minutes. I physically could not get out of bed. My back was so sore that I couldn’t even roll over. Blah. All day there were stairs everywhere I went. It was brutal! This is how I felt:

Actually, toward the end of the day I finally had my back worked on so I’m feeling MUCH better now! Hopefully I’ll feel even better tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Bikini’s and Butts

2009-07-06T14:46:00.001-06:00

So I’m chronically behind in my blogging. This we all know. And while I have several other blogs that should make it up here before this one, I thought it was funny, therefore this is the one I’m posting. I was reading an article on the history of the bikini and there was a whole slideshow on the progression of the bikini through different decades. (The article wasn’t that interesting by the way. Apparently the first bikini was shown in a French fashion show and it was so scandalous [for the time period] that the models wouldn’t even wear it, so the designer had to hire a stripper for the show. That’s about all you get from the article, but I digress.) Anyway, this is one of the pictures they have in the slideshow and really I was left thinking, was this picture really taken to show the back of a girl wearing a bikini in the background, or was it taken because it’s really funny that the guy has a super atomic wedgie and his butt is falling out of his suit? Personally, I think it was the latter, but I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

Unexpected Changes

2009-06-09T01:17:00.001-06:00

My grandmother passed away unexpectedly today. Well, technically yesterday. It was peaceful we think. She was out on her porch reading the newspaper and her mail enjoying the sunshine and probably just passed very quickly. She was still in her chair and her feet were up on the little cement wall in front of her door. She just looked like she fell asleep and didn’t wake up again. We should all be so lucky to go that way. She was amazing! She was truly a saint in every sense of the word. She was kind to everyone and loved everyone. I’ll miss her so very much. I’m still kind of in shock. I guess it will all sink in as time goes along. I don’t actually know what to do now. It’s hard because there was so much I wanted to do with her still. Things I should have told her or done with her. Now I can’t. I don’t regret the time I had with her, I just wish I had more. I wasn’t done having her with me yet. I am so happy for her though. She gets to be with her parents again and my Papa (her husband) who she has been without for 10 years this summer. Also, now she can do the work that she wanted so badly to do, but she was inhibited by her physical body. She’s free of all that now. I love you grandma. I’ll miss you so much, but I’ll always have you in my heart.

What should we think? What should we say?

2009-05-19T01:16:00.001-06:00

I found an awesome quote the other day that reminds me of how I’ve been feeling for the last little while. “What this country needs is more free speech worth listening to.” - Hansell B. Duckett

Warning, this is a slightly more colorfully worded blog than usual. If you are offended by a little language, this may not be the blog for you to read.

So the radio station that plays at work has the Ryan Seacrest show on in the afternoon, so I am able to get my daily dose of celebrity gossip in. I’ve never been so informed before which is a admittedly a little weird. I now join in on conversations that I would have had no contribution to whatsoever in the past, but I digress. A few days ago Ryan had Perez Hilton on the show. For those of you who don’t know, he is the judge who asked the ever controversial question about gay marriage (which I thought was a little out of place for that particular forum, but it was what it was) at the Miss USA competition to Miss California that has everyone’s panties in a twist. Perez has a blog where he often has very unflattering posts about celebrities and their goings on. He also promotes new movies, whatever he feels like. Ok, fine. That’s what a blog is supposed to be. The point I’m getting to is that when Ryan was talking to him, he made the comment about American Idol contestant Adam Lambert and how he was so glad that he was candid about who he was and that people should be honest about who they are and what they stand for, but in the same interview he trashed on Miss California, Carrie Prejean, saying that he wasn’t looking to hear the answer that Carrie Prejean would have given, but the answer that Miss USA would give. WHAT THE HELL!? This was only a few minutes after the Adam Lambert comment. So what’s the deal? I mean why is it ok for him to be true to his convictions, but it isn’t ok for her to stand up for hers? Is this because he was personally offended by her answer to his question at the competition? Is it because Adam and Perez are both gay? Is it because they are both men? I don’t hate gay’s or men, but it makes me wonder. How is this considered alright here people!? What a hypocrite! Both are role models and have a lot of publicity, therefore a large impact on the people they touch. In fact, it’s a pretty good chance that Adam will have more of an impact than Carrie because of the intense popularity of the show and the way our pop stars are idolized in our society, so I don’t really want to hear how she should be answering how a representative of America should be answering. That’s a load of crap as far as I’m concerned. This is why our government is shit. It’s because our politicians are answering how they ‘should be’ answering and no one has the balls to stand up for what they actually believe in anymore. It’s all about what they should say and not what they really believe in. You know, I think that props should go to both Adam and Carrie in their respective situations. They have both been true to what they feel and whether I agree with them or not, at least they had the guts to stand up for themselves in the face of the media that can (most) often be cruel. And I think Perez can go to hell. Get your standards straight before you start shooting your mouth off and being a total prick. Just a thought.

She finds herself at a concert that I am not at!

2009-05-15T00:51:00.001-06:00

BEST QUOTE EVER! My sister Kimberly and I went to the Celtic Woman concert on Tuesday which was amazing! We had fantastic seats thanks to our good friend Chris! We were first row off of the floor right in the center! Fantastic view, great music, and the best company! I love doing things with my seester!

I didn’t know much about their music before hand, but they have beautiful voices and the violinist was wicked amazing! The four singers are really wonderful but she steals the show! The whole performance was quite the production actually. They had a huge set up on stage for their musicians. Well, for their percussion they did anyway! The rest of the band was on one side of the stage doing their thing. They had a bass player, a guitarist and the Celtic flute player. Then there was the percussion. They had the stage divided so that each guy had a massive station on their side to play the drums, chimes, symbols, etc. It was way cool! They even came out and did sort of a play off on the handheld Irish drum things. I loved it!!!

They did several songs that were covers of other songs. They did one of Enya’s songs, they did “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban, and a few others. They also did some Irish folk songs. Very cool! Some of them were in English and some were in Irish Gaelic (which I intend to learn by the way). I LOVE Gaelic! It’s so beautiful! They also had some very moving music that’s new for their tour. One song I want so badly is their tour theme song Isle of Hope. I got choked up when they sang it and I get choked up when I try telling people about it. It’s about the immigration from Ireland through Ellis Island and it’s very moving. They also had a really cool song about America! They even dedicated it to the people of Salt Lake City because we are the most welcoming people they’ve come across in their travels! Who knows, they could say that to everyone, but I thought it was cool anyway!

The violinist was by far the most entertaining part of the show though! No contest, she was phenomenal! Not only did she make incredible music, but she was frolicking all over the stage while she was doing it! It was more than just moving a lot while she did it though! She was dancing while she played and at one point she was so into the music she started doing some violin head banging (which is where the quote from Kim came in). Keep in mind that their music style is an Irish version of Celine Dion mixed with Enya and she’s up there head banging away. It was awesome! Kim just leaned over to me and said, “She finds herself at a concert that I am not at!” and I just lost it! It was true though. Her body language definitely said she was at a concert we weren’t at. It was great though!

Both at intermission and when it was over, we made a beeline up the stairs to beat the crowds. We bought one of their CD’s at intermission and then at the end we got to the top right as they did an encore so we stayed for that, then we hauled out to our car and got right out of the parking lot! It was practically a miracle!

Their costumes were amazing! The ones they wore for most of the night were just really cool evening gowns, but their end costumes were fantastic! They were all coordinating in style, but all slightly different. Very full skirts with strapless bodices. The main fabric was a brocade in gold or silver with black, grey, navy and burgundy and corresponding insets in the skirt. So cool!

Overall a great concert and I would go again in a heartbeat! They definitely have a new fan! I only got one picture in the concert (we weren’t supposed to have cameras) and it didn’t turn out so well so that’s what I get for trying to break the rules. You can see how they had the stage set up though. It was really cool with the big draped curtain things and the round disc in the center was used as a projection screen. That was an awesome effect! I borrowed the others from their website.

I got this nice guy to take our picture in front of the E Center after the concert.

This isn’t from the concert, but it’s a good picture to show the costumes they wore for most of the time.

This guy was amazing! He was one of the ones doing the drumming and percussion! I think he was their main guy.

The frolicking violinist of amazingness! I was in awe of her talent!

This one was my favorite. It’s their finale. They were so beautiful and they sounded fantastic!

Monday. Oh Monday.

2009-05-11T23:58:00.001-06:00

From this point, the weekend seems so very far away. Good thing I have several fun things before the weekend gets here, like a concert tomorrow with my sister! :D I’m really quite tired right now though so this is pretty much how I feel. Poor kitty. Happy Monday everyone.

Weird, people actually read my blog

2009-05-10T01:21:00.002-06:00

So I recently put in a tracker to see where people are reading my blog and I have no idea who reads it because it only tells me where not who! Really, I don't know who would be reading my blog from Spain, Argentina, France, South Africa, Canada, Indiana, etc. It's kind of crazy not knowing who is reading this because I always figured it was just a couple of my friends here and there, but obviously it's not just them! Cool I guess! If I've never met you and you're reading my blog I'm quite flattered, and if you're someone I know and you're living somewhere I'm obviously not aware of, let me know! I'd feel like a bit of a heel not knowing you'd moved. Anyway, let me know who you are and where you're reading this from if you don't mind. I'm just curious! :D

Feelings

2009-05-05T23:41:00.001-06:00

SERIOUSLY!!! I CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT SOME THINGS SHARED IN CONFIDANCE CAN’T STAY THERE!!! I just had to get that out. I’m feeling a little hurt, angry, confused, irritated, betrayed and I’m sure some others that I am not thinking of right off. It’s not worth loosing the friendship over, but I’m just a little miffed because I thought it was pretty self explanatory that some things shouldn’t be shared with anyone outside of the immediate conversation. Especially when it’s not about you!

Also, I have a stomach ache and a headache I’ve not been able to shake for an entire day and then some. Sad story. I’m going to bed.

Fun

2009-04-28T00:24:00.001-06:00

I wasn’t tagged but my friend Amy had this on her blog so I decided to put it up on mine because I wanted to. No better reason than that (not that I need one it is my blog after all). Fourth file, fourth picture.

This is my best friend Jeff (For those of you who didn’t go to school with us and/or haven’t heard me go on and on about him. Pretty sure those people are few and far between though.) This picture was taken ages ago when we had just met and I’m pretty sure of a couple of things: 1) He doesn’t know that this picture exists. As clarification, I’m pretty sure he knows it exists, he’s just never seen it because… well, I’m not sure why. I just don’t think he’s ever seen it. 2) It was taken during the BYU homecoming parade I can’t even remember which year. He’s making a face and I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to fall into the favorite picture category for him. It is one of my favorite pictures of him though! It always reminds me of our good times in college. Dance and spending WAY too much time in the HFAC. I miss my dear Jeff.

On a completely unrelated topic, I was cast in the current murder mystery at the Castle right now. It should be fun, but as of right now it’s only being performed for private parties so call up and schedule one already! :D I’ll let everyone know if that changes and we have some open times for anyone to come and play though.

So…

2009-04-20T00:04:00.001-06:00

We may or may not have been doing this at 4 AM in the Denny’s parking lot last night.

It was closing night at the haunt and we decided to go out afterward and, well, needless to say we were having a party in the parking lot even after we left. :D The haunt season is now officially over until the fall season. It’s weird having a haunted house in the spring, I know, but I guess it’s cool! I’ve had an awesome time this year. I’ve made a lot of new friends and I’ve learned so much! I' will be glad to have back some time to do stuff for myself on the weekends now, but I’ll miss being with all of those people every Friday and Saturday night. People like my tall friend Jack! (I made my dress with no pattern by the way because I’m just that awesome! And yes, it’s freezing which is why I wore the gloves.)

I’m pretty blessed to have so many choice people in my life. I have fantastic friends and an amazing family I love dearly. I may get a little bit morose sometimes or start thinking that life is hard and that things are bad, but when I think about it, really I have so much to be thankful for! Obviously this is not to say that life is easy. I promise I have my moments, but I know that everything will work out just great and that when my heart breaks it’s just temporary. Actually, it’s good to get out of the haunt scene for a little while because I need to do some healing and hopefully that will give me the time to do it. :)

Ok, so this blog has officially taken a direction I did not expect it to. I love being a makeup artist and being able to do what I love with people who make it so much fun is even better! Someday I’ll be able to do this as a full time thing, but until then I’m going to work my little booty off doing as much of it as I can! I didn’t get many pictures of myself this time around, but I’ll post some of the pictures of different makeup that I did, well sometime. For those of you who follow my blog you know how long it can take me to get things up here. Much love! :D

Hiatus

2009-04-13T23:30:00.002-06:00

So I haven’t blogged for a while. I’m sorry faithful readers! For the last few weeks I’ve been perma-tired. I actually fell asleep in a busy Denny’s the other day. That’s a sad state of affairs. I’m working full time for my father and with spring/summer coming up, we’re getting pretty busy. I’m also working at the Castle of Chaos for their spring scream. It’s been pretty fun this season as I’ve done some pretty cool makeup and pushed myself to new levels. I enjoy pushing myself and always expecting more than what I’ve done in the past. I’ve also branched out and, shockingly, been more involved in the haunt. No, I’m not one of the people who scares you. I’m morally opposed to scaring people. Do unto others and all that jazz you know. I stand at the front and entertain people while they wait in line. It works out pretty well I’d say. So fun times there! (We still have this coming weekend left so you should totally call me and I’ll give you $2 off coupons so you can come through!)

Anyway, sorry this post is kind of short. I got the world’s worst paper cut today which is super deep and has hardly stopped bleeding at all in the last 13 hours. It either really hurts to type or it takes a long time because I’m trying not to use that finger and I’m exhausted. More later on my many adventures! :D

Back to Before

2009-03-05T16:17:00.001-07:00

I saw this clip because one of my friends put it on facebook. Anyway, I thought it was kind of profound that we do live in a society where we have pretty much everything. The great majority have ALL of their needs met and most of their wants as well. This is not to say that I think everyone is complacent and they don't want to improve themselves, I'm just saying that it's true how much we complain about stuff that is really so incredible! We are truly a spoiled generation and if we don't count our blessings and give thanks to some higher being everyday for granting us the opportunity to live in this wonderful time we should truly be ashamed of ourselves. Honestly, given everything we have, how can we get away with being such complainers? Nearly everyday I hear people saying 'we're in a recession' and 'times are so hard' but heaven forbid our cable goes out or we don't have our text messaging. 10 years ago I didn't even own a cell phone and I sure didn't know what text messaging was and we lived just fine then. For Pete's sake! I remember when the first generation of cell phones came out. They were the size of a LARGE brick and they only had one ring tone. Yes, a frightening thought, I know! We have it so good these days and I'm sure it will just keep getting better! It's funny, it would probably be good for us to go back to how it was, but let's be honest, we can never go back to before. Also, 10 points if you know where the title of this blog comes from. :D

P.S. I forgot this

2009-02-23T17:02:00.001-07:00

As a finishing for the weekend, I watched the Academy Awards. It was very sweet that Heath Leger's family was there to accept his award. He was a stunning actor who deserved the award. There was really only one actor in particular who I thought conducted himself inappropriately. I'm sorry, but the Oscars acceptance speech is a completely inappropriate place to present your political platform. Whether I agree with what you have to say, or not, it is neither the time nor the place for your politics. Everyone else I observed acted quite nicely, why did he have to go and be an ass? I have no idea. Seriously! He should go play in traffic. My own blog is, for example, the perfect place for my personal and political opinions though. :)

Time Flies 2

2009-02-22T23:14:00.001-07:00

Well, the last post was getting a little long, so I'll continue here.

The baby shower (which technically took place before the closing show from the last post) was so much fun! I had the best time getting everything ready and actually hosting the party! My dear friend Amy is having a little girl in May and I had the great luck to be the first to call dibs on hosting her baby shower! Now, I had never hosted a baby shower before, but with 11+ friends who are currently pregnant or who have had their babies in the last couple of months, I have been to an ample amount of showers and I felt fairly confident that I could do it well. Before the shower, I was running around like a crazy woman! I am so glad I did most of the prep work the night before, but I still had to do little things like arranging the chairs and realizing that the baby onesies I had hung up were wrinkled and ironing them (I know I'm a perfectionist, but let's just say ironing baby onesies is another thing I can add to my list of things I never thought I'd do though). I did have some help from some of Amy's great friends who brought an awesome lunch of soup and bread bowls! They are awesome! I only wish I knew all of their names so I could properly thank them. WE had a great time chatting, playing a couple of little games, and opening presents in addition to the wonderful lunch! Just as we finished with the presents, the babies who were there with their mommies all started to loose it as it was nap time, but the timing was great! Overall the party was a success! Amy's going to make an awesome mom! I'm so excited to see her in this new phase of her life and I'm really thankful for having her as a dear friend my whole life.

My genius decorating! I just sent all of the decorations home with the mom to be. No clean up that way!

The party in action

Opening presents

She's adorable!

Time Flies

2009-02-22T22:42:00.001-07:00

Well, the weekend has, yet again, come and gone. This one was particularly busy for me as I had the last performances for the murder mystery I was in as well as throwing a baby shower for one of my best and longest friends.

The shows were, as usual, a BLAST! I truly enjoy being able to be a part of the cast performing in these murder mysteries. It's such a different style from the acting I am used to and I LOVE it! They are interactive and 85% improvised. Normally a show is done for the audience. Well, ours is done with the audience. I love how we are able to tailor the show to each individual who chooses to come through. There are those who are sharp and pick up on every little thing (not to be confused with the idiots who focus in on the stupid, minute details. The things that don't actually matter to the show in any way and make them a big deal.) and there are the people who aren't used to this type of theatre. Who want to participate, but it's hard for them. Being able to customize the show for those who you are playing to is awesome because you can make it just right for everyone. It is one of the most personal expressions I've ever had the great opportunity to be a part of and I'm most grateful for that chance. Not only do I love the style of the show, but we had a PHENOMENAL cast, a great script to work off of, and (with less than a handful of exceptions) great audiences! It was a great honor to work with them and I'll keep the memories of this show forever. We had a crazy time on Saturday between the shows! We played around and took some really great pictures/videos! For those of you who have been in a show before, you know how many memories are contained in the back stage photos.

Our marvelous cast!

The scandal! Heaven forbid, we're showing our ankles!

The guys being... sexy?

It's the bowler hat man!!!

25 Random Things aka Everyone's Doing It!

2009-02-19T00:36:00.001-07:00

I’m pretty sure that only about 5 people read my blog regularly, and I would like to know some crazy, awesome, interesting things about all of you, so if you read this, you’re tagged!

Since I’ve been tagged about 25 times now, I figured I’d actually do the 25 random things about myself. So now, for the moment you have all been waiting for, here we go!

I don’t like lima beans. At all. Ever. Eww gross!
I had had 3 surgeries, all on my feet, by the time I turned 21.
My all time favorite food is spaghetti
When I was a little kid, I would run around saying lines from my favorite movies all the while, expecting everyone around me to keep up on which one we were in.
I love to dance. I believe it’s good for the soul. I never feel quite as happy as when I’m dancing. There are not words in existence to describe it.
I want to live in London (or very near there) for at least a year.
I graduated from BYU with a degree in Theatre – Costume and makeup design
I own my own makeup and hair styling business
I am deathly afraid of haunted houses. Really, I am so petrified that I have a hard time even going near one I’m not familiar with.
I work at a haunted house. (Ironic, I know. It’s ok though, because everyone there knows my haunted house rule: Don’t scare Tiff ever, ever, ever, ever, ever…)
I teach nursery for my church calling (the kids are18 months to 3 years old for those who don’t know)
I love to sing, but I will almost never do it except as a character in a production of some sort.
I can fit over $1.00 in random change (not all pennies) in my belly button.
I am still friends with two people (outside of my family) that I have known since I was 1 year old or younger.
I have celebrated 2 of my birthdays outside of the USA
I have been to the original Hard Rock Café (and I have the tee shirt to prove it!)
I had my first swimming lesson when I was only 6 months old.
One of my favorite things in this world is dark chocolate.
My favorite show I’ve ever been in is probably Peter Pan even though it will make me cry every time I see it/listen to the music.
My favorite musical ever is Mary Poppins. I saw it twice in London and it made a deep impression on me. I also bawled through it the second time.
I do not embarrass easily (see my last post) although for the last couple of months, I’ve been blushing much more than I’m used to. It’s weird.
I’ve been horseback riding four times in my life. One I was too little to remember, the second I had a GREAT time, my third the horse tried to kill me (several times) by breaking into a dead run, and the fourth time the stupid animal bit my thigh!
I am afraid of spiders to the extent that I will put a shoe on top of a dead spider until I can get someone to throw it out for me.
My bone density is 150% of normal for my age group. I have bones of granite!
I’ve kept a journal ever night (with a handful of exceptions) since my freshman year at BYU.

Story Time

2009-02-18T00:04:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there was a girl who was in a dance class. One day in her class she did a quick stretch and ripped a HUGE hole in her pants. Unfortunately, she didn't realize that it was such a large hole, she thought it was maybe one or two stitches. She went the whole class with the giant hole in her pants (right up the seam in the crotch). No one said anything and she didn't check to see how big it was until she was nearly home, then she decided to feel and see if there was much of a rip. WOW! Yes indeed there was! Mortified, she went inside and did some dance moves in front of the mirror to see if anyone saw her brightly colored pink striped underwear. Upon investigation, she found that you couldn't see anything unless she really contorted her body or moved her leg around (which she only did once in the class so probably only a very few people, if any, saw anything). Thank heaven for small graces. She then put on pajama pants and ate dinner. Later, after the initial horror had subsided, she decided that no matter what she did, the situation was still the way it was and there was nothing that could be done about it so she took a picture of the pants in question and wrote a blog about it...

Oh wait, did I mention that the girl is me?

Good thing I have a self esteem of steel! Embarrassment is only temporary. In other news, I have no black pants right now. Since Friday I've either gotten my black pants dirty or killed them. Sad day!

What I Did During the Superbowl

2009-02-01T17:18:00.002-07:00

I got tagged on my friend's blog (it was my name anyway, I don't know if she actually tagged me, but I wanted to do it) so here we go!

5 Things I was doing 5 years ago:
I was a Freshman at BYU with no clue what I was doing or what I was going to study
I had my first set of foot surgeries :(
Learning a lot about myself and what I want
Driving between SLC and Provo... A LOT
Getting to know lots of people who came from many different backgrounds

5 Things on my to do list for today:
Church - done
Watch the Superbowl - sort of
Take a nap - sadly, probably not going to happen
Clean my room - good possibility
Watch a movie - most likely if I clean my room it will be simultaneous

5 Things I would do with a million dollars:
Travel
Buy a house/condo
Pay off student loans
Invest
Save

5 Places I have lived:
Salt Lake City, UT
Provo, UT
London, England

5 Jobs I have held:
BYU Financial Aid clerk
Inventory/sales at a used book store
Makeup artist
Dillards Sales associate
Assistant manager/marketing/what no one else wants to do at my dad's office

5 Things I want to be doing in 5 Years:
Married
Be a mother
Be through cosmetology school
Competing in ballroom dance
Have worked on a professional film

5 People I tag:
Amy
Priscilla
Jenny
Brittany
Lauren

Valkyrie

2009-01-28T14:49:00.001-07:00

This blog contains spoilers. BIG spoilers. Of course, this is actually based on historical events, so technically there could be spoilers everywhere. Just be advised. :D

I went to see Valkyrie last night. It was a really pretty great movie! It was pretty intense at some points, but I really enjoyed it. It wasn't as much action as I had thought it would be, more of the planning and historical events of that situation. The really funny thing is that I know enough about history to know that Hitler wasn't killed in that assassination attempt (he committed suicide a few months later), but when the bomb went off I got all excited like 'Hooray! He did it!' Of course, then when everything started falling apart I was quite disappointed. I was upset because it was not going well! It was crumbling apart and there was nothing that could be done about it. I felt so disappointed. Afterward I was really impressed with that, actually, because it was (to some degree) how they felt. They had worked so hard and now all of their carefully laid plans were falling apart. Sad story! The most heart wrenching part was that Tom Cruise's character kept trying to get a hold of his wife, but he wasn't able to get a line through, then he's caught and never gets the chance again. That was pretty heartbreaking. All in all, I give it a great review!

Hooray for 'Real' Shoes!

2009-01-28T14:28:00.001-07:00

It may not seem like a big deal to many of you out there, but I have been wearing real shoes now since Monday. Why, you may ask, is that a big deal? Well, just over two weeks ago I was at rehearsal for the show I am currently performing in and several of us moved a behemoth table on the set. Unfortunately, no one had taken the time to check and make sure there was nothing under the table and a giant TV fell smashing onto my foot. I distinctly remember feeling like flames were shooting up my leg and then I completely blocked out what happened next. I have to believe what everyone else told me which was that I calmly stated that there was a TV on my foot and that apparently at first they didn't really believe me because I was so calm about it. Then, someone came and picked it up at which point, I remember the director asking if I was ok. I said I need just a minute then I limp/hobbled over to a couch and ripped off my shoe and sock because I knew I couldn't do it if I went slowly (sort of like ripping off a band aid). Well in the 30 seconds or so that had elapsed my foot had already become swollen and was starting to bruise so naturally everyone freaked out (myself excluded because I was really too mad to panic at that point)! One of my friends ran outside and got a bag of snow to put on it and everyone helped get me settled. We tried to go on with the rehearsal, but everyone was so concerned that the rehearsal wasn't going so well and I finally decided it was best to go for an x-ray to see if it was broken. I had two of my friends drive me down to our office and my dad took a couple of x-rays. We didn't know for sure on the first set if anything was broken so I hobbled around on crutches for a few days and then had it x-rayed again. Finally on the third set (there were some lines that they thought could be breaks) we determined that it was not broken, but that it just had the crap bruised out of it and that I should take it easy. Hooray for not having a broken foot! I still couldn't handle having any pressure on it though, so I wore only shoes that didn't touch the top of my foot for two weeks. This is why it is such a big deal for me to be able to say that I've been wearing shoes that cross over the top of my foot and it hasn't been horrible pain! Hooray! I may be able to get some snowboarding in this season yet! Here are a couple of pictures of the bruising.

This one is a couple of days after the accident

A few days later as the bruise is developing

This one was about 1 1/2 weeks after

I don't have one that's really recent, but the bruise is all the way up my foot and looking pretty gruesome! Good times!

Seriously Hilarious!

2009-01-16T16:52:00.001-07:00

So I know a blog is long overdue, and this doesn't really count as a real blogging effort, but my friend had this on his blog and I watched it nearly in tears I was laughing so hard! Thanks to Sean for making my day oh so much better just in this one video clip! Enjoy faithful blog readers! :D

Today

2008-12-16T23:54:00.001-07:00

Today I saw three people I've known my whole life (or practically my whole life) cry. It's not that I didn't think they had cried or could cry or even would cry, but it was a slightly strange thing for me to see. They have always been rock solid and to see them in such a state of vulnerability was a little hard for me. These people are my grandmother, my uncle, and my aunt. Now I don't cry for reasons of sadness in large groups of people as a matter of personal policy, but that being said, I did tear up a bit. (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, my grandfather passed away last Thursday and I am in Seattle for his funeral.) It was very tender to see my grandfather's casket draped with an American flag and to see how many people loved him and would come to pay their respects to a great man. He was a Korean war veteran and an extremely great man. I may be biased because he was my grandfather, but the people who came are not and that was a testament to me of how much he was loved and how many people's lives he was able to touch. We had a chance to say our last goodbyes before everyone came so I was able to have my own special time with him to say what I needed to. The service was beautiful. So many things were said that I had not known and that really made me feel loved. He was a special person. Most of all, the eulogies given by my father and my uncle were beautiful. My uncle did the most touching thing I have ever seen him do and it really brought tears to my eyes. As a Vietnam veteran he was a fellow 'brother in arms' and as a final respect he saluted my grandfather's casket as he finished his eulogy. It was so tender. After the service, we all went to the graveside which was very nice (freezing, but nice). They gave a 21 gun salute and presented the colors to my grandmother. It was so wonderful how much care they took with the flag. They folded it beautifully and then to make the points as crisp as possible they held it in a way that was almost like hugging it. It really made it quite personal. I loved my grandpa a lot and I will miss him greatly. I am just glad to know he's in a better place with his twin brother and most of his family. As two older ladies said this afternoon, "Well, now those two yahoos are together again!" It's true and that's great. No pain or sadness for them and that makes me happy. I love you grandpa and I'll miss you.

The Christmas Story

2008-12-11T01:22:00.001-07:00

I'm pretty sure most everyone who reads my blog knows the first Christmas story. The one where Mary is going to have Jesus and where she and Joseph have to go to Bethlehem to pay a tax and there she has the son of God in a stable. Well if you didn't know it before, that's pretty much it in a nutshell. Well, while I was at school, I took some really cool classes (I like saying that like it was so long ago!) one of which was a marriage prep class. Before anyone jokes about it, it was a really great class! More of a relationship class, parts of which were just more centered on the relationship between a husband and wife. But I digress. One of the books we had to buy for the class is called Saving Your Marriage Before it Starts. It's a really cool book (even if you aren't planning on getting married anytime soon and there is a wonderful passage in it. It's actually in the part about getting used to living with each other and to adjust to things you can't control in a positive way, but I like to read it around Christmas time because it puts a new twist on what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph that Christmas and I would like to share it with you. (Sorry it's a little long, but it's good!)

"Can you imagine for a moment how the Christmas story might have been written if Mary and Joseph had not had the capacity to adjust to things beyond their control? To begin with, Joseph had to adjust to the fact that Mary, his fiancee, was pregnant. According to Old Testament law, he could have had her stoned or sent her into some large distant city like Rome, Carthage, or Ephesus. Before he could break with her, however, God sent an angel to tell Joseph that Mary was with child by the Holy Spirit and would give birth to a Son whose name would be Jesus. So instead of sending Mary away, Joseph married her.

"While the first year of marriage is always difficult, Mary and Joseph faced a unique set of challenges. Nine months of pregnancy require enormous adjustments from a couple, regardless of how long they've been married-and this was no run-of-the-mill pregnancy. On top of dealing with the implications of the impending birth, Mary and Joseph were trying to establish their home, run a business, and learn how to live with each other seven days a week. Further, they were forced to close down their business and travel to Bethlehem as the first step of a Roman plan to raise taxes. Just what they needed!

"Early one morning Mary and Joseph left their honeymoon abode behind them as they went out of the gate of Nazareth en route to Bethlehem. She was riding on the back of a little burro. (No easy ride. Some women can hardly ride in a Buick while they are waiting for the birth of a child, let alone on the back of a donkey!) Joseph had a short tether wrapped around his arm and anchored securely in his big fist to keep the little burro from dislodging Mary, who was more than eight months pregnant. At night they did not stop in a rooming house or a motel as people might today. They stopped along the road, cooked with makeshift arrangements, slept on the hard ground, and made the best of a difficult situation.

"Finally, when they arrived within sight of the city of Bethlehem, Mary stopped. She could not go another step. We can imagine her looking up at her husband and saying something like, "Joe, I cannot take another step. I am going to sit down here under this olive tree, and I want you to go into the city of Bethlehem and get us a room in the Bethlehem Hilton. I would like one in the front if possible so I can watch the crowds go up and down, and I will get room service and wait out the time for the baby to come."

"Mary was a long way from home, worn out, tired, emotionally drained, and at the end of her rope. Furthermore, she must have wondered what she would do if her labor pains began and Joseph was not near. After all, her baby was almost due. Her anxiety level must have risen as she waited, watched, and eagerly scanned the highway for the familiar figure of Joseph. The teeming crowds moving along the highway paid her no attention.

"Finally Joseph returned, his characteristic smile gone, his shoulders drooping. She listened as he told her his story: "Mary, I went to the hotel, but there was no room. It's filled with convention people. In fact, I went up and down the main street to every hotel and there are no rooms. Finally, I persuaded an old man to let us stay in the barn with his animals. He's charging an exorbitant price, Mary, but he promised me he would clean out the manure and cover the floor with fresh straw. And most of all, Mary, he said we could be alone, he would not make us share the stall with any other couple."

"Their hearts heavy, Mary and Joseph made their way to the stable, thankful at least for a shelter from the cold wind.

"That night the Son of God was born.

"Can you imagine how the Christmas story might have been written if Mary and Joseph had not had the capacity to adjust to things beyond their control?"

No matter what else this season means to us, let's all remember to try and be a little bit kinder and a little more adaptable this Christmas season. Merry Christmas to you all!

Twilight

2008-11-26T00:35:00.001-07:00

For those of you out there who are going to get angry or offended if you read anything about this movie before you see it for yourself consider yourself warned and STOP READING NOW! I take no responsibility for "ruining" your experience if you choose to ignore my warning.

That being said, I liked the movie more than I thought I would. It wasn't the best movie ever, but it was better than I think lots of people are giving it credit for. It was extremely cheesy, the effects weren't very good, and overall Meyer's writing doesn't translate very well into film, but somehow I still came out of the theatre glad that I went. I had a really good time. Most of that was probably due to the GREAT company I had! (Thanks Amy for getting me out of the office for a fun night! I always have fun with you even when we're arguing about freeway exits like an old married couple!) I was surprised at how I actually ended up liking the characters better than I'd thought I would. In the previews I really, really didn't like who they had chosen for Bella or Edward, but they were not completely bad. I thought that the most distracting part of it all was the way the special effects were done. None of it was particularly believable. The fast running, the tree climbing, the jumping. It all looked so fake to me! It actually really bothered me. Also, while I thought better of the actors playing Bella and Edward by the end of the film, I liked Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie less. :( It all seemed like it was rushed through too. Of course it had to be because Meyer actually writes a lot and it's mostly the characters thoughts or big monologues that wouldn't really work for a film. The feel of the movie seemed right though. It's not meant to be something that you want to go to for learning purposes, but for entertainment purposes. Also, It had some of the most wonderful, snarky (Yes, it's a real word. Look it up.) one liners that just made me laugh! I seriously enjoyed some of the lines so very much. The writing wasn't very good for the most part, but it made me quite happy at times, so that helped even it out. Overall, I really enjoyed it quite a lot! It was really great times for all involved I think! For those of you interested in some extra entertainment, here is a film critique/FUNNY rewrite of the screenplay, here is a link you should go to. Anyway, here you have my humble opinion of the film. Enjoy!

http://www.ericdsnider.com/snide/my-rejected-twilight-screenplay/

Phone

2008-11-23T22:22:00.001-07:00

I went through my cell phone tonight. I deleted over 100 contacts who I almost never talk to. At least on the phone. If that is you and you call or text me, well I will probably not know who you are. For this, I'm sorry. If you have my number, we don't usually talk by phone, and you think I should have your number then send it to me. If you don't have my number and you want mine, well, email me and we'll talk about it. Anyway, I just wanted to clear that up. Have a great night everyone!

Inspiration

2008-11-23T22:17:00.001-07:00

I work in Salt Lake City, downtown. There are loads of interesting people who live/work/hang out by my office and I see a lot of them on a fairly regular basis. Some of them are not the kind of people I think I'd like to meet on a dark night, but they're cool in their own way. Recently though, I've been thinking about a couple of them and I've been rather touched.

One of them is a man who has more self pride and work ethic than most people I know. He obviously has some problems. Physically his body isn't as good as most people and I'd be willing to bet by the way he acts that there are some mental things going on as well, but every day I see him pushing a wagon or driving a tractor around selling something or doing some kind of work. I really admire him for that too because he could easily sit around and let someone else take care of him, but instead he takes the initiative to get out there and do something with his life. I think to myself that it has to be so much harder for him to do what he does then it would be for me, but he has more pride then to just sit around and do nothing. I think it's amazing that he's always out there doing something to make the world a bit more beautiful. He inspires me because of what he does in spite of his challenges. He always seems to do it with a good attitude too!

The other man who is inspiring to me is a man I've never met, but who seems to exemplify the meaning of Christ like love. I first saw him a long time ago and at first I was shocked and, truthfully, a bit frightened. I saw a man carrying a baby and as he ran across the crosswalk this baby was shaking in his arms, at times looking like it was going to fall violently to the ground! I was worried for the safety of the child, but as I watched him day after day, I realized that it wasn't a live baby he was carrying. It was a doll. Now this may seem a bit weird at first but he shows such love to this baby. He always makes sure it is dressed properly for the weather, and he always has it with him. In the winter, the baby has on a coat and sometimes little boots, while in the summer it has a hat on to shield it from the sun. It is really quite tender how he treats the child that isn't even alive. Sometimes I wonder if he lost a child or if he has some serious mental issues going on. I've heard some people say he's just creepy. A grown man with a baby doll? Well I guess it's possible, but I just can't believe it with the tender, loving way he treats this baby. He truly seems like one of the sweet spirits that has been put on the earth to teach us understanding and love toward others.

I know that these are probably not the people that most of us see everyday, not to mention the ones we aspire to be more like. Most people probably don't even see them as they are walking down the street, but even though I may never meet them, I probably won't be able to thank them, and they will most likely never know what a great impact they have made on my life, I am truly grateful for their examples to me. I hope that we will all take more time and think about the people we don't normally see. Try to be more like them and most of all, think of those people who need us most and who we need in return. They can all be really inspiring if we give them a chance to touch our lives for good.

October = Crazy

2008-10-26T21:17:00.001-06:00

My life is crazy, but so good right now! I'm working at a haunted house, the Castle of Chaos, as a makeup artist and it's so much fun! It's insane at times and I have pretty much no life outside of that and my work at the office, but I haven't posted anything in a while so I thought I'd put up a little something for all of my faithful readers. :) It's a blast! I get there, put 75 to 100 people up in makeup to scare the living daylights out of people (I DON'T go in the haunt. Not ever. Except for the one time that I did... I hate being scared.), then I get to play! I have a friend who is also a makeup artist there who is a professional photographer as well and he does my makeup and uses me as a model for some Halloween shoots he's putting together. We also let people get their pictures taken with me for a donation to the Boys and Girls Club. It's for a good cause. Anyway, I'm off to try and clean a bit or do something productive now. So goodbye again until November. Oh, also most importantly, I'm dating an absolutely wonderful man! He's amazing and he makes me extremely happy! We met at the haunted house and became friends then, as they say, the rest is history! So you should all come see me at work as this is the last week of the season. Fun times all around! If you're into that kind of thing.

Here are some pictures of the modeling work I've been doing. Just for fun!

Witch

Mummy

Vampire

Ghost

Skydiving Baby!

2008-09-27T18:47:00.003-06:00

It's true! Today I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane on purpose and I loved it! It was one of the most exhilarating experiences I've ever had! I can think of no words to describe it, but it was fantastic! I won't lie and say that for the last couple of weeks I haven't been nervous about the whole thing, but I dealt with it by living in a world of denial. I found it easier to just pretend that I wasn't actually going to do it so when today came around, I wasn't really that nervous! I did wake up at about 5.30 though and going back to sleep was out of the question, so at 6 I got up and ready and we were on our way by 7. We got there right about 8 am and had a brief training then they had us sign away our life (quite literately) and we suited up! My main worry was that I wouldn't be strapped into my harnesses correctly, but my expert tandem master Alec, was very careful to make sure I was totally secure and therefore, safe (as safe as one can be jumping from a plane at 13000 feet that is!). Keeping in mind that in my delusion world I had no real plan to jump out of a moving plane, we took some pictures, got on bored and took off! It took about 15 minutes to get to altitude, then we started to go. There was one group doing something in front of me (I really wasn't paying that much attention to them) then it was my turn. We scooted up to the gaping hole in the side of the plane and I scooted my toes just off of the edge of the silver platform, as I was specifically instructed to do, and I had about 1.5 seconds of total fear as I looked at the ground and thought, 'What have I gotten myself into?' then we were out the door and falling/flying through the air! It didn't feel at all like falling even ! I completely loved it! The free fall was incredible and the parachute gliding was one of the best experiences of my life! He pulled the parachute open and it was so calm! I was on a total adrenaline rush, but there was no sound or anything. Just Alec and me floating in space! I got to hold onto the canopy for a few seconds and then Alec spun us and we coasted to the ground! It was amazing! I didn't even know until the last few seconds how close we were to the ground so it wasn't scary or anything. I will definitely be going again sometime! What a fantastic experience! Here are some pictures, if you want to see more, email me or look on facebook.

Strapping into the harness

Alec and me before the jump

Boarding the airplane

Skydiving is amazing! YEAH!

After the landing. It was a total rush! So worth it!

Politics

2008-09-24T21:30:00.002-06:00

I don't do politics. Actually, it's not so much that I don't do it, I just DO NOT talk about politics. I find it a very defensive and unpleasant experience for me to talk about politics. I don't so much mind knowing how other people feel about different aspects of political arguments or whatever you want to call them as long as they aren't forceful about it or try to convince me that my opinions and feelings are wrong. Also, if you haven't noticed, I haven't said anything about the upcoming elections. I just want to say that I do care and I do have an idea about what's going on. I am not stupid or uninformed. I haven't been very involved in past years, so that was a different situation, but now I just choose not to talk about any of that. It makes most people get upset or agitated, it just makes me an angry person and I don't want to be that way. Everyone has an opinion about this and most everyone has made these opinions known to me so I will say one thing only about the upcoming election then I won't ever blog about it again. I think that there is no such thing as a perfect candidate. There are, however, several issues that for me are deal breakers. So while I have chosen the candidate that has most of the same ideals that I choose to stand for, it really comes down to one thing. I will not get behind a candidate who will not get behind his country. Period.

Life as a Designer

2008-09-19T19:20:00.001-06:00

It's so sad, but I just tried to watch my senior project, Berlin, and I didn't get more then 10 seconds into it before I had to turn it off. Now I know why so many people in the entertainment industry don't watch their own work. It's a very uncomfortable feeling to see your work because it shows you all the imperfections only you see. Everyone else thinks it's great, but it makes me feel so vulnerable when I see my work where everyone can see it. At least I think it's good.

Cats!

2008-09-16T23:39:00.001-06:00

So this morning I get a phone call from my friend that she got tickets to see Cats tonight and would I like to go? OF COURSE! It's not my favorite show, but it is my sister's favorite show. So my amazing, awesome, phenomenal friend gets her a ticket too! It was a pretty great show. They had some parts added that I don't think were in the original show, but I've only ever seen the movie, so I'm not really sure about what is in the original play and what isn't. Never the less, it was a great production. I've always seen myself as the Egyptian cat Cassandra. It's fun to look at the different cats and see who you know that is like them!

All in all, it was a fun show and the company was great! Also, I got to see another great friend by accident in the parking garage afterward! Hooray!

Also...

2008-09-16T02:24:00.001-06:00

I'm a bit perturbed. I forgot to mention it, but at the fair there was a booth set up by a funeral home and they had a casket there and when I asked them if I could get in it and take a picture, they said no! Now I would have understood if they had said it was disrespectful (which it kind of is), or if they had said that they didn't want to get it dirty (I offered to take off my shoes before I got in!), but the answer they gave me was so ridiculous that I had to stop and pause to take it in. They said it was illegal because once a body has been in it, it's contaminated and therefore no longer suitable to have anyone else in. Seriously!? What if I wanted to try it out before I bought it? I don't want some uncomfortable coffin for my body! I am a firm believer in try before you buy! Honestly though, is someone out there really worried that I'm going to transfer my LIVE germs to a DEAD person? I ask you, all creepiness aside, does that make any sense to anyone else? I realize that many (most?) of you may think I'm slightly weird or morbid for even thinking about getting in a coffin, but it's not like I was going to close it or that there had been a body in it before! I just thought that it would be funny being that it's just before Halloween. Now I just think the people making the laws have WAY too much time on their hands! If they are making up laws that won't let you get into a coffin because you might contaminate it for the future user/occupant there is something really wrong with that situation. I'd post a picture on here, but they wouldn't let me take one. SO LAME!!! That's all.

Random Quirks

2008-09-15T00:49:00.001-06:00

Link the person who tagged you
* List 6 of your quirks
* Tag 6 other bloggers by linking them
* List the rules on your blog

Jenny tagged this to anyone who wanted to do it and since blogging is so much better then sleeping (what I really should be doing to get over a cold) I'm going to do it and leave it open to all of my friends and family! If you should do it though, please let me know so I can read up on the weird things about you!

1)When I'm eating a lot of things on one plate I absolutely can't stand to have them touch! The items of food themselves, the juices, or any of it! I think that sectioned plates may very well be the greatest invention ever. Ok, maybe not ever, but definitely the greatest since the fork!

2)I organize my closet first by the color of the item, then by hue and the length of the piece, finally by the material. I then hang them on hangers which are organized by color and categorized by what is on them. Also do my shoes (if possible in the original box) by color, heel height, and occasion.

3) I love old names! I think that my favorite names ever are Charlotte, Isabella, Edward, and Richard (also 3 of those are family names).

4) I'm totally freaked out of spiders, but if I see one running along my floor I get very possessive of my space and I will kill the spider with a vengeance and then put something over it because I'm too scared to pick up the carcass and flush/trash it!

5) I collect quotes. I have probably about 75 pages of typewritten, single spaced quotes and about half of them are organized into categories. I'd like to publish them in a book form someday, but I have no idea who to go to or how to get permission to do something like that.

6) I love the smell of old books. Not the mildew smell of a book that has been poorly cared for, but the smell that says it's been somewhere, read often, and it has a history. I don't know how to explain it, but if you love the smell of old books, you know what I mean.

Fairs are Fun!

2008-09-14T22:19:00.001-06:00

Until you've been working at one for 11 days straight. Now I'm not saying that I have the worst job ever, not by a long shot, but I just did 14 days straight both getting ready and then working for my dad at the fair. I don't even know what all was at the fair unless it was between our booth and the food court. I. Am. Tired. I'm tired, and my whole body hurts, and I've managed to finally catch the cold that everyone else was passing around our team, but there were definitely some great things about working that much. 1) As material as it is, the paycheck isn't going to be bad. I know when I get it, I'll be most pleased! 2) The people who come to the fair are super... Well, some of them are very... interesting! It was so fun to people watch then swap stories with the other people I was working with! (If you are interested in hearing some of these stories, email or call me and I'll be glad to share some with you!) 3) I got a free magnetic bracelet! I was talking to the people selling them and they told me to try it and if I liked it by the end of the fair, I could keep it. If not, I could bring it back. When I was talking to them at the end, one of the ladies working there told me to just keep it! SWEET! I still haven't decided if it totally works, but I think it helped me get rid of a headache the other day, so I'll keep trying it for now. 4) There were some supremely awkward experiences which, at the time kind of sucked, but those are the ones that make for the BEST stories later! Like the 4o+ year old guy who asked for my number, or the guy who was selling the salsa maker (also old enough to be my father, by the way) who told me me this afternoon that we should run off together and get married, then backpack through Europe for the rest of our lives. Seriously, do I look like the backpacking type? Also, no. I will not run off and marry you, you're weird. What's with the old men who try to pick up on me? That's just not cool. 5) Last, but certainly not least, my friends! I had some amazing friends who came to see me and some others who didn't even know I was going to be there that I happened to meet up with! It was great to see everyone! One last thing I just want to throw out there, I know that everyone has stuff that comes up on occasion, but personally I don't think it's acceptable to be late for your shift consistently. Especially if it's 30 minutes at least and there isn't even a phone call. I think it's irritating. Overall, I think it was not a totally bad experience and I learned a lot for future use! In other news, I finally got my new bed in my room and totally set up! It's so nice and big and beautiful! I'm so happy to have it out of the garage and in use! I love it completely and thankfully I have yet to stub my toe on it or ram into it while running into my room! :)