Bekah's Blog

30 in 30

2011-02-04T19:25:00.003-07:00

I've decided to do something crazy for my birthday this year!

In the month before I turn 30, I will go on

30 dates in 30 days

and blog about the whole thing.

If you feel like spending the month of March with me and my 25 dates you can find us here:

http://www.beks30in30.blogspot.com/

Sabbatical

2011-01-14T19:28:00.003-07:00

Sab-bat-i-cal:
[suh-bat-i-kuhl]
-adjective
Bringing a period of rest.

Hi.

You missed me.

I'm going to change this over the next few weeks.

Family . . . Isn't it about . . . time?

2010-06-23T15:18:00.003-06:00

35 years ago my parents decided to get hitched and start a family. We had a big, fancy ta-do to celebrate their anniversary. It was really special. I'd post pictures of that night but Mary hasn't given them to me yet. Instead I'll share a couple of funny stories from the last week.

Although it's crude, lewd and just uncalled for, I say the term "mother effer" a lot. I guess I figure it's better than saying the real term, but my mom feels otherwise. I said it in front of her the other day and she made a face and let out this disappointed sigh. I didn't know what the sigh was for because saying "mother effer" is just second nature to me now and sometimes I don't even realize when I have said it. Well I said it again about 2 minutes later and she let out another sigh. I asked her what was wrong and she told me she thought that term was just so offensive. I apologized and asked if it would be better for me to say "mother f" instead. She let out another sigh and said "no, it's the m-word that offends me". I laughed all night about that. Wait . . . I'm still laughing about that. :) I guess I'm only allowed to say "m effer" around my mom. HA!

On Monday night I drove up to my parents house to leave my Jeep there for Jarred. When I pulled up, my dad was outside and I told him I would need a ride back home. He said that we have a problem because my little brother, Mark, had his car up at his softball game. Then a huge grin came over my dads face. "We could go up there and take it" he said. This idea got him really excited because he ran into the house to get the keys right then. He told my mom about the plan to leave Mark stranded at the softball game and he was giggling the entire time. So I drove him up to get his car and when we got there he snuck out of my jeep and kind of looked around from side to side to make sure no one was watching him, still giggling. He got such a kick out of that. Oh Pops - what a silly dad you are.

My parents are so great. Thanks for sticking with us, Pops and Momma Rogers! :)

Closet Case

2010-06-06T23:20:00.003-06:00

Brittney has been asking me to post pictures of my closet for a couple of months now. So, here you go. :) I don't have anything clever to say. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Bekah and the Gym - A Love/Hate Relationship

2010-04-13T13:41:00.003-06:00

January 18, 2010
Dear Gym Diary:
I'm finally going to the new gym I joined over a month ago. So far so good. With just a little effort I have lost the fluff weight I put on during the holidays. Now on to the already settled in, harder than crap to get off stuff. I am hopeful I'll look like Jessica Alba in no time.

February 10, 2010
Dear Gym Diary:
I'm still going to the gym on a regular basis and I've been trying to eat better. Wilbur says the trick to losing weight is 80% diet 20% exercise. But I'm not going to slack off in the exercise department just in case he's wrong.

February 22, 2010
Dear Gym Diary:
I worked out really hard today and was feeling great until I bumped into my ex at the gym . . . wait, let me rephrase, until I bumped into my ex at MY gym. He's not supposed to be there, he's supposed to go to a gym close to his house - 2 1/2 hours away! I'm sure he is still a very nice guy, he always was, but when I saw him all I could think about is my stuff that he never returned to me. I asked him for it a couple of times, but still nothing. I feel like it would be awkward to ask for it again after so much time has passed. Maybe I'll avoid the gym for a couple of days.

February 26, 1010
Dear Gym Diary:
I was getting ready for a combined birthday costume party for Nicole and Jon. I had most of my costume on but paused to make the salsa I was requested to bring. While trying to pop the pit out of an avocado the knife slipped and went straight through my finger. I had to go to the instacare in my Elastigirl costume to get a couple of stitches. I had to change my costume from Elastigirl to Violet because I could no longer do my hair in a cute little Elastigirl bob. Apparently bobs take 2 working hands. So I put on a terrible wig. I looked ridiculous and felt even worse. I still went to the party though. When I got there all of my super hot friends were dressed in super hot and sexy costumes. This is how immature and naive I am. It did not even occur to me that I should wear a costume that is sexy or super hot. No no, I went with a cartoon. I got the comment of "I can't take you seriously when you look like that" a couple of times, which cemented my feelings of bad costume decision. Blah! I should probably go back to the gym so I can wear something super hot and sexy to the next costume party

March 1, 2010

Dear Gym Diary:

I decided that since my finger is badly injured I can no longer go to the gym. I may have been actively looking for an excuse though. Who knows.

March 8, 2010
Dear Gym Diary:
I haven't been to the gym in 2 weeks. Now with only 10 days before the cruise I have given up on looking like Jessica Alba and have decided that I should just wear tankini's the entire time. Tankini's are hot, right? . . . Ugh! Oh who am I kidding.

March 29, 2010
Dear Gym Diary:
It has now been over a month since I last went to the gym. I went on my cruise and wore tankini's most of the time. The time spent in bikinis also consisted of me trying to pinch back my back-fat so it could not be seen in pictures. That proved unsuccessful. Awesome cruise though.

March 31, 2010
Dear Gym Diary:
Still haven't gone to the gym. I turned 29 today. I now know what's worse than being 28 and chubby. . . being 29 and chubby.

April 6, 2010
Dear Gym Diary:
Mary keeps asking me to go to the gym with her. I politely declined and went back to my samoas. Is it possible to die from eating too many girl scout cookies?

April 8, 2010
Dear Gym Diary:
After having a nice chat with my brother, Zo, he has convinced me that being 12 pounds over my ideal weight is not so bad and there is hope for me yet. Let's pray this motivates me to go back to the gym.

April 12, 2010
Dear Gym Diary:
When Mary asked me if I wanted to go to the gym with her tonight, I miraculously said yes. I chose to do the spinning bicycle - ouch. Maybe I can look like Jessica Alba by summertime.

Gone Fishin'

2010-03-15T10:59:00.002-06:00

Hi - I just wanted to give you a heads up: I won't be posting anything until April, because I will be on VACATION!!!!!

That's right - starting in about 59 hours I will be on my way out of the country for 10 days. See ya - Suckers! :)

Oh and please don't try to rob me while I'm gone - my sister and her rather large boyfriend will still be in town and they will not appreciate the intrusion one bit.

KaBOOM!

2010-02-16T17:28:00.002-07:00

Today I celebrated my 100th win on Minesweeper.

Yes, it took me awhile.

At first I was only concerned with how fast I could clear the mines. Every game would start out with a free-for-all of clicking, willy-nilly style. But now I actually concentrate on winning each game that I play no matter how long it takes. I decided this would be a good idea after I came to sad realization that I will never be able to beat Scott Steele's score.

Farewell to my 118 seconds score, I don't know when I will be seeing you again.

A Childhood Dream Come True

2010-02-08T16:13:00.003-07:00

Not my own, but Arin's. :)

I will be attending my first ever Harlem Globetrotters event. I really don't know much about the Harlem Globetrotters. I kind of had a whoop di do attitude about them. For some reason I thought they played a real game of basketball but maybe did a few tricks here and there. It wasn't until recently that someone informed me

***WARNING - SPOILER ALERT***

that the other team is indeed fake and that no actual game was to be played. I'm excited to help Arin fulfill her lifetime childhood dream of seeing these folks in the flesh, but at the same time, all I gotta say is - they better be effing amazing.

Sorry for using the word effing, Mom.

Also - Arin - still really excited to see them. :)

C.A.

2010-01-21T14:03:00.003-07:00

Hi.

My name is Bekah and I'm a cruiseaholic.

It has been 483 days since my last cruise.

Every day I've spent on the mainland has been hard.

The only thing that gets me through each day

is knowing that I will get to see this ship again in

58 Days!!!!

Puerto Rico here I come!

Wii Would Like To Play

2009-12-15T09:54:00.003-07:00

Santa came early to my house this year.

I'm really not much of a gamer. In fact, every time I've tried to play Halo or Gears of War I end up getting dizzy and all confused. But I have wanted to get a Wii for a long time. I love the sports games on it and my friend, Calvin, convinced me that this would be really fun for me, a non-gamer, to have. Now I just need to get some games and accessories.

I would love to get this for Christmas

Do you think it's selfish to ask Santa to come back?

Addiction of the Senses

2009-11-18T14:45:00.005-07:00

Taste:

Dove Peppermint Bark

A week ago I bought a bag thinking

"mmmm, that looks tasty"

I was definitely right.

The bag is now gone.

Hearing:

Earbuds

I freaking love these things!

The noise cancellation feature is top notch.

I can't even hear myself singing along.

I accidentally left them in my sisters car last Tuesday and since I knew

I wouldn't be able to survive an entire week without my iPod

I bought a cheap pair of earphones.

Not only are they incredibly uncomfortable but they don't have

the noise cancellation feature. Which is a total bummer because,

as it turns out, I do not sound like any of the following people:

Beyonce

Robert Plant

Taylor Swift

Sarah Brightman

Brian Johnson

I am extremely happy to have my earbuds back.

Sight:

The Vampire Diaries

I don't care how juvenile or girly this show is.

I love it!

I might even read the books.

Hopefully they will also be a treat for my eyes. :)

Touch:

Bath Salts

One of my favorite things to do is take a bath.

Especially when it's cold outside and I just want to get warm.

I often put Bath Salts in with the water.

They just complete the whole relaxing package.

The other day my friend, Josh, brought his roommates over for a visit.

One of the roomies found my huge jar of Bath Salts and asked

"What the heck is this for, do you rub it on your back?"

I wanted to respond "Yes, roomie, it makes your skin taste yummy."

Sometimes boys can be really silly.

Smell:

Gain

Really, truly, a delightful smell.

Lately, I've been using Gain to make other things in my home smell good.

I know it's weird, but I just don't care.

Talent Show

2009-11-11T09:01:00.004-07:00

The other day my niece, Jaycee, called and asked me for some advice. It's her "Star" week in class and she needed to come up with a talent that she could share with the whole class. All of the other kids decided to sing or dance for their star weeks, but I just couldn't picture Jaycee doing either of those things. Don't get me wrong, the girl can sing and she most certainly can dance, but we wanted to come up with something a little more original than that.

One of the things that Jaycee and I love to do together is cook. I told her we could make cookies or brownies to share with the class and that can be her talent. After all, cooking is most certainly a talent. Just then my sister and Jaycee's mom, Amy, interrupted - they won't let you bring homemade treats for the kids. Apparently schools are afraid of allergies, drugs or poison. Pffff! Remember the good old days when your mom could bring a huge Texas Sheetcake for your school birthday party and no-one was afraid to eat it? Man, I loved those days!

We got back to thinking about a new talent Jaycee could share when sheer brilliance struck my brain like a lightning bolt right out of the sky. Play Dough! You still have to cook it and, as previously mentioned, cooking is a talent. But the kids don't ingest it, therefore, making it a fun, safe, homemade option that the whole class can enjoy. Seriously, brilliant!

Last night I went over to Jaycee's house to show her how to make Play Dough. I made her do all the measuring and I did the stirring. I thought I had the easy job until after heating it for about a minute it became extremely hard to stir. I really don't know how my Mom did it all those times. I think I went through 4 different spoons before I grabbed the heavy duty spatula. It was the only thing strong enough to turn the dough. Seriously Mom, how did you do it?

After letting the dough cool down, we split it into a bunch of balls, so we could make each one a different color. Jaycee had a great time picking out the colors and adding the right amount of dye to each ball. She also had a great time watching me spend almost 2 hours kneading the color into each ball. The 14 different colors she picked out turned out great though.

If you have the desire to make play dough, you can find the recipe here.

Quitter

2009-11-05T10:54:00.003-07:00

For weeks now I've been super excited for Ree Drummond to come to Salt Lake for her book signing.

Last Wednesday I bought this in anticipation:

But what did I do after waiting in line for almost 3 hours with no end in sight?

That's right, I gave up.

I so badly wanted to post about how awesome it was to meet The Pioneer Woman and I was going to take a picture of her autograph in my cookbook.

But no, I'm a big, fat loser!

So there you go.

Forrest Gump, You Can Suck It!

2009-10-19T11:27:00.003-06:00

A representative from Sees Candies stopped by the office the other day. She gave me a 1 pound box of chocolates for free in hopes that it would persuade me to buy chocolates for all of our clients for the holidays.

Getting free chocolates, yeah, that's pretty cool. However, here is the problem with Sees Chocolates - they don't come with a little chocolate guide. I really like knowing what kind of chocolate I am committing to before I take the initial bite. It's one of the worst feelings in the world when you bite into a chocolate that looks like it could be filled with caramel but instead it has that pink crap in it. When that happens, I usually spit out the entire thing only to regret it later because I could have eaten the chocolate around the pink crap. It's very troubling.

I have decided that from now on I only want the kind of chocolates that come with a guide. No more of this ". . . You never know what your gonna get" nonsense! That might have been true back in the 50's or whenever Forrest's mom said that, but now, in this day of extreme convenience, we have the technology to determine what the hell kind of candy we are getting ourselves into.

Titles

2009-10-07T09:59:00.004-06:00

I have many titles. Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Office Manager, Assistant, Trip Planner Extraordinaire . . . to name a few. As of last Thursday you can add one more to that list:

Home Owner

That's right! Last week I bought my very first home. It's a cute little condo in Bountiful and I love it! :) I have big plans for this place. Hopefully I'll be able to actually act on those plans in about a year, after I'm no longer "down payment poor". :)

Here are some pictures:

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Loft

Kitchen

Living Room

Bathroom 2

Bedroom 2

LOTR

2009-09-14T09:42:00.003-06:00

My friends and I just finished watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy last night. I really, really like those movies. They're just so freaking entertaining! I'm not obsessed with LOTR, although I do feel like it brings out my geekiness a little to refer to it as LOTR, but that's just fun. No, I'm not obsessed. I don't own any LOTR related items other than the dvd's, I don't speak the Elf language, and I don't attend any LOTR gatherings. But I do have some lingering thoughts about LOTR. I've never read the books, so I don't know everything there is to know about LOTR. I have a few questions. Can all of you LOTR fans help me out?

1. What happens to Gimli and Legolas after the LOTR trilogy? Do they get an apartment together and make it into the coolest bachelor pad Middle Earth has ever seen?

2. Do the Hobbit ladies shave the hair off their feet? If not, are they still required to shave their legs?

3. What happens to Eomer? I didn't see any potential hook-ups for him at the King Aragorn ceremony. If I had been in Minas Tirith that day I'm pretty sure I would have asked him to be my boyfriend. Hot!

Okay - that's it for now.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Just Another Uncomfortable Situation

2009-09-09T12:58:00.002-06:00

I think I've told you already about my super nice work neighbor, John. He's got to be in his 80's or maybe even 90 years old. He comes into the office a couple of times a week for a few hours here and there. The rest of his time is spent playing tennis, he loves tennis. Since he's not at the office constantly, he often misses his mail, so I collect it for him. Then when he returns to the office he'll get his mail from me, shake my hand and say thanks so much. There have been several times when I see him in the hall, so we say hello. Remember, he's a super nice old man and I don't think he has a creepy bone in his body so when he wants to give me a hug, I let him. No big deal. However, lately when I see him in the hall he'll give me the usual hug, but he'll linger a little longer holding me really close, then he goes in for a kiss . . . on the MOUTH!!! I know, I know, I know - he's my super nice and really old work neighbor - he's harmless, really, but I just don't want to kiss that old man on the mouth. I'm just not an on the mouth kisser. I never have been. I don't kiss my parents on the mouth. I don't kiss my nieces and nephews on the mouth. No. Truth be told, I like to reserve on the mouth kisses for the guys that I date, no one else. So now every time I give John a hug he tries to kiss me and I have to stretch really far so that his kisses land on my chin or cheek.

Hornets

2009-08-25T14:49:00.006-06:00

Sometimes my dad just cracks me right the heck up!

My sister, Mary, just told me this story:

Mary has 2 vehicles right now - 1 is sitting at my parents house, waiting to be sold. She went to check on it today and when she opened the door she noticed there was a really large hornets nest on the crack of the door. She didn't want to touch it so I'm guessing she ran inside and told my 72 year old Dad to take care of it. After awhile of waiting, she received this text message from him:

(ps- I think it's funnier if you read the periods as *stop* because my dad likes to text like he's sending a telegram.)

Messed up *stop*

Jar did not cover nest *stop*

30 came after me *stop*

Ran like hell *stop*

Now 40 out there looking for me *stop*

Jar, spatula, my shoes & my confidence on the ground while I wait *stop*

Pops - you're hilarious!

Updates:

2009-08-19T14:18:00.004-06:00

I was reading a few of my older posts and realized that I promised to give updates on them but I never have. Here are a few:

Remember That One Time . . . Massage.
I have since had another naked massage experience and I have come to the conclusion that it's just not for me. This experience wasn't anything like the first one, however, still very uncomfortable. The man was older and very nice. He had a soothing voice and he didn't say anything inappropriate, in fact, he didn't talk much at all, which is actually what I wanted. But it still wasn't that great. I just don't think I could ever relax knowing a complete stranger is not only looking at me while I'm naked, but also touching me while I'm naked. It does not make for a very relaxing situation.

The Saddest Day of My Life.
This is a pretty long story, you're welcome to read all 5 parts if you want or not, I don't care. I just wanted to tell you that I'm still having tire problems. It's a curse I tell you, a curse! Two weeks ago I put 5 new tires on my Jeep. The spare tire on the back was apparently too heavy for the tire swing and it broke, leaving the tire just dangling there. Lucky for me I made it all the way home before it decided to fall off completely. I'll let you know if my luck with tires ever changes.

Why, Hot Dog Man? Why?
The Hot Dog man has had some extremely bad luck lately. Since this post his cart has completely stopped working. He can't even sell stupid turkey dogs. Also - his truck broke down and since he can't sell hot dogs, he doesn't have any money, so he can't fix his truck. He still comes out almost every day though. Sometimes he'll bring a cooler full of drinks and just sit there on the corner. Every once in a while I'll buy a pop and give him a pretty good tip. I feel terrible! If you're walking past the corner of 200 South and Main during lunch time, please stop and buy a pop from the guy. Okay?

Coffee Talk
Since this post I have had about 12 opportunities to make the coffee using tap water. He has yet to tell the difference. I think it's time I take this to the next level. Could you please give me some ideas on what I can put in the coffee, just to see if he can taste it? Nothing too gross, k. :)

Dear Mormon Bachelor Pad:
After receiving a request for a time and place meeting, I decided What The Heck! and I actually posted the time and place of my singles ward and what I would be wearing. However, I did not meet the elusive Bachelors. I may have posted this too late, or they may have come to my singles ward and decided I was not cool enough for friendship (which is completely absurd, I realize.) Who knows? I'm still going to read their blog though, because well, it's really funny.

A bunch of my friends are convinced that the Bachelors are actually one guy - John Maxim. I'm not convinced though. I'll let you know if I ever meet the real Bachelors - it's entirely possible that I already have. We were at the same church activity Monday night.

Wedding Cake

2009-08-17T13:02:00.003-06:00

Question:

What the heck makes wedding cake taste so much better than regular cake? And why, for that matter, can't they mix up the same ingredients and just call it regular cake? I don't get it.

Scenario:

My boss brought in a huge slab of wedding cake from his daughters wedding last Monday. It has been sitting in the fridge for exactly 7 days with a piece of plastic wrap gently draped over it. Not a very secure covering - that's what I'm getting at. I noticed one of my bosses eating a piece for lunch today and he said that it was delicious. I didn't entirely believe him because of the previous mentioned state that it had been kept in. But I decided to try it anyway. He was not lying - it was ultra delicious! I don't get it.

Dear Mormon Bachelor Pad:

2009-08-13T11:27:00.003-06:00

Can we be friends?

My attractiveness level is in the 6.7-8.2 range. My coolness level is a solid 9.5. I give spectacular back scratches during sacrament meeting, but I do require one in return. I can appreciate a little scruff in the facial hair department. I laugh at most funny things, and I have loads of attractive girl friends.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Bekah

http://mormonbachelorpad.blogspot.com/

No Soliciting

2009-08-05T15:01:00.002-06:00

I work in an office that receives a ton of solicitors. I never know how to handle solicitors. Should I be rude? Should I cut them off? Should I ask them to leave now and never come back? Or should I listen to they're whole schpeal and kindly refuse them after they are done?

Unless I'm in a horribly foul mood, I usually listen to the whole schpeal.

Sometimes it's entertaining and other times I want to gouge out my own eyeballs and stick them in my ears so I don't have to see or listen to another damn solicitor. But that's usually only on the extremely horrible days, like a few weeks ago when the Mary Kay ladies came into my office. I'm surprised their Mary Kay make-up didn't melt right off their faces from the stink eye I was giving them.

Today, however, the most entertaining solicitor came in. I wasn't at all interested in what she had to sell, instead, it was just her appearance and the way she spoke just fascinated me. I let her talk for a good ten minutes before I remembered that I didn't actually want to buy anything from her. She looked like a real-live muppet. Her eyes stuck out about an inch from the sockets, her hair was perfectly coiffed and her body had this kind of natural lerpyness to it. But the best part was the way she spoke. She didn't move her mouth at all. Her lips and jaw didn't even move a millimeter. But, like a very talented ventriloquist, I could understand every word she said without even a hint of a slur. It was fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.

What makes you happy?

2009-07-23T11:24:00.006-06:00

For me, of course it's the usual - family, friends, church.

But what about the completely selfish things -

the things that you never hear people bearing their testimonies about?

I'll show you some of mine, if you'll tell me one of yours. :)

TODAY:

The Google homepage brought me instant joy today.

I truly am a geek to the core, but it's okay because I believe you are too.

THIS WEEK:

I just purchased a Sony Bravia 52 inch HDTV and I absolutely love it!! About a month ago I bought a smaller Vizio. It was a nice tv but I was never fully satisfied with it. I just had this feeling of regret every time I watched it. So - on Monday of this week, I packaged up the Vizio, returned it to the store and bought this one instead. Sure it was more expensive, but I feel so much better about this purchase. I got the tv I actually wanted instead of wasting my money on a smaller more practical tv.

THIS MONTH:

My friends, Craig and Nicole, recently introduced me to this show. Others have tried to get me to watch it, but for some reason I just wasn't interested until now. And guess what - I love it!! Here are a few of my favorite dances from this season, do yourself a favor and watch them. Pronto!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ll9xhRZ5W4&feature=PlayList&p=2856A894AF4738A1&index=0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lLWJboraJw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTmy8HydaQA&feature=PlayList&p=E1621316BCAC9DD2&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=8

THIS YEAR:

This new shopping cart has made grocery shopping so much easier for me. And, as it turns out, easier things make me happy. :) I love the slim design, the easy top basket access and the turning radius. Sometimes I'll do a 360 in the middle of an aisle, not because I have to but simply because I can. I realize this cart is not for everyone. It's not practical if you have kids, or need to feed 50 people, but for me - it's perfect! :)

A Weird Little Fact

2009-06-23T15:23:00.003-06:00

Transition glasses kind of creep me out.

Glasses - great!

Sunglasses - even better!

But for some reason I get a gross creepy feeling when I see someone wearing transition glasses. It makes me think of a pedophile who drives a white van with no windows offering candy and ice cream to the little children walking home from school. I don't know any pedophiles who drive white vans with no windows. In fact, I don't think I know any pedophiles at all. But, like I said, for some reason, that's what comes to mind when I see transition glasses. Especially when it's really bright inside so the glasses are half way between regular clear glasses and sunglasses. I have no logical explanation for this.

It just gives me the creep out.

Coffee Talk

2009-06-15T09:12:00.003-06:00

**Real time update**

I make the coffee in my office. I have no idea if it tastes right because I don't drink the stuff, but my boss still likes me to make it. He claims I make it better than he does. (I really don't see how that's even possible.)

About a year and a half ago my boss, David, told me that he wants me to use the cold water that comes out of the fridge instead of tap water to make the coffee. He said he can tell the difference. (He said this on a day when he actually saw me use tap water.) I don't think he can though. You see the only difference between the tap water and the water the comes out of the fridge is the temperature.

The truth is I used tap water everyday up until that point and he never said anything before.

So now, every once in a while, when I'm feeling adventurous, I like to use tap water to make the coffee, just to see if he can actually tell.

Today is one of those days. :)

David called me while he was in his car on his way to work and asked me to make the coffee, so I ran back to the kitchen and made the coffee as quickly as possible. I even wiped off the counters just in case any tap water might have dripped some where in transit from the tap to the coffee maker.

Experiment time! Ha ha ha!

Midnight Movies

2009-06-10T11:25:00.004-06:00

As I've stated numerous times before, one of my favorite pastimes is watching movies. I love a good matinee. I love watching movies at home. I love going to the drive-in. And I absolutely LOVE going to see a movie in the theatre the night or weekend that it comes out. I love it so much that I decided to start a little group facebook.

There is nothing better than going to the first showing of a highly anticipated movie with 30 or so of your super fun friends. The energy and excitement of the movie are intensified when you go with a room full of people who are just as excited to see it as you are. You can cheer and clap all you want because your peers are also doing it. Midnight movies are just super ultra fun!

These are the movies we have seen so far:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Star Trek

Angels and Demons

Terminator Salvation

The Hangover

next up we will see:

Transformers 2

Public Enemies

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

G.I. JoeAnd possibly others too.

SO FUN!!!

Contest . . . or . . . Not So Much

2009-06-03T13:01:00.002-06:00

Remember that one time I held a Recipe Contest on my Food Blog and nobody entered, not even my brother who I begged to enter just so I could get his amazing Strata recipe?

Hmmmm, yeah.

Lunch Bunch

2009-05-28T09:55:00.003-06:00

Since changing jobs two summers ago, I found a new favorite summertime activity. The Lunch Bunch series at the Gallivan Center.

Everyday the Gallivan Center hosts a different musical group. These mini concerts are always free and they rarely disappoint. One day there will be a folk song duet, and the next day there will be a bunch of little teeny-boppers singing and dancing all over the stage.

If the weather is nice, you can usually find me out there 2-3 times a week. I just love that little one hour break from my monotonous day. It helps cure my desire to quit my job simply because I'd rather be outside during the summer.

Next week I'm going to drag my Tuesday Lunch Group buddies over there. I hope they like it. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Summertime Favorites

2009-05-18T13:01:00.002-06:00

Where the heck have I been? Enjoying all of my favorite summertime activities, that's where.

I'll do a post on each one individually, but here is a list of just a few activities so you have something to look forward to. Ha ha ha.

1. Lunch Bunch
2. Midnight Movies
3. Ultimate Frisbee
4. Camping
5. Softball
6. BBQ's / FataQ's
7. Wheelin' / Motorcycle Rides
8. Lagoon
9. Wakeboarding
10. Road Trips

You're excited already, aren't you? :)

Jazzed

2009-05-04T09:14:00.001-06:00

Last Monday I got a text from my buddy, John, asking if I wanted to watch the Jazz game with him and a bunch of our other friends at the Energy Solutions Arena. Sounds fun, right? I showed up to his house and we all walked over to the arena, where I expected to sit in the green chairs and watch the game on the huge screen with hundreds of other fans. Instead, this is what happened . . .

The Sound of Music . . .

2009-04-22T08:53:00.003-06:00

. . . that's all I want!

For about a year now I have had a broken stereo in my Jeep and it completely sucks! I absolutely love singing in the car. It feels natural to me to sing as loud as I can, but when it's just me in the car, listening to my iPod and other people can't hear the music - I look like a total freak and then I get embarrassed. Also - having music in your car while driving with other people are with you is some what essential. It can fill the awkward silence in a lull of conversation. Lucky for me, however, my friends are awesome and they'll just start singing even without music. So I only have to worry about that with new people.

Now, you might be asking - why is your stereo broken?

Don't worry, I will tell you. ( . . . even if it makes this post too long for Adam to read.)

During the Summer I like to take the top off of my Jeep, Hank, and during those 3.5 months I usually only put it back on in cases of extreme rainstorms. If it rains a little, no big deal, Hank has been through worse just by driving through some puddles.

However, last Summer we got one of those freak rainstorms comparable to a monsoon. I was fast asleep in my bed when the rain started. I remember waking up and thinking - maybe I should go put the top up - but sleep caught me again. Then around 3:00 am Mary came running into my room saying there was something wrong with Hank. I immediately jumped out of bed and ran outside. It was still pouring and I was getting completely drenched but I had to find out what was wrong. The stereo was going bazerk! The car was turned off but the lights on the stereo were flashing as if the car was turned on. It freaked me out a little so I tried pushing some buttons but nothing happened. Finally, I just took the face off the stereo. I figured the problem was fixed, so I just went back inside and back to sleep.

I gave it a couple of days to dry out then I tried it, but no, it didn't work. It's been broken ever since.

I don't know why it has taken me so long to get around to fixing it, but that's what I tried to do last night. I took out the old stereo and installed a new one only to find out that one of the wires was completely dead. So now, not even the new stereo works. Now, I'll have to rip out the entire dash to find out where that wire is bad so I can try to fix it. Ugh!

If any of you are experts in the art of car stereos - I could use your assistance please.

The Beetle

2009-04-17T10:19:00.002-06:00

Real Time Update!

There is a ginormous beetle in my office right now. I tried to catch it in a cup but every time I get close to it, it runs away and then I get scared and jump up on my chair. Then my bosses laugh at me. This has happened five times already, and no, not one of them has offered to get the beetle for me, they are having too much fun laughing at me for that. I really, really hate bugs - they freak me all the way out. You know the scene in Temple of Doom where Kate Capshaw has to walk through all of the bugs and they get in her hair and crawl all over her? Yeah - I hate that part.

Wish me luck.

Dude Lunch?

2009-04-08T13:52:00.003-06:00

My bosses and I ordered lunch in today.

I'm so happy Jimmy Johns delivers - I feel like it really adds to my favored lazy-lifestyle.

So - John, Jim and I were sitting in the kitchen enjoying our lunch together when Jim asked me "What did you order? That looks good!"

I responded "I got the Totally Tuna on Whole Wheat and it IS good! I added bacon to the sandwich. Bacon makes everything better."

I got a chuckle from Jim. John, however, had this to say - "Now that's a DUDE sandwich!" and he gave me an approving smirk.

I have to admit - I really didn't think that anything involving tuna was considered a Dude Sandwich - but I was proud of myself none-the-less. I can't always finish my Dude Sandwiches, but I'm sure glad I know how to order one. :)

. . .

Now can I tell you about a pet-peeve?

I really hate it when you offer to order lunch from Jimmy Johns and someone, orders a Turkey Tom. Then when it arrives, he says to you, with a smug look on his face "This better be good." Then when he unwraps the Turkey Tom sandwich he complains that "There sure isn't a lot of meat on here! You know I like my sandwiches with a lot of meat!"

First of all - No, I wasn't aware that you like your sandwiches with a lot of meat. I assumed that when I handed you the menu and you circled the sandwich and crossed out sprouts - that's what you wanted.

Secondly - Why is it always the orderer's fault if the meal is unsatisfactory to the consumer? I didn't make the sandwich. I just ordered a Turkey Tom without sprouts.

and Third - Shut up!

That is all.

ps - Jimmy Johns - I heart you! You add the perfect amount of meat for my sandwich. Thanks! :)

Birthday Season

2009-03-31T09:32:00.006-06:00

Birthday Season begins with Staci in February and ends with Justin in April. Now, I could have blogged about each individual birthday, but since we've got one every other week during Birthday Season, I decided to lump everyone together and do one giant post.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEASON EVERYBODY!! :)

February 9th - Staci

I already did a post on Staci, but I just wanted to say again how much I love her. Staci is so kind and thoughtful and just an all around super cool chick!

February 20th - Jarred, aka best-brother-in-law-in-the-whole-gosh-darn-world!

Jarred is one of my very best friends. If I need someone to talk to, he's always there. He listens to all of my silly stories without complaint and gives me heartfelt advice when I need it. Jarred can do anything. He is the go-to guy in our family. If you need something fixed on your car, house, yard . . . etc., not only can he do it, but he does it willingly. Jarred has a great sense of humor, he is constantly laughing and making others laugh as evidenced in this picture. (No, he doesn't always look like this - ha ha ha) I think my favorite thing about Jarred, though, is that he loves my sister unconditionally. He works extremely hard to provide for his family, trying to make it through these difficult times and he will never give up. He is truly the strongest man I know.

February 27th - Jaycee

My sweetheart of a niece turned 7 this year. Jaycee and I always have a great time together. Some of our favorite things to do include: shopping, watching movies, cooking, make-overs, and cleaning, I know that sounds silly - but we love it! One of the cutest things about Jaycee is that she is so sensitive. Funny story - when she was about 3 or so, Jaycee was hanging out with Mary and I for the day. We were going to go shopping and Mary told her that we would have to fix her hair before we went because it was looking kinda ugly. Jaycee just sat there quietly while Mary brushed her hair. About five minutes went past before I realized that tears were softly rolling down her cheeks. I asked her what was wrong and she said something like "Mary thinks I am ugly." (ha ha ha - sorry, I can't think about this story without laughing) Mary apologized immediately and explained that she thought Jaycee was absolutely beautiful and that she just wanted to have her hair reflect that. But Jaycee didn't let it go - for months and months, every time Amy, her mother, did Jaycee's hair she would cry and say, "why bother - Mary thinks I'm ugly anyway." ha ha ha - so sad, and yet so hilarious.

ps - she's better now. :)

March 13th - Zo

Zo is my adopted brother. I first met Zo in high school - I knew him as the "fat kid" who would come over and eat all of our food - sorry, but you know it's true. Then he moved in with us and we quickly became as close as siblings can get. Zo is one of my very best friends! We do everything together and we always have a great time. One of my favorite things about us is that we are perfect traveling partners. Whether it's a quick road trip to The Vegas, a food tour of LA, or the most spectacular Caribbean cruise, Zo and I know how to have fun. This year for Zoseph's birthday we planned a huge surprise party. It was perfect! We totally tricked him! :)

March 19th - Colton

Ah, my cute little Colt! My nephew Colt is such a cute kid, he turned 8 this year and he will be getting baptized in a few weeks. I just love him so much. He gives me the best hugs! You know, the really tight, going to suffocate you kind? Ya - that's Colt. :) I love watching Colt play baseball, he's just so darn good. I'm not even exaggerating - the kid has some serious talent. I'm hoping that he will always love baseball and that one day he'll play for the Red Sox. Wouldn't that be freaking awesome!! :)

March 28th - Amelia

My beautiful sister Amy - I'm trying to think of what to write about her that won't make me bawl! She is so wonderful! Without going into too much detail, I'll give you a short summary. A few years ago she was diagnosed with a brain tumor that has since turned cancerous. But she isn't letting this get her down. Even when chemo has kicked the crap out of her, she is still completely gorgeous! She is still filled with life and shows so much love to everyone around her. She especially loves her kids and husband, she would do anything for them. Sometimes I think she loves her kids too much, but who knows if that's even possible. :)

March 31st - ME!

It's my 28th birthday today! :) So far it's been 100% awesome! We went to The Chuck for dinner last night and so many people came, I had such a great time. I got the best present from my family - they all went in on a Kitchen Aid mixer for me! :) I've been wanting one for years but they're so expensive that I couldn't bring myself to buy one. Now I have one! Thanks guys!!! Next up - my friends and I are going to Tony Caputo's for lunch. I freaking love birthdays!!

April 7th - David

My brother Dave is so fun, he can sometimes be a pain in the butt, but usually he's just a fun guy to be around. :) Dave is one of the best cooks! Everything he makes is so delicious! He is very particular in his cooking that sometimes it takes hours to get a simple meal on the table - one time we went out to Jarred and Amy's for dinner and games. Dave brought all the stuff to make spaghetti, simple right? No, no, no, no, NO! Not when it comes to cooking with David. The sauce had to reduce like 20 times and he had to crush all of the seasonings by hand. He started around 7:00 and I think we finally ate around midnight. But it was tasty none-the-less. Ha ha ha - I will never let him live that one down. :)

April 14th - Justin

Oh, Justin! :) Even just thinking about him makes me smile. Justin is one of the happiest people I know - nothing ever gets him down. He is constantly dancing and laughing and trying to make everyone around him smile. I can talk to Just for hours about everything and nothing. I'm so glad he's one of my best friends. :) One thing that I love about Justin is that he likes everybody! If Justin doesn't like you, you must be a horrible person. Another great thing about Just is that he has got fantastic style! It's so fun to go shopping with Justin because he tells me honestly what looks good and what doesn't. Plus - he never complains when I make him carry stuff. Bonus! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUYS!!!

I love you all so very much!

Why, Hot Dog Man? Why?

2009-03-23T10:03:00.004-06:00

One of my favorite summer time meals has always been the Hot Dog. I love it for a couple of reasons:

1) it's simplicity - it's such a simple little item, and yet, extremely satisfying;

2) it's diversity - there are numerous ways you can eat a hot dog. Of course you've got the usual in the bun with your choice of topping, but when I was little I used to cut up the hot dogs and put them in Mac & Cheese or my Top Ramen soup. That may sound a little disgusting now, but when you're 6 years old it is quite tasty.

Almost 2 years ago, I was quite fortunate to be relocated to a building that is right across the street from the Hot Dog Man. He brings his little cart out every day, whether rain, snow or shine, only avoiding the days when absolutely no-one wants to go outside. He is a constant in my life that I have grown accustomed to. My favorite thing to order is the chili-cheese dog, and at $2.00, including tip, it just can't be beat. During the spring/summer/fall months, I'll visit him at least once a week. During the cold, winter months I usually cut back to once every other week due to the fact that I'm a naturally lazy person and would rather not go outside if it causes any sort of discomfort.

The last month or so, however, my routine has been greatly affected. This is about the time when I start the once-a-week hot dog purchase.

It was a nice, sunny day and I actually made it half-way across the street when I realized he wasn't there. I thought that was weird, but instead of dwelling on this strange occurrence, I just found lunch elsewhere. A few days later, I was feeling the unfulfilled hot dog craving again so I peeked out my window. Alas, no Hot Dog Man was to be found. This was strange, indeed. I thought, maybe he's on vacation. Hot Dog Men take vacations too, ya know. So I didn't give it another thought that week.

The next week I peeked out my window and he was there! I ran down stairs (and when I say ran, I actually mean took the elevator) and stood in line. When it was finally my turn, I ordered a chili-cheese dog with a smile on my face. "Only turkey dogs today" was his response.

What?!

Turkey dogs?!

Who the heck wants to eat a turkey dog?!

My smile melted as I said never mind and I slowly walked across the street with my head hung low. What the crap was going on here? The Hot Dog Man has never let me down like this before. I was completely distraught, but I got over it quickly. Maybe I was just too late - I'll have to get down there faster next time.

A few days later I gave it another go. Again, I ordered the chili-cheese dog.

"Only turkey dogs."

I asked him if he at least had some chili or cheese to disguise the turkey flavor? "No."

Another disappointing day. But I wasn't going to give up. The next week I went back. This time the Hot Dog Man, stopped me in the middle of the road, by yelling out "Only turkey dogs."

Why was this happening? Was he punishing me? Why, Hot Dog Man? Why?!!!!

Finally, last Friday, I tried again. I was determined to get to the bottom of this. I stood in line and when he got to me I started to order a chi- but he cut me off, "Only turkey dogs." I asked him why is he only selling turkey dogs now? Apparently his cart has been broken for the last 2 months or so and it won't heat up to the proper temperature to cook normal hot dogs, chili or cheese.

Hmmmm . . . that sucks!

So, I ordered a turkey dog with mustard and gave him a $10 tip. I'm hoping that will help fix his cart.

Now this is the part where I beg - Will all of you turkey dog loving people out there please buy the Man's turkey dogs? Please! I really need my regular hot dogs back.

Thank you.

ps - No. I didn't eat the turkey dog. I ended up giving it to my health-conscious boss. I've tried the turkey dog before and I just can't do it again.

My New Apartment . . . Bedroom

2009-03-20T00:03:00.006-06:00

The first room of our tour will be my bedroom. Well, actually, I should probably call it my bedroom/closet seeing as how I turned half of it into a closet. I'll show you the "closet" first then we'll just go around the room from there.

This is my fabulous closet, the first picture is of my most favorite chair in the whole world.

Little story about that chair - my 95 year old Grandmother gave it to me, it's old and beautiful and comfy as can be. I just love it! And I'm not the only one, Jarred, aka best-brother-in-law-on-earth also loves that chair. He's tried to coax it away from me on numerous occasions with no success. I'm not giving that chair up, I love it too darn much. A few months ago, one-too-many people decided to sit in it and although I'm not going to name names *cough-MaryandChet-cough* the weight was placed in exactly the worst spot and it broke. One of the little legs just gave out and the chair flopped over dead. I was outraged! I completely lost my temper and I yelled at the murderers and made them feel really bad. It was, after all, the chair that my cute 95 year old Grandmother gave to me. But then I realized, not only is Jarred the best-brother-in-law-ever! but he is also Jarred-aka-welder-extraordinaire! That's right. He took that chair home, fixed it, brought it back to me and now it's better than new. He didn't even make me pay him for his services. . . . Well, not yet anyway. I'm supposed to bequeath him that chair upon my demise. So I guess I better do that now. Sure, sure, I could put it in a legal document, but I figure if all of you know - that's just as good.

So Jarred - I bequeath you my most wonderful chair. :)

And around the room we go . . .

Closet.

More closet. You can see about 1/5 of my shoes right there.

More closet including a completely fabulous mirror I got at Ikea. Man, I love that store!

Another shot of the fabulous mirror plus the foot of my bed and the other/real closet. Honestly, who could fit all of their stuff in such a teeny tiny closet?

This is my bed. Funny story about my bed - I've been sleeping on a twin bed for such a long time that I have a hard time taking up the whole bed. I only sleep on half of it. The other half remains completely untouched and every now and then I'll catch myself sliding a leg or an arm over to the cold side of the bed . . . it's so nice! :)

And we've come full circle. This is my new lamp, from Ikea, of course, and I love it! It's so useful. In fact, I'm using it right now as I type this at 1:00 in the morning. 2 weeks ago I would have had to get out of bed to turn the light out but not now, my trusty little lamp is just right here, so handy. I think that this year for Thanksgiving, I'm going to tell everyone how thankful I am for my cute little Ikea lamp.

Wow! It's 1:00 in the A.M.! I think I'm going to have a hard time waking up for work tomorrow, I should probably stop typing. Well, actually, I probably should have stopped typing awhile ago. Probably before I professed my love for my little Ikea lamp. Yeah, you probably could have done without that. Okay I'm going to bed now. . . . probably.

The Saddest Day . . . Part Five

2009-03-11T16:41:00.000-06:00

Was it karma . . . or a curse?

After halting all traffic on the I-15 for about five minutes, I was finally able to weasel my way over to the right side shoulder. Ignoring the slice of pizza that was plastered to my windshield, I immediately jumped out of my car to examine the situation. My beautiful "new" BFG 35 inch tire was now just a sad, lifeless shell barely hanging on the rim. I wanted to cry, but now was not the time. The Highway Patrol car had just pulled up behind me. She was one of the nicest police officers I have ever had to deal with. I've had my fair share of nasty police officers so to be dealing with a nice one was a pleasantry I hadn't expected.

It didn't take long for us to get my spare tire off the mount and loosen the lug nuts on the demolished one. However, we had a major problem, I didn't have a high-lift jack. I was mentally kicking myself at that moment. I spend money on numerous useless items, why was it so hard for me to drop $60 on a stupid high-lift jack? And it didn't help the that nice officer insisted on giving me a ten minute lecture about the importance of a high-lift jack. Then the officer got a call on her radio and asked if I would be okay to figure this out all by myself. Of course I said yes, so eager to stop the lecture, and she left me there, just like she said she would but after she left I felt a little sorry for myself, like who the heck is going to help me now. Of course I could always call AAA, but I really didn't want to. I wanted to just switch out the tires and get back on the road, I had hungry people waiting for me and only 2 decent pizzas left.

Luckily, a nice young cowboy in a green pick-up stopped to offer his assistance. He loosened the already loose lug nuts and then asked me where my jack was. I told him that all I had was the dinky little thing that came with the Jeep. He then told me "you know, you really should by a high-lift jack". Which immediately made me feel like a complete jerk. I bet this 20-year old cowboy wouldn't be caught dead in a big jeep without a high-lift jack. He looked like the "always be prepared" type to me. I bet he was an eagle scout 5 times over. But he was still very nice and got out his own jack and tried to lift the car with it. Sadly though, his jack was still too small. So I said thanks for trying and he packed up his stuff and left.

I didn't know what else to do and I was bound and determined not to call AAA so I called my little brother, Mark and told him to bring his floor jack. It would probably only take him 20 minutes to get here, I thought to myself. So I went to the passenger seat where the pizza was and I ate a slice. Don't worry, it wasn't the one on the windshield, nope, I left that one there. Every five minutes or so someone would stop and ask if I was okay and I'd tell them, yes thanks, my brother is on the way. Then after 45 minutes and 3 slices of pizza, another man showed up. I told him the same thing "I'm fine, my brother is on the way . . . yada yada yada" but he was insistent on helping. I couldn't exactly say no, so I let him help.

The first thing he asked me? You guessed it . . . where is my high-lift jack? That conversation turned into another lecture. I know, I deserved it.

He tried my dinky little jack even though I told him we had just tried and it didn't work. But once again, he was insistent. About 15 minutes later, my brother showed up with his big floor jack and he worked with the guy to get the spare put on. It worked like magic. Five minutes later I was ready to get back on the road.

I pulled out on the freeway and was only going to be an hour and a half late. No big deal. I was about to turn my iPod back on when the car next to me started honking their horn and yelled at me that my brake was still on. I looked down and saw that, no, it wasn't. Then I smelled it. Burning tires are one of the grossest smells out there - I hate it! So, I immediately pulled back on to the shoulder and, Mark, who was behind me also pulled over. The spare tire that my brother had just put on had about a 1/4 inch groove etched into the inside of it. I am really surprised that it hadn't burst. Man, am I lucky or what! I didn't dare drive it though. So I finally broke down and called AAA.

Which led to this:

Seeing Hank up on that tow truck was so extremely sad.

Seriously one of the saddest days of my life.

The End.

. . . but not really

A couple of days later I took back the stupid Big Foot tire that I gave to Jarred aka The Best Brother-In-Law in the whole world. He didn't care for it too much anyway, and really can you blame him? So for now good ol' Hank is running on a potpourri of tires. Hopefully we'll get him some new ones in a few months. :)

okay - now it's the end.

Wusthof

2009-03-02T10:06:00.003-07:00

I know, I know.

I'm supposed to be posting pictures of the new place, I'm also supposed to finish the Worst Day story, but what can I say - I'm easily distracted.

This is what has been distracting me lately:

I've finally purchased some Wusthof knives! :)

I wanted to share my super good deal with all of you.

I'm sure there are better deals out there, but I thought this one was pretty great.

http://www.surlatable.com/product/collections/wusthof+gourmet/wusthof+gourmet+14-pc.+block+set.do?search=basic&keyword=wusthof&sortby=ourPicks&page=1

It's only 5 blocks!

2009-02-25T09:04:00.002-07:00

I'm still working on putting together my new apartment, but I think I'm almost done. Yay! :) I just had to tell you this, though. I took the day off yesterday, for various reasons, and in order to do that I had to call my bosses daughter to fill in for me. She was very nice to come at a moments notice and I really appreciate her helping me out. However (You know this post isn't about thanking her for helping, don't you?) when I came into work this morning I found that she had rearranged my entire desk, including adding and DELETING programs on my computer and and AND she adjusted my already perfectly adjusted chair. What the Hell Man! She was only here for one day.

This reminds me of when your brother needs to borrow your car to drive 5 blocks to the store and of course you let him. But when you get back in your car, the seat is in the wrong spot, he's moved your mirrors and he's changed the presets on your radio. What the hell man! It's only 5 blocks.

Wonderfully Sucky!

2009-02-16T16:49:00.002-07:00

You know the saying "Bitter Sweet". Well, I came up with a new one - Wonderfully Sucky.

Would you like to know what is wonderfully sucky?

MOVING

That's what I did over the weekend.

Mary and I moved into our new apartment.

Yay!

It's wonderful because we've been wanting to do this for so long

and it feels so nice to finally have a place of our own, even if it's temporary.

But it's sucky because . . . well, moving SUCKS!

I'm pretty sure it's the suckiest thing in the world.

. . . but it's also wonderful so I shouldn't complain so much.

Pictures to come . . .

Photo Tag

2009-02-09T16:32:00.006-07:00

I can't believe how perfect this turned out . . . get this:

My friend Brittney just tagged me, here are the rules:

1) Go to your picture folder, or wherever you store your photos on your computer

2) Go to the sixth folder and pick the sixth picture

3) Post it on your blog and tell the story that goes along with the picture

4) Tag four friends to do the same

This is the 6th picture in the 6th folder on my computer

which couldn't be more perfect considering it's Staci's birthday today!

Crazy huh!

Not crazy that it's her birthday . . . just that . . . oh well.

Anyway - I just love Staci! She's my favorite Sister-In-Law of all time. Since Staci lives so far away right now and we just found out that she and my brother, Josh, will be moving back for the summer, I'm hoping that she won't mind waiting until then to get her gift. (Staci, if this is problem let me know, but I'm guessing it won't be a problem - cause you're cool like that.)

For your birthday, Staci, I would like to take you to a

we can sit here

and I'd also like to buy you a

and possibly some

and of course we gotta get

and wouldn't this be fun

Okay, so what do ya say? Is it a deal? :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STACI!

The Saddest Day . . . Part Four

2009-01-27T10:35:00.007-07:00

Holy crap! I can't believe I've waited so long to finish this story. You probably don't even want to know how it ends, do you? All I can say is: Sorry I'm such a slacker. :(

Okay, to catch up you should probably read the first three installments. Unless you don't want to, but if that's the case then why would you want to read this one?

The Saddest Day of My Life . . .

The Saddest Day . . . Part Two

The Saddest Day . . . Part Three

And now . . . Part Four!

About a week had passed after dumping the hideous Big O Big Foot All Terrain Tire on Jarred (a.k.a. Best Brother-in-Law ever!) and everything was perfect. The new BFG's were great! The spare was securely fastened on the tire swing thanks to Chet, my sister's large in stature, and very useful boyfriend. Hank was looking good. There were still a few things to do, like build brackets on the tire swing for my cute, new, red Jerry Cans that I tricked my brother, Mark, into getting for me for Christmas, 2007; and buy all of the other stuff I've been wanting. That would take a lot of money though, and getting the money would take time. So the rhino-liner, rock sliders, and red high-lift jack I'd been wanting for years would just have to wait. That's okay - I could be patient.

While all of this tire drama was happening to me, making me miserable, and basically ruining my life, my friends, Arin and Troy, were experiencing an extreme amount of joy in their lives. Arin was pregnant with their first child and they were about to move into the beautiful new home they had just built in Hooper. Of course they would need some help getting things ready, so after work one day I volunteered to pick up some Costco pizza and make the trip up to Hooper to help paint and tile. I absolutely LOVE Costco pizza - I think it is so delicious! But one thing you should know, Costco pizza, like everything else at Costco, is huge! I had originally planned to put the 3 massive pizza boxes on the floor of the front seat, but they were too big. So then I thought about putting them in the back seat, but what if they blew away? I didn't have the top or the doors on my jeep at the time and things, sometimes rather large things, fly out of my car if they're not securely fastened. I didn't want 3 Costco pizzas to fly out and land on the car traveling behind me, so I decided the best option would be to buckle them into the front seat and drive with one hand on the steering wheel and one had on the pizza, only letting go to shift.

I thought driving with one hand on the pizza at all times would prove be a difficult task, but it wasn't. I am such a fast shifter that my hand never left that pizza for more than a second. That pizza wasn't going anywhere. I'll admit, at that moment I was feeling a little cocky. I was totally rockin this driving with pizza thing, so why not kick it up a notch? I turned up the stereo, pulled into the fast lane and stepped on the gas, I was going to get there in no time. Something was wrong though. Instead of accelerating, I was slowing down. What the crap? I stepped on the gas harder but it was no use, I was still slowing down. Then all of a sudden, I felt the steering wheel jerk out of my left hand. To avoid running head on into a cement barrier I grabbed the wheel with both hands. The pizza box flipped open and by the time I was able to bring my car to a stop, Costco pizza was everywhere! I glanced back at the rear drivers side tire, which was now just a puddled mess. As I stared at it in horror, numerous horns honked from behind me and about a mile back a Highway Patrol car flipped on it's lights.

Just then I remembered what the creepy man said about karma . . .

To be continued . . .

A Night of Selfishness

2009-01-21T10:00:00.004-07:00

I had such a great night last night! Yes, it was a completely selfish night, like the title suggests, but it was still great.

Since Stockton decided not to arrive until 3:38 this morning, my plans for going to the hospital to see my new "nephew" fell through leaving my night completely open.

First, I went to see Bride Wars with my friend, John. It's such a cute, girly movie and normally I wouldn't make a guy see it . . . other than my brother-in-law, of course. (Ha ha ha! Jarred is still giving me crap for making him go to Center Stage with us.) But in this case, John said he "must" see it for a review. Yes, it's true that I had just seen this movie with my girlfriends the night before but I really liked it, so I took advantage of the situation.

After the movie I went shoe shopping, which happens to be one of my most favorite things to do! But I didn't end up buying anything. I'm usually sad when I leave a shoe store empty handed but after trying on about 7 pairs I remembered how I was almost buried alive during a shoe avalanche the other day. So I was perfectly content with just visiting all of the pretty shoes.

As I was walking out of the shoe store I decided, on a whim, that I would do the next best thing . . . Pedicure! I got there just in time and since I was the only customer, they really pampered me. :) They had two ladies working on me. One was giving me a pedicure while the other one gave me a manicure. If you have never had the pleasure of experiencing both a manicure and a pedicure at the same time, I would highly recommend it! I felt like such an important person. Ha ha ha! It was so nice and relaxing! I would have stayed there forever if I could. But they had to kick me out because it was after closing time.

But do you know what wasn't closed yet? The tanning salon! I absolutely love my tanning salon! I sat in the leg tanner while reading some magazines, then I took a short nap in one of the regular beds. Again, so nice and relaxing!

I didn't want this fun night to end, so what did I do? I called my sister, Mary, of course! I convinced her to make dinner for us while I went to the movie store to pick out another girly movie to watch. We ended up renting The Women, which is pretty much as girly as you can get. So fun! :)

*sighs* Being selfish works for me - I like it. ha ha ha!

Marathon

2009-01-12T12:00:00.005-07:00

I've just completed my first big marathon. I bet you didn't even know I'd been training, did ya? :) I've done a bunch of half marathons in my lifetime, but this one was a real accomplishment. It wasn't easy. In fact, I almost quit during the last leg. Lucky for me I had some really good friends to help me along the way. Zo provided me with pork to give me the strength to endure. John provided a warm bottom for me to stick my frozen toes under. Cameron, my constant couch companion, provided me with endless entertainment as he growled at the loud by-standers. Although several of us accepted the challenge of this marathon, only eight survived.

That's right, I'm a Movie Ninja!

I watched 24 straight hours of movies.

SURPRISE!

2009-01-08T09:15:00.003-07:00

Zo and Brandon called me last night and said that they wanted to come over to watch a movie. I thought that was a wonderful idea because Amy and Jarred and the kids were already planning to come out for dinner. We could make a whole family thing out of it. I just love making a whole family thing out of a movie night. :)

Amy, the master chef, made a most fantastic meal of Baked Ziti. We were having so much fun eating and chatting and waiting around for Zo to arrive. When he finally showed up an hour late, this is what he brought with him:

When I saw Josh and Staci walk through the door it felt normal and my reaction was "oh, hey guys" then it hit me, my jaw dropped and I started to tear up a little. ha ha ha What a great surprise! That Zo, he tricked me good. Jarred, Chet and Brandon were all in on it too.

The rest of the night we just sat around eating and chatting and have a great time just like normal, but this time it felt complete.

Welcome back Josh and Staci! I know it's only for a week, but I'll take what I can get. :)

ps: For those of you who didn't already know - Josh and Staci have been living in Illinois for the last 6 months while Josh attended his first semester of law school.

Uncrustables

2009-01-06T14:19:00.002-07:00

My cutest friend Brittney Bell Thompson introduced me to Smucker's Uncrustables about 6 months ago and I've been hooked ever since. They're just so tasty!

I'll admit, I was a little skeptical at first. After all, a frozen peanut butter & jam sandwich doesn't sound too appealing, does it? But it really, really is! It seems like the more I eat them, the more I love them!

I usually go for the Peanut Butter & Strawberry Jam Sandwich but I just found out that they make a pb & honey sandwich too! Oh my golly! If there's one thing you should know about me it's this: I absolutely love peanut butter and honey sandwiches. It is by far my favorite of any of the pb sandwiches. Okay, I guess that's not the most important thing to know about me, but it's pretty high up there.

I Hate Sweater Fuzzies

2008-12-30T15:30:00.003-07:00

Today I'm wearing this super cute new sweater "dress"
(side note: Forever 21 calls it a dress but it's really not, it's actually a shirt - just thought you'd like to know.)

I just looked down and found about a million little sweater fuzzies - which I hate! So after I picked them all off, I decided to tell all of you about my intense hatred for sweater fuzzies. I googled "Sweater Fuzz" in an attempt to find a visual example. However, while searching through the pictures that popped up, I came across this picture and I completely forgot about the sweater fuzzies:

Oh, how I love this movie. :)

Even just looking at the picture makes me laugh.

By the power of Greyskull!

White Elephant

2008-12-22T17:15:00.003-07:00

Last Saturday was the annual Medicine Shoppe Christmas Party. I love this party and I look forward to it every year! We always have great food, fun conversations, and an exciting game of White Elephant. With some sneaky moves, Cal and I were able to go home with exactly what we wanted. Cal got his bobble-head Stewie and I got this Gingerbread People Puzzle. I've spent the last 2 nights trying to put all 1000 pieces together and I think I'll finish it tonight. :) So fun!

Wolverine

2008-12-15T11:15:00.007-07:00

I'm pretty sure most of you already know what a Comic Book geek I am. Not only did I name my beloved Jeep after some of my favorite characters, but for some time now I've been planning on naming my first son, Bruce. I'm sure there are a number of questions flying through your head right now. The first probably being . . . Why? Perhaps because it's just a good, strong, masculine name. Or maybe because it's my father's name and I love my dad, so why wouldn't I name my son after him. Those are both really good reasons to name my future son, Bruce. (and yes, I realize that the fact that I've already picked out my unborn, even uncreated son's name, is a bit geeky in and of itself, but I'm a girl, and the truth is - girls do that) Very good reasons indeed. But is that the reason? No. The sad truth - the number one reason for naming my future, yet to be born or even created son, Bruce, is this: Batman aka Bruce Wayne aka my second favorite comic book character of all time.

Now, I bet you're wondering why I wouldn't name my first son after my favorite comic book character. Right? . . . Oh come on, pretend you were thinking that, okay? Well, to answer your non-existent question: Because there are some previously mentioned reasons why I should go with Bruce. Love you Dad! Besides, I'm pretty sure my sister, Mary, has already put dibs on the name Logan.

That's right, my favorite comic book character of all time is Wolverine. Hence the title for this post.

Wolverine has been my favorite comic book character ever since I was a little girl. I remember racing my little brother downstairs to get the best seat in front of our ancient t.v. so we could watch our shows. Duck Tales, Rescue Rangers, Tail Spin and of course, X-men. Wolverine was the coolest. I thought Gambit was incredibly hot, even for a cartoon. I even used to pretend that I was Jubilee because she was little, like me. I loved all of the other characters too, but it was definitely the cool, mysterious, Wolverine that got me sucked in. I was completely fascinated by his story.

That fascination has been with me ever since and is still with me today. Not only for Wolverine, but for all of the X-Men. Even after 3 X-Men movies have already been made, I still find myself wanting more. Today I got that "more" I was looking for. I don't think I will ever be satisfied, but for now this has quenched my thirst.

I just saw the trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. As I watched, chills ran down my back and I'm pretty sure there was a smile plastered on my face for the entire two point four minutes.

Hugh Jackman returns to his role as, James "Logan" Howlett aka Wolverine, a self-healer who is virtually indestructible. This prequel delves into Wolverine's unknown past to help us realize why he is the way he is and why he has no memory of his former life.

Jackman has some pretty hot company in the form of Ryan Reynolds who plays Deadpool, Liev Schreiber who plays Sabretooth, and Taylor Kitsch who plays Gambit.

I am so happy they finally included Gambit. I have been waiting for him to be in an X-Men movie ever since he was forgotten in the first one. Gambit is essential to my X-Men related happiness. I have extremely high hopes for this movie. And you better believe I will be there for the midnight show! If you would like to come with me, you are more than welcome. :)

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE HD

p.s. - No, I don't care that little "Bruce" could possibly get punched on the playground for having that name. I'm not changing my mind. Besides, it builds character and will hopefully toughen him up.

Note to little Bruce: You may be reading this many, many years down the road. Just remember, if those bullies on the playground are pushing you around because of your name, you can punch them in the face. Go ahead and give them hell. You can do it, mommy said it's okay. Love you!

Skinny Jeans

2008-12-12T10:27:00.004-07:00

Here's the deal:

I love the look of Skinny Jeans. I think they look really good on other people - no wait, better than good - I think they look Fabulous! I love the look so much that every time I go shopping I get tricked into thinking that I too, can pull of the skinny jean. I pick out a few super cute pairs to try and once I skillfully slide them on, I realize, for what seems like the 68th time, that no, Bekah, you can't pull off this look.

The problem? The ghetto booty. Yes. I will be the first to admit, I have a ghetto booty. Am I ashamed of my ghetto booty? No. I would much rather have this ghetto booty than have no booty at all. For example, my friend Zo, who I so lovingly refer to as an "ass-less wonder" has absolutely no booty at all. His pants are always falling down. I would just hate that.

Skinny jeans and ghetto booty's just don't mix. I have spent months and months looking for a pair of skinny jeans that look great but also sufficiently cover that area. I was just about to give up but instead I decided to give it one more shot. I found a pair online at Forever21.com. I know what you're thinking - that's a little bit risky buying a pair of skinny jeans online. You're completely right. It is risky! However, I decided that since they were only $12.50 (regular price!!!) that it was a risk I was willing to take. If I didn't like them I could always take them back to the store, right? No big deal.

The next morning I felt a little pessimistic about my purchase and even though I still had about a week to go, I began to mentally prepare myself for another disappointment. Then the best thing happened! Later that morning I saw my friend, Holly, and she was wearing the cutest skinny jeans. I asked her where she got them and she told me they were the exact same $12.50 Forever 21 pair that I just purchased online. That gave me such hope because Holly is 7 months pregnant and if she can look that good in skinny jeans, well then, maybe I can too. :)

My jeans came 2 days ago and I absolutely love them! I totally hit the jackpot! They're skinny enough to wear with boots but also look great around the booty. It's a Christmas Miracle!!!

A p.s. to that last bit.

2008-12-10T15:38:00.003-07:00

p.s. -

I was 10 minutes late to work yesterday because I decided to support my dvd addiction by going to Target at 8:00 in the a.m. so I could buy The Dark Knight so I'd be prepared to watch it with all of my buddies, which I did later that night, and I've come to the conclusion that I still really, really love that movie because not only is it just plain old good entertainment but also because Christian Bale is really, really hot! (How's that for a run on sentence? HA!)

another p.s. that's not even slightly related to that last bit -

Something completely weird just happened to me. I was talking on the phone with one of our clients that smokes a lot and I could actually smell it! Weird, right? No, I'm not a crazy person that thinks you can smell people over the telephone. I just think that my brain has associated that smell with this man and when I heard his voice I remembered that smokey smell.

. . .

Anyway! It was weird, alright?!

Sheesh.

New Favorite Thing

2008-12-03T10:09:00.001-07:00

I just had to share my new favorite thing with you.
As many of you know, I LOVE movies. I think I might be addicted for the following reasons:
1) Going to the theater to watch a movie is pretty much my favorite night out - and going to the midnight showing of a movie is even better.

2) I am constantly buying dvd's. They're not always movies that I've seen before either. I have a running list of movies that I want to see and if I find one of those movies for a good deal, I'll buy it, rather than rent it. In fact, just last night I bought a movie that I hadn't seen before and I was extremely pleased with that purchase. The movie? - Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - Assessment? - Brilliant!

and

3) I have been known to waste entire work days watching movie trailers. You know those people in the theaters who complain about the numerous amounts of trailers that are being shown before the featured film? Well, I am definitely not one of them. I get so excited and make mental notes (okay, sometime physical notes) of when each movie is coming out so I'm sure not to miss it.

So, with that said, I was delighted to find out that some of my old buddies, John and Cameron, have started their own movie critic TV show, The Cinematic Experience. I have always wanted to be a Movie Critic, but I didn't think I would actually be any good at it since I am a movie slut and I like most movies. If I ever am critical of a movie, you know it's got to be horrible. John and Cameron, however, ARE really good at it. They are able to disect a movie, give it a fair rating and keep the viewers entertained with witty banter.

Good job John and Cameron. :)

A Tribute to Fatness

2008-11-26T09:08:00.003-07:00

My friends and I love food. In some ways, I believe it is the essence of our friendship. We plan entire roadtrips around restaurants that we want to try. We like to call this attitude "Fat". To us, "Fat" is not a demeaning or negative term, it is in fact a compliment. I know this can be tricky to understand. To help your education of "Fat" please read Josh & Staci's blog. Josh explains this concept perfectly.

To all my friends out there:

Please have a safe, happy and

FAT-TASTIC Thanksgiving!

Accessories

2008-11-24T17:32:00.006-07:00

The other day when I got home way early from work I decided to relax. While flipping through the channels I landed on The Insider with Lara Spencer. I just love watching those celebrity gossip shows so I was pleasantly surprised to find this one. The Insider is very much the same yada yada yada as the others: who's hooking up, who's getting divorced, who looks horrible and who looks fabulous! Like I said, yada yada yada . . . until the end of the show that is!

Every episode at the very end of the show they do a section called Wardrobe Cam and Lara's Look For Less. Lara's fashion stylist, Anya Sarre, tells you what designer Lara is wearing that day and then if you log onto their website the fabulous Anya Sarre will tell you how to get the same look for less. Not just less, though. WAY less! We're talking $15 dress, less. I LOVE IT! So check it out - this site has definitely been added to my daily websites list.

http://www.theinsider.com/

Thanks Anya Sarre for helping me in my quest to be better at accessorizing. :)

Look at some of the super cute things I've already purchased!

Bekah and the 5 Dwarfs

2008-11-19T12:26:00.002-07:00

I just had to post this so that everyone will feel sorry for me.

I work in an office where I am the only girl. It's just me and my five bosses - that's it. I like to compare my five bosses to the seven dwarfs.

Jim is like Happy / Doc. Jim is a very pleasant fellow and is my favorite friend at the office. We get along great! We usually go to lunch once a week and we always have a good time. He's very witty and he keeps me laughing with all the funny emails he sends me. We talk about all sorts of stuff like how we both love our Jeeps and church stuff and everything. Jim tries to set me up with all the eligible bachelors in his ward because he likes me so much and he just wants me to find an eternal companion and be happy forever. He has a very, very kind heart. I just love him! :)

John is like Bashful. John doesn't talk to me much, not because he doesn't like me, but because he's just kind of a quiet guy. He's an extremely nice man, but it's like pulling teeth to get him to talk to me. Most of our conversations happen over email.

David is like Grumpy. David is a very anal / controlling person. I've known him for years. He wasn't always Grumpy, in fact, before I started working for him we were the best of pals. We'd go to lunch, talk about sports and the guys I was dating and it was great. We used to have so much fun! He was the one who convinced me to leave my other job and come work for him because we got along so great. Then as soon as I started working for him all of a sudden his demeanor changed towards me. It's as if a switch flipped. He is now extremely cold towards me and very much a grumpy, self-righteous, arrogant guy. It makes me sad to think about this because we used to have so much fun together.

Corper is like Dopey /Sneezy. Corper is a nice enough guy, but there is something in his brain that just doesn't click. Corper likes to be my friend when it benefits him. If he wants somebody to hear his stories and the other guys won't listen, he'll tell me. He's also kind of Dopey in the way that he can't do anything by himself. He struggles with even the simplest of tasks. If he wants a paper out of a file that is sitting in front of him on his desk, he'll call me to come and find it. He's Sneezy because he's got the biggest sneeze out of everyone in the office. It really is a huge sneeze. And I just couldn't leave Sneezy out of this little mix.

and finally

Bill is like Sleepy. No, he's not a narcoleptic. I just rarely see Bill. Bill is a multi-millionaire and doesn't need to work but since he was driving his wife crazy at home she insisted that he get an office downtown to just go hang out at for a couple hours a week. So that's what he does. He's very nice though.

So that's the run down of all of my bosses. Guess what they're all doing today. Jim (my favorite) is out to meetings all day so I won't see him until tomorrow. The rest of them all decided to go to a matinee showing of Quantum of Solace. No, they didn't invite me. I would have loved to go with them! I don't care that I've already seen that movie. It could have been any movie and I would have been happy to go. I'd just like to feel included, ya know? But instead I have to stay here all by myself.

That is all. :(

The Freak Out

2008-11-10T10:03:00.003-07:00

Saturday night Chaddy, Zo and I had nothing to do so we ended up renting a scary movie. We've been watching a lot of scary movies lately. Prom Night, Scream, Vacancy, and most the recent was The Strangers.

Scary movies and I have a love/hate relationship that goes like this: I'll watch a scary movie and while I'm watching it, I'm gripping my blanket or lap pillow so hard that I lose all circulation to my fingers and I sit there wondering (out loud sometimes) why in the heck am I watching this?! Then I drive home scared out of my mind thinking that at the next light someone is going to slash my plastic windows and kill me, and once I get home I try to fall asleep but instead I just lay there 100% awake and jumping at every sound. Once I finally fall asleep I end up having nightmares for the next three nights. Then I wait a few days or a week or so and someone (usually Zo) suggest that we watch a scary movie and I get all excited and think "yeah, that sounds like fun" and the vicious cycle starts all over again.

Saturday night was no exception. We watched The Strangers and it was most definitely scary but it helped that after we watched the movie, Chaddy, Zo and I discussed how the characters were so unbelievably stupid and how we would be way smarter than that. Lets say some psycho stalker killer was trying to murder us while we were in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, first of all - we'd bring a ton of people with us, preferably good fighters who were trained in the martial arts; secondly - we wouldn't split up, if one of us goes to check the radio in the barn, we all go out to the barn to check the radio; and third - I forget what #3 was but I think it had something to do with - don't let them kill us.

After this discussion I was feeling okay about driving home by myself until I got this text message from my mom: "Dad is extra worried about you tonight. Are you okay? Please come and tell us when you get home." WTF?! My dad isn't the type to say stuff like that, so when he does - it freaks me out. Then to make matters worse, Mary called me and said that she had a bad feeling about me driving home and to be extra careful. All that progress I had made getting over that scary movie had gone right out the window. I know what you're thinking - you are so stupid. But honestly, it gave me the total creep out.

I decided that I would just stay there until someone could either drive me home or at least follow me to make sure I got home safely. The boys also thought I was being stupid and decided to play their new video game, Gears of War 2 until 5:00 in the a.m. By that time I had already fallen asleep on the lovesac and had numerous nightmares about what could happen to me on my drive home. When the sun came up I decided it was finally safe for me to walk out to my car by myself and drive home. I drove extra careful and I think you'll be happy to know that I made it home without getting killed or kidnapped.

Nicknames

2008-11-05T09:55:00.002-07:00

Once again Brittney's Wednesday Wonderings inspired me to write this post.

I have had many nicknames over the years, all given to me by various friends and family members. Today, we will discuss the nickname my very kind and loving mother gave to me at the tender age of 4 and how it came to be.

As far back as I can remember, I have always been an advocate of equality and, when inspired I have stood up for my rights as well as the rights of others. In the sixth grade I confronted my teacher for being racist against the little black girl in our class; when I was a senior in high school I insisted that I be allowed to take weight lifting even if I was the only girl in the class; and, just recently, I argued age discrimination when a fast food restaurant refused to sell me a kids meal.

The same kind of stuff happens at home too. My Dad and I have debated countless times about dishes being a girl's job and leaving the garbage for the boys.

When we were little, one of my mother's biggest pet peeves was having her six kids leave their shoes around the house. She got so sick of putting shoes away that she finally just started tossing them out the back door. You know, in an effort to teach us a lesson. Well, one day while I was helping my mom pick up the house, I came across a pair of her shoes. I knew what to do right away. After all, I had seen her do it a thousand times. I picked up her shoes, walked over to the front door and opened it. My mother, who was all the way across the room from me, asked me what I was doing. I smiled at her and tossed one of her shoes out on the front porch. "REBEKAH!!!" she yelled as she ran towards me. I giggled and placed the other shoe in my right hand, wound up and threw it as hard as I could. It was an awesome throw, the shoe made it all the way out to the grass. That's when it happened. At that precise moment I received the nickname that will forever be mine until the day I die. "YOU LITTLE SHIT!" I just laughed as she ran past me to fetch her shoes.

There have been numerous times that I've been called that - all unprovoked of course.

A few months after that infamous day, I attended my first day of kindergarten and when the teacher asked me what my name was I smiled and told her "my name is Little Shit." - ha ha ha, just kidding, I tease my mom about that all the time. It would have been awesome though. "And how do you spell your name?" asks the teacher. "L - i - t - t . . ." HA HA HA!

Love you mom!

Thriller

2008-10-31T09:32:00.001-06:00

Happy Halloween Everyone!

I've been waiting all week to post this. Ha ha ha! And just in case you were wondering - yes, I am dancing at my desk right now.

I heart you semi-black Michael!

(remember to pause my playlist before watching)

Remember That One Time . . . Chiropractor

2008-10-23T09:17:00.003-06:00

My good friend, Brittney, posted a question on her blog yesterday. "What has been your worst/craziest job?" That got me thinking about this one:

When I was about 16 years old I decided that it was time for me to get a real job - one that I didn't get through nepotism. I found a flier for a Chiropractor looking for an assistant in scheduling appointments. That sounded easy enough, right? The best part of the flier was - I could have the opportunity to make hundreds of dollars each day! Um . . . heck yes! I called immediately to set up an interview. The next day after school, I put on my most professional looking dress and had my Mom drive me to the Chiropractor's office. I walked in and told the receptionist I was there for a job interview and she asked me to have a seat while she calls the man I'm supposed to interview with. I sat there for about 15 minutes just patiently waiting and eyeing the receptionist's desk. It was, after all, going to be mine as soon as this interview was over.

A man came bustling in the front door a little out breath and turned to greet me. He was very nice and explained that he was not the Chiropractor but just the manager over the assistants. He then escorted me down the hall to a dark, cluttered office where we had our interview. I must have presented myself extremely well because he hired me on the spot. He even wanted me to start that day! I got up and headed towards the door to go claim my desk when the man asked where I was going?, this dirty, dark and over stuffed office was where I was going to work. More particularly - that corner over there. . . . Oh.

He explained that I am supposed to call people from a list and ask them to come in for a free seminar. Then, when they agree to come I'm supposed to set up an appointment for them to see the Chiropractor. That sounded pretty easy to me. The man handed me a piece of paper with the script for the phone calls and the "list" of phone numbers I was supposed to call. The list was a copy of the phonebook pages A-G. He then went on to explain how I will be getting paid. If they do indeed come to the seminar AND pay for a consultation, I get $25. Wow! $25 for each person that I set up for a consultation? This is going to be so easy and I am going to make so much money! I was already doing the math in my head - if I could call 10 people per hour and I work 2 hours after school 3 times a week, I could be making around $6,000 a month! That is a whole heck of a lot of money! What was I going to do with all that money? I could buy some new gym shoes and some VHS movies, ooooo - ooooo - ooo, and I could buy whatever I wanted for lunch instead of eating a slice of pizza and a chocolate milk everyday. Yes! Oh man! This is perfect!

I got to work immediately. "Hello Mr. Abbott, my name is Rebekah and I'd like to tell you about an opportunity for better health." Click. Mr. Abbott hung up on me. What the crap?!! Well there goes that $25 - thanks a lot Mr. Abbott. Oh well, on to Mr. Abbott #2. "Hello Mr. Abbott, my name is Rebekah and I'd like to te. . ." Click!

It continued on like that for the next 2 hours. Oh, every once in a while a nice person would let me read my whole script before saying "Thanks, but I'm not interested." I left work that day completely unsuccessful. But I came back two days later because I was certain that I would get someone to come in. That day was much better. No, I didn't make any appointments but I did end up chatting this really nice old man for about an hour before he said no thanks. Day after day I would come in and call people and never get anyone to sign up for the seminar. Hector, one of the daytime callers got tons of people. I never got to meet Hector to ask him what his secrets were because he always worked while I was in school. But everyday I would see four or five more marks next to his name. All the while, there were no marks next to my name.

After a month of being completely unsuccessful I decided it was time to quit. I told my boss that I felt I was wasting my time here, working all of those hours and not getting paid for a single minute. I was actually quite upset when I was talking to him. I didn't think it was fair. He agreed with me but said, sorry that's the way it goes around here. Right then, the Chiropractor walked in. He was never as nice to me as my manager. Every once in a while I would turn around and find him at the door watching me. This one day I came in with a cold. I was about to take some DayQuil but he gave me this huge lecture on how today's medicine actually makes us more sick and that our bodies have the abilities to heal themselves but in order to do that we have to be completely aligned. I felt so guilty that I threw away my DayQuil and suffered through the rest of the day.

When the Chiropractor heard me complaining about not getting paid, he explained, in his lecturing tone, that when I was hired I agreed to getting paid on a commission-type basis. Since I didn't make any appointments in the time I was there - he shouldn't have to pay me. I walked out of there with my head hung low and went home where I told my Dad the whole story. He was outraged! He made me call the Chiropractor back and tell him that I was going to call the Better Business Bureau on him. (side note - my Dad loves calling the Better Business Bureau. :) He's all about it.)

The next day my manager dropped off a check for $100. I was so happy! Guess who was going out for lunch tomorrow? A Wooo Hoo!

Cooking with Ace

2008-10-20T09:36:00.002-06:00

Last Thursday Mary, Arin and I had a fun little girls night out. We went to a cooking class at the Ace Hardware. Yes, I said Ace Hardware. It was so much fun! Okay, okay, maybe I'm being a little too excited about it - the class was about four hours long, three and a half of which we were waiting for food.

My friend, Lindsey, told me about the cooking classes at the Ace Hardware. She was constantly coming to work with awesome new recipes and every time she did I thought to myself, I really should go to some of these classes with her. Well, it's been about 2 years and I finally went to one - the Dutch Oven Cooking Class with Chef Todd.

Mary, Arin and I showed up about 10 minutes early for the class and it was already packed! I am willing to bet that some of those ladies camped out all day to get a good seat for this class. Chef Todd was busy making a couple of different recipes and chatting with some of the other ladies like they were old friends. The class hadn't even started yet and we felt like we were already behind. Over the next three hours we learned how to make several dishes (I'll be posting them on my food blog.) It was torture sitting there for so long with all the tempting smells, our tummy's shouting with hunger pains and out butts going numb from sitting on those uncomfortable folding chairs. Poor little Stockton Wyatt Jeffs was going crazy in Arin's stomach. I was about to run across the street to get some tacos when Chef Todd finally said it was time to eat . . . and about a half hour later, we actually did! :)

We were the first out of our chairs to race to the food line, but Slowy McSlow Pants was at the end of our row, blocking us from our meal. Arin kept pushing Mary and Mary pushed me and I seriously almost pushed McSlow Pants. I mean, come on! Doesn't he know there is a pregnant lady behind him? Move!

We were stuck in the line about 20 people back and I was still getting little pushes but I couldn't go anywhere. Luckily, the lady in charge saw how Arin and the little bundle of joy inside of her were about to turn Hannibal Lector on us and start gnawing on someone's left arm, so she let us start a new line down the back of the table.

The next 12 minutes were a blur of delicious ribs, potatoes, broccoli and desserts. There was no time for savoring each individual dish. No, no, there was only time for shoveling, stuffing and swallowing. It was delicious though. Some of the best ribs I have ever had!

Overall we had a great time and I'm pretty sure we'll do it again, but next time we'll have to sneak some tacos in our purses.

Cruisin' 08 Style

2008-10-10T09:26:00.031-06:00

I got back from my cruise a little over a week ago and now I'm finally posting some pictures. :) I had the most wonderful time! My friends are so fun to travel with - we really know how to have a good time.

Air boat tour of the Everglades

Alligator Park

Dinner at an awesome Italian place that we found by accident.
Quadruple decker chicken fights. :)

Key West

Matty's Birthday Dinner

Cozumel

Belize

Mary's Birthday Dinner

Last Day of the Cruise

SO MUCH FUN!!!

The Saddest Day . . . Part Three

2008-09-25T16:12:00.000-06:00

The boys at the Big O Tire shop were so impressed, fifty bucks per tire really was a steal of a deal. We quickly became friends as we talked about our super cool jeeps and the places we'd been. I didn't feel it was necessary to explain that I was too big of a pansy-ass to ever get in the driver’s seat and was constantly a passenger in my own vehicle. No, no, it wasn't necessary at all, it would just break they’re poor little hearts. The boys and I discussed strategy as to where I should put the new BFG tires. We ended up putting both of them on the rear axle and replacing the spare with one of the Goodyears. I drove away with my head held high and a smirk on my proud face as the Big O boys waved goodbye.

These new tires felt great! After driving on the teeny-tiny 33”spare for a couple of days, it was nice to feel level again. I still had three tires in the back seat of my Jeep. One of the tires was my “new” spare that was waiting for the day when I would finally put it where it belongs on the tire swing. My old spare was in there too – and even though I had no use for it, I decided to keep it around just in case one of my siblings ever needed it. But I had no idea what I was going to do with that awful All-Terrain Big Foot. Since I am a Mud-Terrain purist, even the site of that disgusting thing made me cringe. I wanted it out of my jeep as quickly as possible. But how? I suddenly got a wonderful idea – I’ll sell it! – yes, what a perfect idea.

My good friend, Brittney Bell Thompson, had mentioned a few weeks earlier that she was planning a pot-luck garage sale and that I was supposed to bring something to sell. I had been racking my brain for days trying to think of something to sell. Brittney suggested selling some of my beloved shoes. Blasphemous! Right?!! Well, calm down, it’s not her fault. She didn't know that I had already purged forty pairs of shoes from my collection last fall. (*Explanation to come in a future post.*) It was perfect timing. I needed something to sell and I just happened upon an extra $150 tire that I got for “free”. I immediately called Brittney to tell her the good news. However, Brittney was not as excited as I was. She didn't really want to try to sell a stupid tire, no matter how much I talked it up. She agreed, though, and a few days later it was sitting in her parents’ drive-way with a $5 sticker on it.

The day after the garage sale, Brittney called me to let me know how much money I had made from the ugly tire. A big, fat Nothin! The tire did not sell. That wretched tire was still at the Bells house, causing them grief. I felt horrible and offered to come pick it up right away but Brittney insisted that it wasn't a big deal and offered to dispose of it for me.

A few weeks passed and not one thought of that stupid tire had even entered my mind. I attended a holiday BBQ at Brittney’s house and was having a nice conversation with her mother, Holly. She asked me how work was going and I reciprocated the question, and then Holly says to me “So, is that your [ugly] tire that has been dumped on the side of my house?” I was mortified! Holly’s house is immaculately beautiful and the thought of that insipid tire perched up against the garage wall, practically vandalizing their property, was just too embarrassing for me to handle. If I had only known that it was still there, I would have come weeks ago to pick it up. I told Holly I was sorry and that I would take care of it as soon as I could.

A few days later I hauled my brother-in-law, Jarred (aka best brother-in-law in the whole world) over to the Bell’s house to retrieve the hideous tire. I would have called first, but I didn't know their home phone number and Brittney wasn't being to hasty in her response from my text asking for it. So I just showed up unannounced. Cory, Brittney’s dad, answered the door and I cheerfully stated that I was here to pick up the pitiful excuse for a tire that had taken up residency on the side of their home. I really did slather on the cheer because it was apparent that I was interrupting some much need relaxation time. But, being the nice guy he is, Cory showed me around to the side of the house where Jarred and I extracted the dreadful tire.

We loaded it up and on the way back to Jarred’s house, somehow, I miraculously convinced him to take the tire.

Finally! I was rid it!

Or so I thought . . .

To be continued . . .

Primary Childrens Cafeteria

2008-09-18T15:58:00.003-06:00

Last night, Amy and Jarred had a little bit of a scare with Lincoln, so they decided to take him to Primary Children's Hospital to get things checked out. Don't worry - he's okay, it was just a pretty bad case of acid reflux, which he'll hopefully grow out of soon. Lincoln is feeling much better today after getting some medicine in him.

Last night, at the hospital. Poor little guy, I just wanted to snuggle him. :(
Today, all drugged up. Funny, I still want to snuggle him. :)
Anyway, it was really sad last night and I'm so happy he's feeling better today, but that's not the reason for this post. Nope. I actually wanted to tell you how great the cafeteria is at the Primary Children's Hospital.

My first real experience with this cafeteria was a couple of months ago when my niece, Jaycee, had to stay at the PCH for about a week. I visited her at night after work and while I was there, naturally, I got hungry, so I went down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. I was instantly hooked. The salad bar, chocolate ice cream and french fries are just spectacular! The next day I decided to visit Jaycee for lunch. I went up to her room, said hello and asked what everyone wanted for lunch, then I went downstairs to get the whole crew some lunch. That's how it went everyday for the next week. I ate 2, sometimes 3 meals a day at the PCH Cafeteria and I never got sick of it.

It was a bitter-sweet time for me when Jaycee got better and was able to leave the hospital. On the one hand, I was extremely happy that she was healthy again, but on the other hand I kind of wished that I still had a reason to visit the PCH.

Last night, as morbid as this may sound, I got a little excited when Amy told me she was taking Lincoln to the PCH. I know, I know - I'm a horrible person!

Of course I was concerned for little Lincoln and I didn't want him to be sick, but it's just the truth, I was excited to go to my favorite cafeteria. As soon as I got there, Jaycee and I headed off to get some dinner. It's not as if I'm alone in this love for the cafeteria either. Jaycee was excited because I told her she could have whatever she wanted as long as she picked at least 2 healthy items. Jarred was happy because the fries and the mozzarella sticks really are superb. Amy was relieved because for about an hour she didn't have to worry about Jaycee going stir crazy and bouncing all over the hospital room. And Bekah? Oh boy! :)

Now, for all you mothers out there: I really hope your kids are perfectly healthy and never need the services of the PCH. However, in case they do (heaven forbid) and you find yourself in need of a food delivery person, please call me, I am 100% happy to help in that department.

(I may have just gone too far with that one, but oh well, just putting it out there.)

The Office

2008-09-16T13:13:00.004-06:00

I was tagged by Brittney to take 10 random pictures of your home and you're not supposed to straighten or clean anything. Afterwards you tag 6 more people.

Well since I live at my mom's house and all of my stuff has to fit in my 10x10 room, I figured that was boring and I would take this opportunity to show you what my office looks like. Besides my bed, I spend most of my time here anyway. It works, right?

This is my desk. I spend about 7 hours a day looking at this stuff.

This is my ginormous filing pile that I will put off until tomorrow.

This is one view from my windows. I actually took this picture a couple of months ago and I was going to do a whole post on how I find window washers extremely fascinating.

Who knows, maybe I still will.

This is my plant, Lazarus. I kill him about once a month, but for some reason he's still alive.

This is one of Jim's model cars, I just think it's cool.

The Fridge. One of my responsibilities is to keep it stocked with beverages.

This is the view from the kitchen window. There are hundreds of pigeons around our building. I've never had one come inside though.

Sitting area. This is where the guys sit around drinking their coffee, reading the paper and arguing about politics.

This is the women's bathroom on the 13th floor. Since I am the only woman who works on the 13th floor, I get it all to myself. :) It freaks me out a little when I can tell that someone else has been in there.

This is my neighbor's office, John Morgan. He's the nicest old man you'll ever meet. I pick up his mail for him because he spends his time playing tennis rather than at the office.

Okay, that is all. I'm going to tag Arin, Renee, Lindsey, Josh/Staci, Anna and Bri. Have fun with this. :)

Markus

2008-09-12T09:43:00.003-06:00

My little brother, Mark, turned 23 today and I wanted to wish him a happy birthday.

Mark is so much fun - he is definitely in my top 3 of all time favorite brothers. :)

Girl Friends

2008-09-02T10:31:00.003-06:00

I'm the type of girl who gets along way better with boys than I do with other girls. Boys are simple and easy, while girls can be complicated and hard. Maybe this is completely selfish of me but I just don't want to deal with the cattiness and drama that most girls drag with them.

There was a short time in my life when I gave up on having girls as friends all together. I was 100% content with my sisters being my best friends and I had more than enough guy friends to temporary fill the void where my girl friends should have been. But then something happened and I realized that my boys could no longer fill that void. I'm sure there are a lot of you women out there who can relate to this need for a female friend. Of course I would have never come up with this on my own - no, no - it took meeting my very best girl friends for me to come to this realization.

Today I'd like to pay tribute to one of my Best Friends:

Arin

Arin's birthday was two days ago and I just wanted to let her know how much she means to me.

Here are a few ways to describe Arin:

Caring, Super Fun, Selfless, Daring, Hilarious, Spiritual, Loving, Spontaneous, Good Listener, Entertaining, Sporty, Sincere, Spunky, Geeky (in a good way), Empathetic, Honest, Enthusiastic and last but not least . . . a True Friend.

Happy Birthday Arin!

I love you so much!

The Chuck

2008-08-28T10:53:00.005-06:00

As all of you know - I love food! All food - almost. I'm really not a picky eater, there are only a few normal things I don't like: mushrooms, sauerkraut, lobster and sweet pickles. I even might give lobster another try.

Things I won't try fall into the weird foods section: escargot, brain, feet or haggis - I really have no desire to taste haggis.

Okay - so other than that - I'm pretty open to good food. Hence my love for The Chuck and other buffets. I know a few people who look down on The Chuck, and to those people, who I so lovingly refer to as "food snobs", I would like extend this request: just try it. There are a number of fine foods to be found at The Chuck. My favorite, for example, are the cinnamon pull-a-part little roll thingy's.

Okay - that is all - I love The Chuck! :)

The Saddest Day . . . Part Two

2008-08-20T08:51:00.001-06:00

Like I said before, Hank and his new tires got along great! We didn't have a single problem with them until July, 2008.

It was a nice summer night so my friend and I decided to drive Hank up in the mountains behind my house. This wasn't anything new to us - Hank and I had been up there numerous times before. The only difference from all of those other times - we were going a bit too fast on the dirt roads. Now, I know what you're thinking - Bekah, you should have known better. Well I did - I told him to slow down. Him? Yes. That's right, I let my friend drive. I always let my friends drive. Here's a little known fact about me - I'd rather be a passenger. Yes, it's true that I absolutely LOVE driving Hank. In fact, it's the only vehicle I'm not prone to crashing. Put me on a little motorcycle? I'll crash it. A four-wheeler? I'll crash it. A fifty-pound scooter that I rented in Culebra? Yep, crashed it on the way out of the parking lot. (That's a story for another day - ha ha ha) So when we're up in the mountains and doing scary stuff, I like to hand the keys over to more capable drivers. This time, however, we were going a little too fast and as a result we caught something sharp and ripped a pretty good size hole in one of Hanks wonderful tires. The next morning, when I took it to the tire shop to get it fixed, the guy told me it wasn't repairable. So the search for new tires commenced. I immediately got on the phone with Jarred - aka best brother-in-law in the whole world - and we talked about the kind of look I want for the new tires. There are so many wonderful choices!

I thought these were pretty fun, impractical, but still fun.

Can you see the skull and cross bones. :)

But after thinking about it for a couple of days I decided that since I still have 3 good tires, maybe I should just look for a couple of used tires. That way I can save some money and buy new tires in about a year.

I went straight to ksl.com to look in their classified section and not more than 5 minutes passed when I found them. This guy out in Sandy was selling 3 gently used tires with rims - they weren't Goodyears, like mine, they were BFG's which are just as good. So I called the man and asked how much he would charge for just the tires. He said $150 for all three. Wow! I thought that was a steal of a deal! Normally tires like that would be around $200 each. So to get 3 for less than the price of one - heck yes! I made arrangements with the man to come look at the tires after I got off work. The man was very agreeable. He had this high-pitched voice, he laughed a lot and he had an accent. It was kind of southern - but not really, it was more like a fake southern accent. It kind of gave me the creep out, but oh well, that's besides the point. After work I called him to get directions to his house and I drove out to Sandy.

This whole time I'd been driving on my spare tire, which, by the way was a 33, not a 35 like the rest of my tires. Just another one of my stupidest decisions, letting some tire salesman talk me into buying a used spare tire that was smaller than my other tires. Stupid! So I was ready to get that little tire off of there.

I pulled into the trailer park where the man lived and suddenly got the creep out again. It was a mixture of his high-pitched voice and the scene of small, unwashed children running around in their diapers that made me whip out my cell phone. I called my friend just to let him know where I was just in case something bad happened. You're probably thinking I am such a Davis County Snob, right? But I don't care - because I was alone and I was driving in an unfamiliar neighborhood and the mans voice really did scare me a little. Well I found his house, I knew it was his because he told me it would be the one with the corvette parked outside and not seeing any other corvette's in this neighborhood - yeah, I knew I had the right house. I called him to tell him I was there. I was expecting him to come outside to meet me but instead he said in his high-pitched, fake southern accent, creepy voice "You can jus come on inside hon, you don have ta knock or nothin'." Creepy! But of course, not wanting to sound rude by saying - no you creepo, you come out here. I just said "Um . . . okay." and I got out of my car and walked up to the trailer. The carport was stuffed full of hundreds of boxes of men's work boots and behind them was a chain link fence that you'd have to walk through to get to the front door. Behind the fence there were piles and piles of junk. Junk everywhere! I carefully stepped in between a couple of piles as I navigated my way to the door. I was getting more creeped out by the second. As I reached up to knock on the screen door all of my safety red flags went off as I saw about 5 scantily clad women mannequins inside the house. I was about to turn around right then and there but then a conversation caught my ear. It was two teenage kids just inside the door. They looked like nice kids so I continued with my knock and they told me to come on in.

When I walked through the door, the smell of dog poop hit me like a ton of bricks. Then I noticed one of the kids was holding a puppy and there were a couple more puppies running around by her feet. There was poop everywhere. And not just poop, just crap everywhere, including piles of clothes, more mannequins, a couple of couches stacked on top of each other. There was a small walkway carved out in the middle of the room. The man spoke from another room "Bekah, s'that you hon?" I looked around to see which room his voice was coming from as I answered "Yep, I've come to look at those tires." Then the man wheeled around the corner, literally. He was an older man with longer gray and white hair and he was sitting in a mechanical wheel chair. He was a big, big man, he wasn't wearing a shirt and his giant gut hung over his entire lap. If it weren't for the small patch of red fabric on either side of his hips, I would have thought he was naked. He obviously had some sort of degenerative disease, like diabetes or something because his feet were in the form of little mangled nubs. The combination of smells, gross body parts and creepy sounds made me want to vomit, but I didn't. I followed the man into another room where he said he kept the tires. That room was the same as the others I had seen, huge piles of stuff everywhere. The tires were right in front and I only had to climb over a couple of boxes to get to them. The tires were in excellent condition with about 85% tred. The only problem was - there were only 2 BFG's, the third tire was a Big O All-Terrain Big Foot, which I had no use for. I told the man I was only interested in the 2 BFG's and how much for them? He rolled his eyes and said he would sell both of them to me for $150. What? I asked him why it was the same price for 2 as it was for 3. Then he went into this long story about how he needs money, he can't work and he's on welfare and he only gets a little bit of money from that each month. So I could either buy 2 tires or take all 3 for the same price. I said fine - I'll take all three then. I had no idea what I was going to do with that stupid Big Foot, but I took it anyway.

Since I wasn't buying the rims the tires were on, we decided to roll the tires out and take them to a tire shop to be taken off those rims and mounted on mine. I tried to convince him that I was a trustworthy person and that I could put them in my Jeep, take them to the tire shop and then I'd bring his rims back. He wasn't going for it though. He said he wanted to ride with me, but I told him we wouldn't be able to fit. He looked at me like I was being completely rude and accusing him of being fat or something - even though he is. So he said fine, we'll take my Van and he wheeled over to the door, grabbed his cane and walked down the steps. Yes, he can walk on the nubs-for-feet, I knew you were wondering. I wheeled the first tire out, trying my best to avoid contact with any dog poop. The teenage boy helped me with the other two, which was extremely nice of him. The man had us load up the tires in his handi-capped van, which, turned out to be quite useful because we were able to load them up on the wheelchair lift and get them right in, no trouble at all. Then the man told me to get in and he'll drive us over there. I kindly declined and offered to follow him there in my Jeep. Again, he rolled his eyes and looked at me like I was being completely rude as he said "You can ride with me hon, I aint a rapist." Ha! A million little red safety flags just went up - it was like stranger danger to the fullest extent. I had to think quickly - I don't know why I was so worried about offending him, but I was, so I just said. "Oh, I know you're not. It's just that I want them to mount the tires on my rims right now, so I need my Jeep there anyway. I'll just follow you there." Whew! That was easy enough.

I followed him over to the tire shop and we waited for the guys to take the tires off the rims. While we were waiting, the man said to me that he really believes in karma. He is sure that his good deeds are going to get him somewhere in life. He is certain that one day, sometime soon, when he sells 3 tires to nice, young lady, for the great deal of $150, that she'll actually give him $200, because he was so nice. Right then the tire shop boy came out with the man's rims and said we were good to go. I paid him $150 and told him it was nice to meet him and thanks for the tires. He got back into his van and drove away.

Karma, huh? . . . Maybe I should have listened to him.

To be continued . . .

I Heart TV

2008-08-14T10:56:00.003-06:00

I have a confession:

I am one of those people who loves, loves, LOVES watching TV. It entertains me to the fullest extent. For some reason though, I feel ashamed to admit how many tv shows I love to watch. I feel like people will judge me and think I'm lazy for loving tv so much. So I came up with this plan where I will go to the gym and watch my favorite shows while I'm walking on the treadmill. That should make those judgers be okay with my enormous amounts of tv watching, right?

But there's a slight flaw with this plan.

Those of you who know me well, know that I don't like to work out and that I only do it when I'm preparing for something. Right now it's the cruise - I'll spend the next 6 weeks "training" for my cruise. That's how it goes. I will usually only go for 6 weeks straight, then I'll take the next 6 months off. 6 weeks on, 6 months off. That is my work out schedule. Oh I might go once or twice during that 6 months, when someone makes me feel guilty, but usually I stick to my schedule pretty good.

So telling people that I only watch tv while I'm at the gym is only true for those 6 weeks. The rest of the time I'm sitting on my fat butt at home and I'm enjoying every minute of it. :) But I have to ask myself - why is it that I feel so ashamed of loving tv? And why do I feel so guilty when I talk to the physically fit people who say they never watch tv? Why can't I just be happy with who I am?

Does anyone out there have the answers for me?

Just in case you were wondering what brought on this little confessional:

one of my most favorite shows of all time is starting again in September and I can't wait!

Here is a list of some of my other favorite shows:
1. Dancing with the Stars (Love It!)
2. Law and Order (All of them.)
3. Paula Deen
4. Anything else on the Food Network.
5. Chuck
6. The Office
7. Brothers and Sisters
8. Ugly Betty
9. Grey's Anatomy
10. Desperate Housewives
11. Samantha Who?
12. Alias
13. The OC
14. Gilmore Girls
15. SATC
16. America's Next Top Model
17. What I Like About You
18. Friends
19. Everybody Loves Raymond
20. Martha Stewart

. . . and the list goes on and on . . .

What are some of your favorite shows?

Cruises

2008-08-12T11:24:00.003-06:00

Last night while I was text-chatting with my good friend Brittney Bell Thompson, the subject of cruises came up. I couldn't believe that I had neglected to mention to her that I am going on a cruise in September. She asked me who was going so I thought I'd put together a little roster for her, and the rest of you, to look at. I also put a count down on the side of this page so everyone can be just as excited as I am. :)

First, I've got last year's cruise roster

And this year's cruise roster

Let me know if you want to come next year. :)

The Saddest Day of My Life . . .

2008-08-07T14:51:00.003-06:00

. . . okay so I've probably had sadder days than this, but at the moment I felt completely helpless with an overwhelming amount of anguish. I felt as if my child was horribly hurt and all I could do was watch. (I know all of you mothers out there will most assuredly make fun of me for this, but it's honestly how I felt. So, even though my Hank is not a real boy, like your children, he is real to me and there is no other way to describe it.)

I must now explain the whole story in great detail. Lets go back a little:

Christmas, 2005. Hank and I had been a pair for a little over a year now and I wanted to get him something really special. Something both he and I had wanted since the day we met, . . . new tires! There were a few things holding us back. Money, for one, and the desire to have the biggest and baddest, hard core mudders around. So, naturally, we'd need to give Hank a little bit of height before switching the tires.

I'd done my research and found what I believed to be the best looking tires out there. Toyo Open Country M/T's. Now, mudders are quite expensive so it took me a while to save up enough cash to buy them, but I did it. I even found them at a store in Bountiful for a really good price. So I called them up and snatched the last set. The only problem was, I didn't have my lift kit installed yet. Don't worry, the lift was ready to go, we just had to wait until Jarred (the best brother-in-law in the history of brother-in-laws) had a free weekend to help me (yes, when I say help me, I actually mean he would do all the work and I would watch and occasionally hand him tools.) I didn't want you thinking that I go out and buy tires without lift-kits properly installed first, all willy-nilly like.

I explained to the nice man at the tire store that I would like to purchase the tires now but I can't put them on my Jeep for 3 more weeks. Then I asked him if I should come pick them up now and bring them back when I was ready for mounting, or if he could hold them for the 3 weeks until I had the lift on. The man was so nice. He told me he would be happy to hold them for me and to give me a call the day before I was coming so he could pull them out of storage. So nice.

Two weeks passed since that conversation and Jarred and I finished the lift, a week before schedule. I was so excited! I called up the nice man at the store, expecting him to be just as excited, and told him I would be by in the morning to have my tires mounted. Yay!

. . . the phone went silent.

Not dead, as in hung up on, just silent like the person on the other end didn't even want to breathe in the hopes that I would forget about our conversation, hang up, and never call again. But I didn't hang up. Instead, I repeated the last sentence at a slower speed, thinking that maybe, in all my excitement, I spoke too quickly and he didn't have time to absorb everything I just said. It worked. He finally responded.

"Um . . . tomorrow's not gonna work for me. We're . . . um . . . really busy." His voice quivered.

"Oh. Well, that's okay. I can come on Saturday. I know I'll look really silly driving around this huge jeep with these teeny-tiny tires, but that's okay right, it's only a couple of days and it's not as if it's hurting anything, it's not going to hurt anything right?! My jeep will be okay if I keep the little tires on til then, right?!" I said with the same excited tone, which quickly turned into a mild hysteria.

"No, no, you'll be just fine driving on those tires." The man assured me. "But we're, um, busy on, um, Saturday too. Can you give me, um, like a week or so? I can, um, fit you in next Saturday." A weird sort of desperation creeped into his voice as he said this.

"A week?!" I chirped. I was shocked. How could this store be so busy that they couldn't fit me in for a whole week? "I don't really want to wait that long. That's okay, I'll just come in to get my tires and I'll take them somewhere else to get mounted. Thanks, though." I was still pretty cheerful even though now I had to figure out who I could con into letting me borrow their truck because there was no way 4 big 35x12.5 Toyo Open Country M/T tires were going to fit in my little jeep.

The phone went silent again.

"Hello? Are you still there?" I asked.

". . . well, you see . . . um . . . I don't have your tires in the store right now." He whispered. The desperation still in his voice.

"What?!!! Where are they?!!!" I was so worried.

". . . well, you see . . . they were the last set we had."

"And?!!!! "

". . . um . . . well . . . I sold them." His voice trailed off, back into a whisper.

"What?!!! How?!! I don't understand! I already paid for those tires! How can you sell something that's already been purchased?!!!" I was starting to scream then. I could actually feel the blood going to my head and I had to concentrate really hard to just breathe and calm down a little.

"I know, ma'am, I'm sorry. It's just that they were the last set we had in the store. I can get a new set by next Saturday. I'm so sorry." He was extremely apologetic, which actually helped me calm down.

I took a deep breath and said. "That's okay, I can wait a week. As long as you can get them by next Saturday, it should be okay." We ended the conversation with his promise to have the tires no later than Saturday. It really was an honest mistake. He thought he would have one more week to replace the tires. No harm done, right?

Wrong!

About two hours after hanging up with him, he called me. His voice wasn't apologetic this time. He told me that after speaking with the store manager, he found out that the Toyo Open Country M/T's were on back order. He found another store that had a set but they were $200 more than what I had already paid and that if I wanted them I was going to have to pay the difference. I was outraged! I tried to argue with him, telling him it was his fault and that the store should have to pay the difference. In the end, arguing got me no where. I even asked to speak with the manager, who was extremely rude and not the least bit apologetic for the situation. He told me that there was no way he would pay the difference. So, I gave up. I asked for a refund and started looking for new tires at a different store, right then. Then the manager then proceeded to tell me that it would be 3-4 days before he could refund the money. That fired me up again. I just didn't understand how they could immediately withdraw funds from my account using my debit card, but they couldn't possibly refund the money immediately. What was the hold up? If I wasn't getting my Toyo's, I certainly wasn't going to sit around for 3-4 days so I could pay for different tires.

But, of course, I lost that battle. I waited the 3 days that it took for the money to show up in my account and I purchased new tires.

Now, although this story was quite upsetting to me at the time, it turned out to be one of the best things that could have happened. During those 3 waiting-for-my-money days, I found new tires. Better tires! I couldn't believe I had overlooked them during my original search. The moment I saw the Goodyear Wrangler MTR's, I was hooked. Those were my tires! Sure, they were a little more expensive. $200 more than the Toyo's, but for some reason that measly little $200 was not an issue as I willingly forked over the cash for the most perfect tires I had ever seen.

Hank loved them too. It was if they were made for each other.

Hank was lookin' so good. He had a growth spurt and some shiny new digs to complement his new towering physique. Complete bliss. Not even one problem, and that's the way it's been ever since.

. . .

Until a month ago.

To be continued . . .

Whew!

2008-08-06T10:48:00.003-06:00

I know I've been out of it for a little while - but I have an excuse. I've been re-reading the Twilight books to prepare for the release of the fourth book in the series, Breaking Dawn. Every spare moment I've had went to reading. Now, I know what you're going to say gosh, you're a slow reader but I would contest that. I think I'm an average-paced reader. It's just that I haven't had a lot of free moments and the ones I do get are usually stolen from "working hours" ha ha ha.

Well I'm back now, I finished Breaking Dawn last night (Yes, a whole day or two after most of my friends, I know. Again, with the slow reader thing. Sheesh, ease up!) and I would now like to discuss - PLEASE! Don't worry I'm not going to spoil anything for those of you who are slower readers than I am. (Ha ha!) I'm going to start my discussion on the comment board, so don't go there if you haven't finished the book. (Or in Brittney's case, even started the series yet. Come On Already! I promise if you give it even half a chance, you'll really enjoy it.)

Memories

2008-07-28T09:57:00.002-06:00

I stole this from Brittney Bell - I think it's such a fun idea. Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

How To . . . The Dark Knight

2008-07-22T09:11:00.002-06:00

HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY GO TO THE 3:15 am SHOWING OF

THE DARK KNIGHT

and live to tell about it:

1. Work extra hard on Thursday so you can take Friday off.

2. Go to the store and stock up on treats such as: Red Vines, Mambas, Donuts, String Cheese, Charleston Chew Mini's, Scooby Doo Fruit Snacks, Bottled Water, Reeses Pieces, Juice, Peanut M&M's, Junior Mints and plenty of Coke.

3. Have Chester make a delicious meal of Spaghetti for everyone.

4. Watch the old Batman Cartoon series as a warm-up.

5. Blow up the air mattress to ensure the maximum amount of comfort possible.

6. Watch Batman Begins for the 15th time in your life.

7. Read a book.

8. Watch your friends play the X-box while you're pretending to read your book.

9. Sleep for about 2 hours.

10. Wake up after 20 minutes because you're so freaking excited to see this movie.

11. Sit around talking with your bestest friends because they can't sleep either.

12. Eat 4 mini donuts for "breakfast".

13. Wake everyone else up 2 minutes before you are supposed to leave.

14. Leave 10 minutes late because you should have jumped on Nick a little harder to wake him up.

15. Have Chester drive because he can make up for the 10 minutes we just lost. Seriously Nick - come on!

16. Meet the rest of the crew in line at the Imax theatre.

17. Sit down and hand out the treats that are still intact.

18. Wait patiently for your ginormous coke that Nick is standing in line for.

19. Get extremely pissed off when Nick comes back empty handed!

20. Get even more pissed off when you find out it was your brother's fault that you don't have a coke in your hands right now because he ratted Nick out for being a butt-er.

21. Bribe the usher to go get you a coke. (Because someone told you that they won't let you back in after the movie starts, and you don't want to miss the trailers. They are, after all - the best part.) (Tangent - did you know I would be perfectly content watching a whole 2 hours of previews instead of an actual movie - Love them!)

22. Turn red out of embarrassment when the usher laughs at you and says of course they let you back in.

23. Go stand in the 5 person long line that was "too long" to stand in according to Nick.
24. Wait impatiently, tapping your foot, while the impossibly large man in front of you gets the items he ordered then proceeds to flirt with the cashier instead of getting the hell out of the way. The trailers man! The trailers!

25. Order 2 large cokes, 1 large diet coke, and a large water. Sheesh! I am such a good sister.

26. Balance 2 large cokes, 1 large diet coke, a large water and your purse in your arms while you walk down the hall to the Imax theatre, completely scared that at any moment you are going to trip over something and spill the 40 gallons of beverages you just purchased.

27. Say thank you 12 times to the usher who was kind enough to get all of the Imax theatre doors for you.

28. Distribute the drinks.

29. Realize that you just missed the Harry Potter trailer. Damn it!

30. Get situated and comfy in your seat.

31. Spend the next 2.5 hours completely stunned and unable to blink.

32. Emerge from the hot, dark theatre to the fresh, light morning. (This was the first time in my life that I entered a theatre while it was dark and came out to see the sun.)

33. Meet up with your friends so you can gush about your favorite parts.

34. Admit that even though you love the Joker and that Heath Ledger should definitely get an Oscar nom for this role, you actually loved Harvey Dent / Two Face more! Weird!

35. Drive home.

36. Sleep.

37. Dream about the next Batman.

The End. You have now learned how to successfully go to the 3:15 in the am showing of The Dark Knight and live to tell about it.

High School Confession

2008-07-14T15:28:00.005-06:00

I'm working on a super funny story right now and it's actually quite long, so for my 3 loyal readers, here is a little something to laugh about in the meantime.

I've decided that I was quite weird in high school. I didn't know it at the time because, well, at the time I was just me. I didn't really have an identity at all. I wasn't one of those extremely noticeable weird kids, I didn't mutilate myself or scream out profanities to get a reaction. No, I was just quietly weird. One of the silliest things I did was during my Junior year, I carried around an Elmo head purse. I didn't care that it was meant for toddlers, or that it would occasionally disrupt class because it would laugh like all other Tickle Me Elmo's, when you pushed a button under the chin. I didn't care that a few people would laugh at me, because that wasn't what I was going for. I carried it around, to and from school everyday because I loved it. The Elmo head purse was fun and even though I know it's 100% weird I kind of wish that I still had that old Elmo. I lost it to my darling niece, McKaleigh. I vividly remember the day that my devil-of-an-ex-sister-in-law told me I was too old to have an Elmo purse and she took it from me. I'm sure I'd be okay with that if McKaleigh still had it, but knowing my devil-of-an-ex-sister-in-law she probably threw it away after a couple of days. Tear.

Now I would like to know some of the weird things you did in high school. Don't hold back, we're all friends here. :)

Lincoln and the 4th of July

2008-07-07T09:39:00.006-06:00

This year my Fourth of July Holiday was extremely exciting! Early Friday morning Mary and I caught a ride with Chet's dad and sister up to Bear Lake to meet Nick, Chet and the whole Vernon/Jones family. We had an entire weekend of boating, lounging around the cabin and basking in the sun planned for us. We arrived at the cabin around 11:00 or so and were just getting settled in when both Mary and I received a text message from our sister, Amy, wishing us a Happy 4th of July and oh, by the way, she's going into labor. Now, I specifically remember telling Amy she was not allowed to have her baby this weekend because I would be 3 hours away and without a vehicle to rush back in case it did happen. So we were a little shocked to get this message. Immediately after reading it, Mary and I started running through scenarios on how we could get back to the Salt Lake Valley without a mode of transportation and without disrupting the Vernon/Jones family vacation. It seemed virtually impossible. So we settled on the fact that we would not be able to attend the birth of beautiful new nephew. :( We did, however, keep in constant contact with all of those who were in attendance and we were able to see pictures of little Lincoln Jay Potter. After that first day of intense anticipation, Mary and I settled down and were able to enjoy the weekend. We went boating and ps - I actually wake boarded! I'm not going to tell you how long I was up. All you need to know is that I got up on my first try, twice! Yeah, I'm a big deal. :) Saturday night Nick taught me how to play the Jones version of Hand & Foot. I feel like my eyes have been completely opened to this amazing new life of playing Hand & Foot in teams. It's absolutely wonderful!! I will never go back to the boring way of Every-Man-For-Himself Hand & Foot. And, if any of you would like to play with me, please let me know because I will do everything in my power to make it happen as quickly as possible.

Another one of the best things about vacationing at the Jones cabin is the delicious food! Saturday night Norval made the most wonderful chicken I have ever tasted in my entire life! At this time, I would like to give a shout out to Norval Jones, he is currently my favorite Grandpa. It's true! I'm not just saying that because of his chicken cooking skills. Norval is also very spunky and just a joy to be around.

The whole weekend was great! In fact, I think this was the most enjoyable 4th of July ever! I really didn't want to leave on Sunday, but I had some motivation. I had to hurry home so I could hold this little guy.

Lincoln Jay Potter

Born July 4, 2008

6 lbs 13 oz

21 inches

Colt and the Pirates

2008-07-03T21:37:00.003-06:00

I went to see Colt play baseball tonight, and let me tell you this - that boy is one talented little baseball player! I'm not exaggerating when I say he is definitely the best on his team.

Colt hitting a triple!

Running home to score.
Colt playing first base.
The fans.

Way to go Pirates!!!

IKEA

2008-06-27T09:32:00.002-06:00

Last night I discovered the wonderful world of IKEA. My friend Brittney Bell Thompson is a master at decorating and she goes to the Ikea frequently. So when she heard that I had never been to the Ikea and neither had our friend Brittney Johnson Alonzo, she about flipped and we immediately planned a road trip.

After work last night, we drove down to the far end of the Salt Lake valley and didn't come back until the car was stuffed full! Ikea is such an experience. First, you go upstairs and walk through the maze of beautiful apartments they have set up. It takes a couple of hours, if you do it right. Then after you've written down everything you like in the apartments you walk back down the stairs to the warehouse to pick it all up. I spent way too much money and I plan on going back to get more. There is an enormous amount of cool stuff at that store.

I think my favorite part of the whole Ikea experience was riding on the carts in the parking lot. Seriously fun!!! You must try this. :)

A Few Things

2008-06-26T09:20:00.002-06:00

I just have a few things I'd like to say today.

First and foremost - I have a certain super good friend in the Boston area that reads my blog, we will call her Fabulous! I love this friend dearly and I would love her even more if she would comment on my blog. Ha ha ha. :) Do it. Do it!

Second - A few weeks ago I wrote about my horrific experience with a massage. Update: I have not yet gone to get a massage, I'm still planning on it but just haven't gone yet. I did, however, decide that I will not be getting a massage at Massage Envy. My reasons for this decision can be found here.

Rockstar Birthday Party

2008-06-24T10:13:00.007-06:00

Last night we celebrated McKaleigh's 10th Birthday. We played board games and had a BBQ. The food was absolutely amazing! David made an assortment of delicious meats, including: hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, smoked ribs and smoked chicken. A-freakin-mazing!!

The kids loved the hot dogs and the ribs.

They also loved the cake - those Costco bakers make a fine cake.

Here's the birthday girl enjoying a slice of the delightful Costco cake.

I think the most exciting part of the night was when Kaleigh got Rockband!

I think Rockband is my new favorite game. It is so much fun!

Every one took turns playing each part in the band.

We started out with Kaleigh on drums, Colt on the guitar and Josh singing.

Colt absolutely kills at the guitar!

I think he takes after his Aunt Staci, aka The Queen of all things Rockband.

(side note - Staci really is the Queen of all things Rockband, there is nothing she can't do)

Here are my super cute shoes - perfect for pounding out a beat.

I loved playing the drums, I think that's my favorite thing to do.

Or at least it was, until . . .

I got a 99% on Vocals!!! Can I get a Wahoo!!! I have some serious skills!

No really, I do - Rockband told me so. :)

What a fun night!

Happy Birthday Kaleigh!!!!

Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden

2008-06-17T09:39:00.008-06:00

Last night was the final class in my education of All Things Golf.

I had so much fun with Arin and Holly!

Since I am now an avid golfer, I thought it was about time I bought some clubs. My decision to invest in some golf clubs started at the Target Superstore.

I heart the Target Superstore, oh so much! I love how you can go in for 1 bottle of face wash and come out with a truck load of "Oh yeah, I need that" stuff. The trick to shopping at Target is working the end caps. That's where they keep all of the clearance items, and it's the clearance items that are the core foundation for my love of the Target Superstore. You just never know when you're going to need the Ron Popeil Flavor Injector or the Mini Football Crockpot - but you do know that they will always be on the end cap of isle 15A for half off. Or what about all those cutesy seasonal things - jackpot! Oooo ooo ooo and don't even get me started on the dollar section, what fun little finds those are! :) I should warn you though - if you are one of those people who have a hard time with restraint when it comes to buying Ron Popeil gadgets or outdated seasonal items, this could be a very dangerous pastime. Always remember the old saying: "Moderation in All Things."

Whoa! That was a weird tangent. :) Where was I? Oh yeah - my golf clubs. I had been looking at this cute little red set for about a week. So after our chipping class on Monday night, I took Arin to look at them. She agreed that they were indeed super cute and perfect for my skill level. I already had the box in my cart, ready to purchase when Arin decided to call her husband, Troy, just to be sure I was getting some good clubs. It was really lucky for me that Troy and his friend, Matt, are golf experts. They told me how to measure the clubs to see if they fit me and as it turns out the red set of clubs were too short. I must have longer legs than the average female golfer because all of the women's clubs were too short for me. So, Arin and I turned around to the other side of the isle to look at the men's clubs. That's when I found them - the Yellow Cougars! I was instantly attracted to them. So sleek and beautiful and yet, still something so bamf about them.

They were a perfect fit! So I unloaded the red womens set and replaced it with the slightly longer Yellow Cougars. It wasn't until I already had them in my cart that I noticed the little red clearance tag. Heck Yes!!! I really couldn't believe it at first. I was getting more clubs and a better bag for less than any other set there. Yay! :) This is exactly why I love the Target Superstore.

Hello pretty new golf clubs!

Oh and those are my new golf shoes. I really am a golfer now! :)

ps - I know that golf is not an acronym "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden". I still think it's funny and just a little bit clever though.

Here's a little bit of trivia for you: The word "golf" derives from older languages and dialects. In this case, the languages in question are medieval Dutch and old Scots. The medieval Dutch word "kolf" or "kolve" meant "club." It is believed that word passed to the Scots, whose old Scots dialect transformed the word into "golve," "gowl" or "gouf." By the 16th Century, the word "golf" had emerged.

Dropping the Ball

2008-06-16T10:42:00.003-06:00

My little Hank is growing up so fast. Last week, Nick and I decided to put a new muffler on Hank to make him sound more manly. Okay - it improves gas mileage and the overall performance of the car - but my favorite part is that it sounds really cool. I found a sound bite of a similar muffler if you want to hear it. :)

Desperate Housewife?

2008-06-12T09:38:00.007-06:00

Question: Is it possible to be a Housewife if you're neither a homeowner nor a wife?

If so, count me in! My friends, Arin and Holly, and I decided to take a golf class together. Correction, not just any golf class, the Women's Only Clinic. I have never felt so much like a Desperate Housewife in my life and I'm not even a housewife - it's awesome! :)

We started our class on Monday night and went back for another lesson on Wednesday night. Fifteen or so lovely ladies who want to learn how to golf, whether it be to play with their husbands or just for the heck of it, like me. The other ladies are good, but the three of us are tearin' it up out there. Here are some of our awesome action shots:

You can't see my ball because it went over that mountain way in the back.

I'm telling you the truth! :)

Arin hits it perfectly every time. I say, nice form!

Ps- Arin was kind enough to give me some pointers that improved my game immensly.

Holly absolutely destroys the ball!

I think I actually heard the ball crying from the beating Holly gave it.

Next up? Putting. So stay tuned! :)

A Little Mud's Never Hurt Nobody

2008-06-09T09:42:00.007-06:00

(**edit** The nickname of "Large Marge" was voted out by a majority of my readers. "Large Marge" is now referred to as "Hard Core Beks" or "HC")

It's a typical summer Sunday afternoon, we've already been to church, had our nappers, eaten a mid-day meal and watched several infomercials. So what's next? Muddin' of course!

There are several names for this activity: Muddin', Wheelin, Jeepin', Rock Climbin' and the list goes on - as long as it involves a Jeep and you drop the "g" any word for this activity will work. In this case, we are definitely going to use the term Muddin'. You'll see why in a second.

As previously mentioned, it's a summer afternoon and a nice one at that, so we decided to take Hank's top off. You're probably wondering why in the world is the top not already off - it's June 8th for goodness sakes! Let's not even go there - it's been a sore subject for me for a good 6 weeks now. Stupid Freakishly Cold and Unpredictable Weather! But it was actually a nice day - so off went the top and in went the four wanna-be adventure hunters. What started out as a nice leisurely drive in the mountains soon turned into one of the most gruesome epics of all time!

(Names and locations have been changed in order to protect the witnesses.)

Notorious N.I.C. and Mare Bear were busy fixing the broken headlight on Mare Bear's motorcycle while Chester sat quietly observing, an odd occurrence for Chester since he often offers advice based on the fact that he is actually quite knowledgeable in all things. Hard Core Beks was also busy, it was her job to find suitable blankets and warm clothing for the upcoming adventure. Notorious and the Bear had just finished securing the last screw on the still broken headlight just as HC's patience ran out. "Hey ya'll! Are we goin' or what!" yelled HC, in a rather commanding voice. Notorious, a scrappy young fella rushed right over out of excitement. He sheepishly eyed the drivers seat but was determined to play the humble card and went for the passenger door instead. HC gave Notorious a curious look and shoved the keys into his hand. "I thought we'd already talked about this." said HC with a grin. "Really?!" Notorious beamed. HC chuckled slightly "yes, Notorious, you're drivin', lets go already!" It was all Notorious could do not to jump up and down right there. It was the first time Notorious got to drive Good Ol' Hank, a task he had longed for since their meeting three weeks earlier. HC, in the passenger seat and the Bear, in the back, got situated with their blankets placed snuggly over their laps as they waited for Chester who was not-small in stature, try to squeeze into the tiny Jeep. "HC, could you scooch your chair up a little? Chester is cramped back here!" whined the Bear. "Oh yeah, sorry Chester." HC said as she quickly adjusted her seat. "Ready?" Notorious said anxiously. To that he got a unanimous "Ready!" from the other three.

HC, the stellar navigator that she is, coached Notorious through the unfamiliar streets and they arrived at their destination no more than five minutes later. The four of them wound their way up the bumpy trail of the mountain side for what seemed like hours but in all actuality was only twenty minutes or so. They hadn't needed the four-wheel drive yet but once they got to Landbuck Trail, Hank was forced to push his pride aside and allow HC to climb under the Jeep to adjust the four-wheel drive. HC emerged from under the Jeep covered in dirt, mud and grease. Lucky for the other three still sitting comfortably in the Jeep, HC is one heck of a tuff girl and she wasn't about to let a messy shirt and hands get her down. "A little mud's never hurt nobody!" HC said proudly and once again they were off on their adventure.

Skipping over rocks and boulders, Hank flew down the side of that mountain. Hank and Notorious seemed to get along famously, which was evidenced by Notorious' comment of "my cheeks hurt", no doubt from the perma-grin that had been painted on his face ever since they left the house. With only a few complaints from tree branches to the face, it seemed as if the Bear and Chester were having an equal amount of fun canoodling in the back seat.

As they rounded the last corner of the trail, HC spotted two of the most beautiful mud puddles she had ever seen. Just as Notorious was about to ask "Which way now?" HC interjected with "How about if we check out those mud puddles?" which broadened Notorious' smile to an unmeasurable size. The first puddle was, as I like to say, easy peasy lemon squeezy. Hank rolled through that muddy water as if it were a pile of bubbles that parted with the slight breeze coming from Hank's engine. At this time all four passengers were shouting with joy and excitement, urging Notorious to do it again. Notorious whipped around faster than they could catch their breath and dove straight into the next puddle. It was about 5 seconds before all of them realized this puddle was much deeper than the last. They came to a screeching halt when they hit a wall of impenetrable earth. Hank started to smoke from water touching the sensitive parts of his underbelly. Notorious quickly threw it into reverse and stomped on the gas pedal. Just then a geyser of muddy water shot 20 feet straight up into the air and in slow motion came crashing down upon the four passengers. Screams only dogs could hear came out of the Bears mouth as the shower of mud and slime continued to pour. Mid-stream HC turned to Notorious and, bearing all her teeth, laughed harder than she ever has, ensuring a healthy amount of mud clots to get glued to her once-white teeth.

Through all his efforts, Hank just couldn't get out of the vast ocean of muck that once looked so appealing. Notorious kept trying to rock it back and forth, time after time, but Hank just seemed to sink deeper and deeper. By this time, the Bear had had enough mud, slime, muck and yuck. Her new hoodie was ruined and her favorite blanket was soaked and smelly. So the Bear took her chance to exit the vehicle and leave the unplunging of Hank to the rest of us. She was, however, ready with phone in hand to call any and all truck owners to rescue us.

Chester hopped on the back bumper in an effort to distribute the weight in the car in a different way. Well as luck may have it, the readjustment of the weight did the trick and Hank, the proud and sturdy Jeep that he is, wrestled his way out of that sticky mess, like only a champ would do. This is, after all, what Hank lives and breathes for.

All passengers were loaded back into the vehicle and they spent the next 20 minutes of the drive home recounting each members version of the nights event. As soon as they got home they grabbed the camera to memorialize this momentous evening.

Chester, Mare Bear, Notorious N.I.C. and Hard Core Beks

1 Car Wash . . . $20.00 4 Loads of Laundry . . . $12.00
2 Pairs of New Sunglasses . . . $30.00
. . .
1 Happy Hank . . . Priceless!

Tag of the Eights

2008-06-06T15:26:00.007-06:00

Lindsey just tagged me - my first actual tagging. Yay! I feel like I'm a certified blogger now. :) Before, I would blog stalk people and I would just copy other tags that I found interesting - but this time it's real! I feel like I've been a rookie who has to sit on the bench and now I finally get to play in the game. Isn't it wonderful?!

For all of you readers out there, you must now get to know me whether you want to or not. Wait, . . . that doesn't really make sense, does it? Because the truth is if you don't actually want to get to know me you can just stop reading right now. Well, how about this - if you would like to know some random facts about me, please continue reading.

8 THINGS I LOVE / I'M PASSIONATE ABOUT:

Family

Church

Friends

Shoes

Hank

Food

Movies

Having Fun

8 BOOKS I'VE READ AND ENJOYED:

(for this one I decided to do Authors because usually when I find a book I like, I'll read and enjoy more books from the same author)

Stephenie Meyer

JK Rowling

Dan Brown

Nicholas Sparks

John Grisham

JRR Tolkien

Jane Austen

Martha & Staff

8 PHRASES OR WORDS I SAY OFTEN:

What's Happenin'?

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

The Hell!

Freakin' Awesome!

Definitely

Heck Yes!

Oops!

Oh My Goodness

8 THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE:

Kids & Family

Take Violin Lessons Again

Go to Greece

Have a Freakin' Awesome Kitchen

Sing Karaoke

Build a House I've Designed

Go on a Mission

Learn to Ride a Motorcycle without Crashing

8 THINGS I'VE LEARNED OR REMEMBERED THIS PAST YEAR:

How to make Chicken Parmigiana

Family is Most Important

How to Snowboard - ehhh, kind of

Cruises are the Best Way to Travel

My Friends are Amazing

How to Golf

I Love Camping

Fish is Good

8 PEOPLE I WANT TO TAG:

Arin

Josh & Staci

Jaycee

Brittney Bell

Juli

Anna

Brittney Johnson

Amy and Jen

(I'm tagging Amy and Jen even though Arin will be mad that I tagged her sisters first - ha ha!)

Dark Chocolate

2008-06-05T14:25:00.004-06:00

So here's the deal - lately I've been feeling like I want to be more grown up. I don't know why but my care-free, livin' with the folks, buying whatever I want whenever I want it, stayin' up all night, only being accountable to myself - days are just not as appealing anymore. I've been calling this my quarter-life crisis, and maybe we should take the "buying whatever I want whenever I want it" part out of that equation because if we're being honest - that's always appealing, right? But it's true, lately I've been wanting to grow up. Here's the question though: How does one go about growing up? I've considered drastically changing my hair. Would that work? Or I thought for a brief moment about buying a condo. That only lasted 2 weeks until I figured out that a mortgage = no more cruises for a really long time. Boo!

That's all I've come up with so far, a haircut and moving out of my parents home. I haven't done either one of them yet, and I'm sure they will both help me in my cause but for some reason I don't think those two changes will automatically kick me up to grown up status. But I think I figured out what might . . .

Today, not more than 20 minutes ago, I went to the candy jar I keep in my office to get my daily post-lunch fix. When I got there I knew exactly what I wanted but I didn't see it right off the bat. I gave the jar a good tousle or two but to no prevail. The item I was searching for was no where to be found. The Milky Way Midnight. A pleasing combination of dark chocolate, golden caramel and vanilla nougat, a true delight for any and all taste buds. After not finding it in the jar I went straight for the bag in the bottom drawer. That's where I keep all of the extra candy that doesn't fit in the jar. I was saddened to find the bag free from all Milky Way Midnights, as well. So I went back to the jar to find my next goody of choice - the Kit Kat Dark Chocolate. But do you think I could find any in the jar? Nope! None in the bag either. What the crap, man! This lack of all things dark chocolate was really making me angry. That's when it dawned on me. I had made the switch, but when? Was it while I was attending the Snow College? No, no - I recall still loving milk chocolate during college. Was it during that initial year as a runner for first the law firm I worked for? Wrong again. I remember quite clearly giving the stink eye to a couple of attorneys who requested I buy dark chocolate candies for them. How could anyone prefer dark to milk? Pfff! Stupid attorneys.

See, I used to hate dark chocolate, I was a milk chocolate girl all the way. I wouldn't even go near a piece of dark chocolate when I was a kid. So what happened between the stink eye and my new found love of the darkness? Answer - I grew up. That must be it! - there is no other explanation for it. You see, only grown ups like dark chocolate. Or at least that is the myth that I have always believed and I'm not giving up on it today. Today that myth works for me. Maybe because I've been in search of that one element that will push me over the line I've been walking on for so long, the kid vs. grown up line. Or maybe because it's just the plain and simple truth. I don't know what the reason is, but what I do know is that all of a sudden I have a greater urge to get a haircut and move into my own place. I can't be eating dark chocolate with this mediocre haircut in my parents home. No way.

So there it is, I am officially a grown up. It's kind of like magic! Ta Da! :)

Now what? . . .

Joshy Squashy

2008-06-03T10:13:00.010-06:00

Happy Birthday to you . . .

Happy Birthday to The Squash!

Happy Birthday to you. :)

Today is Joshy Squashy's 26th Birthday! Sunday night we had everyone come over to celebrate The Squash's birthday. It was so much fun! We had tons of food, including my fabulous Creamy Chicken Pasta Salad, Mary's now famous Homemade Ice Cream and Staci's always good Fun-Fetti Birthday Cake. I wish I had some better pictures but my camera was being stupid right about the time Josh and Wilbur decided to wrestle. Oh! was that a sight to see! Happy Birthday Josh! You really are a great brother. :)

Remember That One Time . . . Massage

2008-06-02T16:23:00.004-06:00

Arin and I were IMing today, as usual, and one topic of conversation triggered a memory:

The first and only time I have ever had a professional massage.

About 3 years ago I was working for an attorney who had a secret indulgence of getting professional massages. Since this indulgence did not involve sports of any kind it was not held with the highest regard among the other men in the office, hence the need to keep it secret. I was the only one he told, which turns out was a big mistake on his part because, as we all know, I am horrible at keeping secrets, especially ones that I find mildly amusing. One day this attorney told me he would like to send me to his masseuse to get a massage. A reward for being the good little secretary that I am. :) I was a little hesitant at first but decided that everyone should get a professional massage at least once in their life, and why not right now, since it was a gift and all.

I walked into the building with expectations of a beautiful spa. Instead I was greeted with damp air in a dark office building and the smell of mold. The masseuse came out of his office and showed me into the massage room, which was even darker than the last and was reeking with horrible incense. The masseuse was a rather large man with red hair and slightly on the anti-attractive side. He turned on some "soothing" music and asked me to undress according to my level of comfort, get under the sheet and he would be right back in. As he left the room I was thinking to myself Level of comfort? What level of comfort? I'm already uncomfortable! Taking my clothes off would just make this even more awkward! But I did it anyway because that's what they do in the movies, right? I left my underwear on though, I figured there was no need to take off my underwear since that portion of me would always be covered by the sheet. So, face down under the sheet I went. A few seconds later the large, red-headed masseuse came in. He described that this was a 1 hour deep tissue massage and that if at any time I felt pain I was to let him know. Pain? The Hell! Are you serious?!! I thought all massages where supposed to feel good, like butterflies dancing on your skin. But I agreed and he started right away. Can you guess where he started? The Buttocks! Well, hello there! How do you do? Nice to meet ya, buddy! I was so completely, 100% uncomfortable that I clenched my butt muscles as hard as I could and I never relaxed after that. Thank goodness for the boyshorts underwear I was wearing that day. Seriously, thank freakin goodness! He moved on to do my legs and feet then my back, that's when he brought the pain. Oh my goodness, deep tissue massages hurt like an MFer (If I had any guts I'd say the real words because that is the only true way to describe it, but this is a family site folks, come on!) I told him about 30 times that it was too hard, way too hard Sir. But he kept going and I gave up on telling him and gave in to the tears streaming down my face. At last, it was over! Or so I thought . . . he then told me to flip over so he could massage my stomach. My stomach? The Hell! Who in the world would get their stomach massaged? But I did it anyway. Then the comment to make all other awkward comments that he had said thus far just go right out the window. "Wow, you have nice ab muscles. Do you work out a lot?" Excuse me! Did this rather large red-headed masseuse with a wife and three kids (I know because he showed me the picture on the way into the room) actually just say that to me? Ahhhh get me out of here! . . . was what I was thinking but of course didn't say because I'm such a pansy. No, no - instead I just gave an annoyed laugh and prayed that this awful massage would end in the next 10 seconds, please, oh please, oh please! And it did. Whew! :)

And that, children, is why you should never go to a strange, smelly office building to get a massage. The end.

My boss asked me a few days later if I would like to become a regular patient and gave me the masseuses card. I smiled, took it and as soon as I got back to my desk I threw it in the garbage. I know what you're thinking . . . I should have spit on it and torn it up into a million little pieces, right? Patient? Hmph! Patient of what, pain?!

Well anyway - it's been 3 years and I think I'm ready to try this massage thing again. This time I have some rules though: a) Arin must go with me; b) I will only go to a place with the word Spa somewhere in the name; and c) I will be ordering the "non-painful, feels like butterflies dancing on my skin, performed by a nice lady masseuse" massage.

Your Finest Sarsparilla Please

2008-05-31T20:55:00.007-06:00

Friday night I went to dinner with Mary, Chet and Nick. We went to one of the best restaurants in all of Utah . . . Maddox Ranch House in Perry, Utah. Ooooo-eee! I tell you what, thems some good eats! Sometimes, and this is no lie, sometimes I dream about Maddox rolls with raspberry butter. And no, that is not the fattest thing you will ever hear me say. (Or in this case should I say see me write? I really don't know.) Some of the highlights of the night were:

1) The Man Crush. Since Nick is both charming and good looking, it's no wonder our waiter was completely taken with him. (We'll call the waiter Charlie because I don't remember his name.) Every time Nick spoke to him, Charlie would blush a little, give a good, hearty giggle with his toothy grin and say something like "you betcha buddy!" It was like watching a high school girl get asked to dance. At one point during their numerous interactions the touch barrier was broken and the shoulder squeeze was received. I'm sure that made Nick a little uncomfortable but that's okay with me if he has to take one for the team so the rest of us could have twice as many chocolate sticks. And what's that Nick? You got stuck with two cinnamon chocolate sticks when what you really wanted was a mint chocolate stick? Don't worry Nick, Charlie will fix that, no problemo. Wink wink.

2)Prime Rib the Size of Chet's Head. Mary, Nick and I had already decided on which cut of meat we were going to order and we were waiting on Chet to decide. He had narrowed his choices down to the Shrimp Steak and the Prime Rib. Now, usually when we go out to dinner, Chet will eat his meal then polish off Mary's and sometimes mine too. (ps- Chet is not fat, he's just really tall so there's a lot of him to fill up.) This night, however, Chet was super-duper hungry so he wanted to be sure to order enough just in case Mary and I both finish our own steaks. So the decision was simple - go with the prime rib. *pictured below* Needless to say, the prime rib that good ol' Charlie brought out to Chet was more than enough to fill up even the tallest of guys.

3)The Pink Hoodie. After dinner we went for a bike ride. Have I ever mentioned how much I like motorcycle rides? Yep, I can't get enough of them. Sometimes Zoseph refers to me as a bike slut (in the kindest way possible, of course) meaning I've hopped on the back of many a motorcycle. Luckily for me, my new bff Nick was more than happy to oblige. We didn't go very far but we sure did go fast and I was laughing the whole time. :) It was getting colder and Nick didn't want to ride all the way to Salt Lake without putting something warmer on. He reached for the hoodie that he had put in my jeep previous to our bike ride. He grabbed my hoodie though and was oblivious to the mistake. I was cracking up just waiting for him to put it on. He was getting everything situated for the long ride and at one point it seemed as if he wasn't actually going to put on the pink hoodie, so I asked him he was indeed going to wear my pink hoodie. He laughed, grabbed it out of my hands and put it on proudly. Pink is a good color for Nick, don't you think? Ha ha ha!

Junk Drawer

2008-05-29T14:19:00.006-06:00

I thought this tag was kind of fun, a little revealing - but fun.

What's in your . . .

1) Pick One:
- Purse
- Junk Drawer
- Medicine Cabinet
- Trunk

2) Take a picture of the contents and describe.

I chose to do my Junk Drawer. Ta Da!

Contents: Old Camera w/ Cord; Mini Tupperware Cup filled with Advil; Lint Brush; Parachute Man; Rubber band Ball; Martha Stewart Gift Tags; Lotion; Bowl of - Deodorant, Toothbrush, Toothpaste, a Minnie Mouse Christmas Ornament, Floss, Nail Polish Remover Pads, Batteries, a Hair Elastic, Fingernail Clippers, Play Dough, Toothpicks, and the Earrings my old bosses son made for me the day he faked sick and stayed home from school but had to come to the office with dad because we all knew he was faking; Bleach Pen; Old Mail; Two Old Makeup Bags; Rubber Cement; a Black Clippy thing (I actually have no idea what it's for); Sewing Kit; Cute little Note Cards and Invitations (just in case I need to throw together a shower or a party at the last second); Cute little Brads to go on the cute little note cards and invitations; Mint Flossers; and a Magnet that says "If the Shoe Fits . . . Buy it in Every Color!"

That's it! :) By looking at this drawer you'd think that I floss a lot, but I just like to pretend. Just kidding Dr. Baird . . . just kidding. (ps - I don't think Dr. Baird even reads my blog. Ha ha ha!)

PS!!!!

I got my new laptop! YAY!!!!

Now I just have to think of a name for it. Any ideas? I've already got Hank, my Jeep and Larry, my iPod (ps- I think Larry is gay or at least metro because he's always wearing that pink thing and he likes Opera and Classical music and I know he's a little skeptical about adding the "Education of Rap" cd that Arin is supposed to be making for us, to his collection.) So maybe this laptop could have a girl name - I think she feels a little girly. I mean, she is fabulous!

Oh yeah! And that's the bag I ended up getting. Thanks so much for all of your feedback even though I didn't get any of the bags I posted pictures of, I really appreciate the votes anyway. It definitely helped a lot! So - I ended up at Target one night and I saw this bag and I loved it! It was only $30 too, bonus! The others were all $80-$160, I like $30 a lot more.

Okay I'm done rambling now. :)

Montana

2008-05-27T10:30:00.002-06:00

Over the weekend Mary, my parents and I went to Montana to visit my Grandma. Let me tell you a little something about my Grandma - she is amazing! She's almost 97 years old and still kickin it like she were 70. It's been about 3 1/2 years since I'd seen her so I prepared myself to see some really old grandma that I didn't recognize anymore, but as it turns out I didn't need to prepare myself at all. She's the same Grandma she's ever been, small, sweet and very spunky! We had such a great time together. We went shopping and out to eat and we watched a couple of movies. Grandma just likes to chill and do all of those fun things.

Grandma and Dad at the IHOP. She was so excited to go to IHOP for breakfast.

Here we are in the car . . . Hi Mary!

Dad was making me CRAZY! with his constant back-seat driving.

Dad, Mom, Aunt Joy, Grandma and Uncle Gary. We had so much fun catching up with our Aunt and Uncle.

Dad, Mom, me, Grandma and Mary. She's just so cute and little. :)

ps - Keepin It Real! Arin would kill me if I didn't tell you where we always stay when we go to visit Grandma, she thinks it's absolutely hilarious! And it really is. 7 or so years ago my Grandma moved into an assisted living community. She has her own apartment and takes care of herself, but there are people around just in case she needs help with anything. So when we visit, my parents usually stay with Grandma in her apartment and Mary and I stay in one of the extra apartments that my Grandma reserves for us. It's so much fun staying at the old-folks home! I've already decided that as soon as they let me I'm moving there for good. :)

I Miss You Already Just

2008-05-23T10:45:00.002-06:00

Justin is moving to St. Thomas tomorrow. He'll be gone all summer and I really don't know how I'll survive without him. Justin is the bestest friend anyone could ever ask for. Just - I hope you have a great time - and remember to call me every once in a while. Love You! :)

Shopping for a Bag

2008-05-22T12:37:00.006-06:00

I need your help. I've been completely useless all morning because I've been shopping for a bag for my highly anticipated laptop. I ordered my new computer only a couple of days ago so it won't be here until next week, but I want to be ready for it. I've picked out a bunch of bags but I can't decide. I would love your feed back on which one to get.

In no particular order, here are the ones I like:

# 1

I'm a little iffy on #5 becuase I think it might look like a diaper bag, and I definitely want to avoid carrying around one of those until it's absolutely necessary. If you see any other really cute bags let me know okay. Thanks everybody!

Ode to the Dentist

2008-05-20T14:18:00.004-06:00

To some of you the dentist is a four letter word and I bet you shudder at the mention of it. Right? Well not me. I happen to love my dentist! No really, I do! My dentist rocks! He has all the fancy new equipment and he's just so gosh-darn nice, a winning combination in my book.

Confession - I happen to have the worst teeth in the world, okay - maybe not the worst, but at least second to the worst and over the years I have been to my fair share of dentist appointments, too many to count. I've probably had cavities in 75% of my teeth and numerous problems with the other 25%. I've had a bunch of retainers, which was fun because I got to pick the color I wanted for each one. My last retainer was a lady bug - cute! Then of course, I had to wear braces. I bet you're thinking - come on, that's normal, lots of people have to wear braces - um . . . yeah, but of those people how many of them had to wear braces TWICE! - ha! got ya there, didn't I? I've had fillings and crowns and all of that other crap and - oh this is funny - now that I think about it, I remember when I was little, thinking that the dentist was my babysitter. When my mom needed her weekly break, she'd drop all 6 of us off at the dentist. (She did this with other professionals too - don't even get me started on the piano teacher! Ha! I'll have to save that for another time. ps - I'm totally laughing at all the funny things to put in future piano teacher post right now. Good times!) Needless to say, I spent an abnormal amount of time at the dentist office - it's okay though, I think they liked me, I was super tuff and almost never cried and I usually held my own spit sucker thingy just because I thought it was fun. Oh, and I wasn't shy to tell the dentist when he had boogers, which was the case almost every visit. I really was tuff! In fact, I'm pretty sure I've only ever cried once at a dentist appointment (the single tear doesn't count okay) I was in high school and my dentist, aka my babysitter, aka the booger dentist, that I was already used to decided to move away, so my mom took me to this new guy. The new dentist was old and rather gruff and he would not stop the drilling when I raised my left hand (like they tell you to do) he just kept going until he finally saw the tears streaming down my face. Ouch! Since I no longer needed a babysitter, I did not return to that dentist. Then there was this one time - a few months after I started at my first real job and I thought I was the coolest because I had my own dental insurance, not that I needed it because I had already fixed every single problem I could ever have with my teeth in the first 18 years of my life. I walked in there, the adult that I was, and I sat down with the dentist and explained how I would really like to fix the teeny-tiny little space between these two teeth (I'm pointing at my teeth right now, you just can't see). He then looked at me like I was a crazy person and said How about if we fix your cavities first, hmm? I felt like an idiot after that.

Now we are to my favorite dentist, Dr. Baird, I will forever and always go to Dr. Baird even if he moves away - I will follow him, because he's that good! The first time I went to Dr. Baird I got a simple procedure done - easy peasy, he was very gentle and considerate and he was even grateful when I pointed out that he mistakenly put Don McLean's song Vincent (Starry Starry Night) on his mixed Christmas album (because after all - contrary to what some people may think - it's not a Christmas song). That night I received a phone call from Dr. Baird - he just wanted to check on me to make sure I was feeling okay and to remind me to take some Advil. How freakin' nice is that?!! I've been hooked ever since. :)

(This is Dr. Baird. Hello Dr. Baird - yes, I'm flossing right now, I promise.)

Bekah's Blog

30 in 30

Sabbatical

Family . . . Isn't it about . . . time?

Closet Case

Bekah and the Gym - A Love/Hate Relationship

Gone Fishin'

KaBOOM!

A Childhood Dream Come True

C.A.

Wii Would Like To Play

Addiction of the Senses

Talent Show

Quitter

Forrest Gump, You Can Suck It!

Titles

LOTR

Just Another Uncomfortable Situation

Hornets

Updates:

Wedding Cake

Dear Mormon Bachelor Pad:

No Soliciting

What makes you happy?

A Weird Little Fact

Coffee Talk

Midnight Movies

Contest . . . or . . . Not So Much

Lunch Bunch

Summertime Favorites

Jazzed

The Sound of Music . . .

The Beetle

Dude Lunch?

Birthday Season

Why, Hot Dog Man? Why?

My New Apartment . . . Bedroom

The Saddest Day . . . Part Five

Wusthof

It's only 5 blocks!

Wonderfully Sucky!

Photo Tag

Top Hat Video

The Saddest Day . . . Part Four

A Night of Selfishness

Marathon

SURPRISE!

Uncrustables

I Hate Sweater Fuzzies

White Elephant

Wolverine

Skinny Jeans

A p.s. to that last bit.

New Favorite Thing

A Tribute to Fatness

Accessories

Bekah and the 5 Dwarfs

The Freak Out

Nicknames

Thriller

Remember That One Time . . . Chiropractor

Cooking with Ace

Cruisin' 08 Style

The Saddest Day . . . Part Three

Primary Childrens Cafeteria

The Office

Markus

Girl Friends

The Chuck

The Saddest Day . . . Part Two

I Heart TV

Cruises

The Saddest Day of My Life . . .

Whew!

Memories

How To . . . The Dark Knight

High School Confession

Lincoln and the 4th of July

Colt and the Pirates

IKEA