Holiday Letter?

I had great intentions at the beginning of November to get my Christmas Cards and Letter out early this year. I even had it written early thanks to my Old Wise One and the urgings of my big sister Lisha. I was so glad that I was ahead of the curve...then Thanksgiving flew by....followed by Christmas...and now we are at New Years Eve!

So this year I am cheating and just posting it here. If you still want one mailed I will be happy to send it on….but it could take months!

CHRISTMAS LETTER 2009

(Click letter for full size.)

On the Jay Leno show the other night there were two girls, Garfunkel and Oats, who sang their opinion of Christmas Letters. I personally love reading all the letters sent out, but this was hilarious so I couldn't resist sharing it with my Christmas letter.



Have A Fabulous 2010!!!!

A New Obsession...or an extension of one at least...

So I am so crazy, I really don't have time in my life for anything else...but I found a new book series anyway! Does that make it a new obsession in itself or just an extension of my love of books...not really sure. (Also, I wanted to share something on my blog, so you know I am still alive!, and since I am using it as a premise to write a paper for my Organizational Behaviors class I can also do a blog about it.) :)

So what book you may ask...first let me say, no vampires, werewolves or any kind of science fiction creatures, and it is not a romance novel either! I guess it is considered Young Adult Science Fiction since it is set in the unknown future where the world has evolved in a intriguing way. The best analogy I can make right now, it makes me feel like I did the first time I read "Holes" by Louis Sachar; wondering at first why I am reading such a depressing book, then just intrigued by the ideas of humanity; what would I do if I was raised in this world? how far can you go to save yourself? if it is survival, is it murder? and what makes a culture accept things that I consider completely barbaric? and yet there are things like that in our real world today...but a completely different posting would have to be written for that.


Perhaps all the ideas I am currently studying, of how people behave in organizational setting, is also influencing my love of these books. It is an easy read (unless you keep stopping like me and contemplating the characters and situations...lol) and definately written to the young adult genre. I hope if you do decide to give it a shot, make sure you get past the first few chapters and let me know what you think. Good reading!

Light Headed

I nearly had a panic attack today trying to dry my hair....but maybe I should go back a few days...

On Tuesday morning I met Alyse and Aryn in Provo and put myself into Mandy's very capable hands. Or rather my hair into her hands anyway...

And just in case you didn't know; yes, my hair really was getting to the point where I was nearly sitting on it and after shutting it in my car door last week due to wind, well you get the point...

so there is now 17 inches (I just remeasured to make sure it really is that much...yikes)

waiting to be shipped off to "locks of love" where I know they will put it to great use...





Thanks to several hours of pampering and her wonderful hard work

Mandy gave me a great new A-Line cut...

Thanks again Alyse for being my moral support and documenting all this for me. I truly am a bit light headed from the weight loss and from the emotions...but overall I am very glad I got it cut.

Redemption

Scott and I just finished watching one of the hardest movies to view, at least for me, in a long time. That said it was one of the most touching, profound, amazing shows I have seen in a long time. Mom and Dad warned me it was not light and they weren't even sure if I would like it. Honestly I am so emotionally torn, I loved it and don't know if I can ever watch it again.



One of the real questions in the movie is what is the price of forgiveness? And what is the cost to forgive one's self? And what is the worth of life? Having experienced some of the same feelings, though not to this extent, of the main character made me very introspective. I don't pretend to really have the answers to these questions. Or to think about all these things perhaps as often as I should. Yet, watching this movie made me once again gratefully for my life, and the fact that I am relatively healthy and have a wonderful life.



I think I would recommend Seven Pounds; but, with the codicil that it be watched if you are willing to think and not expect the classic happy feelings. But rather to feel that introspection and love of life. I hope if you watch this or have seen it you let me know what you thought of it too.

A Bit More Than A Day...

So apparently not only do I have to find two minutes to take the camera out and take a few pictures. But then, I have to download them, crop them, and get them posted here. Needless to say it has taken me a bit longer than I thought it would to get them up…but here are a few! (Please forgive my very amateurish photography.)

Here are some of my flowers popping up all over.

This is the salad set! We have peppers, tomatoes, spinach, to name a bit.

This is my herb garden! Chives, parsley, rosemary and more. Oh My.


So can't see it as well but all around the edges and down the middle are onions. So if even half of them live I will have more onions than I will know what to do with. Plus melons, pumpkin and more.



And finally we have an example of the dwarf fruit trees (this is a peach) and the rubber mulch! Lots of work, but looking pretty nice if I do say so myself.

A Bit of Advice

1. Always wear sunscreen.
If you are not going to wear sunscreen, do not garden in the middle of the day.
If you do get sunburned put on lots of aloe and try not to touch the burn.

2. Always wear bug spray.
If you are not going to wear bug spray, do not garden when the mosquitoes are out.
If you do get mosquitoes bites put on lots Cortisone crème and try not to scratch the bites.

3. DO NOT get mosquitoes bites on top of a sunburn (or vice versa).
If you are going to...well just don't do it!


PS. Actually, as I was writing this post it reminded me of a speech I heard a few years back. It was by Baz Luhrman and fittingly entitled, Wear Sunscreen. I think his advice is some I should remember more often!

A Labor of Love?

Well at least a labor of love for good food! I spent the whole day (literally from when I woke up at 8:30am till after 10pm) in my yard. Thankfully mom can and helped me several times. Firstly we finished planting and weeding the west and south sides of the house that have the planters, then we laid weed barrier around plants and topped it all off with the rubber mulch. Looks nice if I do say so myself!

We even planted a walnut tree so hopefully someday there will be shade and yummy nuts!

Then we went on errands to find garden plants! We ended up getting tomatoes, beans, peppers, potatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupe, pumpkins, lettuce, spinach, onions, assorted herbs and I am sure I missed something. A few things like strawberries and peas it is too late to put in this year, but I will look for them in the fall and get them ready for next year.

When we got back I learned how to use Dad's edger and edged my lawn (which Scott was so sweet as to mow on Wednesday) and then got to work on the garden! I spent another five hours tonight tilling the soil (literally!) and planting! I am sooooooooooooo sore, but I am excited to start getting yummy food to cook with and do fun stuff with. Scott helped me to some shoveling and then I went after it until way past dark.

Now I am going to treat myself to a long soak in the tub with chocolate and a good book, followed by some yoga stretches in the hopes that I can still move in the morning. I will let you know about that tomorrow.

(I will be adding pics in the morning; they don't really work now in the dark!)

TV vs Computer

As Scott and I were watching Jay Leno the other night, the funniest commercial come on. Not only did we actually watch the entire commercia,l we rewound the recording and saw it a second time. It was halarious. I am not a Connan O'Brian fan at all, but this was too funny to pass up.

And yes, I thought the irony of sharing this on a blog was too good to pass up too.

Hope it makes you laugh.

What To Say?

I have been so busy lately that I don't always know what in my life is really worth blogging about....

I am still loving my work, even though it stresses me out much of the time. Otherwise much is still the same in my life, day to day, not much seems notable. Scott has been a huge help this spring mowing the grass every week! He so spoils me, I am extremely lucky to have such a great brother and roomie in him.

However, when thinking on events I would like to share I had to make not of a wonderful event I attended with much of my family. On May 12 I got to go and see Celtic Women in concert in SLC at the E Center. Matt and Heather and I actually even did dinner on the way, and had a great chat carpooling together.

I cannot describe how beautiful the music and staging were. I have been to several concerts but this will be on the top of my list for quite some time I am sure. After much sweat and tears (and several hours I wondering if my time should be better spent) I finally figured how to post to YouTube videos here to share. So here it goes, two I really like that show just a smidge of how amazing the show was.

This one is sort of a highlight of the show

This one was written especially for the Celtic Women and is a wonderful example, showing off their vocal ranges and as well Maidred's fiddling.

Big Sisters!

So this is suppose to be about me...but I have to be a big sister and brag about my great brothers occasionally too. As requested, I didn't go to Shawn's robot competition this last Wednesday. But, he did so great! They took second and so didn't have to take the final! Cool huh!
Fox 13 did an interview with Shawn and his group. They were the only ones to make the long distance shot! So here is the link to the news article if ya want to check it out! His robot is the big red one that makes the long shot, he worked lots of hours and stressed lots about this; in the end a great result...so great job Shawn your big sis is so impressed.

Snow and Sand

This week has had some wild weather. As I sit composing this post it is 65 degrees outside and I am going to go play in my garden! Okay, it actually can't be called a garden yet, but hopefully in the coming weeks it will deserve that name.

I actually started this post last Thursday but life happened, : ) as it so often does. However, I decided to go ahead and make this post anyway...
Snow is great when I get the chance to go up in the mountains and enjoy the skiing. But, this winter has seemed worse than normal and continues to drag on and on. Perhaps memory has dimmed past winters...either way the winter seems determined to continue to attack Utah. Waking up on Thursday I saw that the snow monster had struck again! Though the sun was out, the ground was once again snow covered.

Sulking I looked out my living room window dreading the day. However, as I looked across the landscape my perspective shifted. I was struck again by the beauty just outside my back door. Looking at the clouds floating around Mt. Timp reminded me why the mountains are considered so beautiful. I truly am blessed to live in such a gorgeous place. I don't take the chance very often to stop running from thing to thing and just admire this beautiful world.

That said I actually did get a few day break that was absolutely amazing last month. I got to go to Carmel California and meet with Lynn Lupetti! OMG!

Talk about dreamlike moments. I have grown up loving her work and had the chance to meet her several times before. However, this trip was all about getting to know each other so she can paint a portrait of me! I got to stay at her house with her and Ed, tour her studio, do a photo shoot and just spend a wonderful two days with her. We even watched AI together and I got to explain some of the music lingo to her.

One of the best things was the opportunity to take a few hours and walk on the beach! I have missed the ocean so much and am so glad I got to relax there.

Course Dad could have warned me about the big wave about to attak me...

Mom & Dad took a driving trip and met up with me when I flew in.

We ended the trip with a fabulous afternoon in San Francisco.

Followed by dinner at the fabulous House of Prince Rib. One on my favorite resaurants in the whole world.

All in all the whole time in California was fabulous. I was reminded that whether it is the sandy beach or the snow topped mountain the whole earth is beautiful and has something to offer me.

God...Fate...Karma...Kismet?

Do you believe in a cosmic power that controls our lives? Whether that power is God, Fate, or something else?

Some days it feels like the world is conspiring to make you do or not do something. Is this some amazing power or just life? And if it is a higher power, are all the problems in life road blocks detouring us to another path? Or are they barriers we are suppose to work around to better appreciate the end goal?

Today I had a really fun, great opportunity to go to Las Vegas and hang with friends. A last minute invite that I felt guilty taking because I worried about walking away from all my duties. Yet, I talked to my dad and he said he hoped he had taught me not only responsibility but also enjoyment of life. So I decided I was going to go. Take the weekend and play.

I am single, have a good paying job and a stable life. I should do something for me, who knows if an opportunity like this will come again! Or if it does, if my life will be in a place where I could take the opportunity like I can now. (No kids, no pets, nothing to stop a weekend away.)

Yet, from the minute I made the decision to go to Vegas, things seemed to go wrong. Several things came up at work that have to be dealt with before 10 am Monday morning. Also, I got an email about my saturday class indicating something that I should not miss. Lastly, when I got online to tell my friend I was coming down, within two minutes of logging on, the entire "ning" network went down and I couldn't coordinate the trip!

So are these all hurdles to overcome or things to stop me? Am I weak because I took everything as a sign that going is not the right decision afterall? Am I not working hard enough? Minutes after that my decision the network came back up (it was offline for over three hours!).

And why would some higher power go to such extremes to stop me from having a weekend to myself? Is life really coincidences or some greater planning? And is it egotistical to assume that some huge thing like an entire network going down is a sign to me? Or am I reading too much into my situations?

Conversation!

So this last month I have had amazing conversations in several forms...

I had lunch at the Olive Garden with LoriAnn yesterday and got to hear all about her crazy life and the guys in it. (And yes we were there when the gun went off!)

I love sitting down and talking with my family. We get into all those taboo subjects and usually end up laughing at the end. When mom and dad were out of town last month Erik came over and we talked all about how silly Scott and I are, John Stewart and much more.

I finally am getting into facebook and laughing with people there.

I am starting to understand how Alicia and some of my other siblings can spend hours chatting online (through their games). I joined a forum and could spend all day talking to these hilarious ladies. We can vent and talk about families and twilight and all our obsessions.

I got to see Becky and pick her brain about all things Australian. Well at least scratch the surface. :)

I could go on and on; school, work, reading blogs... I love communicating and all the great conversations. I just realized that I wish I had written more of them here so I wouldn't forget them! So I wanted to take a minute and at least say thanks to all my friends and family for the wonderful conversations in the last month!

I Am A Normal Consumer?!?

I hadn't seen many movies in the theatres in the past couple years. But, this last month I have enjoyed the short escape of the movie theatre and seen more movies than I had the whole previous year.
Then this morning, as I was working on a current event assignment for a class I found this article on KSL. So apparently I'm normal in my desire to go escape at the movies.

Movie theaters doing well in down economy
February 6th, 2009 @ 9:06pm
By Randall Jeppesen
The economy might be slowing down, but that's not keeping people from heading to the movies. Many haven't just been going to the movies; they've been flocking to see films.
Megaplex Theaters spokesman Jeff Whipple says the theater chain had a record-setting January in ticket sales, up 26 percent from January one year ago "I think people are realizing life goes on, and so we still need to entertain ourselves. We need to find a way to escape the commotion of the regular world. People have realized that movie and popcorn is a pretty good value," Whipple said.
He says Hollywood, in general, had $1 billion in ticket sales in January for the first time ever, and that's without any major blockbuster movies out at this time.

Now if I they had all been good movies, that I enjoyed, maybe I would feel better about the high January ticket sales. Yet, tomorrow I am going to see another movie, so I apparently live in hope of finding good movies at the theatres.

A Good Book

So, as many of you know I am a huge fan of books on tape. I love listening to stories while I drive to and from work, or when I am at work and alone in the front area. It is a way I can multitask and enjoy it. Actually I am blogging and listening to a story now. :)

This week, on the recommendation of a great librarian, I listened to Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes.

This is a fairly short YA book about a 12 year old girl named Martha Boyle, she goes to her grandmother's for summer holiday and has some interesting, simple experiences. The book made me remember some simpler times in my life and also think about what is really important in my life. It is an easy read, but definately worth your time.

I hope you are all reading fun books yourselves. Have a wonderful weekend. Loves.

What Not To Watch...

On Sunday I was stressed from life and needed some time out. So, Scott and I thought we would go and see a movie. I actually went on Fandango and read reviews and looked at what was out there. That is not my norm.

In the end we decided to go see Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I wanted my money back and more importantly my time. It was suppose to be funny but most the time I just groaned wondering why I was sitting there watching this. The few times I did laugh, the little voice in my head was asking "why is this funny and what does it say about you that you are laughing at this?" not really what I want running through my head while I laugh.

By the time we left we were in some ways more down then when we entered the movie. So now what? Well of course I could not just cut my losses. So back to my comp we went. After looking around again we decided to try a dollar show instead and go see City of Ember at Movies 8. Firstly did you know there is no more dollar show? Kids and students and matinees are $1.25 and normal tickets are $1.50. Inflation at work. *sigh* I liked this one better, at least I didn't want my money back. :) But, there were lots of plot holes. I really wasn't sure the driving factors in this story. Maybe, if I had read the book it would have been better.

On the way home I asked Scott which show he liked better. He said "neither". When I pressed him and asked if he had to recommend one which would he tell people to see, "I would tell them to save their money and find something better". So all in all a disappointing "unwind" day. Ah well. Back to life.

PS. We did see Marley and Me a few weeks ago and I really liked that one. So when that is at the dollar theatre go see that.

Comments

I haven't done much commenting on the comments you all make on my blog. But I wanted to say thank you atleast once for all the the comments so far and the ones I forget to thank you for in the future. I love reading what you are all thinking and knowing you enjoyed my thoughts too. So, Thanks and Loves.

Higher Education?

education n. The act or process of educating or being educated. The knowledge or skill obtained or developed by a learning process.

So first let me qualify this post by saying that I know I am so lucky to get a college education, and if you don't want to hear me complain about that very thing then don't keep reading!


I love learning. It is so fascinating to find a new piece of information that makes another piece of information fall into place, etc. I trully believe that we are learning everyday. Today I learned about plumbing and pipes freezing. Yesterday I was learning about electrical wiring and very glad that I am not an electrician. I also learned about MIS and Globalization and Effective Presentations and the GOP and on and on.

But school itself is a very frustrating process to me. I am sitting in my Principles of Information Systems Management class. It is interesting and boring at the same time. There are some new things but most of it so far is repetitive and long. We are doing some projects that just seem to eat up my time and are repeating lots of the work I had to do in the pre-req course for this course! Yet if I don't do these assignments I will not pass the class. If I don't pass the class I will have to retake the course to get a piece of paper that says I sat through many hours of sometimes pointless classes.

That is what really frustrates be about school, it is often more about how well you can complete assignments than how much you are learning. Yet we call school higher education and higher learning. Some classes I come out of them feeling like I learned alot; but much of my education just seems busy work that has no real defined purpose. Now I know the real world is often busy work too, but that atleast has an end purpose and will hopefully further the business. Doing "problem sets" just feels repetitive. I don't know. This frustration is why I have such a hard time with finishing school in the first place. Learning-Yeah! :) Actual school classes-Maybe :(

Playing with Blog

I will be trying out different layouts and fonts and colors in the next few days. I am attempting to really learn how to do this blog thing. So, if you see something you like or don't like let me know. However, the site will be changing lots as I play so please be patient. Thanks!

A Beautiful Reception

Last night I got to celebrate with Alicia and Jesse at their reception. Mom did a beautiful job decorating the house and Alicia and Jesse looked blissful. Here are a few pics. The first one is especially for my Old Wise One. Alicia took the flowers from your bouquet and kept them with her so you would know she was including you too. Loves.

Mom made lots of yummy food for all to eat and Jesse Sr. made a special cake for them to cut. A family traditional favorite. They are so cute. Alicia insisted on forks! :)

Alicia and Jesse kicked off the dancing with Grandpa and Aryn close behind.

I have lots more pictures of people hanging out and chatting. If anyone wants to see them just let me know.

Wedded Bliss

Alicia did it!! She made it through the wedding and is now off somewhere, I hope having a fun honeymoon. I got to follow Alyse around, playing pack mule, while she did picture for Alicia and Jesse at the temple. So my pictures are not going to be very good compared to hers but I hope you enjoy them. :) My only excuse for not getting them up faster was Rosie made it in town and I had to enjoy my time with her and then catch-up on all the little detail yesterday. The first is them coming out of the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.



It was really cold and windy! But many people hung around to take pictures and congratulate the happy couple.




I never did get a post up about the bridal shower either but I wanted to share some of my pictures from that evening. Thanks again to all who came and made it a fun night. I really appreciated the support, and sorry about the lack of communication to some of you. I promise to communicate better in the future.

12th Day of Christmas

Hmmm….so I am going to have to make sure I really am posting and not just drafting. Maybe part of that will be not trying to blog when I am nearly asleep. Well I was going to make comments on Alicia’s wedding but first I will publish the draft saved from the 12th Day of Christmas.

The Magic of the Sun is something that I have come to appreciate in the last month. I don’t really consider myself an outdoor person and I rarely go outside to just sit in the sun, no matter what time of year it is. Even though, I work in an office and don’t spend much time in the sun I have come to see that the days the sun is out I am usually in a better mood. This is an interesting thing to me because I don’t remember having problems when I was living is Washington. Although it seemed to me, the sun was still around, just diffused through clouds. So maybe is wasn’t really a lack of sun. ;)

I think part of it is that in Utah the cloudy skies accompany bad driving conditions. The snow has been beautiful, but I am so tired of having to worry about my car sliding on icy roads or the low clearance causing my car to get stuck. I also think the sun signals warmth to me. And right now I am tired of being cold! So the sun…I am glad it is up there. :)

11th Day of Christmas

I was trying to figure out what to write about tonight and my wonderful sister Alyse gave me a great suggestion. So thanks for the idea. :)

We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. ~ Immanual Kant

I spent the first three Days of Christmas talking about my family; but, I missed some crucial members, our pets! Boris and Tasha are some of the most spoiled, wonderful puppies. :> When I get sad or melancholy they are always there willing to give unconditional love. On and off my whole life we have had pets. Cleo was a wonderful cat who adopted us and lived a full life with our family. Phantom has made the notion of communication between species through body language truly real. There is a magical love that comes from pets; a simple, uncomplicated thing that allows the complex stresses of life seem smaller. So I am grateful for the pets who have been in my life, and maybe in soon I will get one to make my home a pet home too. But, for now, I will make do with my parent's pets!

Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this. ~ Anonymous

10th Day of Christmas

I spent nearly all the day, again, taking down Christmas decorations and I am still not done. Mostly it has taken so long because I am unwiring the tree I got at the Festival of Trees and they put lots of wires on it. These wires hold on the ornaments, lights, and just seem to be there! This is the sad part of Christmas to me, taking it all down and putting it away. It is not really more work than putting it up; but, when I put it up I am excited for the season so it doesn't seem so bad.

So what am I glad for today? I am glad for my memories. I love scrapbooking and looking at photo albums and reading old journal entries. I don't seem to be very good at keeping up any of these things. That is a recurring New Year's Resolution, maybe this year I will be better. But, remembering the good times makes the hard times worthwhile. Hopefully this blog can be another way to keep memories fresher. But, even when I don't have the concrete things to help me remember, I am grateful for the imperfect thoughts I am able to keep in my head.

9th Day of Christmas

So I got this all typed up and thought I got it posted yesterday, but instead it got saved as a draft. Oops. Ah well, I am still figuring this out.

There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with chocolate. - Linda Grayson, The Pickwick Papers

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm…CHOCOLATE; One of life’s greatest pleasures at least for me :> In thinking of the things that I enjoy, I have to put chocolate up there. Yes, some would call me addicted, but I just call it great enjoyment. That is one of the best things about the holidays, I can eat lots and lots of chocolate and nobody thinks anything. Of course, that means that I have lost that excuse now, but no worries I will come up with a new one J.

Chocolate is a serious thing! - Counselor Deanna Troi, Start Trek: The Next Generation

8th Day of Christmas

To Good Friends.
I was listening to LeAnn Rimes tonight and one of her songs just struck home. I spent a wonderful afternoon with Alyse on New Year's Eve and hearing this song made me think about that day and reminded me how gratfeul I am for really good friends.

A good friend and a glass of wine

Someone to say it's going to be alright

A good friend and a glass of wine

A little pick me up to get me through the night

We talk trash and we laugh and cry

That kind of therapy, money can't buy

Every now and then, every now and then

Every girl needs

A good friend and a glass of wine

We seem to do okay with Martinelli's instead of the wine. But, either way the sentiment is the same. So thank you to all my amazing friends and all the wonderful moments so far. Whether we are hashing out the stressful or laughing together, the time is precious. As we enter into 2009 I hope this year brings us all many more moments with good friends.

7th Day of Christmas

WELCOME TO 2009!

If people were meant to pop out of bed, we'd all sleep in toasters. ~Author unknown, attributed to Jim Davis.

Hmmmmmmm sounds good to me. Today I am being lazy and slept in late. While lounging in bed contemplating what to write about today I thought I would comment on one of my other favorite pastimes. Sleeping! :) Sleep is a great friend to me. Like any good friend we get along most of the time; however sometimes we have disagreements about what time it is suppose to leave me alone for the day. But, this evening we are friendly and enjoyed our time together catching up today.

The bed is a bundle of paradoxes: we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret; we make up our minds every night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every morning to keep it late. ~Charles Caleb Colton