I. Need. Sun

Ok, so I totally forgot about Flashback Friday today. It didn't even cross my mind until about 5 minutes ago. I am also leaving town at the crack of dawn tomorrow to soak in the warm Mexican sun and haven't thought of anything else but that. I know, you must feel so sorry for me.

I thought I would post this picture so you all know what I will be doing for the next week.


Enjoy the cold ya'll. I'll think of you while I am on the beach.

I don't own snow boots

This past weekend I went up to my friend Dave's cabin in Oakley with a group of friends. I love cabins. Especially ones that are just a hop, skip and jump away. We loaded up and headed out a little later than originally planned, but we made it to the cabin and prepared ourselves for a night full of fun.

Now, I don't own snow clothes. I think the last pair of snow pants I owned was in 1997. Seriously. I think I was in 9th grade. So, since I don't own snow pants, surely I don't own boots. With that said, my fake UGGS came in really handy. Thank you Costco. And thank you to Mackenzi who let me borrow her pants, neck warmer and mittens. I would have been rather cold had it not been for you :)

After playing games and goofing around the cabin, we headed outside and played in the snow for hours. I forgot how much fun playing in feet of fresh deep powder can be.



After playing in the snow, drinking hot chocolate and melting away in the hot tub, we all made our way to bed. And what better way is there to sleep than in one giant, 6 person spoon?

Well, we really didn't sleep this way, for I surely would have gotten claustrophobic. I mean, I sleep diagonally in my queen bed now. I am surely in for an adjustment when I get married. Well, I'll just add this to my list....

Natalie's husband requirement #148:
Doesn't mind sleeping in a ball on the edge of the bed

Must Read.. and Must See!

I used to not like reading. Not for pleasure and definitely not for school. The latter never changed. My dislike of reading might have stemmed from when I was young and my mom made us read books while we were out of school for the summer. I would rather have been swimming in the local neighborhood pool, enjoying the hot summer sun than nose deep in a fictitious novel.

However, I had a roommate (Melissa) while I did my internship in DC that loved to read. Since I had a 30 minute metro ride to and from work each day, I decided to take Melissa's advise and read The Lovely Bones. I instantly fell in love with reading. Within the 4 month span of my life in DC, I read about 7 books. Something that I can't ever remember doing in such a short amount of time.

One of my favorite books, I read last year at this time. It was The Other Boleyn Girl. A quick synopsis:

When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled by the king, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her family's ambitious plots as the king's interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king, and take her fate into her own hands.

A rich and compelling tale of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue, The Other Boleyn Girl introduces a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe and survived by following her own heart.

Honestly, I read this sucka in 2 days. And it is about 700 pages. Literally, I couldn't put it down. Now, I am not the only one to feel this away about this book. I took the book from my sister Hailey after she read it in 2 days. Then I gave the book to Megan and I believe she read it in no time.

And, on February 29th, my favorite book will be in a theater near you. For all those that want to join me, I will be there on opening day. Here is the trailer....if this doesn't get you interested in the book, I don't know what will.

Flashback Friday - GNO

Ah, what could say Girls Night Out like getting dressed up in prom dresses and heading down to the local Spaghetti Factory? Um, pretty much nothing.


Katelyn, Erica, Katie and I decided to whip out our prom dresses and act like the girly girls that we were. Oh wait, I never went to prom. Ok, so I might have borrowed Erica's Jr. Prom dress. Gosh, that's sort of depressing. But wait... I used to be embarrassed that I didn't go to my junior or senior prom. The shame! Oh the shame! But since it was over 7 years ago that I attended high school, I think the shame and embarrassment as passed. Luckily.

I had to pull this picture from our senior year yearbook. I think this was taken on Katie's camera.... she was on the yearbook staff and clearly pulled some strings to get this flashy picture in the yearbook.

I want to point out two small fashion styles of the time:

1) Purses with long over-the-shoulder straps. WE. ALL. HAVE. THEM.ON
2) Butterfly clips. Katie, Erica and I are all sporting those. Now, that's hot.

Now, I had completely forgotten about this GNO... that is until I was at Spaghetti Factory a couple of weekends ago and I saw this:


So, the pictures is blurry. I know, I know. BUT, these girls one up'd us. Not only did they have prom dresses on, but they all had their hair done AND topped it all off with their own tiara. So pretty!

As my co-worker Diania said: "That's such a Mormon thing to do!"

But, I disagree. I say: "It's just a Utah thing to do."

My life in review

I have noticed that over the past month or so, practically all my posts have been "flashback" posts. I have had an overwhelming supportive response on my flashback posts. And I thank you, dear readers. The flashbacks have provided me with countless hours of humor as I look back through old pictures and reminisce at how completely embarrassing my life has been. I love my life. I have learned to love embarrassment and find joy in making fun of myself. Maybe it has come with my older and wiser self, but I can actually say I am proud and happy with the person that I have become.. and continue to become.

Crap, my blog just turned into one of those "journal" types. Scratch that. Back to the funny.

Anyway, with my lack of substantial blog posts lately, and/or anything really blog worthy, I thought I would update you on what has consumed my life over the past little bit.

Work
The past couple of weeks have made me realize that I sometimes HATE being an adult. Within one week, I missed my ward Christmas party to attend a client dinner/meeting that went for 4 hours, I had a 11 hour meeting with minimal pee-breaks and zero ability to retain any sort of information, and one day of leaving work in tears and not being able to stop crying for about an hour.

However, with all the crap that work brings, it also brings me great amounts of joy. I mean, what better way to spend the last part of my Friday afternoon than taking pictures of my co-workers taking shots of tequila.


I tried to position my hand in the picture with my Coca-Cola Classic can - but I thought that it might take away from the large amounts of alcohol consumed by my coworkers.

And naturally, I follow my story about tequila shots with my updates on....

Church
Nice transition eh?

I don't go to ward activities. Well, at least not that often. I find them quite often like social awkward situations that I like to avoid. And usually, I talk to all the same people that I am friends with already.

My calling is the Enrichment Leader. I think it is God's way of getting me to go to Enrichment. Clever guy he is. Just last night we had our big quarterly Enrichment activity. Things I learned about being in charge:
1. I hate delegating
2. No one is ever on time
3. I get annoyed when no one is on time
4. If you leave tables up long enough in the church gym, eventually the 14 year old boys will clean it all up so they can play basketball.

Social Life
I pretty much am so popular that I should probably make up a "social calendar" because I get booked out many many days in advance.

And....that's all a lie.

However, I have been busy with the typical Christmas activities.... i.e; work Christmas party, Christmas shopping, friends Christmas parties, Christmas shopping, watching Christmas movies, Christmas shopping and that's about it.

I took my friend Justin to my work Christmas party. There is a fine balance in finding a date to a work Christmas party....because more than likely, the night is going to be awkward and boring for whoever I bring. Justin was the perfect choice. We are good enough friends that I feel completely comfortable with him, yet knew he could hold his own and handle the sometimes insulting humor of some of my coworkers:)

After the party, Justin and I met up with some friends at his house to get in his sauna. Justin came out of his room with only a towel on.

I looked at him and said,
"Wow. My date is naked. This is my best date ever!"

Justin said back:
"I like to end my dates with being naked."

and then he quoted Sam Malone from Cheers and said,
"Because when have I been naked and not had fun?"

Overheard: Friday afternoon at work

At 2:45 pm:

Gail: I think we need a shot of Tequila. Matt's going to Mexico.

My Baby's 1st Birthday

I just have to post and say, "happy birthday" to my beloved blog. A year ago today this blog, my baby, was born. Back then, I couldn't imagine how I could love something so much. She has brought me such joy over the past year. I now can't imagine my life without her. I have watched her grow and am so proud of what she has become. Yes, my blog has a sex. It is female. Until I find me a nice man to marry and knock me up, this is my child. Low maintenance and free. Could be better than the real thing.

So, Happy 1st Birthday blog!

Flashback Friday - Christmas 1989

I apologize for posting two Christmas flashback pictures in a row, but I just couldn't pass up on this picture. I remember this Christmas like it was yesterday morning. Luckily, it wasn't yesterday morning... otherwise, I would be needing some dental work ASAP.

If you can blow up the picture, please do so. You will notice the ultimate Christmas sweatshirt wore by me. Yes, I puff-painted that bad boy. I loved puff paint. My siblings and I even puff-painted a sweatshirt for Jinny (grandma) in which she still wears to this day. No lie.

That clock radio served me well. Honest to goodness, I just got rid of it 4 years ago. I took it to Washington DC with me when I did my internship. If you were lucky enough to watch Clarissa Explains It All back in the day, you might remember that Clarissa had the same clock radio. I thought I was so cool to have the same clock as her.

I will admit that I knew I was getting this present long before Christmas morning. Please note the box on the table. It was a panda bear box and was only sealed with a couple pieces of tape. You better believe I cracked open that box long before Christmas morning and attempted to hide the evidence by resealing the tape. I am sure my mom knew what I had done.

And last but not least, I love Austin's outfit. A true and loyal Ute at the age of 3 1/2. My parents taught us well.

When Men Decorate

I would assume in most loving relationships, there is one person that makes decorating decisions for the house. In my family, it is usually my mom. Yes, I would assume she discusses things with my dad before making any drastic change - but she still wears the pants in that part of the relationship.

A couple of weeks ago, my dad purchased a rather large tv for their upstairs family room. Because of the size of the tv, they had to redo the entertainment area where the tv sits. Of course, my mother rolled her eyes at the thought that on top of the expensive tv, she would have to pay money to redo a part of the family room. But whatever, she just let my dad handle it all.

Possibly not the smartest move she could have made. Because after going to NYC with her bookclub for a "girls trip", she came home to a little surprise. The tv can be moved back and forth from the cabinet by using the small white balls found in the corners next to the tv - shown below in this picture:

(please ignore the large man that made it into this picture. I should have turned off the tv, but that thing has so many remote controls I didn't have the patience to try and figure it out.)

Now, from far away, those white balls just look like white balls. Well, that is until you get up close and realize that yes, they are in fact GOLF BALLS. When my mom confronted my dad about this, he just said, "It was Dale's idea." (Dale is the carpenter that did the cabinets). Classic male response. My dad easily could have said back to Dale, "No, I don't think Penel would go for it."

Dad, I am proud of your for taking a stance and putting your own personal touch on the decor of the family room. I am also proud of mom for going with it and just saying, "Oh, Kim!" Pick your battles, peeps. Pick your battles.

Flashback Friday - Christmas 1992

Tis the season to pull out super embarrassing pictures and post them for the world to see. As I went through my scrapbook last night, I came upon this picture and thought, "this picture is wrong on SO many levels. I must use it in my post tomorrow." My criteria for picking Flashback Friday pictures usually consists of one major thing:

1) Is this picture embarrassing?

I am sure I was overjoyed with the two books that my grandma Jinny gave me. I actually remember reading both of them. But, I didn't post this picture to talk about the presents I just unwrapped. I posted it to talk about that outfit I was wearing.

I was a BIG BIG fan of the stretchy pants (note: "stretchy pants" is said like Nacho Libre in Nacho Libre. If you haven't seen it... you should watch it just for that part). I however am surprise that I wasn't wearing the stretchy pants with the foot stirrups. I had plenty of those. I love that my pants are floods. Especially because they are exposing my rolled down socks and white Ked shoes. I love the 90s!

I am pretty sure I got that turtleneck that morning from my parents. I loved wearing my new clothes up to Jinny's for Christmas breakfast. I however chose to pair said turtleneck with a sweater that is clearly 5 sizes too big for me AND a slightly different color that my pants. The colors are close enough that I clearly thought they matched. I claim I was color blind.

It's all about the cheese

There is a restaurant directly above my place of work. I won't mention this restaurant in case some psycho is reading my blog and wants to stalk me in person. Whatever. I have to be careful like that. Anyway, this restaurant is not open for lunch. However, on occasion they cook something that seems like parmesan cheesy goodness and all I want to do is stuff myself silly with parmesan cheese.


Today was no exception. As I walked in the office at freaking 8:10 a.m. (yes, I am chronically 10 minutes late to work each day), my office was filled with a parmesan smelling, mouth watering aroma. I almost made an about-face and hightailed it to the nearest bagelry for an asiago bagel. Which, thinking about it now, I should have done. Because now I sit here and all I can think about is cheese.

Three things I have already learned today:
1) Maple and brown sugar oatmeal does not curve my appetite for cheese
2) I hate the restaurant above me for torturing me so early in the morning
3) Cheese has passed pasta in as my new favorite food item

Freak, lunch can't come soon enough!

For the readers: My life is boring. I am really scrapping the bottom of the barrel for things to blog about.