Engaged Learning

Going back to school full time is a lot more work than I remembered! While some classes confuse me and at times frustrate me, overall I am enjoying the experience. One class I love going to is my Wednesday night Digital Marketing Class.

We’ve been discussing social medias, the marketing do’s and don’ts for those, and the changes in marketing trends in the last decade. Part the “homework” for this unit was creating profiles, if you didn’t already have them, on Facebook , Google, Twitter, YouTube and a few other things. So yes…I did what I swore I never would and opened a Twitter account. Another thing we had to do was create a YouTube video (3-5 minutes). The professor said to make it funny and “sell” a message, but not a product; this was not to be a sales pitch or formal advertising, but rather an exercise in simple YouTube videos.

This Wednesday she announced we would be watching the group YouTube video and voting on how original they were and how well they fulfilled our criteria. To our surprise our group won! Our prize: a Halloween bag full of candy. :D So I have lots of whoppers if anyone wants some! Just remember this movie is addressed to the too literally minded business students.

A Spoonful of Sugar and Swords

On Saturday, August 27, 2011, Laura Bedore was speaking to Talon Ackerman, the young man who plays Michael Banks in Broadway Across America’s Mary Poppins. She announced she had an extra ticket and told the listeners to write in if we wanted to go see the play with her, and why. I wrote her an email and on Monday she wrote me back to tell me I had been selected to come see the musical Mary Poppins at the Capitol Theater in SLC with her and a small group.

So, on Thursday, September 5, 2011 I had the wonderful evening out. First I met my “dates” at the Rodizio Grill at Trolley Square for a yummy meal. It is very similar to Tacano’s and the food was well prepared with lots of great variety.

We then proceeded to the Capitol Theater to meet the rest of the group (only five of us came to the dinner, we met up with the other 3 at the theater). I had brought my binoculars assuming that we would be seated in the top balcony, just excited I had a ticket. However, when we were handed the tickets I was blown away; we had those amazing seats that you never see for sale! In this case 5^th row (E) center, just far enough back to be able to see the whole stage without straining your neck, but close enough to see everything!

All of us were so excited to be there and our mutual adoration of musical theater made for great discussions while we waited for the curtain to rise. As soon as the play started I was transported to London and into the lives of the Banks Household. I love live theater there is really no experience like it. Everything from the set design to the staging to the costumes were top notch. One really fun thing is they did not try to retell the movie, they used the books and some of the music but retold the story so there was never the comparison problem. It was definitely an experience that made me remember that “anything can happen if you let it.”

I can’t say enough thanks to Laura Bedore from Showtunes Saturday Night and Elizabeth from Broadway Across America; I had the most magical time and I am so grateful for the opportunity of going to see the show and having such wonderful company.

AND THEN…

Adam Argyle emailed and asked if I wanted to come see The Three Musketeers at the Covey Center! So on September 16, 2011 I had the wonderful experience of enjoying the theatrical adaptation of Dumas’ satirical and witty drama.

Once again I had fabulous seat and with all the discounts, (thank you Zion’s Bank and Adam’s Comp tickets) I got to go with about ½ my family, amazing seats and less than $7 a ticket!

Naturally there was lots of flashy sword work, perfectly timed lines and one truly amazing set. I still am awed thinking about how they could move two separate set pieces and keep repositioning them to portray all different types of places. Adam was absolutely fabulous in the role of Aramis, very witty and our fathers I’m sure were proud of all his flashy sword work! Talk about an amazing month of theater! I am so grateful I was given the gift of enjoying the experience of live theater that is unlike any other activity out there.

I hope y’all take the chance to go support your local theater. It is truly an art form like no other. While I love television and film, there really is no business like the live theater’s show business.

PS. I want to say I also have the most amazing siblings! Thank you Alicia for helping me get my computer set up so I can do all the online stuff again. And thank you Shawn for fixing my stubborn computer and printer/scanner/other accessory devices so they will talk to each other and I can now blog with pictures!

Confectionary Art

I actually remember how to do this!!!! I still want to go back and catch-up on some travel and event posts, but I thought I would share my sweet fun from today.

Mom invited the girls over today to play cake decorators with her. Growing up she always made us the most amazing birthday cakes. We had Mom, Alicia, Alyse, Kiaya, Aryn, Sophia and me all playing with the rainbow colored frosting. It was lots of fun and tasted yummy too!

I first practiced a smiley face on a cupcake, but gave it to Dad to eat before I got a picture of it. I did get pictures of my Bumble Bee and Butterfly.

Alyse took off before I got pictures of the complete set, hers are great and we will need to look on her blog for those, but here are the rest! Thanks again to my family for a fun day (and making me forget about how mad I was at my computer with this great distraction).

Technical Difficulties!!!

Okay, so this is just getting silly! First there was a slow/non-existant internet, then we could not even access the blogger site because of regulations/censors, and now the picture wheel just keeps spinning in circles and not loading! Although if this actually posts we will be one step closer than we have been so far in weeks.

We spent about 3 hours this morning trying to get any one of our blogs to work. That was including (and after) having to sort through nearly 6,000 images; because when trying to import the photos off mom's camera for the last bit of the trip, we somehow took ALL the images on any open windows too at the time (this included all mom's facebook stuff, her account had been open in another tab, like albums and icons from the games, as well as just random stuff). So we finally threw up our hands and just went out.

Good news, we found the world's largest Apple store in Covent Garden today and they said if we still have problems in the morning we can take mom's laptop in and they will try help us. They actually seemed impressed we somehow figured how to mess the import process up so much. :D

So please be patient, we are really trying to keep our blogging promise. It has just been a comedy of errors, hopefully nearing to end of its' run.

2010 Year's End (Part 3)

I thought this got posted last night but apparently it only went to draft...so it is a day late!

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTIONS

One of my favorite relaxation things is to go see movie in the theater. I love being pulled into a new story and being able to forget about my own life for a few hours. I have seen LOTS of great movies this year and really can’t name just one I loved.

Of course Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) and Eclipse have to top any list I make. If for no other reason than the fun events I attended in conjunction with those releases. But those are different stories to be told another day…

Today we are going to see Tron so I will have to report back on that one later. Hmm, earlier this month I saw Burlesque for a second time and loved it and want to see it again so it will have to make the list. I wouldn’t recommend it for teens and it is pretty racy so Alicia wouldn’t like it.

Several fun animated shows were released this year. Topping this list for me were Tangled, Toy Story 3, and How to Train Your Dragon. But, also enjoyable were Megamind, Despicable Me, and Alice in Wonderland (though was this really animated? Not sure how to categorize it),

In the chick flick category Bounty Hunter was zany and lots of fun, Dear John was wonderfully heartfelt (though technically I didn’t get to see this one till it came to video), Valentine’s Day was cute (especially since I went with Scott, Mom and Dad on Valentine’s Day to see it!), and both The Last Song and Remember Me made me cry and laugh at the same time, one of the best kind of chick flick movies. I also found Date Night hilarious, You Again a good thought provoking story about making life work and Letters to Juliet simple but sweet.

Action movies were also enjoyable this year. I really enjoyed Iron Man 2 a lot more than I ever thought I would. Does Knight and Day go in this catergory?, well I am putting it here, along with Inception which had some of the most mind bending plot twists and special effects I have ever seen.

WOW!!! Okay when I started this post I didn’t mean for it to get so long. I didn’t really realize how many movies I did get to see this year. And yet, as I was going though an online list of movies released this year I made a list just as long of titles to add to Netflix…well they were all enjoyable and I would recommend most of them to others! Guess it was a great year for me at the movies!

2010 Year's End (Part 2)

Candlelight Massed Choir and Processional
at Disney World's EPCOT

Last Night (Dec-20-2010) I went to the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT. This is one of my favorite Christmas Programs. There is a reading of the Christmas Story from the Bible, interspersed with gorgeously arranged music.


The music includes “Shout for Joy”, “O Come All Ye Faithful”, “Il Est Ne”, “O Holy Night”, “Angels From The Realms Of Glory”, “Away In A Manger”, “Rejoice With Exceeding Great Joy”, “What Child Is This”, “Do You Hear What I Hear”, “Silent Night”, “Joy To The World”, and “The Hallelujah Chorus”. The music is played by The Walt Disney World Orchestra and sung by a choir consisting of The Walt Disney World Cast Choir, The Voices of Liberty and Guest Choirs (mostly high school students) from all over the US, Canada and they even had a choir from the UK this year!

Trace Adkins was the narrator we listened to this year. His deep bass voice was hypnotic and gorgeous to listen to. It was a really fun night to share with Mom, Dad, Erik and Matt. I am so blessed to be able to listen to such a beautiful Christmas program.

2010 Year's End (part 1)

Look! There the year goes,
Oh how it flies by.
So much still to tell,
It could fill a pie.
The posts I could do,
It almost makes me cry.
Daily I will come,
To share all the whys.
You know what to do,
Just come back on by.
To hear Holly’s tales,
Before year’s good-bye.

Oh the things I could tell
If I just had the time.
Spent yesterday in SuessLanding
Now I’m talking in rhyme!